Chapter 117
Chapter 117
Ye Qi led his men in carrying all the potatoes and tomatoes into the kitchen.
Xiao Che ordered them not to alert the Persians. These crops clearly could not grow in the current season.
If the travelers learned the truth, it would only bring trouble. For the moment, Xiao Che had no intention of becoming involved with Persia.
But once the produce arrived in the kitchen, no one knew how to prepare it.
The problem left Li Chunhua’s Auxiliary Squad One utterly stumped.
Li Chunhua went to find Xiao Che.
“Valley Master, none of us have ever seen the things you sent to the kitchen. We don’t know where to begin. Please give us some guidance.”
How could Xiao Che know? In the end, Jin Bao had to visit the kitchen.
She might not know how to cook, but she could explain.
Besides, potatoes were delicious however they were prepared. They merely had to be cooked through.
“Auntie Chunhua, the red one is called a tomato. Cut it into little pieces with a knife. It’s best cooked with eggies.
“And the yellow one is a potato. Potatoes taste yummy no matter how you make them. You can boil them, peel them and cut them into strips or slices to stir-fry, roast them in the fire, or fry them in oil to make french fries.
“Baby loves french fries the most, especially with ketchup.”
Jin Bao rattled off a long explanation, but to ancient women who had never encountered either food, it might as well have been an incomprehensible scripture.
In the end, they could only prepare the two foods according to their own understanding.
They remembered just two words: cook thoroughly.
Li Chunhua had people peel the potatoes and try every method Jin Bao mentioned: stir-fried, boiled, roasted, cut into strips, cut into chunks, and left whole.
While cleaning the kitchen, Li Chunhua’s group had actually found eggs, though there were only a dozen or so.
Following Jin Bao’s instructions, she prepared a separate dish of tomatoes and scrambled eggs for her, served with rice. The red juices soaked into the white rice, making it look exceptionally appetizing.
Li Chunhua led her people in carrying all the food to the western side courtyard.
The room was packed with people.
Li Chunhua’s helpers and several Shadow Guards stood inside, all staring at the large bowls of food on the low table over the heated brick bed.
When it came to judging whether something tasted good, Jin Bao was naturally the greatest authority.
Xiao Che had her taste each dish in turn.
Jin Bao’s favorite remained the tomatoes and scrambled eggs.
But she loved the others as well. The only thing missing was her favorite french fries. Conditions here were too crude, and frying them would require a great deal of oil. Oil was a rare luxury for them, and no one could bear to use it for frying food.
After Jin Bao tasted everything, Xiao Che began trying the dishes one by one.
With every bite, his eyes widened in delight.
To him, these foods were life-saving grain.
“All of you, come taste this. These potatoes are truly delicious.”
Xiao Che decided to take back what he had thought before. Tomatoes could serve only as fruit, and with all their juice, they would certainly spoil quickly. Potatoes were far superior.
They looked as though they would keep for a long time.
More importantly, potatoes truly could serve as both staple food and vegetable.
Their yield per mu was astonishing. If they cultivated them everywhere, feeding so many refugees should not be a problem.
“They’re delicious! They’re soft and fluffy with a hint of sweetness, much better than mixed grains.”
“I’ve never eaten anything so good. Is this really called a potato?”
After tasting them, everyone was conquered by the potatoes’ flavor. They were incomparably better than the coarse grain that scraped their throats.
They were also filling. Half a bowl was enough to satisfy the stomach.
This was exactly the food they needed most.
Xiao Che dismissed everyone from the room.
Then he looked at Jin Bao. His expression was excited, though he tried hard to remain calm.
“Daughter, is it easy to save potatoes for seed?”
How could Jin Bao know? But to her, the seed variety did not matter. She could force anything to grow and produce an astonishing yield per mu.
More importantly, she could select the finest seeds.
“Daddy, Baby doesn’t know either. But Baby can find the best ones. From the potatoes Uncle Seven and the others brought back, you can choose the biggest ones and save them as seeds.”
Xiao Che could no longer sit still. This concerned their future livelihood.
He immediately found Ye Qi and ordered him to have his men select the largest potatoes from the recent harvest and store all of them as seed.
With these excellent seed potatoes planted after they returned to Black Pine Valley, they could solve most of their food problem.
“Valley Master, something’s wrong! The refugees outside are charging us. We can barely hold them back.”
Squad Two, led by Ye Ba, had taken over the guard shift and was stationed at the entrance to Blackwind Fort.
Because Blackwind Fort had fallen into disrepair, the walls contained gaps in many places, making it easy for refugees to enter.
Xiao Che had assumed they would leave after looting the Persians’ wagons. He had not expected them to gather here anyway. If they behaved, he did not intend to make trouble for them. But if they dared riot, he could only suppress them by force.
Xiao Che immediately led all the Shadow Guards to Blackwind Fort’s entrance.
The two sides were locked in fierce combat.
Ye Ba’s Squad Two contained one hundred people, all carrying weapons.
Dozens of refugees had already been killed or wounded, but they continued charging in wave after wave. The weakest part of the line was on the verge of collapse, and a breach could open at any moment.
Xiao Che’s expression remained composed. With a wave of his hand, he ordered, “Suppress these refugees until they stop causing trouble and agree to negotiate with us.”
Several Shadow Guards acknowledged the order and rushed toward the fiercest fighting.
Against unarmed refugees, the Shadow Guards cut as effortlessly as sharp knives through cabbage, their blades rising and falling.
In less than fifteen minutes, one hundred refugees had died beneath their swords. Hoping kindness would calm the mob was nothing but a fool’s dream. Only the sight of blood could frighten them and make them retreat before the danger.
Sure enough, the refugees behind them no longer dared charge. Only then did Xiao Che step forward to take control of the situation.
“Friends, I understand your difficulties. The imperial court is in chaos, and you have suffered a snow disaster that left you homeless.
“I am Xiao Che, Valley Master of Black Pine Valley. I am willing to offer you shelter.
“Anyone willing to follow me may enter Blackwind Fort and take refuge from the snow and wind. Those unwilling must leave on their own and cause no further trouble. Otherwise, I will not spare you. These corpses show what awaits you.”
Xiao Che’s words silenced every refugee.
“We’re willing to follow you. Can you feed us?”
One refugee was so cold that he could barely speak. Only after trembling for a long time did he manage to ask the question.
Xiao Che nodded. “For now, I can guarantee you will not starve to death. But you must work with your own hands. Black Pine Valley supports no idlers. Any hardworking person in our valley will never go hungry.”
The refugees had originally been simple, honest farmers, the most hardworking people on the soil of the Northern Frontier.
Xiao Che asked only that they rely on the very quality that had always sustained them. As long as they had food and would not starve or freeze to death, hard work meant nothing to them.
Through armed suppression followed by peaceful negotiation, Xiao Che ended the refugee riot.
He successfully absorbed more than six hundred additional people.
His force had now expanded to two thousand. Remaining at Blackwind Fort would be difficult, so he needed to send a group to Black Pine Valley immediately and begin extracting the iron as soon as possible.
Thinking of the operation that night, Xiao Che formed a plan. Once they seized the town’s grain stores, they would immediately send the food back to Black Pine Valley.
What Xiao Che did not know was that Lu Dachang was leading men toward his location.
At the same time, Xie Chengyan had received news of Jin Bao’s whereabouts. He had sent people to search the Northern Frontier for half a month, but their only reports had said that the Garrison was abandoned and no exiles remained.
Now that he had finally obtained a lead on Jin Bao, Xie Chengyan also set out for Blackwind Fort with the men the Emperor had given him.