Fang Chuning's concern was also what worried Xie Jue. The vast expanse of arable land across the twelve provinces was mainly concentrated in West Continent, Huangzhou, and Jinzhou, while other prefectures had sparse farmland and were mostly mountainous with inconvenient transportation. Without adequate grain reserves for the winter, how would they survive? Last year's severe natural disasters had already caused a famine across the twelve provinces, and it was Jiangnan's forced grain requisition that temporarily alleviated the crisis. If it weren't for the barrenness and famine, banditry wouldn't have run rampant for so many years.
The regions originally blessed with the most farmland—West Continent and Huangzhou—shouldn't have been left desolate. If not for the iron mines attracting bandits' greed, they wouldn't have fallen into such dire straits. Without sufficient grain supplies, uprisings among the people would surely follow.
