Chapter 140: An incident occurred while distributing porridge in Fengyang City
The reason why Xu Nian appeared in the Border Guard House can be traced back to three days ago...
Three days ago, Xu Nian, Mo Yu and others escorted the last batch of grain and fodder to the border. At this time, Luo Jinan had already captured a city with the Black Armored Army.
Previously, Yanyang State occupied three cities of Sheng Dynasty. Some of the people of Sheng Dynasty in the three cities did not escape, and many were taken as military slaves by the Yanyang Army.
After retaking Fengyang City this time, these military slaves were also rescued, so Luo Jinan stayed in Fengyang City to deal with subsequent livelihood issues, while the army was led by Liu Fei and Zheng Yan to continue the siege.
When Xu Nian arrived in Fengyang City, she didn't know Luo Jin'an was there. She saw that the people in the city were in a miserable state and looked haggard, so she decided to stay and provide relief to the refugees. As for the food and fodder, she asked Mo Jian to take people to deliver them to the military camp.
Xu Nian, Mo Yu, Yan Fu and Yan Rong settled in a small courtyard. Without waiting for any rest, they started to cook rice porridge. Although there was enough food, the porridge was not thick. Xu Nian just added some herbs to increase physical strength.
"Miss, I'm afraid this pot of porridge is not enough to share?" Yanfu poured the cooked porridge into the wooden barrel and said while wiping the sweat off her face.
Xu Nian loaded the firewood onto the car, looked back, and replied, "Let's bring more rice and cook it at the porridge distribution area. The purpose of this pot of porridge is to comfort the refugees. They look like starving wolves. If we go there empty-handed and slowly cook it, it will easily cause unrest."
Yanfu nodded, thinking that the young lady was very thoughtful. Now there were only four of them, and the secret guards had been sent by the young lady to escort the food and grass. If a disturbance really occurred, they would be outnumbered.
After loading the things into the car, the group went to the west gate of Fengyang City. Xu Nian had seen it before and saw that most of the people gathered there were the elderly, the weak, women and children.
Although there were soup kitchens set up by the government in Fengyang City, they were unable to snatch the food provided by the government due to their physical strength difference, so it seemed that their situation was the worst.
When Xu Nian and others arrived at the place, there was no eye-catching porridge stall. A broken wooden table and a few steaming wooden barrels were enough to make the people here jealous.
The refugees rushed forward and wanted to fight for it, but Mo Yu raised his sword and stabbed out mercilessly. The leader had his throat pierced by the sword. The spurting blood and the leader's "ho ho" sound calmed the refugees behind him.
Xu Nian seized the opportunity and shouted loudly: "The rice and grain I brought today is guaranteed to be distributed to everyone, but if you don't follow the rules, don't blame me for scattering the rice and grain so that you can't get it back."
The refugees hesitated for a moment and dared not take another step forward, fearing that they would be the next to have their throats cut. All they wanted was to stay alive, and with such a vivid example before them, they naturally did not dare to do it again.
Xu Nian asked Yanfu and Yanrong to set up the pot and continue cooking the porridge, while she stood in front of the table to prepare to serve the porridge.
Xu Nian picked up the big spoon and knocked the iron pot twice, shouting loudly: "Those of you who are eating, line up, half a bowl each, and line up again after eating. If anyone in the line bullies women and children, don't blame me for not letting you drink a sip of water."
Mo Yu stood in front of the porridge barrel, holding the sword that was still dripping with blood, shocking everyone.
The refugees didn't dare to fight anymore and stood in two teams according to Xu Nian's instructions. Xu Nian didn't waste any more time and worked like a porridge-making robot, giving each person half a bowl, which was exactly one spoonful for two people.
The person who had prepared the porridge couldn't wait to drink it, so he walked quickly to the end of the line with his bowl in hand. Only after doing all this did he drink the porridge in the bowl with peace of mind.
The porridge prepared by Xu Nian was much thinner than the porridge in the government porridge shed. The purpose was to allow more women, children, the elderly and the weak to have something to eat and avoid competition.
As expected, several tall and thin men in the team were very disappointed when they saw the porridge in other people's bowls. They wanted to try their luck before the government porridge stalls opened, thinking that they could have an extra meal, but they never expected that the porridge was so watery.
One of the men looked at the long line in front of him and spat.
"I've been eating the thick porridge from the government for a long time. The girl looks pretty, but I didn't expect she is such a bad person. She actually wasted my time..."
After saying this, he hurried out with the broken bowl in his hand. The others followed him quickly. They had to be anxious, because if they delayed for a while, the bowl might be snatched away by others.
The people who left didn't know that at this moment a group of people holding bowls were drinking the porridge with gusto.
One of the little girls carefully swallowed the rice porridge in her mouth, and smiled happily at her mother, "Mom, this porridge is really delicious, and it has a salty taste..."
Before the little girl could finish her words, the woman beside her quickly covered her mouth.
"Niuniu, you can't say this porridge tastes good, or you won't be able to drink it next time, okay?"
The little girl nodded ignorantly. She didn't know why she couldn't say it, but she still wanted to drink such delicious porridge and wanted to see the fairy sister who gave out porridge again, so she agreed obediently.
The woman touched the little girl's head lovingly and fed the bowl of porridge to her mouth again. At this time, everyone in the team was drinking the porridge quietly. Even though they all tasted the difference in this bowl of porridge, they dared not say a word.
At this time, Xu Nian's clothes on the back were soaked with sweat, and her arms were sore, but she still held on.
Before, Mo Yu and others wanted to replace her but Xu Nian did not agree, because the refugees of Mo Yu's Sword were already afraid of her, so she was the most effective in maintaining order.
Yanfu and Yanrong not only had to cook porridge, but also had to look after the rice and grains in the cart, so Xu Nian would not distract them.
Yanfu put the cooked porridge into the wooden barrel and said with a smile: "Miss, there is only one pot left to cook. You can take a break first. I will take care of this."
Seeing that the rice in the bag was almost empty and Yanrong was processing it, Xu Nian did not refuse and stepped back to give his seat to Yanfu.
Xu Nian rubbed his right arm and looked at the distance. He saw that many people had already sat down on the open space. He knew that the medicinal herbs in the porridge had taken effect, otherwise how could everyone feel full after drinking only two bowls of rice water.
Xu Nian took a break and felt better. Just as he was about to help Yan Rong, he heard a burst of cursing coming from the team.
The people who uttered the curses were none other than the tall and thin men who had run away earlier.
They originally complained that the porridge here had too much water and too little rice, but they never expected that they would miss the time when they arrived at the government porridge stall. When they arrived, there was already a long queue in front of the porridge stall. When they finally got there after squeezing in from left to right, they were only given a bowl of porridge.
Several people were already starving, and the porridge was not even enough to fill their stomachs. In the end, they had no choice but to return to the West City Gate. However, when they saw that they had to continue queuing here, they were unwilling to do so, so they picked a woman and a child as their target.