Although the order has been issued, it will take at least three days to wait for 4,000 soldiers and horses to assemble and then march to Yehuling.

In the past three days, Ling Yun didn't plan to sit idle. Five thousand people are about to take the initiative to fight, and for Ling Yun, there is still an important problem to solve, that is, the problem of military rations. In general, in wars, especially when going out to fight, the supply of grain and grass is the top priority. The so-called soldiers and horses have not moved, and the grain and grass go first.

Lingyun's 5,000 troops set out to fight, even if they set off from Yehuling, they were more than 100 miles away from Taoshan. According to the marching speed in wartime, Lingyun's mixed army of horses and feet would have to walk for at least three days. After all, it's going to war, not a race, if it's just a full-speed march, rushing a hundred miles a day to Taoshan, then the whole army is exhausted, and you don't need others to fight, you are already tired, what kind of battle do you have. Marching thirty or forty miles a day, this is a steady speed, especially since Ling Yun's troops and horses are actually just a new army. Rushing to the battlefield for three days, the battle will definitely take several days, and counting the return trip, this battle is expected to take at least a week or so, and it may take half a month if it is not done well.

Each soldier needs to prepare at least six days' rations, at this time, the Sui Dynasty's government soldiers were given two liters of rice per day, and the Sui Dynasty's two liters of rice were roughly equivalent to more than 900 grams in later generations, about two catties. The six-day ration was 12 catties of rice plus some pickles and salt. Ling Yun remembered that he had read a number of jù before, which said that ordinary soldiers need to consume at least about three thousand calories in combat, normal stationing and training, and at least four thousand calories during the battle, and up to seven thousand calories. Calculated accordingly. The soldier's rations during the war, including staple and non-staple foods, should not be less than 1,500 grams per day, and it should not be absolutely impossible to maintain a normal body.

Thus. Although the two liters of food per day for the sergeant at this time seemed to be a lot, in fact it was far below the normal consumption. Especially after Ling Yun saw the military food in this era, he became more and more aware of this. Before Ling Yun took charge of the Huaihuang Army, the daily rations of the Huaihuang soldiers could not reach the amount of two liters per day, which was one liter of rice a day, or even brown rice. And with some green vegetables, beans, pickles or something, but the amount is very small. After Lingyun organized and trained the new army. He personally decided on a new system, giving two liters of food per day and three meals a day. In addition, there is one meal of meat a day, and some side food items are also distributed.

However, at the moment, we have to go out to fight, and food is a problem.

Ling Yun's plan was not to bring additional auxiliaries to transport food. Each soldier carried his own rations for six days. Plus two days of emergency food, for a total of eight days' food rations. Strive to finish this battle within a week.

As for the soldier's marching rations, after careful consideration, he made a list.

In his list, the six-day ration consisted of six liters of polished rice (2,950 grams) for three days, one pound (680 grams) of flour cakes for one day, and two pounds (1,360 grams) of dead flour bread for two days. Six days of dried meat is one catty and two taels (762 grams), and a day's amount of sausage is four taels (one hundred and eighty grams). Six days of soybean paste 12 taels (504 grams), six days of salt 1 tael (42 grams), six days of beans half a catty (340 grams), six days of cane sugar cubes 3 taels (126 grams).

The six-day ration was close to seven kilograms, which was more than ten catties at this time, and Lingyun also added two days of emergency rations that each soldier had to carry in addition to the six-day ration.

The emergency ration weighs two and a half catties and is fried rice that does not need to be boiled.

After this list was listed, Ling Yun handed him over to Wei Zheng and asked him to prepare according to the list.

However, after Wei Zheng got the list, he had a peculiar expression on his face, and after a long time, he couldn't help but raise his head and said, "This is the military food for the war?" ”

"Well, that's right."

"This is too cumbersome, a total of eight days of rations, but there are twelve kinds, and there are as many as twelve and a half catties." Ling Yun drew a symbol after each item, and wrote another line of numbers in it, this number he knew was Arabic numerals, and the two arcs were punctuation brackets, but what did this gram mean? He didn't understand it for a while, but he still saw it clearly, Ling Yun's list of military rations was too terrifying, not to mention the high level of rations, and there were as many as twelve types listed. Polished rice, pot helmets, dead dough cakes, jerky, sausages, soybean paste, salt, beans, and even cane sugar cubes!

He hadn't heard of many of the things listed, if this was the rations that Ling Yun had listed for himself, but if five thousand people used such rations, it would be too extravagant.

"What's this fried rice?" He Lanhong also looked at the side for a few moments, and then asked.

"It's to fry the rice and eat it, but it's not simple to stir-fry it, but fried rice is the best ration for marching and fighting, easy to store, and can be eaten at any time, no need to steam. It can be fried in advance, delicious and hunger-resistant, and easy to eat. ”

Li Yanqing felt strange on the side, he hadn't heard of this fried rice, and thought it was a method brought back by Ling Yun from Jiangnan, so he hurriedly asked about the fried method.

