At the break of dawn, a caravan set out from Hongsong Manor. Mules and oxen heaved as they pulled the large carts behind them, moving languidly towards Red Sulfur Harbor on eight four-wheeled wagons.
"Halt, what business do you have? What's loaded on these carts?" A patrol team stopped the caravan on the road.
"The carts are filled with grain," the cart driver replied. "We are from Hongsong Manor, delivering the levied supplies to the town."
Using the excuse of the war, the council of Red Sulfur Harbor demanded that all plantations and villages on the island set aside grain as military provisions, which the islanders referred to as a levy.
A soldier from the patrol team climbed onto a wheel and peered into the wagon, only to see sacks of hemp neatly piled up. Cutting one sack open carelessly, wheat spilled out.
Seeing that it was indeed grain, the patrol team did not make further difficulties for the caravan.
