Miao Chu

Chapter 345 Rewards
Upon hearing that something had been sent from Ciming Palace, Cui Jizhong, the commander of the palace guards, couldn't help but glance at it.

The tray was quite large, and on it was a covered food container.

Knowing that this was most likely food sent by the Empress Dowager, he quickly turned his head away and subconsciously tucked in his stomach. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he quietly reached down to his lower back and tightened the waistband to support his stomach and help suppress his hunger.

I'm so hungry!

He was a tall, strong martial artist, so his energy expenditure was naturally high. He ate more than others and got hungry faster.

Not long after the court assembly, he was summoned to the palace upon receiving a message urgently delivered by Liutahe. More than half a day has passed since then.

I had already eaten lunch.

The emperor was in charge of the meal, and the officials of the two ministries were all around him. While eating, they were also talking about business. Everyone just made do with filling their stomachs. In addition, the news of the collapse of the Liuta River came in a hurry and he was also thinking about how to mobilize troops, how to arrange them, and how to send generals.

Now that things have basically settled down, and seeing the food box sent by the Empress Dowager, my stomach, which I had been too busy asking for things and discussing this and that to pay attention to, started to act up.

After tightening his belt, Cui Jizhong felt something was wrong; his stomach was still rumbling. He quickly tightened it a couple more times, fearing he might lose face in front of the emperor.

It is difficult for people to concentrate when they are hungry.

At this moment, Cui Jizhong was still planning how to plead his case to the emperor later—in addition to the imperial guards, he also wanted more local troops from the nearby Chanzhou, and preferably some men from Chanzhou as well. After all, the locals were familiar with the situation and could lead the way, and if anything happened, or if there were places where they couldn't understand each other's languages, they could help out.

He was an experienced person and knew very well the devastation along the way after the flood.

When superiors assign tasks, they don't consider much. Those who do the tasks don't think things through. They shamelessly ask for and take everything they can get, but by the time they leave, it's too late.

Besides manpower, there is also grain. We cannot delay. We must ask the Emperor to issue an order immediately, assigning it to individuals, or even departments, to quickly allocate grain so that the camp's mess hall can prepare dry rations for the soldiers to eat while on the road!
This is both urgent and important. We also need to immediately notify the prefectures and counties along the route to prepare early and arrange for scouts to go ahead. And then there's Liutahe… Liutahe… oh, I'm so hungry, my brain can't process anything. Once we leave the palace and reach the Imperial Street, we need to find something to eat immediately, anything, even just steamed buns or mantou…

That doesn't seem likely. It's not mealtime yet, and those eateries might not have such convenient items for sale. Oh well, even though I don't like sweets, I'm starving, so I can't worry about that now. I'll see where they sell pastries, sweet or savory, just to fill my stomach!
Cui Jizhong's mind was in a mess when he heard someone call out "Cui Qing" from above.

He quickly agreed, suppressing his hunger. Just as he was about to start complaining, he saw the emperor on the throne point to the food box beside him and say to him, "The Empress Dowager sent this kind of military rations. She said it was made today by a cook in the market. She watched her make it. It is more filling than ordinary rations and cheaper. Try it and see how effective it is."

As Zhao Yu spoke, he took a piece from the food box and tasted it himself.

Upon seeing this, Cui Jizhong was first delighted, then sighed.

The joy lies in the fact that the emperor's actions clearly show he has taken the matter of military provisions to heart, and that it should be much easier for him to ask for supplies later.

Alas, even an emperor like him is lamentable—though he was willing, he still didn't quite understand military matters.

Upon hearing that she was from the "common people" and was a "cook's wife," Cui Jizhong secretly shook his head.

It's not that I look down on ordinary people, but military rations are completely different from ordinary food.

This stuff doesn't care about taste; on the contrary, the texture and flavor are best somewhere between unpalatable and delicious, leaning more towards unpalatable.

In this way, it is less likely to cause people pain when eating, and it will also prevent people from secretly finishing the food halfway through the journey. After all, during a forced march, the rations are carried by each person.

Besides being able to keep you full for a long time, it also needs to be able to keep for a long time and be "delicious". By "delicious", it means that it is easy to eat. There are many requirements.

A cook in the marketplace may be a good cook, but would she know what the army needs?
However, since it was recommended by the Empress Dowager and the Emperor himself spoke up, Cui Jizhong naturally wouldn't immediately refuse. He secretly thought that once he had this opportunity, he could quickly explain to His Majesty that it was unsuitable after eating, and then explain again why it couldn't be used, and then urge the Emperor to send more grain.

Just then, Huangmen delivered the food box to Cui Jizhong.

He looked closely and saw that it was a dry biscuit-like thing, cut into squares that were about half an inch thick, an inch wide, and less than two inches long, even smaller than the dry rations commonly used in the army.

Hold a piece in your hand; it's slightly heavy, like a tiny brick. Take a bite, and before your teeth can even register the hardness, the pancake has already cracked into pieces or powdery crumbs.

