Today, the farmers in Yanyun have just been liberated.
Although the pressure on them has been reduced a lot, and the excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes have been waived a lot, they are not yet rich enough to have three meals a day.
It would be better to say that not only the farmers in Yanyun, but also the farmers in Hebei and Shandong can't do it. Two meals a day is still the mainstream at the bottom. Among the Liberation Army, only the army has implemented the three meals a day system in advance due to combat needs. .
The majority of farmers still maintain the habit of having two meals a day, breakfast at noon in the morning, also called a big meal, and dinner at noon in the afternoon, also called a snack.
As the name suggests, the meal eaten in the morning is relatively rich, because after eating, you have to work and produce. If you don't eat more, you will soon be hungry and won't be able to work anymore.
The second meal was a little simpler, because it was close to sunset, so I only ate this meal so as not to go to bed hungry. After eating, it was basically sunset.
The farmers did not have the conditions and habits for night entertainment, nor could they afford to light lamps. They went back to sleep as soon as the sun went down.
In fact, the habit of two meals a day was a standard etiquette until the Qing Dynasty. There was no such thing as three meals. Even for the ruling class, if they wanted to eat as many meals as they wanted, there were only two main meals, morning and evening. Eating at other times was considered Exceptional snacks, or snacks.
Of course, even if social productivity developed after the Song Dynasty, the citizen class in some big cities could still afford three meals a day, but that was a privilege that only the wealthy people above the citizen class in big cities could have.
The vast majority of people still maintain the habit of eating two meals, and even they are not full after two meals.
It was really a big deal for someone like Su Yonglin to add one meal to the army to three meals a day. Some old officials and gentry who had just joined the Liberation Army were shocked when they learned that Su Yonglin gave the army three meals a day.
So many troops can have three meals a day?
How rich and powerful is Su Yonglin?
How honest is the Liberation Army?
Can you really implement three meals a day?
It can be seen that asking soldiers to eat three meals a day is unthinkable to the upper class.
Having said that, although they still have two meals a day, the farmers in Yanyun have also undergone considerable changes on their dining tables.
For example, the amount of food has increased. For example, there are wheat cakes to eat now. Instead of having to drink gruel so thin that a few grains of wheat cannot be seen all day long, at least you can eat enough.
Knowing that Yanyun's production had been greatly damaged, Su Yonglin began to send people from the grain reserves in Hebei and Shandong to go north to support Yanyun at the end of May, helping the people of Yanyun survive this period of hardship and survive until the autumn harvest.
If there are still problems later, he plans to use the gold and silver he looted from the Jurchen dignitaries to trade grain with the Southern Song Dynasty, collect grain from the Southern Song Dynasty, and then transport it directly to Yanyun by sea to alleviate the grain shortage. .
Although there is a lot of gold and silver, it cannot be eaten as food. If there is really a shortage of food, these things must be exchanged for food. Food is the most important thing.
Fortunately, it seems that Yanyun is not short of food at the moment.
Although there is nothing special on the farmers' table, firstly, there is salt to eat, and secondly, they will not go hungry, which can already make them feel happy.
On this day, Su Yonglin did not take Zhao Xirui back to Zhongdu for dinner. Instead, under the arrangement of Lu Hua, he had a meal at the village farmers' meeting.
When many families learned that General Su, who gave them salt and grain, had arrived, they were so excited that they ran over to see Su Yonglin. Su Yonglin smiled and greeted the farmers, asked them about their living conditions, and invited them to come and have a meal together.
The meal is very simple, with coarse wheat cakes, simple salted vegetables, and salt soup that can be seen at the bottom of the pot, and then there is nothing else.
Zhao Xirui looked at the wheat cakes in the bowl and the inexplicable pickled vegetables. After a while of mental preparation, she brought the wheat cakes to her mouth. She took a small bite and an indescribable taste filled her mouth. She couldn't help but frown.
She looked at Su Yonglin and found that Su Yonglin was holding a bowl and eating cakes while talking to the farmers. He had a warm smile on his face, and the cakes looked particularly delicious. He ate them with big mouthfuls, as if he was eating some delicacy.
