Dinner in the refugee camp was not very rich.

Each of them, was given two yellow cones of food.

Wang Erniu had never seen this thing before. On the outside, it looks like a rounded triangle, as if it was glued with sand, and it looks full of grain.

Moreover, there is a round hole underneath this thing, which is still hollow inside.

The person in charge of distributing the food told them that this thing was called a nest head.

In addition to this, there is a small plate of pickles for each person.

and a bowl of broth, although there is almost no meat in this broth, only a little oil splash floating sporadically, but it still looks very delicious.

The quantity of pickles is not very large, after all, in this era, salt is still a relatively valuable item controlled by the imperial court.

Looking at the thing called Wotou, Wang Erniu was a little curious for a while.

Curiously, I picked it up and looked at it, and as soon as I got it in my hand, I smelled a unique fragrance of grains.

I didn't rush to eat it myself, but quickly took the food first and went to my mother.

The officials who had taken them on a tour of the camp had come again.

"For the first two days, the camp will provide you with food for free. The reason for this is to allow you to recover as quickly as possible. ”

"Then you can go to work and feed yourselves."

"Remember, if you have any questions, you can always come to me. But if there is really a problem, the government will not ignore you. ”

"But if someone dares to cheat, be lazy, or even do something wrong, the government will never tolerate it."

After a few simple words, the official said: "I know that you have been hungry for a long time, so the official will not say much, let's eat."

Hearing his words, the people who had begun to drool from the famine, without saying a word, immediately began to feast.

For a moment, all you could hear was the sound of these people swallowing and chewing.

If you just look at their appearance when they eat, maybe people will have the illusion that these nests are all rare to see food in the world.

And for these people, wotou is indeed a supreme delicacy.

Especially when paired with pickles, they find it extremely delicious.

After all, with the price of salt in this era, the people in the city are fine, but the people in the countryside are reluctant to pickle any pickles.

Because of this, this kind of pickle is no different from the big fish and meat that later generations saw for these people.

Wang Erniu ate the nest in two bites, and then looked at others with blank eyes.

However, the situation of many people around him is similar to him.

Although the head of the nest was the size of a palm, it was not enough for those of them who didn't know how long it had been since they had filled their stomachs.

Seeing the appearance of these people, the old man who was in charge of putting the food explained with a smile: "I know that you are not full, but I dare not give you too much food now."

"You've all been hungry for a long time, and if you eat too much at once, your stomach will not be able to stand it."

"Now these are just to fill your stomach, and when you get used to it, this thing will be eaten while you are full."

After a pause, the uncle added: "But although the nest head is enough, each person can only get so many pickles, but this thing is pickled with salt, and it is very valuable."

Some people finished eating the nest, and there were still some pickles left, and they didn't dislike the saltiness of the thing, so they grabbed the pickles with their hands and put them in their mouths, and closed their eyes as if they were enjoying it.

For these people, even the bark of grass roots and trees can be eaten, and the taste of pickles is much better than the things they ate on the way to Datong Mansion.

Wang Erniu raised his hand again: "Uncle, what kind of grain is this thing called Wotou, it's too delicious, why have I never eaten it before?"

When the uncle heard this, he smiled and said, "You are hungry now, and you feel that everything is delicious." You'll know when you're full, this thing doesn't taste good. But the biggest advantage of this thing is that it is large and affordable. ”

Although Zhu Han also produced a lot of high-yield grains, because the Ming Dynasty had just established the country, there were a lot of things, and the energy spent on promoting grain varieties was destined to be limited.

High-yield grain varieties, with the support of the government, have long been promoted throughout the Ming Dynasty.

But the peculiarity of food is that no matter where it is grown, it takes more than a year or two to see the effect.

Farmers in places like Fucheng can say that some people in remote mountain villages have not seen high-yield grain varieties yet.

At the mention of food, the eyes of everyone present lit up.

They are all farmers, and they are most interested in how to grow food.

"Uncle, I heard you say this, the output of this thing is very high?"

"Of course." The uncle's nose was tilted to the sky, and if he didn't know, he might think that he had grown all this food.

Wang Erniu and the others didn't know that just ten days ago, this uncle was just like them and didn't know anything.

I was just concentrating, listening to this uncle tell them the origin of the nest.

"The grain used to make this nest is called corn. I know you haven't heard of it, but this is a high-yield crop specially made by His Royal Highness the King of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"In fact, in the past two years, our Datong Mansion has begun to try planting. If it weren't for this drought......"

Speaking of this, the uncle shook his head and sighed with a look of beating his chest: "If it weren't for the sudden drought, this year and next year, we would have started to promote this corn here."

Wang Erniu asked anxiously: "Uncle, can you tell me quickly, how much grain can this thing produce?"

The canteen master stretched out a finger and said mysteriously: "Let me tell you, this corn produces more than 1,000 catties a year."

Wow!

Several people who were still chewing slowly were so excited when they heard about this yield that they almost choked to death.

Fortunately, someone next to him handed over the broth and asked them to take this breath.

"Uncle, aren't you kidding us?"

"A thousand catties per mu, this is too exaggerated, right? Zhao Laoshi, who is next door to us, is the best at serving the crops, and their land is good. In this way, one year produced more than 600 catties at most. That's it, the county magistrate also made a special trip to see it, saying what kind of auspicious rui it is. ”

"If we really have a yield of 1,000 catties per mu, then won't we have to worry about being hungry in the future?"

