Just as Zhang Xiaobao had guessed, two days later, when the procession passed by another village, the villagers came to deliver things, including a gift for the emperor.
Two hens, which were still laying eggs, were held in the hands of the villagers and were cooing.
Compared to the gifts given to Zhang Xiaobao and his family, the number of gifts was much less. It should be because the villagers felt that the emperor could not eat too much, so the emperor ate better food than the ones given to him. Unlike Xiao Bao and Cuckoo, the emperor was thrifty and used the money he saved to give to the people.
Regarding this, Li Longji was quite satisfied. It was a little less, but it could be considered an improvement. It was better than nothing.
He happily returned a bolt of silk to the villagers, which was worth enough to buy a hundred hens. He ordered someone to bring two hens and called for Zhang Xiaobao. He said to Zhang Xiaobao, "Xiao Bao, then go. I want to eat chicken stewed with mushrooms tonight. Add more potatoes."
"This is a hen, not a chicken. It's okay to give it to my mother. It's good for her body." Zhang Xiaobao corrected him.
"It's a small hen. Haven't you seen a bigger hen?" Li Longji stared at him.
"I have. Okay, I'll cook. Don't blame me if you eat too much. The potatoes are not good potatoes. They have already sprouted. I originally planned to give them to people who need them. I'll dig up the place where they sprouted and find a nearby village to plant them. The rest of the place is for eating."
Zhang Xiaobao took the two hens, who did not know what kind of fate they would face. After leaving these words, he turned around and cleaned up. In his heart, he was cursing. Eating chicken stewed with mushrooms on such a hot day, this is a northeastern dish, okay? Eating it in the winter is to nourish the body. If I put a ginseng in it, it will make your nose bleed.
Li Longji was very knowledgeable. He called out to Zhang Xiaobao's departing figure, "Don't put anything else in it for me. I believe in your skills. I believe that the taste of the potatoes will not be bad."
'Torment me? Go ahead and torment me.' Zhang Xiaobao continued to curse in his heart.
Sprouted potatoes were not easy to cook. There was not enough flour, and the hens needed to be stewed for a long time. He could not put the potatoes together with the hens. Otherwise, the potatoes would be gone. Zhang Xiaobao could only increase the process. First, he steamed the potatoes. When the hens were almost cooked, he put the potatoes in.
Hens were oily, and when cleaning them, they had to remove the oily parts. Normally, when eating in the Northeast, they would eat oily meat, just like how Russians liked to eat butter to resist the cold.
During dinner, Li Longji invited Empress Wang, Wu Huifei, and the eleven children to taste the fruits of his victory.
When Xiao Bei saw the stew, she looked at the cool clothes she was wearing. Her eyes widened and she turned her head to look for her brother. What she meant was, 'Brother, what are you trying to do?' Eat his sister to death?
Pan 'er and her brother smelled the strong aroma. It was so strong that they felt disgusted. They also tried their best to hide back. Their eyes were filled with fear.
Fortunately, Zhang Xiaobao was well-prepared. Other than a large pot of stewed chicken, the rest were cold plates. There were also wild vegetables that he asked people to dig up. He blanched them and dipped them in bean sauce to balance the chicken.
When Li Longji saw the vegetables, he also found it difficult to swallow. After hesitating for a moment, he still picked up a piece of meat and said, "Eat, it's good food. Eat all of it."
After eating a mouthful, he did not want to eat a second mouthful. It was already hot and stuffy, so eating big mouthfuls of meat was a test for people.
After taking another bite of the potatoes, Li Longji saw that the other people did not touch the meat in their plates. He muttered to himself, "Usually, the people here can't eat pine mushrooms, right? Why don't we share it with the people and send it over? "
They did not eat much of the food in the pot. Moreover, not everyone reached out their chopsticks at the same time. They did not salivate, so it was reasonable for the emperor to give it to them.
"Take it away and send it to the back. I'll cook two more dishes." Zhang Xiaobao already knew that the people could not eat, and they usually did not lack meat.
"No need. The cold dishes are the same. The main dishes you prepared are …" Li Longji did not want to continue tormenting Zhang Xiaobao, so he looked at the cold plates on the table and asked for the main dishes.
"Noodles with water, or rice with water?" Zhang Xiaobao asked. Without waiting for the others to answer, he immediately ordered people to prepare.
Soon, the rice with water was served. Only then did the little guys start to eat.
When the people were eating, the bodyguards and other people also took turns to eat and rest.
When the stewed food was sent to the people, it was not cold yet. The people were not giving it away, but taking the opportunity to repair the road.
The road Li Longji walked on was a simple road built by the construction team in front. The quality was not up to standard. When the main team passed by, the road behind them was trampled until it was uneven. Some of the teams at the back were in charge of filling the holes.
The people were also helping at the back. They found stones to press down the road. Even if it was a simple road, they could not build it themselves. Now that the road was solid, they were not afraid even if it was raining. At most, they would just fill in some places with stones.
In the future, even if the others did not build the road for them, they could always use it themselves.
Under the premise that they did not need to use the national treasury and the money of the local people, it was not a bad thing for the emperor to go on an inspection tour.
*****
After dinner, Zhang Xiaobao, who was guarding the ice basin and planning to discuss matters with Wang Juan, received a message from Hangzhou.
It was a message from his mother, the Jang Wong Clan. The message seemed ordinary. It only asked about the children's journey and how their father was doing.
However, Zhang Xiaobao understood what his mother was trying to say when he read the last part of the message. The last sentence was that when they arrived at Lu Zhou, he should help them greet the people of Lu Zhou. It would be best if he could draw the scenery and bring it back to look at.
