"Are you absolutely sure?" Shen Tang had confirmed the grain loan at the Court Session, and by the afternoon of the third day, Zhai Le had received definite news. Of course, it wasn't because Zhai Le's intelligence network was outrageously good. It was purely because Shen Tang herself had passed the message along through her incarnation, Zixu.
How could Yu Hai sit still after hearing the news?
He rushed over at once to ask if it was true.
Zhai Le was holding a letter from Zixu. "It's absolutely true. If you don't believe me, see for yourself, Guilong."
He handed over the sealed letter.
Yu Hai read it with suspicion, scanning ten lines at a glance, afraid he might miss a crucial word. He carefully chewed over every character, then paced back and forth inside the tent, unable to make up his mind. He murmured, "Something's wrong. This is seriously wrong."
Zhai Le also thought something was off.
"...The supply line is so long. Who knows how much time it'll take to make the round trip? The land route is fraught with danger, and who knows how much grain will be lost..." For every shi of grain delivered to Qu, the labor and livestock required for the round trip might consume another thirty or forty shi. Zhai Le had carefully studied the grain routes between the two states. With Kang having seized several of the most important ports in the southwest, it might be able to bring the cost down a little.
But not by much.
Zhai Le had been mentally prepared for Shen Tang to refuse the loan, or to haggle and lend them less. The two states were too far apart; that was an unchangeable fact. He wouldn't have been surprised if Shen Tang had used it as