Turbulent Times Chapter 43: Food

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Although Wang Junlin knew that this old Taoist accepted him as an apprentice and taught him the exercises so enthusiastically, he must have ulterior motives, but he still couldn’t help but said excitedly: “Thank you, Master.”

The old Taoist nodded and said: “This is a Dao scroll, and the exercises recorded on it are hard to understand just by reading the words, but if they correspond to this exercise chart, you will know how to practice this exercise. .”

As he spoke, the old Taoist took out a roll of animal skin from his arms and handed it to Wang Junlin, then he stood up suddenly, but he didn’t see him move, his body suddenly floated up and flew out of the window: “Don’t worry, I will not kill you. Good apprentice, we will see you again soon.”

Wang Junlin looked at the old Taoist’s disappearing window with an extremely ugly expression on his face. If it wasn’t for the fact that he still had a scroll of exercises drawn with animal skins in his hand, he almost suspected that what he had just experienced was a dream.

Opening the animal skin the size of an adult’s face in his hand, a human figure sitting cross-legged was drawn with simple lines on it, and some acupuncture points were marked on various parts of the body, some of which Wang Junlin knew, and some acupuncture points he had never heard of before. . And there is a line connecting these acupuncture points, Wang Junlin vaguely understands that this may be the so-called kung fu route.

He studied it for a while, and when he heard movement nearby, he turned his head and saw that Cui Ruxue woke up with sleepy eyes, looked at Wang Junlin and said, “Lang Jun, why are you up?”

Wang Junlin sighed, put away the animal skin casually, pressed it under the head of the bed, and lay down.

…

…

On the second day, at dawn, Wang Junlin went to the post house to have breakfast with his eldest grandson, father and son, and then came to the backyard of his mansion, where there was a stove for making weapons. His steel knife and steel plate armor were forged by him here.

Now he is going to the Western Turks, although Changsun Sheng explained, but Wang Junlin is still worried, so he is going to build another steel crossbow for himself.

He has been preparing and planning for this matter for two months. The blueprints and methods have been thoroughly researched. The steel is left over from Wang Junlin’s forging of steel knives and steel plate armor. Other materials have also been collected. . There are still seven days before he is sent to the Western Turks, which is just enough for him to build a steel crossbow.

The father and son Changsun Sheng and Changsun Wuji locked themselves in the room, facing a map with the location of various tribes in the Western Turks, and a booklet recording the population, army and other information of each tribe, mysteriously. I don’t know what I’m researching.

As for Princess Xinyi, after taking the medicine prescribed by Wang Junlin, she also strictly complied with the three requirements Wang Junlin said.

On the third day, Princess Xinyi called Wang Junlin over again on the pretext of asking Wang Junlin for a follow-up visit.

“Thank you, General, for your kindness in diagnosis and treatment. I’m much better now.” When the two met, Princess Yicheng thanked Wang Junlin face to face, and the girl looked a little shy.

“Your Highness, you are welcome. It is a humble honor to be able to cure Your Highness’s illness.” Wang Junlin lowered his head slightly, not daring to meet Princess Xinyi’s eyes, because he felt something else from Princess Xinyi’s eyes, For example, the emergence of puberty…

“General Wang, I need your help.” After a long silence, Princess Xinyi said suddenly.

Wang Junlin sighed secretly, and said: “I’m afraid that the humble position will not be able to help the princess.”

Princess Xinyi showed a hint of disappointment on her face, but soon this disappointment was replaced by determination, she stared into Wang Junlin’s eyes, and said: “I know that it is a foregone conclusion that I will marry the Western Turks, and no one can change it. Now I just think that after arriving in Western Turkic, I can live a better life, at least I won’t die unexpectedly.”

Wang Junlin was silent for a while, and said: “Unless Her Royal Highness can hold some real power in Western Turkic, and have some Turkic warriors who are absolutely loyal to Her Royal Highness.”

Princess Xinyi’s eyes lit up, and she said, “Please ask General Wang to teach me what I need to do.”

Wang Junlin thought for a while, shook his head and said: “Now there is a national teacher in Western Turkic, named King Boduofa, who is resourceful and cunning. With this person by the side of Yehu Khan, the leader of Western Turkic, His Highness’s chances are too great.” It’s slim.”

Princess Xinyi sighed slightly, and said: “I heard that General Wang has trained five thousand soldiers under his command since he became the guard of Gaotai City. Even the people of Gaotai City know that the general has five thousand soldiers. Now everyone is like a man like a tiger. It can be seen that General Wang has a lot of ambitions, and he is preparing for the future conquest of Turks every moment.”

Wang Junlin sighed secretly in his heart. How could Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, choose the princess to be married to the Western Turks? Come down, and then look for opportunities to do things for Tai Sui.

It’s just that Princess Xinyi doesn’t know that Wang Junlin’s hard training of elite soldiers is not just for people to conquer the Western Turks.

Seeing that Wang Junlin did not answer, Princess Xinyi said, “I want to make an agreement with General Wang.”