"Wife, I have something to tell you," Zhang Xiaobao put down the message and said to Wang Juan who was looking at him.
Wang Juan did not listen to Zhang Xiaobao. She snatched the paper and quickly skimmed through it. Then, she said, "You don't have to say anything. My mother and your mother want to go to Lu Zhou. If they want to go, just go. Why do you have to ask? Who can control them?"
"I guess they're afraid of affecting us. Apart from parents who abuse their children and even kill them, all parents in the world are the same. I don't mean if they want to go or not. I mean how they want to go."
Zhang Xiaobao tapped his face with his finger.
Wang Juan had not seen Zhang Xiaobao do this for a long time. Only when he was scheming against others would Zhang Xiaobao do this habitual action.
"What are you trying to do? Our mothers are going to Lu Zhou. Are you going to scheme against them too? "
"I'm not scheming against them. I'm scheming against others. Think about it. Our mother can't travel by land like us. She has to take a boat. It's faster and more stable than the current road conditions. However …"
Wang Juan did not give Zhang Xiaobao a chance to show off. She asked directly, "Don't just come and go like that. If you have something to say, say it. Let's take a boat. What are you going to do?"
Zhang Xiaobao choked on his words. He cleared his throat and said, "I'm not going to use them. I'm going to protect them. Our mother and the others are going to take a boat. No matter how stable it is, there's a possibility that something might go wrong. I won't be at ease if I don't send someone to protect them."
Wang Juan did not say anything. She lowered her head and continued reading the information on the paper. She seemed to be studying her mother-in-law's ability to organize her words. At the very least, she was better than her mother. If her mother was the one who told her the news, she would have directly mentioned Lu Zhou. She would not have been tactful enough.
Zhang Xiaobao waited for a while. When he saw Wang Juan was not cooperating with him, he had no choice but to continue, "Speaking of protection, how can I just tell you how many people I'm going to send? It doesn't make a difference whether I tell you or not, right?"
Wang Juan read the information again.
Zhang Xiaobao said, "So, I've come up with an idea. Take a guess."
"What a bad idea. Are you going to tell me or not? If you're not going to tell me, I'm going to sleep. I'm sleepy." Wang Juan yawned.
"My idea is to send a group of people from other places. Take a guess … Forget it, there's no need for you to guess. I'm going to ask Lu Zhou to deploy a fleet of gunboats to meet them.
Our mother can't go to Lu Zhou empty-handed. We should prepare more gifts, such as rice and noodles from other places and other local specialties. Therefore, a large number of resources have to be gathered at Jiangnan's east as soon as possible. Our logistics department has to be mobilized as well.
We have to be fast. Otherwise, by the time we reach Lu Zhou, my mother and your mother will still be in Hangzhou. We might as well not go there, right? "
When Zhang Xiaobao saw that Wang Juan did not have a tacit understanding with him, or rather, she knew him too well, he could only think of ways to attract her with his words. He wanted to show his cleverness in front of his wife.
Wang Juan finally played along. She asked, "Is there anything else?"
"Yes." Zhang Xiaobao nodded happily. "Lu Zhou, I think we need things from Gyeongji Province, Lingnan Province, and northern Hebei Province the most. It'll take too long to transport from the other two places. Northern Hebei Province is directly connected to the sea. What do you think of transporting things from there?"
Zhang Xiaobao acted as though he was concerned about Lu Zhou as he asked for his opinion.
Wang Juan and Weiwei smiled. "Alright. What do you think we can give them in the northeast? Ginseng? Mink fur? Woola grass? Deer antler? Are you worried that Lu Zhou's people will be cold? The cold wind in summer is bone-chilling. Should we send them tonics? Why don't you make chicken stew with mushrooms for them? I'm sure they'll be very happy. "
"Uh!" Zhang Xiaobao was surprised. "They'll be happy. After all, I made it myself. You said not to send them anything for the time being. There are hazelnuts and pine nuts in the northeast. We picked a lot of them last year. Although it's not the season yet, we can send people to pick them up. Maybe we'll be surprised.
The local people are busy now, and it's not good to ask them to work. Let's send the army. The local army has been training. What do you think of transferring troops from You Province in the southern part of Hebei Province?
What do you think? Gather some large transport ships in Henan Province and prepare some goods. When the time comes, we can ship them together. Maybe we can earn back the money we spent. Also, tell the Japanese that we won't borrow the steam engine armed ships we rented to them for the time being. They can help protect the transport team at sea. What do you think? "
Wang Juan finally heard something wrong in Zhang Xiaobao's words. She asked in surprise, "Do you really plan to do that? Do you want to transfer tens of thousands of soldiers from Tubo's army to Henan Province, which is Shandong Province, and say that it's a cross-regional joint training exercise? "
"Don't do that. I really plan to help mother travel and give Lu Zhou some benefits. Don't get me wrong," Zhang Xiaobao said seriously.
"I don't believe you. I didn't get you wrong, but you want to make others misunderstand. You want to kill two birds with one stone, don't you? No wonder you did that little trick just now. It turns out that you want to take advantage of our mother's trip. If my mother knows about it, she'll definitely hate you. What kind of son-in-law are you talking about? "
Wang Juan rolled her eyes at Zhang Xiaobao.
"Where can you find a son-in-law like me? Don't be in a hurry to criticize me. Help me perfect it. Come on, when you go to bed later, I'll tell you the story of the wolf and the lamb. "
Zhang Xiaobao said without blushing.
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