Chapter 345: Miao Chu Chapter 347: Xiang Ni

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Song Miao

This recipe did not come from nowhere; it was developed long ago on Pingyang Mountain through the joint efforts of many people over a long period of research.

At that time, the world was in chaos, with Hu invaders sweeping south and bandits rising everywhere. The Eldest Uncle could not stand by idly, and though the others had differing opinions, they all eventually contributed their efforts.

Some followed in the uprising, while others refused to travel together but helped recruit manpower and prepare weapons and clothing.

Song Miao's birth mother, Wu San Yi Po, and several uncles spent many days improving military grain from past dynasties, finally producing this bean porridge cake.

Its characteristic is that it uses inexpensive ingredients, wards off hunger, and even if one eats nothing but this alone for ten days or half a month, one will not become overly weak.

It needs no roasting, no boiling, no heating; it can be eaten dry or mixed into soup to drink, making it very suitable as rations for a forced march.

But there was only one deer.

The Eldest Uncle's venture was not yet half complete when something happened midway; those left behind went down the mountain one after another and never returned...

Now that times have changed, the recipe for this bean porridge cake has remained firmly etched in Song Miao's mind.

Last time in Hua Prefecture, she tried replacing several ingredients, swapping the more expensive ones for cheaper ones—a minor test—and sure enough, the results remained excellent. Laborers and river-patrol civilians only needed to eat a small piece to stave off hunger for half a day.

The Chai Guan and students of the Du Shui Jian sent out to survey water conservancy only needed to carry several bean porridge cakes with them; even if they could not return in time or encountered no homes with cooking smoke along the way, they need not worry at all.

Chan Prefecture was flooded everywhere, villages and fields destroyed by floodwaters. Soldiers and Guan Cha were busy rescuing people, and such dry rations were very useful whether for themselves or for temporarily supplying trapped disaster victims.

Empress Dowager Yang had ruled the state and experienced much; being a woman, she naturally paid more attention to details and cared more about the people's food and clothing. Though she did not hold great expectations, she immediately said: "Quickly go get it!"

When the palace attendants followed Song Miao back from the food shop with the so-called bean porridge cakes and found some imperial guards to eat them—each portion a piece the size of a child's palm, not heavy when weighed—

Asking about the ingredients and calculating carefully, compared to the military rations currently in the camp, the price was lower and they were more convenient to carry.

Looking at the recipe and method, then at the finished bean porridge cakes, if there was anything bad about them, it was that making them required some effort.

But this drawback, at such a critical time, compared with human lives, was nothing major.

Empress Dowager Yang was cautious by nature. Although she had seen the bean porridge cakes with her own eyes and seen the imperial guards eat them, she waited dryly to see how long the cakes could stave off hunger, and could not help but ask many more details.

Seeing that the other party asked in such detail, Song Miao said: "Why don't I make some for the Empress Dowager to see along with the palace attendants?"

Empress Dowager Yang was immediately moved and asked: "Do we need to call several people from the canteen to help?"

Song Miao said: "Just trouble two helpers to tend the fire and grind the powder; making this cake requires no skill at all."

This was not an exaggeration in the slightest.

In Empress Dowager Yang's presence, Song Miao, accompanied by several palace attendants and yellow gates, ground all the ingredients into powder, poured them into boiling water to knead into balls, flattened them into cakes, and steamed them until cooked.

According to the recipe, after steaming they should be sun-dried, but since she was eager to see the results at this moment, Song Miao changed it to roasting them in the furnace once.

Relying on the fire to roast, in just over two hours, several bean porridge cakes were made.

Seeing the things were done, Empress Dowager Yang was very curious and had the attendants and the helping palace attendants go taste them together.

Several people ate them, and their reviews were very similar.

"Not very tasty."

"Although not tasty, not bad-tasting either."

"Right, it's just dry ration flavor, but it doesn't scrape the throat and can be eaten without water."

"A bit crumbly, doesn't hurt the teeth, not hard, edible, but the flavor is not good."

