A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 75
Rest and reorganization for ten miles, and dry food for thirty miles.

Huaiyu rode Yezhaobai, and felt that the march was like an outing, without any pressure at all.It's only ten miles in an hour, which is basically the walking speed of ordinary people.

At about nine o'clock in the morning, the army had already marched for thirty miles, and it took about three hours. The whole army rested and ate dry food.There is no fire to cook for this lunch, and you can eat whatever you want, such as pancakes and wheat rice. After a short break, you have to travel another [-] miles.

The troops rested on both sides of the avenue, each seeking shade.

Lu Huairang disappeared for a while, and when he came back, he brought back a roast leg of lamb.

"Get up early in the morning and drive for half a day, are you hungry?"

"Where did Lu Changshi get the roast leg of lamb?" Huaiyu was extremely surprised, the roast leg of lamb was still steaming, it was obviously just roasted.

Lu Huairang laughed, "It's simple."

"You baked it?" Huaiyu had some doubts that Lu Huairang's Buqu was sitting on the carriage and turning on a small stove to roast the leg of lamb for him during the march.

"No, guess again." He knew that Wu Huaiyu had never been on the battlefield or the army, so he deliberately pretended to be closed.

"Then I really can't guess."

"It's actually simple, just pay some money."

As he spoke, he pointed to the tree ahead, and there was a group of people under the big pagoda tree beside the official road, "Did you see that, those people have already slaughtered mutton, barbecued meat, fried flax cakes and stewed mutton soup there."

"Vendor?"

"Well, but they are not ordinary traders, these people are military traders."

"Army merchant?"

"What's so unusual about this?" Lu Huai asked the disciples of Guanlong's noble family to be clear about these military affairs. He first spread dried lotus leaves on the ground, then took a knife to cut off the still hot roast leg of lamb, and greeted Huai. jade to eat.

It turned out that there were merchants in the army of the Tang Dynasty. It was not uncommon. It was even a tradition since the Northern Dynasties. They would bring a lot of supplies with the army, sell and supply the army to make up for the lack of military supplies, and at the same time purchase supplies along the way to supply the army. When the army captured something, these military merchants generally bought the spoils.

They can even set up money houses in the army to lend money to soldiers.

The roast leg of lamb that Lu Huairang bought cost two bolts of silk, and it was not expensive when he was on the march. After all, Huaiyu found it really delicious after eating it, much better than the muddle-headed stew in the military camp yesterday.

Even the taste of seasonings such as cumin, cumin, and pepper can be tasted.

Huaiyu called Ma Zhou, Wu Junwei, and Zhao Xin to eat together. They got up early in the morning and walked for three hours. Although it was easy to ride the horse all the time, they were really hungry. The leg of lamb tasted delicious. The last delicious flax pancake really tastes like a picnic.

"Actually, those merchants who accompanied the army were allowed by the imperial court, and even those merchants actually had some origins. They were usually the servants of the generals, or they paid tribute to the generals and nobles, or even agreed to share dividends. Those who have just obtained the qualification to join the army are not just following casually."

The profits of military merchants are very high, of course there are risks, but driven by high profits, there are still many people who want to be military merchants.

"For example, when a large army of ours is marching abroad, and horses and mules are killed or injured, the battalion officials usually ask the battalion officials to find out the reason and write a certificate, and then the skins are put into storage, and the meat is sold cheaply to the merchants accompanying the army. After a horse is skinned, you Do you know how many catties including bones and meat? How much do you usually sell it to merchants accompanying the army? Just two bolts of silk."

Huaiyu thought he heard it wrong, now two horses of silk are exchanged for two buckets of rice, and the horse meat after skinning and removing the internal organs of a dead horse must have more than a hundred catties of meat, as well as a skeleton and offal. Ten catties.

"When the horse mules in the army died or were disabled or useless, they were given to the merchants accompanying the army at such a low price. After they peeled off the skins and handed them over, the remaining horse meat was sold to the soldiers."

