Chapter 471 Apricot Blossom
On July 9th, the river opens, and on August 9th, the swallows come.

The wind gradually became warmer, and the wheat seedlings in the fields, no longer having the withered and yellow appearance of winter, grew against the wind, presenting a lush green scene.

In the ridges and at the edges of these vast wheat fields, all kinds of wild vegetables grow.

Shepherd's purse, shepherd's purse, dandelion...

Each one is crispy and green when raw. They are dug up from the fields, rooted and washed, or blanched and mixed with fresh almonds to make a cold dish. They taste crisp and refreshing, delicious and not greasy.

Or you can put it together with flour in the steamer to make steamed dishes, and eat it with garlic juice. It is delicious and satisfying. The leftover steamed dishes can be stir-fried with chili peppers to make them more fragrant and delicious.

Or you can steam it into vegetable steamed buns and feel the unique fragrance of spring.

The most delicious way is to blanch the wild vegetables, chop them up and mix them with pork stuffing, or use them to make dumplings, boil wontons, or steam them into buns. One bite of them and your mouth will be filled with the wonderful taste of wild vegetables and gravy.

Wild vegetables are delicious, and because this period of time is the period between the harvest and the harvest, and wild vegetables grow luxuriantly, they are a very important staple food at the moment.

Ordinary farmers would dig up more wild vegetables to solve the problem of vegetable shortage at home and save some food at the same time.

As the number of refugees increased after the New Year, it took some time for the vinegar in the vinegar workshop to be fully brewed, and there was no profit at that time. The large amount of wild vegetables solved the problem of hunger for many refugees in a short period of time.

In March, everything on earth is filled with beauty.

Even the apricot trees in the yard were blooming luxuriantly at this time.

The fragrance of apricot blossoms is subtle, yet gentle and refreshing, and very comfortable to smell.

Looking up at the flowers all over the tree, Xia Mingyue suddenly thought of the scene when she first came here.

The tree was in full bloom at the time, but because of a spring rain and the chilly weather, the petals fell to the ground, creating a very beautiful sight.

It was just that she had just arrived here, and suddenly became someone else's wife, so she was terrified and uneasy, and had no mood to appreciate it...

If I count carefully, I have been here for two years.

The marriage that she had some resistance to at first, now seems to be harmonious and harmonious in the eyes of others.

As the saying goes, the flowers are the same every year, but the people are different every year.

Today, the flowers are still the same flowers, but people have changed over time and are different. However, the only thing that remains the same is that Lu Qiyan is still in the army, and every time he returns to the army, he often cannot return home for a long time.

I don’t know…

Xia Mingyue's thoughts suddenly drifted away, but she quickly came to her senses and brought her thoughts back.

It’s so horrible. Didn’t I say I didn’t want to do it? Why is it starting again?

But having said that, there were always news of wars coming in, a victory today, a defeat tomorrow, which made people terrified and very uneasy.

But Lu Qiyan, An Yunji and Zhao Youcai never sent back any letter.

But then again, no letter sent back is probably the best letter.

After all, after every battle, the army would count the names of the dead and send the news of the deaths to the government office where the household was registered. The local government office would then issue compensation silver based on the names on the list and the amount given by the army. No news at this time was indeed the best news.

Xia Mingyue let out a light breath, shook her head, and tried her best to suppress all the random thoughts in her mind so that her mind could be completely calmed down.

After a long time, Xia Mingyue exhaled again, and then looked at the tree full of white apricot blossoms.

Humph, it’s all your fault!

You must pay the price you deserve!

Thinking this in her mind, Xia Mingyue immediately took appropriate actions.

All the available apricot flowers were picked, and some of the whole flowers were placed in a dry and ventilated place to dry, and the green oranges were made into sachets filled with the fragrance of apricot flowers, which were hung in the room or on the body.

The rest are made into different dishes.

To make cold-mixed apricot blossoms, choose flower buds that are about to open but have not yet opened, soak them in salt water, drain the water and blanch them for a cup of tea, then rinse them with cold water and season with salt.

But Xia Mingyue felt that eating only the cold-mixed apricot blossoms was a bit bland, so she added some blanched celery and lotus root cubes into it. Both tasted crisp and delicious. Although the apricot blossoms tasted slightly bitter, they were full of fragrance and had a unique flavor.

Apricot Blossom Cake is made of almond paste and glutinous rice flour to make a mellow and soft cake, and then decorated with pickled sugar-soaked apricot flowers. It does not taste bitter at all, but is full of almond fragrance, and is quite delicious...

Xia Mingyue was busy tinkering with the apricot blossoms here, but the army was full of noise at this moment.

The Jinwei Kingdom launched frequent attacks, but won more battles than it lost. At this time, it had already seized many villages and towns that originally belonged to the Great Zhou Kingdom.

Seeing that the border line was shrinking and Jin Weiguo's army was getting quite close to Changzhou City, Fan Honghui became more and more restless.

The reduction of territory would hurt the reputation of the Great Zhou Kingdom externally and the emperor's trust in him internally.

Both of them were enough to make Fan Honghui feel extremely guilty.

Seeing that Fan Honghui was both ashamed and irritable at this moment, An Leiting felt extremely happy.

Although Fan Honghui's father and grandfather were both military generals, because his grandfather and three uncles died in battle early, and his father became disabled because of fighting for the emperor, the emperor personally issued an order not to allow Fan Honghui and his brother to go to the battlefield easily.

Therefore, although Fan Honghui was quite skilled in martial arts and had made great progress in studying tactics and military books, he had hardly ever actually commanded any battles, which made him seem like a mere armchair strategist.

Since Fan Honghui arrived at the army, An Leiting has been very cooperative and has valued Fan Honghui. He even handed over the power of commanding the troops to Fan Honghui, all for the purpose of letting everyone open their eyes and take a look.

Let's see whether the deputy wing commander appointed by the emperor is more capable or the experienced wing commander is more powerful.

The current situation of successive defeats has already proved its strength.

Haha, I want to suppress him.

You are still a little naive!
An Leiting was happy in his heart, but his face was filled with grief like everyone else. He asked Fan Honghui, "The Jin Wei Kingdom is very arrogant right now, and its troops are very motivated because of their successive victories. I'm afraid they will soon attack Changzhou City. What should we do?"

Fan Honghui frowned, "Jinwei is a small country, but if the whole country is united, it also has 50,000 elite soldiers, and it is strong enough to fight against the Western Frontier Army. Changzhou City is easy to defend but difficult to attack, so Jinwei can't take it easily, but for safety, we still have to prepare defenses."

"Of course." An Leiting nodded, "But guarding Changzhou City is our duty, but if the war really has to take place here, I'm afraid that the rest and recuperation we have had for more than a year will be in vain."