Wang Junlin was a little surprised and said, “What agreement?”

Princess Xinyi said: “The general helped me gain a foothold in the Western Turks and gain a certain amount of power as much as possible. As the general said just now, I won the loyalty of a group of Turkic warriors. And I helped the general to make great achievements in the Western Regions and establish invincible achievements. “

Wang Junlin shook his head inwardly. The plan and agreement that Princess Xinyi said had little chance of success. To put it bluntly, it was just that Princess Xinyi wanted to persuade Wang Junlin to help him with all his strength.

Although he thought so in his heart, Wang Junlin did not expose it. Of course, he will not reject or go along with this plan.

Wang Junlin suddenly remembered that noble women in the Sui and Tang dynasties seemed to have unusual power desires.

The closest ones, such as Queen Dugu who is still alive, and the former Queen Yuwenyun of Emperor Xuan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty who are alive and well, and Princess Leping Yang Lihua, the eldest daughter of Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty Yang Jian. These two women possessed extremely powerful power and authority in the Sui Dynasty.

According to the original history, in the Tang Dynasty, Princess Gaoyang and the famous Wu Zetian who once rebelled against each other.

The girl who was only fifteen or sixteen years old in front of her was naturally far from being able to compare with these famous women in history, but Wang Junlin felt a kind of ambition and desire for power from her words.

Recalling the weak and pitiful appearance of the sick Princess Xinyi just the day before yesterday, and seeing the resolute girl who is now recovering from her illness and started planning the West Turkic with great interest. Wang Junlin couldn’t help feeling a lot of emotion in his heart. Could it be that this girl has overcome some fears after marrying a Turkic, such as Turkic poverty, Turkic barbarism, Turkic people make a Han woman feel endless shame, father dies son inherits mother, brother dies brother inherits sister-in-law Tradition.

This era is not only an era in which heroes are born in large numbers, but also an era in which women do not give way to men.

After a long silence, Wang Junlin suddenly said: “Most Turkic people eat meat, but the cooking skills of Turkic people are really poor. After the princess goes down, she will definitely not get used to it. Besides, the princess has just suffered a serious illness and her body is still weak.” Weakness is the time to make up for it. Beizhi knows several ways to cook mutton, so it is better for the princess to taste it today.”

“People often say that a gentleman is far from Bao’s cook, but I never thought that General Wang could cook.” Princess Xinyi looked puzzled, and for a moment she couldn’t figure out why Wang Junlin cooked mutton for her.

Wang Junlin does have superb culinary skills. He was forced out in a foreign country when he was a mercenary in later generations. He is used to eating Chinese food, and he also eats food from other countries and nationalities. It’s okay, but if you eat it every day, it will be a great pain. For this reason, Wang Junlin deliberately spent some energy and time to learn how to cook, and he did it quite well.

Wang Junlin called Rongyue and Xiaoxue to help, and cooked for Princess Xinyi himself, all of which were mutton-based meals.

“Mutton is actually a great tonic. The meat quality is considered delicious among livestock meat. Moreover, mutton is warm in nature and sweet in taste, nourishing qi and nourishing yin, warming the middle and nourishing deficiency, appetizing and fitness; Fear of cold and heat, it is a top nourishing product to nourish Yuanyang and nourish blood, especially for cold and heat invasion, uneven cold and heat, weakness of limbs, and weakness after childbirth. It’s just that foreign savages such as Tuyuhun, Turks, and Khitans don’t know how to do it. Cooking, the mutton often has an unpalatable fishy smell.”

“Princess, let’s have a taste. This dish is called mutton with hands. It is to select the fat and tender sheep, slaughter them on the spot, peel the skin into the pot, and steam it. Because when you eat the meat after cleaning your hands, you hold the meat with one hand and the other with the other. With a knife, cut, dig, pick, and slice, the meat on the bones of the sheep is eaten clean, so it is called “grabbing lamb with hands”.

“The preparation process of this kind of dish is simple and quick. Only a small amount of salt is added. People can’t stop.”

Listening to Wang Junlin’s detailed explanation, Princess Xinyi, who was originally smiling, vaguely understood Wang Junlin’s deep meaning, and listened carefully, and asked He Shanggong and her maid to write down the method carefully.

While she listened carefully to Wang Junlin’s explanation, she also tasted it herself.

“It’s obviously just mutton boiled in boiling water, but how can it taste so delicious? Could it be that the general put a secret recipe in the water.”

Wang Junlin took a half-foot-long piece of agarwood from Xiaoxue’s hand and put it on the table, saying: “You can cook the mutton with the agarwood stick!”

Princess Xinyi took the finger-thick agarwood stick and looked it over, then slightly saluted Wang Junlin, “I’ve made a note of it.”

Wang Junlin was not stingy about his admiration for this sixteen-year-old beautiful girl. He was very pleased that Princess Xinyi understood the deep meaning of making mutton delicacies for her so quickly.

After eating the hand-caught mutton, Wang Junlin pointed to another fragrant dish on the table and continued to explain.