The summer is imminent, and the seed master Dao began to convene a group of generals on Jingyuan Road to discuss the route of the summer and related preparations, since they were placed in the army, these large and small meetings, Lotte naturally followed aside.

It's just that Lotte's position in the army is a little embarrassing, neither a military general who commands the army nor a civil minister who is not a staff member, but he is a dignified four-grade Zhongshu Hui, and there is also a five-grade privy council on the top of his head to undertake the order and the errand of the Xihe house, which is more and more nondescript.

Wulu Daixia sent troops at the end of August, at the beginning of September, the two troops in Western Xia seem to be very similar in time, but the current Great Song Dynasty has many advantages compared with the Shenzong Dynasty.

Now Zhuo Luo and the Southern Military Division have been contained by Hehuang, and then out of Xi'an Prefecture to contain the Xishou Baotai Military Division of Western Xia, Huanqing Road Liu Zhongyuan conquered or contained the Jingsai Military Division, and the Seed Master Dao only needs to send troops down the Hulu River from the Huaide Army to reach Mingsha City, and then the troops will come to Lingzhou City.

From the point of view of time, as long as the order to destroy Xia is issued, the army will be assembled in a few days, and then the troops will go directly to the hinterland of Western Xia.

Since ancient times, there have been many aphorisms in China that have the importance of military rations, such as the emperor does not send hungry soldiers, the army is scattered if there is no food, and the soldiers and horses go first before the grain and grass are moved.

No matter when and where, only when and where a soldier eats and sleeps well can he have the ability to march and fight in heavy equipment.

If the supply can keep up with the Song army to capture Lingzhou, with Lingzhou as a springboard for advancement, the time of the Western Xia demise is very likely to be 150 years earlier.

There are lessons from the past, and the issue of logistics and supply has become the top priority on the agenda.

Throughout the history of various dynasties, the combat effectiveness of the army in each period, the troops with good combat effectiveness must have a good quantity and quality of food. For troops with poor combat effectiveness, the food must be miserable in terms of quality and quantity.

In particular, in the early days of the establishment of the Central Plains Dynasty, when the country and the people were safe, when the wind and rain were good, there were sufficient and even elite troops could be given double rations, and the combat effectiveness was very prominent. At the end of the dynasty, when the government was corrupt and there were many famines, the army's food plummeted, and the soldiers had food on their faces, but they did not have enough to eat. When you can't pull the bow, you can't walk on the march, you can't move when you put on your armor, and you can't move when you wield a sword and spear. There will be all kinds of things that will happen when the enemy army defeats more with less, the army is crushed like a mountain, and the dynasty is destroyed.

The Central Plains Dynasty in the Han Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, mostly millet (millet) as military food, but at this time the Western Regions of the baked cakes, Hu cakes also spread to the Central Plains, to the Tang and Song dynasties, baked cakes and flatbreads into military food, flatbread and tea became the staple food of the army, this is also limited to the staple food, as for meat and eggs and other non-staple food, basically can not be seen, except for the mobilization banquet before the big battle or the celebration banquet after the victory, the soldiers can see a little meat.

In the meantime, I have to mention that in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the monthly ration of the forbidden soldiers was two and a half stones, and the box army was two and a half stones, but at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the military salary was seriously deducted, and the forbidden army only had eight or nine buckets of monthly rations, and even brown rice was filled with rice, and the small buckets were replaced by big buckets, and the food was not enough, and how to wear dozens of catties of heavy armor against the Jurchen cavalry.

However, the Western Army is a special case, and there are fewer vices in contaminating Hebei and garrisoning the Central Forbidden Army in Biandu, and the salaries of the non-commissioned soldiers are still relatively generous.

After the logistics supply meeting was dissolved, Lotte asked the logistics officer in charge of the supply with some confusion: "My grandfather, my Great Song army is still so complicated to fight in the summer realm, how did the party members invade my Great Song territory in the past, how did they replenish it?" ”

Although this kind of atmosphere is not so prevalent in the northwest, the transfer envoy in charge of logistics replied to a question from an official who is a four-grade official: "If you go back to your lordship, the party people are different from my Great Song Dynasty military system, and many people in the party and the army bring their own military rations, and the most common military rations are air-dried meat. After slaughtering a year, hundreds of catties of beef are marinated and air-dried, turning into more than ten catties and twenty catties of jerky, which are carried with them on the expedition. It is equivalent to a soldier marching with beef from a cow, which can be eaten for several months. ”

"Hundreds of catties of meat turned into more than a dozen catties of jerky?" Lotte was a little surprised, in Lotte's impression, where was the dried meat that he ate in later generations as dry as he imagined, just a little dry.

The envoy continued: "The Tibetan people, the Tibetans, and the Uighurs dried the fresh beef for a year until they could stuff all the beef into a cow's belly (cow bladder). At this time, these beef tripes became food packets, and these soldiers and soldiers could set off with one or several packets of beef jerky.

A small piece of this kind of air-dried meat can maintain the survival of soldiers, and can even be used to cook soup, usually replenish some sacred tea and milk and water that the Tibetan people often drink, so these soldiers probably don't need much food for logistics transportation in the rear, nor do they need accompaniments such as green vegetable bean paste. ”

At this time, Le Tiancai understood why these nomadic tribes were able to repeatedly break into the Central Plains for thousands of years, relying on the speed advantage of cavalry to harass the interior.

After explaining to Lotte for a while, the transfer envoy hurriedly said: "The lower official can't chat with the adults, the military situation is urgent, and the lower official has to rush back to urge the following messengers to hurry up to make military rations for the army." ”

"Wait!" Just as the envoy was about to leave to pacify the envoy, Lotte suddenly stopped him.

