"It's true that the officials are wise, and because there are so many people in the army, in order to prevent the pot from rotting, the dumpling wrappers must be extremely thick, so that they cannot be cooked through at all." Ma Kuo responded with a wry smile. "But on the Lantern Festival,

There is always something to say, it’s nothing more than trying to compromise as much as possible.”

"What fillings?" Zhao Jiu put aside the question for the time being, sniffed the mountains of fillings on the chopping board, and continued to ask the cook.

"Half pork, half mules, horses and donkey meat." Monk Dahui explained briefly. "Various offal and a little mutton will be made into soup later, and a very small amount of chicken, duck and fish meat will be provided to the officers... In addition, today's special case, each person

A glass of sweet wine, but drink it in front of me."

Zhao Jiu nodded slightly.

"Pork is bought from surrounding towns and villages, and mules, horses and donkey meat are killed when we transfer supplies." Ma Kuan further added. "These two types are the most common, and the others are incomparable... The turbid wine is all from Hedong.

The private wine collected is not much, and considering that there may be a big war in the future, I don’t dare to release more.”

After hearing the last sentence, many interested people peeked to see Zhao Guan's reaction.

However, after hearing this, Zhao Jiu just nodded and seemed to be leaving, which disappointed many people.

However, after walking a few steps and just urging the crowd to turn back, the official seemed to suddenly think of something and turned back to the flat-headed cook to curiously ask: "Can you make pancakes? The kind that are crispy on the outside and soft in the middle?"

Some are pan-fried, and some are grilled over a fire."

"The officials are joking." Monk Dahui laughed on the spot. "How can this not be the case? Sticky biscuits are also called hard sesame biscuits. During the Han Dynasty, Zhao Qi was selling these in Shandong. As long as there is pasta in the north and south,

I can make this kind of fire-baked shortbread.”

Zhao Jiu heard Zhao Qi's allusion and glanced at the other party. He seemed familiar, but he didn't bother to look into it in detail. He just continued to discuss cooking skills seriously:

"Then divide the meat stuffing into two parts, make dumplings with the pork stuffing, cook the mules, horses and donkey meat, then chop it into fillings, and then when the soldiers are receiving wine, take the hot shortbread directly from the pot, and

How about opening the knife and stuffing the cooked meat stuffing? Isn't it fair to do it this way so that the stuffing is placed in the pancake but can be clearly seen at a glance? Moreover, this fire roasting is also a Hebei specialty, so it is not a wasted holiday.

"

Pancakes are stuffed with fillings...who doesn't understand?

It's just that meat is precious, so a few offal must be boiled into soup, and precious meat must be served carefully. Very few people would treat it like this.

However, as Ma Kuo said before, the military has its own saying that fairness is the most important and real materials are the most important, so it is appropriate to directly heat the pancakes and sandwich the cooked fillings.

Of course, the more important point is that the officials have said so, don’t you have to say it’s inappropriate?

As for talking about fire burning and Hebei characteristics, no one is asking.

So, everyone discussed for a while and agreed one after another.

Among them, after Han Shizhong left, the military generals were led by Li Yanxian, Wang Yan, and Ma Kuo. Li Yanxian was cold and arrogant, Wang Yan was also arrogant, and Ma Kuo was serious and simple. Naturally, the officers below were reluctant to say anything... However, those who came from the southeast were prepared.

Consultants, the first group has already been working in the Hezhong and Linfen areas. Seeing that the appointment of Taiyuan Prefecture is about to come, who would not be considerate of the officials?

This saying that officials distribute rewards is open to the present, which is in line with the style of the ancient Ming Dynasty.

That person said that this is the benevolence of the officials, caring for the soldiers, and integrating the top and bottom, and they will be able to go straight to Huanglong.

Some people say that this is a huge military innovation that will be promoted in the military in the future... I don’t know how the usual sesame seed pancakes with vegetables turned into meat and vegetables.

What's more, an acquaintance from the southeast finally couldn't help but point out Master Dahui, saying that the master killed pigs for the army was a true Buddhist practice, and he would become a Buddha in the future, and the officials personally cared about the meat reward during the Shangyuan Festival.

