Upon seeing His Majesty's arrival, everyone immediately knelt down.

"Your Majesty, we humble servants pay our respects!"

"Rise!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Li Shimin went straight to the large pot, sat on a small stool, and picked up a large ladle to stir the contents of the iron pot. He was surprised to see that it contained not only dried vegetables and stewed meat, but also a lot of fresh vegetables.

Where did you get these vegetables?

"Your Majesty, this stewed dried vegetables and meat was prepared before our departure. Our captain said it doesn't keep well and told us to eat it quickly on the road, so..."

Li Shimin snorted coldly upon hearing this, then pointed to the fresh vegetables.

"I'm asking where these fresh vegetables came from?"

"I bought it!"

"Your Majesty, you may not know this, but our captain has already ordered people to set up supply points along the marching route and made contact with the nearby villagers. As soon as we arrive, fresh vegetables will be delivered to us!"

"this……"

Li Shimin was so angry when he heard this that he wanted to curse. This grandson knew how to enjoy himself. He had actually ordered people to set up supply points along the march route in advance and even bought vegetables for his soldiers regularly!

But how much would that cost?

If I remember correctly, this grandson's military command has more than a thousand people, right?

At a rate of thirty coins per person per day, that's thirty thousand coins in a day...

Forget it, thirty strings of cash are really nothing to that bastard...

If Li Shimin hadn't been short of money, he would have wanted to feed his soldiers meat as well. However, he had brought too many men, a total of 50,000.

If every soldier were to be fed according to the standards of the Sanglin Garrison, the daily food cost would be at least 1.5 million coins, and the march would take at least 100 days, which would amount to 15 million coins...

Li Shimin thought about it for a moment and realized that it didn't seem to be that much.

After all, he had made a lot of money when he sold the house, and he used some of it to buy meat and vegetables for his soldiers, which was a good opportunity to improve their meals.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin immediately went to the tent where Li Jue was, only to find that his grandson was eating even more luxuriously.

On his table were not only freshly stir-fried vegetables, but also a large pot of stewed chicken and a pot of braised pig's trotters.

Upon seeing this, Li Shimin immediately strode forward, picked up a braised pig's trotter, and began to gnaw on it.

He didn't see Li Jue leading Su Dingfang and the others back until he finished eating a pig's trotter.

When everyone saw Li Shimin arrive, they immediately stepped forward to pay their respects.

"Your humble servant greets Your Majesty!"

"Your humble servant greets Your Majesty!"

"Your grandson greets Your Majesty!"

Li Shimin ignored him and continued gnawing on the pig's trotters as if no one else was around.

Seeing that Li Shimin remained silent, the others could only bend over and wait. But Li Jue couldn't wait any longer. Seeing that there were only a few pig trotters left, he hurriedly stepped forward and took the plate away.

"Grandpa, you've come here to steal my food!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin awkwardly licked his fingers.

"My imperial cuisine isn't as good as yours, hehehe..."

"Li Jue, do you know your crime?"

"What crime?"

"Because of your mistake, the Tang army almost mutinied?"

"ah?"

Upon hearing this, Su Dingfang exclaimed in shock. He knew the importance of military mutiny; every time there was a mutiny, a number of officers and soldiers would lose their heads.

"Your Majesty, when did our Tang army mutiny occur?"

"Just now!"

"The Jingzhou soldiers smelled meat in your food and suspected that the quartermaster had embezzled rations, so they started arguing with him on the spot!"

Upon hearing this, Su Dingfang secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, it wasn't a true mutiny, otherwise at least several hundred heads would be rolling by now...

"Your Majesty, please forgive us. We will take out the meat we brought and hand it over to Your Majesty for distribution!"

Li Shimin nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this. He was growing to like Su Dingfang more and more, feeling that this man was sensible and mindful of the big picture. He believed that if he was properly nurtured, he would surely become a pillar of the Tang Dynasty in the future.

Before Li Shimin could even praise him, Li Jue immediately objected.

"Old Su, you're the kind of guy who sells his grandfather's land without a second thought! Do you know how much effort I put into getting this little bit of meat, and you just give it away like that!"

"Your Highness..."

Upon hearing this, Su Dingfang hurriedly pulled Li Jue aside, but before Su Dingfang could even utter a word of comfort, Li Shimin jumped up from the stool and kicked Li Jue in the buttocks.

"You unfilial grandson!"

"Is that even human language you're speaking?"

"The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty risked their lives for you, shouldn't we get a piece of your flesh?"

Li Jue muttered something upon hearing this.

"should……"

"But we should eat His Majesty's flesh even more..."

"you!"

Li Shimin was almost driven to his death by this rebellious grandson.

"I won't eat for nothing. I'll order someone to allocate you 100,000 strings of cash and put you in charge of the food for 50,000 troops along the way!"

"ah?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jue looked up in surprise, never expecting such a good thing to happen.

"Grandpa, are you telling the truth?"

"certainly!"

"But I have made it clear beforehand that if any soldier complains about the food, or if anyone reports that you are embezzling the soldiers' rations, I will punish you according to military law!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jue immediately patted his chest and guaranteed it.

"Your Majesty, please rest assured, your humble servant will certainly take good care of these 50,000 troops!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin immediately appointed Li Jue as the deputy commander-in-chief of the army, in charge of the food and drink of the 50,000-strong army along the way, and also gave him the power to coordinate with local authorities and mobilize government officials along the route.

In fact, Li Jue didn't care about this power at all.

In Li Jue's view, as long as he controlled the finances, all the local governments would have to beg him for help!

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