Chapter 560: Just Get to the Yellow River
Under Gao Chuwu's guidance, a child dropped a cube of luncheon meat into a nearby large pot of boiling water. The city was currently filled with such pots, prepared in anticipation of a rebel attack. The moment the common people sensed an impending battle, they would immediately start boiling water.
If the rebel army attacked the temporary city walls, they would pour boiling water down, helping the White Pole Soldiers defend the city.
The child submerged the luncheon meat in the large pot of boiling water, and not long after, Gao Chuwu chuckled, "Alright, alright! You can scoop it out now."
The child took two bamboo chopsticks and tried to pick up the meat, but he couldn't manage it after trying for a while. Gao Chuwu snatched the chopsticks, speared the luncheon meat, and lifted it out.
The child exclaimed, "Oh? This meat looks so incredibly soft."
He brought the meat to his mouth, blew on it a little, and took a bite. The expression on his face in that instant was truly magnificent.
Delicious! Absolutely delicious!
The child had never eaten anything so delicious in his life.
He was too busy eating to even speak, gobbling down the luncheon meat with loud bites. Although he didn't utter a single word, how delicious the food was was written clearly on his face for all to see.
Zheng Daniu, standing nearby, was also clutching his stomach, "Ah! Looking at that makes me hungry too."
Gao Chuwu said, "This is military rations, Daniu, you should have some too."
Zheng Daniu replied, "I finished mine as soon as we left the barracks."
Everyone paused.
Zao Ying quietly tugged at Zheng Daniu and slipped a piece of luncheon meat into his hand.
Ma Xianglin didn't notice the expressions of the militia's generals. His gaze was fixed on the common people, and he let out a soft sigh, thinking, *When a rich person is in a good mood, a casual handout of meat can move the poor so deeply, but ultimately, what good does it do?*
Just as he was thinking this, he saw Gao Chuwu pat the child's head, stand up, and whisper something in Xing Honglang's ear.
Then Xing Honglang declared loudly, "The Heavenly Lord has commanded us to share half of our military rations with the common people!"
The moment she spoke, Ma Xianglin was startled.
He watched as over four thousand soldiers behind Xing Honglang opened their packs and took out their rations.
When Gao Family Village soldiers went on campaign, they always carried several days' worth of rations.
These rations were varied; each soldier received two small tins of luncheon meat, a large bag of thoroughly dried rice grains, a hardtack biscuit, and several strange biscuits (compressed rations).
The dried rice grains and hardtack biscuits were produced using Gao Family Village's own technology, similar to the common provisions carried by soldiers during ancient campaigns.
The luncheon meat and those strange compressed biscuits, however, were "bestowed" by Li Daoxuan.
Over four thousand soldiers took out their military rations, divided them in half, kept one portion, and collectively handed over the other.
Xing Honglang handed this half of the rations to Gao Chuwu. "Chuwu," she said, "the Heavenly Lord gave this order to you, so you should be the one to distribute these provisions to the city's common people."
Gao Chuwu grinned. "Heh heh, I’m excellent at distributing things. Back when we distributed food in Gao Family Village, the Village Chief always put me in charge."
Everyone laughed. "That’s because you’re honest," they joked. "Honest folk don't commit corruption."
Gao Chuwu tilted his head. "Huh? What’s the point of corruption? Is it to be struck down by the Heavenly Lord?"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Ma Xianglin watched from the side. This group was actually distributing food to the common people—the incredibly delicious luncheon meat and strange biscuits—handing them over so easily, without even a furrow of their brows.
The common people who received the provisions cheered with delight, and the entire city became a buzz of excitement.
Ma Xianglin couldn't help but whisper, "Are you mistaken? The soldiers only carried a few days' worth of rations, didn't they? If you give half away, how will you sustain yourselves? And who knows how long we'll be fighting these rebels next."
Xing Honglang chuckled, "General Ma, you worry too much. I've studied the map: fifty *li* west of Puxian is Danang County, and another fifty *li* beyond that is the bank of the Yellow River. In other words, it's only a hundred *li* from here to the Yellow River."
Ma Xianglin furrowed his brow. "Yes, and what about the Yellow River bank?"
Xing Honglang replied, "Our remaining rations will be enough as long as we can reach the Yellow River bank."
Ma Xianglin simply stared, bewildered.
He was genuinely perplexed!
However, his wife, Zhang Fengyi, immediately understood. "They have a fleet of ships," she said. "They can resupply provisions along the Yellow River."
Ma Xianglin's eyes widened in realization, but then he immediately grew confused again. "The imperial court's shipping capacity on the upper Yellow River is extremely weak, almost non-existent, relying solely on civilian shipping. How can that meager civilian transport capacity support the logistics for thousands of soldiers?"
Zhang Fengyi lowered her voice. "She introduced herself as a salt smuggler. Salt smugglers are all involved in illicit trade; it's possible they genuinely have many civilian ships at their disposal."
Ma Xianglin finally understood. *Alright, a salt smuggler then.* He'd heard that the salt smugglers of Shanxi were only slightly less powerful than the Jin merchants, all ruthless individuals. Now it seemed she was truly formidable—bringing out thousands of these firearms... it was enough to scare anyone to death.
As he thought this, a new question occurred to him.
"By the way, General Xing," he asked, "how is it that your firearms can be used in the rain?"
Xing Honglang didn't want to answer the question, intending to conceal the information.
But the Puppet Heavenly Lord on Gao Chuwu's shoulder whispered, "You can tell him."
Xing Honglang felt a secret surprise. *It seems the Heavenly Lord doesn't see the White Pole Soldiers as enemies.*
She was slowly coming to understand that if military and civil officials were genuinely patriotic and didn't engage in questionable tactics, the Heavenly Lord didn't view them as enemies. In other words, these were all potential targets for Gao Family Village to win over and recruit in the future.
If that was the case, then there was no harm in speaking.
Xing Honglang called over a rifled musket soldier.
From the outside, this musket's rifling wasn't visible, so it looked just like an ordinary bird musket. It wasn't a particularly rare piece of equipment; Ma Xianglin's army even had a few, though not on a large scale.
The musket soldier first used the cover of his large bamboo hat to load ammunition into the musket, then took out a small wooden box and, with a click, attached it to the musket's firing mechanism. Only then did he raise it level.
Ma Xianglin understood at a glance. "Oh? So this wooden box blocks the rain!" he exclaimed. "This is quite ingenious."
Suddenly, he thought of something else. "The Liaodong border army dislikes using muskets because the wind there is strong and blows away the primer," he mused. "But if a wooden box like this were added to their muskets, wouldn't it also block the wind?"
Ma Xianglin suddenly became visibly excited. "This tiny thing has enormous utility!" he exclaimed. "General Xing, why don't you report this invention to the imperial court so the Liaodong border army can produce and use it on a large scale? Then it would be much easier for us to deal with the Manchu invaders!"
Xing Honglang smiled and glanced at the Puppet Heavenly Lord. Seeing the Heavenly Lord nod slightly, she turned back and chuckled, "If it can help the border army against the Manchu invaders, then I'll submit it and see."
Comments