Chapter 883 - Simple Rations

Food is the first necessity of the people. Recruiting refugees required sufficient grain—and supplying meals for the long-distance journey of two hundred thousand people imposed an even heavier burden. Even sailing from Shanghai or Zhapu to Lingao, the sea route stretched 900 nautical miles. Sailing ships required ten days.

Even for healthy individuals, completing this sea voyage on crowded, pitching sailing ships was no simple feat—let alone for a population of starving, historically malnourished refugees. Without rations providing adequate nutritional content and sufficient calories, few would survive to see their destination.

Based on years of experience accepting refugees, supplying thin gruel with added vegetables proved most beneficial for these people's weakened stomachs. Once their digestive systems gradually adapted, protein-rich foods—primarily seafood—would be added to the gruel to strengthen their physical constitution.

In quarantine camps, simply using unpolished rice and sweet potatoes to prepare gruel or other foods was straightforward enough. But ordinary grain not only failed to meet Lingao's management and nutritional requirements, but also proved quite impractical for transport and usage. Cooking gruel for hundreds of people in a tiny ship's galley was extraordinarily difficult. Simple, easy-to-consume food was essential.

Hong Huangnan's supply plan referenced the earlier "Operation Pillar" landing at Sanya—equipping each ship with sufficient Grassland Instant Rations. This series of instant rations had matured considerably: three major series with twelve varieties now existed. Including different flavors and ingredient combinations, the sub-varieties were even more numerous. This series not only completely met nutritional and caloric standards but also offered substantially improved taste.

But Wu De vetoed this plan: distributing Grassland Rations in large quantities was too expensive. Moreover, stocks of Grassland Rations were insufficient—including the portion stored in army warehouses, only 1.5 campaign stocks existed. The nutritional structure was also ill-suited. Grassland Rations were high-calorie rations designed to replenish physical energy consumed in intense combat marches, so the ingredients contained relatively high protein and fat.

Rich protein and fat would be difficult for refugees' weakened stomachs to tolerate. Furthermore, human digestion and metabolism of protein required extra consumption of copious fresh water, easily causing thirst. This would add water supply pressure to refugee ships already crowded with people and possessing limited water storage.

Wu De therefore handed this matter to the Agricultural Committee and the Food Factory, requesting they develop a relief ration specifically designed for relieving vagrants and refugees.

The primary difference between relief rations and the Grassland series was cost—compared to the varied and comprehensive Grassland series, relief rations prioritized mass, low-cost production while still guaranteeing sufficient energy and basic nutrition.

This responsibility fell to Xun Suji. As director of the Food Factory, he was naturally duty-bound. Xun Suji was married with a family; at home, both his first wife and concubine served him attentively. More remarkably, no "family fighting" drama had erupted between Liu Meilan and Kim Hee-sun—the household relationship remained relatively harmonious. With domestic harmony, everything prospered; Factory Director Xun not only enjoyed the blessing of two wives but also brought boundless energy to his work.

After receiving the assignment, he immediately gathered the group who had originally developed the Grassland Rations to discuss how to manufacture relief rations.

The Relief Ration Conference convened at the Lotus Pavilion in Nanhai Farm. Unlike the café, this venue had been deliberately designed as "rural scenery." Compared to past years, the environment surrounding the Lotus Pavilion had undergone intentional renovation. Beside the pond brimming with lotus leaves, the large gazebo originally constructed of bamboo and straw had been rebuilt into a three-room waterside pavilion with a wooden terrace, surrounded by fruit trees and willows. The bamboo fence was draped with green pumpkin vines.

Being there evoked memories of certain heavily manicured "agritainment" resorts from the old time-space.

Besides the original developers from the Agricultural Committee and "enthusiastic individuals," Bai Duolu also participated. His enthusiasm for relief rations derived entirely from the needs of missionary work in Li minority areas. Agricultural production among the Li was more backward than in Han regions, especially among the Raw Li, who practiced slash-and-burn cultivation; food shortages in villages were commonplace. The church frequently used distributing relief grain as a means of proselytizing. Thus, Lingao Monastery urgently needed inexpensive relief rations.

Those who had developed the Grassland Rations back then were essentially a collection of "military ration enthusiasts." Plenty of elders had sat at home in pajamas eating military instant rations purchased at premium prices, familiar with everything from MREs to British 24-hour rations, French heating rations, and Type 06 individual self-heating food.

Now, developing a relief ration struck everyone's enthusiasm. Many people converged on the Lotus Pavilion; some who weren't on the attendee list took time from their busy schedules to attend.

According to refugee supply standards established by Chen Sigen: the daily food supply standard for a refugee during "transport by vehicle or vessel" was 1,790 kilocalories. This roughly corresponded to supply standards in German POW camps during World War II—sufficient to prevent starvation. Naturally, refugees being transported performed neither drills nor labor. Children, pregnant and nursing women, and the sick had separate supply standards.

