Ancient version of star chasers

Chapter 46: Ancient Star Chasers

The next day, Chu Huaibei summoned all the generals to the meeting tent to discuss military affairs. The main reason was that with the arrival of a new general, it was necessary to reclaim the military duties that had previously been assigned to General Huaihua and make some adjustments based on the situation.

Soon, the generals present noticed that there was something wrong with the new General Jin. First, he sat upright the entire time, staring at the King of Zhenbei with a strange glint in his eyes. Then, no matter what the King of Zhenbei said, he always had an expression of "you are right" and nodded in agreement!

General Zhongwu Song Shoujie and General Guide Li Guyan watched with such intensity that veins throbbed in their foreheads, their fists clenched so tightly that their knuckles turned white. Where had the emperor found this idiot? Even if he wasn't in any particular faction, he had to be one of the emperor's men. So why was he acting like he was following the Prince of Zhenbei's lead?

Xue Zhan frowned as he looked at the man, and suddenly felt that he was very shameless. Where did the emperor find such a master? He had sinister intentions and actually found the prince's weakness of being soft-hearted and not hard-working.

Qin Feng secretly gave this man a dagger look from time to time, but this guy didn't even give him a glance and simply ignored him. Qin Feng was so angry that he gritted his teeth. What's wrong with this guy? He stared at the prince so boldly and passionately. How shameless!

The only two calmest figures in the room were Chu Huaibei and General Yang Sui. Chu Huaibei was poring over the military work schedule he'd been writing for days, discussing it with everyone present. His mind was completely focused on the task, undivided. Yang Sui, on the other hand, was lost in thought, only engaging in conversation when Chu Huaibei spoke to him.

Finally, Chu Huaibei summarized the situation and only assigned a small portion of the work to General Jin, citing the need for him to familiarize himself with the process. Several generals who had originally planned to offload their extra work, upon seeing this, immediately offered to continue their duties for a while, allowing General Jin to adjust. The atmosphere became unexpectedly harmonious.

Of course, the happiest person was Jin Hongye. He didn't expect that the prince cared about him so much and his colleagues helped him so much. The atmosphere in the Zhenbei Army was really very friendly. From the soldiers to the generals, everyone was very friendly to him!

No, he had to write another letter home to tell his elders not to look for a lawyer to send it to him. He had someone to help him now and everything was fine.

It was a rare harmonious atmosphere in many years. Chu Huaibei waved his hand and everything was settled. She would treat everyone to a banquet in the meeting room in the evening. If there was anything they wanted to eat, they could tell her in advance and it would be arranged.

Song Shoujie had the most military duties, so he said bluntly, "Your Majesty, I'd like to drink a small pot of fine wine, the same one you sent to my residence on New Year's Day."

"Okay, I'll arrange it." He nodded to the next person.

"I want to eat two beggar chickens." Li Guyan loves chicken, and the ones cooked in the palace are especially delicious. But he didn't expect that the prince would give them as a New Year's gift. This made his wife very worried, and she didn't know how to return the gift. In the end, because the chickens were so delicious, his wife sent hundreds of live chickens to the palace's farm... For a while, both the person who received the gift and the person who gave the gift felt a little embarrassed.

"OK!"

"I want to eat barbecued pork buns, ten of them." Yang Sui also ordered the dishes.

"no problem."

"I want to eat boiled chicken." Qin Feng thought about it and decided to like this.

"I want to eat braised lion's head." Xue Zhan likes to eat meat in big mouthfuls.

Chu Huaibei turned his gaze to Jin Hongye.

"I... General... I want to eat roast lamb with honey." His ears turned red. What should he do? Why hadn't he heard of the names of the dishes these generals had mentioned? Help! The prince was looking at him. He was so nervous. Ahhhhh, when the prince was serious, he was like a sharp sword, but now his temperament had become gentle and restrained. He really wanted to compete with the prince. It didn't matter if he got hurt, he was so tough! If that day really came, he would write ten letters back to show off to his brothers!

"No problem. The banquet will start promptly at 5 p.m. After you finish your work, you can come to the meeting room early. I have also prepared some snacks that won't take up too much space."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Everyone bowed and expressed their gratitude, then returned to their tents, waiting to come here to rest as soon as they finished their business.

Chu Huaibei went out and called his personal guards, asking him to go back to the palace to get some necessary ingredients, and then invite Ma Youcai to take charge of the cooking. In the past two years, Ma Youcai had also learned a lot of dishes, but he never took the initiative to sell them in his own restaurant. He would only put them on the menu when Chu Huaibei asked him to.

The dishes they just mentioned were all new dishes from the palace recently. Chu Huaibei was stingy and reluctant to give expensive New Year gifts to the emperor's people, but not giving any would seem impolite. He always sent them gifts every year, like a small jar of fine wine to the generals' homes—a truly small one, only two pounds... and five beggar chickens, warmed over charcoal, with a sheet of instructions. Most of it was food not found in the northern border, and nothing of value.

I received quite a few odd gifts in return, like a live chicken from the Li family, and fermented rice wine from the Song family. The rice wine dumplings were delicious! The Yang family's braised venison, which I heard was a recipe passed down from Madam Yang Sui's family, was indeed delicious. There were also a bunch of other things from the Xue and Qin families. Although everyone was in a bad mood because of the cotton-padded jacket incident, this New Year was pretty good.

