As the drizzle gradually stopped in the past few days, the sunny day that gradually emerged in the air, riding the newly replaced big dark horse Zhou Huai'an, was also surrounded by an army of chariots and horses, marching in the vast wilderness south of Chaoyang.

1,000 soldiers in full suit, including all the members of the rear battalion, 600 garrisons and more than 400 miscellaneous envoys, as well as 500 large livestock, and more than 200 carts, that is, he had all the strength of this partial division under his command at this time. Divided into three divisions, the front, middle and back, plus a few cavalry sentinels to guard the two wings, there is also a lineup and momentum.

It is an area of a network of rivers and ditches; It's just that it seems that because of the new melee fire, there are not many traces of human activity in the countryside. Even the occasional figures in the distance who were working on the farmlands or the edge of the canals fled in a hurry after seeing the traces of these troops.

With the sun as the boundary, the large cane fields, fruit trees and forest gardens mixed with the hills began to disappear gradually; And the scenery and scenes on the road have also become rather monotonous into the irregular grid of one-color rice fields; A variety of rice paddies and scattered fish ponds.

Compared with the alluvial plain of the Pearl River Delta, where Guangfu is located, the scene of various fishing, salt, mulberry and hemp clusters is different; The main structure of agricultural products here is still a variety of rice cultivation; Its history can even be traced back to the conquered Nanyue people in the Qin period, who had rebelled as early as BC to cultivate saltwater-tolerant rice and fish on the river banks near the mouth of the Shanghai Sea.

Therefore, today's Chaoshan area includes early rice-late rice double cropping system, autumn rice-soybean double cropping system, autumn rice-winter horticultural crops double cropping system, etc. A set of cropping rotation (water-drought rotation), intercropping (citrus intercropping) and intercropping (late rice interplanting sweet potato) farming system prototype was initially formed.

And make full use of ditches, houses, roads, embankments and other five sides of the broken land, so that no land space is wasted. Effectively utilize natural resources and labor resources such as water, soil, light and heat, so that they can be transformed into various piecemeal material outputs and supplements to the greatest extent.

It's a pity that no matter how hard you dig the upper limit of land power and land output, you can't change the reality of being exploited and oppressed under the old social system; The vast majority of people have grown rice for generations, but they can only use taro and bran vegetables to feed their stomachs and survive all year round.

Just a routine reception meal by a public servant who went to the countryside to collect money can easily make a family that was still crying and barely getting by, and then sell their children and daughters to borrow money and even go bankrupt and flee the famine.

Therefore, after this war between the rebel army and the official army, although it is inevitable that the yield will be reduced and the harvest will be poor because of the mistake of farming and agricultural time; However, because of the wave of wealthy families, large families and eunuchs who were cleaned up by the righteous army, no one dared or could continue to levy all kinds of taxes and miscellaneous labor from them in the short term; Compared with the ordinary people in some villages, the life is actually better than before.

This is the result of the people he sent to conduct social surveys and surveys of agricultural production along the way. Therefore, after Zhou Huai'an sent a singing team/wind collection team came back after walking around, there were always more or less bold young students who came back, saying that they wanted to join the righteous army to find a way or eat with food.

Although Zhou Huai'an understood that this was only a temporary phenomenon caused by the ebb of government power and the empty and powerful local forces, which had not yet been filled, it was also a gratifying result and development. There is also data collection and species sampling for various aspects of agriculture.

"Master Xu. It's not too early for the day."

A voice beside him interrupted Zhou Huai'an's thoughts, and pulled back to reality; But it is the new resident lieutenant who joined his subordinates, and Su Wuming, who is nicknamed "Su Monkey" because of his sharp-beaked monkey gills. I saw the other party salivating and looking forward to it:

"Can you let people have a gang?"

Because this time the number of men and horses that need to be led by his subordinates has increased. Therefore, he is surrounded by brigade commanders Cheng Da Biting and Lao Guan, and the rear battalion's signature "Hum Ha Second General"; It is also said that because of a mistake, Wang Pan was sent over to listen to the use of Su Wuming, the captain of the garrison who was sent over to listen to the use in disguised punishment on the grounds of "beating down";

In addition, the newly established Rebel Army Horse Team, the lieutenant Liu Liumao, who was assigned to cooperate, became the pattern of the so-called Four King Kongs. Of course, as far as Zhou Huai'an thinks about it, he naturally doesn't really think that people are just here to be punished; Perhaps this does not have the intention of secretly balancing and restricting the strength of his subordinates, but it is also a reasonable thing.

But I didn't expect that this somewhat temperamental jumper was so nameless, but he was also a potential foodie, at least after seeing the fineness and intentions of Zhou Huai'an's private small stove, he just learned from time to time to gather around in the name of "asking for advice" and did not leave, just to eat and drink a little when Zhou Huai'an had a meal.

"Okay."

He couldn't help but shake his head and say again

"Bring up today's wild catch."

