Chapter 23 Sending Grain She was going to deliver warmth!

Chapter 23 Delivering Provisions: She Was Going to Deliver Some Warmth!

After Jin Yanqiu and Jin Mingtang had spoken for a while, Jin Mingtang began to worry about the troops stationed outside: "I wonder if the grain sent out yesterday has reached Zijing Pass and Gubeikou."

Since the founding of Da Qi, walls had been under continuous construction, but the total length of the current walls was far less than the length Jin Yanqiu knew from later times.

For one thing, the famous Badaling Great Wall of later times did not yet exist.

However, some passes were already in place.

Jin Mingtang’s camp was located relatively close to Juyong Pass and Gubeikou, only about seventy kilometers, or one hundred and forty li, while it was farther from Zijing Pass.

To make sure the soldiers at both locations got their grain quickly, Jin Mingtang sent an ordinary supply convoy to Gubeikou and had cavalry deliver provisions to Zijing Pass.

Today, both groups should have arrived.

The two supply convoys Jin Mingtang was worried about were indeed nearing their destinations.

Modern people can walk four to five kilometers per hour, nearly ten li, but that’s because modern roads are good and they carry no heavy load.

In ancient times, soldiers had to carry too much gear, so they usually only covered twenty to thirty li a day. Of course, if danger forced a rapid march, after discarding armor, weapons, and provisions to laborers or simply throwing them away, they could cover a great distance in a day.

It was said that the founding emperor of Da Qi, after being defeated once, led his soldiers in a desperate escape, and they ran a full one hundred and twenty li in one day, equivalent to sixty kilometers.

For the grain delivery to Gubeikou, Jin Mingtang selected elite troops who were familiar with the route. Moreover, the compressed biscuits and sausages took up much less space than the military rations they usually transported, so they traveled faster.

Of course, another reason they moved so quickly was that they ate well and plenty.

Before dawn yesterday, they ate porridge and meat sausages. Feeling full of energy, they hauled the grain supplies and marched twenty li straight.

After traveling such a long distance, they were naturally wiped out. At that point, the leading officer ordered them to stop and start a fire to boil some water.

Happily, they stopped to rest, planning to drink some water and then continue on. But then General Jin's personal guards handed out saltine crackers and meat sausages!

The saltine crackers were crispy, light but filling, not to mention the sausages!

After eating them with hot water, they felt a burst of energy, so they marched another twenty li.

By then, they were already struggling to keep going, and fortunately, the officers also recognized this and ordered them to stop again.

After stopping, they sprawled out every which way, too tired to move. Yet, General Jin's personal guards once again handed out cream‑filled cookies and meat sausages!

Having eaten the sweet cream‑filled cookies and greasy sausages, and after a short nap in the hot sun, they figured they owed it to the good food to keep going, so they pushed on for another twenty li.

After those twenty li, the sun was hanging low in the west. They thought it was time to set up camp.

But then General Jin's personal guards started distributing food again...

After eating, they gritted their teeth and marched another twenty li...

In one day, they covered eighty li. Their feet were blistered and bleeding and they were utterly exhausted, but they had no complaints.

Come bedtime, General Jin's personal guards, to their amazement, distributed food to them again!

They had five meals that day, five!

And they were eating meat and fine white flour and rice! No, it wasn't just fine white flour and rice—what they ate was clearly fancy treats that only the big noble houses could get!

The next day, everyone was beat and hurting all over. But when the crackers and sausages were distributed to them...

It's just walking, isn't it? They can manage!

They gave it their all and finally made it to Gubeikou by evening.

There was also a military camp at Gubeikou. It was smaller than the main camp, and its buildings and facilities were way worse.

The soldiers stationed here were all young and fit, but lately they'd been having a rough time.

"The grain delivered by the court is all old beans mixed with pebbles—there are almost more stones than beans! If I'd known we'd drag back this garbage, I wouldn't have taken it in the first place!" Zhang, the garrison commander, was furious.

A bunch of grown men, picking beans out of pebbles every day with a basket just for some porridge—what a lousy life!

Sometimes they'd miss a pebble and chip a tooth while eating—just thinking about it was heartbreaking.

The military advisor was also furious, but he could only console Commander Zhang: "Take it easy, Commander. Some grain is better than nothing."

Hearing this, Commander Zhang's eyes reddened: "I heard the main camp has run out of food... Those sons of bitches are heartless! A lot of my buddies are over at the main camp!"

When he first heard the court had sent them grain, he was thrilled and immediately got people to haul it back.

He'd even planned to set some aside for the main camp once they got it.

But who would have thought that the court would send them food even horses wouldn't touch?

They had no choice but to eat it—they didn't want to die of hunger.

