Chapter 056 Each person has half a pound of meat every day, and the steamed buns are enough

Xu Xingxia said without hesitation: "I will find a way to deal with the food issue. As long as the Tartars arrive, we will take out the Tartars' military achievements to buy food, which is enough. Thirty taels of silver can cost thousands of kilograms of grain, which should be able to last for a period of time. By the way, I heard that it is said that the internal purchase and sale of grain is much cheaper than on the market, isn't it true?"

Yu Lijun looked around, his expression was a little strange, and he lowered his voice and said, "Sir, don't listen to them talking nonsense, this is all fake."

Xu Xingxia frowned and said, "Fake it? How do you say it?"

Yu Lijun said in a bitter tone: "Actually, the grain stored in the institute has been sold to the market for money. Now, all the grain stored in the institute is collected, and many of them are moldy and black. If you want to buy grain from the institute, what you get must be these grains that cannot be eaten at all. The same is true for Weili and the grain warehouses in the town."

"Of course there are some good grains, but they are all used to deal with inspections and are impossible to sell. Even if they are sold, the price will definitely be more expensive than outside. It is completely impossible to expect them to lower the price. Therefore, if adults want to buy grain, they should buy it from the market. There are grain merchants in Ningxia Town, and they will not be short of food."

"And it's better not to reveal the news about buying grain, otherwise the superiors will send someone to come to you and ask you to buy old grain from them. At that time, you will be in a dilemma. If you buy it, you will lose. If you don't buy it, you will offend your boss again. Deputy Qianhu Zhang's best skill is this. I don't know how many people suffer secretly."

Xu Xingxia frowned. The rot inside the ward was hopeless. In the past, he only occasionally heard that weapons and equipment had been replaced, the good were sold to others, and the bad were left to himself. Unexpectedly, even grain was the same. It seemed that he really needed to avoid these disgusting people. It wasn't because he was afraid of them, but he really didn't want to deal with them. He said slowly: "Apart from grain merchants, are there any other channels to buy grain?"

Yu Lijun shook his head and said, "I only know that they are selling food, and I am not very clear about everything else. I guess if the weapons and equipment are transferred to us, if they are to be transferred, the ones sent to us will definitely be unusable junk."

Xu Xingxia nodded and said nothing more. He had just cleaned up a large number of junk goods mentioned by Yu Lijun, including swords, spears, halberds, muskets, tiger squat cannons, etc. These weapons and equipment have one common feature, that is, they cannot be used. The only function of placing them on the Niujiao Pier is to decorate and occupy space.

There is no need to understand the darkness inside the army in the late Ming Dynasty. Basically, this is a bad army, and everything from head to toe. Even if one or two troops are more capable of fighting, it cannot change the overall situation of frustration. It seems that as the boss of Niujiaodun, he still has to find a way to do something about weapons and equipment.

In fact, the problem of grain is easy to solve, but it is difficult to solve. The most important thing is to depend on the attitude of the superior. Ningxia Town has some grain, and as long as there is silver, you can buy grain. Compared with other military towns, this is the biggest advantage of Ningxia Town. If there is poverty in Yansui Town and Gansu Town, it would be bad. Even if there is money, you can’t buy supplies, or you need to buy supplies at a price several times higher than others.

Xu Xingxia did not need his superior to allocate additional money. As long as his superiors could convert all his military merits into silver in time, he would not have to worry about food. Ningxia Plain was originally a grain-producing area, and as long as there were no major changes, the price of food could not be much higher. The price of food during the Chongzhen period was only three or four taels of silver per stone.

It should be noted that this grain price refers to the price of coarse grains, that is, the price of corn (including millet, kezi, sticky rice, etc., which is not the corn mentioned by Guangdong people), which is completely different from white rice and white flour. The price of corn per stone may only cost three or four taels of silver, but the price of white rice and white flour must at least double, or even more than three times that of coarse grains.

