The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 49 Cloud Food Tour

...This vast land has some of the most dramatic natural landscapes in the world: plateaus, mountains, rivers, lakes, coastlines. No other country has such a potential diversity of food.

In line with thousands of years of long-standing civilization, countless local delicacies have been born here.

For the descendants who grew up on this land, these delicacies are a kind of homesickness, a kind of gustatory longing; they are the source of strength for countless descendants to live bravely and fight one after another...

...Excerpt from Hu Biao's diary collection "Hu Shuo"...

Who the hell said the Nationalist army's logistics department was inefficient and good at slacking off? That's entirely because the benefits were insufficient. As long as the benefits were large enough, their efficiency would be terrifyingly high.

Hu Biao originally thought that the transaction with Director Sun would not be completed until tomorrow at the earliest.

It was more than six hours since I went to the division headquarters to find him in the morning and left a sample, and he came to me in person.

What Hu Biao saw at this moment was that Director Sun and several others were galloping over on war horses in broad daylight.

Good fellow! They didn't even care about the danger of being spotted by the Japanese artillery reconnaissance hot air balloon and thus attracting artillery fire, and took the risk to come to the third company.

There is no doubt that he must have asked someone to conduct some experiments to confirm the efficacy of penicillin.

After the meeting, Director Sun was very enthusiastic and even brought two boxes of Uncle Sam's canned beef as a gift.

After some pleasantries, Hu Biao handed over a list.

This list was made by Hu Biao after he returned from the brigade headquarters. He took advantage of the lunch break to discuss with several other time travelers and came up with it based on some tactics.

The content is as follows:

Two Type 20 heavy machine guns, four Czech light machine guns, and submachine guns; the submachine guns should preferably be imported originals, otherwise they can be domestically imitated.

There are 60 rifles, 50 of which are Hanyang-made.

But the remaining 10 must be original German 1924 Mauser rifles, and preferably new ones.

20 Mauser pistols, preferably the 20-shot type; 800 wooden-handled grenades, either produced by Jinling Arsenal or Gongxian Arsenal.

A total of 7.92 bullets of various calibers are required to support the above firearms, of which must be mm caliber steel core bullets.

There are also 200 cans of Uncle Sam's.

A radio station, a frequency and code book capable of communicating with Director Sun, 200 kg of explosives, 50 liters of gasoline, and a telescope.

Frankly speaking, the above list is quite long, but Hu Biao and his team still feel it is not enough.

There are still too many weapons, equipment and supplies to write on the list.

Unfortunately, they only had so many medicines and could not sell them all, so they had to keep some for their own use; therefore, no matter how valuable the materials used for trading were, their quantity was quite limited.

Even with the numbers on the list before them, they were still a little worried that Director Sun might not make enough money and would deduct the amount on the list.

So when the other party was looking at the list, Hu Biao added, "Director Sun.

The amount of penicillin we provided is a little less, but isn't this our first collaboration? As long as the cooperation goes smoothly, we can naturally increase the amount next time."

Anyway, the main thing is to fool Director Sun first, and then deal with these parasites behind them.

If you want to cause trouble later, you have to make sure these people are alive.

"Of course, Captain Hu, just wait. I'll get everything ready for you as soon as possible. I'll also see how strong we are."

Director Sun said this with an understanding look on his face.

Later, the two parties agreed that Director Sun would deliver all the supplies on the list to the door before dawn tomorrow.

By the way, Hu Biao and his team handed over the remaining pearls and penicillin to the other party, completing the transaction.

After watching the other party leave, Hu Biao and others carried two boxes of canned beef back to the temporary shooting range.

After he felt confident, he shouted loudly: "Except for the people in the kitchen team, everyone else continues training. Each person can fire five more bullets today.

Practice hard, and I'll treat you to canned beef tonight."

As soon as the voice fell, there was thunderous cheers...

******
Two cartons of canned beef sounded like a lot, but it was still not enough for the 100 or so people in the Third Company to have a quick meal after they had their fill. Fortunately, the average person these days really has a very low expectation and perception of what a good meal is.

