Chapter 355: Chapter 237: With Duke Augustus, There’s Meat to Eat (Part 1)

Fang Zhen didn’t have to wait long in the forest before he saw an army slowly marching toward his position in the distance.

He raised his binoculars for a closer look. It was Mage Mansa, Agatha, Finn, and Tahar, leading the soldiers.

A smile touched the corners of Fang Zhen’s mouth.

He was quite curious to see what Mansa would say after seeing these military supplies.

In less than half an hour, Mansa and the others led the army to Fang Zhen’s location in the forest.

By now, Fang Zhen had already dismounted. He was seated in a folding wooden chair next to a portable tea table, his back against a large tree, looking for all the world like he was leisurely enjoying some tea.

Seeing Mansa and the others arrive, Fang Zhen gave them a leisurely nod and raised his teacup in a toast.

"You’re a little late. I didn’t prepare any refreshments for you," Fang Zhen said in a relaxed tone.

Even though he was clad in full plate armor, the leisurely posture somehow suited him perfectly, not feeling out of place in the slightest.

Mansa and the others were stunned by the scene.

"Sir, the supplies..." Tahar asked, getting straight to the point.

Fang Zhen pointed to the supplies covered by a large, waterproof tarp. "The supplies are over there. I’m going to enjoy my afternoon tea first. Go take a look for yourselves."

Upon hearing this, Mansa was the first to swing himself off his horse. He strode over to the tarp and yanked off the green waterproof covering.

Instantly, bricks of instant noodles, cans of luncheon meat, pre-cooked meals, sacks of rice, and other supplies were revealed before Mansa and the others.

Mansa was dumbfounded. Agatha, Finn, Tahar, and the rest were also stunned, momentarily at a loss for words.

Fang Zhen sipped his tea with a faint smile, enjoying their reactions.

His tea table, tea set, and snacks were all prepared in advance. The tea was Pu’er Dragon Ball, the hot water was heated with a solid alcohol stove, and the snacks were two or three thumb-sized, bite-sized Cantonese mooncakes. The entire display was designed to project an image of effortless, unhurried ease.

His goal was to astound Mansa and the others, to give them a sense of shocking contrast.

However, Fang Zhen was a little worried that Finn and Agatha wouldn’t recognize the supplies before them.

Soon, his worries proved to be unnecessary.

Mansa saw the bricks of instant noodles in their transparent plastic packaging. Although he didn’t know the manufacturing process, he recognized them as food. He immediately grabbed a bag, tore it open, took out a noodle brick, and pinched it, feeling how satisfyingly crisp it was. He then gave it a sniff, and seeming to find nothing wrong, took a bite.

CRUNCH CRUNCH

The sound of chewing instant noodles filled the air, strikingly similar to the crunching of his classmates eating dry ramen as a snack during recess back in his school days.

The look of astonishment in Mansa’s eyes grew more and more pronounced.

Apparently, the flavor of deep-fried instant noodles was undeniably good—anyone who’s tried them knows. And the tastes of the people in the Nameless World were no different from those on Earth.

Mansa chewed a few more times and then swallowed hard. It was a bit dry and almost made him choke, but he managed to get it down before looking up with an expression of utter shock.

"This... this is the military ration for the soldiers?" After taking a bite of the instant noodles, Mansa looked at the massive pile of over twenty thousand bags of noodle bricks, his face a mask of shock.

"Sir, where did you get all this?" Mansa’s eyes seemed to lose focus. "For you to give the soldiers this kind of food, isn’t it..."

"Isn’t this a little too extravagant? This is all made from refined flour!"

Mansa’s astonishment was well-founded.

Here, the poor generally ate black bread—a coarse, hard, and dry food that was almost impossible to swallow without toasting it first. Its only advantage was its low price.

Only the relatively wealthy could afford white bread.

But even that flour couldn’t compare to modern, common flour.

What’s more, the instant noodles were deep-fried, imbued with oil, and possessed a natural aroma.

Mansa had seen a lot of the world, but he had truly never seen soldiers being given this kind of food as military rations.

Fang Zhen’s expression was serene. He unhurriedly raised his cup, took a sip of tea, and then set it down before calmly saying, "As my soldiers, they deserve this treatment."

Hearing Fang Zhen say this, the surrounding quartermaster soldiers unconsciously straightened their backs, their faces beaming with pride.

Meanwhile, Agatha and Tahar had picked up a can of luncheon meat and one of the pre-cooked meals.

When Fang Zhen bought the supplies, he had given instructions to minimize the information on the packaging. As a result, the instant noodle bricks were in clear plastic bags, the identifying sticker on the outside of the luncheon meat cans had been torn off, and the pre-cooked meals only had their silvery inner pouches, with no outer packaging.

The rest of the supplies had been handled in the same way where possible. For those whose packaging information couldn’t be removed, it wasn’t a major issue; in any case, the people here couldn’t read the characters anyway.

Clearly, the people of this world weren’t stupid at all. The moment Agatha saw the pull-tab on the luncheon meat can, she knew what to do. She pulled it open at once, very naturally rolling up the metal lid.

She took a small knife from her belt, cut off a piece of the luncheon meat, and popped it into her mouth.

A moment later, a look of surprise also appeared in Agatha’s eyes.

"This is... ham?"

Agatha swallowed the bite of luncheon meat and turned to look at Fang Zhen with an expression of utter astonishment.

"You... you’re giving the soldiers this kind of ham?"

Beside her, Tahar had torn open a bag of beef and potato stew. After taking a couple of cold bites, he looked at Fang Zhen with the exact same expression.

’He’s insane. He has to be completely insane.’

’In this day and age, it was already a struggle just to keep soldiers from starving to death, yet Fang Zhen was actually feeding them ham, beef and potato stew, and deep-fried noodle bricks made from refined flour?’