Chapter 1086: Survival

Qi Haoran sat down beside Mu Yangling and quickly picked up a potato from the fire. Seeing that he was about to peel the scalding hot potato, Mu Yangling stuffed a freshly peeled potato into his hand and took it from him. “Eat mine first.”

Qi Haoran stuffed it into his mouth and let out a puff of cold air. “This spring cold looks even colder than winter. Fortunately, we seized a lot of winter clothes from the Jin soldiers. Otherwise, our soldiers would definitely suffer frostbite.”

“It’s a pity that we didn’t obtain much rations…” Mu Yangling nibbled on the potato regretfully.

Qi Haoran’s heart ached a little when he saw this. He held her hand and said, “I’ll bring you to a restaurant when we reach the next place.”

Mu Yangling smiled and replied happily, “Alright, I want mutton soup, meat buns and roasted chicken!”

Qi Haoran instantly felt his saliva secreting rapidly. He nodded repeatedly. “Yes, we’ll order them all.”

Little Bear, who was carrying a dry steamed bun over, immediately felt that there was no taste in his mouth. He sat down beside his parents aggrievedly, and Qi Haoran smacked him. “Why do you look so glum?”

“Father King, when will the rations be sent over? We can’t keep eating dry steamed buns and potatoes, right? The soldiers still have to go into battle to kill the enemy. How can they not have a single good meal?”

Qi Haoran looked to the south and said, “Don’t worry. With me here, your second uncle will try his best to send the rations here.”

Qi Haoran did not say anything about a temporary truce to let everyone rest. He knew that General Yuan and his father-in-law had already stopped fighting and were resting. Hence, he had to restrain Great Jin’s troops here and not give them a chance to catch their breath. Furthermore, he had the entire Great Qi Imperial Court behind him. With them replenishing his troops and defending the cities he had conquered, what he needed to do was to continuously attack the cities and recover the lost territory.

Seeing his son’s bitter expression, he mocked him. “You think this is hardship? Now, we actually have enough rations, and it’s just that we can’t transport them for the time being. Even so, you still have dry food, potatoes, and sweet potatoes to keep the hunger at bay. Back then, when I fought in the war, we even had to eat warhorses that died in battle to keep from starving.” At this point, Qi Haoran’s eyes moistened slightly. “Now that you have your own horse, you should know that it’s equivalent to your own companion. After eating the horse meat, it’s time to eat kaolinite1.”

Little Bear was shocked. “You’ve eaten kaolinite before?”

Mu Yangling glanced at him and said, “Your father has even drunk horse urine. It’s just kaolinite. What’s there to make a fuss about?”

Holding the dry steamed bun in his hand, Little Bear no longer dared to complain that it tasted bland.

Qi Haoran took out a potato and peeled it for his son to eat. Then, he took the dry steamed bun from his hand and roasted it over the fire. “Don’t belittle this tough little steamed bun. Actually, it’s still very delicious if it’s cooked well.”

Qi Haoran flipped it a few times. When he saw that the steamed bun had softened a little, he pulled it off the fire and used a dagger to cut it into pieces. Then, he roasted it until it was golden-brown. After mashing the potato, he sandwiched the potato mash in the middle before handing the bun to his son. “Try this.”

This was the first time Little Bear had seen his father roast something. He took it in surprise and bit it, and his eyes instantly widened in surprise. “So yummy! Father, you’re amazing! Even more amazing than Mother.”

Qi Haoran said smugly, “Of course. With your mother’s culinary skills, she can only prepare a good roast dish when there’s meat and spices. If you want to talk about outdoor survival skills, she can’t compare to me.”

Seeing how smug he was, Mu Yangling said, “If I need to survive outdoors, I’d have gone into the mountains to hunt myself. Why would I need to eat dry steamed buns with you?”

“What if you can’t find any prey?”

“Why not, with the mountain and forest all around us?”

Qi Haoran snorted. “There are always accidents in this world. You can’t just rely on one ability to survive in this world. What if you simply can’t capture any prey or don’t have the ability to hunt anymore? You have to learn to eat grass, tree bark, leaves, and even soil.”

Qi Haoran raised his chin and gestured for Mu Yangling to turn to look at the veterans behind him. “Look, they’re the people with the best survival skills in the world. There’s also those old beggars and refugees. Even if all they have is a handful of weeds, they’ll know how best to prepare it and fill their stomach. Son, if you want to learn how to lead troops and fight wars, learn from your mother and I. But if you want to learn how to live comfortably on the road, not starve, and survive, you should learn from them. I guarantee you’ll benefit endlessly.”

Little Bear turned to look at the scruffy old soldiers who were laughing with their legs crossed. For a moment, he couldn’t accept it.

He knew that he had come to the army to learn, but he mostly followed behind his mother to see how she fought or his father to see how he deployed soldiers. Otherwise, he would follow behind Fei Bai to the battlefield to kill the enemy. Even if he interacted with soldiers, he would mostly interact with officers above the platoon commander level or stay with the new recruits. He wasn’t so fond of hanging out with those old soldiers who often hurled vulgarities and looked like hooligans.

Even though he was not like a bookworm who insisted that the other party abide by certain things like a dogma, he had received a good education since he was young. As soon as he and his brothers learned to crawl, their mother had taught them to wash their hands after eating, and to be polite to people. While they could be mischievous, they were not allowed to curse or insult other people. Therefore, although Little Bear did not show it on his face, he looked down on those veterans.

Qi Haoran patted his shoulder and said, “Everyone has something which you can learn from. I’m asking you to interact with them not because I want you to pick up their bad habits. Veterans of their age have all experienced the chaos at the borders of the previous dynasty and the changes in dynasties. Some who are older have even experienced the chaos of the previous dynasty’s southward migration. They were born in a chaotic world and live in a chaotic world. Being able to survive until now is already a skill in itself.”

Little Bear said sadly, “Then, what about those who died?”

“Some of them are heroes who died because of their ideals and sacrificed themselves to protect their country. Some of them are villains who died because of their ambitions. However, most of them are ordinary people. They wanted to live, but the circumstances didn’t allow them to do so.” Qi Haoran looked at the veterans and said calmly, “Those are ordinary people who managed to survive. They don’t have too many ideals or ambitions. They only want to live. To survive in this chaotic world speaks volumes about their abilities, and this is what I want you to learn from them. Little Bear, you have to remember that your mother and I don’t expect you to be a peerless hero. Only if you stay alive can you do what you wish to do.”

Seeing her son’s widened eyes, Mu Yangling couldn’t help but laugh. “Actually, at first, your father wanted you to start as a soldier and learn from those veterans. It’s just that I was afraid that you would develop rebellious thoughts. Since you’re the Prince, everyone gives in to you. If you don’t have the heart to learn, everyone will definitely accommodate you. That won’t be good for you. That’s why your father asked me to bring you along and experience the war first. When your blood has mostly cooled down do we have a talk with you about such things. Your father said that your first lesson should be survival. Are you willing to make up for this lesson now?”

Thus, the next day, Little Bear was thrown into a group of veterans wearing the cotton clothes of a new recruit. These veterans were a distance away from Prince Rong and the others. In addition, Little Bear’s face had been smeared, so his current image was too different from when he was the young Prince. No one could recognize him.

Used to bullying the new recruits, the veterans made Little Bear’s life quite miserable. When Little Bear thought about how he was here to learn survival skills from them, he could only endure it.