Follow General Cao to mix the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 36 Food and clothing
He had a bitter face like Yang Bailao's. Hearing Prime Minister Cao's questioning, Wang Hou fell to his knees with a thud like he was rushing to serve his father-in-law.

"Dad..., that's not right. Prime Minister! You always let the younger ones recruit, but there are more than 4000 people eating at the coal mine! The officials also want to serve the country faithfully, but they really can't afford it!"

"Bullshit! The truth told you to recruit more than 4000 people at once? Has it become the truth? Do you know how many baskets you have stabbed at once, and how many people in the court have impeached you for plotting wrongdoing! It's the truth that took it for you! You don't want to repay, but you come to the truth to ask for benefits, the truth sees that you don't want to be an official because of Wang Tuqiu!"

Mr. Cao is already in his forties this year, and he has experienced many storms in his life, some are timid and afraid of him like a tiger, some have ulterior motives and are secretly like a snake, and some are arrogant and frivolous like Guo Jia. It was the first time Cao Cao met someone like Wang Hou who was crazy about money every day, and took advantage of him. It really made Mr. Cao have the urge to chop him up.

It wasn't like this before!Could it be that after going to the execution ground once, he was so frightened that his temperament changed drastically?
But what made Cao Cao speechless was that after being so intimidated, Wang Hou was still eager to take advantage of it, his old face looked more like a bitter melon, and he kowtowed sadly.

"Master Prime Minister! Isn't this just to save up the dowry for the Red Festival..."

"roll!"

Before finishing a sentence, Wang Hou had no choice but to change his tone quickly under Mr. Cao's murderous eyes: "Xiaguan, this is also for the next year's autumn harvest, so I will hand over a lot of food to the prime minister! If these officials under Xiaguan The tenants of the trilogy are all starving to death, and there will be no way to get food in the next autumn. Don’t you lose money! Besides, this is also good for you, the prime minister. Qianshi, Xiaguan's briquettes are also easy to burn, and they don't need corn, just give Xiaguan a thousand stones of wheat every month to feed the horses!"

"wheat!"

These words finally changed Cao Cao's face slightly, but just when Wang Hou was secretly delighted to have a show, Mr. Cao suddenly turned his head and yelled towards the door.

"Come on! Get that thing!"

"thing?"

This time it was Wang Hou's turn to be confused.

…………

What a thing, there are a dozen big white flour steamed buns neatly placed in a large bowl!Watching Wang Hou, the back of his head felt a slight cool breeze.

This is the current ration in his mansion, and the only ones in the whole mansion who can eat white flour steamed buns are those in their thirties who are in charge, and the rest have to work hard. He doesn't even know if he is given black flour steamed buns with ginseng wheat bran Under the circumstances, someone presented the steamed buns to Cao Cao as information!
The most doubtful thing is the nine tiger and leopard riders sent by Mr. Cao, but the nine of them are the least doubtful, because they gather together for dinner, and every meal these guys are like starving ghosts. , swallowed up the steamed bun in front of him, not knowing who was secretly watching him.

But that's another story. If you don't get Mr. Cao's public relations right now, he will go bankrupt and run out of food if he can't last two months before spring plowing. Thick clasped his fists in astonishment.

"Prime Minister, what does this mean?"

"Is this the staple food in your house?"

"Of course!"

"Made of wheat?"

"Of course!"

"How much can a stone of wheat make?"

Wang Hou was really confused, this is the prime minister's mansion, not a gourmet show, looking at Mr. Cao's serious eyes, he shook his head sadly.

"I don't know, Xiaguan! But if you make white flour steamed buns, you need to sieve out about half of the bran, so that the steamed buns are soft and delicious. If you don't sieve the bran, the steamed buns made are black flour, and the taste is not good." Rough and unpalatable, but black-faced steamed buns are more nutritious and actually better for people!"

"And the sifted bran is not useless anymore, it can be used to feed cows and horses. The horses in the Xiaguan Mansion are all fed with bran and forage. It is no better than feeding wheat directly. go."

I really don't understand why Cao Cao is so interested in cooking, but in order to win this big order, Wang Hou danced and danced, knowing everything, talking endlessly, Cao Cao listened to what he said, and Cao Cao pinched his chin and his long beard in thought After getting up, it took a full minute before he solemnly raised his head again.

"Can this be used as military rations?"

No wonder Cao Cao is so dignified for a small steamed bun. The output of wheat is nearly a third or even a half of that of corn. However, the main method of cooking wheat in this era is to throw it into a pot to cook porridge. The corn or rice in the shell is difficult to boil and digest. Basically, the wheat brought on the march is fed to the horses.

But now Wang Hou is able to make wheat soft and palatable, and there is a possibility that wheat can replace corn. The corn reserves in Taicang are only about [-] shi, but the livestock reserves are more than [-] shi. If we can really use wheat as military rations, The military rations in the coming year can be quadrupled, enough to fight several big battles!

Seeing Mr. Cao's seriousness, Wang Hou was once again confused and shook his head uncertainly.

"Fresh steamed buns will go bad after a few days, but if you put the steamed buns on the hot kang to dry, they should be able to keep for about a year! When you eat them, soak them in water until they are soft, and you can still eat them!"

