After daybreak, the officers went from tent to tent to wake up the sleeping soldiers. When the soldiers rubbed their still somewhat confused eyes and lifted the curtains, there was already a world of ice and snow outside.

The hills in the distance, the fields and woods in the near distance are all covered with snow, and the white expanse makes people feel indescribably comfortable.

The wind and snow have not completely stopped, and the snowflakes are still falling, but they are much smaller than they were at night. The wind gradually stopped.

The snow is as thick as the calves, and when a person steps on it, it becomes a snow hole.

It's warm after frost, cold after snow, it's true that this is true.

The temperature outside was much colder than it had been last night, a cold that slashed at the marrow.

Undeterred by the cold, the soldiers rushed out of their tents excitedly, taking advantage of the short time before breakfast to learn to snowball as they were children.

The calm barracks suddenly boiled over, full of life, having fun, feeding the horses, packing the tents, tidying up the camp, it looked chaotic, but everything was going on in an orderly manner.

Peng Da Hammer and the other horse thieves were arranged in two tents, and no one looked after them, and when they heard the sound outside, they quickly got up. But he didn't know what to do, so he had to stand there and watch the Liao army fight there.

Shi Dayong did not restrain the fighting soldiers, and like his subordinates, he also had a childlike heart hidden in his heart. If it weren't for being the main general, I'm afraid that he would also participate in the snowball team.

In the distance, a squad of sentry riders was on routine alert

Suddenly, an unpleasant stench followed the wind and entered the noses of the soldiers who were playing in the snow. The smell was indescribably disgusting, fishy, and like a rotting corpse.

Smelling such a foul smell early in the morning, the soldiers were immediately disappointed, frowning one by one, and looked in the direction where the smell was wafting.

Not far away, there are four cauldrons steaming outward, gurgling, and I don't know what they are cooking. Apparently, the stench that the soldiers smelled wafted from these four pots.

"What is the guy cooking, it stinks?"

"You won't tell us to eat this stinky thing, will you?"

"Out of food?"

“”

The soldiers, who didn't know what was going on, asked each other, and some even wondered if the army had run out of food.

"Don't guess, it's horse meat in the pot."

The wolf cavalry knew about the horse meat, and when they saw that the Changping soldiers were guessing, they told them about bringing horse meat to the camp last night. But like those Changping soldiers, no one expected that horse meat would smell like this.

"Why does horse meat smell like this, can you eat this?"

Someone in the Changping soldiers asked, but the wolf cavalry had never eaten horse meat, but they had heard the older generation say that horse meat had a strange smell, and no one knew what kind of strange method it was. After all, they are cavalry, and in this world, unless they reach a desperate situation, cavalry will not slaughter their horses. Naturally, they had no way to find out what the strange smell of horse meat was.

The more no one answered, the more curious the soldiers became, and gradually, the curiosity about the horse meat replaced the stench in the nose, and all the soldiers, including the wolf cavalry, rushed to the four cauldrons, wondering what kind of horse meat was boiling in this pot.

However, the smell of horse meat was really unpleasant, and many Changping soldiers couldn't stand it after smelling it by the pot for a while, so they avoided it from afar.

The gang leader Chen Laoshi was born in Ningyuan's military household, and because he was old, he couldn't go to the battlefield, but as a military household, he couldn't help but obey orders in the army. Originally, it was just a gangster life, and he fought several battles with the Liao army, but all of them were defeated.

When Shi Dayong first arrived in Songshan to serve as a garrison, he counted the sergeants and soldiers of the army, selected the young and strong ones to be reorganized into battalions, and eliminated a group of old military households who were too old, and Chen Laoshi and other seven or eight old military households around fifty years old were sent to the gang by Shi Dayong.

Subsequently, the gang was incorporated into Li Dashan's baggage battalion, and in the battle outside the city of Dalinghe, the baggage battalion was almost completely annihilated, and then the battle of Xiaolinghe and the defense of Jinzhou occurred one after another, and the baggage battalion never had a chance to reorganize.

Then, Shi Dayong led his troops into Beijing to offer prisoners, and he didn't care about reorganizing the baggage camp, so he brought Chen Laoshi and other old military households in the palace, responsible for boiling water and cooking for the soldiers who went south. I originally thought that after returning to Jinzhou, I would set up a baggage battalion and send these old military households home, but I didn't expect a holy decree from the Son of Heaven to order the Jinzhou army to go south to Shandong to quell the chaos. This time, Shi Dayong's plans were all disrupted, and even Chen Laoshi and other old military households could only follow all the way south.

