Don’t raise unruly people in extreme cold weather

Chapter 430: Porridge with Sand
On the streets of Langton, a relief center is distributing porridge.

There was already a long queue in front of the relief point, and a large pot was cooking wheat porridge with a rich aroma.

Although the food tasted very tempting, there was not a single smile on the faces of the poor people waiting in line to receive relief.

A man with a sad face came to the relief point, humbly raised the empty bowl in his hand and extended it to the staff who were distributing relief.

The staff member just looked at him with a little disdain, then stirred the cauldron with a large ladle, scooped up a spoonful of golden and thick wheat porridge, and then poured it into the man's bowl.

Seeing that the spoonful only filled two-thirds of the bowl, the man looked even more distressed, and his already bent back became even lower. He said in a hesitant voice, "Give me some more!"

The relief worker simply knocked on the cauldron with a ladle in disdain, motioning for the next person to come forward.

The people behind him also hurriedly took a step forward and pushed the man away with their shoulders, almost spilling the porridge in his bowl.

The man felt extremely embarrassed and awkward. Although his nostrils were swollen violently and he seemed to want to smash the bowl and curse, reason finally overcame impulse. He could only walk aside with the bowl and prepare to find a secluded place to fill his stomach with half a bowl of porridge first.

However, just as he walked to the alley and was about to squat in the corner to drink porridge, suddenly a person holding a bowl of porridge came over. The other person's bowl was empty, but the remaining few grains of wheat showed that the bowl had been filled with porridge before.

The man immediately protected his porridge and looked at the other person with vigilance.

Everyone was short of food. Although the imperial government was providing relief, some people were always shameless enough to beg from others.

Men instinctively don't want their half bowl of porridge, which is not enough to eat, to be shared with others, especially when some people are not begging but robbing.

Fortunately, the person in front of him was not planning to steal the porridge or beg for food. He just walked up to the man and whispered to him, "Brother, do you want to have another bowl of porridge?"

"What do you want to do?" The man blocked his bowl of porridge with his arm, his face alert and cautious.

"The wheat porridge provided by the government is not enough, so a few of us got together. After everyone got the porridge, they poured it all together, added water and boiled it again. This way everyone can get an extra bowl. Do you want to join? I can make it happen and give you half a bowl more the first time." The other person looked at the porridge in the man's arms, his eyes revealing persistence.

The man was particularly alert and asked in a low voice: "How do I know you are not cheating me of the porridge?"

"It's just half a bowl of porridge. Even if I lied to you, wouldn't you just finish it in one gulp?" The other party didn't seem to mind the man's vigilant attitude and smiled.

Hearing the other party say this, the man felt that it seemed to make sense, so he relaxed a little and asked again: "Then where do you stay?"

The other party pointed to an alley nearby, which was not far from the relief point. There were two burly but ragged men guarding the entrance of the alley, apparently to prevent anyone from accidentally entering.

The man hesitated.

He hadn't had a full meal for several days. Although the empire distributed relief, there was no doubt that this little bit of porridge could only ensure that he would not starve to death.

Some people who were as hungry as he was also doing something similar to the man in front of him. They diluted the half bowl of porridge they brought back with water so that they could stuff more food into their stomachs, even if it was just the feeling of fullness gained by using water.

But the other party's attitude still made him hesitate. What if they were not good people...

But in the end, the desire to have a full meal outweighed his reason, the man nodded, and walked into the alley with the other person.

There was also a large pot in the alley cooking wheat porridge, but compared to the thick golden porridge at the relief point, the wheat porridge in front of him was much thinner.

Apparently, these people added a lot of water to the drink in order to drink more bowls.

But overall it can still be called porridge and it hasn't really turned into a watery soup.

The man finally relaxed a lot after seeing this, and gave a grateful smile to the person who led him in. At least he could fill his stomach today.

"Pour your porridge in. After it's cooked, you can have two bowls as we agreed beforehand." The man who led the man in seemed to be a leader. While he was talking to the man, he also gave a look to the person who seemed to be the cook who was cooking the porridge. The other person nodded to indicate that he had taken note of it and showed a friendly expression to the man.

The man also greeted in a friendly manner, then looked into the alley, where he saw about a dozen people, all of them with pale and thin faces. They were squatting beside the alley with bowls in their hands, staring eagerly at the large pot that was cooking porridge.

Reluctantly, he poured his half bowl of porridge into the cauldron. Then he saw the cook add two bowls of water into the cauldron. Then he found a place close to the alley entrance and squatted down. He also looked at the cauldron eagerly, as if he was waiting to eat.

"Including this one, there are 24 today, one more than yesterday, but the porridge at the relief center is less than yesterday." The cook whispered to the leader, with a slightly worried expression on his face: "If the porridge is always thin, everyone will not have the strength to work. You have to find a way to get something solid. Porridge alone will not be enough."

The leader also showed a troubled expression on his face, and he said helplessly: "You know the situation, those damn nobles embezzled the relief grain distributed by the empire. If it weren't for Her Royal Highness the Princess who found out the corrupt nobles, we wouldn't even have porridge to drink now.

The end of the world is coming, and there is a shortage of food everywhere. The Bloody Earl of the North is still transporting food to the North. Where can I find something solid for you? "

However, despite saying this, the leader still said that he would find a way.

After all, at least they still have porridge to drink now, and they don't have to cook and eat belts. If they think about it, there is still a way.

Not long after, the porridge was finally ready. The cook stirred the porridge in the big pot which was a little thicker than before, and began to invite everyone to come and drink the porridge.

Since a lot of water was added, the amount seemed to be a lot more than the porridge that everyone had poured in before, but the aroma it exuded was still rich and tempting.

Under such circumstances, the expressions on everyone's faces unconsciously became much more relaxed. After all, even if it was just thin porridge, it was something that could fill the stomach.

