On the edge of the river, freshly caught fish and other aquatic products, as well as large slices of pork and mutton that have just been slaughtered, bloody pork and mutton, and baskets of bean sprouts, water cress, cabbage and other fruits and vegetables transported by the ship are placed there. In the camp where the Taiping Army was stationed. But the most eye-catching thing is undoubtedly the location of a pot stove under the open air.
"Make fried food..."
Wang Shenchao, who was sweaty and his face flushed red, pulled the coal ash and burned the iron stove in front of him vigorously. And the hot oil in the marching pot on the stove has boiled.
This is the grease ration for their entire team of more than 30 people, now they are all concentrated in this big pot of fireworks and steam;
"It's rolling... It's rolling, it's boiling..."
"It's almost time to order..."
Wang Shenchao, who used to be a small army official, is here, and he can only start with the help of a supernumerary assistant; there is no way, although he can be a penman in the official army, but he is here in the peaceful thieves. Just pull out a pawn at random, you have to know a few words roughly to be able to calculate your own payment account. Therefore, his self-sustaining ability and experience are not worth mentioning here.
Although he entered the camp as a reformed prisoner, he was dressed in two seasonal blue and blue woolen clothes, lived in a large shack or linoleum tent with ten people, and slept on straw bales of old felt; There are also gnocchi soup and brown rice dumplings for three meals a day, baked jicama, and different patterns to eat wholeheartedly; there are special dry foods that are particularly hungry and hungry when they are rushed to work and temporarily pulled up to work at night.
But what he actually envied more was his cousin Wang Yanfu, who was already regarded as a pawn; because he had great strength and a lot of courage, he was always obedient and honest in front of those disciplines, so he was treated as a reform in advance. The successful "model of progress" was taken out early from the labor team.
Now he not only doesn’t have to organize clothes, hats, shoes, socks, beddings, tents, and blankets by himself, he also has a basic salary of 140 wen each month, as well as a ten-day service allowance and some non-staple food subsidies for oil, salt, wine and sauce. . Not to mention that they have oily canned food, or stewed salted fish, or steamed meat to open the meat.
In contrast, the assistant soldiers have only some physical rations that can be exchanged for work in their daily lives; only when they go out to march and battlefield conditions, can they have a small amount of money settled on a daily basis as a temporary reward and incentive.
Although he might not have been able to get more money and things than these when he was an officer and army; but the various salaries, rewards and aids have been layered down, and there are some things that can really be obtained. It's easy to say. This depends not only on the ability and strength of the soldiers and generals who follow, but also on the conscience and limitations of those who handle it at all levels.
Therefore, in addition to basic food and clothing, they usually do not expect these nominally available money and food to live; instead, they rely on the Shang officials to take them out from time to time to looting places and expropriating people to obtain personal property for a period of time. need.
Therefore, in this overall atmosphere of no temporary joy, even if they have some money in their hands for a while, they can't keep it at all, and they are scattered on the Epu fighting games or local prostitutes. Anyway, once you die on the battlefield in the future, what you have left will be a benefit to others.
However, Wang Shenchao relied on his writing skills to count and record for everyone, so he became such a small military official in the state army; there is still such a small amount of savings. But in the seasons when many officials and soldiers were fertile and uneven under the imperial court, he also suffered from a hungry belly and turned to the road, looking for a place to eat.
Therefore, once he is familiar with and used to this completely different atmosphere, Wang Shenchao can always feel that he wants to accumulate qualifications and services, or seek extraordinary meritorious performance in the presence of those assistants. Place, in order to turn to the fixed salary of the heart and mind and miss.
However, as a reformed former officer and soldier, he still has at least a fixed observation period, and only through this kind of service performance before the formation can it be possible to reduce and change as appropriate.
As he recollected and thought about it, he didn't see a pause in his hands, sweeping the dishes prepared in advance and gently rolling them down in the boiling oil.
The first thing that came out of the pan was a layer of minced garlic and rice syrup blended with oil on a flat spoon. Soon, delicious fried pancakes with browned flavour were rolled out in the boiling oil.
Use the flat crust and layer strips pulled off from the sponge, the crispy strips and shortbreads that are fried; the golden noodles that are fried with glutinous rice dumplings and bean noodles;
Rolled ribs with batter and rice flour, fish pieces marinated in sour wine; large meatballs made of chopped meat, cress, chives and rice milk along with the cartilage;
Even the meat substitutes in the cans, dried paper-wrapped food and overnight noodles, rice balls, water-fat vermicelli and noodles; even all kinds of dried eggplants, vegetables and other fruits and vegetables. . . . All the ingredients they could think of were wrapped in glutinous paste and boiled over.
Until the oil color gradually darkened and a thick layer of dross settled down, I reluctantly put it aside and let it cool before putting it away, so that it could continue to be used as an addition to cooking and cooking in the future.