It turns out that these dry cakes are not ordinary flatbreads or rice cakes, but are made from some unknown ingredient ground into powder. They are pressed tightly and look very solid and hard, but since they are made from powder clumps and have undergone some unknown production method, they are loose and crispy when you bite into them, making them extremely convenient to eat.

Once it entered his mouth, Cui Jizhong could tell it tasted like regular dry rations, but it was a little less palatable than anything he had tasted before.

However, thanks to its texture and flavor, it is not difficult to swallow. On the contrary, because the powder is ground very finely, even if you don't gnaw on it or chew it hard, just use water and it will slowly dissolve in your mouth. You can swallow it whole without much of a rough feeling.

Cui Jizhong was already hungry, and before he knew it, the whole piece of dry food was gone.

He felt it was a bit troublesome when he first started eating, but after swallowing the last bite of the dry biscuit, a thought couldn't help but pop into his head.

—Oh no, it seems there's nothing wrong with these marching rations that would make them unusable right now!
When eating regular dry rations, one usually feels thirsty and needs to take them with water. But this one is so strange. It tastes terrible, but whether chewing or swallowing, one doesn't feel thirsty at all. He just ate it all on its own and finished it?

What's the logic behind this?

One is one, two is two.

Cui Jizhong was not one to argue illogically, so when the emperor inquired, he honestly replied, "There's no problem eating it right now..."

He explained the requirements for marching rations one by one, and finally said: "But the most important thing is that they must be able to withstand hunger and keep for a long time. Judging from the appearance of these dry biscuits, they should keep for a long time, but they may not be able to keep you full. We'll see how long they can last after they slowly dissolve in our stomachs before we can make a judgment."

Industry specializing in surgery.

Zhao Yu would not speak carelessly about things he did not understand. On the contrary, after hearing what Cui Jizhong said, he realized that there were actually many other intricacies to military rations besides what could be deduced from the usual ones.

When Cui Jizhong raised many more questions and requests, Zhao Yu knew that this rescue and flood relief was a matter of life and death, and that countless disaster victims in Hedong had suffered. He dared not think about it in detail, but he had no choice but to think about it carefully, and he agreed to almost everything.

With everything discussed and almost settled, and seeing that Cui Jizhong was about to take his leave, Zhao Yu said, "Minister Cui, take this dry ration back to the camp and have the others try it to see how much hunger each person can endure and what the results are."

Cui Jizhong readily agreed.

Carrying the food box on horseback was inconvenient, so he wrapped the dried biscuits in a cloth and left the palace.

Having received many promises from the emperor, Cui Jizhong finally felt a little more at ease. Having just eaten another piece of the so-called marching rations, he no longer felt hungry. He began to plan how to arrange various matters when he returned to camp, and who to select to go to Chanzhou, etc.

When he left the Chuigong Hall, he specifically checked the water clock and found it was the beginning of the Shen hour.

Having eaten countless kinds of marching rations over the years, Cui Jizhong knew that ordinary rations, even if they were three-tenths larger than the one he had just eaten, would only last for about an hour to an hour and a half if a person marched at high speed. The rarest ration was a kind of glutinous rice ration. Although it was inconvenient to eat and almost impossible to chew if it couldn't be heated, it was the best for keeping one full and could last for more than two hours.

He calculated the time, figuring out where he would ride his horse first, then where he would go next, and finally return to camp. It would only take about two hours, which would be a good time to test whether the piece of food he had just eaten would be enough.

After a long and arduous journey, Cui Jizhong returned to camp just before dusk.

At such a critical moment, there was naturally no such thing as roll call, roll call, or bell ringing. As soon as he returned, he immediately sent someone to summon his trusted lieutenants, generals, and subordinates.

While waiting for everyone to gather, his personal guards hurried over and asked, "Everyone else has eaten. Would you like to have a few bites, Commander? The food is ready."

Cui Jizhong shook his head and said, "I'm not hungry now. Let's talk about it after we finish this." At first, there were only about ten people, but as the preliminary plans for the forced march route, logistics, and emergency rescue upon arrival were broken down, more and more people were called into the room.

The group discussed from the hour of Xu (7-9 PM) until the end of the hour of Zi (11 PM-1 AM), and finally came up with a rough plan.

After talking all night, everyone was exhausted. Just as they were about to leave, Cui Jizhong remembered something. He hurriedly had someone bring over the bundle he had brought back, and he gave each person a piece or two. He then explained the origin and situation of the bundle, and finally said, "Take these back and try them out yourselves, and give them to others to try as well. See how long they can last."

After the crowd dispersed, Cui Jizhong returned to his room.

The guards rushed over and asked, "Commander, you must be hungry after staying up so long, right? What would you like to eat? We've already told the camp's kitchen to keep a fire burning!"