Song Miao explained at the right time: "If you want it to taste good, you can actually add some glutinous rice and japonica rice. But when I was in Hua Prefecture, I received a piece of experience from an elder: for relief food and military rations like this, the worse it tastes, the better."

Empress Dowager Yang, upon hearing this, also took a piece to taste.

Sure enough, it was just as those palace attendants said; calling it not bad-tasting was already giving face.

But she did not disdain it at all, and instead said: "The elder spoke no empty words; this is indeed great experience. Such dry rations are meant for military marches and relief. If they tasted good, who knows whether they could reach the disaster victims and soldiers' hands, or even if they did, people might not be able to help but eat too much, which is not good."

With Empress Dowager Yang's approval, soon, the recipe written by Song Miao was sent to the Chui Gong Dian.

This matter had been discussed for half a day in the Chui Gong Dian and was actually nearing its end, but the faces of all the ministers present were not looking good.

The ones with the ugliest complexions were the two from the Ministry of Revenue.

Vice Minister of Revenue Fan You only felt his head buzzing.

He and his superiors had used many methods to perfunctorily delay and avoid giving too much silver and supplies to Liu Ta He, because they felt things there were definitely hopeless.

Although urged by several chief ministers in the court, relying on methods such as buying fields and properties everywhere and yielding tea and wine taxes, it appeared on the surface that a great show was being made, but in fact the things truly needed to be taken out of their own pockets had been reduced to the minimum. Who would have thought that before they could be happy for a few days, they would receive such bad news.

It was confirmed that Liu Ta He truly was hopeless, and he truly had foresight, but he could not be happy at all.

Previously, he could use deceptive tactics to shift things around, but now Chan Prefecture had encountered disaster, and they truly had to spend money, allocate grain, and dispatch supplies!

At this time, the autumn grain in the north had not yet been harvested, exactly the time between the exhaustion of old grain and the ripening of new. If not for the fact that it was improper to lose composure in front of the Emperor and his colleagues, he really wanted to curse Lv Zhongchang's ancestors for eight generations.

Sure enough, after a while, the Minister of Revenue was named by the Emperor and assigned the task of raising silver and grain.

At such a time, the superiors only dared to cry out a little difficulty, not daring to even fart loudly.

Seeing the situation was not right and the deadline was truly too tight, Fan You could not help but step forward and say: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Although the Ministry of Revenue has the responsibility of management and coordination, it also cannot do without the assistance of various departments and bureaus. Especially now that the new grain in the north has not been harvested, even if the Capital tightens its belt and temporarily transfers all supplies to Chan Prefecture, it is still limited. Only Jiangnan Two Routes and a few places in the south can make some adjustments for relief. But now the canal transport is blocked; even if the Ministry of Revenue allocates them, they still cannot be delivered to the place!"

Besides Fan You, Commander of the Palace Front Pang Zhong also stepped forward.

He had received an order to immediately lead troops to Chan Prefecture for disaster relief and saving the people. At this time, he hurriedly followed up and said: "Your Majesty, I lead the troops to Chan Prefecture. Setting aside the matter of mustering soldiers and generals, if logistics rely entirely on Chan Prefecture alone, I fear it cannot be guaranteed!"

"It would be best to bring supplies from the Capital. If not, then arrange for the prefectures and counties along the way to share the burden. Otherwise, Chan Prefecture already lacks supplies and the people are homeless. If we go there, are we not just adding more trouble?"

Someone spoke up, and immediately one after another began to raise their demands.

Zhao Yu sat in a chair, questioning several chief ministers one by one, urging each department and bureau to take charge of their tasks. Sitting and sitting, he vaguely felt his whole body burning, his body like fire, especially his eyes were hot and swollen, and his gums were swollen—still on the right side as last time, his tongue lightly touching it caused pain that was hard to bear.

As the problems raised by others were either split up or solved one by one, and some could not be solved but could be temporarily set aside, only the two biggest matters, which could actually be combined into one, namely the matter of transporting supplies, remained unsolved for a long time.

