Under the astonished gaze of the crowd, Li Hong commanded several soldiers to help him remove the hair of the wild boar.
Seeing Li Hong throwing the whole wild boar into a pot of boiling water to remove its hair, Xue Rengui asked in surprise: "Grand Protector, shouldn't this animal be skinned and then cut into pieces? Why is it still..."
"No matter how thick the wild boar's skin is, it's not as thick as sheep's skin. How can you skin it? You can only remove the hair. You won't eat it, so why do you care so much?" Li Hong looked at the disdainful eyes of several people and had already begun to think about how to punish them!
Want to eat? No way! Especially Xiazhi and Xiaoxue, and yes, Banmei and Xunlan, as if wild boars were such disgusting animals. As long as they touched the wild boars, the four girls would immediately take out towels to wipe their hands.
According to the vague impression in his memory, Li Hong finally chopped the pork into pieces, and he naturally knew how to braise the pig ears and pig trotters to make them delicious.
He pulled over several cooks from the barracks and asked them to whisper in other people's ears. Pei Xingjian and others could only see a few cooks nodding but could not hear what Li Hong was saying to them.
But no matter what, every one of them was relieved in their hearts that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was just as rumored. He did not act as noble as his status would suggest, but was very easy-going and could communicate with any soldier.
The cooks didn't know who Li Hong was at this time. They only knew that he should be a scion of a wealthy family, so they naturally treated him with respect in their words.
Watching the cook wrap up the four trotters, two ears, and the big pig's head according to Li Hong's instructions and take them away carefully, it looked like he was holding gold, silver and treasures in his arms.
...
...
After a short while, the cook brought back a lot of dishes and condiments, including white tofu.
Then, several people followed Li Hong's instructions and did not even try to cook. They asked the cook to throw all the food into the pork pot that had been cooking for half a day.
Chili peppers had not yet been introduced to the Tang Dynasty at that time, so Li Hong didn't care much about it. It didn't matter whether there were any or not. Onions, ginger, garlic and peppercorns were enough. As long as he could eat a bite of absolutely hot rice from a big pot in the cold Western Regions, it was better than anything else.
And most importantly, this way of cooking is the simplest. It does not require any extra ingredients. The main ingredient is pork. If you send two soldiers out, they can probably see wild boars or something with their eyes closed in less than half an hour. It is most suitable for soldiers marching and fighting in the Western Regions, and can be eaten with icy Hu cakes.
In Li Hong's opinion, as long as there was salt, cabbage leaves and tofu, the big pot meal was almost ready. At that time, he had not found vermicelli yet, so he simply gave up.
As the lid on the big pot was pushed up by the scorching heat in the pot, a mouth-watering aroma spread out from the lid to the surroundings.
The disgusted expressions on Pei Xingjian and the others' faces disappeared, replaced by astonishment and disbelief. Xia Zhi, Xiao Xue, Ban Mei, and Xun Lan, who had been hiding far away, also ran over involuntarily, curiously sniffing the fragrance in the air.
Li Hong signaled the cook to lift the lid of the pot. Looking at the big pot of rice cooked with pork, tofu and other ingredients, he took out a dagger and stabbed the meat.
Then he thought that something was wrong. This dagger could cut through iron like mud, and it represented the most advanced steelmaking technology in the Tang Dynasty.
So he took the chopsticks in the cook's hand, found a large piece of pork and poked it, feeling that it was already soft and smooth, he signaled to the cook not to add more firewood and let the big pot of rice simmer for a while.
Li Hong happily took the bowl and chopsticks, took the Hu pancake from the cook, tore off half and handed it to Heichi Changzhi, and said, "Apart from you and me, only the few people who work here can eat this pot of delicious food today. The others can only watch."
"Master, you can't..." Xiaoxue hesitated for a long time, but still carefully stopped him.
If His Majesty and the Queen knew about this, and knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had disregarded his status and eaten the dirty pork that even ordinary people would not eat, not to mention them, even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would probably be beaten up again.
Li Hong ignored Xiaoxue's attempts to stop him, tapped the cold and hard Hu pancake in his hand, looked at Pei Xingjian and Xiaoxue, and said cheerfully, "Excuse me, everyone. Go eat your food. We are about to start eating."
A small bowl filled with food was brought over by Heichi Changzhi and placed on the table. Li Hong was not polite and picked up a piece of pork with chopsticks and put it in front of his nose to smell the fragrance.
Looking at everyone's twitching noses, he chuckled, blew a few breaths of cool air on the pork, and then put it into his mouth.
This action immediately caused Xia Zhi and the other girls to scream, as if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had eaten poison.
"Oh...oh...it's so hot...hmm?" Heichi Changzhi was not as taboo as Pei Xingjian and the others. Seeing that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had already started eating, he could no longer hold back and naturally picked up a piece of pork and put it into his mouth.
