The Han Tribe's current expenses mainly went toward maintaining its army. The Han Tribe operated under a recruitment system, so it not only had to provide food but also pay military salaries. At present, it had eleven garrisons for its regular troops, with total forces exceeding twenty thousand. These people did not farm in their spare time, either, and all the grain they consumed had to be supplied by the tribe. It was a major expense.
Then there were the slaves. Slaves did not need wages, but they still had to eat. For the time being, the Han Tribe's slaves did not farm, and were mainly used in two areas: either on infrastructure projects or mining in the mines. They did nothing but hard labor, and these people could eat quite a lot. Still, all they needed was food; at least there was no need to pay them.
Another group was the craftsmen. At present, the Han Tribe's main trades were miners and the carpenters who built ships. There were not many of them, and they were concentrated mainly in Xingang Commandery and Liuyang Commandery, at the iron and copper mines and the shipyards.
These craftsmen did not farm in their spare time, either. They only needed to work. However, the Han Tribe did not need to provide them with grain; it paid them wages directly, and they used those wages to buy grain from the grain stations.
This grain was purchased by the Han Tribe from farming households. Since the farmers had basically paid all their taxes and kept enough grain for their own food, they still had large surpluses. There was not much use in storing it themselves, while they had other everyday expenses besides food, so they sold their excess grain to the grain stations at a