Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 249 Tang Dynasty Cuisine
"Khan~"

A Khitan nobleman with a braided hairstyle rode up on horseback and asked Ashina Shibobi a question.

"We've been waiting here for many days, but we haven't seen a single Chinese person."

Should we continue to hold out?

Ashina Shibobi was Tuli Khan.

When his father, Shibi Khan, died, he was supposed to succeed him as Khan.

However, due to his young age, the position of Khan fell into the hands of his uncle, Chuluo Khan.

Afterwards, Jieli Khan succeeded to the throne and sent the grown-up Tuli Khan to the east to manage the Khitan, Mohe and other tribes.

Within the Turkic community, he was called the Lesser Khan.

During this great battle with the Tang Dynasty, he was summoned by Khagan Jieli and rushed over from the far north of Youzhou.

Tuli Khan did not reply, but squatted down to look at the wheel tracks.

"So many tire tracks."

He frowned, his eyes full of confusion. "Just how many carts did the Tang army bring?"

"With so many carts, why are there no hoofprints of cattle or horses?"

He stood up and looked at Qin Zhidao, which also had only wheel tracks, but no horse or ox hoof prints.

During their march, the Tang army resolutely implemented a scorched-earth policy.

Any tribes near the marching range were all dealt with.

Many other tribes, however, run faster than rabbits.

This meant that Tuli Khan, who had come from afar, was completely unaware of the Tang army's intelligence.

All we know is that it was an army of tens of thousands.

His royal court was located in the north of Youzhou, and he had frequent contact with Luo Yi.

Moreover, he married Princess Huainan of the Sui Dynasty, and had a deep understanding of Han culture.

He had read Han Chinese military books and knew that the most important thing for long-distance marches was the logistical supply line.

The longer the march, the more important the supply line becomes.

If the supply lines can be cut off, the army will collapse without a fight.

The Sui Dynasty's campaign against Goguryeo failed because of logistical difficulties.

Therefore, Tuli Khan took the initiative to lead his troops to the rear of the Tang army, preparing to intercept and kill the Tang army's transport convoy.

But after waiting for many days, not only did they not see a transport team, but they didn't even see a single Chinese person.

"Khan~"

A Khitan nobleman approached and asked, "Could it be that they were all transported by boat along the river?"

"No."

Tuli Khan shook his head. "There are people watching both sides of the river day and night. Even if a sheepskin raft goes by, it won't escape their eyes."

"No grain has been transported?"

The Khitan nobleman scratched his head. "Could it be that we've been stealing cattle and sheep all the way here?"

Rolling his eyes, Tuli Khan, too lazy to respond, mounted his horse and said, "Let's retreat and rejoin the Great Khan."

'The Khitans were incredibly stupid.'

'Small groups are manageable, but tens of thousands of Tang soldiers—how many cattle and sheep would it take to feed them?'

"Besides, the Tang army's brutal slaughter has already driven the nearby tribes to the foot of Yinshan Mountain to join the Great Khan. The Tang army wouldn't be able to plunder anything even if they wanted to."

'But what exactly do these tens of thousands of people eat to survive?'

The Tang army, having crossed Kujiesha (Kubuqi), arrived at Jiuyuan County, which was in the Qin and Han dynasties.

Gazing at the surging Yellow River before them, the Tang soldiers cheered with joy.

They took off their clothes, wrapped themselves in loincloths, and rushed to the riverbank to wash off the sand and dust.

Even Li Erfeng was no exception.

He came to the riverbank shirtless and wearing only a loincloth.

First, scoop up some water to rinse your mouth and spit out the sand.

At that time, the area of ​​Kujiesha was not as large as it would become later.

The Qin Straight Road did not cover a very long distance.

The sandstorm was very strong. When it blew, only the off-road vehicles on the forest road were able to enjoy themselves, while everyone else was covered in sand and dust.

She loosened the crown that held her hair in a bun, and her greasy hair fell down.

Li Erfeng scooped up some river water and splashed it on her head.

Li Shentong ran over and handed over bags of Head & Shoulders shampoo.

Having used Li Er many times before, I skillfully found the notch, tore open the packaging, squeezed out the shampoo, and applied it to my head to wash my hair.

The same was true of many Tang soldiers on the banks of the Yellow River.

In addition to shampoo, each Tang soldier was also given a bar of sulfur soap to wash his body.

Thousands upon thousands of Tang soldiers bathed together here.

The Yellow River, which was originally clear, gradually became turbid in this section.

Lin Dao, with the car window down, enjoying the air conditioning and a Red Bull, leaned out and called to Wei Zheng, "Aren't you going to take a shower?"

Wei Zheng, covered in dust and dirt, looked up at the sky and said, "We need to prepare food for the soldiers."

In the past, Tang soldiers ate dry rations when they went on expeditions.

The staple food changed from wheat rice during the Qin and Han dynasties to millet, which has a longer shelf life.

After the millet is roasted, it is ground into powder and made into millet cakes.

Then there are flatbreads, salt blocks or vinegar cloths, and cured meats and salted fish that are as hard as stones.

To modern people, these foods are something even pigs wouldn't eat.

But for people in this era, with low productivity and the threat of natural disasters and man-made calamities that led to starvation, having anything to eat was already a blessing.

The Tang army that went on this expedition received completely different treatment than in the past.

Lin Dao covered their logistical expenses, allowing Tang Jun to experience a level of food he never dared to imagine.

To start cooking, the first step is to burn firewood and light a fire.

There are trees on the grassland, but very few.

Their main fuel sources are hay and manure.

Lin Dao naturally wouldn't use that; he went straight for the tin stove and honeycomb briquettes.