In the morning when the coldness of the spring has not completely subsided, just a bowl of freshly ground sweet bean juice or salted soybean brains, chewing on these crispy, fragrant and boiling hot fried vegetables and fried food, it is simply a useful life that can not be exchanged. what. It's a pity that his cousin Wang Yanfu is not in their team, so he couldn't share it together.
Then, as if some kind of wish had come to pass, Wang Yanfu suddenly appeared in the distance, followed by two familiar figures behind him; it just seemed that the situation was a little unwell. Both of them are unkempt, yellow and thin, with many frostbite and scars on their bodies.
Although he has obviously lost a lot of weight, Wang Shenchao still recognizes his blood ties. These are his two younger brothers, Wang Shenzhi and Wang Shenjun, who have escaped from the battlefield outside Tanzhou City.
"Brother, we can see each other again alive..."
"It's really not easy..."
After meeting Wang Shenchao, the two of them couldn't help crying like a sudden emotional outburst.
"You... why are you here..."
Wang Shenchao also forcibly endured the soreness in his eyes, as well as the surprises and surprises that were lost and recovered.
Then, as he watched these two devouring his share of fried food and saved rations, Wang Yanfu also brought a rarer canned meat substitute; while listening to their verbal speech intermittently. encounter.
It turned out that since they fled from the defeat outside of Tanzhou City, they had fled to the north all the way. It's just that they failed to meet the imaginary officer and army. Instead, together with many people, the grass thieves who arrived first were blocked by the Yangtze River and couldn't make it through.
He had to turn to the east and wanted to go to the Jiangdong roads under the control of the imperial court, but was engulfed by grass thieves in other places in the middle of the way; because both of them always wanted to run away, but they acted secretly and were caught by others. Not only did he suffer a lot at the time and almost didn't lose his life, but he was also punitively sent to the most painful and exhausting pack team to leave.
It wasn't until the rebels received food supplements a few days ago that they began to increase, and the two brothers who had not yet died were re-elected and became one of the new pawns among the other rebels; then they met Wang Yanfu, who was with the team to communicate. , Recognized each other on the spot.
However, as they gobbled and ate like a starving ghost, these two tears couldn't help but pop out again;
"Brother, why are we doing this..."
"The family can't survive and run out to take their lives to blog, isn't it just for this kind of life."
"Before we were all fooling around for nothing..."
"Okay, okay, aren't we all together again now..."
At this moment, Wang Shenchao, who was also touched, comforted them.
"The most important thing for a family that comes out to ask for a living is not to be neat and tidy..."
Then he turned his head to Wang Yanfu with an expression of expectation.
"Xiao Wu, now it's the best for you to hang around here, to be able to ask Shangguan for kindness and favor, and get him together from another ministry... even if it's a messenger first."
"Brother, please be relieved one or two, I think I will do my best to ask for this..."
Wang Yanfu also repeatedly agreed.
. . . . . . . .
At the same time, at a private banquet in a courtyard in Xunyang City.
"It's really strange, I just persuaded a few more words, then Ma Da Er is really the same thing..."
Kongmu officer Huang Kui, who put down the cup, complained repeatedly to Shi Huangrui, the right elder brother of the clan, with some dissatisfaction.
"This time, I'm too tired to be a man inside and out. The old brothers in the army are all talking weird things. They all say that I forced Ma Da's ears away... Lao Tzu was just ordered by him. The postponement army took away some mounts and manpower... Why did this stubborn old horse bother to this point?"
"But this monk Xu actually accepted it, and he openly interceded in front of the king for this matter. This is another reason; he even accepts this class of old things for compensation; I really don't understand him. What I mean by doing this, is there such a shortage of people in Jiangling? I'm afraid it is ill-intentioned and the picture is not small..."
"Regardless of his intentions for big and small, right now is when the military government wants to rely on him, and now it is even more about getting married with his elder brother; these side matters are not easy to care about..."
However, Huang Rui slowly provokes a chopsticks to explode, and persuades painfully.
"Brother didn't let go of the conversation in private, as long as he didn't directly pull away the five-star and seven-rate heads, those miscellaneous heads will let him go.. They are not without compensation... To be less burdensome isn't it..."
"You didn't see that these camps outside the city were already a lot empty. Many handsome leaders simply transferred all the subordinates to others at a discount, and then took their belongings to the south to enjoy the blessing..." Hearing this, Huang Gui couldn't help but show melancholy. Emoji come.
"So what? Just listen to me..."
Huang Rui picked up the silver pinch and filled it up for him, and then sighed.
"Except for the brothers who want to go back to their hometown with the king to be decent and outstanding; this kind of half-hearted thing is not the way to think about it with you; even if you don’t leave now, there will be a breakup in the future. One day of Dao... It's a good thing that the stupid monk Xu is willing to take them away with money and food..."
"So what if you are relaxed, like being a silly thing like a big ear, how many more in the world..."
(End of this chapter) (End of this chapter)