episode_0060

Meals are a pain.

This was a saying shared by many people in recent times.

Why is it painful to enjoy the food prepared with care by the housewife or the cook?

If someone were to ask this, the reason was simple.

Because the ingredients to make food were depleted.

“Everyone, come and get your lunch.”

“What’s on the menu today, dear?”

“It’s always the same. Turnips.”

In the morning, turnip bread and turnip stew, braised turnips.

For lunch, turnip stew and braised turnips, turnip bread.

For dinner, braised turnips and turnip bread, turnip stew.

It was always the same.

Products of desperation made to somehow eat turnips, which were terrible in taste, texture, and calories.

If you’re lucky, sometimes black bread mixed with sawdust or a salad made by sprinkling vinegar on weeds is added.

The mountains and rivers all belong to the nobles, so you can’t hunt recklessly. No matter how much you try to improve the diet, this is the limit.

“Damn it. How are we supposed to work after eating this?”

“Shut up and eat, hyung. We need to fill our stomachs somehow to farm in the afternoon.”

“Haa, I wish I could have just one piece of ham.”

“I want a biscuit.”

Since there is no proper flavor, eating it doesn’t make you happy.

Due to the nature of turnips, you feel hungry quickly even after eating, and the texture is extremely tough. This is due to the nature of the ingredient, so it can’t be helped.

Moreover, in winter, if there is a shortage of fuel, it is cooked carelessly, not cooked enough, which can cause stomach problems.

“How long do we have to live like this?”

Almost two years since the war broke out.

The civilian food life of the Kram Empire was rapidly plummeting. It was worrisome whether they could endure like this for a few more years.

“Those noble sirs eat meat dishes and expensive liquor every day even in this situation.”

“I heard that banquet tables are always prepared in the city’s banquet halls.”

“But we can’t even eat a single fish as we please.”

Do you know what’s even more miserable?

Although the people’s diet is like this, in fact, the food supply has not plummeted that severely.

Compared to before the war, domestic production is about 70% level.

Including overseas imports, a supply of about 80% was somehow maintained.

No matter how many farmers were dragged into the war and the labor shortage was severe.

The production power did not drop to 0 overnight.

This was the same for Kram and other countries. Except for Helvetia, which organizes national assault teams.

“Even if it’s wartime, there should be a limit. If you scrape everything to the bottom like this, what are we supposed to eat?”

“Since they don’t farm anyway, they don’t care whether we suffer or not.”

“Fucking hell.”

Even so, the reason why the people suffer is because a specific group monopolizes the food that has been secured with difficulty. That is the military.

The military, which had become excessively large for the war, was like a goblin that coveted all the resources of the country.

Since they sweep everything away before it is supplied to the market, how much is left for civilian consumption?

Unless you are a noble with power and your own supply network, you can’t even dream of a proper meal.

In rural areas, soldiers are even dispatched to requisition food.

So that the wheat can be confiscated as soon as it is harvested from the field and sent to the front lines.

‘Can’t you hand it over right away! You dare to refuse when it will be used for the sacred duty of defending the country!’

‘Aigo, these guys! My mother is sick, what are we supposed to eat if you take that away too!!’

‘Just be patient and endure! The war will end soon and we will be able to return to the old days.’

They scrape away everything except the seeds to be sown the following year.

Even if you dig into the ground and hide it, they use hunting dogs to find it somehow.

So the only food left for the remaining people was famine relief crops.

Those with a short cultivation period, not tasty enough for the military to take away, and with a lot of starch.

And among those crops, the ones that are strong enough to withstand the winter cold.

That is, turnips.

‘At this rate, we’re all going to die of malnutrition.’

“Who says no. I don’t want much, I just wish we could catch one pig. So that our village people can share it together.”

“Shall we try stealing from the lord’s residence?”

A terrible diet with no nutritional balance whatsoever.

Nevertheless, they endured, following the propaganda that it was for the sake of the country, for the sacrifice for the future of the nation.

Anyway, they didn’t want to lose the war and have the country ruined.

They endured, believing that they could return to their original lives if they endured for just two or three more years at most.

They endured and endured until the limit of their patience came.

“I heard that a criminal is hiding in this village. Find him quickly!”

But.

Due to a trivial incident, the limit finally came.

* * * * *

Somewhere in the eastern part of the Kram Empire.

–Slap!

A clear slap sound echoing under the clear sky.

As a sturdy officer swung his arm, an old man with reddened cheeks fell to the ground.

“Aigo, grandfather!”

“S, suddenly coming here, what is this?! The time for the scheduled requisition is still far away!”

“That’s right. I wasn’t planning on coming here either. If I hadn’t received a tip that this guy was hiding flour.”

The villagers were shocked and protested as a group.

In response, the officer held up the burlap sack he was holding.

There was flour in it, as he said.

