I Rely on Beauty to Stabilize the Country - Chap 104

The ancients said that it is true to reflect on yourself three times a day. Gu Yuanbai reflected on himself before going to bed and looked at what he had done so far. His mind became much clearer for a while, and he became clearer about what he wanted to do in the future.

Soon after, Tian Fusheng found the famous flowers in the capital and went to several royal springs to pick the famous flowers that were carefully tended and should not bloom in winter.

Each of these flowers is worth tens of thousands of gold. I recall that during the late emperor’s reign, there was a Xifu Begonia in the palace that was among the people, and it was bought by a rich man for ten thousand gold and enshrined. Today, the Holy Emperor has strict control over the palace. No one dares to take the flowers from the palace and sell them outside. Therefore, things are rare and valuable. As long as any flower bears the royal name, it can be exchanged for white flowers. silver.

When Tian Fusheng picked these thousands of flowers and dried them, his head hurt so much that he was bleeding.

Xue Yuan said that it was a flower that had to be imported, so there were a lot of procedures involved in handling the petals, and it would take less than half a month to go back and forth. After Gu Yuanbai gave the order, he rarely interfered, but at some point, rumors began to spread among the people that the Holy Emperor loved flowers.

Suddenly, the price of flowers in Beijing experienced another surge.

Time went by slowly, and finally we came to the end of the year.

In northern Xinjiang, two days before the New Year’s Eve, the soldiers of Daheng, also under the vigilant surveillance of the nomads, began to prepare to celebrate the New Year.

The Spring Festival falls on the first day of the lunar calendar, commonly known as the “New Year”. This day has been the most lively and festive day of the year since ancient times. As generals and soldiers, they cannot go back to celebrate with their families this year. Although it is a pity, they still have to make it lively, so that the generals and soldiers can have fun together and usher in the new year together. , filled with good wine, eating and drinking to bid farewell to the locust plague, and let those disgraced nomads have a good look at the confidence of their Great Heng Dynasty.

The post station sent enough seasonings and salt to the border a few years ago. Early in the morning, General Xue took his people to slaughter sheep and cows, and then sent another group of people to pluck ducks and cook duck soup in advance.

The Daheng soldiers at the border were busy processing ingredients that day. Strips of red-flowered meat were dried on the ground covered with a layer of cloth. At first glance, the floor was covered with bones and piles of duck feathers. It easily reminded people of a good harvest. Soldiers were busy coming and going, occasionally picking up ingredients. Just one look at it makes me feel satisfied.

That night, the batches of meat were processed by the gang leader soldiers and left outside to freeze overnight. The next day, everyone got up early again and started preparing dumplings.

The fillings for making dumplings had been prepared by the kitchen a few days in advance. The people in the kitchen were not polite at all. There were a large number of ready-made soldiers available, so they handed over this important task. Those who went to the battlefield were all big men, and they usually wielded swords, guns and sticks. The soldiers looked at the noodles and stuffings and looked at each other. Most of them felt at a loss.

Old General Xue and other generals were among them, slowly making dumplings with the soldiers. The famous generals put the dumplings on the dumplings, and they all had strange shapes, and few could even look past them.

General Xue laughed loudly, pointed at General Yang Hui and said, “General Yang, are you making dumplings?”

Yang Hui scratched his head, looked around, and said with a grimace, “General, look, not many of them have good-looking bags.”

When Old General Xue took a look, he was amused again. He suddenly noticed that there was no trace of Xue Yuan among this group of people. His brows jumped and he felt bad, “Where is that boy Xue Yuan?”

“Xue Jiuyao took people to pick the bones,” someone explained. “The kitchen leader was short of men, and the bones were hard. Xue Jiuyao was strong, so he took people to chop the bones first.”

“We’re going to make bone soup,” General Xue felt reassured and smacked his lips, “We’re going to start making it from today. When two days pass, won’t it be so delicious that it will make you swallow your mouth?”

The same goes for dumplings. There are both meat and vegetarian fillings. There is really a lot of oil refined from the cattle and sheep in the border areas. When adjusting the filling, the oil and seasonings are sprinkled into the dumpling filling for free. Chopsticks When you put a piece of stuffing on it, you can see the oil coming out of the stuffing.

The iron pots in the army have all been cleaned. When the oil is poured into the pot, whether it is dumplings or beef and mutton, the aroma will spread for thousands of miles.

Just thinking about it made me feel like my stomach was already growling, and I was so greedy that I wished it was New Year’s Eve and I could eat a mouthful of oily wine and meat.

General Xue and his colleagues made dumplings for a while and then went to the kitchen to have a look. Good guy, as soon as they walked into the kitchen, they were greeted by a mist-like aroma. Everyone followed the aroma to see that duck soup was simmering in a large pot. As soon as the lid of the pot was lifted, the fragrant aroma immediately made everyone salivate subconsciously, almost killing them.

The generals wiped their mouths reservedly, glanced at the place where the bone soup was boiling, and asked worriedly: “Do you have enough people?”

“We have recruited all the skilled people from the army and the people to help. We should have enough people, but we will definitely be overwhelmed by the work.” The gang leader was sweating profusely, and his men kept moving, “Oh, generals, If you have nothing to do, go make an extra dumpling, what are you doing here?”

General Xue left with his men and ran back to make dumplings.

The morale of the soldiers was extremely high during the past two days. They had been busy processing the ingredients for two days and were full of energy waiting for the Spring Festival.

In addition to the Spring Festival, they also have to watch out for nomads. The soldiers murmured in their hearts, hoping that this group of nomads would be smarter and not attack on such a good day. If they really attack at this time, the soldiers over there will be really full of anger and have no place to vent their anger. .

