Chapter 38: What Was Seen at the City Gate

  Just outside the village, it's not far from where Li Meng usually practices with his salt pole. He looked at the bamboo poles and wooden clubs laid out on one side and smiled:

  "We don't need real weapons either, just choose something."

  For the convenience of practice, in addition to bamboo spears and bamboo poles, there are also some iron-reinforced wooden swords and iron clubs, all of which are used for practice. Ma Gang was very excited, rummaged through the pile of things, picked up a wooden sword, held it in his hand and swung it a few times, confidently posed, and smiled saying:

  "Come on, young master... No, I still have some skills, right?"

  Seeing Ma Gong's demeanor, Li Meng couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. When chatting with the villagers, he learned that the main weapons used by the Ming army were long spears, supplemented by knife-shield soldiers. Li Meng had always wanted to see what kind of martial arts the military had.

  It's laughable that being in the military household of Weisuo, wanting to see some martial arts and weaponry is actually not possible. Jiaozhou has a battalion of combat troops, but Li Meng doesn't want to go there. He is cautious and subtle, thinking that since Ma Gang was once a personal bodyguard under the Commandery Prince, he should be an elite soldier who understands battle tactics.

  Who would have thought that looking at this appearance, it seems to be a so-called martial arts skill, Jianghu style, and in Fengmeng Town, you can also see such Jianghu people, setting up stalls to sell their skills, although they look good, but there is no use.

  Li Meng picked up a short wooden stick from the ground, about four feet long, held it in his hand, made a pre-killing gesture, and smiled, saying:

  "Come straight over!"

  Ma Gang was young and vigorous, taking a step forward, the knife in his hand chopped down vertically, this move had some real skill to it, simple and direct, but after all, it was just a single knife spinning in a circle, wasting a bit of time, even if it was just a moment, it was still an opening.

  Li Meng swung his arms and took a step forward, the short rod in his hand moving in a straight line, with the shortest distance. Before Ma Gang's knife could chop down, Li Meng's short rod was already poking at his chest. Under the intense pain, he couldn't catch his breath and fell to the ground. Just as he was about to react, the front end of Li Meng's short rod was already pointing at his throat. He smiled and said:

  "If this were on the battlefield, you would have been done for!"

  Li Meng ignored Ma Gong who had fallen to the ground and turned to face Zhao Neng, saying:

  "Put him in the salt boiling team for now, he doesn't know anything, just a silly little kid."

  He hadn't walked more than a few steps when he heard Ma Ge shouting loudly behind him:

  "Li Dage, I'm definitely practicing to be like Wang Hai and the others, carrying salt poles for the salt transportation team."

  Li Meng let out a sigh, he decided that recently he must go to Jiaozhou City to take a look. In this military dependent village, people's horizons and ideas are somewhat narrow, the scope is really too small.

  On the seventh day of the first month of Chongzhen's sixth year, Xuejia Village, which was usually quiet, suddenly became lively. The first outsider to arrive was Zhang Butcher, who brought a rather heavy gift and accompanied it with a smile to wish Li Meng a happy new year. As for this kind of petty person, whether Li Meng looked up to him or not was one thing, but he still maintained basic courtesy.

  Smiling face to the door, must be something to ask for. After a few polite words from Zhang Butcher, he said that he was willing to give Li Meng some silver every month, as long as someone went to the dice shop regularly to show that it was under Li Meng's name. His dice shop often had some salt dregs and rascals causing trouble, which was a headache. When they heard this, Ma Gang, who was practicing in Li Meng's courtyard, almost took action to beat Zhang Butcher out. However, no one expected that Li Meng thought for a moment and set a rule for Zhang Butcher: not to force people to desperation, and agreed to the request.

  Zhang Tuhou left with a thousand thanks and ten thousand apologies, but the news spread in just one day. Li Meng was also startled - who knew that there were so many illegal dealings inside Lingshanwei? It wasn't just one household running an underground dice den; some tea smugglers also came to report here.

  What's even more ridiculous is that inside the Ling Shan salt yard, there was actually a household running a gambling den and two gangs smuggling private salt, asking for Li Meng's protection. The Ling Shan salt yard was an officially-run enterprise, yet it was in such disarray, or rather, it had reached such a state of chaos, truly beyond people's expectations.

  Gamblers, tea smugglers, small-time smugglers on the sea, and official private salt merchants, etc., or to say that those who did illegal business in Fengmeng Town and Lingshanwei, seemed to have found an organization overnight, and they all came to seek Li Meng's protection.

  Zhao Neng, Chen Liu Zi, Wang Hai and others may also be big-hearted salt smugglers, but they look down on these unscrupulous people from the bottom of their hearts. They don't understand Li Meng's mind at all. The monthly income of the salt stick is quite considerable now, why bother about this little money.

  Li Mengchu set rules for several industries, but didn't collect much money. He only had one requirement: if the salt workers wanted to know something, they had to try their best to help gather information.

  This point is not a big deal for everyone, but after the Lantern Festival on January 15th, Li Meng's name as a righteous and chivalrous person has already spread throughout the southern half of Jiaozhou. Relatively speaking, with even the slightest wind blowing or any news, it would reach Li Meng's ears at the fastest speed.

  For Li Meng, who comes from an information explosion society, this era is too closed off. Li Meng deeply understands the importance of information and rapid effective information, yet these outlaws' messages are the most unimpeded, giving them protection, in exchange for their message sharing, which is extremely important for the currently still fragile Salted Fish.

  Although the Spring Festival has just passed, the festive atmosphere has not yet dissipated, especially in the relatively peaceful and economically prosperous Jiaozhou City. Li Meng is still appearing on the west gate official road of Jiaozhou City, he and Chen Liu Zi, Wang Hai are all dressed as traveling merchants, each carrying a large bundle on their backs.

  Chen Liu Zi and Wang Hai rarely entered the city, and they were very excited to look around. Li Meng also looked around, but what he noticed was the beggars who were begging on the side of the road, some with straw signs on their heads, sitting there stupidly. These people were all thin and haggard, looking like refugees.

  What shocked Li Meng even more was that there was no vitality in the eyes of these people, just like dead men. When he first came to this era, Li Meng had already been shocked by the poverty of the military dependents' lives. However, looking at it now, although the military dependents were poor, they were still better off than these people, at least they still had vitality and happiness.

  Similar eyes, Li Meng had only seen in those African refugees on modern TV, hopeless, desperate and numb.

  Chen Liu Zi and Wang Hai seemed to have not noticed those people at all, still chatting and walking forward. Li Meng was slightly stunned but soon understood that they were already used to it. However, Li Meng still asked:

  "Where is this person from?"