Chapter 5 Jin Mingtang Jin Mingtang and his personal guards were packing their belongings…

Chapter 5 Jin Mingtang Jin Mingtang and his personal guards were cleaning up the east side...

The biscuit in his hand smelled deliciously oily, and Commander Zhang couldn't help but lick his lips.

He had already eaten one wheat cake and one bean cake, and his belly was stuffed, but he still craved a bite when he got a whiff of it.

He picked up the biscuit and took a tiny nibble.

The biscuit looked rock-hard, but it fell apart at the first bite and dissolved on his tongue.

The oil, salt, sugar, and fine flour came together in this amazing flavor that lingered—sweet but not too sweet, savory and fresh.

Commander Zhang was won over in an instant.

This biscuit was way too good—it had to be pricey.

And the Lady was actually giving this stuff to them!

The Lady was just too generous!

While Commander Zhang was chowing down, the others each got their share of the compressed biscuits.

A combo of sugar and oil is junk food in modern times, but to folks back then, it was a rare treat that packed an instant energy boost.

Even Jin Yanqiu thought it was good, so the rest were a given.

Every single person who bit into one looked stunned.

"Lady, this is amazing," Xiao Tao said, her eyes shining. "It smells so good! I've never tasted anything like it."

Hearing that, Jin Yanqiu smirked slightly.

This compressed biscuit was peanut-flavored, and indeed very fragrant.

Back in the world she came from, peanuts weren't brought to China until much later, so in the Wei and Jin dynasties, peanuts didn't exist at all.

This alternate Da Qi was no different; there were no peanuts here either, period.

Having never tasted peanuts before, Xiao Tao was bound to think they smelled amazing.

"It's salty! There's salt in it!" another person exclaimed in surprise.

By then, Commander Zhang had already wolfed down the whole biscuit. He said, "And it's sweet—did they add sugar?"

"Yes, there's sugar," Jin Yanqiu replied.

Commander Zhang got all excited.

In this era, salt was a strategic resource—incredibly precious—and sugar was out-and-out luxury.

Regular folks never got sugar; he'd only had it a handful of times himself.

And today, he actually got to eat a biscuit loaded with oil and sugar—it made him genuinely happy from the heart.

By now, everyone in the group had eaten their compressed biscuit.

Some scarfed it down, while others couldn't bring themselves to finish it and just nibbled.

But no matter how they ate, they all had big smiles on their faces.

Jin Yanqiu checked the system panel and saw that her Gratitude Points had gone up by over fifty.

She let out a relieved breath.

When she saw she had over fifty thousand points earlier, Jin Yanqiu figured earning them wouldn't be too tough.

Now she was even more sure.

Going forward, she could use food to rack up points and then trade points for food—a perfect cycle.

Jin Yanqiu went back to the carriage to rest, while back in the ramshackle house, the others were still savoring the taste of those biscuits.

A lot of them had never eaten anything that delicious before.

Not only did it taste great, it really filled them up.

Their bellies were even a little bloated.

But they didn't mind—they actually loved it.

They lay down on the dirt floor of the broken house, patted their full bellies, and drifted off to sleep smiling.

Meanwhile, at Juyong Pass, Jin Mingtang rubbed his empty stomach and couldn't help but sigh.

The sky was slowly darkening—another day had passed, and the grain that should've shown up a month ago still hadn't arrived.

Not only his own supply—the whole army hadn't gotten any grain yet.

Was the court trying to starve the frontier soldiers and the laborers on the Great Wall to death?

Jin Mingtang became a general because of his father.

Though his father was from humble origins, he was dead set on making something of himself.

He tried to get a job everywhere but kept getting turned down. He didn't land a job as a low-level military clerk until he was over thirty, mainly handling grain calculations and logistics.

Jin Mingtang grew up around the army. When he was fifteen, his father died from eating spoiled pork, leaving him with no one to look after him, so he just joined the army.

Very few soldiers could read, but Jin Mingtang not only could read, he also knew army logistics inside out thanks to his father, which made him stand out.

Plus, he was strong and fearless in combat, so he rose through the ranks fast.

