Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 396 Destiny is not determined by the stars

Xixia is not the name of a country so far but the name of the western part of Xiazhou, a place rich in Gobi, wolfberry, dates, licorice and sheep.

Among them, the Xiazhou sheep is the most famous. The meat is tender, bright red in color, and the fat is milky white and evenly distributed. It is not smelly or fishy. It tastes fat but not greasy, smooth and refreshing, and is full of meat aroma.

It's just that sheep have a strong ability to destroy vegetation, and there are no particularly good grasslands in Xiazhou, so these sheep are naturally famous for being precious.

It is understandable that Lao Zhang is so anxious. After all, this place is 3,680 miles away from Xiazhou. The cost of transporting live sheep here is greater than the cost of the sheep itself, so the price is naturally doubled.

How can I put it? It is that after Xia Lin's continuous construction and development in the past two years, a transportation lifeline across the grassland and the Western Regions has been opened up. Seventeen countries are guarding this road. The reason is simple: as long as there is a road, there is money, and no one really wants to live that hard life anymore.

During this period, it was not that no one wanted to destroy this road. They kidnapped the merchant caravan and killed people to rob them. However, that tribe suffered a miserable end. They were chased for 800 miles by the cavalry of the Turkic royal court. The men were chopped up and fed to eagles, the women were taken back for breeding, and the children were stewed as meat.

Don’t think that the current grassland is civilized to the Wei Dynasty. That’s because this is the Wei Dynasty, the orthodox Central Plains dynasty. If it were any other small tribe or country, you would find that the eagle is bloodthirsty by nature, but it just doesn’t dare to catch an elephant.

Xia Lin is still developing this road and even spends a huge amount of money every year to maintain it. Many naturally formed towns have appeared along the way. With the establishment of these settlements and trade areas, things that were originally difficult to transport can now be delivered smoothly.

This delicious lamb is a prime example.

"Hahahaha, I didn't expect it was you guys. Drink, drink."

Xia Lin picked up the wine glass and toasted with those bearded men. The people who brought the sheep here to sell were not strangers, but envoys from a small country in the Western Regions. They came here to discuss the issue of full sinicization with the Wei Dynasty, and they also brought a few hundred sheep to sell to supplement their family income.

As for why they are familiar with Xia Lin, it naturally starts from a long time ago. Originally, this was an inconspicuous small tribe in the Western Regions. There were about three or four thousand people in the tribe, and they were pitifully poor. Later, Xia Lin was tinkering with growing cotton in the Western Regions. They thought that they were free anyway, and they had no share in the hunting area, and they had nothing to do in the fertile pastureland, so they might as well try to grow cotton.

Unexpectedly, their area was not suitable for grazing but very suitable for growing cotton. In just a few years, this poor tribe had become wealthy by growing cotton, melons and fruits. After becoming rich, they introduced sheep breeds from Xiazhou and rented pastures from brother tribes to start grazing.

After a while, others saw that they were becoming popular, so they decided to establish a country. So this country came into being, and the name translated into Chinese characters means the country of cotton and sheep, which is somewhat cute.

Xialin actually always helped them, sending technicians to help them solve farming and mining problems, and lending them a lot of money at low or even free interest. If they couldn't pay it back, they could just use their iron ore and potash mines to pay it back.

They don't know how to mine it, and it would be a waste to keep it, so it would be better to give it to Xia Lin in exchange for farm tools, food, seeds, etc.

"Friend!" The envoy happily raised his glass to Xia Lin: "Good friend!"

The envoys were actually very happy. The leaders of the various tribes in their country liked and admired Xia Lin. Not only was he the only Han Chinese who could communicate with them in their language, he was also the only Han Chinese who would not cheat them when doing business.

Dugu Han on the side felt as if she was isolated. She couldn't get a word in when Xia Lin and the others were talking. They kept chattering. Zhang Zhongchun and the woman next to her were the same people who just stayed in bed together. They just buried their heads in eating from the beginning, as if they had never eaten anything good in their previous lives.

At this moment, Xia Lin was holding a glass of wine and singing their folk songs with those bearded men around the campfire. He looked like a monkey when he was drunk.

"Why would he say such nonsense?"

Dugu Han suddenly asked Zhang Zhongchun in a low voice. Old Zhang raised his head and glanced at her in his busy schedule: "Oh, he just says these nonsense."

Dugu Han was silent for a long time. If it weren't for the occasion, a stool would have been thrown on Zhang Zhongchun's head. This answer reminded her of the Bhikkhu Country and Xiaoer City in Journey to the West. She felt helpless for a moment.

Although he didn't get the answer he wanted, Dugu Han still admired Xia Lin very much. It seemed like he had friends everywhere, and everyone who came over would say hello to him.

Should I say this or not? This shouldn't happen...

After a meal, they drank wine and ate meat. Just as the bearded men were about to take Xia Lin to the tent to let him experience the exotic customs of the men with high noses and deep eyes, Lao Zhang grabbed his hand and said, "No, no, he can't do it anymore."

"No?" The exotic beauty who supported Xia Lin obviously didn't understand and looked at Lao Zhang in confusion.

Lao Zhang said "oh", stretched out a finger and let it hang down, and used his other hand to pick at it: "He's soft, no good."