She lowered her head and thought about it, and felt that as a wife, she could not hold her husband back, so she ate the wheat cakes and salted vegetables with salt soup, leaving nothing behind.
It tastes bad, it really tastes bad. It tastes so bad that you need to use salt soup to push it down before you can swallow it.
After eating, Zhao Xirui couldn't help but sigh, this life is really not a life that ordinary people can live, and farmers are really suffering.
Su Yonglin was still talking to the farmers until the sunset, and then he left the village and embarked on his return journey under the reluctant farewell of the farmers.
On the way back to Zhongdu, Su Yonglin asked Zhao Xirui how the meal was.
"fine."
Zhao Xirui thought about it for a while and said it anyway. She didn't say it tasted bad because she was worried that Su Yonglin would be unhappy if she said this.
It turned out that Su Yonglin didn't think so.
"It's pretty good? No, it's obviously very unpalatable. It's so unpalatable that I still feel uncomfortable."
Su Yonglin smiled and said what Zhao Xirui was thinking.
"ah?"
Zhao Xirui was surprised. He didn't expect Su Yonglin to say such things.
Su Yonglin nodded simply.
"Yeah, it's very unpalatable, rough, and hard to swallow. It would be a nightmare to keep eating this. I can't even imagine how uncomfortable it would be to keep eating this."
Zhao Xirui said in surprise: "I thought you wouldn't say that."
"Why not? If it tastes bad, it tastes bad. If it tastes good, it tastes good. Just tell the truth."
Su Yonglin said: "Chickens, ducks, fish, and seafood are much more delicious than these rough wheat cakes and salted vegetables. This is a fact. There is nothing that cannot be said. I just lament that this is the only food that the people can use to satisfy their hunger. .
Even before that, they couldn't even eat such food. They could only eat thin and watery porridge, and they could only really fill their stomachs with water. They couldn't afford better food, so they could only eat these rough food to fill their stomachs.
Therefore, this makes me feel sad, and even more confused, why can only wealthy people afford big fish and meat, while ordinary people can only eat bran-pharynx vegetables? Why can't they eat big fish and meat? "
Zhao Xirui did not expect Su Yonglin to think about the problem this way.
After being silent for a while, Zhao Xirui asked the biggest doubt in his heart.
"Why do you think that?"
"Um?"
Su Yonglin looked at Zhao Xirui in confusion.
Zhao Xirui then asked more directly.
"There are many people who have seen the suffering in the world, and there are many poems and articles I have read that talk about the suffering of the people, but why are you the only one who thinks like this and takes action? Yonglin, why did you do these things? "
Zhao Xirui stared at Su Yonglin, wanting to get his answer.
Su Yonglin held his chin and thought for a while.
The answer is very clear, because he has seen the greatest and most magnificent undertakings in human history, and has seen people who can live well without the rule of emperors, generals and ministers who are born noble.
He knows that the wheel of history has its own inertia, but now that he is here and he has seen it, he has to fight for it.
In another time and space, in the dark old age, there were some people who defeated enemies that were hundreds of times more powerful than the enemies he faced, conquered all impossibilities, and achieved incredible feats, and he was fascinated by this.
Therefore, he also wants to declare war on all impossibilities and fight his way out of countless impossibilities.
He had wavered. When facing Wanyan A-Lin and Wanyan Liang, he had left an escape route for his close relatives, preparing to let them leave if they failed to fight for a chance of survival.
Then he went to meet his destiny without looking back, and won.
So he no longer doubted, hesitated, or wavered.
Then he looked at Zhao Xirui and gave his answer.
"There is no road in the world. If there are more people walking, there will be a road. Since no one has walked on this road, I am willing to be the first."
With that said, Su Yonglin looked at Zhao Xirui again and stretched out a hand to her.
"Will you go down with me?"
Zhao Xirui lowered his head and looked at Su Yonglin's hand, then raised his head and looked at Su Yonglin's eyes full of hope.
She couldn't help but put her hand on Su Yonglin's.
"I do."