"What is the matter with the lord calling the officials?" Hearing Lotte's call, the transporter turned his head and asked hurriedly.

Lotte said to the transfer envoy: "This official has a method of making military rations here, which not only lasts for a long time, but also resists wind and rain and is easy to carry, I wonder if this adult is interested in giving it a try?" ”

The transfer envoy was surprised and a little incredulous, and even a little contemptuous, but he had to say: "Please don't hesitate to tell me!" ”

After all, Lotte is too young, and at the age of less than twenty, he is an official in the fourth rank, which makes many officials in their thirties and forties who are still struggling with the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades feel embarrassed. Most people think that Lotte can live in the four grades, which is the result of the faintness of the Son of Heaven and the luck of the Lotte boy, and how many things do a young man who is not yet a double ten.

Lotte asked, "Have you ever heard of chow mein?" ”

"Chow mein? What is chow mein? The transfer envoy asked puzzledly: "Please also tell the Chinese book!" ”

Chow mein, Lotte naturally refers to the fried noodles that later generations of Chinese soldiers used to be used as military rations, relying on this to satisfy hunger, the soldiers who were dressed in tatters and holding weapons that lagged behind the enemy, and the enemy with superior equipment reached a draw, so that they could not move forward further.

Lotte said: "Chow mein is made by grinding wheat, corn, and rice into flour and stir-frying, in which mineral grains, or fine salt and flax (sesame seeds) are added to the seasoning, and placed in a dry food bag not only saves the time of making good food but also is easy to carry on the march. ”

After listening to Lotte's words, the transfer officer was skeptical, and then questioned: "As Lord Zhongshu said, this fried noodles can resist wind and rain when placed in a cloth bag?" ”

"Not bad!" Lotte nodded, and then said: "This thing is mixed with the flour cakes that are commonly eaten in the army, which can not only change the taste of the food, but also save the time of the army to prepare food." ”

Different from the Ming and Qing dynasties in later generations, the Song Dynasty was an era of openness and easy acceptance of new things, and the transfer envoy was also curious when he heard the words: "The lower officials dare to invite the adults to come to the transfer envoy to the Yamen, and teach the lower officials and others to make this military food called fried noodles." ”

Of course, Lotte does not understand the specific details of the division of labor in the war, but Lotte is willing to teach the experience of these later generations, and he will go there immediately.

The process of making fried noodles is not complicated, you only need to master the low heat and low temperature, and soon under the guidance of Lotte, a fried noodles made with wheat noodles and soybean flour as the main ingredients, accompanied by a little flax, was successfully trial-made, and the aroma immediately filled the room.

Looking at the freshly baked fried noodles, Lotte looked at the officials of the Transit Division and smiled: "This thing can be adjusted into a ball of water, dried food, or mixed into a paste to eat, you should try it!" ”

A coarse-looking mixture of wheat flour and bean flour, which is also mixed with some other coarse grain flour. It looks like dirt, but it is estimated that it fell to the ground, and people who have never seen it will definitely not be able to tell whether it is food or ordinary soil.

Although it seemed to be really unappetizing, the officials of the Transit Division tried it alone, and on the whole, these fried noodles mixed with salt and sugar for seasoning, and with some flax to add some flavor, tasted really good.

Looking at the officials of the Transshipment Division, Lotte said: "Only the noodles are dried and preserved, and these fried flour will not spoil for a few months!" ”

"It's really difficult to make a fire when you're marching and fighting, and if you bring enough of this fried flour, you won't need to make a fire to cook in the army for months!" Listening to Lotte's words, a clerk couldn't help but say excitedly.

"This kind of fried flour is really convenient and easy to carry when marching and fighting!" The envoy said, and asked Lotte: "I don't know what Lord Zhongshu said, how is this fried flour not afraid of flooding and rain?" ”

Lotte commanded, "Bring me an empty cloth bag with flour and bring a bucket of water!" ”

After a short time, a small official took the empty cloth bag and water, and Lotte ordered the people to put the fried flour in the empty cloth bag, and then tied a knot in the bag and sealed it, and threw it into the bucket.

When everyone opened the bag, everyone found that the flour in the bag was slightly wet except for the outer skin, and the fried flour inside was completely dry.

Seeing the effect of fried noodles being soaked in water, the Jingyuan Road Transit Envoy couldn't help but praise: "This kind of fried flour is really a kind of artifact, and it is the most suitable for marching and fighting!" ”

Lotte nodded and asked the little official who spoke before, "You said that it is very difficult to make a fire when the army is marching and fighting?" ”

didn't expect that a four-rank senior member in the court would ask him, and the little official hurriedly said: "Yes, it's really not easy to make a fire in the army!" ”

In ancient times, there were no matches, lighters and other things, and it was very difficult to make fire, as for those fire folds that were opened and blown with their mouths, or shaken, and let the air flow rub to ignite on their own, in fact, the fire folds were originally burned, but the speed of burning in isolation from the air was slower, just like the incense point, so it was not easy to make a fire in ancient times, especially when marching and fighting.

In addition to someone in the gang leader army who is responsible for burying the pot to make rice, there are also people who come to make a fire, the person who makes the fire is to collide with the stone with an iron piece, and the "fire velvet" for ignition is placed below, when the spark falls on the velvet and burns, then use the "lamp" to connect, that is, to obtain the fire. It is not easy to make a fire on a sunny day, but it is even more difficult to make a fire on a rainy day, so it is very troublesome and important to make a fire in ancient times.

Lotte began to wonder if he was going to make matches.

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