Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1654 Military Rations
What Qiwei prepares is a salt ship, which is a kind of cargo ship that travels on the Beijiang waterway. It is named because it is mostly used to transport salt, but it is not limited to transporting salt.Because of its shallow draft, it is suitable for shallow water channels and is suitable for carrying cargo and passengers. Qiweizhan purchased some when building the inland river fleet.

The ship has been refitted at the Hong Kong shipyard for this mission and has ample room to accommodate the entire staff traveling team and accompanying escort.Because there are so many water bandits in the Xijiang and Beijiang basins, the cabins have been reinforced, and the vaulted ceiling of the reed mat is lined with iron sheets.The back tower was also heightened, iron plates were installed on the side walls, and a gimbal for mounting machine guns was also added.

At this time, two large lanterns written in Song style were hung on the bow of the ship, one was "Jinyiwei Foshan Hundred Households", the other was "Jinyiwei Hereditary Hundred Households Forest", and a prestigious dart flag was hung on the stern.Both public and private are quite powerful.Generally, thieves dare not break ground when they are too old.

Lin Ming originally planned to take a servant out, but when he went to the side of the boat, he saw that the Australians were all light and easy, and they didn't bring a single servant. With luggage on board.

Seeing that the ship was a salt ship, he couldn't help but secretly groaning: Although the ship is big, the passengers on the ship are working very hard, just sitting and lying on the salt-packed cargo, not to mention being as edible as the official ship and flower boat. Drinking for fun, you can lie down and sleep soundly when you are tired, but it is not as good as ordinary ships-at least the ships still have seats.

Walking down the steps from the small door at the bow, one can see that the inside is very different, the spacious cabin has been divided into different cabins.The front cabin is the largest, with a large table in the center, and the legs of the table are fixed on the deck.

"Lin Baihu, this way please." The sailor who led the way led him to the back cabin. There were doors on both sides of a short corridor, and Taxation opened one of the doors.

"You live in a room with Mr. Xie."

This cabin is extremely small, and you can see everything from the door, but the beds are divided into upper and lower layers, and there are small tables, stools and cabinets beside the beds.Not only exquisite and beautiful, but also practical.The ingenuity of using space and area amazed him even more.The so-called dojo in a snail shell, the Australians really have this ability!
After settling down the luggage, Lin Ming walked to the front cabin.The ceiling here is inlaid with glass tiles, and the light is very bright.A large piece of plate glass is laid on the table, and a painting seems to be placed under it.Lin Ming glanced at it, it seemed to be a map.His heart was beating wildly, and he didn't dare to look at it again—this was a military plan.Just sit down on the bench beside the cabin and pretend to browse the scenery outside the window.

But after a while, when three Australians came together, Lin Ming hurriedly got up to salute.

"There is no need to be too polite." Thorpe waved his hand. "The space on the boat is too small, so we don't need so much etiquette. Let's sail as soon as possible."

The salt boat started slowly and headed for Sanshui County along the river.

It is only 800 kilometers from Foshan Town to Hekou Town, where Sanshui County is located. The boat sails against the current, relying on manpower to row the oars and the occasional wind.Lin Ming was used to this kind of slow-paced travel, but Thorpe and the others felt that they couldn't stand the slow sailing: even on a sailing boat like the T[-], they could travel four or five knots in an hour.

"At this speed, when can we reach Sanshui County?" Cummins couldn't help asking.

"It's time to make dinner." Lin Ming said.

The waterway of less than 17 kilometers departs early in the morning and arrives at night. This is the normal travel speed in the [-]th century.In the past, if he wanted to go on a boat, he would be bored during the daytime. Mostly Lin Ming would play cards and drink with his guests or wives and concubines. Now he could just sit blankly and watch the few Australians busy with their work.

The big man and the young man with beards have been sitting on the bow of the boat, writing and drawing in a notebook, and pointing out Jiangshan from time to time.Master Nasuo didn't write or draw, but just carried a small box to the pier at the stern every once in a while.Lin Ming looked at it coldly, and saw that sometimes it was a Westerner's "telescope" looking around, and sometimes it was an incomprehensible copper thing, looking at the sun, and he didn't know what was going on.

As for the accompanying bodyguards, they were also restless. In addition to being vigilant on all sides, they used bamboo poles or plumb weights to measure the water depth whenever they went to river bends, shallows, bridgeheads and other places.When you encounter a bridge hole, as usual, use a bamboo pole to make a gesture: this is to measure the height of the bridge hole.

Sometimes these three people didn't make gestures outside, but gathered around the big table, holding a pen to write and draw on the glass board while discussing, what they said was the so-called "Newspeak" of the Australians, and Lin Ming could barely understand it. It's just that although they speak words such as "contour", "velocity", and "hydrology", although they know roughly what the words are, they don't know what they mean.

He didn't dare to show a boring expression of disinterest, and he was afraid that he would be too concerned to arouse the other party's suspicion, so he had to keep a careful distance.Just serve tea and water as a small fudao, and don't say a word except for them to ask questions.