The main method of stir-frying rice is to wash the rice, remove the impurities, and then put it in a pot to boil. However, it is easy to say, but it is still very troublesome to really stir-fry, and it has to go through three processes: boiling, stir-frying, and grinding to make fried rice. As for the raw materials, rice from the south and corn from the north are all right. After soaking the polished rice in water, it is steamed in a pan and then fried in a wok. This kind of fried fried rice, the color is yellow but not burnt, the rice is hard but not hard, due to the water immersion, the water-soluble vitamins in the surface layer of the rice penetrate into the rice grains, increasing the content of vitamins in the fried rice. And because it is quickly cooled and dried after steaming and frying, the gelatinized starch is fixed in its original state, and it only needs to be soaked in tea when eating. Fried rice has low water consumption and is resistant to storage. It is easy to carry, not easy to mold and deteriorate, and is very suitable for making marching dry food.

This kind of fried rice will not be bad for a long time, and when the army has no time to cook on the march, you can directly grab it and eat it dry to satisfy your hunger, or you can directly boil some boiling water to brew.

Hearing Ling Yun's introduction, Li Yanqing said: "Then just make all the military rations into fried rice." ”

Ling Yun shook his head, "Although fried rice has the advantage of being easy to store and carry, it is not easy to spoil, but it is not allowed to let the soldiers fight and only eat this." Fried rice is only used as emergency rations, and if there is time and conditions, it is better to cook on a normal fire. Besides, 5,000 people go on the expedition, even if each person frries another six catties of rice, it adds up to 30,000 catties. Even if it comes and fries it this time, will it be difficult to fry it in the future? ”

"In that case, then why do you have to bring this pot helmet and dead dough cake to everyone in addition to two and a half catties of fried rice and six catties of polished rice?"

"Of course, it is for the convenience of matching, as well as for operational needs. Each person brings two and a half catties of fried rice, which is emergency food, and the meaning of this emergency ration is not to say that it is used for emergencies when the sergeants cannot eat, but it must be allowed to be used under the special permission of the commanding general. Otherwise, even if the food is cut off, it is not allowed to use emergency rations casually, and violators will be severely punished. When the above ordered the use of emergency rations, it means that there are two situations, one is that our logistical supply has been cut off or interrupted, and the other is that the war has reached the most critical stage, and if we cannot win within two or three days, we can only use emergency rations when we can retreat.

Ling Yun carefully explained to everyone the reason for the preparation of this military ration, "Six days of rations, the main food is three days of polished rice, two days of dead flour cakes, and one day of flour pot helmet cakes. With three kinds of staple foods, it is also to cope with the needs of different battlefields, and when the shape is very good, we can eat polished rice excellently, and we have time to make a fire to cook rice. And if you are pressed for time, you will eat dead dough cakes, which are prepared in advance and can be eaten with hot water. In the most urgent situation, we can eat pot helmets, which are dough cakes, even if there is no water blistering, we can eat them while marching. "The dead dough cake will be very hard, and it is uncomfortable to eat without soaking in water, and the pot helmet is made of dough cake, and the pot helmet can be put for ten days and a half without being bad, but it is relatively swollen, and it is inconvenient to bring too much.

Therefore, in the choice of three staple foods, Lingyun mainly focuses on polished rice, followed by dead flour cakes, and pot helmets again.

Of course, you can't just eat staple food, just eat big white rice and flatbread, eat too much, and you may not be able to get enough calories you need. Therefore, there must also be appropriate non-staple foods, jerky, sausages, beans, salt, sauce, cane sugar cubes, these are all non-staple foods.

Ling Yun explained for a long time, Wei Zheng and the others were still a little unimpressed, salt and soybean paste can still be regarded as necessary supplies, and dried meat is also needed, but there is no need for cane sugar cubes and sausages to be listed. Let's not talk about him first, just this cane sugar block, this is an extremely valuable item, and there are three taels of sucrose in the six-day ration, and the lord of Yimeng is really generous.

However, this list is the result of Ling Yun's careful calculation for half a day, the main and sideline foods on the list are added up, and the average ration for six days is only 1.6 kilograms, which is far lower than the standard 1.5 kilograms, and he still wants to increase it a little, how can he reduce it again. As for the so-called sucrose at this time is very expensive, it is a luxury or something, Ling Yun really doesn't care, isn't it sucrose, what's so strange. Not to mention the most humble cane sugar blocks, he will also refine brown sugar, white sugar, and rock sugar. Thinking about the history of Tang Taizong Li Shimin also sent officials to India to get the sugar boiling method, and then looked at the current stinginess of Wei Zheng and others to add three taels of sucrose to the soldiers' marching food, he felt that he could send people to buy these cane sugar cubes with simple refining processes to process them to produce better brown sugar, white sugar, and even rock sugar. Thinking about the Tang and Song dynasties, the sugar industry has become a highly profitable industry, and Ling Yun can't help but feel that it is a promising industry.

Since Ling Yun had already planned to make better sugar in the future, these cane sugar cubes were really not in his eyes at the moment. Included in the military ration list, how could he listen to Wei Zheng and others to cross it out.

"This matter is so decided, you quickly prepare according to this list, I will go back and teach the methods of making fried rice and other methods, and I must prepare all the military rations before the expedition in three days." (To be continued......)