"Oh, a crossbow that can fire continuously, I've never seen this before..." Zuo Yuquan said, and walked over to take the crossbow from the fat man surnamed Mao, and took a closer look, "The crossbow arm is made of steel..."
"Yes, yes, it's made of steel!"
"How can this steel be used to make a crossbow arm?" Although Zuo Yuquan was an old hand, he had never seen this kind of crossbow before, so he was very curious. Xu Meng next to Yan Liqiang also came over and looked at the crossbow curiously.
"Sir, this steel is not ordinary steel. It is spring steel produced by the manufacturing bureau. It has strong elasticity and is unique in the world!" explained the owner of the weapons store.
"How do you use this crossbow?"
"This is a crossbow rod. After shooting an arrow, just pull the crossbow rod back to string the arrow. The arrows are in this box. They will enter the slot by themselves when you string the arrow. This box can hold more than ten crossbow arrows at a time. You can shoot an arrow in the blink of an eye. It can penetrate leather armor within fifty steps. This is a powerful weapon. If we have such a crossbow in our hands when we go out of the customs this time, I will feel more at ease..." The fat man surnamed Mao explained, and gestured with his hands, "I just heard someone on the roadside say that the Dragon Tooth Army of the Qiyun Guard Mansion is equipped with a large number of this thing, killing Shatu dogs and ghosts howling, so I came to the weapon store to have a look. I didn't expect that this store really sells it..."
"This thing is good, but it's a bit expensive!" Zuo Yuquan pondered and smiled at the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, give me a real price. If this thing is useful, we can kill more sand dogs this time. We will also promote it for you. I don't know how many rangers will come to your store to buy crossbows in the future..."
The shopkeeper gritted his teeth and said, "One hundred and eighty-six taels of silver, and I will give you an extra quiver. It can't be any lower..."
The tall and thin man with a bow on his back put the crossbow on the table and said coldly, "I hate it most when people lie to me. You said this is the lowest price, and I believe it, but if we know that someone else bought a crossbow from you at a lower price, even if it's one penny less, I will smash your store..."
After hearing what this person said, the shopkeeper's face suddenly turned bitter!
…
Finally, a few people bargained in the store for a few more minutes and reduced the price of the crossbow to one hundred and seventy taels. They also asked the store owner to give them twenty matching crossbow arrows. Finally, the fat man surnamed Mao paid the money and carefully put the crossbow in a special leather case. Then everyone left the store, while the store owner was still sighing in the store.
In fact, the production cost of this repeating crossbow at the manufacturing bureau was less than ten taels of silver, and the manufacturing bureau's external wholesale price was one hundred taels of silver. This shopkeeper got a few repeating crossbows from some unknown channel and sold them at almost double the price, selling them for one hundred and seventy taels, which was already a lot of money.
Yan Liqiang smiled slightly in his heart, it turned out that the buyer was not as smart as the seller, this shopkeeper was too good at doing business, he earned dozens of silver coins from others with a crossbow, but he still acted as if others were taking advantage of him.
"Where is Jia Lang?" Zuo Yuquan asked as he left the store.
"Jia Lang just met two acquaintances. They just came back from Gulang Grassland. I heard they made a fortune. Jia Lang went to talk to them and get some information. Let's wait for him at the restaurant we were in before. It may take some time. He will come to meet us when he is ready!" The fat man surnamed Mao carefully put the crossbow on his back, and then he looked at Yan Liqiang, "Brother Zuo, this little brother is..."
"This is Brother Wang Baoqiang, I just met him. He came to Gulan Grassland alone this time!" Zuo Yuquan said, and then introduced the fat man surnamed Mao and the tall and thin man with a bow on his back to Yan Liqiang, "Brother Wang, this is Mao Taishun, an old man who has been wandering around for more than ten years and is a righteous man. This is Zhao Bing, also a good archer..."
Mao Taishun, is there such a name
Yan Liqiang held back his laughter and instead clasped his fists to the two men. The two men also clasped their fists to Yan Liqiang, as if they knew each other.
Zhao Bing didn't say much, but the fat Mao Taishun squinted his eyes and smiled, "Haha, little brother, do you think my name is a bit strange? There's nothing I can do about it. This is the name my father gave me. He hopes that my life will be easier and smoother in the future. But I just like to make trouble, otherwise I wouldn't be a ranger..."