The advisor, like Commander Zhang, also had close friends at the main camp, so he was just as down. All he could say was, "They've planted some grain over there, so they should be able to hang on for a while."

"I hope so," Commander Zhang sighed, rubbing his stomach that was growling with hunger.

Just then, a soldier came to tell Commander Zhang that chow was ready.

Commander Zhang followed the soldier and saw the camp cooks hauling out buckets of bean porridge.

As he got closer, he caught a whiff of mold.

Many of these beans were moldy and would not only make you fart constantly but also give you the runs.

But hunger was unbearable, so they still had to eat.

Commander Zhang took his bowl, and the cook ladled him a bowl of porridge heavy on the beans and light on the broth.

Others weren't so lucky—they got thin porridge with lots of broth and barely any beans, barely enough to keep them from starving.

The soldiers had to be careful not to bite down on pebbles while eating.

Even so, this bowl of porridge sparked countless arguments.

"How come he gets more porridge than me?"

"Are you cooks stealing the porridge? You're all so fat, but we never get enough to eat!"

"Why'd you bump into me? You made me spill my porridge!"

"He swiped my porridge!"

...

When people are hungry, tempers flare easily, and the camp was full of constant bickering.

General Zhang could only send people to mediate, but the effect was minimal.

This made him so angry he wanted to throw his bowl: "They’ve been fed too much. Starve them a little longer, and they won’t have the strength to make trouble!"

The military advisor slowly drank his bean porridge, sighing and saying nothing.

Just then, someone ran in from outside: "General! Someone’s here! People from the main camp have arrived!"

General Zhang was startled: "Why are they here? I don’t have enough food for my own men, let alone feed too many people..."

He wanted to help the main camp, but with the food he had now, his own troops couldn’t even get enough to eat. If the main camp soldiers came begging for help, what would he do?

"General! They said they’ve come to deliver grain!"

General Zhang was overjoyed: "Really?"

Of course it was true!

The soldiers of the Zhenbei Army, who had marched for two days, had just entered the Gubeikou camp and collapsed from exhaustion.

They lay on the ground, unwilling to move. One of the soldiers saw a man nearby drinking from a bowl and said, "Buddy, can I have some water?"

The soldiers in the Gubeikou camp knew the main camp had no grain.

These Zhenbei Army soldiers delivering grain were all skinny, with blisters on their feet, looking utterly miserable...

The Gubeikou soldier drinking bean porridge took pity and handed his bowl over, offering a sip.

The lying soldier took a sip, but couldn’t help spitting it out: "What is this? It smells moldy."

The Gubeikou soldier who gave him the porridge was furious: "This is my porridge! If you don’t want it, you could have refused. Why waste it?"

He looked on, heartbroken, at the mouthful he'd spat out—there were still beans in it!

The Zhenbei Army soldier felt guilty seeing this.

If someone had offered him this bean porridge three days ago, he would have swallowed it without a second thought. The reason he reacted this way now was that he had been eating too well and too much these past few days.

Today, he had already eaten four meals and hadn’t felt hungry at all.

Thinking this, he apologized quickly: "Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just didn't think. Here, take this biscuit as an apology."

As he spoke, he pressed a sandwich biscuit into the Gubeikou soldier’s hand.

The Gubeikou soldier was about to pick up the spilled beans from the ground when something was suddenly pressed into his hand.

He'd never seen or heard of a biscuit like this, but he instinctively felt it was edible.

He popped the biscuit in his mouth, and his face showed shock.

This... this is amazing!

The Zhenbei soldier lying on the ground was too exhausted today and had no appetite, so he still had a few biscuits left. Seeing the other man enjoy it, he handed him another: "Take this one too. Don’t worry, General Jin’s daughter has brought grain. We won’t go hungry anymore!"

"Really?" The Gubeikou soldier was both surprised and delighted.

"Really!" the lying Zhenbei Army soldier said, then added, "The lady brought food, and it's all good stuff, just like this biscuit."

The Gubeikou soldier was stunned.

But the Zhenbei Army soldier wasn’t done shocking him: "The lady even gave us meat to eat. I’ve already eaten half a kilo of meat today."

The Gubeikou soldier was green with envy.

Just then, General Zhang rushed out: "Where’s the grain? Where’s the grain?"

The food is on the carts!

The cooks at Gubeikou started lighting fires again, and this time, the meal they cooked was more luxurious than any before.

Jin Yanqiu knew that her Gratitude Points were steadily increasing, and the soldiers at the main camp wouldn't go hungry.

So, that morning, she exchanged the more than seventy thousand Gratitude Points from the previous night for biscuits and sausages, and after breakfast, when she had another sixty thousand Gratitude Points, she exchanged all of them for grain.