The canteen uncle rolled his eyes angrily: "Am I idle, I have nothing to tease you?" Besides, the grain is nonsense, am I not afraid of retribution? ”

As he spoke, the canteen uncle changed his words, and said mysteriously: "And let me tell you, Master Zhou said that this corn not only has a high yield, but also is not particularly picky." Even if it is a low-grade field, the harvest will not be too bad. ”

The fleeing people all had complicated expressions and did not know whether to cry or laugh.

Happily, with this kind of high-yielding grain that doesn't pick up much land, they shouldn't be hungry anymore in the future.

What is sad is why this high-yield grain could not come out earlier, and why when it was about to come out, there was such a huge drought in their Datong Mansion.

Not to mention the heavy losses, it even delayed the promotion of corn.

When these people finished eating, the uncle urged: "After eating, go back quickly and make way for others." You can eat as much as you like when you come back in the evening, and the nest head and broth are enough. ”

Although they were not completely satisfied, after having real food to eat, the spirit and spirit of these fleeing people suddenly underwent earth-shaking changes.

When someone heard this, they laughed and joked: "Uncle, what kind of broth is this?" Not to mention the meat, I just don't see a bit of meat scrap. ”

The canteen uncle rolled his eyes angrily: "It's good to have soup to drink, which little bastard dares to pick and choose?"

Everyone laughed good-naturedly at the same time.

When they left the cafeteria, Wang Erniu and the others also met another group of people who had fled the famine and were brought over by the officials of Datong Prefecture to eat.

Seeing the wooden expressions on their faces, Wang Ergou couldn't help but think of himself not long ago.

Now, the suffering is finally over.

At dinner, as the canteen master said, there is only a small amount of pickles for each person, but the nest head and broth are enough.

Wang Erniu never thought that he would eat it the day later, but he would eat it openly.

He was unceremonious, and ate a full six nests in one go, and then stopped.

At this time, he finally understood what the canteen master said before.

When he was first hungry, he felt that Wotou was indeed extremely delicious.

But after eating enough, I found that this thing really didn't seem to be very tasty.

Datong Mansion is in the north of Daming, and most of the people here grow grain, that is, corn and millet rice.

Corn is also the millet of later generations, and if it is cleaned up, the taste will naturally not be bad.

But the peasants of today do not have the conditions of later generations.

It's not because they're lazy, it's because the conditions don't allow it.

Whether it's corn or millet rice, if you wash it well, you will naturally wash off some edible parts.

After washing a pound of rice, there will be eight or nine taels left.

This is the biggest waste for ordinary people.

Therefore, they generally pour it directly into the pot to cook porridge.

There are countless kinds of small ingredients in this kind of rice, and stones or something are basically commonplace, as long as you pick them out.

As for the insects and stuff, it's all about meat.

You can imagine how the porridge tastes like this porridge.

But even compared to the rough corn porridge, Wang Erniu felt that it seemed to be much better than Wotou.

In this day and age, it is impossible to achieve fine grinding. The coarse corn tastes like eating sand, dry, astringent and throaty.

After drinking several sips of broth, Wang Erniu swallowed the last mouthful.

Although this thing is not so delicious, but the stomach is a little swollen, but it makes Wang Ergou feel extremely happy.

From childhood to adulthood, there are only a handful of days when he can eat so much.

"Mother, we must also plant this corn in the future. The yield per mu is more than 1,000 catties, so you don't have to worry about being hungry in the future. ”

For Wang Erniu and others, taste is secondary.

As long as it fills your stomach, it's not a big deal if it's unpalatable.

Besides, the nest head is actually not so unpalatable. If it's freshly steamed and served with a little pickles, it's actually pretty good.

It's just that if it's cold, it's really a little hard to swallow.

After living in the refugee camp for two days, Wang Erniu was extremely satisfied with everything here.

It was a freshly built wooden house, clean and tidy. Except that it is not very soundproof, and you can often hear others talking and snoring, there are no other disadvantages at all.

Moreover, these shortcomings are not shortcomings for Wang Erniu.

A rough man like him, when he snores, he won't be much smaller than others when he sleeps.

The camp still has two unlimited meals a day, in the morning and evening, so that he can eat enough every time.

Wang Erniu even has a little hope that this kind of day can continue forever.

The only thing that he can't accept is that the rules here are too big.

To go to the toilet, you have to go to a designated place, and there is a special person called Chengguan to manage it.

In the morning, he also saw an unlucky guy who was caught by the chengguan and whipped ten lashes because he peed everywhere.

If it's just a whip, the most important thing is after being whipped.

Those chengguan actually punished that person and forbade him to eat for a day.

On the way to escape, the thing they experienced the most was to be hungry, so this is what they are most afraid of.

The guy who was caught defecating in the open didn't scream much when he was whipped. Hearing that the chengguan didn't let him speak, he immediately screamed like killing a pig.

It's a pity that no matter how hard he pleaded, those chengguan were unmoved, they were simply hard-hearted.

This scene also made Wang Erniu remember one thing.

In this place, no matter who you offend, you can't offend the city management. These guys are simply inhumane.

The second inconvenient place is that you should never drink raw water, and you must boil it before you talk about it.

Although this request is also quite strange.

But in the camp, at intervals, there is a place called a boiler room, which is manned all day.

Hot water is available whenever you come.

Although there are many rules, after getting used to it, Wang Erniu suddenly felt that it seemed to be good.

When I was in the village, I would always step on something unclean by accident.

But in the refugee camp, he had never encountered such a situation once.

And, because there is no such ubiquitous excrement, the air in the camp is always good, and there is no such stench.

Happy days are always short-lived, and after two days, the camp no longer provides them with free food.

If you want to eat, you can just go and work to support yourself.

In this regard, almost no people have an opinion.

In their opinion, it is simply a matter of course to use their own hands to earn food for themselves.

(End of chapter)