While the Soviet troops were intensively preparing in the direction of Stalingrad, Qinchuan in Baku ushered in good news...... Their quality of life has improved.

As mentioned before, the Transcaucasian region is very warm because of the Caucasus Mountains in the north against the Siberian cold current, and the warm sea breeze blowing from the Black Sea, which makes Transcaucasia very suitable for crops, especially tea...... 91% of tea in the USSR comes from Transcaucasia.

When Qin Chuan saw that there were patches of green tea trees planted on the mountain, of course he would not let go of his long-lost hobby, picked a helmet of tea tip leaves from the mountain, and borrowed a pot from the drinking class to stir it up.

The fragrance of tea soon attracted a group of officers and soldiers around them curiously.

"Major, these leaves are food?" Werner looked at the tea leaves fried in the pot, swallowed his saliva and said, "And it seems to taste quite good!" ”

"I think it's going to be better than brown bread at least!" The baker looked up at the tea mountain not far from the camp, and looked puzzled: "But why...... The Soviets planted so many of these trees, but they had to eat brown bread? ”

Qin Chuan replied while stir-frying: "Because this is not food, it is tea!" ”

"Tea?" The soldiers' faces were full of doubt.

"It's like ......," Qin Chuan explained, "a drink similar to coffee!" ”

As soon as the soldiers said this, they understood.

Although Qin Chuan loves to drink tea, he does not have the technology to fry tea, it is said that the processing of tea requires kneading, rolling, fermentation, drying and other operations, but this does not seem to be a big problem, of course there will not be such high requirements on the battlefield, just fry it for a while and it will come out of the pot, Qin Chuan can't wait to grab a pinch and put it in the cup, and then pour some freshly boiled boiling water...... Suddenly, a rich aroma of tea echoed between the nose and throat.

Qin Chuan wanted this kind of taste, the taste from his hometown, which reminded him of the small garden in his modern home, where he always sat there while drinking tea and reading the newspaper, which was the most leisurely moment of his busy day.

The soldiers did the same, each brewing a cup of tea, and then tasting it with a suspicious expression as if they were drinking pesticides, but soon their attitudes changed.

"Seems good!" The baker nodded greedily while feeling the aroma of tea: "There is a special fragrance, the major is right, it does have a refreshing effect similar to coffee!" ”

Werner took a sip and nodded: "Although it doesn't have the strong aroma of coffee, I think it's at least much better than artificial coffee!" ”

There are very few rations of coffee on the front lines, and even the occasional coffee is man-made.

Unlike others, Alfredo praised it: "I thought it was much better than coffee, and I was surprised that the Soviets would drink it, I thought they would only drink vodka!" ”

"It's not Soviet!" Qin Chuan replied: "It's Chinese!" ”

Qin Chuan is right, Soviet tea was introduced to Russia from Mongolia in 1638, and tea cultivation began in 1901. The first tea plantations were in Sochi, Transcaucasia...... The warm climate of Transcaucasia was suitable for growing tea, which soon spread throughout the region and became the tea base of the entire Soviet Union.

Qin Chuan decided that he must get more tea leaves to carry with him in his spare time, and one day, if he still has to fight in the ice and snow like stationed in Holm, it will be a pleasing thing to drink a cup of hot tea.

Then Qin Chuan soon found himself lagging behind, because the German soldiers had already taken off their helmets one by one and couldn't wait to run towards the tea mountain, but they didn't seem to know how to pick the tea leaves, and grabbed those leaves into the helmets one by one.

In addition to this, the food of the German army was also improved to a certain extent.

This part is stained with the light of the security forces...... The reason does not need to be explained, as soon as the security division is stationed, it will complete the statistics of the Soviet people, and then ask them to "pay taxes" to Germany.

Transcaucasia was not poor, in fact they were rich compared to the rest of the Soviet Union...... The two sides are close to the sea, the Black Sea on one side and the Caspian Sea on the other, and the mountains in the middle, plus the climate is pleasant, so you can make a living by fishing, planting, and breeding.

Before that, most of the food they produced had to be used to support the Soviet front, so they could only nibble on black bread on average.

But now there is not much difference, if anything, it is that the food they originally used to support the Soviet army became to support the German army.

As a result, the troops were soon fed white bread, vegetables, citrus from the Transcaucasia, and sometimes even mutton. If it weren't for the occasional Soviet submarine activity in the Caspian and Black Seas, Transcaucasia would be a secluded hideaway.

But those days didn't last long.

That evening, Manstein called Colonel Slain and Qin Chuan to his headquarters.

And Qin Chuan and Colonel Slain could basically guess what Manstein was looking for them for.

Sure enough, when Manstein saw them, he got up and stepped forward to shake hands with Colonel Slain and Qin Chuan respectively, and then handed over a telegram and said: "Colonel, major, I'm sorry, this is General Rommel's telegram!" ”

Needless to say, the content of the telegram was, of course, a request for the first step of the Corps to be rebuilt.

"I can't find an excuse to keep you here!" Manstein said: "I would love to do this, but you know that I can't do it, the battlefield needs you!" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Colonel Slane stepped forward and said, "We understand, it's our fate, isn't it?" ”

"No!" Manstein replied: "It is not your fate, you have established immortal deeds, and it is deserving to get a little rest and enjoyment, so ...... It is the Empire that owes it to you! ”

After a pause, Manstein said: "Of course, I would not say that in front of the troops!" ”

Qin Chuan understood what Manstein meant.

It is not a problem to say such things in a private conversation between officers, but if you say the same in front of the troops...... It may affect morale, because the soldiers will think: since the empire owes us, can we take it for granted that we have some privileges or do something to recover this "debt"?

So, in front of the soldiers, there will never be a situation in which the state owes them, although this is not the case.

Then Manstein led the two men to the map, pointed to a point on the map, and said: "The 21st Panzer Division is here, Zimryanskaya, you can get there by train, but be prepared to fight in a few days, because the battle there has just begun!" ”