The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 265 The Sensible Wild Melon
As summer arrives, the scorching heat of Huozhou intensifies.

They had barely left the furnace when they entered the desert.

The cavalry archers on horseback were so hot that sweat poured down their faces non-stop.

His clothes were covered with a thin layer of sweat frost.

Because of the urgent military situation, they didn't bring much food or water.

On the road from Huozhou to Hami, the terrain is first the Gobi Desert and then the vast desert.

With Hami City fast approaching, almost everyone had finished all the food and water they had brought.

Sudden.

The scouts who were ahead of the main army turned back and ran to Bekchar (the chieftain) of Fire State to report:
"Berkja (chieftain), beyond the Black Rock Mountain ahead, there is an oasis of several acres! And that oasis is covered with melons!"

"melon?"

The chieftain of Fire State was quite surprised upon hearing this. He looked around on horseback for a long time:
"There isn't a single village in sight for miles around. Why would someone come to such a remote place to grow melons?"

The scout continued his report:

"The melons in that field are not very big, and there are no signs that anyone has cultivated them. They are probably wild."

"Are melons really that easy to grow? There's such a huge wild patch of them!"

How could a chieftain who governs the people of a state be a simple-minded person?

He was the biggest landowner in Huozhou.

His vineyards and plantations required meticulous care from his slaves, who were responsible for pruning the vines, fertilizing, and catching pests.

Despite such meticulous care, the harvest still depends on the weather.

In agriculture, there is no such thing as a free lunch!
However, when he rode his horse to the edge of the oasis, the strange sights he witnessed forced him to believe it.

On the oasis, which I estimate to be about seven or eight acres in size, the melon vines grow in a rather irregular manner.

In some places, the vines and melon leaves were so dense that it was impossible to walk, while in other places they were so sparse that the withered vines and rotten leaves underneath were exposed.

The withered vines and rotten leaves crumbled into dust at the slightest touch.

Perhaps some rodents stole the melons from the melon farmer's field and then left the melon seeds on this sandy area.

The seeds sprouted and successfully bore fruit in this oasis.

Generation after generation.

Even without the careful tending of melon farmers, these wild melon vines still obtain fertilizer from rotten melons and withered vines and leaves.

Over several generations, it grew into such a large oasis of wild melons!
After examining the melon vines in the melon patch for a while, the Fire State Beggar (chief) finally came to the above conclusion.

Otherwise, what's the point of growing melons in such a barren desert?

It's wild!
Thank goodness it's wild!

It's perfect to use it now to quench the thirst and fill the stomachs of 40,000 archer cavalry.

Thinking of this, the Fire State Beggar (chieftain) waved to the royal poison-testing slaves behind him.

Without saying a word, the tall, strong slave went to the melon patch and picked out the largest melon with the most cracks.

Locals don't even need to cut watermelons with a knife.

With one punch, the melon rind will explode from the impact.

However, the rinds of today's melons are really too thin.

One punch later, only half a piece remained in his hand.

The remaining melon pieces flew out like a shower of flowers.

The juice from the melon pulp even spilled all over the face of the slave who was testing the poison.

He licked the juice that had splattered on the corner of his mouth, stared at the small half-eaten melon in his hand for a few moments, and then happily held the melon up to the Fire State Beggar (chief):
"Master, this wild melon is ripe and very sweet! But the seeds are as big as sesame seeds! I'm afraid we can't save any seeds for future generations!"

"I already said it's a wild melon, why keep the seeds?! Let's eat it and see!"

"Crunch, crunch." The slave buried his head and started gnawing. A wild melon the size of a palm was devoured by this poison-testing slave, skin and all, in just a dozen breaths.

The melon seeds are the size of sesame seeds, eliminating the hassle of spitting them out.

The slave didn't forget to comment on the melon: "The rind is so thin, and the flesh is so sweet."

The chieftain of Huozhou, fearing that the strong and robust slaves might not be able to discern the quality of a melon from just a small piece, made him choose two more to eat.

After eating two and a half melons, the slave patted his bulging belly and exclaimed sincerely, "What a delicious melon! It's truly a wonderful melon! I've never tasted such a sweet and fragrant melon in my entire life!"

His absorbed expression while eating the melon was so captivating that the leaders and officials watching used all their patience to resist immediately jumping down to snatch it.

Their lives are precious.

Before the battle, you can't eat random things outside.

They could only lick their chapped lips, swallowing their frantically secreted saliva, and wait pitifully.

I waited for about half an hour.

The slave who was testing the poison was perfectly fine, and even urinated in the middle of the process.

After confirming that there were no problems with his internal organs, he even said:
"Perhaps it's because I'm full, but I feel like I have inexhaustible energy. I can save this strength tonight to kill a few more Han people!"

Fire State Beggar (chieftain) gave the order:
"Eat! Eat your fill! After you've eaten your fill and rested well, follow Ben Bokjia (the chief) and charge all the way to Hami City!"

Everyone: "Annihilate the Han army!"

After shouting their slogans, the 40,000 archer cavalrymen plunged into the melon field like dumplings.

Someone had just stepped into the field, grabbed a melon vine, and pulled it open, discovering it was a treasure trove of melons:

"Come quick, come quick! There are five gourds growing on this vine!"

"There are six on this vine I'm looking for!"

"Seven!"

"Eight!"

Good news kept coming; almost every vine had yielded a harvest.

Tengteng has a surprise in store.

And those who were still not satisfied, looking at the melons that had been picked and laid out on the ground, felt it was a pity:

"They're just a bit small, about half the size of the melons grown by other melon farmers."

The person next to him, who had already started showing off their melon, sprayed melon juice all over the other person's face:
"Did you fertilize this melon patch or help loosen the soil? You haven't done any work, yet you expect the wild melons to grow to be bigger and more plentiful than those grown by melon farmers with all their hard work!"

Those horse archers, whose throats were burning, swallowed a few mouthfuls of melon and barely managed to survive.

I couldn't help but start complaining about that dissatisfied comrade:

"This is already quite good! It's a hassle to share a big melon, but this size is perfect for two people!"

"Exactly, these wild melons are so considerate!"

Isn't that just being sensible?
Whose wild melons are these? One vine can produce so many melons!

They all have thin skins, sweet flesh, and no seeds!

In later generations, this would be everyone's dream melon!
People eat melons.

Warhorses are eating melon vines.

Our main principle is: make the most of everything and avoid waste!

More than 40,000 cavalrymen completely emptied the oasis in half an hour.

Therefore, the Fire State Beggar (chieftain) led all his cavalry towards the holy city, performing a deep kneeling ceremony while chanting incantations:

Thanks be to Allah for providing us with food!

Thanks be to Allah for granting us the strength to fight against the Han army.
(End of this chapter)