Zhao Yu covered his right face and could not help but urge several chief ministers.

The crowd either looked at me, or I looked at you, or stared at the hu ban still held in hand after court, none daring to speak lightly.

And when one of them was urged by the Emperor, he had no choice but to recommend a candidate — who turned out to be the disciple of another official at his side — the latter then almost immediately recommended a subordinate of a third person.

Very quickly, the assembled ministers unusually began yielding to one another; aside from a few who recommended capable men of their own, but whose candidates were clearly either of unsuitable background or insufficient ability, the rest mostly pushed their own people forward, I recommend your man, you recommend mine, rarely praising the other's candidate to the heavens, as if afraid of receiving this hot potato.

Transport duty is actually a lucrative post, but this year the weather was abnormal, drought in the south and flood in the north; along the route of the Jiangnan Two Routes entering the capital, there were several places where transport had been blocked for a long time — boats transported halfway, then had to either switch to smaller boats or transfer to land transport, wait until reaching the next stretch of water deep enough for navigation, then switch boats again.

Such tossing about, a single route's cargo had to be moved and transferred three or four times; the time, labor, and expense consumed can be imagined.

The Transport Commission thought of many methods, but all were hindered by this or that reason and ultimately could not solve it; at this moment, in such haste, with the Liu Ta He flood disaster right before their eyes, waiting for money and grain — which fool would want to go unprepared and charge into difficulty?

Zhao Yu was already uncomfortable; seeing everyone pushing responsibility back and forth, his anger flared up at once, and he shouted: "Cao Qing! Lv Zhongchang presiding over the Liu Ta He matter was originally advocated by you and Li Zhai together; now Li Zhai is in Chan Prefecture for disaster relief, and you won't exert even a bit of effort here?!"

Although he addressed him as Qing, his tone was extremely reluctant.

Chancellor Cao, how could he not see that the Emperor was already furious.

But he neither wanted his own faction to step into this muddy water, nor did he wish to offend the Emperor's wrath; turning his head to look at the others, he also knew that if he tried to divert the trouble eastward now, he would incur public anger, so he could only brace himself and half-agree, saying: "This matter, your subject naturally cannot shirk responsibility; only transport is truly both urgent and complex, not something that can be sorted out the moment one takes it over; now it is too urgent, I am willing to recommend two men to follow up, but the overall coordinator had best still be drawn from the Transport Commission, so as not to delay the main business."

As he spoke, he indeed recommended two elders of his own faction, but neither were core strength.

For a moment, everyone in the hall understood this was sacrificing the carriage to save the general; but seeing the fire had not burned to their own bodies, they all chimed in agreement.

Although these words had the suspicion of avoiding the important and focusing on the trivial, they were not without reason.

Zhao Yu then pointed out another man from the Transport Commission.

That Transport Commissioner had long known he could not escape; since doing the business was important, he couldn't be bothered with more verbose talk, so he simply spoke to the matter at hand, pondered briefly, and said: "If speaking of the southern transport, the Six Routes Transport Vice Commissioner Wang Shuji happened to be in the capital on business this morning; this man has long been responsible for the Jiang, Huai, Liangzhe, and Jinghu six routes, knows the situation best; Your Majesty might as well summon him over and ask a few questions."

Thus the court session ended early; not long after returning to the yamen, while urging the various departments for manpower on one hand, and stealing leisure amid busyness on the other, mentally calculating how to squeeze in a trip to that so-called Suanzao Alley at noon rest to find the legendary Song Family Eatery and beg a bowl of "Song Rice" to eat — Wang Shuji, the Wang Deputy Commissioner, was hastily summoned into the palace.

When he stood in the hall and was informed of the Liu Ta He breach and the events along the route, it was truly like the third month of deep winter, having a basin of ice water poured over his head, cold from head to toe, even his teeth chattering.