On top of that, there was still plenty of the seventy thousand kilograms of compressed biscuits she had exchanged when she first arrived at the camp. The food the transport team carried was indeed substantial!

The hot dogs she had exchanged with Gratitude Points couldn’t be stored long, so she told the head of the transport team to hand out all the hot dogs to the soldiers handling the transport during the journey.

As for the Gubeikou soldiers, she prepared sausages for them.

In total, the transport team brought 50,000 kilograms of compressed biscuits and 10,000 kilograms of sausages.

Gubeikou had ten thousand soldiers stationed there. If each soldier got half a kilo of biscuits and a hundred grams of sausages a day, the food would last them ten days.

As for what to do after ten days...

In a couple of days, Jin Yanqiu would have plenty of Gratitude Points, and she would arrange for another delivery.

This second delivery team could also take their time, without needing to hurry.

Jin Yanqiu had it all planned, but when General Zhang found out the food was only enough for ten days, he couldn't believe it: "So much meat, and you want us to finish it in ten days?"

General Zhang had already inspected the grain.

It was obvious the compressed biscuits were high quality, let alone the meat.

They were sausages! Air-dried sausages, with plenty of fat visible inside.

What's more, when he took a bite of one, he found it was very salty.

Whoever made these sausages sure didn't hold back on the salt!

General Zhang had already decided to save the sausages and eat them slowly. He figured these sausages could last them a whole year.

But General Jin told him to finish them in ten days!

No way! No way at all!

In the end, General Zhang hid most of the sausages, only taking out fifty kilograms to feed his soldiers that day.

He got the cook to chop the sausages finely, boil them, then add compressed biscuits to make a sausage mush, which was served to the soldiers.

The transport team ate with the Gubeikou soldiers and were pretty unimpressed: "Chopping the sausages into the biscuit paste tastes pretty weird."

"Mainly because these cured sausages aren't as good as regular meat sausages."

"And the compressed biscuits aren't as good as the sandwich ones either."

...

They murmured quietly, but the soldiers at Gubeikou were already savoring the taste of the sausage and compressed biscuits.

This was refined grain, and it even had meat in it!

The oily, salty flavor was truly irresistible!

They heard that all this food was obtained by the Lady. Afraid that they would go hungry, the Lady had people deliver it with all speed to them.

The Lady was truly a great benefactor! They were immensely grateful!

Jin Yanqiu saw that her Gratitude Points had suddenly increased outside of regular meal times, and she knew that a food transport team must have delivered the supplies.

She should prepare and organize another transport team to move food.

Now she was earning two hundred thousand Gratitude Points a day, she couldn’t spend it all, not by a long shot!

What made Jin Yanqiu even happier was that the total number of Gratitude Points she now had exceeded five hundred thousand. At this rate, in two more days, she would be able to unlock another type of food!

She just didn't know when the other transport team would arrive with their food.

The other transport team that Jin Yanqiu had in mind, the one heading to Zijing Pass, was already approaching Zijing Pass.

This team consisted entirely of cavalry. Each rider carried some food as they rode, and they also led horses that were loaded only with food and carried no riders.

Zijing Pass was far away. If they didn't ride horses, it would probably take five or six days to get there, but on horseback, they could arrive in two days.

Sure enough, they had set out early yesterday morning, and by tonight, they had already reached Zijing Pass!

The sky had darkened. The team leader looked at the sky and said to those behind him, "The road is hard to travel at night, and the horses are tired. Let's dismount."

Upon hearing this, the cavalrymen dismounted one by one, took compressed biscuits from their horses' backs, and fed them to the horses.

Horses needed salt and also liked to eat human food. Compressed biscuits were very popular with them.

During these two days, the reason their horses were willing to travel so far was that every time they covered a certain distance, they would feed the horses some compressed biscuits.

The horses were delighted to eat the biscuits, and the cavalrymen were happy too.

Lately, their horses had all grown thin from hunger!

Now that they had such good things to eat, their horses would surely get plump. How wonderful!

Riding was faster than walking, but it was still somewhat tiring. Yet, thinking about how much good food they had eaten these past two days, the soldiers took joy in it.

They were chatting and laughing, and as soon as they approached Zijing Pass, they were spotted.

The garrison at Zijing Pass initially thought they were enemies and were startled. When they realized they were their own people and had come to deliver food, they were ecstatic.

At Zijing Pass, the soldiers had already gone to bed.

But many couldn't sleep. They were simply too hungry.

Some were also worried about their families.

"On our side, the court at least sent some food, but I heard that no food was sent to the main camp."

"My brother is over there. I don't know if he's okay."

"I worry most about my family. Before, they could rely on the food I sent back through others, but now I can't even fill my own stomach. How could I send food back?"