But at this moment, there were really nomads staring at the trees not far away.

The Daheng soldiers made too many moves in the battle with Rilian, and the Khitan tribes had already received the news. Regarding Daheng’s seemingly tough attitude towards sending troops to confront them, the Khitan tribes were a little disbelieving, but also annoyed and a little bit annoyed. disturbed.

The connections between their tribes are sparse, and fighting in the winter is of no benefit to the Khitans. They can only send people to station at the border, always keeping an eye on whether the Daheng soldiers have any offensive moves.

The north wind blew for the past two days, blowing the fragrance of the Daheng soldiers to the north, making the eyes of the people sent by various tribes to keep a lookout turn green.

It’s so fragrant, so fragrant.

The rich food aroma includes the smell of meat, bones, and the sweet aroma mixed with rice and noodles. As soon as this fragrance was breathed into my nose, my mouth was filled with salivation. The howling wind and the snow on the ground could not freeze the fragrance.

The nomads standing on the border and looking toward the pass stretched their necks so long that they wished they could reach over and see what the Daheng soldiers were doing.

Why does it smell so good? It’s the end of the year, are they preparing for the New Year?

They even cooked meat, and the aroma was still meaty and oily, and they still had oil.

Aren’t they all affected by the locust plague? How can they eat so well!

The nomads who looked dryly were surprised, “Do you smell this fragrance?”

“I smell it,” another person sniffed, “Isn’t it just eating meat? What’s the big deal? When we marched and fought in the past, all we ate was dried meat. The Daheng people ate chaff that even pigs wouldn’t eat. No one can compare to us!”

“Yes,” the nomad said sadly, “I never thought that these Daheng soldiers at the border would have such a good meal. But now, they are all eating meat, but we are eating grass.”

The others stopped talking and were in no mood to stand here and continue to stare. A group of people returned to the tent, but the tent could not isolate the aroma. The aroma was still unbearable when one smelled it.

The nomads don’t have iron pots and have never eaten stir-fry dishes. They can’t imagine meat with such a strong aroma. Is it the same as the dried meat they used to eat?

Why didn’t the jerky in the past have such a fragrance?

Maybe there was, but they had never noticed it in the past. It had been a long time since they had eaten dried meat, and they had no taste of meat. The thought of it made their mouths full of saliva, and they felt envious as they swallowed.

They stared at the Daheng people on the front line, but the food and equipment sent to them from the rear became increasingly perfunctory. Everything they eat is the leftovers from the tribe, and the grass and food for the horses are getting less and less. At this time, they smell the aroma coming from Daheng and wonder in their hearts, when can they Eat these things?

After taking Daheng as your own?

*

On the night of New Year’s Eve, a big bonfire was lit, and the soldiers gathered around the bonfire, with smiles of anticipation and joy on everyone’s faces.

When the time comes, the drums prepared by the army are beaten, and the roaring sound is endless. In the sound of drums that resounded throughout the world, General Xue raised his wine glass and shouted loudly: “Thanks to the Holy Spirit for always remembering us, we can eat so many good things on this day. Regardless of the quantity today, everyone eat with open stomachs ! The old year is gone and the new year is here. I wish you all a safe and prosperous next year! ”

The soldiers responded in unison, and the sound resounded for hundreds of miles.

The bonfire was hot, and the flames were burning firewood. The soldiers got their share of the delicious food, ate it voraciously, laughed and huddled together with their comrades to keep warm.

The duck meat in the duck soup is stewed, with enough spices and salt. As the hot duck soup goes into your mouth, you feel the fragrance lingering on your lips and teeth every time you chew it. After chewing for a few times, you swallow it in your throat. I swallowed it anxiously.

At this time, no one cares about the conflict with whom. There are no distinctions between new and old soldiers. Everyone is leaning against each other with their arms around each other, feeling extremely relaxed in the light of the fire.

There are so many people, no matter how lively or festive it is, the laughter can’t be suppressed.

Some recruits were munching meat-filled dumplings and breathing in the air-conditioning because they were so hot. They did not forget to ask the soldiers who had been stationed in northern Xinjiang in the past: “Did you always have such a happy New Year in the past?”

The soldiers from Northern Xinjiang were immersed in picking up the pieces of meat, and they were boiling them until they couldn’t speak clearly. “How can you not, this is the first time!”

The soldiers from the capital kept in mind: “That’s because the Holy Spirit didn’t have money before, but now the Holy Spirit has money, just wait, there will be more good things.”

The Northern Xinjiang soldier nodded and sighed, “It’s so delicious.”

He smacked his lips, feeling that just saying this was not enough, “It’s really delicious.”

The soldiers below were eating and drinking, and the officers and generals were not lagging behind. After everyone toasted, they looked at the barbecue, dumplings, and duck bone soup brought from the kitchen. Their appetites suddenly whetted, and they started to eat with chopsticks.

Xue Yuan was also among them. He was eating and drinking and rarely spoke. General Xue looked at him for a few times, thought about it, and asked, “Do you want to go back to Beijing?”

Xue Yuan shook his head, “Can’t go back.”

Whether he didn’t want to or not, General Xue glared at him, “Are you still playing tricks on me?”

“Since General Xue said so, I’ll just say it.” Xue Yuan put down his chopsticks and picked up the wine bottle to drink. “I want to go back, but I don’t want to go back either. I haven’t done anything for the Lord yet. Where can I go back?” go?”

“That’s the right way to think,” General Xue said with some satisfaction. “Tell me, what do you want to do when you return to Beijing? Is it true that it’s what your mother said in her letter, that you have a sweetheart in mind?”