I'm in the world of Xianjian

Chapter 107 Boxian Town

Lin Shen and his group walked into the town, which was filled with mud houses and many street stalls selling various things. The streets were bustling with people and cars.

Lin Shen thought: It seems that in these five hundred years, this place has not only not become desolate, but has become even better.

Lin Yueru looked at the various goods on the stall and said, "These things are hard to find in Suzhou."

Lin Shen said, "After all, this is in the northwest, very far from Suzhou. If you like something, just tell me."

Lin Yueru said, "You talk as if our Lin family is short of money. Let's go find a place to sell ore."

Lin Shen felt that he had been bored, so he shrugged his shoulders and continued walking forward.

Zhao Linger came to Lin Shen and said, "Brother Anos, I know you want to make Sister Yueru happy, but now she is obsessed with repairing the sword, so it's better not to offend her."

Lin Shen thought for a moment and said, "Ling'er, what you said makes sense. Let's continue looking."

The group continued searching, and as they searched, Li Xiaoyao smelled something and said, "What's that smell? It smells so good!"

Lin Shen sniffed it and said, "This is the smell of barbecue."

Lin Yueru said, "Anos, your nose is quite good, just like a dog's."

Lin Shen made a dead fish eye and said, "Are you praising me or insulting me?"

Lin Yueru said, "Guess what. But speaking of it, although I've eaten barbecue before, I really don't know what barbecue in the northwest is like."

Lin Shen said, "Then let's go and do the work first, and then find..." Lin Shen was about to continue speaking, but he thought of Zhao Linger and choked back the rest of his words.

Zhao Linger smiled and said, "It's okay, Brother Anos. After such a long journey, I have let go of eating meat, really."

Lin Shen sighed and said, "Okay, let's continue looking. Let's go see if there's any blacksmith shop here first. If not, let's look at the traveling merchants here."

After wandering around for a long time, they found a blacksmith shop on the other side of the river.

After Lin Shen and his companions entered, a man with a beard, a blue flowered hat, and a long blue coat came up to them and said, "Gentlemen, is there anything I can help you with?"

Lin Shen thought to himself: I thought this guy would speak with a Uighur accent, luckily I can understand him. So he said, "Excuse me, do you sell ore here?"

The man in blue said, "Sir, this is a blacksmith shop. We have ore for casting iron. What kind do you want and how much do you want?"

Lin Shenyi thought that the shopkeeper might not recognize the simplified Chinese characters he wrote, so he winked at Lin Yueru, and Lin Yueru took out the list.

The man took a quick look and said, "Oh, the Tianhe Stone and Celestine Stone are out of stock in the entire Boxian Town. The Basalt Iron Rock and Ice Soul should be taken to the grocery store in the north. The remaining Kunwu Sand and Thunder Soul Crystal are in stock here."

Lin Shen said, "That's good. How much are these two?"

The man said, "No bargain, three taels of silver."

Before Lin Shen had time to bargain, Lin Yueru took out a silver ingot weighing five taels and slammed it on the table, saying, "Boss, here's the change."

Lin Shen and Li Xiaoyao muttered at the same time, "She's truly worthy of being the leader's daughter. She's truly arrogant."

After the man took the silver ingot, he said, "Okay, I'll give you the change." Then he went to the counter to get the change.

Anu complained on the side, "It's rare for Anos and Brother Li to talk in unison." Zhao Linger couldn't help laughing.

After the shopkeeper handed the change and the two ores to Lin Yueru, Lin Shen said, "Yueru, you're really quick. I was thinking of bargaining."

Lin Yueru said, "Why, do you need to bargain for such a small amount of money?" After that, Lin Yueru snorted and left. So Lin Shen and his friends also left the blacksmith shop and headed north to look for a grocery store.

As they walked, Lin Shen said, "The way we look reminds me of the poem about Mulan."

Zhao Linger said, "Why did you think of this?"

Lin Shen said, "Before Hua Mulan joined the army in her father's place, she went to the East Market to buy a horse, the West Market to buy a saddle, the South Market to buy a bridle, and the North Market to buy a long whip.

We have to go to three places to get ore, that's about it."

Lin Yueru said, "I've read the Ballad of Mulan before, but I never understood why someone had to buy their own equipment to join the army in place of their father."

Lin Shen said, "To put it simply, the military service system at that time was the Fubing system, which combined soldiers and farmers. During the busy farming season, they farmed, and during the slack season or when war broke out, they were drafted into training or fighting.

The imperial court was not responsible for the preparation of weapons and horses, but it was responsible for the provision of food and fodder. The greatest advantage of this approach was that it reduced the financial pressure on the imperial court and minimized the impact on agricultural production.

Lin Yueru said, "You know quite a lot."

Lin Shen said, "But this method has a side effect. Think about it, can the combat effectiveness of soldiers recruited in this way be compared with professional soldiers who wield swords and guns every day?"

Lin Yueru said, "That's true. It would be a miracle if someone who plays with hoes and rakes every day is the same as someone who plays with swords, spears, and halberds every day."

Lin Shen said, "Everything has its pros and cons. It all comes down to how you choose. (Pointing to the north) Look, here we are at the grocery store."

When they looked, they saw a "Zhang's Grocery Store." They went inside and saw a man dressed in Central Plains clothing approaching them. He said, "Dear guests, what can I do for you?"

Lin Shen asked, "Do you have basalt iron rock and ice spirit here?"

The man said, "Yes, how much do you want?"

Lin Shen glanced at the note and said, "Half a pound of basalt iron rock, three ounces of ice soul, nothing else is needed."

The man said, "Okay, five taels of silver."

Lin Yueru directly slammed a silver ingot of five taels of silver on the table and said, "Boss, settle the bill."

The man said, "Okay, I'll pick it up right away." After a while, the man came back with two kinds of ores.

Lin Shen put these two ores together with the previous two and said, "Now all we need is the Tianhe Stone and Celestite from Qingluan Peak."

Li Xiaoyao said, "Then let's find a place to eat first. How about trying the barbecue here?"

The man said, "If you want to eat barbecue, there is a good restaurant on the other side of the river. I personally recommend you to try it."

Following the owner's instructions, the few of them found the barbecue restaurant. As Lin Shen said, the restaurant only had barbecue and baked naan, and no vegetarian dishes. They had no choice but to order a few pounds of roasted lamb and some baked naan.

While waiting, Lin Shen slapped his forehead and said, "How could I forget about that? There is definitely something Ling'er can eat."

Lin Yueru was startled by Lin Shen's movement and said, "Anos, what's wrong with you? You scared me."

Lin Shen said, "You wait here, I'll be back soon." After that, Lin Shen disappeared.

Li Xiaoyao said, "What is Anos doing? He's talking nonsense."

Lin Yueru said, "Isn't it said that there is little vegetation here and it's hard to find vegetarian food?"

Zhao Linger said, "Brother Anos must have his reasons. Let's just wait here."

(Chapter 107 End)