Chapter 42
The military settlement tonight is destined to be bustling with martial law.
Because tonight, they have sent out all their elite troops to perform a play of "black eating black" against bandits in public, but in fact one person plays two roles in secret. They are very busy.
But the harvest was also fruitful, and countless spoils were quietly transported back.
Before daybreak, sentries were beating drums and gongs, calling for everyone to get their rations. Even Yao Chunnuan was notified and told to get ready, as they were receiving three months' worth of rations.
Hearing this, Yao Chunnuan raised her eyebrows. It seemed like they made a fortune last night.
Upon hearing that rations were going to be distributed, all those who were woken up early in the morning in the military settlement jumped up at once. They were no longer in a bad mood and did not mind the low temperature in the morning. There was only one thought in their minds, that is, rations were going to be distributed.
In fact, the soldiers and their families in the southern area had all heard about the food shortage in the military settlements, and they were secretly worried. Some even prayed in their hearts that they could quickly exchange guards with the Yichun camp, so that they would not have to worry about food and drink when they were stationed there.
In the past few days, there have been rumors in the military settlement that the Yichun camp is going to implement a streamlined system next year. The soldiers currently staying in the camp will focus on training and fighting, and will not need to do farming work. Therefore, they are not going to rotate with the military settlement.
Hearing this, the soldiers who were currently staying in the military settlement were devastated. No matter how dumb they were, they realized that they had been abandoned by the main camp. Add to that the lack of food in the military settlement and the fact that their families were running out of food, what were they going to do?
The general had his own elite troops. They would likely be reduced to second-class status in the military settlement, likely doing little more than the forced labor of the prisoners in the northern district. Furthermore, the military settlement was short of food. Would they ever go hungry? Just as everyone was panicking, they suddenly heard the news that the general was distributing food, and they were in disbelief.
Liu Dagui was one of them. He got up quickly, washed his face hastily and went out. Then he met acquaintances and came to the grain distribution center in groups. At this time, the grain distribution center was already full of people and they started to line up.
Speaking of distributing food, everyone knows that there is not much food in the military warehouses. Under such circumstances, no one knows how much food can be distributed this time.
Liu Dagui didn't bother waiting in line, but instead went up with his friends to take a look. They saw the food was packed in large sacks, piled high and low. It was quite a spectacle. Seeing so much food, they all beamed with joy.
There were three food distribution points in the southern area, and this one was just one of them. Also, I heard that it wasn't just the southern area that was getting food distribution; a batch of food had also been shipped over from the northern area, so everyone in the military settlement was getting a share.
Just then, the leader in charge of distributing the grain arrived. He stepped onto the table and shouted to everyone, "Everyone, line up quickly. Ten lines. Once you're in line, we'll start distributing the grain. Let's do it quickly this time. Can we do it?!"
"Yes!" The roar at the scene was deafening.
The moment they received the food, many soldiers' eyes moistened. Back in the Yichun camp, Marshal Zhu had despised them and abandoned them, but it was the general who took them over, gave them rations, and kept them alive. In an instant, the soldiers were reunited.
Yao Chunnuan still went on duty, but asked Luo Suyi to take her seal to collect food, and asked Xiao Jieming to help.
Of the three of them, she undoubtedly received the best rations, with 70% to 80% fine grains and only 20% to 30% coarse grains. The two of them, on the other hand, received 80% coarse grains and only 20% fine grains. However, three months' worth of rations for the three of them combined weighed 700 to 800 kilograms, which Luo Suyi couldn't carry back alone.
Xiao Jieming nodded at Yao Chunnuan's arrangement, sent her to the General's Mansion, and went back to help Luo Suyi.
Yao Chunnuan had breakfast at the General's Mansion, which was provided by the main kitchen. In the past, they had several breakfast options, but today they had a set menu: two white flour buns, a bowl of millet porridge, and, as an exception, two eggs.
In later times, Yao Chunnuan would at most be able to finish egg millet porridge and a steamed bun, and nothing more. But now, she could finish it all, mainly because she was short of oil and water, she sighed.
Zhu Yongnian arrived last. He looked around and realized that everyone was eating the same breakfast. "Oh, are we all having the same breakfast today?"
Guo Huai said, "Well, I heard that the kitchen was very busy this morning, so they didn't make too many fancy dishes. So the whole General's Mansion will have the same breakfast."
"Hey, there are boiled eggs today? And they gave us two at once?" Their breakfast rule is to give us one boiled egg every three days, and today is not the day for giving eggs.
"Let's eat. We'll eat whatever the kitchen gives us."
Later they realized that they had taken chickens from a different hill last night, and naturally, they hadn't let go of the eggs either. The whole family had to be well-organized, so the kitchen was being particularly generous today.
Just as they finished breakfast, someone from the kitchen came and said that they would distribute meat and asked them to go to the kitchen to get it.
The kitchen was pressing for work, so they all went to the kitchen after breakfast before starting work. When they got there, they found that although they were supposed to be distributing meat, they were actually giving out naked chickens, two per person, with the feathers removed.
