To Old Cao, deficits had always been an exceedingly unfamiliar term. He might run short of grain, but he would never run a deficit.
A grain shortage and a deficit might sound not too far apart, but their natures were worlds apart; they were not the same thing at all.
A grain shortage meant his finances were in positive territory, merely lacking surplus grain to continue waging war.
A deficit meant his finances had deteriorated to the point where income could not cover expenditure, requiring them to consume the previous year's stored grain.
Cao Cao had expected this campaign to cost him dearly, but he had never imagined the losses would be so immense!
Two hundred and seventy million coins and five hundred thousand shi of grain and fodder—enough to raise another fifty thousand elite troops!
Yet all that money and grain now represented a deficit he needed to make up. It was simply horrifying.
Thus, upon hearing that figure, Cao Cao was greatly alarmed. He slapped the table and rose to his feet. "Our army has not fought a campaign for half a year. Why is the deficit still so enormous?"
Xun Yu had clearly anticipated Cao Cao's reaction. At his sharp demand, he sighed. "Lord Cao, such massive losses were not caused by warfare alone. Our income has not increased, while our expenditures have not decreased."
As he spoke, he laid out the reasons for their deficit before Cao Cao. There were many of them.
It was also because their early development had gone too smoothly that Old Cao had forgotten one thing—their territory was not large.
They had been able to support an army of over two hundred thousand because they had more than a million farming-settlement households under their command, cultivating over ten million mu of