It was already very late when Yang Fan left. It was almost ten kilometers from Dahongmen to his home. It's not a short journey.
He quickly arrived at Yongding Gate. Yang Fan saw tens of thousands of people gathered here, all lit up with torches, waiting for food to be distributed.
Looking at the queue, they were all gray-haired veterans. All the soldiers under the age of fifty were moved to Nanyuan by Li Banghua. The remaining old men are veterans who have no money to give gifts and cannot retire.
Yang Fan sighed, these veterans were also very pitiful. Many people live in Beijing all their lives and only earn enough to make ends meet. They sometimes don't have enough money to pay, and they can't save much money.
Many people fail to get a wife and stay like this for the rest of their lives. Even if they retire, their later life will be very worrying.
Because food was still being distributed here, the city gate was not closed. Yang Fan and his soldiers rode into the city smoothly.
In this capital city, Uncle Dingyuan still has a very good reputation. Xinghe Supermarket, which he opened in partnership with Royal, has been selling food at low prices and has never had a price increase since its opening.
These soldiers are also human beings, so they naturally know what is good and what is bad.
Now, cornmeal has become the only food that the lower class people in the capital can afford. In such a disaster year, the whole family can still live happily, so we can't help but be grateful to Uncle Dingyuan.
Watching Yang Fan and the guards pass by on majestic horses. The eyes of the officers and soldiers were full of respect.
Because Xinghe Supermarket has been opened in the capital, prices are 10% or 20% lower than in any other prefecture or county. Moreover, the rationed supply of cheap food could be purchased, which led to the increase in household registration in the capital.
Now I want to apply for a household registration in the capital, but I have to ask someone to establish connections and spend a lot of money.
Because these officers and soldiers were registered in Gyeonggi Province, they found that in this year of disaster, it suddenly became easier to find a wife.
In the past, these Qiu Baye were the objects of everyone's disgust.
A few days ago, Xinghe Supermarket began to allow officers and soldiers with military status in Beijing to apply for food books. Many veterans in their forties and fifties began to have matchmakers come to their homes to introduce them to widows with children.
These women do not want betrothal gifts, they just want to have enough to eat. As long as you can raise your own children. These veterans were so happy.
The main reason is that Yang Fan wants to take away 10,000 elites from the Beijing camp and go into battle this time. So Yang Fan also has to consider the lives of his family. If you don't have any worries, you can only dare to fight on the battlefield.
Before, Jingying and Yang Fan had nothing to do with each other. Giving them citizen treatment would not only be unprofitable, but would also be suspected of trying to win over the morale of the military. Easily impeached by the censor.
Therefore, it is better for Yang Fan to do more than to do less. Officials and military personnel are not allowed to apply for food certificates.
After entering Yongding Gate, both sides of Qianmen Street in Nancheng are very desolate. To the east is the wall of the Temple of Heaven, and to the west is the wall of the Xiannong Altar. These buildings are 240 to 50 years old, are peeling off, and look very dilapidated.
Grass grew on the wall, and Yang Fan even saw a tree growing out of the wall. There are garbage dumps under the wall, and the ditch outside the wall is green and black, exuding a stench.
I don’t know what the officials of Shuntian Prefecture are busy with all day long, so the city management is so poor.
In this era, the large area near the south wall of Nancheng was a wasteland with no one living there.
The South City is rectangular in shape, wider than the North City, with a gate on the east and west sides, Guangning Gate on the west and Guangqu Gate on the east. There is a main east-west road between the two city gates, which is today's Liang-Guang Road.
There are basically not many people living on the south side of this road. Except for the two major buildings, the Temple of Heaven and the Xiannong Altar in the middle, it is all wasteland. The north side is a dense residential area.
It was Yang Fan's relocation of Huangcheng North Street and the construction of many six-story residential buildings in Zuo'anmen that made this place popular.
Along the way, the dusk was heavy, and the air was filled with the smell of vegetation. It feels like walking in the wilderness.
The cavalrymen hung miniature carbide lamps under the bells on the horses' necks for illumination.
