The perspective returned to the farewell party, and in the ocean of Plato dialects, three Veneta people using "Hailan Yayin" seemed to be having an encrypted conversation.

Mr. Leo was obviously confused by Andre's metaphor, and he looked at Winters.

Winters sighed and told Mr. Leo the puzzle question.

"What a wonderful metaphor." Mr. Leo laughed endlessly: "The first step is to take the sheep across the river?"

"That's right." Andre suddenly became interested: "How do you know?"

Mr. Leo seemed to have great enthusiasm for solving problems: "The second step? Bring the sheep back? Well, no, the sheep will eat the turnips..."

"Of course it won't work." Andre was quite proud: "The second step is the key, and it took me a long time to figure it out."

Winters' brain was aching. He had already seen that Philip Leo always talked about people and ghosts. He seemed to be eloquent, but in fact he was impeccable.

If necessary, the partner of the Navarre House could discuss the crossing of the river with Andre for three days and three nights without revealing a single bit of valuable information.

"What a mess of old men and wolves!" Winters put down his wine glass and told Andre bluntly: "Everyone gets what they need."

Mr. Leo picked up the wine glass and took a sip.

Now it was Andre's turn to not understand.

"What do we lack most right now?" Winters asked Andre.

"Does that need to be said?" Andre replied without hesitation: "Eat."

Because farmers fled and a large amount of land was abandoned, Tiefeng County was already on the edge of the precipice of famine.

According to Senior Mason's calculations, if the grain rationing system is strictly implemented, Tiefeng County may barely be able to survive until next summer's harvest.

However, the large-scale attack by the Terdun Division was like pushing Tiefeng County further down the cliff.

Nowadays, Senior Mason holds his account book and sighs all day long. Counting the number of hairs on the pillow has become a must-have homework for the senior every morning.

Winters felt nothing.

When he took inventory of the warehouse last year and learned that there might be a shortage of food, he was still a little anxious.

Now that it was confirmed that the food was definitely not enough, Winters let go.

Is there not enough food in Xiaoshi Town? Allocate military rations.

Is the price of Gevaudan flour still rising? Then distribute free bread to the poor in the city.

According to the current consumption rate, Tiefeng County's grain reserves will not survive this winter, let alone until next summer's harvest.

"Originally, I planned to buy grain from Baishan County." Winters looked at the golden liquid in the cup - the fermentation liquid was also made from bread. It was really a luxury to think about it.

"Buy shit." Andre snorted: "How can we have the money? Just--well, that's fine."

Mr. Leo looked at his nose, nose and mouth, holding the wine glass, as if he heard nothing, as if it did not exist.

"We can find ways to raise funds." Winters blinked: "Besides, we still have 'that'."

Andre thought for a moment and said, "It doesn't mean that we have money. We want to buy it, but what if they don't sell it?"

Winters took a sip of the fermented liquid and said, "They will definitely sell it."

Andre was stunned for a while, then laughed angrily: "This...isn't the same thing?"

"No, in terms of nature, extortion and robbery are two different things." Winters replied sincerely: "If you give money, it is not considered robbery, it can only be considered a forced purchase."

"Hi!" Andre said in a rough voice, "What am I saying! The troops haven't been disbanded yet, something must have happened! Anyway, after seeing our strength, I understand that the bald guy doesn't dare to fight with us."

The militia troops recruited from Central Tiefeng County and Lower Tiefeng County currently implement the "freedom to stay and leave policy."

That is to say: if the recruited militiamen want to go home, they can receive a share of dry rations and register to leave; if they do not want to leave, they can continue to stay in the military camp and get a share of military rations.

A considerable number of militiamen chose to stay in the military camp temporarily, such as Monkey and Doug.

Winters' eyes dimmed a bit and he didn't intend to explain too much.

However, Mr. Leo on the side took the initiative to speak out: "In my opinion, many militiamen in your army are homeless."

"So?" Andre raised his eyebrows.

"Young and middle-aged men who have no family, no property, no food, and have seen the battlefield." Mr. Leo shrugged: "If we forcefully drive them away, I'm afraid big trouble will happen."

Andre sneered and looked directly at Mr. Leo: "You said you have settled the deal, what do you have to do here?"

"Me?" Mr. Leo replied with a smile: "I am a sheep - or a cabbage."

"Okay." Winters didn't want to see Andre being led by Mr. Leo again, so he explained it to Andre in detail.