Soon the man came to the chef again and tremblingly handed over his bowl. The chef didn't say much, but just smiled friendly and filled him with a big bowl of porridge: "Don't be nervous, man, we are not bad people, we are just a group of people who are keeping each other warm! As we agreed before, you can have another bowl."

"Thank you!" The man took his bowl gratefully, took a sip quickly and said thank you again, then sat aside and drank the porridge with contentment.

Although not as thick as the wheat porridge he had gotten at the relief center before, the boiling hot porridge still brought satisfaction and warmth to the man's already empty stomach, making him feel relaxed unconsciously.

Only when the bowl of porridge was empty did the man smack his lips and look towards the cauldron again with an unsatisfied look.

He can still drink another bowl! He remembered what the leader and the cook had said to him just now, stood up again, and came to the cook.

This time he handed out the bowl with more determination, but he still said to the cook politely: "Please give me another bowl, thank you."

"Yes, but this is a privilege only for newcomers. Tomorrow you can only have one bowl. I hope you don't mind. Everyone is treated the same." The cook explained, and at the same time, he stirred the cauldron with a ladle and gave the man a relatively thick bowl of porridge.

"I understand. It's good enough that you can drink a little more." The man was not an ignorant person. He politely expressed his understanding to the cook, and then sat aside again.

But this time he was not as anxious as before. Instead, he could sit down and savor it slowly.

However, this taste was not a big deal, as it made him notice some details that he had not noticed before, that is, there was a thin layer of fine sand at the bottom of his bowl.

This made him feel a little strange. He had washed the bowl very clean before coming here, and there was no mud or sand in it. He had just finished drinking the porridge in the bowl and did not see any mud or sand at all. How come so much sand appeared now?

Just when the man was puzzled, the leader came over drinking his own porridge. Seeing the man staring at his bowl with a puzzled look, he smiled and said, "Don't be surprised. Those black-hearted nobles mixed a lot of sand into the relief food. If you are lucky, the porridge you get will float on the surface, so there won't be so much sand.

But if you are unlucky and drink the bottom of the pot, you will find a lot of sand in the bowl.

Aaron is a good cook, but he has no choice. We cook thin porridge, and the sand basically sinks to the bottom. Every day after eating, he has to scrape at least a bowl of sand from the bottom of the pot. "

After hearing this, the man realized that the cook's name was Aaron.

But this was not the point. What the leader said just now was what he cared about. He couldn't help but ask, "Why is there so much sand? Isn't this the relief food distributed by Her Royal Highness the Princess?"

“Yes, that princess wanted to do good things and get the imperial government to provide relief to the poor, otherwise we wouldn’t even have porridge to drink!” The leader seemed to have no respect for the eldest princess, but he didn’t continue to speak ill of her. He just said to the man with disdain: “Do you know? In fact, the empire used bread to provide relief to the victims at the beginning! But those nobles thought it was too wasteful and they didn’t make any profit, so they resold all the bread!
The high-quality black bread sold on the market some time ago was the relief food they resold!

Can you believe it? The high-quality black bread distributed by the empire was resold by those nobles, and we can only eat porridge here!"

"Damn nobles!" the man also started cursing.

In the past he might not have joined in the curse, but hunger and the feeling of fullness he had just gained made him understand which side he should choose sometimes.

But while cursing the nobles, the man also asked curiously: "Does the Empire not care about this matter?"

"Of course we care. Her Royal Highness the Princess personally led people to chop off the heads of those corrupt officials, but it's useless. We have nothing to eat except this wheat mixed with sand." The leader waved his hand nonchalantly, looking calm and composed.

In fact, the leader clearly understood why the wheat they ate was mixed with sand, and a large amount of sand.

But how this fact is stated and who says it has completely different effects.

Therefore, even if the leader told the men that the imperial nobles had embezzled the relief food, turning the relief food into inferior food mixed with sand that no one wanted, the most important thing for the men was not to have enough food.

"What's the point of telling me this? I'm just an ordinary person." The man has a very clear understanding of his own position.

"So what if they are ordinary people? After all, this world is made up of ordinary people like you and me. Those knights are just like ordinary people without their steam armor. They will die if hit by bullets or attacked by battle blades. They are not much stronger than us." The expression on the leader's face became wanton and ostentatious. In his opinion, ordinary people can kill steam knights as long as they find the right method.

But this doesn’t mean much to an ordinary person who used to rely on relief food.

At least it doesn't make any sense for men. As an ordinary person, if you ask him to do something, he is willing to do it, but it is absolutely impossible to expect him to challenge impossible things.

For example, if the leader asked him to work now, he would definitely not say no. After all, he had already eaten two bowls of porridge, which was considered a reward.

But if you expect him to do something to the king or the princess, he is not ready to catch the bullets with his body, especially since the knights of the empire no longer use small-caliber pincer bullets, but choose to bring you force with much greater power, accuracy and precision.

"Don't worry, I don't intend to let you fight those steam knights alone. That's not your job." The leader understands men's fear of death. In fact, too many people have this attitude, but it doesn't matter. When they are in a situation where they can't survive, they will choose to rise up and fight.

As for now? All he can do is quietly accumulate strength and wait for God's blessing.

However, although there is no rush, it is always necessary to win people's hearts, so the leader came up with such a method, distributing food in a way that seems fair, so that everyone will be grateful to him.

And these will be the foundation and capital for his future uprising.

Especially since he heard that the center of the empire would be moved to the northern border in the future, and he would be far away from home. Maybe he would have a chance to completely overthrow this corrupt, feudal and oppressive empire, and live the extravagant life of Prime Minister France next door.

But for now, let’s get more people to cook porridge together.

(End of this chapter)