The kitchen staff put all the canned food into the pot, and then cooked a full pot with more cabbage, radish, etc.

So this stew full of oil and water, with enough brown rice, was definitely a rare feast for everyone in the third company.

Under the golden sunset, everyone brought their dinner, which consisted of a large spoonful of stew on top of brown rice with soup, and started eating.

The expressions on the faces of everyone in the third company were so unified at this moment, three words: It smells so good!
The six new time travelers, including AT, Black Star, Chaozi, Huang A'di, Dachui, and Uncle Bo, all had the same reaction.

They don't even have to wait for a few days. After just a few meals without having enough, they can already accept the bland meals that lack oil and salt these days.

If there must be something about today's dinner that made the Sichuan Army soldiers of the Third Company feel dissatisfied.

That is, under limited conditions, the food is not at all the same taste as in their hometown of Sichuan Province.

So much so that they finished a large bowl of food in just one or two minutes. A deputy platoon leader called Zhang Yaoge filled another bowl for himself.

She started to shout, "The meat still tastes good! It's just that it doesn't have chili and peppercorns, so the taste is a little bland. If there was a serving of twice-cooked pork, it would be even better."

Let me tell you, the twice-cooked pork made by my wife is the real deal.

We choose pork belly and pork cutlet, which is 40% fat and 60% lean. After cooking, cut them into slices of almost the same thickness. When stir-frying, be sure to use Pixian bean paste. In addition to green garlic sprouts, green peppers and garlic, it is best to add some chili peppers.

I can eat at least three bowls of rice with that taste."

As soon as the voice fell, another man nicknamed Liu Aiai Lao Bingyouzi put forward a completely different opinion:

"Maoxuewang and Mapo Tofu are the most delicious dishes for Sichuan kids.

My aunt makes Mapo Tofu. She adds a little salt when blanching the tofu, and uses beef as the minced meat. After stir-frying, she sprinkles it with chopped green onions. No matter how much rice you eat, it's never enough."

I don’t know if it was the stories told by Zhang Yaoge and Liu Aiai that aroused the nostalgia for their hometown among the Sichuan Army soldiers.

Anyway, in the following time, more people joined the topic.

People began to debate which of the classic Sichuan dishes, spicy chicken, garlic pork, maoxuewang, dry-fried fish, and hot pot, was the most delicious.

During the dispute, everyone gave a basic description of the approach.

Wow! At this hour of night, everyone was treated to a feast of ‘cloud delicacies’.

Even Hu Biao couldn't help it and shouted that only stir-fried pork with chili peppers was the real best dish to go with rice; Chaozi shouted for fried noodles with soybean paste, and Uncle Bo shouted for deep-well roast goose.

Huang A'di was clamoring for lychee meat, and Hei Xing was clamoring for baked carp noodles, saying these were the delicious ones.

In this "cloud food" event, Hu Biao and other guys who were parachuted into the third company clearly felt that everyone was closer.

Even so, Hu Biao added fuel to the fire and made a promise:

"Everyone, keep training well tomorrow. This will give you a better chance of survival on the battlefield. After this battle, I'll treat you all to all-you-can-eat twice-cooked pork and Maoxuewang."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the third company cheered.

Pao Ge, who still refused to accept Hu Biao during the day, flattened his head and began to loudly promise:

"Commander Hu, you are a very stubborn person. You treat us as brothers. I, the flat-headed brother, never flirt with others. I will definitely be worthy of you in the future."

Although many other Sichuan Army brothers did not say this, their eyes already said a lot.

Seeing this, AT came up with something and proposed:
"Old Hu, don't you have a camera? Everyone is so happy now, why don't you take a group photo of the whole company as a souvenir?"

Faced with this suggestion, Hu Biao hesitated.

Because he thought of his brothers in the special forces company last time. Not long after they took a group photo, the war came. Now, there are only a few people alive in that photo.

So after taking the group photo today, will the Sichuan Army brothers from the third company be like this again?
In the end, Hu Biao agreed to AT's proposal.

Under a golden sunset, 109 members of the third company shouted "Eggplant!" as their faces, each with a different expression, were frozen in time...

(End of this chapter)