Governing a big country is like cooking a small dish, with different approaches but the same effect.

This attracted countless people to marvel, and Master Dahui was so panicked that he quickly declared that he was just helping to catch the pig's blood and had no intention of killing.

"Master Dahui, I also remember it."

Zhao Jiu was so excited when he heard that, he immediately put his palms in front of the chopping board, regardless of Master Dahui's explanation. "And for such a grand event and a good thing, Master Dahui can kill pigs for practice, so why can't I personally cook for the soldiers?"

You should do this yourself personally... Those of you who have titles should go and do your own business, I will stay here today to help Master Dahui bake pot stickers and pancakes!"

There was total silence in the cooking camp, except for the gurgling of boiling water in the pot.

This doesn’t mean that these people can’t slap themselves in the face at this time, nor does it mean that no one dares to persuade them, but it means that this seemingly ignorant official really doesn’t understand some common truths?

The most important point is, if this official is going to do something frivolous and stupid, who can stop him?

Finally, after a lot of trouble, Li Yanxian, Ma Kuo, Wang Yan, Fan Zongyin and other high-ranking officials in the army were all kicked out. The few consultants who had previously spoken highly of Zhao Guan's family stayed with Zhao Guan's family, and started a fire in a daze.

Pot... But even so, these Southeastern celebrities did not dare to let them burn the oil pot, so they could only let them burn the soup pot.

I don’t know how these people will arrange the hypocrisy of Zhao Guan’s family to cause trouble in their notes tonight.

However, putting aside these annoyances, the burning of Zhao Guan's house had some miraculous effects... After the news spread, I don't know how many officers and soldiers peeked out from the back door of the main entrance of the cooking camp. I don't know if these people were watching from hundreds of steps away.

Nothing, but I said I saw it clearly anyway.

One said they saw the officials personally pasting the pancakes, the other said they saw the officials chop the meat fillings with their own hands, and some said they saw Zhao Guan's family tie a cloth around their waists to cover the grease and cut open the stuffing of the pancakes with their own hands.

The stuffing... seems to be ignoring Zhao Guan's family and just helping to cook the pot!

By the afternoon, I don’t know how the news was spread. Before dinner was served, word had already spread in and around Taiyuan City, and in various camps for dozens of miles, that the Zhao Guan family and a great mage had jointly invented a kind of fire.

, If you want to feast the whole army, the fire will taste great, just like dragon meat in the sky!

"We didn't even start the meal, but we knew it tasted great? It was just like dragon meat... Who has ever eaten dragon meat? I only know that horse meat is too thick! It's not as good as donkey meat, and it's not as smooth as dog meat!"

Outside the south gate of Taiyuan City, directly north of the main military camp, in a hut supplying hot water next to the road, Wang Yan was furious after hearing these messages. "Besides, there are dozens of miles of camps, hundreds of thousands of sergeants, and civilians.

, there are one hundred and thirty-seven cooking camps alone. When an official is like the Monkey King in "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", does he have the art of avatars? The few pots cooked by the official are probably not enough even for Ban Zhi.

point."

There were only four people in the shed, including Han Shizhong, who had just returned from writing, and the four commanders Li Yanxian, Ma Kuo, and Wang Yan. They were just a bunch of people. Even the commander and the principal were not allowed to get close. At this time, it was heard that

After Wang Yan spoke, the other three people just sat in the shed silently.

After a long while, Wang Yan still lacked patience and directly said: "The officials are avoiding us like this, are they afraid that we will ask for a fight?"

"What else could it be?" Han Shizhong touched his wrist and smiled.

"Isn't this fear of war?" Wang Yan suddenly became angry.

"Of course I am afraid of war." Li Yanxian responded calmly. "But this fear is not fear of the enemy, but a lack of fear of oneself... Because once we go east, there will most likely be a decisive battle immediately, and this Northern Expedition will also be completely clear.

...It is human nature to want to be on the safe side at this time."

"Yes, it is a joke to say that the officials are afraid of the enemy's strength." Han Liangchen was still calm. "Since the time of Huaishang, the officials have not been afraid of difficulties or enemies. At this time, they are just seeking stability. They probably want to wait for Yue Fei.

