On a sunny winter morning, the herdsmen of Shule City drove their sheep to the Cangcao compound of the Governor's Mansion, waiting for the compound to open and exchange the whole sheep for pasture.

Nowadays, there are rumors in Shule City, some say that they will slaughter on a large scale next year, and some say that the current grass in the Governor's Mansion is simply not enough, and it will be exhausted after only two months. As a result, most herders think that while they can still exchange sheep for grass, they should change as much as possible, and don't wait until there is nowhere to change the grass, crying and not knowing where to cry.

The side door of Cangcao was only as wide as the axle of a service vehicle, and the door panel creaked slightly, and the herdsmen became alert and rushed towards the side door with their sheep in a crowded manner.

The side door that had just opened a slit was suddenly closed again. A Cangcao official climbed to the top of the wall and hung a wooden sign that read: "A total of 300 heads are limited to a day." ”

The herdsmen were furious and asked loudly: "Why only 300 heads!" Are you people showing favoritism? Give all the grass to your relatives and friends!"

"Fart!" Standing on the top of the wall, the official clarified angrily: "Tell you why, the Tang army soldiers are about to vomit after eating your sheep!" At most, more than 300 heads can be consumed per day! You still have some grass left, even if you don't get it today, you still have a chance tomorrow! I can change it every day!"

After he finished speaking, he untied the cloth bag from his waist and shouted to everyone: "This cloth bag contains row numbers, from one to one hundred, and each family is limited to three heads!"

After a short period of commotion, two people who grabbed the same piece of cloth waved their fists at each other and fought endlessly.

The Governor's Mansion Cangcao didn't have the energy to take care of it, and he didn't want to take care of it, so he waited until these guys finished beating and fighting, and then lined up in a long line in an orderly manner. Those who didn't grab the number could only lead the sheep home in frustration.

The side door of Cangcao opened, and the herdsmen led the sheep in and pushed the grass out with carts, and the sheep that were too thin and unqualified would be rejected. After changing the sheep, the people were not in a hurry to leave, and pushed the cart outside the door to chat with their peers. For the time being, they can get by, it is much stronger than they expected, all the grass has been burned, and more than half of the flock can be left. In previous years, they would never have dared to imagine such a thing.

……

In this boring and panicked winter, the Tang Army opened three training courses for the soldiers. This is the skill training of three non-combat and even somewhat frivolous, and it is only in this season of the frozen earth that they have the leisure time to calm down and learn.

The first skill to learn is to carve bowls, which requires all staff to be trained, taught by the bowl carvers specially invited by the town guard, and the goal of learning is that everyone must be able to carve a piece of poplar lump into a bowl with a knife around their waist. This requires meticulous water grinding work, just like an embroidered woman embroidering flowers to kill time to do. It takes two hours for a potver to make a bowl, and it takes them longer, but it's worth learning.

The soldiers talked about this matter as an anecdote, and it is said that this was carried out by Li Zhen's envoy himself, only because he inspected Fengsui Fort once and saw that the soldiers were using the hood as a rice bowl, so he asked the soldiers to use wooden carved bowls, and this thought was also a matter of great detail.

The second training course was cured meat, which was personally taught by Li Zhen's envoy, and was aimed at the crowd as the commander of the army, and interested soldiers could also come to learn. For veterans who like to eat meat but are not good at preserving, this is a skill that must be learned.

The third training class is a bit high, battlefield ambulance and wound treatment training, for all Tang soldiers, literate and literate are preferred, and there are restrictions, and there is a quota in the most basic unit of the Tang Army. Most of the Tang soldiers were lazy and unwilling to learn how to treat their injuries, and at the same time they had the idea that they would have someone to help us treat after being injured. However, I heard that those who have learned to heal the wounded can get 200 yuan more per month than others as a healer, and this income is almost catching up with the flag officer in the team. Tongbao mobilized his enthusiasm again, and the soldiers rushed to sign up.

The professor in charge of the professor is the medical officer in the Shule army and the doctor of medicine in the governor's mansion, the doctor sounds very high, but in fact this is an official name, only from the ninth grade, and he is in charge of an assistant and twenty students. The doctor is responsible for providing the venue for the class, and the assistants and students are responsible for teaching Tang Jun. The content of the lecture is professional and simple, preparing wound medicine, cleaning wounds, suturing wounds, and performing some minor surgeries to remove arrows from the flesh.

