But even so, Nanjun still accounted for the bulk of Guan Yu's tax revenue!
And because Nanjun was so important, most of Guan Yu's troops were stationed nearby. Not only did Jiangling have a garrison, but a large force was also stationed at Gong'an.
As for the remaining three and a half commanderies, each had only about two thousand soldiers stationed at its key passes.
Even so, Guan Yu had an army of more than sixty thousand. Over thirty thousand were stationed in Jiangling, while the rest had to guard against Cao Cao and Sun Quan!
In peacetime, the grain collected as taxes from Jingzhou's commanderies was enough to feed these sixty thousand men. After all, when there was no war, the food supply could be reduced.
But once war broke out, the soldiers could no longer get by on half rations. That left all of Jingzhou short on grain, and was the main reason Guan Yu's forces had expanded so slowly.
Hearing Wang Yue's reminder, Guan Yinping also realized how difficult the grain situation was. She panicked and hurriedly asked, "Sir, we've cleared out so many bandits. What are we supposed to do with these ten thousand people? The storehouses in Jiangling don't have enough grain to feed all these civilians!"
Under normal circumstances, Wang Yue wouldn't have put down the bandits at a time like this. After all, once they were gone, someone would have to feed all the elderly, weak, women, and children. Of course, he wouldn't have expanded the army now, either, since the Jingzhou government's tax revenue couldn't support it.
But Wang Yue knew that Jingzhou would soon face a major upheaval. If they couldn't weather the crisis, Guan Yu wouldn't even survive, let alone worry about Jingzhou's tax revenue.
As things stood, Jingzhou had