So the mouth went from feeling hot at first to feeling fragrant and hungry, and the whole expression changed as if he had eaten some delicacies from the mountains and the sea.
Ignoring the looks from Pei Xingjian and the others, Li Hong chuckled, took a bite of the somewhat rough Hu pancake, and then began to eat it with a piece of steaming white tofu with relish.
Although the cooks did not know Li Hong's true identity, they knew that Li Hong was probably the highest-ranking officer in the barracks. Otherwise, why was he the only one sitting while everyone else was standing?
So he followed Li Hong's example and took a sip. Then his whole expression seemed to freeze. This pork... This pork tasted different from mutton. It had a delicious and satisfying aroma.
After swallowing the first bite, he immediately began to eat voraciously, as if he was competing with Heichi Changzhi to see who could eat half the food faster. Each of them had a small bowl, and when Li Hong had only eaten one-third of the food, the bowls of the cooks and Heichi Changzhi were already empty.
A few people looked at the steam still coming out, the thick soup still bubbling, and immediately picked up a ladle and filled another small bowl, squatted beside the big pot and began to devour.
The expressions of several people and the way they wolfed down their food made Pei Xingjian and others swallow their saliva from time to time. Seeing them eating so happily, as if they were eating delicacies from land and sea, everyone's expression showed that they were enjoying it very much, and it was not at all artificial.
"Hey, Heichi, don't always eat the Hu pancake while biting it. Do as I do and soak it in hot soup. It will taste better this way." Li Hong was sweating while eating. He broke the half of the Hu pancake in his hand into small pieces, soaked them in hot soup, and started to eat them happily again.
If the censor was present at this time, he would definitely punish Heichi Changzhi and his companions for being disrespectful. The prince was talking to them, but they just lowered their heads to eat. They only nodded symbolically, and then imitated His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to make Hu Bing. No one thanked His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Xue Rengui's stomach made a rumbling sound. Everyone looked at him in surprise. He looked at the big pot with a red face. His lips moved, but he couldn't resist the temptation of food and said, "That...that...Grand Protector, I'll also try this dirty...this pork."
As Xue Rengui spoke, he seemed to feel his saliva flowing out from the corners of his mouth.
"Get out of the way. I gave you food but you refused to eat it and even had a look of disgust on your face. Why should I give you food now? Eat your cold Hu Bing." Li Hong took the handkerchief handed over by Xia Zhi and wiped his mouth. There was still hot sweat on his forehead. After eating and drinking his fill, he retorted sarcastically.
"I admit my mistake. I will try it." Xue Rengui was a well-known foodie in history. After Heichi Changzhi arrived, the two had competed in their appetite more than once.
Seeing that Heichi Changzhi was holding the small bowl and scooping out the third small bowl, it would be really strange if he could still stand.
"Then if you apologize to me, I will let you eat." Li Hong took the boiled water, sucked the remaining water between his teeth with his tongue, and said.
"Uh..." Apologize? That's easy.
"Yes, Grand Protector, I know I was wrong. Please punish me."
"Oh, then I will punish you to watch them eat." A hint of cunning flashed across Li Hong's face. He laughed as he watched some soldiers coming over following the aroma. He waved his hand and immediately let those soldiers go and taste it.
Pei Xingjian and the others were shocked. What would be left if these wolves came up? They were afraid that by the time they left the pot, there would be nothing left at the bottom.
"Stop, you are not allowed to eat." Pei Xingjian swallowed and hurriedly stopped them.
"Hey... Pei Xingjian, come back here." Li Hong was about to say something to Pei Xingjian when he saw Xia Zhi holding a small bowl and sneaking to the big pot, wanting to scoop some to share with Banmei and the others. Unexpectedly, he was discovered by the sharp-eyed prince.
"When I just started slaughtering the pig, look at how each of you behaved, especially you, Pei Xingjian. You looked disgusted and disdainful, as if that was a pile of... Never mind. And you, Xia Zhi, you ran so far away. Why? The food in this pot is a plague, and you were trying to avoid it. Now, after seeing others eating, you want to eat it too. How can that be? If you want to eat it, you can wait until next time. Well, hurry up and serve it. It's best not to leave any food at the bottom of the pot for them." Li Hong scolded several people arrogantly.
Xue Rengui, holding the big bowl filled with air in his hand, was already in tears, especially when he saw Hei Chi Chang Zhi still eating, he regretted it so much that his intestines almost turned green.
Xia Zhi and the others were unhappy. Who made them disrespectful just now, not serving His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and running so far away? They had been shocked by the Crown Prince's amazing talent in the past few years, but today, for some reason, they forgot about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's ability to turn clouds and rain with a flip of his hand.
Yes, they even forgot about the Crown Prince's vengeful character. The unhappy people had no choice but to pack up their bowls and chopsticks and eat the cold Hu pancakes with boiled water.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
