Chapter 151
Chapter 151.
In an opulent living room, Hansel sat in a slightly formal seat, glancing towards the door from time to time.
A few days ago he had asked to see Viscount William, who was the royal quartermaster, but Mr. Viscount had always shunned him, saying that he was busy with his own affairs.
Yesterday, he finally waited for the long-awaited reply that the Viscount could receive him the next morning at the Viscount’s home.
Hansel rose early this morning, put on a suit of clothes which he had carefully prepared, and arrived at the Viscount’s mansion at the appointed hour.
He secretly reminded himself, “This meeting is crucial, it is related to whether or not I can open up sales for the canned goods, and whether or not I can enter the eyes of the kingdom’s top brass.”
Hansel returned to the royal capital this time, in addition to continuing to recruit talents and gather stragglers for Paul, he also had the important task of selling canned goods to the kingdom’s army.
Paul estimated that this matter could be accomplished in nine cases out of ten, after all, the food itself, canned food, was invented to solve the problem of military food, and any way you think about it, it should be very appetizing to the army, no matter which world it is from.
Although Hansel is a layman in the military, but for such a kind of food that is easy to be transported in large quantities and can be preserved for a long period of time, one can also see the importance of its significance to the army.
He was sitting in the living room of Viscount William’s house, and just after he didn’t know how many times he had looked towards the entrance of the living room, he suddenly heard footsteps sounding in the corridor outside.
“Coming coming!”
Hansel’s heart pounded as he tried to collect himself and straighten his sitting posture, waiting for his master’s arrival.
Soon, a silhouette flashed out from the entrance of the parlor, and a middle-aged man with a shrewd look in his eyes walked in.
Hansel immediately stood up and greeted the middle-aged man, “It is a great honor to meet you, Lord Viscount William.”
“Hansel, please sit, please sit.”
Lord Viscount immediately greeted him and sat down.
“How time flies, I didn’t realize that the second son of the Abbott family had grown to such a big age already.”
Viscount William suddenly let out a sigh of emotion, the old Abbott that year’s incident made a big fuss, causing the royal capital to be known by everyone up and down, and the young man in front of him was that year’s old Abbott’s child that came out of nowhere.
“Uh …… ah …… yes.”
Hansel awkwardly blurted out.
“So, what is it you came to see me about?”
Viscount William went straight to the point, clearly not intending to be polite with Hansel for a moment longer.
Hansel was inwardly irritated, “I’ve made it clear on my obeisance every time, ah, is this Lord Quartermaster really that busy? He can’t even remember what I came to him for?”
However, he did not show the slightest bit of dissatisfaction on his face, although the other party’s title was not very high, he held the key position of supplying the royal army.
With a decent smile on his face, Hansel explained his intentions, “Thank you, Lord Viscount, for being able to take time out of your busy schedule to receive me, I have come here to recommend a newly developed military food to you.”
In order to arouse Viscount William’s interest, he directly called the canned food as military food, after all, the other party was the quartermaster.
The Viscount revealed a puzzled look, “Military food? Developed?”
Hansel nodded, “Exactly.”
Then he called out, “Toman!”
Tommen, the servant who stood by, immediately set the wooden box he had been carrying on the table and carefully opened it.
Viscount William curiously tended to take a look inside the box, only to see six glass bottles placed inside.
“This is …… this is the military food used to eat?”
“Yes, Lord Viscount, in fact, their official name is ‘canned food’, which is a special means of food processing that can preserve food for a long time. You can taste the flavors, try the beef ones first.”
Hansel picked up a can labeled with beef, he peeled off the wax seal at the mouth of the can, revealing the cork inside, took out the can opener he carried with him and screwed it into the cork with force, and with a firm pull, the cork was pulled out, and then set the can in front of the Viscount.
Lord Viscount looked at the canned beef in front of him with a difficult face. To be honest, the canned meat did not look good, a piece of white grease floating on top of the murky broth, not to mention whetting one’s appetite, but rather making one feel a bit unappetizing.
After a while, he summoned a servant and ordered, “Go to the kitchen and get two forks.”
The servant quickly returned to the parlor and placed two forks on the table.
Viscount William gave Hansel a look, and Hansel understood, picking up one of the forks and reaching into the canned jar, spearing out a piece of beef and sending it into his mouth to chew on.
Seeing that the other man ate without hesitation, the Viscount then picked up another fork and also reached into the can and forked out a piece of beef into his mouth.
The Viscount muttered as he chewed, “Well …… this texture is okay, it is indeed beef.”
The taste was a bit strange, but it was acceptable, and it could be confirmed that it wasn’t the taste of rotting meat.
Hansel swallowed the beef and continued his introduction, “Lord Viscount, this canned beef that you and I are tasting has been produced more than a month since it was produced.”
“Over a month?”
Viscount William was greatly surprised that it could be preserved for so long.
He forked up another piece of beef and raised it to his eyes for a closer look.
From the taste and appearance these beef seemed to have been boiled, but boiled meat should rot and deteriorate after a day or two, even if it was placed in an ice room, it could only be slightly delayed for a few days, how did this tiny glass jar do it?
Seeing the Quartermaster’s astonishment, Hansel then revealed a bit of smugness.
“Lord Viscount, according to the inventor of the jars, they can be preserved for at least half a year, and even in the heat of summer, as long as they don’t pass the so-called ‘shelf life’, the meat inside won’t rot and spoil.”
“Half a year?”
Viscount William revealed an incredulous expression, as a quartermaster, he knows that making meat into jerky can also be preserved for a long time, but the taste is …… like chewing wax, anyway, not as delicious as the canned meat in front of him.
“It’s not just beef, other meats can also be canned, this is pork, this is lamb.”
Hansel introduced while taking the other five canned goods out of the box.
“And it’s not just meat, there are also canned vegetables and fruits, these three are pears, apples and spinach.”
The flowery and green canned fruits and vegetables sold much better and attracted the Viscount’s attention.
Hansel opened each of these canned goods with a can opener and asked Viscount William to take a taste of each one.
“Hmm ……. These two canned fruits taste good.”
The Viscount liked the canned fruits and took several bites in a row.
Hansel snickered inwardly, it certainly tasted good.
The canned goods used for marketing and tasting were specially made, canned meats with spices and canned fruits with sugar, both of which were expensive as hell in the Northwest Bay.
Mr. Viscount took the napkin handed to him by his servant and wiped his mouth.
“These so-called ‘canned goods’ are really good if they can really keep for more than six months.”
“Of course they are good things, Lord Viscount, I think they will be popular with the soldiers. As a Quartermaster, you must understand the pain of soldiers not being able to eat meat and vegetables.”
It didn’t matter if the soldiers welcomed them or not, and they had their own “means” to get meat and vegetables.
The most important thing is that it saves us quartermasters a lot of trouble.
Viscount William thought in his heart and agreed with Hansel’s words, “Of course, Baron Abbott, this is indeed excellent food for the army.”
He suddenly remembered that Hansel was a baron.
(End of chapter)