stubborn thief

Chapter 187 Lamb Noodles

In the withered market in Yulin City, Ma Ke led the horse and walked aimlessly.

His stomach seemed to be hiding thunder and lightning, and he kept screaming.

Since he was defeated and returned to the army last year, Marco's life has not been easy. His bloody achievements have been obliterated, and his official position has also been lost.

It stands to reason that this is nothing to a man like him.

After all, if you have been a military officer, as long as you can make meritorious service in a bloody battle in the future, it is not difficult for the officer to return to his original post.

But Marko didn't catch up with the good times.

This year, Yulin suffered a severe drought just like Yinchuan, and there was no harvest of summer grain. The price of a bucket of rice at the grain shop in the city was already as high as six renminbi.

However, the price of rice in Yulin can only show the severity of the food shortage, and cannot prove that rice can be sold at this price.

Because Yulin is a military town, in the fourth year after the imperial court defaulted on the military salary, the soldiers had no money in their hands.

And the idle generals who can afford six renminbi and twelve catties of rice will not be so embarrassed that they only think of buying grain at this time.

The whole city of Yulin was shrouded in hunger and howling, and people hoped that they could survive until the day when the imperial court transferred soldiers and rations from Lin province.

Marco felt he couldn't take it anymore.

He was really hungry. As a young general, he already ate more than others.

In the past, when he was in charge of food in the camp, he always had four taels of salary per month. He led the troops in the camp for one month, and after the salary was paid, he had to pay three and a half taels of food expenses to the troops.

But because of this, I haven't saved any money after serving in the army for several years.

Suddenly the official was taken away, and the gap in status change can be resolved, the only thing is to eat.

As far as the military rations in the barracks are only enough to feed a rabbit every day, it feels like nothing has been eaten, and the stomach growls for half an hour, and Ma Ke is so hungry every day that he panics.

He now has hallucinations when he walks on the street. In the desolate street market where there is nothing, from time to time, a head of boiled mutton will appear in his eyes, looking up at the face of the stewed mutton, dancing four braised mutton knuckles and running past.

Can't stand it anymore.

Between the ups and downs of this official position, Ma Ke learned too many things.

In the past, I always heard soldiers complaining. He always felt that the court was difficult, and he passed it after he endured it. Who hasn't been hungry?

This time he knew, it is really different from being hungry every day after chasing the enemy army once in a while.
It's so hard to live in this world.

It turned out that those subordinates used to love him so much, and every time they heard him say "bear it, let it pass", they didn't kill him.

After walking for a long time, until he reached the horse market, he began to bargain with the horse dealer.

"Shopkeeper, don't look at this yellow pussy horse as ordinary, but it's really extraordinary. Let me tell you, do you know Suide's rebellious Guotianxing? Yes, this is his horse."

The shopkeeper laughed loudly when he heard the words, turned his head and pointed to a black horse in the stable, and said, "Did you see that horse? I'll tell you not to do this. Just the day before yesterday, a veteran said that it was Liu Chengzong's horse."

"That's impossible."

Ma Ke asserted: "I have seen Liu Chengzong's horse. It is a big horse with mixed flowers. It is fat and strong, and its mane is red."

After he finished speaking, he regretted it. Why do I tell you this? He turned around and patted the horse that had been brought in. He said, "This is really a horse that passed the stars. My name is Ma Ke. I used to be the general manager. I fought against Liu Chengzong with General Li Bei." Guo Tianxing injured my horse, and I robbed his horse."

"Oh, the villain knows about Lord Ma."

The storekeeper sighed, looked up at the horse and said: "The horse is a good horse, and it is hungry and thin. To tell you the truth, the horse market of the villain is almost out of business. If you can afford a horse, you can't afford it."

"How many war horses have been lost this year, does the general not know in Yulin City? This horse can have less than two hundred catties of meat, but the villain can't afford the general to buy two hundred catties of grain."

In fact, if he didn't know that Ma Ke was in front of him, the shopkeeper might have done this business and received a horse for three or five taels of silver, but knowing that he was Ma Ke, how dare he do this business.

It would cost 12 taels of silver to buy two hundred catties of grain. Even in the past, a good-looking horse would only cost [-] taels of silver.

In today's season, let alone raising the price in the business of collecting horses, it is considered a good person not to drop the price too far.

"General, I'd better listen to the villain's advice. You can bring it to the meat market, and maybe you can exchange it for more money."

After hitting a soft nail, Ma Ke was in a bad mood, and finally asked: "Then you don't accept this horse?"

The shopkeeper quickly waved his hand: "The villain dare not accept it, and the general... the villain heard that Shanxi has blocked the trade roads and is not allowed to transport grain to Shaanxi."

a bolt from the blue.

Marco didn't believe it.

On the way back, my stomach started growling again.