It wasn't even the Hour of the Rooster yet, and the most active person, Jin Hongye, who had nothing else to do, was the one who had the most active time. When he entered the meeting room, the tables were already neatly arranged, with the same variety of snacks placed on every seat. He was self-aware and sat down at the very end.

On the table sat a small bowl of what looked like goat's milk sweet soup, and next to it were two plates of unfamiliar pastries. One plate contained triangular-shaped pastries with black and white stripes. He picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. It was crispy, delicious, and slightly sweet. He thought his older sister would definitely like this pastry! He ate three pieces before stopping to look at the other plate.

There were only three of them on the plate, golden brown and small. They looked like they were made of noodles. He picked one up and stuffed it whole, only to find out it was actually salty! The salty and crunchy filling, paired with the crispy crust, was exactly what he liked! Wow, there are snacks like this in the North! Dim sum that hasn't even appeared in Yangzhou!

He finished one more, leaving only the last one. He held it in his hand, reluctantly biting off half. The filling was golden yellow, both beautiful and delicious. The prince was truly wicked. What do you mean by a snack that doesn't take up too much space? He only gave me three pieces on one plate and ten on another! After finishing them all, I only tasted the flavor.

He reluctantly finished the last triangle and turned his eyes to the bowl of sweet soup that must have been made with goat's milk. He didn't really want to eat it. When he was growing up, his mother forced him to drink one bowl a day for three years. The smell made him want to throw up. But he didn't smell the fishy smell of goat's milk. He might give it a try. Maybe it tasted okay. This was the only thing on the table that was edible...

I picked up the bowl and brought it to my mouth, ready to take a sip to taste it. Hmm...what's going on...why is this frozen...the bowl was clearly still warm.

He put down the small bowl and saw a small spoon beside it. He had misunderstood and thought that the spoon was for the young ladies of the noble families to slowly drink the sweet soup. He picked up the spoon and dug a piece from the bowl. The white and tender soup trembled in the spoon, and looked much more delicate than tofu. He put it in his mouth and it melted in his mouth. It was a hundred times more tender than tofu, with a strong milky aroma and sweet taste, without any fishy smell of goat milk. If he had eaten this when he was a child, his mother would not have had to force him to eat it! He can eat ten bowls! It was a small bowl, and he finished it in just a few scoops with the spoon. Jin Hongye looked at the empty bowl and plate in front of him with melancholy. The prince was really tantalizing...

The second person to come was Yang Sui. Seeing that there were already a pile of empty plates on Jin Hongye's table, he greeted him, found his usual seat, and began to slowly taste the snacks on the table. Yang Sui did not show it on his face, but he still felt in his heart that the food in the prince's mansion was probably more exquisite and delicious than that in the prince's mansion.

Yang Sui could feel the eager gazes without even looking up. Not only did he ignore them, he also quickened his eating pace, which disappointed Jin Hongye, who thought that General Yang didn't like the yellow snack.

The third person to arrive was Qin Feng. After greeting the two, he also quietly began to enjoy the snack. He preferred the crispy triangles and asked the prince for the recipe. He thought his father would like it too.

The two people who followed closely were Xue Zhan and Li Guyan. Song Shoujie arrived at the end of the Shen hour, and finally Chu Huaibei arrived on time at the You hour.

As soon as Chu Huaibei entered the tent, he found that everyone had finished eating the three snacks. It seemed that they all liked cat ears and egg yolk pastries. That bowl was double-skin milk made with goat milk after removing the fishy smell. He didn't expect that these gentlemen also liked it.

Chu Huaibei signaled to his guards to inform the kitchen to serve the dishes. During the interval between servings, Jin Hongye was the first to lose his temper and asked, "What is the name of that yellow pastry, Your Highness? Where can I buy it?"

"It's called Egg Yolk Pastry. It's made in my palace. It's not available outside for the time being."

Chu Huaibei looked at Jin Hongye's obviously disappointed expression and thought he looked like a big golden retriever with a frown after failing to beg for food. He was very happy in his heart.

"Your Highness, what is the name of this crispy thin slice? It tastes really good." Qin Feng took over the conversation.

"This is a cat's ear, not a real raccoon's ear. It just looks similar. It's made of brown sugar and flour." Chu Huaibei explained the name to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. If the food here is said to be a part of a certain animal, it is generally real...

"Well, it does look a bit like it, and it's delicious." Song Shoujie rarely praised a snack.

The discussion about dim sum ended there, as the main course for the banquet had already been served. Everyone had a portion of the dishes ordered today, and their own portion would be double. Jin Hongye wrote down the names of each dish, then compared them with the dishes on the tables, quickly matching the dishes to their names.

He tried the braised lion's head first. At first, he really thought it was a meat dish made from a lion. He took a big bite and found that the soup was thick, the minced meat was firm and very tasty. He could eat the meat in big mouthfuls without too much effort. It turned out that General Xue knew how to eat!

Then he picked up a piece of beggar's chicken. The outer layer of this dish was roasted mud, and the chicken inside was wrapped in lotus leaves without any mud on it. The aroma of the chicken was mixed with the fragrance of the lotus leaves. When he took a bite, juice flowed out of the chicken, which was extremely delicious. He could eat three of this chicken!

After picking up several beggar's chicken with chopsticks, Jin Hongye picked up a bun and stuffed it into his mouth. He took a bite and found the filling inside. The skin was thin and the filling was large. There was also a whole piece of barbecued pork inside. The salty and sweet meat was so delicious! He held the bun in his hand and finished it in three bites.