After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth] Chapter 27

It was not that there was a problem with the dish. Rather, if the big pot dishes had always been this bland, as if they had simply been boiled once in plain water, then how did the soldiers usually consume salt?

These coarse-grain steamed buns had no salty taste either, and the water they drank could not possibly have salt specially added to it. And these were basically everything a soldier consumed each day.

“When did the big pot dishes start being this bland?” Li Chanxiu suddenly put down his chopsticks and asked Zhang Hu with a serious expression.

Zhang Hu froze for a moment, then hesitated before saying, “Probably since the beginning of winter. But it’s not this bland every day. Occasionally there are a few meals that have some salty taste, though it’s not much better. Everyone’s mouths are so bland they could spit out a bird… ahem.”

Pei Er suddenly glanced at him lightly. Zhang Hu hurriedly coughed to cover up the crude word in his speech, then awkwardly continued, “So when it’s a rest day, anyone with a bit of money in their pockets will go to the town to eat something good and refresh their taste.”

Li Chansiu said, “So those without money only eat in the military camp?”

“Right.” Zhang Hu nodded.

Everyone knew the big-pot meals in the camp were not tasty, but after a long time they all got used to it. Those with some money in their pockets could still go to town every ten days or half a month. Someone like him who had no money could only recently get some small-pot food from the wounded soldiers’ camp while his younger brother Zhang He was lying there recovering.

Hearing this, Li Chansiu frowned deeply, then thought of what Chen Qing had said, that the soldiers under Pei Er happened to be the poorest in the camp…

In addition, he had personally seen yesterday that when those soldiers trained, each of them looked as though they had not eaten their fill. Their limbs were weak, their movements lacked strength, and before long they were panting heavily…

Suddenly he stood up and said, “I’ll go look at those soldiers again.”

Pei Er and Zhang Hu were both startled. Upon hearing this, they quickly set down their chopsticks and followed him.

Li Chansiu called the dozen or so soldiers over and asked them one by one what physical discomfort they had, when it had started, whether during this period they had only eaten the military camp’s food, and whether they had eaten anything else or anything salty.

The soldiers glanced at Pei Er standing nearby like a cold-faced fiend. Each of them trembled with fear and hurriedly answered everything honestly and carefully.

After Li Chansiu finished asking, he also examined their symptoms and recorded the situation one by one. Then he turned and asked Pei Er, “Are there any others?”

Pei Er had been watching him busy the whole time. Hearing this, he immediately gave Zhang Hu a look, and Zhang Hu went at once to call over the rest of the soldiers under Pei Er’s command.

By the time Li Chansiu had asked them all one by one, it was almost dark.

Li Chansiu let out a long breath, lowered his head to look again at the recorded conditions, and his brows furrowed even tighter. His expression had not relaxed.

The three of them returned together to the tent. The dishes had already gone completely cold.

Pei Er reheated them, then handed the chopsticks to Li Chansiu and said, “Eat first. We’ll talk after.”

Li Chansiu took the chopsticks, but his brow did not relax. Unable to hide his fatigue, he said, “I think I know the reason why the soldiers under you are always lacking strength.”

Pei Er and Zhang Hu both froze with their chopsticks midair and raised their heads to look at him at the same time.

Li Chansiu looked at them as well and said word by word: “It’s a lack of salt.”

“Lack of salt?” the two of them said simultaneously.

Pei Er frowned, while Zhang Hu looked somewhat confused.

“Yes.” Li Chansiu nodded seriously.

If a person lacks salt for a long time, in mild cases they will feel fatigued easily, have weak limbs, and even experience palpitations and dizziness. In severe cases they will have headaches, nausea, vomiting, and even faint. In even more serious cases, it can endanger life.①

Li Chansiu had first learned these things in a dream while in Western Qiang. Western Qiang did not produce salt and needed to purchase large amounts from Great Zhou every year. Later, because of war, the trade routes were cut off and Western Qiang fell into a predicament of salt shortage.

At that time he and a traveling physician passed through a village and discovered that the people there were not starving, yet many were fatigued and weak, and some even inexplicably vomited and fainted.

The village head had asked him and the traveling physician for help. At first they thought it might be poisoning or some other cause, but after the traveling physician conducted many inquiries and investigations, they discovered it was due to lack of salt.

Just now Zhang Hu had also said that since the beginning of winter this year, the big-pot dishes in the camp had been tasteless, with only occasional meals containing salt.

Those soldiers who had a bit of money could still go to town on rest days to eat food containing salt. But those who had no money and only ate the camp’s meals would not they be lacking salt for a long time?

