Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 161 Local Tyrant
Finally, the ship transporting the horses finally landed.As Yang Menglong expected, Xue Siming's black horse was fine, but his and Cheng Ji's were miserable. They trembled for a long time and dared not get off the boat. After getting off the boat, they kept shaking and couldn't even take a step forward.Xue Siming smiled: "The horses in the Central Plains have never seen the power of the Yellow River, so it's normal to be frightened."

Cheng Ji said: "Yellow River, it's not the first time I've seen it, but I've never seen such a scary stretch of river!"

Yang Menglong patted his chest, and said: "Don't talk about horses, even I was scared... Boss Cheng, why don't we divide the work, and Xiao Xue and I will take a step first and go to the county to have a look?"

Cheng Ji said: "It's fine, but you have to be careful, this place is not flat!"

Yang Menglong patted the scabbard and said, "Don't worry, my knife is not a vegetarian!"

Cheng Ji said: "It's better to be careful. There are a lot of bandits in this place. From time to time, Mongolian Tartars come to kill and rob!"

Cheng Ji said: "Yes, sir, our area is in chaos. Fighting with weapons is commonplace. Mongolian Tatars often cross the border wall to enter the country to rob. In the second year of the Apocalypse, they even massacred Yan'an Prefecture and killed tens of thousands of people." !"

Yang Menglong was shocked: "Killed so many people! What happened next? What happened next?"

Xue Siming said: "The two bastards, Governor Zhang Zhihou and Commander-in-Chief Du Wenhuan, concealed the matter and refused to report it. Later, someone exposed the matter, and the court did not do anything to them. Their official positions were taken care of, and their money was still collected, and the tens of millions of My last name is that I died in vain.”

Yang Menglong was dumbfounded: "This...is it okay?"

Xue Siming smiled bitterly: "What else can I do?"

Yang Menglong has really opened his eyes. Damn, tens of thousands of people have been killed, so let's forget it?That is tens of thousands of human lives, not tens of thousands of onions!This also shows how weak the strength of the Ming Dynasty was. Even the Mongols, who had long since faded, dared to invade hundreds of miles, slaughtered tens of thousands of people, and then left.For the sake of prudence, he decided to wait until twenty or so soldiers had crossed the river and the horses recovered a little bit of energy before riding towards Yulin County. More people is always a good thing.

One of the characteristics of Yulin is poverty.Along the way, the houses we saw were all dilapidated, the land was barren, and the crops were half dead. Even the walls of the city and county had a lot of weeds growing here and there.When we entered Yulin City, this dilapidated atmosphere became even more obvious. The streets of the county town were full of garbage. Adult men did not work very much. Those who had a few pennies spent in the wine shops to buy a bowl of leaking bad wine and ask for one. The side dishes are drinking slowly, talking nonsense, fighting?That's the order of the day.Even the plaque on the door of the county government office is crooked and listless. There is nothing I can do about it, this damn place is too poor and miserable.Shaanxi was once very glorious in history. The famous city of Xi'an was the ancient capital of sixteen dynasties. It was the capital of Qin, Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties. It has been the political center of China for thousands of years, which is really jaw-dropping. However, since the political center of China was transferred from Guanzhong After arriving in the Central Plains, Shaanxi declined at an alarming rate. By the Ming Dynasty, it had simply become synonymous with poverty. Very few people were willing to be officials there. They would rather stay in the capital and be an insignificant petty official than go to the When I went to Shaanxi to become a county magistrate, once I learned that I was assigned to go to Shaanxi, I looked like I was going to die. I barely got there and had no intention of doing anything. I spent the whole day doing two things: making money, finding a way to be transferred back to the capital, or Move to a wealthier place.Cities like Xianyang and Xi'an are better. They are big cities after all. Although they are no longer glorious, they are so skinny that a camel is bigger than a horse, so they can still stay there. But frontier places like Yulin are miserable. Being an official here is almost impossible. It was the bad luck of eight lifetimes. Not only could he not make any money, but he might lose his life in a minute. The Mongols often crossed the border and looted. Large-scale armed fights broke out among the people of Yulin from time to time, not to mention the border troops of the Yulin Guards. , often making trouble for pay, which may endanger the life of the county magistrate. For those guys who "work thousands of miles to be an official for the sake of wealth", this kind of place must not stay.Yulin County is currently in a state of anarchy. The county government is here, but no one is doing anything.If we want to talk about what is special about this place, it is that there are so many people with knives. They wear a knife wherever they go. They are comparable to Wuyangwei. Some people even set up stalls on the street asking sellers to pass on treasure knives. They keep saying this The knife has followed how many battles my ancestors have fought and how many people have been chopped down. It can be said that it has a nose and eyes!
It is said that the folk customs of Yulin are aggressive, which is not wrong at all.

