Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 19 Smoked Fish
The afterglow of the evening sun shone on the Red Tide Territory.

Inside the smoking shed near the hot spring, several smoked fish hung on wooden racks, their golden skin slightly wrinkled, emitting a rich smoky aroma.

Louis stood to one side, scrutinizing the fish that had been smoked for hours.

He then gently pressed the surface with his fingers, and nodded in satisfaction at the dry and bouncy feel.

“M-Master…” Sally stood to the side, speaking cautiously, her hands unconsciously twisting together.

Her eyes were filled with nervousness, as if she was afraid that her smoked fish wouldn't be good enough.

Upon hearing this, Louis looked up and praised, "It's smoked very well; the texture and color of the fish are excellent."

Sally breathed a sigh of relief, a nervous smile appearing on her face: "It was all done according to your method. Without your guidance, we wouldn't have been able to do it."

“You guys are so skillful.” Louis casually tore off a piece of fish and threw it into his mouth.

Although the fish was dry and firm, the rich smoky aroma slowly spread in the mouth as you chewed it, and the taste was quite good.

Standing to the side, Hilko crossed his arms, yawned wearily, and had dark circles under his eyes that looked like they were about to fall to the ground.

It wasn't that Louis deliberately exploited him; it was just that the two of them were the only literate people in the entire territory.
So I had no choice but to force him to work 996.

Today, to comfort him, I brought him here to eat fish.

“Hey, have a taste.” Louis handed over a smoked fish.

A flicker of interest crossed Hilko's tired eyes, and he took a bite as well: "It tastes better than I expected."

“This is the result of Sally’s hard work,” Louis praised.

Upon hearing her name, Sally panicked and quickly waved her hands, "No, no, no, I only smoked these fish according to your instructions. I don't know anything about this..."

Louis listened quietly to Sally's words, but his gaze remained fixed on the smoked fish.

Red Tide Territory is located in the cold north and has limited food resources.

Although fishing is an important source of supplies, the rivers are almost frozen over every winter and early spring, resulting in virtually no catch.

To avoid famine, he had to find an effective way to preserve food and keep it through the long winter.

So Louis came up with an innovative method—using geothermal heat to smoke fish.

"Hot spring smoked fish? Can it really work?" When Hilko first heard about this plan, his eyes were full of disbelief.

“This method removes more moisture than simply air-drying, thus extending the shelf life,” Louis explained.

In any case, this approach is always worth trying.

So he chose the meticulous and skillful Sally and had her lead the women in their initial attempts.

The first step is to process the fish.

First, cut open the fish's belly and remove the internal organs, but be sure to keep the skin.

Fish skin not only prevents the fish meat from falling apart during the smoking process, but also locks in the aroma, making the smoked fish taste better.

Next, they are cured with coarse salt for a period of time ranging from several hours to a day, depending on the weather and humidity.

This not only removes the fishy smell and enhances the freshness, but also removes some moisture, preparing it for subsequent smoking.

The second step is to set up the smoking rack.

In the hot spring area, a row of smoking racks is woven from branches, bamboo strips and rattan.

They also added simple windproof and heat-insulating facilities to both sides of the rack, so that the hot spring steam could penetrate the fish meat to the maximum extent, while preventing heat loss.

The third step is the smoking process.

Geothermal resources are not stable, so the fumigation time is divided into 2 to 3 days and carried out in multiple rounds.

At a low temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius, some moisture can be removed to allow for longer preservation. However, if the temperature is too high, it will be more like being baked, resulting in excessively high moisture content and a shorter shelf life.

Therefore, the time and temperature must be carefully adjusted for each batch of smoked fish.

All of this may seem tedious, but through Sally's continuous efforts over this period, she has achieved small-scale success. The fish hanging on the smoking rack are already one of the hopes for the Red Tide Territory to survive the winter.

Louis nodded slightly: "It's ready to be scaled up."

A hint of surprise flashed in Sally's eyes; she and the women under her command had been working hard for several days on this.

In this world dominated by force, women have never had a high social status.

If they can take on the important task of smoking fish, their status in the Red Tide Territory will be greatly enhanced.

She pursed her lips and asked cautiously, "My lord, do you mean you want us to be in charge of smoking the fish?"

“You’ve done a great job, haven’t you?” Louis glanced at her indifferently, his gaze sweeping over the fish grill. “If the scale expands, experienced people will naturally take charge of this.”

Sally's heart raced, and she couldn't help but clutch her apron tightly, feeling a sense of security she had never felt before.

"Thank you, sir!" She bowed almost instinctively, her voice trembling slightly.

Louis smiled and said, "I should be thanking you."

At that moment, a knight approached and whispered in Louis's ear, "Lord Lambert has returned."

Louis's eyes lit up; this was double the good news.

He immediately strode towards the residential area and met the three people who had just entered.

Lambert knelt on one knee and whispered, "I will fulfill my mission."

Louis nodded slightly, a hint of relief flashing in his eyes.

The steady and reliable Lambert always gives people a sense of security.

"You've worked hard," he said in a deep voice, then glanced at the other two elite knights behind him.

Although they were slightly more tired than Lambert, none of them complained about the hardships of the journey.

“We’ll give a detailed report tomorrow.” Louis smiled gently. “Get some rest tonight. You will all receive the rewards you deserve at tomorrow’s awards ceremony.”

The three bowed simultaneously, saying respectfully, "Yes!"

“Leave the seeds behind, and then you may go and rest.”

The three knights handed the package to their servants without hesitation and left, weary from their journey.

Even elite knights will inevitably feel physically and mentally exhausted after using their fighting spirit to travel long distances.

Louis watched them leave until they disappeared from sight, then turned and walked toward his office, followed closely by his servant carrying bags of seeds.

Bags of seeds were neatly stacked on the desk, all the result of this purchase.

Louis waved his hand, signaling the servants to leave.

Once the door closed gently, he stepped to the table and, following the clues from the intelligence system, found the seed he was looking for.

He gently picked one up and examined it in his hand.

The seeds are reddish-brown with a smooth surface, and at first glance they look no different from ordinary cranberry seeds.

If it weren't for its own intelligence system, it would probably have been mistaken for an ordinary seed.

But it is definitely not ordinary.

This is the Frostblood Redberry, a special fruit corrupted by the extreme cold of the North.

Consuming it not only strengthens the body, but also has a remarkable effect on the knight's battle aura.

This means that once successfully cultivated, it can become a unique specialty of the Red Tide Territory.

It could also become a strategic resource that various noble families would compete for.

Louis looked at the seeds as if he could see mountains of gold and silver beckoning to him.

(End of this chapter)