Chapter 207: The Granary
The city of Mancang was large, with three layers of walls. From inside out, each wall was lower than the previous, with the outermost being just over a man’s height and made of earth. Combined with the moat, it still effectively hindered enemy attacks. The city’s defenses far exceeded those of ordinary cities.
The name Mancang meant “full granary”. The city stored vast quantities of grain and fodder.
To prepare for emergencies, Great Chu had built several granary cities based on foundations from the previous dynasty, scattered across all directions. Mancang was one of them, situated on a small plain over 80 miles north of the Capital. The city was filled with granaries and pastures. In times of crisis, its stores alone could sustain the entire Central Plains region for ten years.
Since the Founding Emperor established the dynasty, Great Chu had faced several crises. Mancang had prepared to open its stores multiple times, but nothing came of it. Apart from regularly rotating old grain and supplying small amounts to various armies, it had never opened its stores on a large scale. Even when famine struck, Mancang remained uninvolved – its duty was to supply the imperial court during times of unrest, while disaster relief was for other measures.
Mancang wasn’t on the direct route back to the Capital, being a dozen miles to the east. When Chai Yue led the Northern Army south, his first target wasn’t the Capital but this granary city.
Chai Yue didn’t know what to do if the army actually returned to the Capital, as he couldn’t really fight the Southern Army. So he chose Mancang – solving the winter provisions problem while allowing them to observe the situation in the Capital and await the Northern Protection General’s next instructions.
The vanguard of three thousand men was led by Commander Cai Xinghai, heading straight for Mancang.
Outside the city, Cai Xinghai ordered his army to stop a few miles away, taking only dozens of soldiers to the gate. He claimed to be the Northern Army’s provisions officer coming to collect the month’s supplies, with porters following behind.
The Chu garrison was cautious – the year had been unstable with peasant uprisings everywhere. In recent months, Mancang had been attacked three times. An officer came out to carefully check Cai Xinghai’s documents, which all bore the Northern Army Grand Marshal’s seal. The officer complained, “All you do is come for grain. Can’t you spare some men to help defend us?”