The origin of Fuqing light cake

According to the Records of Fuzhou Prefecture, in the forty-two years of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (AD 1563), Qi Jiguang led an army into Fujian to pursue and annihilate the enemy. He didn't want it to rain, and the army couldn't afford a stove, so Qi Jiguang ordered a simple biscuit to be baked and hung on the soldiers with hemp rope as dry food, which greatly facilitated the battle to destroy the enemy. Later, this kind of cake flowed into the people, which was not only widely eaten, but also became a necessary offering to worship the ancestors of the gods. Later generations felt that Qigong was pitiful, so they called this biscuit "light cake". Fuqing lantern cake made by this special method has a history of 400 years. According to legend, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Qi Jiguang led troops to Fuqing to pacify the Japanese invaders. In order to attack the enemy in time and annihilate the enemy, the army often does not make a fire to cook, while the soldiers of Qijiajun make their own biscuits as dry food in the north. This kind of sesame seed cake is the embryonic form of Fuqing light cake. Later, the soldiers found that although sesame seed cake can satisfy hunger, it is easy to get angry when eaten too much, which is difficult to digest and often leads to constipation. Smart Fuqing people add salt to the dough to improve the taste, add alkali to help digestion, pat sesame seeds to moisten the stomach and dry the fire. This kind of improved scones became the favorite dry food of the soldiers of the Qijia Army, and made great contributions to destroying the enemies of the Tian Niu stronghold of the Qijia Army. In order to commemorate Qi Jiguang's recumbent achievement, people call this kind of scones light cakes.