This large pot of meat porridge not only shocked the soldiers, but also shocked the "Shiweiguan faction" who were familiar with Qingdeng.

Because they were close to Ayoto, they had received news a few days ago: In order to improve the physical fitness of the soldiers, Ayoto was going to hire a large number of cooks to improve the food treatment of the Shinsengumi.

People need to eat more to be strong, and horses need to eat refined food to run fast - this is a truth that even children understand.

Therefore, Qingdeng’s resolution was welcomed by everyone.

The "high-end military meal" that the General Secretary and others can imagine is nothing more than rice, and then there are more side dishes such as pickled radish, pickles, and taro.

However... until this moment, they were completely shocked to realize how poor their imagination was.

All we can say is that poverty limits their imagination!

Because there was no meat-eating culture in ancient Japan, and the entire country was just an island country with poor resources. Nearly 80% of the land was mountainous, and there were very few plains, and there were no good pastoral areas. Therefore, throughout the history of ancient Japan, there has always been no

A large-scale and systematic animal husbandry was born.

There is no market and no production. The combination of these two factors means that the meat of four-legged animals has long been regarded as a supplement and is placed on the shelves of medicine stores. Its price is so expensive that even middle-class families can only stay away from it.

Just use expensive pork to cook porridge?

With such a big pot, you can easily turn out 3 or 4 pieces of meat with just one scoop. God knows how many kilograms of pork were thrown into it?

This, this, this, this...?!

Is it really okay to raise the standard of general meals to such an extent? Can military expenditures support it?

While the Souji and others were sighing like this, they kept putting their hands into their mouths to eat the meat porridge. Except for the rich daughter Sanako and the "hidden eldest daughter" Mai Kinoshita, even Hijikata Toshizo, who was born as a rich farmer, also

I rarely eat such a sumptuous meal.

Souji, whose mouth was full of rice grains and pieces of meat, asked vaguely:

"Tachibana-kun, let me ask one more question: Is this level of food an occasional occurrence, or is it completely normal?"

Qingdeng replied without hesitation:

"Of course it's completely normalized."

History has proven countless times that logistical supplies are an important guarantee for military combat effectiveness.

The power of the spirit is indeed powerful, but overemphasis on spirituality is treating war as a child's play.

There did exist in history those god-level armies that could still unleash powerful combat power even if they were short of clothing and medicine, but they were only very rare exceptions.

Generally speaking, any powerful army that has made a name for itself in the annals of history has complete and sufficient logistical supplies, which means it has enough to eat and pay.

This has been true throughout the ages.

The same army looks one way when it is short of food and pay, and it looks another way when it is well fed and well paid.

The staple food is millet and barnyard millet, and the main side dishes are pickled products... With this level of diet in the Edo period, it can only keep people from starving to death, and nutrition does not exist at all. As for growing muscles,

Strengthening physical strength is even less of a problem.

If rich nutrition cannot be supplied, the training programs carefully designed by Qingdeng will simply be castles in the air. The goal of "turning the Shinsengumi into a tiger and wolf master within three months" will be even more like a flower in the mirror and a moon in the water.

.

After the chief was silent for a while, he weakly whispered:

"Well... how should I put it... Mr. Ju, I haven't read much, I don't have much knowledge, and I don't understand those complicated and complicated things."

"As for how to build the army and how to make the Shinsengumi grow rapidly, I am completely empty-headed and have no good ideas in mind."

"So, I don't want to judge what you do."

"But...you have to take it easy."

"If you spend too much money and end up not being able to pay everyone's military salary, that will be troublesome."

"Even a rough guy like me knows what a terrible thing 'arrears of wages' are."

The General Secretary's concern is beyond words.

"...You don't have to worry about money."

After Qingden took a sip of porridge very calmly, he continued with a mysterious face:

"If you don't have money, just find a way to make money later."

After saying that, he raised the bowl again and drank the remaining porridge in one gulp.

Then, he put down the bowl and chopsticks, stood up, walked around the canteen, walked up to each soldier, and checked how they were eating.

At the same time, he would chat with the soldiers from time to time in a joking or easy-going tone:

"Hey~ you have a pretty good appetite."

"Peony is a good thing. Only by eating more peony can you increase your strength, so don't waste it! Eat as much as you can for me!"

"No one is trying to rob you, why are you eating in such a hurry?"

Wherever Qingdeng went, his respectful eyes followed him.

This pot of extremely rich meat porridge conquered not only the stomachs of the soldiers, but also their hearts.

What's more, he shouted directly and emotionally:

"Nioh-sama! Thank you so much!"

The life of the poor people under the Tokugawa rule was more than just miserable!

Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo shogunate, once said: The secret of politics is to keep the peasants half dead.

The "peasant" in this statement generally refers to the lowest level of the social pyramid, that is, the powerless common people.

If people are fed too much, they will easily think about other things.

If people are deprived of food, they will easily gather and cause trouble.

Therefore, as long as the common people are neither hungry nor full, so that they can work hard all year round for a hot meal, the Tokugawa country can be preserved forever.

It can be said that this is a disguised policy of obscuring the people, treating ordinary people as slaves.

Basically, during the more than 200 years since the Edo shogunate came to Japan, successive rulers have continued this idea of ​​governing the country.

Therefore, one can imagine what kind of life the poor people live under such evil rule.

It’s a good year if you don’t starve to death, and it’s normal to eat tree bark and soil to satisfy your hunger.

Even in the best of times, if poor people want to eat some tasty food to fill their stomachs with food, they can only choose low-quality food like soy sauce residue that even dogs don't want to eat.

[Note: Soy sauce dregs: The dregs of brewing soy sauce are made by adding salt and malted rice to ferment and mature again. It has a very strong taste and is difficult to swallow. It is a poor man's food]

Of course, there is no need to criticize the Edo shogunate harshly for this.

Ultimately, this is just a common problem of feudal regimes.

As long as it is a feudal regime that only represents the interests of a very small number of people, it is basically the same thing.

Although the heavy and difficult life makes the people as cunning as foxes, it also makes them simple.

A bowl of hot, fragrant rice is enough to make them feel the surging emotion of "a scholar who is a confidant will die"!

Under the hot gaze of everyone, Qingden, who had walked around the canteen, moved to the middle of the canteen calmly, raised his head, and asked loudly:

"How is it? Is this porridge delicious?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a warm response like a roaring tsunami rushed to him:

“It’s so delicious!”

“This is the best bowl of porridge I have ever tasted in my life!”

"I never thought I would be so lucky! Being able to eat such delicacies in my lifetime makes my life worthwhile!"

…

Everyone was chattering.

Qingdeng stood quietly and allowed the soldiers to talk for a while, then raised his hands to signify silence.

In an instant, the noise subsided, and the noisy cafeteria returned to silence.

“If it’s delicious, then eat more!”

As Qingdeng spoke, he turned his eyes and looked around.

"The next training will be extremely difficult."

When he mentioned the words "extremely difficult", whether it was unintentional or intentional, Qingden suddenly emphasized his tone and raised the corners of his mouth slightly, creating an intriguing and strange arc.

Because everyone was listening to his speech attentively, no one noticed anything unusual about this.

"Only by eating a full meal will you have enough strength to survive the next training session!"

"So - keep eating! Give it all to me! Eat as much as you want!"

Qingdeng's words were like a switch.

The next moment the "switch" was pressed, the whole place was in an uproar.

The loud cheers of "Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh!" almost lifted the ceiling!
To be continued...