Especially since these people were poor before joining the army and had not eaten well then, their physical condition was already worse than others. Without money to treat themselves to better food, they would be the first to show symptoms of fatigue and weakness.

All of this matched the situation Li Chansiu had just asked about. And… Chen Qing had probably not guessed wrong, there were indeed people in the army who wanted to make things difficult for Pei Er, wanting to assign some of the soldiers who usually performed poorly to him.

Coincidentally, because these men were poor and only ate the camp’s meals, they were the first to develop symptoms of salt deficiency. Yet they were mistaken for being lazy or disobedient and were all assigned to Pei Er.

However…

The importance of salt was not something people had only recently discovered, nor was it any secret.

Throughout dynasties, control over salt had always been extremely strict. And for an army marching to war, salt was even more indispensable.

Without salt, soldiers would have no strength, would not be able to lift weapons, and could not fight.

Especially for some armies on forced marches or distant expeditions, the military would even directly issue each soldier a small packet of salt so they could mix it with water and drink it during the march, or pinch some and eat it directly to replenish salt in time.

Zhang Hu could not read a single character and was only a garrison soldier, so he did not know what would happen if one lacked salt.

When Pei Er heard the words “lack of salt,” however, he frowned deeply. His instincts made him realize the seriousness of it, he had probably known before losing his memory, but now he no longer remembered.

Li Chansiu did not notice their expressions and was still frowning in thought.

The importance of salt to soldiers went without saying. Those who often led troops into battle, those who managed military supplies, and even the cooks in the army should all know.

Since that was the case, why had the food in the camp been lacking salt for so long?

Previously when he ate with the female dependents, the food there had also been bland and tasteless. At that time he had assumed the army was deliberately mistreating the exiled people.

But now it seemed that might not be the case.

Even the soldiers who trained heavily every day lacked salt, how could the food of those exiled here possibly contain salt?

Then where had the camp’s salt gone? And did General Chen know about this matter?

Along the entire route of exile he had not heard that Yongzhou lacked salt.

Li Chansiu quickly realized that the matter was probably not simple. He immediately told Pei Er and Zhang Hu to stop eating and keep today’s dish, then explained his speculation to Pei Er.

Pei Er’s expression immediately became serious as well. After careful consideration, he said in a low voice, “I’ll go see General Chen right now.”

“Yes.” Li Chansiu nodded. “That’s what I was thinking as well.”

From his previous observations, General Chen was still a righteous person. Otherwise, when he had previously let Pei Er compete in the grand contest, he would not have placed all his hopes on that man.

“In addition, I’ll go back and inform Physician Hu as well and ask him to also go see General Chen,” Li Chansiu added.

Pei Er looked at him deeply. After a long time he finally nodded and said, “Alright.”

It was already dark outside. Pei Er did not feel at ease letting him return to the medical room alone, so he had Zhang Hu escort him.

After watching the two of them walk away, Pei Er called over a young soldier and ordered him to pack up the remaining bowl of vegetables on the table and accompany him to the central army command tent.

***

When Li Chanxiu returned to the pharmacy, Physician Hu had just come back from outside as well.

Seeing that it was already dark and he still had not gone home, Physician Hu was somewhat surprised. “Why haven’t you gone back so late?”

Li Chanxiu shook his head. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

As he spoke, he glanced outside. Seeing that no one was passing by, he gestured for Physician Hu to walk further inside and lowered his voice to explain the situation.

After hearing it, Physician Hu was clearly surprised. He said thoughtfully, “Something like that? Impossible. I also eat the big pot meals every day. There’s salt taste.”

Li Chanxiu fell silent for a moment before asking, “Are you sure?”

“Would I lie to you?” Physician Hu said, gesturing with his eyes toward a table not far away. “Look, there’s still half a bowl of vegetables on that table. Hu Yuan’er and I didn’t finish it earlier.”

Li Chanxiu fell silent again. He walked over and tasted a bite of the now-cold dish, then frowned.

Indeed, there was a salty taste.

That made it even clearer that someone did not dare let people like Physician Hu, who also ate the big pot meals but had a somewhat special status, discover this matter.

What were they trying to hide?

“Then try this dish that I brought back.” Li Chanxiu took out the same dish from his medicine box.

***

Inside the central army tent, General Chen had been busy all day and had just finally sat down to eat.

Hearing that Pei Er had something to report, he directly had him brought in and listened while eating.

But as he listened, he gradually put down the bowl and chopsticks in his hands. His chewing slowed as a pair of sharp eyes stared tightly at Pei Er below.

