Seeing this change, he finally understood why there had been no movement earlier: it was because Xiao Yanzi was everyone's spouse then, not just his alone!
Now, Xiao Yan belonged to him as his sole spouse.
"Let's go!"
Li Wannian led Xiao Yanzi away, making her other sisters extremely envious.
"What are you thinking? None of you are as pretty as Xiao Yanzi!"
The Madam scolded.
......
On the streets of Ping'an County, Xiao Yanzi followed closely behind Li Wannian, step by step.
"Sir... official, let me carry your basket for you!"
Xiao Yanzi felt embarrassed. Although she had been redeemed, it was merely a change of owner. She was now Li Wannian's servant, not even as good as a maidservant in a child's room.
"No need. You said you could weave armor?"
Li Wannian asked.
"When I was little, I saw my grandfather weave it, but he passed away a few years ago. My grandfather's family only has women, and my mother couldn't work for the government, but please rest assured, official, this servant can weave armor!"
Xiao Yanzi was very afraid that Li Wannian wouldn't believe her.
"Hmm, let's go to the north of the city!"
He knew that the north of the city was where ironware was sold, and there was also armor, but they were all broken pieces from the battlefield that couldn't be properly repaired. They were pieced together, and many soldiers would bring them back to sell in the north of the city for some money.
After arriving at the north of the city, he saw a large number of ironware shops. He first looked for a handy weapon. He came to the largest ironware shop in the city, where the quality of the weapons was the best.
"What kind of ironware does the customer want?"
Although it was mid-March and the weather was slightly cold, the ironware shop felt like summer. As soon as he entered, he felt a wave of heat wash over him.
"I'm going to the battlefield. Help me find a handy weapon!"
Li Wannian looked at the dazzling array of weapons: swords, spears, halberds, axes, yue, hooks, and forks—everything imaginable. There were also farming tools like hoes, choppers, and kitchen knives, but most of them were weapons like knives and swords.
He then picked up a beautiful sword, but it felt light, like a wooden sword. He switched to a knife, and it was the same.
After trying more than a dozen weapons, he shook his head: "These knives and swords are too light. Do you have any longer swords or knives?"
Li Wannian's idea was that on the battlefield, a longer weapon would be safer.
"There is one in the warehouse, but it's very heavy, about fifty jin, while ordinary knives and swords are only about ten jin! This kind of weapon requires a strong man to use!"
"Bring it out to see!"
Li Wannian felt that ten jin was a weight for ordinary people, and fifty jin would be just right for him.
"Please wait, customer!"
Soon, the shop assistant came carrying a large knife.
"Moro Blade!"
Li Wannian saw it and thought, isn't this the Moro Blade of the Great Tang Dynasty?
It was about one zhang long, with a long hilt and a short blade!
The hilt was about two meters long, and the blade was about one meter long. Only a strong man could wield it, and with one strike, both man and horse would be shattered!
This was a lethal weapon against cavalry!
Although Great Liang was in the north, it did not have its own large horse ranches, resulting in few cavalry and many infantry. The northern enemies of Great Liang were the Khitan, who were basically cavalry, so it was very suitable for him to buy this knife. It was just that this knife weighed fifty jin, and ordinary soldiers would be out of breath after swinging it a few times, but he was different. As long as it didn't reach his limit, he could swing it for a long time!
"The customer actually knows this is a Moro Blade. This thing has been lost for over a hundred years!"
It wasn't the shop assistant who spoke, but an old master who was forging iron. He handed the small hammer to another apprentice and came to Li Wannian.
"I happened to see it in an ancient book. This is a good thing!"
Li Wannian picked it up and swung it a few times casually, feeling that everything was just right.
However, this scene stunned the old master. Although any adult could wield this thing, he had only seen one person swing it so easily until now.
"If the customer likes it, I'll give it to you!"
The old master said with a smile.
"Give it to me?"
"Exactly. This thing is gathering dust in the warehouse, it's better to give it to someone destined for it. It looks like the customer is about to enlist, aren't you?"
The old master asked.
