Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Li Xueyan stood up with a bang, her eyes gleaming like Ultraman's. She didn't even care that her hips bumped against the edge of the table as she stood up. She grabbed Jiang Shangxian's arm and refused to let go. "Did you really prepare this for me? Did Tete prepare this for me?"

Forehead.....

Jiang Shangxian tried to use the art of language to explain the incident, but the words still fell on his lips: "Yes, I prepared it especially for you, and it has words engraved on it by Master Zhao himself!"

Zhao Shan's stingy engraving now has a lot of value.

She let out a guilty breath and kept mentally preparing herself: Language is an art, and strictly speaking, she was not lying. It was indeed a unique one specially prepared by Zhao Shan - although it was put together at the last minute.

Li Xueyan pounced on her and started groping around: "Where is it? Where is it? Take it out quickly and let me see it!"

"Oh my! Hahahaha, it's itchy...itchy..."

Jiang Shangxian was knocked back, luckily Yanxia was quick-witted and held on tightly, otherwise she would definitely have fallen to the bottom!

"I don't have it with me! It's at my house!"

Instantly, the groping hands stopped. Li Xueyan took a deep breath and opened her mouth to say something, but was immediately interrupted by Jiang Shangxian: "Don't forget your loyalty for the sake of beauty! Just now you said you wanted to eat my cooking, were you lying?"

"Eat! I'll eat! I'll eat now!" Li Xueyan got up from her, tidied her hair, then sat down and started to wolf down the food. Not to mention Yanxia whose eyes were almost popping out, even Jiang Shangxian couldn't close his mouth!

"How can you eat it like this?" Jiang Shangxian tried to bring her back to her senses.

Yanxia hurriedly poured her some tea: "Wu Niang, don't eat so fast, or you'll hurt your spleen and stomach!"

"Oh, I haven't finished my shift yet. No matter how anxious you are, you have to wait until I finish my shift and then I can go back with you to get it. It's a good time to take the firewood and meat away. The weather is getting hot soon. If possible, it's better to put it in the ice cellar." Jiang Shangxian was also afraid that she would have a stomachache after eating. This girl from a wealthy family must be weaker than ordinary people like them.

After all, their spleen and stomach are more resistant.

Unexpectedly, Li Xueyan ate half of it, put down her chopsticks, and slapped her forehead: "Oh, I have something to tell you, I forgot!"

"What's the matter?" Jiang Shangxian, who was watching the food broadcast seriously, felt her heart tremble. She didn't like being stimulated, as it was not good for the maintenance of her heart.

"Your instant noodles have been seen by His Majesty!"

"what?"

Jiang Shangxian was stunned for a second before coming to his senses. He licked his lips and looked calm and composed, like a master. "Your Majesty, would you like the recipe for this instant noodle?"

Hehe, Xiao Jiang understands things very quickly, it’s all written like this in novels.

"Really? How did you know that?" Li Xueyan didn't expect that she had guessed it after just one sentence. Why did she suddenly feel that Aunt Jiang had a pretty good brain?

She hadn't thought of it! Li Shimin didn't say anything either.

Jiang Shangxian spread his hands and said, "This thing is convenient. You can eat it after soaking it in boiling water. If you really have no other choice, you can eat it dry."

Li Xueyan nodded, "That's what I told Your Majesty. This thing is so convenient and tastes great. If it can be promoted throughout the army, I'm afraid our Tang army will be even more powerful!"

"There's absolutely no chance of that."

Jiang Shangxian calmly interrupted her fantasy. Seeing her surprised expression, he explained, "I mean promoting it within the military."

"Why? Soldiers in the army work hard, and eating too much is not good for them. This thing is so delicious and convenient, why can't it be promoted? Are you reluctant to give up the recipe?"

Li Xueyan didn't have any bad intentions. She was worried about Jiang Shangxian. What a great opportunity! She couldn't be stingy at this time! There weren't many opportunities to show her face in front of His Majesty. Right now, she was discussing marriage with Cui Bianxu. If she could register with His Majesty, she would have more confidence when she went to the Cui family in the future, right?

Jiang Shangxian shook his head: "Of course not, it's just a prescription, why would I be reluctant to give it up?"

She paused and glanced at Yanxia. Li Xueyan knew nothing about cooking, but if there was anything she didn't understand, Yanxia could explain it to her in detail. "From the Shang Dynasty to our dynasty, millet has always been king in the military. Medical records show that it harmonizes the stomach and replenishes qi, stops diarrhea, cures thirst, and is a diuretic. It's also abundant and easy to store, so it's been used as military rations throughout the dynasties."

Li Xueyan nodded in confusion. It wasn't like she had never eaten corn before. She would occasionally have corn porridge. The bright yellow one was very nice to look at. But she didn't know anything else. "So?"

"The center of the Tang Dynasty was Chang'an, which is located in the north. The north grows a lot of millet, while the south prefers to grow rice and wheat. However, my instant noodles are made from wheat, which has a low yield and is mostly grown in the south. The price is high when shipped from the south to the north."

The high price and low yield make it impossible for it to become the staple food of the army.

She stroked her chin and thought, even if Li Shimin had some interest in it, it was probably because he didn't realize that this thing was made of wheat.

It seems that Erfeng still doesn't understand~

"That's such a pity." Li Xueyan finally understood at this time that military rations should be convenient, solid and cheap. If it was wheat, it would not work.

She was a little disappointed and sighed in a mature manner: "I was thinking that if you could become military rations, you would be very important to His Majesty in the future. Alas..."

"Can it be made with corn?" Yanxia was also worried about Jiang Shangxian. She still liked Jiang Shangxian very much. Every time Li Xueyan came to Lexianlou for dinner, Jiang Shangxian would ask his apprentice to bring her a portion of food, which was all clean and not leftover.

It was taken from Li Xueyan's table. Two bites of each dish were given to her when it came out of the pot, so that Yanxia could eat until her belly was full.

"Even if it's not made of wheat."

Jiang Shangxian clearly understood their good intentions and patiently gave them a well-reasoned analysis: "Although the army does have sauces to go with rice, they're mostly soybean paste. It's cheap and doesn't spoil easily... Let's not talk about the mutton sauce for now. Dried vegetables are easy to make, so let's talk about these flatbreads."

She counted on her fingers, "The wheat needs to be hulled and ground into flour. For us, I use chicken broth to make the flour. For poorer people, we can only use water. After kneading the flour, we need to knead it, shape it, and steam it. After steaming, we need to compact it and dry it."

Of course, the most important thing wasn't this, but that she didn't have any preservatives, and she didn't know how preservatives were made: "This thing can only be kept for two or three months at most. If it's kept longer, it will definitely go bad."

But another characteristic of military rations is that they must be durable.