…

They couldn't help sighing. Suddenly, the sound of gongs and drums came from outside.

Then someone outside shouted, "Get up, get up! We have food! Get up and eat!"

The soldiers who had already gone to bed were stunned, but they quickly got up and ran outside to wait for the meal.

It was already dark, and some soldiers couldn't see the road clearly. Fortunately, bonfires had been lit everywhere, and they quickly got used to it.

Once they adjusted, they smelled the smell of meat and wheat.

"General Jin's daughter found a way to get food and sent it to us! She also sent us meat!"

"Today, eat your fill, everyone. From now on, we won't be short of food!"

"Make sure to thank the Lady!"

…

One after another, shouts of 'Thank the Lady!' rang out at Zijing Pass.

Jin Yanqiu didn't know what had happened at Gubeikou and Zijing Pass.

But the next day, she found that her total Gratitude Points exceeded six hundred thousand!

The Gratitude Points were growing so fast and so much that she could now start helping the nearby civilians. Especially the families of these soldiers—she had to help them.

The common people in this era suffered so much. So, as long as you treated them even a little bit better, they would be grateful and loyal.

Just like in Luoyang, she only treated the tenant farmers on her estate a bit better, and those tenant farmers became fiercely loyal to her.

Jin Yanqiu got out of bed and no sooner had she opened the door than she saw Mu Guang standing at the entrance.

"Lady, you're awake? I've brought you water," he said. He picked up a bucket of hot water and a bucket of cold water nearby, mixed warm water for Jin Yanqiu, so she could wash up.

While Jin Yanqiu was washing up, he left. A short while later, he brought her breakfast.

Jin Yanqiu glanced at it. Breakfast was fried eggs, a stir-fried dish, and a bowl of soup. As for the staple food, since the staples in the military camp were all biscuits she had exchanged, she could exchange for whatever she wanted to eat without needing Mu Guang to prepare it.

"Did you make this again?" Jin Yanqiu asked Mu Guang.

Mu Guang said proudly, "Lady, the cook's food isn't as good as mine."

"I'm not picky, Mu Guang. You are already a general now; you don't have to do these things," Jin Yanqiu sighed.

When she came to the military camp, she didn't bring Xiao Tao with her, so she had no attendants.

Jin Mingtang wanted to find some soldiers' family members nearby to take care of her, but she refused.

In this era, people without training didn't know how to take care of others—she knew that from experience.

When Xiao Tao first came to serve her, she had used a rag that had just been used to wipe the table to wipe her hands.

She preferred to take care of herself; she was very self-sufficient and also a good cook.

But Mu Guang couldn't bear to see her do any work. For the past two days, he had been following her around, doing all the chores that Xiao Tao should have done.

"Lady, I enjoy doing these things!" Mu Guang's eyes burned with fervor. "Lady, you are an immortal. It is my blessing to serve you."

Jin Yanqiu was a bit helpless.

Speaking of which, the camp generals and Jin Mingtang's personal guards were all jealous of Mu Guang just because he got to serve her.

If she were willing, even Su Chen, the military advisor of the Zhenbei Army, would even come to bring her water to wash her feet.

Just as Jin Yanqiu was thinking this, she saw Mu Guang take her washbasin outside, wash his hands with the water from it, and then dump the water by the door.

"What are you doing?" Jin Yanqiu was a little embarrassed seeing Mu Guang wash his hands with her used water.

Mu Guang looked regretfully at the water he'd just poured out and answered, "Lady, this water needs to be thrown away quickly, or someone will try to drink it."

Someone actually wanted to drink it?! Looking at it that way, Mu Guang washing his hands with it was a small thing.

Jin Yanqiu pulled out a kilogram of coarse grain biscuits to eat as her main food.

This kind of biscuit didn't taste very good, but she didn't dare to eat cookies and such every day.

Getting fat was a small worry, but too much sugar causing metabolic issues would be way worse!

Not to mention herself—in the coming days, she would also give the soldiers healthier food so they wouldn't all end up obese.

After a few bites, Jin Yanqiu took out a kilogram of additive-free volcanic rock sausages and told Mu Guang to steam them for her next time he cooked.

In fact, frying them would taste better, but the camp was currently short of oil.

The fried eggs on her plate tasted like sausage, and she suspected the oil used was the one Mu Guang had 'extracted' from the sausages.

Luckily, Mu Guang—who had been with her for years—was a clean person, and she could accept his method of squeezing out oil.

Jin Yanqiu finished her breakfast happily and then looked at Mu Guang: "Mu Guang, today let's take a walk around the camp and check out the people who live nearby."

She was going to spread some kindness!

It was also a chance to see how the border folks were living and use that info to plan ahead.

She hoped that the people under her rule could have enough food and warmth, and live happy lives.