Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 705 Where is the Queen Mother? She is here to declare war!

East of Alemanni, at the edge of a forest, a wisp of smoke rose. Some people gathered around the earthen stove, curiously looking at the people in the middle, busying themselves there.

In the middle of the crowd, Zhu Yunwen directed his men to open a large bag and take out various seasonings from it. Then, he placed an iron pot on the burning stove.

"Add more wood," he ordered. "Karl! Where's Karl? Add the dry wood - you lazy fellow, don't chop it finely. Jacques, get the oil. Hans, tell everyone to line up properly and don't push forward."

Although his mouth was always talking, his hands were also busy, and he was obviously quite skilled. After the flames were strong, he poured oil into the pot, then added the seasonings and ingredients into the pot in an orderly manner, and then grabbed the small spatula at hand and started to stir-fry the vegetables.

Soon, the dish was ready. Jacques brought a wooden plate, put the dish on it, and brought it to the big rock next to him. Meanwhile, Zhu Yunwen looked at the ingredients next to him and frowned.

"Is that all? No more sausages?"

"That sausage is the most precious treasure in their village. You made it so delicious yesterday that they were willing to give it out." Hans held a turnip in one hand and a bag of carrots in the other. "That's all we have today. I've washed them all. How do you think I'll cook them?"

"Well, let's just fry it. There's still some oil in the pan." Zhu Yunwen tapped the spatula and said, "Cut it quickly."

"okay."

Hans walked over, put the turnips and carrots on the chopping board, pulled out the short knife from his waist, and started chopping quickly. He was fast and steady with his knife skills, and soon finished, and poured it into the pot according to Zhu Yunwen's instructions.

After the dish was cooked, Karl helped to turn off the fire, and Zhu Yunwen and others began to clean up the pot. The onlookers also took out their tableware and came over.

"Everyone, line up and don't push." ​​Hans helped to maintain order: "Don't knock on the bowl! Everyone has a share. We can't be like begging at a palace banquet, banging on the bowl randomly."

"Oh oh oh!" Everyone then remembered the settings that had been agreed upon before and immediately became serious.

No one had been to this village before, but the aroma of their cooking quickly attracted the attention of the villagers. The people here had only heard rumors about Daming's recent activities before, but when they saw it in person and found that even their cooking was so advanced, they immediately decided to join in.

They provided Zhu Yunwen and others with ingredients and asked them to help with the cooking. They also accepted the tableware they recommended. After all, these people seemed to be good at cooking, so the matching tools and etiquette they recommended must also make sense.

The villagers here were very poor, and they couldn't even get enough tableware, let alone etiquette. Hans's family was aristocratic, and their situation was better than theirs - of course, according to him, the nobles were not much better, and they also didn't have much tableware.

In his past, he had also attended banquets hosted by great nobles, but even at such occasions, only the richest guests could use decent plates and cups, while others usually just used wooden bowls to hold the porridge. These wooden bowls and cups were often not enough, so everyone had to share and take turns drinking.

Of course, there is another lazy way, which is to use dry bread as a plate. This method is quite popular and can even be seen at the king's banquet. After all, this thing is as hard as a wooden board...

Various knives are common on the dining table, because they are often used in daily life, so everyone will prepare them. As for forks, they can only be seen in Italy, Greece and Asia Minor, the former Eastern Roman Empire. From farmers to kings, everyone uses their hands to grab food, and there is even a set of court etiquette for which finger to use and how to use it to distinguish between nobles and commoners.

In Zhu Yunwen's opinion, this was obviously too shabby. Even if you were begging, at least you had a broken bowl and a pair of chopsticks, right? In theory, pottery bowls were a technology from ancient times, and chopsticks were simply two sticks, with no threshold. I don't know how they could even have this.

People are indeed poor, but they still have to have basic decency and dignity. In this case, instead of trying to solve the tableware problem, they are pondering which finger food is more noble, which is so poor that it is ridiculous.

To this end, he introduced technology from Rome very early, found a suitable place, and fired pottery bowls. In addition, he promoted the use of chopsticks, advocating that everyone should start from the most basic food, clothing, housing and transportation, accept education, and make themselves civilized. This time, they fled in a hurry, so they couldn't bring tableware to distribute to everyone, but chopsticks can be made anywhere. So after arriving here, they quickly taught everyone how to use them.

