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Chapter 535: Giving Porridge
"Dang Dang Dang——"

The clear sound of a gong rang out, and suddenly countless black crowds of people rushed towards the makeshift shack like a tide.

These people were all covered in reed catkins or grass fluff, holding something that looked like a bowl that they had made out of wood, their faces filled with a desire for life.

Everyone who walked to the front of the shack was very respectful, and thousands of people did not hear any noise.

'Wow—'

The soldier distributing porridge picked up the soup ladle in his hand, scooped up a ladle of thin porridge, and poured it directly into the wooden bowl held up by the refugees with both hands.

The porridge distribution platform was more than a foot above the ground, so the refugees had to hold up the wooden bowls high in their hands to receive the relief food.

Sometimes, because the wooden bowls they dug out by hand were not big enough or the hands of the soldiers distributing porridge slipped, the scalding hot porridge would burn the hands directly, making the person holding the bowl shiver.

However, despite this, no one dared to complain. Instead, they quickly took the bowls down and licked the porridge off their hands.

For disaster victims, nothing is more important than food in their stomachs.

"Brother, there is actually someone distributing porridge in front?"

Two teenagers, about fifteen or sixteen years old, were walking on the snow in straw raincoats. When they saw a large crowd of people in front of them, they were immediately shocked.

Although they had heard that someone was giving out porridge here before they came, they thought it was just a joke at the time!
After all, what kind of family background does one need to be able to afford the porridge distribution in the cold winter?
These days, after paying taxes throughout the year, people don’t have much food left, and it is basically a luxury for a family to have enough food.

On weekdays, they usually go out to dig some wild grass and vegetables and mix them with corn to barely fill their stomachs. But in winter, the whole family has to stay in the house to minimize consumption and thus survive the winter.

But even so, generally speaking, a lot of people will freeze to death or starve to death in winter!

So when they heard that someone was giving out porridge in the middle of winter, the two young men who had come all the way from Pei County were stunned.

In order to fulfill their dream of pilgrimage, the two of them stole all the money in their home, and then rushed from Xuzhou to Daliang to pay tribute to the world-famous Xinling Jun!

But after paying their respects to Lord Xinling, the two suddenly discovered that in this severe winter, there were actually quite a few refugees braving the wind and snow to travel, which made them both feel extremely shocked.

Although their family conditions were much better than those of the common people, they were only slightly better off. They were roughly equivalent to the rural tycoons of later generations. They had some money but not much. At least they had not escaped from the bottom of the society. Naturally, they understood how these common people at the bottom lived.

Exercising in such bad weather is tantamount to seeking death. Didn’t you see that the Qin and Zhao states both stopped fighting because of the snow?

So the two of them began to ask, and then they got a piece of news that they couldn't believe.

On the border between Wei and Tang, someone was actually distributing porridge on a large scale, and in unlimited quantities?

This made the two of them feel extremely curious, because they had never heard of such a thing before!
"How about, big brother, can we both have a bowl of porridge?"

Seeing a group of people drinking porridge, the slightly immature boy rubbed his stomach and asked his eldest brother.

Compared to those vagrants who were penniless and didn't even have citizenship, their status was naturally much more noble, but after running around for several months, the money they carried was long gone, and they even lived on odd jobs or begging for money from the nobles! Begging for money was a very common means of communication in feudal society, but only the nobles could enjoy such treatment.

You have to know that even decades ago, carrying a lot of property on a long-distance trip was a very dangerous thing, so unless you can travel with a large group, even the children of wealthy families would travel light when they go out.

Therefore, it is normal to go out without money, and it is impossible for children from wealthy families to work to earn money, so the practice of begging for money has gradually become popular.

Anyway, at most it’s just two meals, which is not a big deal for local tyrants. Who knows, maybe this good relationship will be useful someday?
Of course, if you want to extort money from others, you must have a good appearance, or at least a good set of clothes, and you must also have a certain level of knowledge and conversation. Otherwise, not to mention extorting money from others, you might even be captured and made a slave!
Just like in the magical country of India, basically no one of low status dares to pretend to be a high status, these refugees all look pale, skinny and bony, which is totally different from the two fat and fair teenagers. Therefore, if the refugees want to pretend to be nobles, they are definitely seeking death.

"Who are we to eat the same thing as these people? Come on, I'll take you to eat something good!"

The young man, who looked a little more stable, waved his hand, walked directly past the crowd in line, and walked towards the army that was still distributing porridge.

Without waiting for the soldiers guarding the stage to ask, the young man immediately began to bow and salute:
"Hello, all the military officers. I am a traveling student. I once had the honor of listening to the lectures of Xun Sheng in Qi State. I am here to visit Tang State this time. Is there anything I need to pay attention to?"

"Have you ever heard Xun Sheng give a lecture?"

The private who was on guard looked at the young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes in front of him curiously, and asked curiously.

Because Li Si was Xunzi's disciple, and he had written letters some time ago to recruit many of his former fellow disciples to serve as officials in the Tang State. It can be said that the disciples of Xunzi, even if they had only attended one class, were absolutely qualified to become guests of honor in the Tang State.

"Of course, I'm just a bit dull. I didn't understand anything in the class. I just remembered the words 'King of Dharma'!"

"Well! That's right. It's normal that you can't understand Xun Sheng's lectures. If you can understand them, you can become the prime minister directly!"

The soldier had no doubt about what the young man said. After all, the guy in front of him looked more powerful than himself, and he could be known at first glance that he was a noble lord!

So a few minutes later, the two young men were invited into the tent at the back.

"Brother, when did you attend Xun Sheng's class? How come I didn't know about it?"

The young boy asked curiously while gnawing on a pig's trotter.

"Eat your meal, even pig's trotters can't stop your mouth?"

"Okay big brother!"

The boy immediately started to eat it crazily. After all, the pig's trotter was so delicious.

Compared to the guy who was busy eating, the remaining one was much more meticulous.

He carefully looked at the supplies in the tent. Countless meats and grains were placed on the ground in such a disorderly manner. He couldn't help but feel envious.

You know, even though his family's living standard is very good compared to ordinary people, so much food still makes him feel dazzled.

Especially when he glanced at it just now, it seemed that these meats were rations for those soldiers? Ordinary soldiers were also entitled to eat meat?
Are these Tang soldiers eating too well?
(End of this chapter)