Wang Hou really doesn’t know how long dry steamed buns can be stored, but later generations in the West have used black bread as military rations since the Roman era, and later generations in the Ming Dynasty also baked hollow flatbreads as military rations. Since they can be used as military rations, this thing should be quite resistant bad.

Moreover, Wang Hou remembered reading an online story in later generations. Because of poverty, the parents of a prisoner walked for several months with a bag of steamed buns on their backs. a year.

Cao Cao was very satisfied with this number. He stroked his beard and nodded again. He hastily ordered: "The truth gives you seven days. You go back and dry the steamed buns you mentioned, put them outside, and then come back." Eat it for the truth!"

"Um, prime minister, the coal purchase case..."

"Get out!"

He slammed the table, and Mr. Cao got serious, stood up abruptly, and waved his big sleeves out suddenly, so frightened that Wang Hou's forehead was a little sad, and he really hurried out in a desperate manner.

There is no way, Party A is always a relative!
Fortunately, there is another saying that the first rank of officials crushes people to death. When he returned home, Wang Hou also confidently slapped Wang Ganzi who rushed over: "Get out! Go and get a basket of white flour steamed buns for Ben. The master puts the kang on the kang to dry, and not a drop of water is allowed!"

…………

According to Mr. Cao's instructions, within seven days, Wang Hou carried a large basket of steamed buns that were so hard they could be thrown out to smash people, and entered the prime minister's mansion again.

Well, there is a little tail Cao Hongjie behind her. It seems that this girl is not willing to miss every opportunity to show her face in front of Mr. Cao. I really don't know how her character of being a slave is cultivated.

Needless to say, Wang Hou really showed his face. In the last Huokang incident, Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, Xia Houdun and other trusted generals of Mr. Cao arrived. This time it was even more lively. All the leading generals arrived, and a large group of powerful and powerful people looked at the big basket of steamed buns that Cao Hongjie carried in with his head held high and his chest held high like country bumpkins.

"Meet the prime minister!"

In front of the hall, Wang Hou and Cao Hongjie bowed and saluted together as husband and wife. Seeing this scene, Mr. Cao's beautiful beard couldn't help shaking again, and then waved his hands helplessly.

"Wang Lingguan, distribute steamed buns to the generals!"

"Your servant obeys!"

It was said to be distributed by Wang Hou, but in fact, the attendants of the Prime Minister’s Mansion helped to distribute it. All of them were yellow, and the hard dry steamed buns were distributed. Except for eating at Wang Hou’s when there was nothing to do, I was used to steamed buns and noodles for a long time. Except for Guo Jia, the rest of the general's army is even more country bumpkins, holding steamed buns like playing with mobile phones, looking left and right to fiddle with them endlessly.

Xu Chushi, who was still a lieutenant of the Dianjun of the Forbidden Army, went up and bit his mouth, and his toothache ached, and his well-nourished and shiny old face twitched. He was the first to clap his fists at Cao Cao

.

"My lord, I can't bite this thing!"

"Wang Lingguan, how to eat it?"

If this thing is used as military rations, it must be approved by these personal users. It is estimated that this is also the reason why Mr. Cao summoned generals. Whether you can win this big order depends on whether the relatives of Party A are satisfied today!Wang Hou hastily clasped his fists in return.

"If you have the conditions, cook it on warm fire for half an hour; if you don't have the conditions, soak it in cold water for half an hour, and then you can eat it!"

"Our army is strong, so we can take the time to boil it!"

Whether it is possible to promote wheat in the army is also very important to Cao Cao. If he succeeds today, he can triple the military rations for next year. It is rare that he, the director of bidding, is letting go. Under his orders, one of the future generations is enough to enter the museum safe The big bronze tripod was brought in, not to mention, the honeycomb briquettes offered by Wang Houjin, which was burned underneath, was also an advertisement for him.

Those hard steamed buns were thrown into the cauldron one by one. The advantages of coal were fully revealed. The thermal effect was several hundred degrees stronger than that of charcoal, and it could even be thousands of degrees stronger when it was closed. In less than a few minutes, it seemed quite The thick cauldron started to boil, and the big steamed buns that were already hard quickly scattered away with someone gurgling.

The ancients called steamed buns soup cakes for no reason. After cooking for about 10 minutes, the attendants poured out the steamed bun soup bowl by bowl, and a bowl of steamed bun soup was placed in front of a general's mansion.

Although it looks like this thing should be quite soft, it is a bit like the spicy soup of later generations, but Xu Chu’s lesson from the past just now, Brother Xiahou, Uncle Xun Yu and his nephew still had lingering fears and did not move their chopsticks for a while, this time it was Guo Jiahao. He took a large spoon indifferently and stuffed it into his mouth first, and then nodded appreciatively.

"That's right. Although it doesn't have the soft and firm taste of fresh steamed buns, it still feels a bit more like porridge after cooking in this way. If it is served with broth, it will be enough to make it clear!"

Seeing that this guy didn't have a tooth knocked out or something, the civil and military officials also started to pull the spoon, and they had to pity the ancients of this era. They have never eaten anything delicious. It is like eating pig food.

After all, he was still an elegant person, Xun Yu and Xun Lingzhong gracefully grabbed the spoon, took a few sips, put down the bowl immediately, and fisted Mr. Cao heavily.

"Prime Minister, if this thing can really be stored for a year, I think it's feasible!"

It's done!Wang Hou's little heart couldn't help being overjoyed!
(End of this chapter)