Yang Menglong also saw a stall selling mosquito repellent charms.That guy tried hard to sell his family heirloom charm to passers-by, saying that as long as you stick this charm on the outside of the mosquito net, no matter how powerful the mosquitoes are, they can’t do anything to you... Yang Menglong was very happy and said with a smile: "Xiao Ming Ah, although your place is poor, you can still have fun!"

Xue Siming shrugged and said: "I am used to being poor, so I don't feel poor anymore... Hey, my lord, look over there!" He suddenly found something extraordinary, and pointed there for Yang Menglong to take a quick look.Yang Menglong looked in the direction he was pointing, his eyes widened suddenly:

Next to a leek stand, an old man with a gray beard, who seemed to be from a craftsman, spread a tattered straw mat on the ground, and put his goods on it—a dozen crossbows. Yelling and selling, as if what he was selling was not a military weapon, but leeks!Yang Menglong was so shocked that he shouted: "This...isn't this too bold? Can this thing be sold?" No matter how ignorant he was of the laws of the Ming Dynasty, he knew that selling bows and crossbows and other sharp weapons without permission was a capital crime, even in In the 21st century, when firearms are king, the buying and selling of police and military crossbows is also prohibited, because this thing is too lethal, and it is almost like a rifle in the hands of a professionally trained person!This old man actually dares to sell on the street, and there are more than a dozen of them at a time, it's really awesome!

Xue Siming scratched his head and said, "Someone bought and sold this thing privately before, but it was all done secretly. It's the first time to sell it on the street like this..."

Yang Menglong said: "Let's go over and have a look!" He jumped off his horse, threw the reins to a soldier, and ran over happily.Xue Siming followed, and the two squatted down in front of the stall. Yang Menglong asked, "Old man, are you selling this crossbow?"

The old man was overjoyed when he saw that both of them were wearing long knives and short knives, and their movements were quick and vigorous. They were obviously people who were used to it. The best Zhe wood is used, the best tendons and horns, the strength of the crossbow is strong, and the height of the head is high. In the land of Yulin, I recognize the second, and no one dares to recognize the first! Pick whatever you want, pick whatever you want !"

Yang Menglong picked up one casually and looked at it. The structure was not very complicated. The bow arm was three feet and three feet long, and it was painted black.He kicked on one foot and pulled it hard. Good guy, it's so strong, it's almost impossible to pull it away!In contrast, Xue Siming's arm strength was stronger, and he pulled the crossbow away with a hey, leveled the crossbow skillfully, half kneeled on the ground, and aimed with squinted eyes.Looking at his posture, the old man knew that he knew the goods, and he was even more happy. He took out two short crossbow arrows and handed them over. Yang Menglong took the arrows and looked at them. Just no arrowheads.He put the arrow into the chute, raised the crossbow slantly, aimed at the wall to pull the trigger, only heard a metallic trembling sound, and a strong force hit him backwards, causing his body to shake slightly. The short arrow shot out suddenly, and firmly nailed it into the wall with a single tap, it was as deep as two inches!Xue Siming also tried an arrow and praised it repeatedly: "Sir, this crossbow is good. The range must be more than 220 steps... [-] steps!"

When the old man heard Xue Siming call Yang Menglong "Master", his old face turned pale, but Yang Menglong didn't notice.At this time, the bastard was already immersed in the joy of getting the treasure. During this period of time, he had to make a crossbow, but he was very troubled. He didn't expect to find a master crossbow maker as soon as he arrived in Yulin, with a range of 220 steps. He is already very close to the 240 paces he planned. As long as he improves it, optimizes the structure, improves the materials, it will not be difficult to increase the range by another [-] paces. Wow, his crossbow is finally available!Excitedly, he picked up another crossbow and tried it out. He was very satisfied, and said to the old man, "Yes, these crossbows are very reliable. I want them all. You can make a price!"

The old man looked at Yang Menglong suspiciously, not sure what medicine he was selling in his gourd.

Yang Menglong became impatient: "What are you looking at? Hurry up and make an offer! Let me tell you, I am also an expert in playing crossbows. Don't try to fool me, otherwise I will buy elsewhere. I don't believe that Yulin is as big as you. There are crossbows for sale!”

The old man tentatively offered a price: "How about five...five taels of silver a piece?"

Five taels of silver is enough to feed a family of three for several months. Yang Menglong said without blinking, "Okay, five taels is five taels." After counting, there were sixteen in total. Come here, one person at a time, and bring me the silver by the way!"

Xue Siming originally wanted to bargain, but seeing Yang Menglong being so straightforward, he couldn't speak.The twenty or so soldiers ran over excitedly and began to compete for the crossbows on the stall. The man in charge of the money took out two ingots of 50 taels of big ingots and handed them to Yang Menglong. Yang Menglong threw the two big ingots to the old man. , The snow-white silver immediately blinded everyone's dog eyes, countless pairs of eyes stared straight at the two ingots, and their saliva flowed down.My mother, how many years has it been since Yulin County has seen such a large ingot of snowflake silver?That kid is such a rich man!
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(End of this chapter)