Xing Lie also took a bite and found that it tasted really good, so he simply asked his personal guards to call Wang Da, the manager of the Fire Head Battalion, over to question him.
When Wang Da came over, he was still trembling with fear, thinking that he had done something wrong.
Arriving at Xing Lie's tent, he immediately knelt down and said, "Greetings, Major General!"
Xing Lie personally helped him up: "No need to be so polite, no need to be so reserved. On the contrary, today I want to praise you for solving the food problem for the military camp."
Wang Da finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Major General, this is my duty."
Xing Lie smiled and said, "The Flying Tiger Battalion has clear rewards and punishments. Wen Jing, the rewarding is up to you."
Han Wenjing also had a smile on his face: "Please rest assured, Major General."
Xing Lie then looked at Wang Da and asked, "What kind of food did you prepare for the soldiers in the barracks today? It doesn't look like mixed noodles and grain to us!"
Wang Da lowered his head and replied, "To answer the Major General, that's not the case. The food in the warehouse is less than 20% full. It's simply wishful thinking to expect to feed the 3,000 soldiers of the Flying Tiger Battalion. We have no choice but to find another way. The pancakes we made for the soldiers today are actually made with bean dregs mixed with a small amount of flour."
Chen Zhidong: "Bean dregs? What are bean dregs?" They seldom paid attention to the affairs of Huotouying, so naturally they didn't know about this thing which was even less popular than tofu.
Wang Da nodded. "To answer Military Advisor Chen, bean dregs are the residue left over from tofu production. The essence has been ground out by a stone mill. These residues are called bean dregs, and many people sell these scraps on the market."
"The barracks were short of food, and the grain stores in Baituo Town had limited supplies, so we couldn't gather the food the Flying Tiger Battalion needed. I happened to meet a friend, and he gave me the advice to use bean dregs as a transitional food source."
"The food will arrive in about two days. Can the Huotou Camp survive these two days using only bean dregs?"
Wang Da mentally calculated the Lin Workshop's massive shipment volume and the resulting surplus of bean dregs, and nodded, "It shouldn't be a problem."
"Very good, very good. You have some quick wits, brother. My Flying Tiger Battalion is in need of men, and we're open to recruiting talents regardless of their background. If he's willing, he can join the Flying Tiger Battalion. The Major General won't treat him unfairly," Xu Shaoxuan urged. With the current civil unrest in the Lin Dynasty, Huangmo Pass has become a sort of paradise amidst the turbulent times. But if things continue for too long, even this last piece of paradise might be lost. With a tyrannical royal family like the Xinyang Marquis right beside them, how could anyone sleep peacefully?
Just because you don't attack others doesn't mean others won't attack you. They now dream of recruiting talents, expanding their team, accumulating food and grass, recruiting soldiers and expanding their territory.
Wang Da shook his head regretfully: "My brother is used to being idle, and I don't think he can stand the iron rules of the army."
Although he had not spent much time with Lin Rui, he knew from what he had heard from his father and uncles that Lin Rui was a man of great talent but no ambition, content with a life of modest prosperity.
Their Flying Tiger Battalion was constantly running around, either fighting with foreign races or with other princes. In the Flying Tiger Battalion, one could only advance through military merit. Lin Rui was not willing to live this kind of life on the edge of a knife.
Xu Shaoxuan just mentioned it briefly, but after hearing Wang Da's words, he gave up the idea.
Xing Lie waved his hand and asked Wang Da to go down and receive the reward. Wang Da returned the greeting again and took his leave.
There were only five of them left in the tent. Lin Pingyu said, "It seems Fang Pingshan's plan has failed this time. He robbed the Flying Tiger Battalion's food, but it was taken back before it could even be warmed. He didn't cause any trouble in the camp at all."
Han Wenjing disagreed: "I feel like this isn't a real move, but a test."
Xu Shaoxuan nodded in agreement. "Fang Pingshan is a very cunning man, like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike the enemy dead with one strike. Major General, after this incident, we must not let our guard down."
"Hmm." Xing Lie sighed heavily. "Yishu Pass has been occupied by the Marquis of Xinyang, and Huangmo Pass has cut back on spending due to accepting disaster victims. Now Fang Pingshan, backed by my eldest sister, has come to stir up trouble here. It's really... hard to put into words."
Chen Zhidong consoled him, "Major General, Huangmoguan is the territory of our Xing Family Army. There are millions of people living on this land. Old General Xing is going out to borrow grain again, and he might even have to borrow soldiers to fight. In these troubled times, it's hard to borrow grain!"
"Maybe things will be much better by the time we get to next autumn's harvest. With so much wasteland being reclaimed, we can definitely recover some of the blood of our Xing family army."
"How about the managers of those wastelands conduct regular inspections? The Xing family army doesn't need the parasites that breed because of power."
"General, please rest assured. The wasteland is gradually being turned into private property for the people, and the number of people in charge is gradually decreasing."
"This zero-cost business has earned our Xing Army tens of thousands of taels of silver. Even if only 30% of this is earned, it will be enough to support the Xing Army's 20,000-strong army."
Xing Lie sighed, "We're still broke. This is just enough to feed ourselves. We've only trained less than a thousand cavalrymen. It's too few!"
"Those aliens are also very smart. They would rather be deprived of their salt and tea by us than exchange them for war horses. This is the basis of their survival." The aliens on the grassland have lived on horseback since childhood, and cavalry is also their magic weapon for victory. Even if their current combat power cannot match that of the Xing family army, they will never hand over their housekeeping skills.
Han Wenjing, Chen Zhidong and the other three also sighed. A good cook cannot cook without rice. Without money and food, nothing can be done. The fact that Fang Pingshan had taken control of the food of the Flying Tiger Camp was enough to show its importance.
Just as the crisis of the Flying Tiger Camp was resolved, trouble arose for the Lin Workshop.
Lin Changtai looked at the smiling man in silk and satin in front of him and couldn't help but jump in anger. He immediately stood up and said, "Boss Fang, are you kidding me?"
Fang Chengrong still smiled: "Don't be ridiculous, our Fang family is showing full sincerity!"
Lin Changtai couldn't help but get angry. "Full sincerity? Our Lin's Workshop is now making a fortune. You're offering two hundred taels, just like giving away a beggar. You're asking for our Lin's workshop's unique family skills in making tofu, bean curd skin, and dried tofu. You have absolutely no sincerity in the negotiation. Please forgive me for not agreeing to this!"
Fang Chengrong said, "Oh?" and calmly took a sip of the brewed tea. "Nowadays, people are selling tofu on the streets and alleys of Baituo Town. Even Baixing Town, which is currently under reconstruction, has tofu merchants. I guess they must be making a lot of money."
The Lin Workshop is indeed not short of silver now. The accounts that have passed through Lin Changtai's hands in the past few days are at least fifty taels, if not one hundred. How could he be interested in the two hundred taels of silver given by Fang Chengrong?
People's horizons are constantly broadening. If it were in the past, Lin Changtai would never have dared to think that a businessman would spend two hundred taels of silver to buy his prescription. A shop in Longting Town only had a little over one hundred taels. A shop could support his descendants, so he would definitely sell the prescription without thinking.
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