Cui Jizhong hadn't rested all day. After returning to camp, although he didn't have to travel, using his brain was still quite taxing. As was his old habit, he would definitely order a late-night snack and have a hearty meal.

But for some reason today, even though I didn't eat dinner, and we said we'd eat after we finished discussing things, now that it's past midnight, I still don't feel hungry at all.

When people are full, they might still be tempted to eat if delicious food is placed in front of them, but if asked what they want to eat, eight out of ten people wouldn't be able to say anything.

Cui Jizhong couldn't point it out at this point.

First comes the hustle and bustle, then the constant mental strain—even the strongest person couldn't withstand it.

He didn't have time to think too much, and simply waved his hand, saying, "No need, let's eat tomorrow morning."

After saying that, he went back to his room, tidied up, and went to sleep immediately.

There was naturally a lot of activity in the military camp. Cui Jizhong woke up early in the morning, just as dawn broke.

After a flurry of activity, including sending out a number of people to collect the lost items, he headed to the dining camp as it was getting late.

When he woke up, he was much more awake. As he walked, Cui Jizhong began to do some mental calculations.

As he continued calculating, his steps became smaller and slower, until eventually he stopped in his tracks altogether.

At that time, every outstanding general was well-versed in mathematics.

Cui Jizhong was quite good at arithmetic, but he still couldn't resist using the most basic method: counting on his fingers.

Shen Shi (3-5 PM), You Shi (5-7 PM), Xu Shi (7-9 PM), Hai Shi (9-11 PM)... Zi Chou Yin...

How many hours has it been?

At that moment, he clearly knew he wasn't hungry at all.

Not only am I not hungry, but I also feel a slight sense of fullness, with a little bit left over.

You know, he only ate one dry biscuit yesterday!

If we were on a forced march and entered a disaster-stricken area, and encountered people trapped... with this unpalatable dry ration, no matter who it was, they would surely be able to hold out longer!
Cui Jizhong became excited immediately.

However, this is only my own situation right now, so I can't believe everything I hear.

He strode into the camp's mess hall, intending to question a few of the men who had taken the rations the night before. To his surprise, the large barracks was nearly empty, almost deserted compared to before, and even compared to yesterday.

Cui Jizhong couldn't help but call over a personal guard and give him a few instructions.

The other person went out for a while and returned shortly after, saying, "...Everyone says they're busy and not hungry, so they won't eat breakfast."

Cui Jizhong's breathing became rapid involuntarily.

Soon, the group of people who had gathered together the night before to discuss matters and follow orders were summoned back together.

When asked about yesterday's marching rations and why no one ate breakfast, they all had something to say: their superiors told them to try it themselves and others, so the subordinates naturally dared not neglect it and all ate.

"Those dry biscuits are really something else. After eating them, I'm not hungry at all. I have too much to do today and I'm too busy to go to the kitchen."

"I'm not just not hungry, I feel like I just ate a full meal!"

"How many pieces of that dry ration did you eat?"

"One piece. At first, I thought one piece was a bit too little, but now I feel like it's a lot. I'm actually a bit full. I've eaten so much before, but none of it can compare to this. Commander Cui, even if this kind of military ration doesn't keep well, as long as the price is reasonable, it's worth getting the recipe!"

"That's the idea. It's so useful when traveling. I got the recipe, and I'm having it made right away so I can take it with me on the road—I wonder how long it will last!"

Whether it's stored for a long time or a short time, it doesn't really matter.

Cui Jizhong had seen the recipe and knew very well that it contained inexpensive and cheap ingredients. Even if it didn't last long, it could last for two days. He quickly had Chanzhou and other places along the way make it so that it could be put to use in time.

Such an important matter naturally required caution. After arranging for several soldiers to eat the marching rations, he immediately began training.

By the afternoon, a rough result had finally been obtained.

After eating it, an ordinary person can be kept hungry for up to seven and a half hours. If they are on a fast march or in constant training, they can be kept hungry for up to five hours. This is more than twice as long as the best marching rations used before.

If he hadn't experienced it firsthand, Cui Jizhong wouldn't have believed it.

He dared not delay and immediately requested an audience with the emperor.

Although I have the recipe, if I want to make it in large quantities, it's best to have someone teach and guide me.

However, just one day later, Song Miao was summoned to the palace again.

This time, it was the current emperor who summoned her.

Song Miao led many cooks to prepare half a day's worth of marching rations. Once everyone was skilled, Song Miao was able to retire successfully.

The next morning, Cui Jizhong set off for Chanzhou with his troops and provisions.

Song Miao also entered Ciming Palace again.

"The affairs of the court are urgent, and His Majesty is busy with state affairs, but I am quite free and have plenty of free time. I can't wait for the future, so I want to reward those who have made contributions right now. Little Song, the recipe you presented this time has been of great merit to the court. Is there anything you would like?"

Song Miao hesitated for a moment, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I do indeed have a request that I cannot make!"

(End of this chapter)