Wu Nanhai suggested prioritizing sweet potato flour as the primary raw material—not sweet potato starch. Sweet potato starch is pure starch, whereas sweet potato flour is ground directly from sliced and dried sweet potatoes, retaining substantial fiber content.

Lingao's reserves of dried sweet potatoes and sweet potato flour were enormous. The Heaven and Earth Society had promoted improved sweet potato cultivation on a large scale throughout Lingao. Both state farms and ordinary farmers produced massive quantities of sweet potatoes. Raw material supply was exceptionally abundant. It had become a vital raw material for Lingao's food industry.

Besides sweet potato flour, a modest amount of protein was needed. Wu Nanhai suggested adding small quantities of bean flour or bean dregs. Leguminous crops were widely cultivated in Lingao's new crop rotation system as nitrogen-fixing crops. Except for soybeans designated for pressing oil and making tofu—which remained in tight supply—reserves of broad beans, peas, black beans, and chickpeas in the grain depots were still considerable.

"...Add sugar and salt, mix in some dried vegetables. If bean dregs are insufficient, incorporate fish powder. Finally, dry into blocks," Wu Nanhai concluded.

Ye Yuming interjected: "Why make bricks? That's wasted labor. I think it's unnecessary. Purely considering low cost, dried sweet potatoes work fine—we have vast reserves of this stuff, and it doesn't spoil easily. Load a few hundred gunny sacks on each ship, distribute some to refugees at each meal. Guarantee 500 grams of dried sweet potatoes daily and no one starves. But we must provide soup: refugees cannot go without salt."

He proposed manufacturing concentrated dehydrated seasoning bricks: a 3-in-1 concentrated soup block of miso, kelp, and dried vegetables.

Miso soup made from this block was a common dish in both Japan and Korea—nutritious, though the taste left something to be desired.

"If one desires variety, we can add dehydrated vegetables or dried fish to the miso soup to supplement nutrition. Sweet potatoes are high in fiber, so there's no need for additional cellulose."

Hong Huangnan continued advocating his potato flour plan. He harbored a particular fondness for potatoes and consistently pushed for the army and laborers to consume more of them.

"Same plan I mentioned before: dehydrated potato flour, animal fat, and spices mixed together. Add water and boil into mashed potatoes when eating. Potatoes are nutritious and can completely replace rice and grain. If we calculate replacing the supply for 5,000 soldiers, with each person consuming half a kilogram of rice grain daily—eating mashed potatoes one day a week saves 2,500 kilograms of rice weekly, 10,000 kilograms monthly. That figure is quite impressive. Refugees can certainly eat it too. I think protein is unnecessary for sea-transported refugees; digesting protein requires water. Better to add fat."

"I want the fat myself," General Staff representative Dongmen Chuiyu objected. "Fat is something even elders don't get enough of, and you want to give it to refugees? Besides, we haven't planted potatoes on any significant scale."

"Potatoes have short growing cycles and high yields; they can serve as vegetables or staple food. Surplus potatoes can be dehydrated into flour for long-term storage! I've never understood why the agricultural department doesn't prioritize promoting potatoes."

"Lingao's climate isn't suitable for growing potatoes; better to promote them when we reach the north," Wu Nanhai explained. The experimental fields at Nanhai Farm did contain potato plantings—purely to maintain seed stock, with no intention of broader promotion. Based on small-scale cultivation, yields weren't as high as in northern climates, offering no advantage over the sweet potatoes already being grown.

Potato yields are high, but potatoes contain substantial water content. The actual grain-equivalent ratio suffers heavy discounting. According to old time-space standards, five jin of potatoes equaled one jin of rice.

After extensive discussion, the finally approved relief ration plan was named the "Simple Rations" series. Simple Ration No. 1 was a sweet potato flour "biscuit." In a half-jin standard brick containing two biscuit blocks, there was a mixture of salty, sweet, and plain flavors. Simultaneously finalized for production was "No. 1 Instant Soup Block"—the "miso soup" Ye Yuming had championed. Manufacturing miso required beans or rice and wheat; raw materials were limited, restricting production to small quantities. One No. 1 Instant Soup Block could prepare miso soup for ten people.

The Simple Rations series later developed into comprehensive supply rations comparable to the Grassland series. However, its varieties remained fewer, classified simply by usage: "On-site Relief," "Camp Relief," "Vehicle/Vessel Transport Relief," and "Hiking Relief." Each variety was further divided into Winter Type and Ordinary Type. Each ration type featured different caloric and nutritional content.

However, the content of relief rations produced in each batch varied considerably. Depending on the season of production, the expansion of territory controlled by the Elder Council, and improvements in agricultural production levels, ration content underwent constant adjustment. There were luxury versions incorporating unpolished rice flour and whole wheat flour mixed with minced dried meat, and simplified versions during lean periods containing merely sweet potato flour plus some sweet potato leaves and fish powder. Overall, the weight, dimensions, calories, and nutritional content of each batch of relief rations didn't differ significantly.