"In the army, there is also a special temporary accounting room. It is specially purchased from these military merchants, and even the soldiers' money, captured trophies, rewards, etc. must be stored in the temporary accounting office, and then the temporary accounting office Then use this public money to lend to the merchants accompanying the army to buy supplies, or to buy the spoils of the army..."

There is no interest for soldiers depositing money in the account, and the account office lends public funds to military merchants, but charges interest...
Huaiyu was eye-opening when he heard it, Tang Jun's operation was really a show.

Especially when he heard that those temporary accountants were actually mostly generals who volunteered to serve as recruits or trilogy, he suddenly realized.

War is still a business.

A horse costs tens of thousands of dollars at worst. If it falls to death or is shot to death, the barracks will only take away the skin, and the meat will be sold to military merchants at a price of several hundred dollars. Sell ​​it to the soldiers at a very cheap price, and then process the horse meat and supply it to the officers at a not cheap price.

For example, the roast leg of lamb that Huai Rang just bought cost two horses of silk money, at this price a merchant accompanying the army could directly buy a skinned dead horse or a scrap horse.

"It's really dark." Ma Zhou sighed.

"It smells so good." Xin Zhao admired.

This is what Ma Zhou and Zhao Xin said almost at the same time. Ma Zhou felt that this kind of behavior was very dark, but Zhao Xin felt that the roast leg of lamb was delicious.

"It's really expensive." Chen Xing felt that the leg of lamb was precious after eating the spices such as pepper, cumin, and cumin in the roast leg of lamb.

"I've just ordered the pot of mutton for the night." Lu Huairang told Huaiyu with a smile while peeling the leg of the lamb. After finishing the rest and marching for [-] miles, he will start camping. He will eat grilled at noon and eat at night Stewed.

There are quite a few merchants accompanying the army, and he has already established a relationship with one of them and is very familiar with them.

"Didn't Lu Changshi's family have any familiar businessmen to accompany the army?" Huaiyu asked.

Lu Huairang laughed, but didn't answer.

Compared with the comfort of eating roasted leg of lamb in the shade of the trees, many soldiers are eating Hubing at this time, and even more are eating wheat rice directly. , It is even a bit difficult to swallow. The guards of the government soldiers boiled it at home and dried it before they went out to become rice noodles.

Fubing from a well-off family may add some dried fruit or honey juice to the rice when processing the barley to add flavor, and soak it in water when eating, which is called feasting.

However, wheat is not like rice, even if it is cooked, it will still be very hard, and the teeth will fall off early if you chew the rice frequently. It is edible, and it is a good dry food for marching. It can be stored for a long time without lighting a fire.

This is the basic dry ration for marching, so the imperial court stipulated that when the government soldiers went out to fight, they had to prepare nine buckets of wheat rice.

In the morning and evening, when conditions permit, they can light a fire and cook, but they can only eat dry food with wheat and rice during the march at noon.

At this time, ordinary soldiers can only chew the barley rice with their throats, but the officers can eat roast leg of lamb, and even do business while marching.

In the shade of the trees in the distance, the marching merchants were still selling haggis soup. They arrived here ahead of time to slaughter and cook it, and the dozen or so sheep had already been sold.

"Ah Lang, it's all sold out." A butcher walked towards the tree. A young man with sword eyebrows and phoenix eyes and a jade face was handsome. He was dressed in a white robe, with an eight-sided sword at his waist and a horn bow on his back. He kept looking not far away. A few people under the locust tree on the side of the road.

The butcher followed his gaze, "The concubine Lu's money is really generous. I just bought a leg of roast lamb with two horses of silk, and I have made an appointment to prepare ten servings of lamb for him in the evening."

But Mr. Yumian just stared there and didn't answer. It took a long time to look away, "After you pack up your things, rush to the camp thirty miles away, and slaughter the sheep in advance for cooking."

"Won't Ah Lang go with us?"

"I'm with the hospital battalion."

(End of this chapter)