The southern front is about to erupt, the situation is urgent, and all places, whether stationed troops or garrisons, have begun to move. The first step is to transfer experienced personnel with mid-to-low ranks to Hai Xia for training—both to familiarize themselves with the environment and to provide rapid practical exercises for soldiers soon to be deployed.
Under such circumstances, saying "the situation is tense" is not an exaggeration in the least.
The impact on the common people is already beginning to show; the prices of basic goods such as firewood, rice, oil, and salt best reflect the problem. Over the past month, prices have risen by nearly ten percent—this is only a "small increase" thanks to the Ministry of Revenue forcibly suppressing prices. Otherwise, if grain merchants across the provinces were allowed to raise prices unchecked, it might be far more than "merely ten percent."