The army is pushing forward, and the morale of the Jin army is difficult to maintain, so let's unite the whole army and take action."

"But can we avoid this?" Wang Yan was still a little angry. "At this time, I was heading east from Jingxing. The Jurchens had not yet escaped from Taiyuan. They were panicking about the fall of the daimyo. In order to survive, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and fight. There will be a battle.

Fortunately, after the war, we can still have enough time to sweep through the old territory of the country. It is impossible to save enough military rations after the army withdraws, leaving an elite force of 30,000 to 50,000 to reach Yanjing... But if we delay for stability, we have to wait.

If Yue Fei's men come over, they will win. If we don't have enough logistics then, we don't know how many cities we can capture and how many lands we can capture?"

Everyone nodded.

Besides, Wang Yan and Yue Fei's personal grudge is difficult. Neither the King of Heaven nor the officials can mediate it. Everyone knows about this matter, so it's normal that he doesn't want to wait any longer... In fact, don't say that Wang Yan doesn't want to wait for Yue Fei to reconcile.

How could Li Yanxian be willing to wait for Han Shizhong to fight? Even Wu Jie, who went north to Datong to deal with the Mongols, was at Quduan of Longde Mansion in the southeast.

Who among the 200,000 troops is willing to wait for Yue Fei?

In other words, Ma Kuo had no desire or desire in the war at this time, but with the atmosphere around him, how could he possibly offend his colleagues for such a thing.

In addition, the more important point is that Wang Yan's words are reasonable, putting aside family feuds and personal grudges.

After all, Yue Fei's main force is in Daming Mansion, and they are all infantry brigades. Facing the Jin Army's main force of hundreds of thousands, it is impossible for them to break away from the protection and advance in large numbers. That would be a waste of money, so they can only attack the city layer by layer and move north

Advance. It is certainly stable to advance steadily and then fight decisively, but firstly, the so-called delay will cause changes, and the fighter planes will be thrown away; secondly, hundreds of thousands of troops are placed here by civilians, and they are consumed like running water, so what?

Calculate?

To put it bluntly, if the Yellow River is full of water, Yue Fei, Zhang Rong, and Tian Shizhong can move forward by water and land, reach the river, and then form a so-called flanking situation with the Hedong side... Even if it is a sure win...

By then, will the logistics and food supplies still support the troops to continue marching north to attack Yanjing?

Of course, waiting for Yue Fei has the advantage of waiting for Yue Fei. He also has his own opinions on immediately heading east without waiting for Yue Fei. However, no one in Hedong will agree with waiting for Yue Fei, but the decision-making power only lies in the hands of the Zhao Guan family.

"After all, it is the Lantern Festival." Seeing that everyone was unanimous, Han Shizhong, as the leader of the crowd and the nominal marshal, always had to express his position. "After today... let's go to see the officials together tomorrow morning.

.”

Although the other people had different attitudes, they could only nod at this time.

Just like that, while Zhao Guan's house was doing fire burning, several handsome ministers also began to drink tea out of boredom... getting ready to wait for a wave of fire burning.

However, just as several commanders were drinking tea and waiting for the fire to start, the Chixinqi with Xingling suddenly came forward to report.

"What's the matter? The official has a decree?" Han Shizhong stood up and asked.

"No." Lai dismounted and bowed his hands in worship. "Reporting to the prince, the imperial cavalry came to report that the commander Zhang Zhongfu was severely defeated by the Jin cavalry in Shexian County in front of Fukou County... Qu Dutong jointly issued a letter with him.

I wrote a letter to apologize. The officials heard the news in the cooking camp and asked us to forward it to you for Jiedu to see."

With that said, the Chixin Cavalry ignored the expressions of the four commanders and went straight forward to deliver a document. Then he turned around and took a basket from his horse, placed a dozen steaming fire pots on the table, and then

He turned around, mounted his horse and left.

As soon as the other party left, Han Shizhong ignored the burning, opened the document and read it first, but after only looking at it for a few times, he smashed the document on the table and became furious: "Compared with Zhang Zhongfu, Wang Sheng has a long face even in Pingxing Village!

"

Li Yanxian and others took turns to look at it, and they all looked very bad.
To be continued...