"Oh, this is a bit embarrassing. I lost the flag I just made, and I can't find the ceremonial objects. But fortunately, I finally got this iron pot." Zhu Yunwen said with emotion: "This thing is not simple. Without it, many dishes will be difficult to cook. In this way, I don't know how to deal with the locals."

"I didn't bring a pot last time, but the soup you made was pretty good. None of the chefs invited to Sigismund's banquet could cook such a delicious soup." Hans said, "Besides, I never thought that there is such a pleasing way to process ordinary ingredients so well. I think this is truly a superb skill."

"That's not my skill. I saw it when I was a kid in Daming." Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but recall: "At that time, grandpa insisted that we eat this kind of soup made from cheap folk ingredients, and we were not allowed to add anything to it. However, everyone actually wanted to eat better, so they all tried to find loopholes in the rules and asked the chef to find ways to improve the taste."

"It was at that time that I learned about these techniques from the royal chef. I didn't expect that I would need them after I came here, so I took the time to restore them using local materials."

"The poor here eat hodgepodge every day. Even the nobles don't have any special dishes to speak of." Hans commented, "You are too modest. You probably don't know how much significance these dishes have here. I suspect that many people who were originally wavering joined because of this."

"Isn't this a helpless thing? When I was in the Qin Empire, I could still accept it; but when I arrived in Paris, I just couldn't get used to the food here. No one in this damn place even makes an iron pot, so I had to buy one at a high price and figure it out myself." Zhu Yunwen said helplessly, "I feel speechless myself. I have come all the way here, but I still can't leave the Ming Dynasty's pot..."

"It's a pity that there are too few ingredients here, otherwise it could be more delicious." He said with some regret: "This place is not considered a poor place in the Alemanni territory. How come there is not even a chicken?"

"The villagers said that the lord brought people here and took away all the poultry and livestock, saying that enemies might be approaching and they had to store food." Hans said, "They should all be hiding in the castle now."

"I guess they are guarding against us." Zhu Yunwen speculated: "However, it is a bit outrageous to only want livestock and not people. If Confucius knew, he would probably be mad..."

"Well, that's how life is here." Hans shrugged.

Although he was still somewhat moved by the extent of the plundering here, after all, he had lived there for many years and Zhu Yunwen was used to it, so he was not too surprised.

"Is that castle solid?" He pondered. "We have nearly a hundred people gathered here now, and we have to think seriously about food and drink. If we can take it down, it will probably ease the situation for a while. We can also build relationships with the villagers, ask them for help, and introduce more people to support our Ming Dynasty..."

"Forget it, it won't work." Hans poured cold water on him directly: "The villagers said that it was a proper stone castle. A place like this, with a castle of this standard, must have a high level of defense. We don't have any equipment on hand, so let's forget it." "Hey, my brother Henry is not here. Otherwise, maybe we can find a way to sneak in and steal some food." He also began to think: "The people here are not very smart, we dare not let them take risks. If there are a few capable veterans, we can even find a way to cooperate inside and outside..."

"Oh, forget it, everyone just do your best." Zhu Yunwen waved his hand, "I am embarrassed to say anything bad about others. My wife wrote to me before, saying that my son only knows how to hang out with other children of noble families every day, playing some weird things like iron forging, and she can't control him. She also said that it is the father's fault if the son is not taught well. I have to find a way to control him, and I can't leave it all to her."

"I was too embarrassed to reply. After all, I was still thinking about cooking at that time, so I felt guilty. I guess they also thought that I was not doing my job properly. If I went to care about him, I'm afraid that others would think that our Zhu family did everything except the main business..."

"So I don't care what skills or interests you have. Even the most thieving and stealing things can be useful."

"Oh." Both of them shook their heads and sighed.

After the meal, Zhu Yunwen took the opportunity to gather the villagers who came to eat, asked them about the situation in the vicinity, and asked them to help contact the missing people.

In the afternoon, they gathered together and prepared to go to the next village along the road they had just explored. In this village, someone was a brother-in-law of the villagers there, so they had already made arrangements, which was very convenient.

When they left, several young people wanted to join. Zhu Yunwen was cautious about this. He told everyone that he had just suffered a loss and was dispersed. In the next period of time, life would not be easy. There might be people chasing him, which was quite dangerous. It didn't seem appropriate to recruit new people.

But the villagers said that after eating some delicious food in the past two days, they found that they were no longer willing to continue eating the previous meals - especially when they thought that the good ingredients were taken away by the lord and even firewood was not allowed to be used casually. Therefore, they decided to fight with the King of Wu, which was better than slowly starving to death here.