Things are actually not complicated. There are currently four players on the poker table:

The first is Tiefeng County, which holds horses and is in urgent need of food;

Next are the Veneta woolen merchants represented by Mr. Leo. They have money and are in urgent need of wool and trade routes to transport it;

Next is the Veneta Army. The amount of funding for the Veneta Army is unknown, but it can provide food and needs war horses;

Finally, there are the feudal officials of Plato. They have everything, but they won’t give it away in vain.

Winters' original plan was to raise funds and forcefully purchase grain. If necessary, exchange horses for grain. There were too many horses captured and he couldn't afford to keep them anyway.

Mr. Leo believes that the turnaround of this plan is too slow and it is a one-time deal and cannot continue to import grain for Tiefeng County.

Leo provided Winters with an imaginative plan - stepped transportation.

In the past, Leo had been actively involved in the traditional business of Veneta and Plato: the mule and horse trade.

As the saying goes, "you, salt, sauce, vinegar, and sugar come from the east, and cattle, sheep, mules, and horses come from the west." Horse dealers all know that horses cannot drive directly from the high-altitude Plato to the low-altitude Veneta.

If the horses were transported directly to Veneta by ship, the horses would suffer from serious fat loss, or even die from illness.

Therefore, a common method is to set up a series of horse farms along the decreasing trend of altitude to drive the horses down the plateau like steps.

First, let the horses gradually adapt to the air and environment of the lowlands, and second, change the horses' feed step by step.

Just this means that "there are always some horses in the process of transportation" and cannot be sold.

There is nothing wrong with pony traders, because pony traders traffic a group of horses at a time and do business in one go.

But for large mule and horse dealers, "there are always some horses in the process of transportation" means that "there is always a part of the funds occupied", resulting in a significant compression of cash flow.

Over time, well-funded mule and horse merchants simply no longer went to the higher-altitude western Palato to buy horses, but directly purchased horses from the lower-altitude eastern Palatu.

Although the price is more expensive, it saves a lot of transportation time and the funds are returned faster.

Some well-versed mule and horse merchants could even buy horses directly from the military horse farms and even the garrison in Plato.

The military horse farm that sells the horses gets money, and then buys horses from the west at low prices to replenish its stock, easily earning a profit from the price difference.

This information is only the tip of the iceberg of the inside story of the "Platto-Veneta" horse trading business. It is not a secret to insiders, but to outsiders it is like a mountain.

Without Mr. Leo's explanation, Winters would never have imagined that someone would be so bold as to sell military horses privately.

The information that shocked Winters even more was yet to come. According to Mr. Leo, most of the war horses of the Veneta Army were bought this way.

Finally, Mr. Leo asked Winters to ask Antonio a few questions: "How many horses do the Veneta Army need? How do they want to buy them? What are they willing to provide?"

…

Antonio's tent.

Leo didn't know the number "three thousand horses", but Winters did.

So the answer Winters got was: "Three thousand horses is a number that takes into account the long-distance and short-term transportation losses of horses. The more horses Tiefeng County can provide, the better, but the amount of one transaction must be at least

Arm two squadrons—that is, four hundred horses."

As for what the Veneta Army can put on the scale: "As for money, the annual budgets of the Army and Navy are shrinking (Antonio sighed deeply). If it is food... maybe it can be taken into another account."

…

Mr. Leo's guest room.

"Food is not good." Leo slammed the table and became a little excited, his fat face turned red: "Food is not something that can be transported long distances, unless it is transported by water! What is the use of food? Ordnance! Ordnance is about the same!"

Later, Leo told Winters a formula that merchants used to estimate shipping costs.

There is a sentence in it: "I transported food for three hundred miles and went home crying."

This means that "when food is trafficked by land, every 150 kilometers traveled, the freight will be equal to the price of the food itself. The food sellers will lose everything and go home crying."

This is a lesson learned through blood and tears by merchants - food cannot be traded over long distances unless by water.

"Go and ask General Serbetti." Leo muttered: "Can you bring out the ordnance? What's the price?"

…

Antonio's tent.

"Ordnance?" Antonio looked at Winters and fell into deep thought: "No."

…

Mr. Leo's guest room.

"No?" Leo sneered: "Then there's no need to talk. Tell General Serbetti that without ordnance, there will be no war horses!"

"Wait a minute." Winters stopped Mr. Leo, who was in the middle of the show, and asked with a frown: "You want me to be the mouthpiece every time? How about this? How about you go and negotiate with General Serbetti on my behalf?"
To be continued...