Eighteen years ago, at thirty, Jin Mingtang scored a big victory at the frontier, got promoted and rich, and married a woman from the Qian family.

At that time, he was full of ambition, believing he could change his family's status and revive the Jin clan. But what happened afterward slowly eroded his spirit.

He became a general guarding one side, commanding fifty thousand elite troops, and countless times he stopped the Hu people from invading south.

But he lacked grain!

The grain the court gave him decreased year by year, and the soldiers' pay was less than a tenth of what was due. Their clothing and armor couldn't be issued as required.

Helpless, he had to find his own solutions.

He collected spoils of war, hunted in the mountains, gathered herbs, and sent everything to his father-in-law, asking him to exchange it for grain.

He also had the old and weak among the troops open up wasteland near the camp and do some handicraft work.

With such careful calculations, he could barely keep things going.

But a year ago, his father-in-law was cast out by his own clan, losing most of his wealth and trade caravans, and could no longer help him.

The price of grain kept rising everywhere.

If he hadn’t been smart enough to stockpile grain, his soldiers would have starved to death.

But even without deaths, the grain he had wouldn’t last much longer.

When Jin Mingtang received the order demoting him, the military granary only had enough grain to last another month—grain his daughter had just gotten for him.

Jin Mingtang certainly didn’t want to abandon the army he had built up over so many years, nor was he willing to be exiled to repair the Great Wall.

This was clearly meant to humiliate and single him out. After the demotion, other things were likely waiting—like trumping up a charge of poor repairs against him and killing him outright.

Once he left the camp, he would have no one around him, and the court could kill him as easily as flipping a hand.

He was furious and anxious, even thought about following the example of some generals elsewhere in Da Qi and disobeying the court’s orders.

But his army’s position was terrible—mountainous land, hard to farm, and dozens of large and small battles every year.

He was busy stopping the Hu people from invading south, so he couldn’t, like other generals, entrench himself in one area and find ways to rake in money.

The commoners in his area were destitute, and there was nothing to extort.

If he defied the imperial decree, the court would completely cut off grain supplies—how could the soldiers survive?

These were men who had faced life and death with him in battle; Jin Mingtang couldn't bear to watch them die.

Helpless, he had to accept the decree and go to Juyong Pass to repair the Great Wall, while the court's appointee took command of his army.

At the time, he thought that if the court appointee provided enough grain and gradually split them up, over time, the men who had fought beside him for years would forget him.

Though he had officers loyal to him, the rank-and-file soldiers only fought for a meal, without much loyalty.

And what happened? After taking over, the appointee holed up in a city far from the border, living in luxury, completely ignoring the soldiers.

The grain the court promised never arrived.

They only managed because the weather was warm and the soldiers' fields produced a small harvest.

But the wildlife near the camp was almost completely hunted out!

There were over seventy thousand soldiers in the camp, eating at least seventy thousand jin of beans or wheat every day—and even that was mixed with vegetables…

Jin Mingtang was deeply worried about those soldiers, racked with anxiety.

But what worried him even more was the situation he now faced.

After arriving here, he discovered that the five thousand laborers were starving too.

They were supposed to finish repairing the wall in six months.

If there were enough grain, the laborers would have the strength to work, and it wouldn't be difficult—but the court didn't provide any grain!

When Jin Mingtang arrived and saw only a few old beans in the warehouse, he almost went mad.

This was clearly someone deliberately trying to harm him.

Without grain, he could never finish repairing the Great Wall, and then the court could kill him with ease.

He thought about running away, but he couldn't.

If he ran, what would become of his clan back home? What about his daughter?

At first, Jin Mingtang considered forcing the laborers to repair the wall while starving.

But he grew up in the army and was different from those aristocrats who didn't see commoners as their equals.

He couldn't bring himself to drive five thousand people to their deaths.

And if he did, the laborers would surely rebel. He had only brought about a dozen men to Juyong Pass—there was no way he could fight five thousand laborers.

Jin Mingtang had to temporarily halt the wall repairs and lead these five thousand men to forage for food.

But in recent years, grain yields near Juyong Pass had dropped every year. The common people's millet, wheat, and beans weren't even enough to feed themselves—they had nearly stripped all the bark from nearby trees—so where were they supposed to find food?

