"One, if the uncle comes back now, it will be a waste to pay the tuition and food expenses for the county school; Besides, the uncle is only fourteen years old, and he can't beat the robbers, and he can't come back. ”

"Also, the most important point, this time, although there are only 400,000 troops left in our country, plus the monarch's conscription of 300,000 troops this time, it seems that it is only 700,000, but the total strength should be far more than this number, to defeat the Qi country, recover the city, and win a complete victory, there is a great hope."

"Perhaps, there is no need to wait until February next year, at the end of this year, our Chu army will be able to return triumphantly! At that time, Dad will definitely be able to come back to preside over the overall situation of the family. Therefore, no matter how hard it is for my mother and I to be at home, it is just three months of suffering, no big deal! The more Xiao Qiongzhi spoke, the more relaxed he became.

"But, Zhi'er, 400,000 plus 300,000 is 700,000, why do you think that our country's total strength is far more than 700,000, and there is hope for defeating the Qi State?" When Chu Yunniang heard this, she suddenly asked curiously.

"The reason is very simple, last month, the monarch ordered that those who can't pay the emperor's grain must be charged to the army. Dad also said just now that in the nearby village, when there was a heavy rain last month, no one rushed to harvest food, so it means that there will be many people who can't hand over the imperial grain to fill the army last month. ”

"In today's notice, there is no mention of the conscripts last month, which means that they are most likely being arranged by the monarch to secretly assemble for training, and have not yet been sent to the border to fight."

"Why did the king do this? I think about it, it should still be to surprise it, attack it unprepared, and get twice the result with half the effort. Xiao Qiongzhi said with admiration.

"Yes, Zhi'er's analysis is very reasonable, then Dad will not call your uncle back according to what you said, now, go and sign up for the army." Zhou Dazhi listened carefully and made a decisive statement.

"Okay." A manly man and decisive action are also one of the fine traditions and styles, which Xiao Lingzhi admires very much.

When Zhou Dazhi was busy with everything and drove back to the village in an ox cart, Xiao Qiongzhi said to Zhou Dazhi: "Dad, I just thought about it and thought of a way to keep our family's grain from being robbed by people from other villages. ”

"What's the solution?" Zhou Dazhi was very interested.

"Grind all the millet at home into rice, and then go to other people's houses or towns, replace all the rice with glutinous rice, grind it into rice flour, and cook it with potatoes and sweet potatoes for a day and a night, mix it well into a paste, and press them into square bricks three fingers long, two fingers wide, and half a finger thick, put them in a bamboo basket, and expose them to the sun."

"After drying, this kind of square brick is used to build a kang bed, a little higher, a little thicker, in addition, each layer, between each brick, brush a thin layer of glutinous rice and lime mixed paste, in order to play a solid role."

"When the kang bed is built, it will be stronger than the real kang bed. No one would have thought that it was actually made from grain. We can usually spread the futon and sleep on it, and when there is nothing to eat, we will smash a piece of them with a wooden gas, put it in a pot and cook it until it is soft and eat. Xiao Qiongzhi spoke carefully and did not miss every detail, so as not to make mistakes when Zhou Dazhi operated.

"Where did you learn about this method? Does it really work? "Zhou Dazhi has never heard of it, and there is such a method of storing grain, which is a little unbelievable.

"This method was told to me by my father before, and he said that it was my country's relatives in the countryside, and the method of storing grain used in the famine years was very effective." Xiao Qiongzhi replied matter-of-factly.

This is actually the folk grain storage method that Xiao Qiongzhi's grandfather's rural relatives talked about in modern times.

It sounded interesting at the time, so I wrote it down, and although I had never tried it, it should be true.

After all, theoretically speaking, whether glutinous rice, potatoes, or sweet potatoes, they are all starch-rich foods, with strong viscosity and high density, and after drying, they are hard and not easy to crack, which is indeed a good material for making bricks.

However, in order to convince Zhou Dazhi, she could only say that her father said it.

Because, Chu Yunniang has told her and Zhou Dazhi more than once that her father is a very amazing person, no matter what he says or does, he is right.

