On the southwest coast of Guangzhou, Hoi An Town, a small market town under the Goose Head Ridge, a tributary of the Pearl River.

The soldiers of the Rebel Army from the Angry Wind Battalion are looting/raising for what is called the sentry rations, which is also the first time that Zhou Huai'an has left the station to go to the countryside.

When entering the town, it seems that because of the previous visits, there is no particular reaction to the presence of the rebels, or rather a kind of numbness and sluggishness that has been forced to get used to it. In the end, there was only a small number of so-called village elders in the huge town, who were fully responsible for the contact and negotiation with the rebels.

Because it is close to the inland suburbs of Guangzhou, in addition to some common rice fields and vegetable furrows, there are also scattered orchards on the hillsides and hills, but most of the local trees are tung trees that have already borne fruit, and the livelihood of most people in the town is also related to the surrounding industries of maritime trade and shipping.

Therefore, on the edge of the town, in addition to the wild market that regularly sells fish and aquatic products from the nearby fishing villages along the river, there are rope making yards that use straw, ramie, and palm skins as raw materials, a plate yard where hard sails are made from nearby materials, a raw oil mill for squeezing tung oil, a water mill for grain processing, and several weaving and dyeing mills, carpentry workshops, wine and vinegar shops, and sauce mills of various sizes.

Therefore, it is said that under the rule of the previous years, the villagers and coolies who squatted in groups under the eaves and waited for work constituted a daily scenery of this town; However, now these people and the craftsmen and servants in the workshops have either fled or hidden, and most of the rest have been recruited/coerced by the rebels. Therefore, these places basically show a cold and desolate sense of depression and decay.

In addition, he also found a small temple with a modest half-walled single room and several small wooden ancestral halls; It enshrines strange gods and tablets from the patriarch to the black-faced Zhurong God and the Horse-headed Plague King.

The town is not very large, but the layout of the various buildings is relatively dense and clustered, and it is divided into several large and small streets. Walking on the dirty and narrow streets, Zhou Huai'an could feel the dodging figures behind the doors and windows, and the hidden gazes they showed with curiosity, fear, worry, and rejection.

Because it is a border area linked by industry and commerce, although the people here are not lacking in vegetables and thin, they are much better than those starving homeless people outside Guangzhou.

Except for the two rice and grain shops that had been emptied, most of the other buildings were still intact, and there were no signs of fire or smashing, but whenever anyone saw the rebels walking by, they all cowered or hid in a hurry.

The liquor shops and tea shops hidden in the depths of the alleys seem to be still open, but both the customers and the guys are sneaking in and out, and they don't dare to say hello and call loudly.

From another perspective that Zhou Huai'an understands,

Although the rebel army adopted quite severe purge and control measures in the city of Guangzhou, in these suburban villages and towns outside the city, they still adopted quite extensive means of occupation and control, and basically the rebel army of each department was responsible for the affairs of a certain area in the nearest section, and at the same time raised the use of the part by itself;

Therefore, after brutally expelling and eliminating the influence of the government, and plundering and scaring away many large wealthy families, in fact, some so-called elders and elders with great prestige in these townships were responsible for taking the lead in maintaining the daily order, and through various requirements for collecting money and food and raising military order, they constituted a temporary coexistence and balance with the nearby rebel army.

After some negotiations, under the leadership of the villagers, the ground outside the town was soon piled up, bags of hundreds of stones of rice and other miscellaneous grains that had been prepared, hundreds of horses of thick and fine silk cloth bundled into several large bags and a large jar of copper coins, two carts of vegetable oil and sauce plus a few large vats of wine, and finally there were even a dozen women who had been hastily dressed up and looked full of wind and dust;

Of course, as one of the potential benefits of out-of-office rations, these women can only be used locally, and are not allowed to bring them back to the camps. Still, these women, who are coated in inferior fat powder and difficult to tell their real age, still attract the attention of most of the rebels who are between single dogs and old singles.

Fortunately, there were no uninteresting people among them, who came over to ask and disturb Zhou Huai'an if he wanted to share the profits. Therefore, he temporarily gained a moment of leisure and space to get rid of the noisy crowd and walk around alone.

