Vol 2 Chapter 1781 the taste of happiness

  Chapter 1781 The Taste of Happiness

   At this time, the French envoy has arrived in Rotterdam.

   Not only that, the Spanish messenger has also arrived.

  The fighting in the entire northern province suddenly stopped, and all the troops and horses faded away like a tide.

  Peace is what people long for, but this sudden peace obviously made all the Dutch feel extremely uncomfortable first.

   The rationing system began to be gradually abolished.

  The former market has begun to rebuild again.

   Those who have experienced long-term wars stand blankly on the streets full of ruins, looking at everything in front of them, as if in a dream, and feel very unreal.

  After six years of tragic war, people seem to have begun to feel strange about peace.

   Even the slightest noise still made them feel anxious.

  But soon, soldiers from the First Army appeared on the streets and began to maintain a new order.

   Immediately afterwards… Wang Xizuo promulgated many decrees and began to restore the calm of the streets.

  The original militias were all disbanded.

   And…began giving them severance currency.

  Of course, this currency is still Daming treasure.

  People look at the piece of paper in their hands and feel that it is real, but it seems funny.

  Is this thing…still useful?

   Fortunately… the first batch of canned food has begun to appear on the market.

   This is the supply of the fleet, if it lands as the first batch of supplies.

  And… only treasure notes are allowed to buy.

  In this way…this is a worthless piece of paper, and suddenly people realize…as if…it is not worthless!

   In the minds of the sailors, canned food is actually not beautiful, it can even be said to be like pig food.

   You must know that they have been at sea for more than half a year, and the main food they ate was canned food. Now they would rather eat black bread like sawdust than taste this canned food.

  Therefore…a large amount of canned food began to be directly supplied to the Northern Province.

  …

   When Joseph Jr. was born, the war in the Northern Province started.

  In the past six years, he has experienced the war that swept across the entire northern province in a ignorant way, and every day of starvation caused by the war!

Since childhood…his father rarely came home. In the northern province, his father followed the infantry regiment to deal with the Spaniards in the lowlands. They had already been separated from the regular army, so they ambushed from time to time along the French border. The nearby Spaniards, once the Spaniards attacked aggressively, immediately retreated into the dense forests of France.

When his father came home, little Joseph looked at his father. This yellow and thin man had deeply sunken cheeks, bloodshot eyes, and a worn sheepskin scabbard around his waist. The clothes are like strips of cloth, and there are no traces of military uniforms.

  What caught his attention was that his father was carrying a bag on his thin body, and there was a pile of banknotes in the bag, which was twenty taels of silver. Besides, there were some coals he picked up.

  He put the coals into the basin, first lit the fire starter, and then ignited the coals, creating a slight warmth!

  Winter in Northern Province is really cold.

  Father’s face is indifferent, like all veterans, he looks like a stranger.

   Seems like…he’s forgotten how to laugh.

At this time, my mother talked about the difficulties of the family over the years. Everything that could be sold was sold. In order to supply the army with casting cannons, the family almost did not have any iron objects. A poor horse in the family was also requisitioned. Yes, so far, the Governor’s Mansion has no intention of paying it back.

  Father just kept listening silently, without saying a word.

  Little Joseph leaned on the coal fire, drowsy and hungry.

  Mother found some vegetable soup and let him eat it.

  There is no more food at home.

  Winter has also come.

   It seems that whether the war is over or not, to little Joseph, it doesn’t make any difference!

  In the early morning of the next day, the father left, still indifferent and silent, with dry lips, only nodded on the forehead of little Joseph, then packed up his things and went out.

  As usual… At this time, my mother put on a bitter face again, and began to complain.

  How difficult the days are, the men never care about the family affairs, cursing how cold this winter is. Or, reheating yesterday’s vegetable soup, complaining about running out of rations, but not knowing what else to eat in the future.

  Little Joseph clutched the blanket, only drowsy. He was extremely hungry, but… it seemed that his life had been like this since he was born. Although he was hungry, this was also the most ordinary day.

  It was evening.

  The wind outside, as usual, was whining, blowing the broken Chapman!

   It’s just today, it’s obviously different from usual days!

   Suddenly, the door was pushed open!

  Mother got up, reluctant to light the lamp, but fortunately she heard her husband’s voice.

  Little Joseph didn’t have the slightest feeling for his father. It seemed…father was just a noun. He continued to curl up in the blanket and doze off!

  In fact, moving less can save him some energy, and it seems that his hunger is much less!

   Then, the father seemed to say something in a low voice, and then, the light turned on.