Although they can't go home, Chen Laoshi and other military households have no complaints, anyway, they were sent home by General Shi, they are still military households in the guard, and they are still working as coolies for other officers at that time, it is better to be in this Songshan army, at least, eat enough, get enough, although there is not much silver, you can always add some oil and salt to the family.

Since he went south, whenever he set up camp, Chen Laoshi always wanted to cook some meat for the general and his brothers, but it was rare to see meat in the grain and grass provided by the place, let alone any living creatures.

It's not that the localities are unwilling to supply, but in fact, the years have been bad in various places in recent years, and the crops planted in the fields have not yielded much, and people can't eat enough, so where is there still surplus grain to raise some livestock. Cattle are the property of large families, and the government strictly prohibits slaughter, so if you want to eat beef, it is basically a fool's dream.

Therefore, being able to cook meat for the brothers is the greatest wish of several old military families, including Chen Laoshi.

This time, I finally got my wish, although it was horse meat, and the taste was unpleasant, but it was always meat.

Therefore, seeing that the soldiers were disgusted with the taste of horse meat, Chen Laoshi instructed the old soldiers to turn the meat in the pot with a big shovel, and said to the soldiers with a smile: "Brothers, don't think that this horse meat smells bad, but it tastes fragrant, and you still want to eat the next meal!" ”

"Chen Honest, you are all nonsense, this horse meat smells stinky, who is willing to eat him?" It was Song Qing, the general manager, who spoke, who was holding his hand to cover his nose.

Seeing that it was Mr. Song, Chen Laoshi hurriedly smiled and said: "Master Song, you don't know the way, don't you know the stinky tofu?" This horse meat smells like that, smells stinky, and tastes fragrant! Come on, come on, this meat is cooked, if Song Ye doesn't believe it, come and taste it, and after eating it, you will know the Tao. After speaking, he took a shovel and scooped up a piece of horse meat and sent it to Song Qing.

The horse meat was square, it looked cooked, and it didn't seem to smell so bad.

Song Qing pinched this piece of horse meat in disbelief, because it had just been fished out of the pot and was a little hot, and he changed his hand.

"Honest Chen, is this horse meat really as delicious as you say? If it doesn't taste good, I'll settle accounts with you. Song Qing was still a little skeptical about the taste of horse meat.

Chen honestly patted his chest like a ticket, and said with a smile: "Master Song, you can put 10,000 hearts, eat, eat." ”

Seeing that Chen was so sure, Song Qing couldn't help but be moved, and a group of soldiers on the side also urged him to taste it, so he brought the piece of horse meat to his mouth, and said with a smile: "Okay, I'll taste it for the brothers." ”

After speaking, he opened his mouth and was about to put the piece of horse meat in his mouth, but as soon as the meat reached his mouth, his arm was violently struck, and the meat fell to the ground.

"Who!"

Song Qing turned around with some annoyance to see who was so bold, but when he turned around, he found that it was a few men he didn't know, wearing ordinary people's clothes, not people in the army.

"Who are you? Where did it come from? Why do you knock off my flesh, look for a beating! ”

Song Qing was furious, he didn't know about the general's solicitation of horse thieves in Qiushui Town, so when he saw that a few people dared to do something to him, he was naturally angry.

The man at the head was pale, naturally it was Peng Dazhui, and he did not answer Song Qing's question, but shook his head and said, "Master Jun, this meat can't be eaten." ”

"Huh? This meat can't be eaten? Song Qing and the Jinzhou soldiers were stunned.

Chen was in a hurry, pointed at Peng Da Hammer with a shovel, and scolded: "Where did you come from, a wild man, dare to say that my horse meat can't be eaten!" Have you ever eaten horse meat, and if you haven't, you'll have to talk nonsense, what a joke, I haven't heard of horse meat that can't be eaten. Hey! ”

"I'm not saying that this horse meat can't be eaten, but" Peng Dazhui didn't know how to explain to the Liao army, so he simply bent down and squatted down to pick up the piece of horse meat that fell on the ground, and then took it in his hand and tore it hard, and then said to Song Qing and the soldiers: "You see, this meat is not fully cooked, and there are blood stains, if you eat it now, you will be poisoned!" ”

The crowd looked at the torn horse's flesh, and sure enough, there was still blood in the middle that had not been cooked through.