And in the process of this casual strolling, he still made discoveries and gains; As one of the market towns close to Guangzhou, there are still some characteristic local products among the shops along the street that are forced to open for business; For example, there are many gray goose-headed geese that look a little similar to wild geese, so they are famous in the local area for their smoked goose breasts and whole wax geese.

Zhou Huai'an also tasted it specially, in addition to the ingredients are obviously a little monotonous and lack of sweetness and saltiness, in the heat and has been not far from the later generations of Guangwei Fengla; Therefore, he directly took advantage of his authorization this time to directly include the corresponding wax goose, and its goose eggs and other by-products in the catalog of military preparations.

Another example is the popular shrimp sauce bean curd and kezi rice in this generation; The former is the product of small miscellaneous fish and shrimp and crab sealed and fermented fish sauce, boiled together with diluted raw bean juice, and there is no much fishy smell when eaten, but only a certain salty and fresh feeling in the mouthful of beans;

The latter is a half-dry, half-thin meal made with the ubiquitous local name oysters, which are cooked together with overnight meals, and if enough seasoning is added, it is already the prototype of the so-called seafood stewed rice in Southeast Asia.

Although they are all simple foods that are hastily eaten by lower-class people, because they have been circulated for a long time, the simplicity of the source and the convenience of cooking do not prevent Zhou Huai'an from secretly adding them to his daily collection of recipes.

Of course, according to the practice and practice in the Furious Wind Camp, under normal circumstances, when the rebels raised military supplies on the spot, they would generally use a certain amount of money to compensate for the difference in addition to the routine levy share; If you don't have enough money, you will use other things you have on hand to offset it.

It's just that no matter whether it's good or bad, or whether it's needed or not, the other party has no reason to refuse or resist, otherwise it's a "spy who is a scorn for the government" or "a malicious hoarder with evil intentions", and there will be no good end. Therefore, for the locals, doing business with the rebels is also full of certain risks and uncertain probabilities, and there are different degrees of concealment and distancing.

However, for this general situation, Zhou Huaian came up with a bold idea; The booty and goods in the hands of the various units of the rebel army, as well as the output of resources under their control near the station, were obviously different; Isn't it possible to use the Raging Wind Camp as a leader and link, so that they can start to communicate with each other and take what they need, and they can also expand their influence and contacts, as well as direct and indirect sources of resources in one fell swoop?

Just as his thoughts were divergent, he walked aimlessly, and came again to the archway at the entrance of the town, and saw the pack horses loaded with things tied underneath, and the guards who had disappeared for the time being; Suddenly, I discovered something, and I seemed to have unconsciously gained a sense of freedom and purity.

At least in his field of vision around and around him, except for a few villagers and passers-by who were in a hurry and avoided them, there were no more obstructions or eyeliner around him; Even in terms of hearing and perception that was specifically activated, Lao Guan, who was responsible for protecting himself, and Xiao Qi, the follower who was close to him, were busy dealing with the things he was temporarily assigned outside the vision of at least hundreds of steps.

Suddenly, it seemed that the opportunity to flee to freedom was in sight, and at any time it was within reach, as long as he took the pack horse and continued to walk out, no one would hinder or stop him.

Then he came to his senses again, even if he rode out here, what could he do, most of the things he had prepared were still in the camp, how far could he run with a pack horse, a mile or two? , and then still in the sphere of influence controlled by these rebels.

Although their forces are more dispersed, and they are not so efficient in connecting and communicating with each other; But the checkpoints and patrols on the road are real obstacles and troubles. As for the probability that he will hide until the rebels leave, it is not as likely as the probability of being starved to death in a corner as an outsider with no relatives and no reason.

At the same time, looking at the figure that slowly turned back from the entrance of the town, the gnats in the grass who stayed on the hill in the wild, and the team officer Cheng Da who was bitten with a swollen face, also sighed slightly; This feeling of not knowing whether to be disappointed or happy made his face a little complicated.