Flour full of impurities and of poor quality, scraped from the floor while milling at the mill.

“In a situation where the entire empire is fighting in unity, you dare to hide food? You traitorous bastard!”

“Keuheuk!”

A kick flying with a roar.

The old man screams and clutches his chest. It was strangely dented, as if he had hit a bone wrong.

An injury that looked serious at first glance.

But without paying attention to that, the officer spat on the old man with a contemptuous look.

And he looked back at the villagers he had gathered and gave a speech.

“His Majesty said! It is difficult to win this war unless the entire nation sacrifices together! To defeat those evil Elaine and Helvetia bastards, the dedication of all the people is needed!

Nevertheless, not offering the precious food for the soldiers and secretly hiding it! It can only be regarded as an intentional act of treason!!”

The sound that priests kept repeating whenever they went to church.

At first, it was regarded as golden words, but due to excessive emphasis, the persuasiveness of the phrase has been decreasing these days.

The officer, who rebuked the residents as if reciting a scripture passage, took out a pistol from his pocket.

“As an example, this old man will receive punishment befitting his crime. Everyone should watch closely and engrave it in their hearts!”

The officer pointed his gun.

The old man, unable to protest, had an eye of resignation as if he sensed the end.

“Farewell. Betrayer of the country.”

–Taang!

However, the old man, who opened his eyes only after the gunshot rang out and a few seconds had passed, couldn’t help but be surprised.

Because it was the officer, not himself, who was bleeding from his neck and collapsing.

“Fucking bastard. You have to keep the bullshit to a certain extent.”

The culprit was a retired soldier who lived on the outskirts of the village.

A young man who had participated in the war from the beginning and was discharged after losing his right leg.

The young man, who shot and killed the officer with a rifle he had brought back from his discharge, came forward and stood on the corpse.

Then he shouted to the villagers.

“Everyone! How long are you going to just put up with it? How long are you going to be exploited and suffer?”

His finger pointed to the burlap sack.

To be exact, the flour inside, soaked in the officer’s blood and unable to be eaten.

“The high-ranking people keep shouting to sacrifice and dedicate themselves every day, but have you ever seen them sacrifice? We are treated like we are going to be killed just for hiding flour, but they enjoy luxurious banquets every day!”

“T, that’s right.”

“Last time I went to the lord’s castle, they were having a party inside.”

Everyone knows that no matter how short the food supply is, only the people are being exploited.

“Look at this bastard’s face. He’s fat and plump, but we’re all skin and bones! Officer is not going to the front lines to fight, but is living in luxury in the safe rear!!”

Moreover, there is a situation where draft dodging is spreading.

I’ve heard rumors that high-ranking people are secretly leaving the army or running to the rear… Evidence has appeared before my eyes?

“It’s all or nothing. If we live hungry like this, we will all starve to death. If we’re going to die anyway, let’s take back our stolen grain and eat as much as we want!!”

“……That’s right! Let’s take back the grain we worked so hard to grow!”

“Let’s put soft bread in the mouths of our hungry children! Does it make sense that we, who grew the wheat, can’t eat the wheat!!”

Anger and madness are easily contagious.

Especially in situations where everyone is not in their right mind due to shocking events such as murder.

Because the villagers, who were always hungry and exhausted, were always at MAX stress.

They were quickly 넘어간 by the young man’s instigation and began to burn with sincere anger.

“Everyone, take up arms! The grain we stole from us will be stored in the food warehouse in the back mountain!”

“The soldiers guarding it are few in number, so if we all flock together, we have a good chance of 승산!”

In this way, the first grain looting and military sabotage by their own people occurred.

When this incident was reported to the central government, the Kram Empire was turned upside down.

* * * * *

To be honest, I was surprised.

They’re only in the first year of the war, and they’ve already started filming a turnip winter otherworld version. How are they going to endure later on?

“It’s still small in scale, can it be suppressed?”

“It’s possible, but…..”

At Kalia’s question, I muttered while rubbing my chest.

“It might be a little difficult. At least it doesn’t seem like a situation that will end quickly in a few weeks.”

In the old days, I would have cleaned it up in an instant.

I would have carried out scorched earth tactics or used every possible strong measure, such as burning down the entire village.

The owner of the territory would have destroyed it himself.

But the situation is different now. Politically and systematically.

No matter how sufficient the power is, it didn’t seem like it would be easily resolved.

“Prepare some paper. I should start writing the next book.”

“We’ll have to publish it when we get back. I was thinking of preparing to return home.”

Do I have to go back already?

Well, I’ve been here for almost three months.

I have to return to avoid paralyzing the work of the Elaine branch.

“What’s the theme this time, Ismail?”

“Hmm…… The aesthetics of dictatorship?”

I’m thinking of borrowing the ideas of the world’s best dictatorship expert.