After Pei Er finished speaking, he remained silent for a long time, and the tent was completely quiet.

After a while, he finally spoke: “Do you know that I also eat the big pot meals every day?”

Pei Er’s heart sank, thinking that he knew about this matter, perhaps even…

“Are you certain this is true? That it hasn’t only happened for a day or two?” General Chen asked again, his expression not looking as though he had known earlier.

Only then did Pei Er feel relieved. In a deep voice he replied, “This subordinate would not dare deceive the General. I have only eaten in the camp these past few days. I learned from Zhang Hu that the dishes have long lacked salt. In addition, the military physician examined them. More than one hundred soldiers are indeed lacking salt, which is why they are always fatigued and weak.”

He clasped his fists as he spoke, his attitude neither humble nor arrogant. After pausing, he added, “This subordinate brought a bowl of today’s dish.”

General Chen immediately said, “Bring it up.”

The young soldier quickly placed the dish on the table.

But after being carried all the way here, the dish had already grown so cold that there were ice crystals in it. The clerk beside him was about to take it to reheat it, but General Chen raised his hand and said, “No need.”

He then picked up some vegetables and put them into his mouth together with the ice crystals. After chewing for a while, his face grew darker and darker. Suddenly he picked up several large chopsticks’ worth again and stuffed them fiercely into his mouth, chewing with a frown.

The clerk beside him watched in alarm, but Pei Er stood calmly below the entire time.

Suddenly, General Chen slammed down his chopsticks and smashed the rice bowl in his hand heavily onto the table.

He abruptly stood up, his face dark as water. After pacing back and forth several times, he suddenly said to Pei Er, “Bring that Zhang Hu you mentioned.”

***

The next day.

The sky was frozen and the earth icy. After a night of north wind, the frontier town seemed even colder.

Outside the camp kitchen, soldiers who had gotten up early lined up in the bitter cold, stamping their feet and complaining, 

“This d*mned weather is getting colder and colder.”

“Today I really had no strength to get up. For some reason my whole body felt lazy. If I weren’t afraid of getting beaten with military sticks, I would’ve claimed illness.”

“Oh? Maybe when you went home last month you rolled under the blankets with your wife and used up all your strength?”

The others joked, and when soldiers talked dirty, any kind of word came out.

That soldier flushed red with embarrassment and cursed roughly, “Get lost, get lost! My wife went back to her parents’ home last month. When did I go back? I was eating in the camp the whole time.”

The group laughed and joked for a while. Suddenly someone said, “Speaking of which, that Centurion Pei who just got married, his wife really is like a fairy.”

“Centurion Pei got married but still lives in the military camp every day. He’s really willing to part with her.”

“If it were me, even if I got beaten with military sticks, I’d go home to sleep every night!”

Just as they were talking, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

The man who had been speaking had not yet realized and was still laughing loudly. Someone suddenly jabbed him a few times before he frowned and turned around irritably, only to meet Pei Er’s pair of cold black eyes.

He was so frightened that he instantly stiffened and stammered, “Pei, Pei, Centurion Pei!”

Pei Er glanced at him coldly and then carried his bowl to line up on the other side.

After he walked away, the group still did not dare breathe loudly. After a long time someone whispered with lingering fear, “That Centurion Pei’s gaze is too frightening.”

“I feel like he’s even more frightening than the thousand-man commander.”

Just as they were speaking, Thousand-man Commander Bai suddenly strode over with an obviously displeased expression.

He spotted Pei Er at once and walked straight over, immediately scolding, “Pei Er, I heard that yesterday you actually brought your wife here to eat. What, do you treat the military camp like your own home? I know, you’ve only got this little bit of ambition. You joined the competition just to marry your wife. You even said in front of the whole army. If you really can’t leave your wife, then hurry up and roll back home!”

Pei Er turned around at these words. His black eyes looked at him coldly, inexplicably chilling.

Thousand-man Commander Bai was actually made to feel a chill run down his spine from that gaze and froze for a moment. After recovering, he felt annoyed and said, “What? Not convinced? If you’re not convinced then…”

“Whether I roll away or not is hard to say. But someone’s head may really roll.” Pei Er withdrew his gaze, his tone indifferent.

Thousand-man Commander Bai froze. Then he angrily said, “What do you mean by that?”

Just after saying this, he suddenly heard people behind him not far away calling out “General Chen,” “General” one after another…

Thousand-man Commander Bai turned around and saw General Chen with a face dark as water. He raised a hand to stop everyone from saluting and strode toward them.