Carbide lamps can be made very small. Historically, bicycle lamps, early car lamps, carriage lamps, miners' helmet lamps, etc. were all micro-carbide lamps used.
This kind of lamp is very easy to use. Just a few carbide stones can provide lighting for more than two hours.
Although this road is paved with bluestones, the two hundred years have worn the bluestones into pits and many are missing. The deep ruts make it easy to break a horse's leg in the dark if you can't see clearly.
After passing the Temple of Heaven, the northern half of Qianmen Street is finally populated. Various trading stalls also appeared on both sides of the road. There are many traders here who have built shacks and are still greeting customers.
Since the curfew was changed to midnight, the whole city seems to be glowing with life.
The weather has turned cold now, and the night wind is very cold. Yang Fan didn't wear much, so he felt a little chilly. Looking at the roadside stalls, I suddenly became interested and wanted to sit down and have a few drinks.
This type of roadside stall is commonly known as a dog food shack. It is a characteristic of the southern part of the capital.
Several wooden pillars support the frame, which are covered with bamboo mats and straw to prevent leakage.
There are no walls, and there is ventilation on all sides.
But the boss cooking and the guests drinking can be seen by passers-by on the road, and it is easy to arouse greedy people.
On this cold day, smelling the fragrance, taking a sip of wine and eating something hot would be really tempting.
Yang Fan stopped his horse, took ten soldiers with him, tied the horse, and entered a shed.
There is a fart curtain flag hanging on the shed of this family, with the words "Su Zao Meat" on one side and "Big Wine Vat" on the other.
Seeing an official coming to the door, the boss quickly ran out to greet him. "Gentlemen, what can you order?"
Zhang Cheng quickly took out a snow-white towel, wiped the bench and table, and asked Yang Fan to sit down.
"What do you have here," Yang Fan asked.
He found that this small shop was quite unique. The three tile-roofed rooms were all filled with regular tables, chairs and benches. A shed was set up in the open space in front of the tile-roofed house facing the street, and a small house was built behind the tile-roofed house, which looked like it should be the kitchen.
There is no table under the shed, just large tanks covered with flat wooden lids. Because they have been used for a long time, they are all dark and shiny.
Some guests, in groups of three or five, would sit around the wine vat if they were calling for friends. Put some food on the lid of the cylinder, add a corner of white wine, and enjoy drinking by yourself.
This type of roadside shop has a popular name called Big Wine Tank. As famous as small wine shops, small wine shops are located in small alleys in the capital. They mainly sell wine and order Zuojiu's cold dishes. Guests can also ask the waiter to go out and buy some cooked food on their behalf.
Yang Fan has heard of these shops, but has never been to them. This is his first time.
"To tell you what, the shop only has some simple snacks for drinking, rice wine, and white wine. Side dishes and snacks include Suzhou pork, sesame pancakes, fried liver, rotten intestines, apricot tea, etc. Noodles can also be made, but the toppings are only rotten meat. One kind of noodles.”
Su Zao Meat is a famous food for the lower class people in the imperial capital. It was when Yang Fan saw this that he decided to get off his horse and have a drink.
The method of making Su Zao Pork is to select pork ribs, add pig intestines and five internal organs, boil it in a pot with white water, remove it when it is eighty-dried and brown it with sugar, then put it into the broth with the oil removed, add tangerine peel, licorice, and kofta. Stew the kernels, cinnamon, sagebrush, soy sauce and salt together.
"Yandu Snacks Miscellaneous Songs" records: "The people who make meat in Su use long strips of fat and stew it in the sauce to make it extremely rich in flavor. They also cook it over fire in a pot. Buyers often embed the meat into the fire. Eat it.”
Yang Fan estimated that this thing was the stewed and cooked dish of later generations.
When it is served, it looks almost the same. If you add garlic juice, chopped coriander, and chili oil, it will be that thing.
Yang Fan smelled it and it was quite fragrant. I turned over the large intestine with a tachyon and found it was clean and had no odor.
Yang Fan nodded with satisfaction.
"Boss, one bowl for each person. What kind of wine do you have here?"
