Olina did not know that she was about to become the protagonist in the little girl's novel. She poured the cold well water into the pot, then breathed out a flame to light the earthen stove, and waited quietly for the water to boil.
Although letting her live alone gave her freedom, it also brought a lot of trouble.
Such as cooking.
It's not that she has never worked in the kitchen. After the family declined, the huge castle couldn't even afford a few maids. At that time, she supported the family single-handedly, including preparing meals for her younger brother.
But she could only bake bread, boil potatoes, and bake apple pie.
The methods include breathing out small fires, breathing out large fires, and combining the two. It can be said that few dragonborns can do a better job than her in controlling fire.
However, the food in Qiguo is completely different.
Those grains of rice will only turn into a black mass when burned.
It was only after she asked Miss Yu for advice that she mastered the most basic oriental cooking methods.
Boil the water and add rice.
If there is less water, the rice will be dry and the result will be rice; if there is more water, the rice will be wet and the result will be porridge.
As usual in the morning, I naturally eat porridge.
Soon, a ball of yellow-white mushy food came out. Olina frowned and scooped it into a bowl, and couldn't help but sigh - this thing has nothing to be praised for except that it can fill her stomach.
It's not that Daqi doesn't have delicious food, at least when she was in Gyeonggi, she attended several palace banquets, and she was overwhelmed with delicious food. But trying to recreate those delicacies is obviously far beyond her ability. In the East, cooking skills are also a secret that is not passed down. Only within the family will an heir be selected to learn the secret method, and the only thing she can do is sprinkle some fine salt into the paste to make it taste less delicious. Indifferent.
But you still have to eat.
If you don’t eat, you have no strength, and if you don’t have strength, you can’t work.
Olina knew that she endured humiliation and hardship all for the sake of her family. Even if he can't exchange for merit as an ambassador, as long as his younger brother can make a difference and perform well in the academy, it's still possible to revive Okan's name.
"May the Sun God watch over you and me, so that no matter where you are, you can bathe in the radiance of Hera."
After praying as usual, Olina took a deep breath and swallowed the breakfast in front of her.
For some reason, she remembered the bowl of pork bone soup she had just woken up.
No—suck it up.
She suppressed the urge to embezzle the deposit to hire a cook or housekeeper, and patted her cheek hard.
This money must be sent back to the Holy Wing Islands, not even a tael of silver is missing.
Olina walked to the table, picked up today's work schedule and reconfirmed the content - it was almost past time, that is, nine o'clock in the morning, and it was almost time to set off.
She locked the door, left the residence, and headed north along the street. After leaving the city from the north gate, she continued walking east for a while—this place was close to the mouth of the inland river. Although it was not far from the city wall, there were no signs of human activity around it.
Olina started running towards the sea, her body expanded accordingly, and soon she transformed into a dragon shape, spread her wings and swept towards the sea. She kept flying at this altitude for about a quarter of an hour, until she left Jinxia City far behind, then she suddenly raised the altitude and turned to fly towards the northwest of Shenzhou.
…
Shenzhou, Baihe City.
This is also the last big city in Shenzhou that ranks high. It is located at the intersection of Baihe and Qujiang. The surrounding terrain is open and separated by water, so it is not suitable for large armies to gather. In addition, this place has been one of the hubs of Shenzhou since the Yong Dynasty, so its city walls are of the same specifications as Jinxia, and it can be called a strong city.
At this moment, this strong city ushered in its challenger.
Grand Administrator Jiang was sitting in the lobby of the government office, calmly comforting his "guests" - they were the Grand Guard of Anshen City, the Magistrate Kui of Qiulu County and the Magistrate Zheng of Puxi County.
The experiences of these people are very similar. Basically, they were first wanted by Jinxia City, and then the arresting troops broke into the city in one fell swoop. But even so, they were lucky enough compared to those officials who failed to escape capture.
"Don't worry, everyone. My men have seen clearly that Ning Wanjun's troops only have about 1,500 people. There is still a slight chance for a secret attack. It is impossible to shake this strong city with a frontal attack!" Jiang Taishou vowed. , "We have five times the number of enemies; the terrain, we are defending according to the city; as for this day... without supplementary supplies, they cannot fight in the snow for a long time! The time, place, and people are all on our side, and everyone What’s there to worry about?”
This is not a lie.
News that Princess Guangping was rebellious and was attacking opponents in Shenzhou had spread. After receiving the warning, Governor Jiang immediately took precautions. Not only did he recruit people from surrounding counties, villages and towns into the city to repair fortifications, he also spent money to recruit a large group of soldiers to intensify training. He did not expect them to take the initiative to attack, but only needed to keep the top of the wall intact. Together with the servants and guards brought by other officials who fled to Baihe City, the city's defense force suddenly doubled several times, including catapults, bed crossbows, broken ladder carts, and hot oil basins. Even if the Shenzhou garrison were to attack the city, I'm afraid they wouldn't get much benefit.
In Jiang Taishou's opinion, the princess was always too arrogant. If she dealt with big cities like Baihe and Anshen first, how could they have time to react
"But the opponent has a giant mechanical beast..." Lord Wei of Anshen City is still a little worried, "That thing is invulnerable and hard to be hurt by arrows. As long as the city gate is broken, even thousands of people will have difficulty stopping it."
"I have been prepared for this." Jiang Taishou sneered, "I have laid thousands of kilograms of gunpowder under the four city gates. As long as the other party dares to enter through the gate, I will make them die inexplicably."
After hearing this, everyone's expressions could not help but recover a little.
"I really hope the imperial court can send troops as soon as possible to restore order in Shenzhou."
"That princess only dared to act so recklessly while the Shenzhou garrison was away. When the snow melts, it will be her turn to suffer."
Just when everyone was comforting each other, a strange whistling sound came to everyone's ears.
"You...did you hear anything?" Magistrate Zheng had already been frightened. Now that Ning Wanjun's troops were gathered under the city, any sound would make him tremble.
"Is that an eagle howling?"
"It doesn't look like it, it feels much duller... I guess it's the wind."
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, hoot, hoot, hoot"
This time, the sound was suddenly much closer, as if it was coming from above!
what happened
Just when Jiang Taishou was about to ask the attendants outside the door to find out, a guard ran into the house in a panic, "T-Sir, Taishou, no, it's not good!"
"What's wrong? Please explain it clearly!" The prefect was shocked and pretended to be calm.
"There are flying four-legged monsters in the sky that are attacking the trebuchets and bed crossbows on our western city wall!"
"Flying...monster?"
Governor Jiang rushed out of the government office and looked up to the west - he saw a huge black lizard circling and swooping in the air, spraying out balls of flames towards the wall from time to time. The guards screamed and fled in all directions, with no thought of resisting with their bows and crossbows. The flames not only ignited the defensive equipment, but also affected the boiling oil. When the grease dripped from the overturned copper basin, the raging fire could no longer be controlled.
In less than half a quarter of an hour, half of the walls of Baihe City were in flames!