The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 418 Government meals are not easy to eat!
The battlefield in southeastern Guizhou not only stirred up the three provincial administrations in the southwest.

The entire northwestern border region is also closely monitoring the battlefield situation.

When Guan Jun met, his favorite thing to do was to grab those who were well-informed and ask them about the latest battle situation.

Sure enough, Gan Luchuan, a retired veteran known as a gossipmonger, had just returned to the city that morning when he was stopped by acquaintances drinking tea at a teahouse near the city gate:
"Old Huang, you're finally back! Come and have a cup of tea, and tell us all, where are the general and his men now? What's the situation?"

The gossip smugly accepted the tea offered by the group, gulped it down, smacked his lips a few times, and then answered:
"We took over southeastern Guizhou seven days ago. With firearms, those Miao people hiding in the villages are no threat. It's thanks to Lord Divine Eagle, who was taken to Shangdu by the Imperial Son-in-Law and joined the army, that we found the General a thousand miles away at the crucial moment. It's also thanks to the General that he brought enough antidote pills this time. He said that if he had arrived a day later, the Imperial Son-in-Law would have been driven insane by the Miao people's poison."

Everyone gasped: "Hiss!"

"Holy heavens! The Miao people really did use a Gu poison! What kind of Gu poison is it that's so potent?"

"Isn't the Imperial Son-in-Law Commandant Gan, the commander of a thousand men and General Angmen's own younger brother? He's already been promoted to Imperial Son-in-Law Commandant?"

"The Divine Eagle is too amazing! Not only can it deliver messages between two fixed locations, but it can also find its master along the way?"

"."

The lively scene attracted the teahouse owner, who gestured to the waiter to refill Bao Datong's teacup.

The gossip was very satisfied with the other party's shrewdness, and then launched into a long boast:

"No wonder our general is no ordinary person! Her skills are unmatched throughout the Northwest, her wild horse, the King of Horses, can travel a thousand miles a day, and she has the Rat King who can command all the rodents on the grassland, and the Divine Eagle that can travel thousands of miles in a few days to deliver messages. Which of these three is an ordinary creature?"

"Old Huang, your analysis is spot on!"

"Of course! When have I ever spread false information? Three days ago, didn't I go to Hami City to purchase coal? Because this time I was going to buy 5,000 shi (a unit of dry measure), the chief steward of the General's Office personally received me."

He said, "Yesterday at dawn, Lord Condor sent a message back. Upon hearing this, I grabbed some coal and rushed back as fast as I could. The messenger from the General's office arrived half an hour ahead of me. I reckon the centurion left behind will announce this good news to everyone around noon!"

The news I heard from the General's Office was certainly true.

The atmosphere in the teahouse was very lively:

"Great! That's really great! Once we take Miao territory, our 20,000 troops from Guanzhong will be back soon, and they might even be able to return in time for the Lantern Festival."

"You really dare to dream! Southeast Guizhou is less than one-fifth of the territory in the southwest, and His Majesty has personally led the expedition. Is it really for this small piece of land in the Miao Mountains? The Miao people don't have that kind of audacity!"

"You mean, His Majesty intends to reclaim the entire Southwest this time?"

"What else can we do? We've already gone!"

"Ah! If we can recover the entire southwest in one go, it will make our Northwest Border Army famous. In the future, those rebelling refugees will have to think twice before causing trouble. We are not that weak dynasty of the past!"
I wonder if that brat from the Ang family still has his arms and legs. His father, Ang, joined the army at sixteen, and in his first year, he encountered Tatar raiders and inexplicably killed two people, having nightmares for a month straight. The Ang boy is still a month shy of sixteen!

"Tsk tsk, you've really made something of yourself! How tall were you back then? How many times a year could you eat meat? What has your kid been eating and what kind of training has he undergone in the past three years? If he were to wet his pants in fear on the battlefield, wouldn't the other guards laugh their heads off?"

"Yes! The chief steward of the General's Office said that the casualty rate of the 20,000 men who went to Guanzhong was almost negligible. The General's personal guard performed exceptionally well, and His Majesty praised them several times."

“I remember the general said before he went to war that if any of those fifty boys killed an enemy on their first trip to the battlefield, she would reward them with five taels of silver! Maybe when your boy comes back, he will have earned enough for your family to build a three-courtyard mansion.”

"As long as that brat comes back alive, it doesn't matter whether we can buy a house or not. Besides, houses in Ganluchuan are now in high demand but not available. Last month, someone offered two thousand taels of silver, but they still couldn't buy a shop on the side street."

"Two thousand taels is nothing! In the entire Nine Guards of Guanzhong, the most prosperous business is still Ganluchuan! Merchants who want to order our Yun brocade next year can line up from the city all the way to Hami City!"

"Speaking of Yun brocade, I wonder what big order the brocade workshop received. For more than two months, I haven't seen any weavers step out of the workshop."

"These are not things we should worry about. Today is the Little New Year. If the news of the great victory in southeastern Guizhou is released at noon, the garrison will definitely slaughter sheep to celebrate! At that time, all the military families in the city will be able to drink mutton soup made with Ganweixian's unique recipe again!"

"What are we waiting for? Let's go home and get a basin!" This has been an unwritten custom in Ganluchuan for the past few years.

Whenever there are several major festivals or something great happens, the garrison will slaughter livestock to celebrate.

Horses and camels are important means of transportation and are not easily killed.

The cattle also need to be kept for breeding, and a steady stream will be sent to the interior of the country in the coming years.

Only sheep can be eaten freely.

The biggest buyer at the livestock trading center is the garrison!

Delicious mutton soup, all you can eat!
Hami City.

When General Xiong saw Xiao Jin, who had taken five days to bring back the latest battle report, he wished he could shrink it several times over and hold it in his mouth or palm.

In a great hurry, someone brought over a live, one-month-old wild gazelle.

There is nothing we can do.

Aside from the pieces of meat its owner feeds it, Little Gold only eats what it hunts with its own claws.

Wild ones are the best!

Despite being a picky eater, Little Gold has the right to be.

Xiao Jin: It's either delivering a message or on its way to deliver a message; its wings are practically sending sparks flying.

These sheep, brought in with funds from the national treasury, aren't so easy to catch!

That afternoon, good news indeed came from the official sources in Ganluchuan New City.

"A great victory in southeastern Guizhou!"

"Within ten days, a total of 130,000 young and strong Miao people were killed, and the elders of all the villages in the Miao Mountains expressed their submission to the imperial court."

"The recapture of the Southwest is just around the corner!"

"Your Majesty is mighty, and the General is valiant!"

"This afternoon, the garrison will slaughter 1,000 sheep. Each military dependent household can receive a bowl of mutton soup based on their household registration."

The military families cheered and rushed outside into the snow-covered area, where the snow was three feet deep, to inquire about and share the good news with each other.

Merchants who traded or came to buy goods in Ganluchuan were extremely envious.

In Kansai, military status was actually a higher rank than that of scholars, farmers, and merchants.

Immigrant women, in particular, considered it an honor to marry men of military rank.

Look, you can eat your fill of mutton soup for free.

Tell me about military status, isn't it appealing?

(End of this chapter)