Chen Laoshi cooked this horse meat for the first time, and cooked it with beef and mutton, and when he saw that the outside was almost cooked, he thought that the inside was also cooked, so he dared to take a piece for Song Qing to taste. This saw that the meat was not fully cooked, and I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. He can't be blamed for this, because horse meat is old and really difficult to cook.

But not cooked doesn't mean you can't eat it, but there is a little blood, what can't be eaten, if you say that this meat is poisonous, Chen Honest will not believe it if he is killed. This horse is not the same as the cattle and sheep, they both eat grass, where will it be poisonous! Isn't that mule, a cross between a horse and a donkey, also not poisonous!

Seeing that Song Qing and the other sergeants were looking at him, with doubts in their eyes, Chen was in a hurry, pointed at Peng Da Hammer and shouted: "If you say it's poisonous, it's poisonous!" ”

Peng Dazhu's mouth was open, and he just wanted to speak, but he heard Shi Dayong's voice in his ears. "Lao Chen, he is right, this horse meat is poisonous, but if it is boiled, it will not be poisonous, if it is not cooked well, this poison will not come out, and it cannot be eaten."

Shi Dayong walked through the soldiers with a smile, came to the pot, then glanced at Peng Dazhui, nodded and said: "If it weren't for Your Excellency's reminder, Ben would have almost made a big mistake and harmed the brothers, and this love would have been recorded." ”

Peng Dazhui did not speak, but turned his head and led a few of his subordinates out of the crowd.

"General, what are these people doing?" Song Qing still hasn't figured out the identities of these men, seeing that they are a little rude to the general, but the general is not annoyed, he can't help but be very strange.

Shi Dayong told them their identities, asked Song Qing and them not to make things difficult for these horse thieves, and then instructed Chen Laoshi not to rush the horse meat out of the pot and boil it over a high fire for half an hour.

What the general said, Chen Laoshi naturally didn't dare not do it, and was busy shouting at a few old military households to quickly add firewood.

Half an hour later, the meat in the pot was already boiling to the ground, and with a gentle poke of the shovel, the meat melted into the thick soup.

The stench of the horse meat could no longer be smelled, and was replaced by a strong fragrance.

When the army marched and fought, the food was not so particular, and there were almost no seasonings, except for salt and garlic.

In order to let his subordinates eat horse meat with peace of mind, Shi Dayong took the lead in scooping a bowl of horse meat and ate it with garlic.

Seeing the general taking the lead, the soldiers naturally no longer doubted, and at the moment, hundreds of people were eating meat and drinking soup, eating happily.

Shi Dayong did not forget to ask Chen Laoshi to fill a bucket of horse meat and give it to Peng Dazhui, and Peng Dazhui and they were not polite.

He didn't know that the horse meat was undercooked and couldn't be eaten, but Cao Bianjiao suddenly remembered what he hurriedly told. When he came in a hurry, Peng Dazhui had already reminded him in time, and he saved Song Qing's life, and Shi Dayong naturally wrote down this feeling.

Because I stayed up for an extra half an hour, the departure time was postponed to the hour.

By this time, the wind had completely stopped, and the snow had largely stopped, with only a few small snowflakes falling sporadically.

Just as he was about to order the whole army to set off on the road, the sentry cavalry came galloping with two soldiers from the Beijing camp.

Seeing Shi Dayong, who was in the general's uniform, the two soldiers of the Beijing camp immediately saluted, and then took out a letter and respectfully handed it to Shi Dayong, saying: "I am from the Shenji Battalion, and I am ordered by Gonggong Gao to send a letter to the general." ”

A letter of high diving?

Shi Dayong frowned slightly, opened the fire seal on the letter, and took out the letter to read. After reading it, his face changed.

Jiang Wanli was on the sidelines, and asked nervously: "General, what did Gao Qiqian say in the letter?" Do you want to pursue the fact that we beat him as a horse supervisor? ”

"It's not." Shi Dayong shook his head, and the corners of his mouth grinned: "Grandpa Gao's letter is kind. ”

"Kind?" Jiang Wanli was stunned: What is the kindness of raising potential?

Shao Wu, Cao Bianjiao, and Li Dashan also rushed over when they heard the news, and they all felt strange when they heard Shi Dayong say that Gao Qiqian was kind.

Shi Dayong handed the letter to Jiang Wanli casually, and said in a deep voice: "Gao Qiqian's letter said that our road to Dengzhou in the east has been blocked by the rebel Chen Shi's troops, and Chen sometimes has 5,000 rebels under his command. ”