The wound medicine in the army is very simple, and it can be taken locally, so the trainees need to identify the medicine so that they can collect it in the wilderness during the march. Disinfection requires cooled boiling water, and among the marching supplies of the fire chief is a cooking utensil such as Diao Dou, which can be used for both cooking and boiling water. There are generally only two ways to deal with open wounds, choose to use horsetail threads to suture in winter, and burn them with fire in summer, these methods can also be used by ordinary soldiers.

Li Siye personally wrapped a cowhide apron to demonstrate and explain to the soldiers: "Salt, honey, vinegar and other things will not spoil, so the way we preserve meat is to marinate it with salt, for example, to marinate such a leg of mutton, we need to mash the coarse salt we use, and then put it on the board and rub it into the meat by hand, the more salt we rub, the longer the preservation time."

"There is a second procedure for marinated meat, which is to hang it under the eaves and other well-ventilated places for air drying, and the air drying time will take one to two months, and after the official air drying, the cured meat can be stored for a year or more."

The history of cured meat should be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, but it could not be preserved for a long time and did not become an edible product in the army. Any technology needs long-term accumulation and improvement in application, and what Li Siye taught is nothing more than the ultimate improved version of cured meat.

According to Li Siye's demonstration, the fire commanders and soldiers of the Tang army frantically cured mutton, and the eaves of the Tang army barracks in the entire Shule city were hung with strips of cured meat. This move led to a sharp shortage of salt in the warehouses of the Shule army.

After that, Zhao Chongxuan hurriedly ordered someone to send a message to Qiuzi asking for the allocation of salt, and a month after the letter was sent, Cangcao, the capital of the palace, sent a horse team to Shule to send 500 stones of salt. At the end of the month, Zhao Chongyu sent a letter to the Duhufu again for help, and on the twentieth day of the first month of the second year of Tianbao, the Duhufu sent a horse team to send 800 stones of salt, and attached a reply to the Shule army.

General Zhao Chongxuan opened the letter, took out the paper and shook it open, only to see that there were only four words written on it: Death and so on.

This is just the origin of another joke of the Shule army, for the brother army to talk about after dinner.

……

While Li Siye was making cured meat, Feng Changqing returned with an advisor, who was an Ai Jin under the command of King Bahanna of Xiuxun Prefecture, and the leader of a tribe surnamed Tuqi Shihei, named Jiebiluo.

Li Zhenenvoy reluctantly took off his apron, and Twelve Niang handed him the crimson official robe, and after changing it, he received guests in the front yard of the town envoy's mansion.

Dressed in a robe with a lapel and a hat, six or seven large black braids hanging down the back of his head, his face was red, and he looked like he was in his forties. After seeing Li Siye, he bowed down and hugged his chest and saluted, and then said with a little pride: "I can't imagine that the Anxi Army, which dominates the Western Regions, will also ask me, the head of the sheep, for advice, and I am afraid that it will be the most glorious moment of my life."

Li Siye said with a smile: "Confucius said that if you are a threesome, you must have my teacher, and we just have to learn from people who are good at other things." Jie Bi Luo Jin , please come in. ”

Li Siye asked Jie Biluo to sit on the upper right, Feng Changqing sat next to him, he sat in front of the screen desk and looked down: "Ai Jin has a long journey all the way, first rest in the city pavilion for two days, and then we will go on the road to explore the planned ranch."

Jiebiluo smiled modestly: "We Tuqi Shi people have been on the journey all their lives, and we will not feel tired, when to set off, but please ask the general to order."

"In that case, how about we leave tomorrow?"

"Absolutely."

Jie Biluo stroked his beard and hesitated, "Actually, I may have met with the general before."

"Really?" Li Siye thought about it carefully, but he didn't have any impression.

"The general probably wouldn't have noticed me at the time. I remember that three years ago, when the Tang Army went on an expedition to storm the cavalry surnamed Shihei, I was in the city of Talas and served as the official of Erwei Khan. The general infiltrated the city of Talas with fifty dead soldiers, and broke the gates of the city with a combination of inside and outside, and unfortunately became a prisoner of the Tang army, and was transferred as a trophy to the king of Bahana, Asiranda. Fortunately, King Asiranda had the wisdom to promote me to Ejin and put me in charge of a tribe, and now I think about it, what a strange fate. ”