Hunt? These laborers were skin and bones from hunger—how could they hunt?

After more than a month of this, the warehouse was completely empty. Jin Mingtang started thinking about an escape plan.

“General, the laborers can still eat vegetable soup today, but tomorrow there won’t even be soup. Once they realize they're about to starve, they'll rebel. We should run.” one of Jin Mingtang's personal guards urged him.

These guards had eaten and drunk alongside him.

Back in the camp, with the Lady occasionally sending supplies, they could at least eat their fill, even if the food was simple.

But recently, they had been starving.

He had shrunk a whole size, and their general had become gaunt, looking ten years older than his age.

They couldn’t stay here any longer—if they did, they’d either starve or be killed by the starving laborers.

Jin Mingtang asked, “Qiuer and the others should be arriving soon, right?”

“They should arrive any day now,” the guard said, then, as if thinking of something, he looked warily at Jin Mingtang. “General, don't even think about taking the Lady's grain. Old Zhang said the new grain from the manors in Luoyang hasn't been harvested yet, and the old grain was already sent to us earlier. The Lady is bringing very little grain this time, and with grain prices skyrocketing, it's hard to buy grain along the road. The grain and money she has are only enough for her own needs.”

After saying this, the guard shot his general a disapproving look.

Over the years, the general had asked for grain from the Lady every year. It was said that to grow more grain, the Lady stayed on the manors all day, even devising methods to fertilize with manure.

Forcing a young lady who should have lived in luxury to wade through mud all day for their rations—he felt ashamed and also disapproved of his general's actions.

Jin Mingtang was a bit embarrassed. “Qiuer has had a hard time these past two years. I wouldn’t dream of taking her rations. I originally planned to wait until she arrived before leaving, but now it seems that won’t work… Let’s leave here and find them along the way. Once we meet up, we’ll go together.”

After saying this, Jin Mingtang sighed.

Not long ago, he had been a general. Now he was just a minor official, and after leaving here, he would become a fugitive.

He didn’t want to die—becoming a fugitive was better than that.

Jin Mingtang planned to first go to the military camp, pick up his two thousand personal guards, then find a mountain near where his father-in-law’s family had settled, and hide there.

As for why he wanted to be near his father-in-law’s place… it made it easier for him to shamelessly come begging for help.

Well, his personal guards could also serve as guards at his father-in-law’s house to earn a little extra.

And his daughter could be supported by his father-in-law.

As for his clan... after being demoted, he had already sent a letter to his hometown, telling them to bring the entire clan to take refuge with his father-in-law.

The Jin family isn't very large; his father-in-law should be able to support them, right?

As for the laborers here and his former soldiers, he can no longer look after them; they will have to fend for themselves.

Jin Mingtang and his personal guards packed up their belongings, planning to abandon their posts and flee.

Meanwhile, in Youzhou.

Jin Mingtang’s father-in-law, Qian Kun, had just gotten his family settled when over two hundred members of the Jin family showed up.

Even though Qian Kun was a very even-tempered man, he couldn’t help but curse his son-in-law in his heart.

Back then, he had given his daughter to Jin Mingtang for his military power, never expecting Jin Mingtang to be so shameless, always hitting him up for grain.

After years of begging for grain, now Jin Mingtang had actually dumped his entire clan on him to support!

But as angry as he was, he still had to take them in.

The times were on the verge of chaos, and in such times, his family was like a fat sheep ready for slaughter.

After being swindled out of his wealth by his own relatives, he was no longer a fat sheep, but still a plump lamb, and he needed someone to rely on.

Although Jin Mingtang had been demoted, he had a brilliant military record and still had thousands of private soldiers loyal to him, which could at least protect the Qian family.

Moreover, Qian Kun believed that Jin Mingtang would be reinstated sooner or later.

The Hu people were not easy to deal with; once the border suffered a defeat, the court would surely think of Jin Mingtang and reinstate him.

Qian Kun was optimistic, smiling as he settled the Jin family, unaware that his son-in-law was already planning to "become a bandit" and, by the way, come to sponge off him.