The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

Those who can be arranged to the front line generally have strong execution ability and are good at work.

Everyone searched separately as Zhang Ping'an said.

The mountain is not high, but it stretches for dozens of miles and is a typical hilly landscape.

It was also after Zhang Ping'an came to the north that he could see some green hills, which was rare.

The mountain was littered with withered wormwood stalks and some withered brown vines.

Occasionally there are some unknown small flowers.

It's a pity that no one is in the mood to appreciate it now.

While looking for food, everyone also looked for firewood. They gathered all the roots, branches, etc. they found together and tied them up to take away later, without delaying either!

Zhang Ping'an understood that food was extremely scarce right now. If they could find even a little bit, it would be like a shot in the arm for everyone.

Therefore, as the leader, he searched even more carefully, using a bamboo rake to search carefully as if he was sweeping a minefield.

There are a lot of dead branches and fallen leaves on the top of the mountain, as well as some wild pine trees. Pine needles have fallen all over the ground, and they make a crackling sound when you step on them.

But anything that the people are familiar with and can eat is nowhere to be found on the ground.

In the middle, Zhang Ping'an dug up some things that looked a bit like radishes based on the dead vines, and they were quite large.

But it was not any kind of radish that Zhang Ping'an remembered.

It's quite a big piece, I don't know if I can eat it.

Zhang Ping'an didn't care about anything and dug out some first, preparing to take it back for the military doctor to check.

If the military doctor is not sure what it is, then we should not try it rashly.

He couldn't afford to take the risk, and he couldn't bear the responsibility if something went wrong with the soldiers' food.

Liu Sanlang and Ruan San also dug out some unknown roots nearby.

It was so small and useless that Ruan San threw it aside in disappointment.

In this way, more than an hour passed.

Zhang Ping'an was so busy that he was sweating, but still had no effective results.

He slowly led Liu Sanlang and a few others to another hill.

Liu Sanlang was a little worried: "Ping An, it's really hard to find it. The mountain is too big, and many vines look the same after they die. It's hard to tell them apart!"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter. Just take your time to look for it. We've been out all day anyway. Among these things, konjac is the easiest to distinguish. Its stems are thicker, and it's easy to find even though the leaves are slowly turning yellow. This thing grows in long pieces, but it's slightly poisonous and a little difficult to handle," Zhang Pingan replied casually, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

After turning another corner, Zhang Pingan was patrolling nearby with a rake in his hand when he suddenly looked at something not far away in disbelief: "Hey, this one looks a bit like it!"

"What?" Ruan Saner immediately came over and responded.

He is the most positive about eating!

Zhang Ping'an pointed to a small patch of plants in the distance and said excitedly, "This must be konjac. The stem is thick and upright, and the leaves are compound, broad and feathery, somewhat like green umbrella ribs. It's exactly the same as what's described in the 'Compendium of Materia Medica for Famine Relief'."

Ruan San looked closely and saw that the plant that Zhang Ping'an pointed to still had some scattered green leaves, but most of them had turned yellow and were hanging on the tree and fluttering in the wind. The flower buds had completely shriveled and turned brown, and many of them had fallen to the ground, emitting a slight rotten smell.

He couldn't help but fan it with his hands and questioned, "Is this edible? It's a bit smelly!"

Although he is not a picky eater, he still cannot eat something if it is too smelly!

"Let's go and dig it up. Whether it's edible or not depends on how it's processed. If it didn't stink, I might not have found it. I determined it based on its appearance and smell," Zhang Pingan called everyone forward.

As they walked, he introduced, "The rhizome of konjac is large, irregularly flattened or round. The skin is dark brown or light yellow, and when cut it's milky white, a bit like a large tree stump. Now is the season for konjac to mature. Usually, each one is half a foot to a foot in size and can weigh up to ten pounds. It's a standard famine relief food!"

"As long as it's edible," Liu Sanlang replied.

He is hungry every day now. As long as he can fill his stomach, he is not picky about the taste and flavor. He is not that pretentious.

When he got closer, Zhang Ping'an felt the pole and became more certain.

These konjacs are not very tall, about the same size as smaller mulberry trees.

Liu Sanlang spat twice on his palm and said in a deep voice: "Ping'an, I'll do it. You two should move aside. Wait until I dig it out and then you can see if it is true."

After saying that, he took the hoe he carried with him and swung it vigorously, clang clang clang a few times, until he had dug about 70% to 80% and the roots were exposed.

Zhang Pingan clapped his hands and said, "That's it, this is it!"

After he finished speaking, he turned his head and instructed Ruan San: "Hurry up and find the rest of them to dig together, and then look around the nearby hills to see if there are any that look like this. Dig those and look for the others later."

"Hey!" Ruan San responded loudly and ran away.

After a while, Liu Sanlang held up the konjac stalk, pointed at the bulbous root underneath, and asked, "Ping An, this is what we can eat, right?"

"Yes, it can be eaten after processing. Don't want the stem, just cut it off and keep the rhizome underneath," Zhang Pingan said with a smile.

I felt a little excited. It seemed that God was very kind to them. There were many hills nearby, so there must be more than one konjac plant!

"Old Baldy said that things will be relatively stable recently and the rebel army won't come to invade for ten days or half a month. I think we should send some people here to cut some trees to use as firewood tomorrow. There are quite a few dead trees here, which is just right for preparing for winter." Zhang Ping'an looked at the hill and felt that there were still many valuable things.

I guess I'll have to come a few more times.

Once everyone else comes over, the efficiency is very high.

Everyone worked together to dig up all the konjac, and the cart was almost full.

Ruan Sanhou was very anxious: "I just went to the next hill and saw this too. We have to dig it up quickly."

His tone showed that he wanted to dig all of these out and take them away immediately.

Finally, Zhang Pingan realized that he couldn't bring back any more, so he decided, "We'll continue digging tomorrow. Ask Lieutenant General You to send more people. It's getting late now, so let's go back today!"

Everyone was excited when they found something to eat.

Ruan San had just heard Zhang Ping'an talk about how to prepare konjac, and he reaffirmed, "Sir, this will really taste good if it's prepared properly. Won't it smell bad?"

"Of course it doesn't stink. Once it's processed properly, it tastes pretty good. It's a bit like tofu, but also a bit like vermicelli. You'll know once you try it," Zhang Pingan replied. "It's just that the processing method is a bit troublesome."

"Well, our military camp is full of people now, so we don't mind the trouble, not to mention there are those refugees," the captain said nonchalantly. Who would be picky when there is food?

Isn’t it just peeling, cutting and grinding? It’s nothing!

The captain had even started to think about it, thinking as he walked, "Sir, I remember the stone mortars from several tofu-making workshops in Ze County are still there. They were quite large, and using horses to pull them through would be very fast!"