Then asked whether he was willing to preside over the Jiangnan Two Routes supplies traveling north by transport, he, a native of Chan Prefecture, simply gritted his teeth and agreed.

"This time the time is too urgent, both manpower and material resources are insufficient, especially the river transport matter — without capable men it cannot be of use — your subject requests to borrow and transfer a number of people..."

As Wang Shuji spoke, he named several people in succession, all of whom had once served either in the Transport Commission or in the Transport Offices, familiar with the north-south transport situation.

In addition, he named several more, headed by Wu Gong, a group from the Du Shui Jian.

Hearing Wang Shuji mention the first few names, Zhao Yu nodded immediately each time; when it came to Wu Gong, because he knew this man was a backbone talent of the Du Shui Jian, presiding over the current water affairs outside the city, although he thought the flood had not yet fully receded, he hesitated slightly, glanced at the Du Shui Jian Cheng, and finally also nodded.

And after counting off that batch of officials, Wang Shuji hesitated for a few breaths, then said: "Aside from these gentlemen, your subject also wishes to borrow and transfer a few Taixue students, a number of students..."

This time, the Du Shui Jian Cheng suddenly asked: "Which Taixue students?"

Wang Shuji said: "The rest are not yet decided, still awaiting recommendation and discussion; only two people: one surnamed Han, called Han Li; one surnamed Kong, called Kong Fuyang..."

He hadn't even finished saying "Yang" when the Du Shui Jian Cheng said: "That surnamed Kong Taixue student is still in Hua Prefecture; a transfer order can be sent to urge him back to the capital; as for Han Li — this man must stay at the Du Shui Jian, he still has an important task on him not yet finished."

Speaking to this point, the Du Shui Jian Cheng hurriedly turned to Zhao Yu again, saying: "Your Majesty, although the water momentum outside the city has gradually calmed, after all it cannot be guaranteed there will be no further rising water; Wang the official took away Wu, Sun, Feng and several other officials, all backbone figures; now with a whole batch drawn away, it is already extremely strained; that Han Li has always been responsible for woodwork, fascine work and such matters, also helping supervise all the students and civilian laborers; if this man is transferred away too, the Du Shui Jian really cannot arrange well..."

"It is this lowly official's fault!" Wang Shuji immediately changed his tune, turned to Zhao Yu and saluted, saying: "The capital is still more important; your subject will then give up the two officials Feng and Sun, only wanting those two Taixue students!"

The Du Shui Jian Cheng was so startled his hair nearly stood on end; at this moment he had already detected the other party came prepared; he hurriedly stepped forward a pace, just about to speak, but above Zhao Yu had already said: "Such details, you can discuss further afterwards; however, after all they are still Taixue students, different from court officials; aside from issuing transfer orders, you must also ask their own willingness."

Finished speaking, he then ordered the Palace Front Commander and the other several relevant people, saying: "Have the Imperial Guard and Xiang Army kitchens prepare campaign cooked rations as early as possible."

The Palace Front Commander couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty, campaign cooked rations being storable for three days is already not easy..."

Zhao Yu said to the Hanlin Academician at his side: "Issue orders to the prefectural and county yamen along the route, tell them to prepare early, stock enough grain and rice."

The Commander opened his mouth, but in the end still did not speak, only sighing a breath in his belly.

However this method treats symptoms not root, it is still better than going empty-handed.

He couldn't keep babbling in front of so many people, only prepared to stay behind later for a private audience, to vent his bitterness.

Discussed for half a day; although the final situation is unknown, what could be done has all been done; the rest is merely doing one's utmost and leaving the rest to Heaven's will.

Aside from the Palace Front Duzhihui who requested to stay for audience, the various officials received orders and each scattered to busy themselves — not to mention further — among them Wang Shuji and the Du Shui Jian Cheng ran the fastest with their legs.

And walking against the flow of the crowd was a single Ciming Palace Yellow Gate eunuch, holding a tray, who had waited at the door for a long time, finally received the pass, and was able to enter.