   Before he could understand the situation, his father lifted little Joseph out of the blanket.

  When he came back this time, his father’s face was much gentler.

  His shabby attire seemed to be a little different. On his arm, a piece of red silk was tied, which was extraordinarily bright.

The father carried little Joseph and sat down by the charcoal fire. The taciturn man began to speak: “The governor’s mansion needs a team of guards. My old boss decided to let me go to the police house and pay two taels of silver a month. ”

   As he spoke, he took out a glass jar from the cloth bag he brought out this morning.

   “This is bought in the market, thirty-seven copper coins.”

   As he spoke, there was a rolling sound of saliva in his throat: “This is brought by our fleet. The fleet has defeated the festering Spaniards…”

  He continued to mutter, saying something vague and incomprehensible to Joseph: “Now, the Northern Province is under the direct control of the emperor, and we are now loyal to His Majesty the Emperor…”

   As he spoke, he pried open the glass jar with a dagger familiarly.

   All of a sudden, little Joseph, who was still drowsy, cheered up.

  Because he smelled a strong smell of meat!

  So, his eyes were fixed on the can.

  Father’s ice-like face seemed to melt a little at this moment, revealing a slight smile.

   Immediately afterwards, he stroked the disheveled head of little Joseph with his thick hand.

   “This thing is called canned food… It was supplied by His Majesty the Emperor.”

   After finishing speaking, he took the iron spoon and gently scooped some on the top of the glass bottle. His father’s bloodshot eyes were fixed on the black thing on the spoon!

  Mother has leaned over and watched carefully, as if guessing the ingredients of this food.

  Father was not in a hurry to eat, but carefully placed the spoon on the charcoal fire, as if hoping to warm up the food in the spoon.

   While looking at the contents of the spoon, he said with emotion: “It took only a few hours for His Majesty the Emperor to defeat the Spaniards and win eternal peace for us…”

  When the food on the spoon was a little warmer, the father picked up the spoon, and with his fingers, lightly dipped the soup in the spoon, and then put his finger into his mouth to **** it.

   This is the first time this man has eaten canned food.

  In the morning, he bought the can and kept it close to his body all the time, even if he was hungry and uncomfortable at noon and afternoon, he refused to take it out to eat a bite.

  He is used to being hungry, so he keeps these cans and wants to take them home!

  Now, even though I just dipped my fingers in some meat sauce and put it in my mouth, my whole body… seems to be crispy and warm!

  Little Joseph devoured the meat sauce in the spoon like a wolf!

  In this mouth…a strange meaty smell, as well as the unique taste of the sauce, immediately made Little Joseph feel as if he was surrounded by candied fruit.

   What he is chewing in his mouth is actually…beef…

  Beef is so chewy that little Joseph dared not swallow it, but repeatedly chewed it in the root of his teeth.

   It’s… so wonderful.

  It seems that there has never been such a magical thing in the world, which can make little Joseph feel that there is such a warm thing in the world.

   So… the first scoop, the second scoop.

  The family sat around here, only the sound of chewing and swallowing.

  Little Joseph felt the taste of happiness for the first time.

  He looked at his father affectionately. His father ate less and only liked to dip his fingers in the meat sauce. The large pieces of beef in the can were delivered to little Joseph’s mouth.

   Halfway through eating, little Joseph felt that the more he ate, the more hungry he became.

  Suddenly, the spoon in father’s hand was a little unstable, and a few drops of meat sauce fell to the ground.

  The mother wants to speak, and wants to blame her husband.

  But in an instant, the man with an indifferent face suddenly burst into tears, tears fell from his bloodshot eyes and dripped into the charcoal fire, swearing and crackling.

  The man sobbed, choked up, and the spoon in his hand trembled.

“Wang Xizuo… the governor Wang Xizuo said…” The man choked up and said, “There will be no more wars, no more starvation, this is… this is His Majesty’s promise to the northern province… there will be no more people Dying in the ditch…we…we…”

  Tears are like a flood that has opened the gate, and it seems that it will never end.

  Little Joseph raised his head. He probably only understood that the emperor had made a promise that he would eat such canned food in the future.

  This is the most unusual night in the Port of Rotterdam, so ordinary that even the moon is no different from normal days. At this moment… the stars are looming, falling in the most ordinary wood houses.

  For the people in the wood house, this is destined to be the most extraordinary day.

  Little Joseph slept very soundly that night, even in a dream, he pouted, the smell of meat was still rippling in his mouth, it was the taste of happiness.

  …

  On the last day of this month, it is not too much to ask for a monthly pass.

  (end of this chapter)