He went out for a trip and didn't catch anything, and went around and consumed two or two sides, but he didn't want to kill the horse.

He has been starving for a long time, which has caused a great change in his mind. It is not to say that he hates the court, but he feels that these officials are really bad.

Why can't the good army have enough to eat?
It made Marco want to go back to his hometown.

It's not that he wants to be a deserter, but he just wants to go back to his hometown to eat enough for three months, and get back the lost meat before serving the court to guard the border.

Back at the dead camp, the soldiers were all lying on their beds. Pao Ze said that the commander had issued an order that there would be no training in the camp these days, so let's all rest.

This made Ma Ke believe the horse dealer's words, maybe Shanxi's business route was really broken.

Just thinking about it made him even angrier.

Damn it can't stop Wang Jiayin, but wants to stop the military rations of the northern Shaanxi army.

The frontier soldiers of the same team advised him not to go out, just eat this little food, it is not enough to run around to consume.

But Ma Ke felt that this was not possible, so he packed up his things and went to his home in Yulin City.

He has a small house in the remote west of Yulin City, the location is not good, he didn't like to live in it when he was an officer, but now there are rules in the camp, he can't live in it if he wants to.

So that house was used by him to store things.

Ma Ke didn't lead the horse when he went out, he walked all the way to the city, and was furious at the door of his house.

A thief broke into the house, and someone broke the door lock.

When I entered the yard, I saw that the doors of the three rooms were all open, and a few stacks of books were scattered all over the floor in the side room.

It was a military book and war strategy published by the Ministry of War over the years. If the barracks couldn't put it down, he would send it home every once in a while and put it away.

Strange to say, in fact, these days, Ma Ke thinks these things are the most valuable, but for many Yulin military households who can't read big characters, they are afraid of printing their asses.

But according to Ma Ke's idea, if these few stacks of books are sent to Liu Chengzong who just robbed Ku Yin, why not exchange them for a fucking 1000 taels of silver.

"Eyes without pearls!"

After tidying up for a long time, and wasting two taels of white flour, Ma Ke counted the losses at home.

Li Bei's battle armor placed in the main hall was stolen, and a large porcelain vase from the Yaozhou kiln next to him was smashed. He was wearing a cotton jacket and trousers, and some small odds and ends like silver scissors.

And the portrait painted by the artist when he was a soldier... He couldn't understand why someone would steal his portrait!
And not a fucking celebrity.

Mad!
The messy things were placed on the bed, and Ma Ke took an inventory of the things in the house to see if there was anything else that could be sold.

He still has five weapons left.

Li Bei's sword, patterned steel four-sided good sword, weighs two catties, especially useful for chopping people, but this one can't be sold, only this one thought is left, fortunately it is hidden under the bed.

There was also Gao Yingxiang's long knife, which was well played, and it was thrown in the corner of the firewood room, but it was not stolen.

In the end, there was one knife of his own left, which was actually not his. It was a hidden silver-coated straight-blade knife with a wrong handle, and it was a spoil of war snatched from Hai Tartar.

The remaining two are bows.

Ma Ke did the math, and combined with his net worth, nothing was his own.

After making up his mind, he put Li Bei's sword and his own knife on his shoulders, pulled the bed sheet to wrap Gao Yingxiang's long knife in his hand, rolled up two bows that were bowed, got up and walked out of the yard.

Since the door lock was broken, he simply didn't lock the door again.

Anyway, there is no food and salary, and the law and order in Yulin Town will continue to deteriorate, and installing new locks is useless, so it is better to just do this, so that people will know that the house has been visited by thieves.

This world.

Marko clutched his stomach all the way back to the market outside the city, and went straight to the weapon shop.

The Tibetan knife that had been with him for several years was slapped on the table: "Craftsman, do you want to keep this knife?"

The business of the armory shop seemed to be doing well, with knives hanging all over the wall. The blacksmith behind him was forging, but he ignored him and hammered a few more times.

"General, this knife is rare!"

"The Qinghai Tartars have silver on them, should they be accepted?"

"receive."

The blacksmith drew his knife and looked at it, then looked up at Ma Ke: "Six hundred."

Ma Ke frowned: "Six hundred?"

He thought that if this knife could sell for 20 taels, it would be the best. The blacksmith's brain was burned out by the charcoal kiln?
"Yes, it's worth six hundred. If you use Wanli Tongbao, I'll give you six hundred in flat money, and I'll give you 450 if you get a two-fold discount."

"Four hundred and five, or a two-fold discount?"

Marko raised his hand and put the knife back: "Are you crazy or am I crazy?"

"It's not crazy, the general calm down."

The blacksmith also looked very helpless: "The knife is a good knife, and it is worth more than this, but now that Yulin is in such a state, the pawnshops are closed. It's really not a villain's heart. I really can only afford this little money."

