Oppression

Before long, Li Yuan had the market clerk nimbly weigh the game.

"A forty-catty roe deer is five hundred and twenty wen.

Three wild pheasants and two wild hares come to a total of four hundred and twenty wen.

That makes nine hundred and forty wen in total."

Having awakened his Past Life Memory, these calculations were not difficult for Li Yuan.

Lin Youyu nodded without a word, waving his hand to signal the clerk behind him to exchange the money for the goods.

After receiving the payment, Li Yuan handed over the required market commission, the clerk's fee, and the government tax.

In the end, he actually walked away with five hundred and sixty-four wen.

After further deducting the stall fee and the city entry fee, he had netted over five hundred wen this time.

With nearly half his profits skimmed off, if you were the scion of a noble family, the government might not dare to do much if you refused to pay.

But as a mere mountain hunter, a person at the bottom of the social ladder, if you didn't pay, you could expect to be beaten to death with clubs.

Only by paying could one earn money and survive; such was the way of life for those at the bottom.

Li Yuan hoisted the heavy strings of coins, tucked them into his tunic, and prepared to head to the blacksmith shop on West Street.

Just as he was about to take a step, he saw a sturdy figure standing at the market entrance.

"Yo, isn't this Li Yuan? Looks like you had quite a haul today!"

The man was named Yan Xiang, sporting a crew cut and yellowed teeth. He had joined a fairly powerful gang and was a well-known local bully.

Yan Xiang's older brother, Yan Ming, was a formal disciple at a martial hall and possessed formidable strength.

Relying on his brother's status and his own shrewdness in picking targets—only ever bullying those at the bottom—he had managed to gather a group of ruffians under his command.

Even in the dead of winter, he wore only a grey short-sleeved tunic and didn't seem to feel the cold at all.

Bad luck!

Li Yuan cursed inwardly, but immediately put on a smile and said, "Brother Yan, how have you been lately!"

As he spoke, Li Yuan pulled a hundred wen from his tunic and handed it to Yan Xiang.

It was clear Yan Xiang had come specifically for him; if he didn't show some sense, he would likely be in for a brutal beating.

Li Yuan couldn't defeat him yet, and the man had a brother to boot. When the day came that he could crush him with a single palm strike, his time would be up.

Whatever he ate of his today, he would eventually spit back out.

"Hahaha, not bad, not bad. Through my own hard work, I've finally become an apprentice at the Flying Eagle Martial Hall."

"It seems you've earned quite a bit today, Brother Yuan. Giving me so little? Your brother here hasn't had it easy lately, you know."

Yan Xiang squinted, clearly unsatisfied. If he wasn't satisfied, the consequences would be severe.

Li Yuan's expression remained unchanged as he pulled out another string of coins.

Yan Xiang had studied martial arts, had a gang of lackeys, and had backing.

If he didn't pay, he might well have his legs broken the moment he stepped out of the market.

With Li Yuan's current strength, he could not yet afford to resist.

Yan Xiang took the coins nonchalantly, laughing as he scratched his head, revealing his yellowed teeth.

He familiarly draped an arm over Li Yuan's shoulder and whispered, "I came to see you this time because I have some bad news."

"What is it? I'm a lone wolf; what bad news could I possibly have?" Li Yuan asked in return.

"Logically speaking, you shouldn't have any bad news." Yan Xiang chuckled.

He then pulled him into a nearby corner.

"Do you know about the current situation with the war on the frontier?"

"I do not." Li Yuan shook his head.

Wuxi County was extremely far from the Imperial Capital, one might say a hundred thousand miles away.

But it wasn't exactly far from the frontier, though not exactly close either.

"Sigh, word is the imperial army suffered a crushing defeat at the frontier!

A mountain of people died! They're preparing to conscript soldiers everywhere now!

I heard it from my brother."

He paused, then continued, "You must have heard about the recent taxes, right?

I hear the government is preparing to force conscription. Every household with two or more males over the age of sixteen must surrender one, regardless of household registration.

Failing that, it's one person per household.

The condition offered is a slight reduction in taxes. If you want to avoid it, you can, but you must either be a martial artist who has reached the Three Stages of Skin Refining, which grants an exemption, or pay fifty taels of silver! They call it 'life-buying money'!"

In this world, martial arts were ultimately supreme!

Literary arts are for the poor, but martial arts are for the rich; those who can become official disciples of a Martial Arts Hall are certainly not short on money.

Even if one were to join the barracks, their status would be entirely different.

Hearing this, Li Yuan felt somewhat puzzled. Even if that were the case, would Yan Xiang really go out of his way to tell him this?

"Then, is it highly likely that someone like me, living alone, will be drafted?" Li Yuan asked, expressing his doubt at the appropriate moment.

"If you die, they won't even have to pay compensation. What do you think?"

Li Yuan nodded, the sense of crisis in his heart growing heavier.

He had no desire to be cannon fodder; with his current strength, he wouldn't even know how he died.

"It probably won't be long before the conscription reaches Wuxi County.

I don't think you can scrape together fifty taels of silver in a short time, can you?"

Yan Xiang chuckled, "I know of a good place, I just don't know if you're willing, little brother."

"That young master of the Song Family has a special fondness for boys, and in just one month, you could earn..."

"Stop, stop!"

Li Yuan raised a hand to cut him off, "I already knew about this. Let me consider it and we can talk later."

So, after all the buildup, Yan Xiang was just trying to get him to sell his body.

He would rather die than do something like that.

"Fine! You'll see whether I'm telling the truth or not soon enough." Yan Xiang noticed Li Yuan's skepticism.

He wasn't annoyed, merely smiling; earning dozens of taels of silver in a short time was basically impossible.

Unless Li Yuan had heaven-defying luck and hunted big game back-to-back.

Patting him on the shoulder, Yan Xiang walked out of the market.

Li Yuan remained expressionless, his fists clenched tight.

It seemed he had to become a disciple of the Martial Arts Hall as soon as possible. Otherwise, paying a "life-buying" fee while also paying to learn martial arts would be a massive loss, wouldn't it?

Regardless of whether Yan Xiang was telling the truth, there was no time to waste.

After leaving the market, Li Yuan headed straight for West Street. He needed to buy some better arrows; otherwise, if he encountered a decent beast, he wouldn't even be able to pierce its hide.

Before he even got close, he heard the rhythmic "clanging" of metalwork, and a wave of heat mixed with the scent of coal rushed toward him.

The shop entrance was hung with finished farm tools and blades, while inside, a shirtless man with knotted muscles was swinging a hammer, striking a piece of red-hot iron.

Li Yuan stood at the entrance, waiting for the man to finish his round of hammering and return the iron to the furnace to heat before stepping forward to ask:

"Master, how much for Willow Leaf Arrows?"

The blacksmith looked up, wiped away his sweat, and sized Li Yuan up.

He then asked in a muffled voice, "What kind do you want? Ordinary Willow Leaf iron arrows are fifty wen each. The reinforced, heavy-duty armor-piercing ones are eighty wen."

"I'll take five ordinary Willow Leaf ones!" He paused, then added, "Can I take them now?"

The blacksmith glanced at him and pointed to a corner piled with miscellaneous items: "They're right there."

Five iron arrows should be enough for now; he would come back to buy more after he hunted something big.

After checking them over, Li Yuan confirmed there were no issues.

He paid two hundred and fifty wen, then carefully wrapped up the five heavy, cold-glinting iron arrows.