Zhu Yunwen himself was also persuaded. In view of the serious loss of officers, he temporarily appointed them all as small flags and asked them to follow him. Then, he set off on his journey.

******
At the same time, the Senate meeting hall in Dadu was in chaos.

The original purpose of the meeting was to discuss the issue of sending troops to support Wu. Both politically and economically, the Ming Dynasty and Wu were very important to Rome, and they did not ask for much support, just to help contain them. Therefore, the senior officials of the Khanate did not have many objections and quickly reached a consensus.

Next, it stands to reason that as long as the scale of the troops and the strategic goals are determined according to the situation on the front line, that will be enough. The Marshal's Office and the Ministry of War will complete the remaining specific matters. However, during the meeting, news suddenly came that the State of Wu had been defeated and the King of Wu was missing.

At first, everyone thought that Sigismund was just bragging. After all, this was not the first time. The Alemanni claimed to have killed a lot of high-ranking Roman officers, and they were fine now.

Bluffing and making the other side misjudge the situation is also a common tactic. If you believe this and suspend the assistance that seems to be too late, you will play into the enemy's hands.

But not long after, the officials and merchants of the Khanate who were active on Wu Fan's side also sent the same news. Due to Wu Fan's current special situation, these people are basically the official diplomatic channels, and it can be confirmed that they have indeed suffered a defeat. The letter of help sent by the Jinyiwei was even earlier than this - in the letter, the Jinyiwei expressed the hope that the Great Qin Kingdom could also send some people to help and find the King of Wu first. After the matter is accomplished, the court will surely thank them.

However, in this case, it might not be as simple as sending out several regiments to attract the attention of the Alemanni. Some radical elders suggested that at least four field legions should be dispatched as in the last time, believing that this would achieve the strategic goal.

However, we just fought a war last year, and according to custom, we need to rest. It is not impossible to strengthen the troops and take the initiative to attack, but there are a lot of things to do, from the transportation of supplies to the reorganization of personnel. In short, it is not so easy to dispatch.

Every year, the court would organize various legions to take turns to rest. Some would be temporarily disbanded, and some would be transferred to the second line for repair. This year, two legions of the field army that can move are already in Egypt, and because of the plague, they cannot move at all. The most troublesome thing is that this is not an ordinary war, and no one knows how long this state will last; there is also a group of veterans who were sent to the Ross region at the beginning of the year to engage in organizational work. These people are also valuable grassroots backbones, and a group of them have been "trapped", which has greatly reduced the number of reserve non-commissioned officers.

The remaining standing armies all have their own tasks, and they have to take the overall situation into consideration when mobilizing them, taking into account the surrounding diplomatic situation and changes in other countries, which makes the situation more complicated. Now Baisai Khan has also gone to Russia for an inspection, which is really a bit unfortunate.

The Queen and Marshal Guo urgently called everyone to a meeting, but before the discussion was over, new explosive news came: King Lasdilao of Naples also died of illness and left no male offspring. Now, the whole of Italy will be in chaos. Many forces have urgently sent people to Dadu to ask Rome to send troops.

At this point, there was nothing more to discuss about whether to recruit soldiers and expand the legion, so they simply gave up and entered a state of war across the country and began mobilizing troops.

However, I still have some concerns about who will announce this order.

Since Toghan Taiji was also in the south, before Baisai Khan went on tour, he routinely asked the war marshal to continue organizing the army's defense and training, and asked the queen to preside over diplomacy and routine elders' meetings. However, for various reasons, both of them wanted to avoid being the first to announce the national military mobilization.

However, this is not difficult. After a brief discussion, the participating pillars and elders rushed out of the conference hall and rushed to the "Mary of Mongolia" monastery.

Prime Minister Bu finished a short formal document on the way. Everyone took turns signing at the door and asked the queen to pass it over. Not long after, the surprised queen mother ran out holding her daughter-in-law in one hand and the paper in the other.

"What happened? Why did you suddenly come to me?"

"Queen Mother, this time, we have to declare war on the enemy." Everyone explained: "The Khan is not here, you will be responsible for officially reading it to the Senate and citizens."

"Are we going to enter a state of war?" The Queen Mother hesitated and said, "Let me see, who are you going to summon?"

"It's on the paper at the back." Prime Minister Bu reminded.

"Hey? Where's this one?" The Queen Mother looked at the note attached to the back and asked, "Which one do you want to announce?"

"It's all announced, it's all announced!" everyone said happily.

"what?"

(End of this chapter)