And Chu Yunniang is honest by nature and never lies, whether it is Xiao Qiongzhi or Zhou Dazhi, they are convinced of her words.

"Okay, since it's your own father who said it, it must be true, let's try it too." Sure enough, Zhou Dazhi believed it.

As soon as he returned home, he was busy milling all the grain into rice.

By the afternoon, the rice was finished, and it looked like there was a load and a bucket.

He borrowed an oxcart from Zhou Yuandong's house, took the rice to the township, and exchanged it for a load and four buckets of glutinous rice.

When Xiao Qiongzhi saw it, he was very surprised and asked him: "Dad, you only pulled one load and one bucket of rice to the township, why can you exchange it for one load and four buckets of glutinous rice?" ”

"Because rice is more expensive than glutinous rice." Zhou Dazhi replied.

"So, why is rice more expensive than glutinous rice?" Xiao Qiongzhi still couldn't figure it out.

Glutinous rice is much richer than rice, boiled out sweet and soft glutinous, the taste is much better, and it can also make sweet wine, in modern times, ordinary rice, often cheaper than ordinary glutinous rice, nearly half of the price.

"Because glutinous rice is not tolerable, the rice cooked from three catties of glutinous rice is only as much as the rice cooked from two catties of rice." After Zhou Dazhi finished speaking, he left a bucket of rice and put it in the rice jar in the house to cook porridge for Chu Yunniang to eat in the morning.

The remaining glutinous rice is moved into the kitchen, placed on a stone mill, and ground into flour.

Due to the large amount of glutinous rice, Zhou Dazhi was busy until there were more than two that night, and then all the grinding.

Early the next morning, he left two catties of glutinous rice flour to prepare for the pasting wall behind, and put the rest of the glutinous rice flour with all the potatoes and sweet potatoes left at home, put them into two large iron pots, and handed them to Chu Yunniang to cook.

He himself took advantage of this gap to go to the patriarch Zhou Yuandong, and talked about his worries about the villagers in the neighboring village who might fall into the grass and rob Zhoujia Village, and suggested that Zhou Yuandong remind all the clansmen to properly hide the food at home and beware of accidents.

Zhou Yuandong felt that his worries were very reasonable, and immediately acted according to his reminders.

After coming out of Zhou Yuandong's house, he went up the mountain to cut back a few bamboos, made a number of bamboo sieves that were much larger than the bamboo baskets at home and easy to breathe, and found a piece of wood to make two square brick molds.

Early in the morning of the third day, glutinous rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes were boiled and fragrant.

Xiao Lingzhi got up early when he smelled the fragrance, went to the kitchen, and watched Zhou Dazhi mix them into paste, put them in a square brick mold, press them into square bricks one by one, put them in a bamboo sieve, and put them on the roof to dry.

A total of nearly 800 square bricks were pressed, showing a light brown color, which looked quite beautiful, and Xiao Qiongzhi gave them an interesting name, called City Brick Cake.

The rest of the pot was thicker, rich in sugar, and sticky so tightly that Chu Yunniang couldn't shovel it at all, so she had to ask Zhou Dazhi to help.

However, this pot is very sweet, crispy and delicious, delicious, and easy to fill.

Xiao Qiongzhi only ate three palm-sized pieces, and he couldn't eat them.

Zhou Dazhi and Chu Yunniang also like to eat.

It's just that there are still a lot of pots in the pot, but they only ate two or three palm-sized pieces, so they didn't eat any more.

Xiao Qiongzhi looked at it with a little bitterness in her eyes.

In the past few days, she has noticed that it may be because she knows that there is little food in the family, and Chu Yunniang does not cook as much rice as before every meal.

When eating, Chu Yunniang only gave Xiao Lingzhisheng a part, which was no less than in the past, and as for her and Zhou Dazhisheng's part, it was reduced.

It's really pitiful for the hearts of parents all over the world.

Xiao Qiongzhi felt that she was still too young and her ability was too weak.

When will we have the opportunity to hold up a piece of the world and let the lovely father and mother live a good life?