Chapter 3: Encounter with Yan Ding on the Halfway Road

  At this time, everyone became relaxed, the Xue family's thousand households were near the sea, and it was only about 30 miles to meet Meng. In between, there were some low hills and dense woods, walking among them was very hidden, and everyone had put their hearts down, walking three more miles could earn seven or eight silver coins.

  Seven or eight coins of silver, how much money is that? Li Meng's concept was still a bit fuzzy, always thinking that one or two silver coins were just one dollar. Didn't those TV shows say that buying a sugar gourd on the street only cost one or two silver coins?

  After arriving in this era and understanding a bit, I realized that one or two silver coins can buy more than 100 catties of grain in good times. Having been to the Xue family for almost half a month, I have only seen copper coins and not even a single silver coin. It's really a big bill, Li Meng estimated that one or two silver coins are equivalent to a hundred yuan bill.

  Everyone's mood is relaxed, and the chatter has increased. A group of people are teasing each other, talking about how beautiful the widow from the Xue family is, and whose big sister is pretty. Women are always a topic among men. The group walks along, laughing and chatting, feeling quite carefree. But Zhao is older, so he seems more mature, and asks Li Meng who's walking beside him:

  "Can this trip really make money?"

  "No problem."

  Li Meng replied in a low and depressed tone, saying that he had to focus all his attention on pushing the chicken cart, otherwise the over 200 catties of salt would fall into the ditch. Li Meng's shoulders were rubbed by the straps until they were sore and bleeding, probably with broken skin. The only thing Li Meng was grateful for was that he used to be a soldier, so his body could still withstand such heavy physical labor. To be precise, it should be said that he could barely withstand it. Li Meng could almost imagine how painful it would be when he went to sleep at night.

  Having been in this era for more than a month, he can eat coarse grains and vegetables without changing his face, go to the Xue family's outer courtyard to collect firewood, go to the seaside to boil seawater salt, pick up shells and crabs, help fishermen, Li Meng feels that he has slowly adapted to this era, and what he does is the same as every young man in each Wei.

  If there's any difference, the hay Li Meng picked up wasn't all given away to people in exchange for some food, and the shells, shrimps and crabs he picked up weren't all sold for money.

  Every night, Li Meng would cook the fish and shrimp he had picked up. These things were considered top-notch natural seafood in the past, but without any seasonings or staple foods like rice or noodles to eat with, it was very easy to get tired of eating this way.

  However, Li Meng persisted in eating it himself, despite feeling like vomiting every time. Li Meng felt that he needed to have a good body in this era, and a good body required sufficient exercise and nutrition intake. In such a poor living environment, only the fish and shrimp in the sea could guarantee nutrition. As for sufficient exercise, Li Meng practiced every morning and evening what he had learned in the army, from basic running, push-ups to military boxing and combat killing moves, repeatedly practicing to keep his physical fitness at the level when he crossed over.

  Today, I used the cart to push these hundreds of kilograms of salt. The single wheel of the chicken cart is not the rubber pneumatic tire of later generations, but a wooden wheel. On the dirt road, it was very bumpy, and this small road was also uneven. As soon as the single wheel shook, my shoulders and wrists were in piercing pain.

  Li Meng answered Zhao Neng's question while secretly sighing in his heart:

  "Look, others travel through time and become kings or overlords, but I've come to struggle for a warm meal, this gap is just too big."

  Just then, he heard a young man laughing loudly and saying to Chen Liu Zi:

  "If I make some money today, I'll buy a catty of meat on my way back and let my parents have a good meal."

  Everyone burst out laughing at this, and Li Meng also swallowed his saliva, it's been a long time since he had meat, today if he earned some silver, he must buy some meat to treat himself, he wanted to buy some fatty ones, it was really mouth-watering.

  It has been a total of one and a half hours from leaving the house to now, Li Meng estimated that in three hours, he had walked about eight miles, mainly on hilly terrain with carts and carrying poles, which slowed down his speed.

  Among these people, Zhao Neng was a bit older and vaguely considered the leader. He stopped in his tracks, looked up at the sky, then glanced around, turned back and called out:

  "There's a ditch on the left side, everyone is resting their feet here and will continue on the road later."

  As soon as Zhao Neng finished speaking, these people all let out a sigh of relief, pulled the car to the side of the road, put down their carrying poles, and found a dry spot to sit down and rest.

  Li Meng also took off his shoulder strap and thought that he had finally stopped. If he continued to walk, his shoulders would be ruined.

  Suddenly, six or seven people rushed out of the grass thicket in front and ran towards this side with big strides, shouting loudly as they ran.

  "Inspectors are to arrest those who privately produce salt; violators will be beheaded without pardon!"

  These six or seven people were wearing neat and new clothes, some with fur hats, others with cloth wrapped around their heads, holding single-edged swords, iron rulers. Li Meng was stunned, still unaware of what had happened.

  The fastest reaction was Chen Liu, who almost sprang up from the grass and took off in a sprint. The others weren't slow either, all jumping up like rabbits to run away. Only Li Meng seemed dazed, looking at the scattered salt bags all over the place - nearly two thousand catties of salt, could it really be abandoned just like that?

  For a moment hesitant, suddenly felt being pulled by someone, the body unstable, heard behind Zhao Neng yelling loudly:

  "Are you stupid? Run quickly! This is a salted dog."

  Just ran back, the Xue family's military households still had the guts to sell salt, and they would be poor for a lifetime in the Xue family's thousand households. In a few more years, either starve to death or die in battle?

  Or maybe I'll die here, perhaps I'll cross back, or perhaps it's just complete death... Either way, it's all over.

  These salt smugglers were getting closer and closer, Li Meng could even see the twisted expressions of excitement on their faces, these salt goods fell into their hands like manna from heaven, it was only natural that they were overjoyed.

  These salt workers are all rascals gathered by the patrol, relying on the power of the patrol to dominate the countryside. In the past month, Li Meng has seen and heard that the behavior of these salt workers can no longer be described as oppressing the common people, but rather they are bullying the innocent civilians and military households, which is a blasphemy against good people.

  Li Meng had already let go, but he had also made up his mind that even if he died, he would drag the few scoundrels in front of him down to hell together. Having a few fewer scourges for the Xue family was a good thing.

  There were only a dozen or so steps left to reach the front, Li Meng casually picked up a wooden stick from the side and stood in the middle of the path, his body slightly turned to the right, while his left foot took a step forward.

  Zhao Neng, who had already run dozens of steps, turned his head back to see that Li Meng hadn't moved at all. Instead, he was standing in the middle of the road, holding a wooden board, while the other seven people were holding single-edged swords and iron rulers. You're holding just a bamboo board, what can you block? He couldn't help but shout:

  "Li Meng, don't you want to live? Run quickly!!"

  Li Meng seemed to have not heard what he said, his arms were folded in front of him, his right arm bent and grasping the rear end of the carrying pole, his left arm slanted forward and grasping the middle section of the carrying pole, the front end was raised, his body slowly leaned forward, looking as if he had been scared silly.

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