In this day and age, white rice and white flour are only eaten by wealthy families. The main grain of ordinary families is still corn. The Xu Xingxia family is developed and the staple food is also corn. It is impossible to eat white rice and white flour every day. Even in the emperor's recipe, corn rice must be prepared for every meal. As for whether to eat it or not, that is another matter.

The body of a Tartar is worth 30 taels of silver, and you can buy ten stones of coarse grain, which is about 1,800 kilograms. According to the calculation that each person consumes two kilograms of coarse grain per day, forty people in Niujiao Dun can also last for more than twenty days. Xu Xingxia believes that there is no problem to kill a Tartar in a month, unless the Tartars will no longer hinder Ningxia Town. Obviously, this is impossible. In other words, there is no need to worry about the issue of military achievements.

However, if Niujiaoduan kills the Tartars but the superiors do not exchange it for silver, trouble will arise. Once the military achievements cannot be fulfilled, Xu Xingxia will have no source of silver for the time being. It will take at least one year for raw silk to appear. Will this happen? Of course, it is possible. Perhaps the superiors think that Niujiaoduan is too popular and jealous, and refuses to give so many rewards. Or, the superiors have no money to reward.

However, if this happens, Xu Xingxia doesn't need to worry. At that time, the soldiers below are probably not far from rebellion. If they fight to kill the Tartars, they won't get the rewards, and it will be strange if they can't rebel. It's 100% certain that if they have the courage to kill the Tartars, they will definitely have the courage to rebel.

At that time, if Xu Xingxia incites a little, someone will definitely jump out to rebel. Just kill a few high-ranking officials and confiscate a few rich families, and the money will come. As for food, they will just be searched directly from the homes of wealthy families. After all, the same thing is still the case. Those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes, who are afraid of whom? If you are not afraid of us rebelling, you can seize our military achievements and not make any contributions? Let’s see what consequences will be!

While talking, the two had already returned from outside and went up the stairs to the third floor. There were only four of them living on the third floor, and the area was relatively empty. As officers, they didn’t need to sleep in the big bunk bed. Each of them had their own room. The third time there were six rooms, three on the north and south sides. These rooms were quite large in area, probably the size of a standard room in a five-star hotel in later generations. Of course, there was no furniture inside. Niujiao Dun was not his own home after all, and no one would bring too much stuff over.

The floor wooden boards on the third floor were originally very dirty. After cleaning, they looked much cleaner than before. There was also an Eight Immortals table in the middle of the third floor, which looked relatively new. There were four long benches around the Eight Immortals table. On the Eight Immortals table, there were a large white teapot and several white tea cups next to it. This Eight Immortals table is the tool for officers to hold meetings. Basically, it is also the entire ox horn pier, the most solid furniture, heavy, and it seems to be made of the best nanmu.

"Hundred Houses."

"Mr.

Zhang Quanfu and Gao Meng were packing their own things. When they saw the two of them coming up, they hurriedly stood at attention and saluted. Zhang Quanfu took the initiative to pour tea for them and asked them to sit down.

Xu Xingxia waved his hand and asked Gao Meng and Zhang Quanfu to sit down, picked up a cup of coarse tea, and sipped it all. Of course, Niujiaoduan would not have any good tea, they were all vernal equinox tea picked by the military households themselves. The so-called vernal equinox tea is to go to Helan Mountain to pick the buds of various plants every year during the vernal equinox, and come back to dry it to make tea. Such coarse tea has no other taste, it is strong enough to refresh and durable, and can be brewed several times.

After a cup of rough tea, Xu Xingxia felt his mouth bitter and his spirits really got up. He put down the teacup, licked his lips that were even bitterer than eating Coptis chinensis, gestured to ask the three of them to sit down, and sat down himself, and said calmly: "From the future, we four of us will work together, please support us."

The three of them hurriedly expressed their full support. Following Xu Xingxia to kill the Tartars was of great benefit. Of course, they supported them from the bottom of their hearts. Nothing was more tempting than real interests. This was completely different from supporting Chen Hai. In the past, they supported Chen Hai because of the restrictions of military regulations, and they were reluctant to do so, but what Xu Xingxia gave them was visible and tangible benefits.

