Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 275 Winter is Coming
In the autumn of the fourth year of Jian'an, winter was approaching.
After the establishment of the Taishi Bureau, the first solar term measured was "Lidong".
For the troops on the expedition, it is almost time to stop fighting...
Throughout the fourth year of Jian'an, smoke of war was everywhere on Han territory.
In the north, Cao and Liu fought against Yuan Shao, in the south, the General's Office attacked Jing, and in the west , Hanzhong and Yizhou fought on a daily basis...
However, as the weather turned colder, the battlefields also cooled down.
The cold meant that marching was difficult, and they had to either add more clothes, set up camp, or return to the city to keep warm. However, in the entire Han Dynasty, even in the army of the General's Mansion, only the elite troops could be equipped with thin cotton-padded clothes.
Not only will the marching efficiency be reduced, but the consumption of transporting food will also be greater, and the cost of war will increase dramatically.
In all the battlefields, even in the southernmost Jingnan area, during the period of the historic cold wave that gradually strengthened in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, a thin layer of floating ice could be seen in the dead of winter, which means that the temperature could reach below zero, and even snow could be seen from time to time.
As for the fierce battle between Cao, Liu and Yuan Shao in the north, it is now showing signs of dying down.
Not to mention what happened in the north, Zhang Xiu of Nanyang and Zhao Yun joined forces in Fuyang. However, for more than a month, Yuan Yao and Qu Yi took advantage of the natural barrier of Dafu Mountain in Tongbai and set up camp along the Dafu Mountain to defend their positions. It seemed difficult to achieve any breakthrough results this year.
In the Xiakou and Miankou areas, after Sun Ce returned from paying homage to his father, he led his troops north to Xiling and had a tentative battle with Cai Mao.
Because he wanted to wait until the remaining troops of Yuan Shu in Fuyang were annihilated before attacking from both sides, he did not fight to the death. However, through probing, Sun Ce judged that the enemy's navy, from soldiers to generals, could still be called "elite".
For Sun Ce, who always looks down on others, this is already a very high evaluation.
It seems that although Liu Biao did not have much ambition in Jingzhou, he did train a good group of troops. As for Cai Mao... in Sun Ce's opinion, his martial arts were just mediocre and not impressive, but he had some skills in commanding and training the navy, and he was no ordinary child of aristocratic family.
In addition, Sun Ce also discovered a good seedling under Cai Mao's command - very young, not yet of age, about eighteen or nineteen years old, but his strength was comparable to that of Sun Ce when he was fifteen or sixteen years old... Of course, when Sun Ce was fifteen or sixteen years old, it was mainly the armor that dragged down his strength, and it was much more difficult to advance to armor at that time than it is now.
Even so, being able to barely use the young Sun Ce as a comparison target is already a remarkable thing. Moreover, although that young general was only a minor general, he was cautious and measured in commanding the battles, and he advanced and retreated according to his circumstances, showing the style of a great general!
Unfortunately, this young general named Wen Pin was not from a noble family, but he was quite loyal to Jingzhou Prefecture and refused Sun Ce's attempts to win him over.
After a few rounds of exploratory military operations, winter arrived in Jiangxia.
As for the southern Jingnan area, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun crossed the Qitianling only when Mohu was willing to give way. When the Jingnan defenders were unprepared to resist the enemy, they relied on the silent march of the Xianzhen Camp and launched a surprise attack on Linwu County in the middle of the night. By dawn, they had occupied this unimportant county and had a place to stay.
However, this was already early winter, and the weather in southern Jing was gradually getting colder. Zhang Liao and Gao Shun were unable to capture Chencheng, the county seat of Guilin County, also known as Guilin City, which was guarded by Huang Zhong in a short period of time. As for using intimidation and inducement to persuade the enemy to surrender, Huang Zhong ignored them.
…
On the beginning of winter, the people of Yangzhou received the solar term reminder from the General’s Mansion for the first time.
It even comes with the magical recipe of the great doctor Zhang Zhongjing - dumplings.
That’s right, dumplings in later generations were invented by Zhang Zhongjing “a few years ago” and were inspired by wontons. They were called “Yanyue Wontons” until the Tang Dynasty, “Jiaozi” in the Song Dynasty, and “dumplings” after the Qing Dynasty.
Doctor Zhang invented dumplings, not just for eating, but more importantly for keeping warm...
Early dumplings were made with dough that included medicinal herbs that helped to ward off the cold. Eating them in winter could help prevent internal and external diseases such as frostbite caused by the cold.
So eating dumplings, wontons, mutton, dog meat during the winter solstice... are essentially the evolution of the same custom, all of which originated from driving away the cold.
Of course, under Bai Tu's guidance and instructions , the chefs of the General's Mansion worked tirelessly on the front line of research and finally... made Doctor Zhang's "dumplings" flourish.
This made the name "dumplings" appear more than a thousand years earlier.
To some extent, dumplings are more successful than braised pork and white pork, because... the vinegar in the Han Dynasty tasted much more authentic than the "mysterious soy sauce" of the same period, closer to later generations, and "garlic" had already begun to be cultivated.
Therefore, dumplings have more soul than braised pork...
And from the perspective of food properties, garlic and vinegar also have the effect of dispelling cold. Doctor Zhang said they are good for them!
Bai Tu and Zhang Zhongjing each accounted for half of the "original authors" of the dumplings, which were quickly promoted in Yangzhou and even in Central Plains and Jingzhou.
It is a good thing that every household can think of white pictures while eating delicious dumplings, but there are some "beasts" who change the black and white pictures every day.
For example, according to the report of Bufengwei, because some people privately called dumplings "Bai Gong dumplings", after "dumplings" were introduced into the Central Plains, they became "jiaozi", so some people swore that Bai Gong had horns on his head...
Well, it does match the previous "Reincarnation of Shennong". After all, many statues of Shennong have a pair of bull horns on their heads.
Even this rumor was exported and sold domestically, and people in Yangzhou gradually began to say this...
It's just that in Yangzhou, Bai Gong's horn is also Shennong's horn, a sacred horn, a sage's horn, while in China there are people who spread rumors that Bai Tu's horn is proof that he is inhuman and like an animal.
Of course, the biggest news at the beginning of winter is not the appearance of dumplings, but...
Lu Meng of the Northern Army led 3,000 people. They traveled lightly, relying on each person to bring dry food and water bags, and replenishing tree roots and wild vegetables along the way. It took them half a month to cross the Dafu Mountain along the rugged mountain road and launch a surprise attack on Fuyang County!
Originally, whether it was the defenders of Fuyang City, the defenders who set up camps along the Dafu Mountain, or even the soldiers of the General's Mansion who were the attacking party, they had all prepared for a ceasefire.
After all, winter is approaching, and judging from the current situation, it will be difficult to achieve any results before the temperature drops if we continue fighting.
Even Zhang Xiu did not have any hope for Lu Meng. However, when Lu Meng was trying to persuade him, he deliberately emphasized his closeness to Bai Tu, and acted as if "I call you Uncle Bai in private", forcing Zhang Xiu to allocate his three thousand soldiers to "make trouble".
After all, in Zhang Xiu's view, the fact that Lu Meng was allowed to stay in Wancheng was proof that he was deeply trusted by the General's Mansion. However, he did not expect that Lu Meng had only met Bai Tu for the first time half a month before coming to Wancheng...
Lu Meng was also quite a "tiger" - if the surprise attack failed, Zhang Xiu would not let him off the hook. Once it was revealed that he had lied about his relationship with the general, he would be left with a huge blame!
However, no matter how dangerous it was, in the end Lu Meng succeeded...