Honeycomb briquettes burn for a long time, and can be used to boil water after cooking.

Drinking boiled and cooled water, like taking a bath, is an important way to avoid the spread of disease.

As the soldiers went to fetch water, Lin Dao called out loudly, "Let's go upstream!"

With so many people bathing in such a murky place, of course we have to go upstream to fetch water.

Rice was cooked in a large pot, with millet and polished rice as the staple foods. The millet was transported from Yonghe by Lin Dao, while the polished rice was long-grain rice imported from India in the modern world.

The only reason to buy Indian grain is that it's cheap.

In order to earn foreign exchange, they really don't care if people in their own country are starving; they buy as much as they want and sell it.

Lin Dao didn't care at all; it was just normal business practice.

The fact that Indians are starving to death has nothing to do with him.

I paid!

When the Tang army swept through the Helan Mountains, only cattle and horses were bought by merchant caravans.

Apart from those that were eaten, the captured sheep were skinned, chopped up, and handed over to the forest road for transport.

Lin Dao sent the mutton to a cold storage facility rented in the modern world.

They bring over a portion of it every time it's mealtime.

Minced mutton is placed on top of rice and then simmered with the soul-stirring broth.

In addition, there was vegetable soup made from dehydrated vegetables, thick enough to fill the pot.

Tang Jun, who took showers in shifts, also ate in shifts.

They lined up to get their food, carrying aluminum lunchboxes and stainless steel chopsticks.

A lunchbox full of rice, plus a large piece of mutton, and topped with a spoonful of the soul-stirring broth.

The Tang soldiers took out their folding stools and sat down, eating rice and mutton with gusto.

The rice was fluffy and sweet, and the mutton was delicious; it was truly a treat.

Especially compared to the dry rations we used to eat, it's simply incomparable.

After finishing their rice and mutton meal, the soldiers took their mess kits to get a box of vegetable soup, which they slurped down in no time.

After that, we lined up to go to the shore to wash our lunchboxes and chopsticks.

When Master Lin distributed the tableware, he made it clear that once these items were distributed, they belonged to the individuals and would never be taken back.

The soldiers cherished such fine items and cleaned them very thoroughly.

Of course, these are all habits that I developed later.

At first, they licked it clean.

Lin Dao couldn't bear to see this scene and urged Li Erfeng to forcefully order that everyone must wash the dishes after finishing their meal.

After the meal, each soldier also received a can of yellow peaches.

The soldiers happily took the canned food to night school.

Even after becoming emperor, Li Erfeng did not implement the same practices as in the palace within the army.

He also ate rice, but the large chunks of mutton were replaced with a whole roasted leg of lamb.

The soup is the same, and they also have canned fruit.

As expected, Li Erfeng loved the sweet canned yellow peaches.

Even if you have high blood pressure, you should still eat it.

"Sugar is a very important source of energy."

Lin Dao held half a watermelon he had bought from a fruit stand in his hands and ate it with a spoon. "Eating sugar gives me strength."

Li Erfeng stared at his watermelon and asked, "Rock honey is too expensive and difficult to popularize."

"Then we'll grow our own."

"Sugarcane grows best in Lingnan, especially in hotter climates."

“There are also areas further south in Jiaozhi that are very suitable for planting.”

Li Erfeng narrowed her eyes, seemingly lost in thought.

"Lingnan~~~"

"Jiaozhi~~~"

Today, the area south of the Five Ridges is Feng Ang's territory.

Although it had officially submitted to the Tang Dynasty, it was still in a state of separatism in reality.

Li Erfeng already had a plan in mind.

We should take advantage of the prestige gained from this great victory over the Turks to summon Feng Ang to Chang'an for an audience, thereby strengthening our control over Lingnan.

If they don't come, then we'll have a direction for our next military operation.

Seeing Lin Dao throw away the remaining watermelons, Li Erfeng looked regretful.

"Such a waste."

Fruit isn't cheap these days.

Lin Dao clapped his hands and stood up. "Want some? Wait here."

Back in the modern world, I drove the company truck out of the logistics park and headed to a roadside stall selling watermelons in the urban-rural fringe.

"Boss, how much is the watermelon?"

The bald boss, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, legs crossed, scrolling through his phone, didn't even look up as he said, "One yuan twenty per jin."

"What time is it? There are watermelon vendors everywhere. How about 80 cents?"

"It's only 1.2 yuan, take it or leave it."

Lin Dao immediately drove around and headed to another watermelon stand across the intersection.

"Eight cents a pound, I'll take all of your watermelons."

The boss was overjoyed. He weighed and priced each item and even helped load them onto the truck.

Seeing this, the bald man swaggered over and said, "Hey, one yuan a pound, take all my melons."

Lin Dao didn't even lift his eyelids and said, "Get lost."

The bald man grinned, pointing a finger at Lin Dao, "You son of a bitch!?"

Lin Dao pried his fingers off, and the bald man, in a terrible pain, knelt down on the ground.

He then slapped him across the face, causing his mouth to split and bleed.

"roll!"

Baldy didn't dare to cause trouble, so he clenched his fingers and ran back to his stall.

He glanced at the watermelon knife several times, but never dared to pick it up.

He's clearly a ruthless person, not an ordinary citizen who's easy to bully.

Never mind~ Never mind~~
After paying and getting into the car, Lin Dao glanced at the bald man from the driver's seat.

Upon seeing the bald man, he lowered his head and avoided eye contact.

Only then did he step on the gas and drive away.

He had seen far too many of these bullies who preyed on the weak and feared the strong.

Back in the Wude era, Lin Dao told everyone, "Eat whatever you like."

(End of this chapter)