For Thorpe and others, the area they are passing right now does not need to spend too much energy. The Qiwei Escort has a lot of activities here and has accumulated a lot of hydrological data.They only need to investigate certain intelligence in a targeted manner.

They set off early in the morning and sailed all the way until noon, but they didn't smell the aroma from the kitchen at the rear: Lin Ming saw that the Australians behaved like they probably wouldn't treat each other with good food and wine, and most of them just had a simple meal.Fortunately, I brought a lot of road vegetables with me, so I can have dinner.

Seeing that the sun had reached the middle of the day, Thorpe took out his pocket watch to see that it was past twelve o'clock, and then waved his hand: "Eat!"

Xie Peng immediately took a rag from under the table and wiped the glass surface clean.Cummins took out a few packages from the locker under the bench, put them on the table, and invited everyone to sit down and eat.

Lin Baihu hurried over. He had seen "Australian food" of different kinds in Lingao, but what he saw was different from any "Australian food" in his memory.

Let's just say that this kind of tableware is unheard of: each person has an iron cylinder shaped like a kidney.There is a lid and a handle, and the lid is turned upside down, and it seems to be a bowl.Each person also has a small tin cup with a handle.

In the middle of the table was a pile of large and small paper wrapped cartons.Neither food nor food, he couldn't help secretly wondering: what is this for?
Just as he was hesitating, the accompanying escort brought a thermos pot. This thing is quite popular around Guangzhou now, and basically every household above the middle class has one.

Lin Ming saw the three Australians take out several rectangular paper packages and peel them off, so he followed suit and took a piece.

But there are small black characters printed on the paper: Grassland Series Compressed Ration (Plain Type A), Sesame and Nut Flavor, Instant.200KJ/100g is printed on the bottom, Lin Ming only knows that this is the text of Dashishu and Franji, but looking further down it is: "under the condition of hot water", "mixed with 2~3 times of water", "high energy porridge", "better taste".Lin Ming pondered for a long time, it looked like it was dried and solidified porridge.It can be eaten directly, but it will taste better after heating water, right?
Looking at the Australians, Thorpe and Xie Peng added water and ate with a spoon, but Cummins ate with his hands.

He decided to take a bite first. The rations were very dry and hard, and the taste seemed to be nothing, that is, a little sweet and a little salty. There was only a little aroma of rice flour and oil. The taste was very different, like chewing sand.Only after chewing for a long time, you can feel the slight aroma of sesame and dried fruit in your mouth.But this thing is dry and hard, and I can't even swallow it without drinking water. It is really difficult to chew off two pieces in this bag.

So he poured hot water on the hard dough.I thought it would soften immediately, but it turned out that this lump was unrelenting, and I had to use a spoon to smash it.It took a while to completely soften.

As a result, there was a dusty and mushy thing inside the iron cylinder, which smelled sweet and sour at the same time, and on closer inspection, this lump was still bubbling while absorbing water.

He plucked up the courage to take a sip, and couldn't help frowning secretly: What kind of strange smell is this... Although it's not too bad, it's very, very weird.Lin Ming had never experienced this kind of taste in his more than 30 years of eating experience.

Seeing the three Australians eat this thing with a cold face, it is obvious that their feelings are similar to their own...

"Drink some mustard and pass it by." Seeing his strange expression, Xie Peng knew that he couldn't stand the toothbrush, so he pushed a small oiled paper bag on the table to him.

Lin Ming saw that this small oiled paper bag was very well wrapped, and there was also a note on it, printed in black: "Sweet mustard".

What is this mustard?He was secretly suspicious and thought about not eating it, but it was too embarrassing for the Australians. He turned his heart away and opened the paper package. Inside was a small piece of crumpled pickles, blue-gray.It didn't look very delicious, but I took a bite suspiciously, and the taste was pretty good: neither greasy nor strange, very salty but light in taste, with a crunchy texture when bitten.

With this thing on the table, this strange paste is not so unpalatable at last.He couldn't help but secretly regretted that he would have taken out the vegetables he had brought with him if he knew about it.

The hot tea that came out next was quite normal. Although it was dark in color and tasted inferior, almost like brick tea, it was still tea.Unexpectedly, there was another piece of oiled paper bag for each person.Lin Ming picked it up and looked at it: the black characters on it read "Energy Bar", I don't know why.When I opened it, I smelled a familiar aroma: Isn't this the smell of moon cakes?Could it be that Australians are already preparing for the Mid-Autumn Festival?
When I opened it, it turned out to be a pastry similar to moon cakes, but it was long.Lin Ming was a little relieved. If it was a mooncake, he could still eat it. After he took a bite, it was indeed a mooncake, filled with red bean paste, filled with oil and sugar, except that the bean skin was not removed and there was no suet, which was a bit of a failure. It is quite satisfactory.

(End of this chapter)