"That's right, I am indeed enlisting! That's why I came to buy weapons. I just don't know if this weapon is permitted for use?"
Li Wannian also felt it was too long.
"The army has not forbidden it, so it can be used!"
The old master said so.
"That's good! Then I thank you again!"
Li Wannian was not polite. Now was the time when he needed money, so he saved wherever he could.
"Good, I hope you, young man, can come back alive, so I can see this Moro Blade after it has drunk blood!"
"I'll try my best!"
Li Wannian carried the large knife and performed a scholar's bow, then left.
Looking at Li Wannian's back, the old master seemed to see his own past.
......
"Husband, let me carry it for you?"
Xiao Yanzi felt embarrassed that she wasn't doing any work.
"You'll be busy later!"
He came to the area selling broken armor. These armors were muddy and mostly broken, all flowing out from the front-line military camps. There were basically no complete ones, as complete ones wouldn't be displayed here.
In Great Liang, possessing three sets of armor could lead to execution, so no one dared to sell complete armor.
He could only search among these piles of junk. Two shoulder pads cost a hundred wen, then he found a skirt armor for eighty wen, and a heart-protecting mirror for sixty wen.
In the end, he gathered most of a set of Mingguang Armor, but he didn't see a helmet. Several nearby stalls also didn't have helmets because helmets were not easily damaged and were relatively universal, so they wouldn't flow out.
So he only gathered the components apart from the helmet, spending less than three qian of silver, which was very cost-effective. One should know that a complete set of ordinary iron armor cost twenty taels.
As for Mingguang Armor, it cost eighty taels, enough for the annual income of more than twenty families, or nearly two hundred dou of millet.
This incomplete Mingguang Armor, if repaired, would also be worth around fifty taels. This time, he really made a huge profit.
Li Wannian took Xiao Yanzi to the south of the city to buy rice. He would be away for a long time, so he had to prepare enough rice. Plus, with an extra person this time, he had to buy an extra dou of rice.
This time, he carried a hundred jin of millet, thirty jin of Mingguang Armor, and fifty jin of Moro Blade, totaling a hundred and eighty jin. He felt a bit strained by this weight, especially with long-distance walking.
"Official, let me carry the millet for you?"
Xiao Yanzi asked from behind.
"We'll talk after we leave the city!"
Li Wannian used the Moro Blade as a carrying pole, carrying the supplies out of the city. He walked to a sparsely populated area and then rested for a while. At this point, there was still some distance to Li Family Village.
"Official, let me carry the millet for you?"
Xiao Yanzi asked.
"Help me carry the armor!"
Thirty jin of armor was somewhat heavy for a woman, and long-distance walking would also be very tiring, but he bought Xiao Yanzi to work. If he was lucky, she could also bear him offspring.
There wasn't much time left before he had to report to the county, so he just wanted to go back early and make babies.
So, the few of them headed back along the small path, hoping to get home early. But after walking about four or five li, the population gradually thinned out.
Just then, a group of people rushed out from the surrounding woods. Their clothes were ragged, but they all had weapons, clearly bandits. In these chaotic times, the one thing not lacking was bandits!
"Oh, brothers, we can have some fun today!"
The bandit leader had a knife scar on his face and was extremely excited to see a woman.
Li Wannian didn't expect to encounter mountain bandits within ten li. They probably just recently moved into the area.
"Big brother, you go first with this woman, and we'll have our turn while she's still warm!"
One of the lackeys said so.
Li Wannian was not flustered. There were only eight opponents, and under normal circumstances, he could handle five without a problem. If he caught them off guard and killed three first, it would be a five-on-one situation, giving him the advantage!
"Heh heh, leave your money and I'll spare your lives!"
Li Wannian said calmly.
"Hahahaha~"
The eight bandits on the other side burst into laughter, while Xiao Yanzi was so frightened that her face turned pale and she dared not move.
"I thought I'd only get to unseal it on the battlefield, but I didn't expect to be able to do so now!"
Li Wannian put down his supplies, drew his Moro Blade, and his aura instantly changed. How could he still resemble a farmer?