"Who else can sell knives these days? I have so many knives in my hand, and I paid a deposit for them. No one will come to pick them up when they are done."

The blacksmith pointed to the weapons hanging all over the wall and said: "If you have money, the general, you might as well take a look. The knives in the small shop are cheap now. Whichever one you like, I will give you two hundred dollars."

Marco was so angry that he scratched his head, his stomach exploded like thunder, he couldn't hold it anymore.

"Four hundred dollars, I'll bet this knife on you, and within a month I'll redeem it with six hundred dollars, okay? My name is Ma Ke, and I used to be the general manager."

Hey, you are Marco!

The blacksmith took a closer look at Mako, um, he was very young, just like the rumors.

It is said that he was the general who was spared by Li Bei when he conquered Liu Shizi in Yan'an.

It's a celebrity in Yulin.

The blacksmith thought for a while, then smiled and said, "So it's General Ma. The general thinks it's okay. I'll put the knife in the shop. I'll give the general four hundred yuan. If a customer likes the knife, four taels, more than four taels." I'll sell it for two denarii."

"When the general comes again, give the general three or two taels; if no one likes it, the general can redeem it with four hundred dollars."

After the blacksmith finished speaking, he bowed his hands to Marco: "It's just that the future will be better, and the general just don't forget about the small shop."

Faced with the blacksmith's kindness, he looked at the knife in his hand with a bit of reluctance in his eyes.

It's just that the hunger in his stomach is unbearable, Ma Ke gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, as you said."

The four hundred Wanli Tongbao were wrapped in a piece of cloth by Ma Ke. Although he lost the old weapon, he could temporarily suppress his hunger with a huge sum of three catties.

He figured, with the [-] yuan plus the military rations, how come it won't last until August?
With money, people have enough confidence.

Ma Ke walked all the way to the Desheng Building in the city. He wanted to eat a bowl of mutton noodles and four Suide oil spinners.

Damn, I haven't eaten enough since Chinese New Year, so I have to have a good meal today.

Passing by the grain shop, a dozen or so veterans wearing mandarin jackets across the street were squatting at the base of the wall basking in the sun, and some people were watching the grain shop making a movement of eating noodles against the air.

Marko thought they were not like veterans, they were like beggars.

But his perspective is no longer as domineering as before. He has been starving for half a year so that he knows very well that the veterans who have no food and clothing are helpless against the famine.

The shopkeeper looked at them with disdain, got up and lazily flipped through the shop sign.

Doumi, seven dollars.

Entering the restaurant, the environment is quite different.

It was not a meal time at this time, but there were quite a few talented martial arts students who had nothing to do to drink, and there were a lot of voices. They talked about what they had seen and heard, and from time to time mixed a few sentences about the current situation.

Ma Ke is too familiar with such scenes, and he used to be like this too, thinking that the imperial court had a short-term problem, and the blame lies with the rebellious mob deserters, who made the situation worse.

The sergeants who are still sticking to their posts can see things turn around as long as they bear with it a little longer.

One by one, they showed their hearts to the world.

Now Marko knew that it was practically useless to think of the world.

Ma Ke, who was fully armed and carrying a long knife and short sword, surprised everyone when he entered the restaurant. Fortunately, the shopkeeper and the waiter of this restaurant knew him.

Smiling and beckoning to the general, let the guests know that he is a decent person, and then calmed everyone down.

It's just that he couldn't eat mutton noodles in the end, and only had two oil swirls.

Ma Ke felt that he was so stupid, he only thought that the price of rice and food was expensive, but he didn't expect that the price of restaurants was also expensive.

A bowl of mutton noodles costs [-] yuan, and four oil-spun sesame cakes cost [-] yuan.

With his four hundred dollars, he bought two fried sesame seed cakes a day, which probably only lasted until July.

He heard a scholar holding a wine cup at the table say: "In April, in Changlebao, toads crawled out of the river and lined up seven feet wide. No one knew how long it was. They went out along the official road...the toads all know Yulin. I can't live anymore!"

"Wang Jiayin was fighting in Hequ, and the governor of Shanxi cut off the commercial roads. The army food could not be transported in, and the grain merchants could not come in. The time is worrying!"

Times are worrying.

Marko has no extra energy to think about the worrying times.

His own stomach is very worrying.

How long can he live like this?He is obviously invincible in all abilities, but he can't even fill his stomach.

The oil spinner was on the table, and the topic of worrying about state affairs was also revealed at the next table, and it turned to the matter of Han Yuanwai in the western suburbs who took a fourth concubine at the age of [-].

Ma Ke's oil spinner tastes worse the more you eat it.

Others can rob, just because he is a hero, so he deserves to starve?
This idea couldn't go down after rising from his heart, Ma Ke slammed the purse on the table and shouted: "Shopkeeper, serve another bowl of mutton noodles with three more oil!"

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)