Later, under Su Wuming's personal escort, a large wild boar with a thick mane and a few crossbow arrows inserted in it was loaded on a board cart and carried over; After Zhou Huai'an thought about it, he had the corresponding means to deal with it.

There is no need to deliberately stop and concoct, directly use the charcoal fire in the car to patiently burn and remove the hair, and then scrape off the charred skin to reveal the white texture; Then take the most fat and thin part of the pig's face, cut it into small pieces, put it in a boiling soybean oil pot and fry it to be the finished product.

Although the meat of wild boar, by the standards of the later world, seems to be old and woody, it is really the enemy of teeth, and it needs to be marinated or stewed in a sauce that is hot enough, or chopped and fried to make a salted meat sauce; However, the meat on the head and face is an exception, especially the upper nose and lower jaw, which are the most frequently used, which are the most layered and delicate.

After deep-frying, it is slightly drained and cooled, and then dipped in salty shrimp paste, or homemade sweet and spicy sauce, plum sauce, peanut butter, and salted egg sauce. In fact, since crossing the lower reaches of the Rong River, all kinds of wild catches have gradually become more frequent.

Compared with the inland part of Xunzhou, which is close to Xunzhou and has a considerable degree of development, the coastal area located at the southwest end of the Chaoshan Plain is not a good place; It is said that in the 14th year of Tang Yuanhe (819 AD), Han Yu degraded Chaozhou, and "Xie Shangbiao" said: "The southern border of the state, the sea rises and the sky rises, and the poisonous fog and miasma occur day and night."

According to local guides, the sand banks naturally formed by various coastal erosions and upstream shocks can be described as swamps, wild elephants, crocodiles, and the environment is quite harsh, and it can be said that there are large areas of wild land that have not really been developed.

Therefore, in this part of the wild and complicated coastline, the places that can be used as human settlements and suitable for larger sea-going ships to anchor and go ashore are actually quite limited, that is, the locations of those fishing villages and small harbors;

And along the way, Zhou Huai'an also really saw what is called the wild land of this generation; It is the pig podage (crocodile) that appears from time to time in the river swamp next to the road, lazily basking in the sun, and swaggering in the wild elephant herd near the farmland of the village in the daytime; In the mountains and forests, tigers, leopards, jackals and wolves can be seen from time to time.

Naturally, this also further firmly cut off Zhou Huai'an's last bit of luck on the road alone.

Of course, these beasts at the top of the natural ecological food chain are frightened, driven and crushed in front of hordes of armed humans, or simply the objects of tooth sacrifice to improve the taste of life in the wild.

However, Zhou Huai'an's favorite ingredient is still the meat of those herds of wild deer. Without any accompaniment, just roasting it directly on the fire or frying it on a red slate is quite delicious; After the deer tendon is smoked, it can be used as a snack directly; Deer blood is also a good tonic, which has a certain effect on rescuing the endangered wounded; It's just that in the current climate, it is not easy to preserve, but can only be filled with salt and tied tightly in the intestinal sleeve to make products similar to blood sausages.

In contrast, the meat of wild goats is a little older, but it is more chewy and chewy. The best among the poultry are undoubtedly the bamboo chickens and red-headed ducks that live under the roots of the bamboo bushes. As for the anacondas, civets, pangolins, badgers, tapirs, wild boars, muntjacs, etc., which were once included in the cherished recipes in later generations, I tasted them one by one.

casually collected more than a dozen skins with different characteristics, such as the original pigdragon (crocodile) leather case that was enviable enough for later generations, and enough to construct the standard leopard skin and bear skin of rare and protected animals, mattresses and mattresses;

Just as a few people were sitting cross-legged on the cart for a special meal, munching on the light sweet noodles used as a drink, they heard a report from the front; Several of the squads that had gone out to reconnoiter the enemy's situation had already been returned.

This time, the troops rushed to the port used by the official army to land, and among the three-way reconnaissance teams, the two routes to Zhanglinzhai and Baishahukou were one step late or pounced, and only the remaining team was found in the salt patrol near the seaside Zhelinshu.

Although most of the officers and troops in Chaozhou have been wiped out, there are still a large number of unknown armed men gathered there; And judging from the situation of risking disguise and snooping closer, although there is no clear flag and mark, the armor and equipment held by the other party are not ordinary local soil groups or village soldiers can be equipped.

Moreover, they did not seem to have received the news that the inland army had been defeated, and continued to collect and distribute money and grain in the vicinity, and to collect taxes and extort money and merchants from passing by. There were even people who brought women from nearby villages back to the station to spend the night.

Therefore, half of the sentry horse team was left to continue to monitor the vicinity, and the rest hurried back to report the news.

The new year is coming, but looking at the background data of Genesis, about 800 collections and 60 average subscriptions, I can't help but have a faint sadness,

Could it be that the subject matter and writing style are not pleasing?

(End of chapter)