There are mainly two points,
One point is the loss in the handover process.
The other point is the consumption during transportation.
The loss in the handover process is that after the grain is levied from the farmers, it is first stored at the county level, then at the prefectural level, and possibly transported to another place for centralized storage before being sent either to the capital or the destination.
When it arrives at the local regions, it is again centralized and then distributed, and this is speaking on a smaller scale.
At each step, there are people profiting, you peel off a layer, he peels off a layer, and once the local main general peels a layer, the officer peels a layer, if the core can remain intact when it reaches the hands of the frontline soldiers, it's already quite good.
The practice of skimming off the top is unavoidable, even in the times with which Lord Zheng is familiar.