In the words of the head kitchen manager, last night the general led his troops into the mountains to fight bandits. With good luck, they not only took down several strongholds, but also seized a number of pheasant nests on the way, so they had chicken to eat today.
Looking at the chicken feet that were clearly domestic, Yao Chunnuan paused, thinking to himself, "You're the boss, you got the chicken, so if you say it's a pheasant, then it's a pheasant." Fortunately, it was just a domestic chicken pretending to be a pheasant. If they had called a deer a horse, they would have agreed.
The others weren't stupid either, they were all making faces at me.
Yao Chunnuan was given two big fat chickens, one male and one female, which together weighed a full ten kilograms.
Yao Chunnuan had just received the chicken when the head kitchen manager handed her a bag of chicken feet. "Master Yao, we heard that you like chicken feet, so Chief Steward Wu specifically asked us to give you some. We have hundreds of chickens left in the main kitchen. Here, the chicken feet of these hundreds of chickens are all here, take them." Anyway, the general's personal guards didn't care whether the chicken had claws in the big pot of food in the kitchen, so the head kitchen manager ordered people to chop all the chicken feet for Master Yao.
"Thank you." Yao Chunnuan did not refuse. It was snowing in Yichun now, and the outside of the house was a natural refrigerator. It didn't matter if hundreds of chicken feet could not be eaten. She could just leave them outside to freeze.
After distributing the chickens, before leaving, the head kitchen manager emphasized again, "Remember, today we're distributing pheasants."
"Yes, yes, what we got today are all pheasants, there are no domestic chickens." The young centurions replied with a laugh.
The kitchen steward nodded with satisfaction.
Yao Chunnuan was so amused watching from the side.
The Yichun military settlement was happily distributing food, while Zhu Yucheng, the commander-in-chief at the main camp, was furious.
Early that morning, his confidant stumbled to him and told him that his own small treasury had been robbed by someone and not a single cent of the money or grain was left for him.
Upon hearing the news, Marshal Zhu felt dizzy and almost couldn't breathe. His little treasury, the little treasury he had accumulated for many years, which bastard did it? When he finds out, he will be killed!
Meanwhile, Marshal Zhu was incredibly fortunate to have mastered the art of hiding his wealth in three locations. While one portion was gone, the other two remained. Even so, the warehouse that was raided primarily stored grain, not much gold or silver. Yet, it still held nearly 30% of his wealth. The loss was enormous. No, he couldn't bear to think about it; it made his heart ache.
At this moment, a servant came running over to ask, "General, the owner of the Yurong Troupe we booked the other day has arrived with his troupe. He asked me to ask what play you would like to order for the first performance."
"Get lost! Send them back where they came from!" How could he still have the time to watch a play at this hour? "Also, I'll put this Yurong Troupe on a list of people I won't be able to visit from now on!" This was the first time he had invited this troupe, and they had gotten into trouble on their first visit. They must be incredibly unlucky. This unlucky troupe was not allowed to set foot in his mansion again!
Realizing that his master was in a very bad mood, the servant ran away crawling.
This incident had just happened, and Marshal Zhu had barely recovered when several of his younger generals from the Zhu faction came running to him, howling and screaming, telling him that their warehouse had been robbed and all their hidden grain had been taken away. Even more arrogantly, they had left large signs in the warehouse saying things like "Yunhua Village was here" and "Qinglong Village borrowed this." As if to prevent others from noticing their involvement, they were the ones responsible.
What's even more outrageous is that the two or three thousand chickens that a lieutenant general secretly raised in the mountains were all killed in one pot, without leaving a single feather for him.
"General, these bandits are truly lacking in virtue. Let's lead our troops over and destroy them, so we can recover all the gold, silver, and food we've lost."
Yunhua Village: It’s like a big pot falling from the sky!
Qinglongzhai: We didn’t do anything.
"Marshal, these damned bandits can't be left alive."
"It may not be the work of bandits." The loss was too great, and at this time Marshal Zhu calmed down.
"Marshal, who did it?" One of the trusted generals pointed in the direction of the Yichun military camp.
It is entirely possible. He is an iron-blooded general. He was originally staying in the northern border. The third prince issued a transfer order and brought him to Yichun.
Well, he should have been transferred to the Yichun camp which was also on the front line, but he was taken to the military settlement by his commander-in-chief. Before he arrived, nearly 80% of the food in the military settlement was taken away. The commander-in-chief even planned to submit a proposal to streamline the troops and system next year, hoping to keep him in the military settlement and transport food to their farmland.
Speaking of which, ever since that great general arrived in Yichun, he's been tricked twice by their commander-in-chief, and the third trick is already brewing. This would make anyone feel uncomfortable.
"Yes, those bandits wouldn't have the guts to rob us. Even if they did, how could a group of stragglers sneak attack their warehouse without alerting them? So, it's very likely that that person did it."
"Send someone to the military settlement to see if there's anything unusual," Marshal Zhu ordered. There had been quite a bit of commotion last night. If Chief Xing had truly done it, there would surely be some clues.
Not long after, the personal guard who was sent to inquire about the news came back stumbling, "General, the military settlement is distributing food!"
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