Xu Xingxia nodded and said bluntly: "I won't say anything extra. I believe that everyone will follow me sincerely, kill the Tartars together, make merits together, and receive rewards together. From tomorrow, the army will start training. My training intensity may be relatively high, and everyone must be full. Therefore, three meals a day, steamed buns and rice must be enough, and some meat must be added in the middle."

When he heard about eating meat, Gao Meng's eyes lit up. His biggest wish was probably to have a good meal of braised pork. Unfortunately, it was impossible in Niujiaoduan. In the past ten years, Niujiaoduan had no meat. There is no way, who would be willing to pay for meat? So a little money is not enough to buy coarse grains!

Yu Lijun said a little worriedly: "Master Baihu, my subordinates are bold and blunt. You know, everyone is quite fierce when eating meat. With Niujiao Dun's current ability, it is quite good to ensure that steamed buns and rice are full."

Gao Meng immediately licked his lips consciously. It seems that there is no hope of eating meat. There is no way, they don’t know where to eat meat? Unless they pay for it themselves, it’s meaningless if they pay for it themselves. Then it’s better to go home and eat with their family.

Xu Xingxia nodded and said slowly: "I know that everyone wants to eat meat very much. It is definitely okay to eat half a pound of a meal. It is indeed very expensive. However, the training intensity is high. Without meat, that is definitely not possible. If I think about it this way, beef, lamb, and pork are too expensive, so we really can't afford it. Horse meat is a little cheaper, so we eat horse meat. We are not many people, and we spend five cents of silver every day to buy horse meat. In fact, at the beginning, everyone may be more aggressive in eating meat and eat a lot of food. In the future, it will definitely decrease slowly."

Yu Lijun calculated carefully and nodded silently. Horse meat usually costs only twenty or thirty cents per pound or five cents of silver, and you can buy more than ten pounds. Niujiaoduan, one pound of meat per person every day. It seems that this meal is acceptable. After pondering for a while, Yu Lijun said cautiously: "What if the number of people increases in the future?"

Xu Xingxia said calmly: "It doesn't matter. No matter how many people there are, our food standards will remain basically unchanged. You can master the specific data. I estimate that in three months, the food standards will be set at half a kilogram of meat per person per day, and steamed buns and rice will be enough, so it should be almost done."

After Yu Lijun calculated carefully, he was obviously a little hesitant. The numbers are beautiful, but it is difficult to realize them. Why? There is no cash! Niujiaoduan has nothing but 300 kilograms of coarse grains! Even if you are on credit, it is impossible to credit every day. The boss who sells meat is not a fool. If you don’t have cash, others won’t pay attention to you.

Xu Xingxia took out a small cloth bag from her arms, put it in the middle of the Eight Immortals table, and said calmly: "This is one hundred taels of silver. You can take it first and prepare all expenses. When you kill the Tartars in the future and get the reward, everyone will think of a way to make up for this number. Maybe it's okay if you don't make up, just treat it as a meal I'll treat you to a few months."

Yu Lijun hurriedly said, "If you don't make up for it, how can you do it?"

Zhang Quanfu and Gao Meng also stood up quickly and repeatedly expressed that they could not do so.

Xu Xingxia glanced across the faces of the three of them and said gently: "I'm not short of money now."

Yu Lijun hesitated for a moment, looked at Gao Meng and Zhang Quanfu, and finally took the silver liang. Yes, Xu Xingxia is indeed not short of money now. The reward for each Tartar is thirty taels of silver. He killed more than thirty taels of silver in total, and the silver he received was more than 1,000 taels. Such a wealth can be regarded as a number of families even in the Thousand Household Institute.

What is even more enviable is that if there are still Tartars in the future, the one who gets the most military merits will definitely be Xu Xingxia. With his archery skills, as long as he is not killed by Tartars, he will get twenty or thirty Tartars' heads in one battle, which is not a problem at all. In other words, even if he fights, he can get hundreds of taels of silver. With such income, he took the initiative to take out 100 taels of silver as a backup, which is not difficult at all.
Chapter completed!