Yan Liqiang smiled foolishly and said nothing.
"Jia Lang hasn't come back yet, so let's go to the restaurant and wait for him..." Zuo Yuquan said.
"Okay!" Several people nodded, and then the five of them went to a restaurant more than 200 meters away to wait for the man named Jia Lang to come back.
This wait lasted almost an hour.
During this time, the five people found a seat by the window on the second floor of the restaurant, and chatted while waiting for people. After Zuo Yuquan and the others knew that Yan Liqiang's archery skills had reached the third level, they became much more polite to Yan Liqiang and tried their best to invite Yan Liqiang to join. Because among the five of them, although Zuo Yuquan and Zhao Bing could use the bow, their archery skills were only at the second level.
There were too many archery masters around Yan Liqiang, and he had seen many archery masters, so Yan Liqiang never thought that the third, fourth, or even fifth level of archery was anything great, because these people in front of him were all wandering souls under the arrow, and the value of their lives was the same as the value of an arrow that could be bought with more than ten copper coins. But for ordinary rangers, the second level of archery skills, which could accurately hit the target within a hundred meters, was actually very good, enough to travel around the world and deal with most situations. As for the third level of archery skills, even if they entered the army, they would have a good future, at least as officers at the level of lieutenant. Many rangers carrying bows had archery skills in the first level or had not yet entered the mainstream. They did not need to compete with any masters, as long as they were a little better than ordinary archers and the weak chickens they had to face, that was enough. Of course, there were archery masters among the rangers, but the reputation of those people was much greater than that of Zuo Yuquan and his people.
Seeing that these rangers were interesting and had decent intentions, Yan Liqiang agreed to join their team and go to Gulang grassland to have a try.
Finally, after waiting for nearly two hours, the ranger named Jia Lang finally came back.
Jia Lang was in his twenties, with a capable face and a nimble figure. The weapon he carried was a pair of long triangular spikes inserted at his waist. Yan Liqiang had just heard a sound on the stairs downstairs when this man jumped up. Yan Liqiang got to know this man after Zuo Yuquan and the others introduced him. Just by looking at this man's figure and weapon, he could tell that this man was good at delicate kung fu and was also very smart.
The news Jia Lang got was nothing new. It was that two knights he knew had come to Qiyun County a week ago and entered the Gulang grassland with others. In just one week, his two friends and a group of other knights ambushed a group of more than 20 Black Jie cavalrymen on the grassland. Not only did they chop off more than 20 heads, but they also seized dozens of rhinoceros dragon horses. On those more than 20 Black Jie cavalrymen were a lot of war money from the seven Shatu tribes, so his two friends made a fortune in one go. This time, not only did they each get the deed of 20 to 30 mu of grassland, but the rhinoceros dragon horses and other floating wealth added up to 700 to 800 taels of silver...
This news directly stimulated Zuo Yuquan and others so much that their blood boiled. They were eager to try and wanted to rush to the Gulan grassland and chop off dozens of heads.
"The Gulang grassland is now full of fat sheep. The heads of those Shatu and Heijie people can be exchanged for pastures, and their mounts can be exchanged for money. If we are lucky, those people will carry a lot of gold and silver jewelry. As long as we can ambush a few groups of guys and chop off a head, our trip to Qiyun County will not be in vain..." Jia Lang licked his lips and said with shining eyes.
"What is the current situation on the Gulang grassland?" Mao Taishun asked.
"I heard that the seven tribes of Shatu are in chaos, and the Black Jie people are also in chaos, with the camp in panic three times a day. As long as our horses are fine, even if we see a large group of them on the grassland, we can spot them from a distance and escape on our rhinoceros horses. I heard from those two friends that when they returned to Baishi Pass today, they encountered two headhunting teams composed of wealthy families in the northwest. There were more than 2,000 people in Baishi Pass and they were well-equipped. Now more and more people are entering the Gulang grassland. The earlier you go, the more opportunities you have and the easier it is to make a fortune. Many of the first batch of rangers who entered the Gulang grassland now have more than 100 acres of grassland..."
"Okay, we are almost ready. Let's see what else is needed and count it again. After lunch, we will set off and try to get out of the border this afternoon to take down him..." Zuo Yuquan spoke, and everyone nodded.
…
(End of this chapter)