The beautiful foreign girls immediately understood what he meant and sent Xia Lin back to Lao Zhang with laughter. However, Xia Lin had been drunk by now and could not hear what Lao Zhang was saying at all.

“Hey, so-and-so.” Old Zhang called out to Dugu Han, “You live with him, right? Keep an eye on him at night, don’t let him vomit and choke himself to death.”

Dugu Han sneered: "It's better to die."

"I saw you two eating this afternoon, why would it be better for you to die now? Did he cheat on you with your body? Why do you hate him so much?"

It would have been fine if he didn't mention what happened in the afternoon. As soon as he mentioned it, Dugu Han's face suddenly turned cold and he turned around and left.

"What a weirdo." Lao Zhang cursed, then grabbed Xia Lin's hair and said, "Look at the person you picked. You are really blind."

At this moment, Wu Ning stepped forward and said, "That man seems to be the patriarch of the Dugu family in the capital."

"The Dugu family..." Old Zhang smacked his lips: "The head of the Dugu family is a woman?"

"She's dressed as a man, but she doesn't seem to have any milk, how will she feed the baby in the future?" "Yours isn't necessarily that big either." Lao Zhang glanced at Wu Ning: "Mine is bigger than yours even if I squeeze it."

"Zhang Zhongchun, if you can come in today, I will take your last name!"

Old Zhang was a very single man. When he saw Wu Ning running away with his hands on his hips, he just smiled disdainfully and said, "If you don't want to come in, then don't come in. I'll go live at my brother's house."

The next morning when Xia Lin woke up and opened his eyes, he suddenly heard a familiar snoring sound. Due to the alcohol he had been drinking, his reaction was a little slow. He seemed to be back in that shabby house in Luoyang, as if all the bizarre things in these years had become a dream.

Now that I'm awake from the dream, I still hear Lao Zhang grinding his teeth, farting, and snoring, and the broken bed that is so crowded that two people can sleep on it.

"That's not right." Xia Lin suddenly sat up: "Where can I find a satin quilt in Luoyang..."

Looking back, the dream was still there, but why the hell was Lao Zhang there too?
"stand up!"

Xia Lin slapped Lao Zhang on the butt, and Lao Zhang's snoring stopped abruptly. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and sat up: "What's wrong? Why are you sitting here?"

"It wasn't me. You were captured and sucked dry by those green-eyed women yesterday."

"Fuck! That's how they arranged the program. Why are you so nosy?"

"I guess there won't be any more of this show in the future." Lao Zhang yawned. "Yesterday I told you that you couldn't get hard, and those green-eyed women covered their mouths and ran away laughing after hearing that."

"Zhang Zhongchun, you really deserve to die..."

Xia Lin had no idea what to do when he met such a person. If this wasn't Lao Zhang, he would have beaten him up today. At this moment, Lao Zhang continued, "Yesterday I asked your little sister to come and take care of you because I was afraid you would choke to death. Guess what she said?"

"It would be better if I were dead."

"What? You know all this? Oh! Did you take advantage of her?"

"Bullshit, I just kissed her, I didn't even have time to get in and stir the storm."

"Disgusting!" Lao Zhang threw back the blanket and got out of bed: "So disgusting!"

After a while, they squatted in the yard outside and started to wash and brush their teeth. At this time, the toothbrush was already in good shape, with a mahogany base and a brush head made of wild boar bristles. It was all handmade and expensive. However, brushing teeth was an exclusive behavior of the upper class. Ordinary people didn't even know if they could live past the age of 30, so who would care about rotten teeth?

"But that young lady seems to really hate you. Her eyes can't lie. She definitely wants to kill you."

"Nonsense, if I were her, I would have already done it."

"No, you did something to make people hate you so much."

Xia Lin sat there and told him what he had done to the Dugu family. Old Zhang stroked his chin and thought for a moment: "Oh... In that case, she didn't kill you, maybe she really loves you."

"It's a mixture of love and hate." Xia Lin said with a smile: "She still has to rely on me to make money."

"Bullshit, with her Dugu family's background, they can make money with just a dog. It's just a matter of speed. She just likes you."

"Not really. I'm not that likable. If anyone likes me, the Li family princess may really like me, but the others are just attracted by my beauty."

"You are such a shameless bully." Old Zhang cursed, "I don't even bother to say anything about you, you scumbag."

"But speaking of the Princess of the Li Family." Old Zhang frowned. "If you had a conflict with the Li Family, and the two of you were fighting on the battlefield, wouldn't that be a tragic and beautiful scene?"

"Soldiers? What soldiers?"

Xia Lin took out his booklet and flipped to the section about weapon design: "This is called a shotgun, and this is called a rifle."

Then he continued to flip through the pages: "Although this one hasn't been made yet, it will probably be soon. Her father would kneel down like a merciful Gatling Bodhisattva if he saw it, and he would whirlwind and turn thirty-six thousand times in one breath."

Lao Zhang scratched his head: "Put it in and turn it?"

"Go!" Xia Lin turned another page: "This is called a train. It runs from Lingnan to Mobei, leaving in the morning and arriving in the evening. Although it hasn't come out yet, it will come out sooner or later."

"What? Did you dream about something outrageous again? Just tell me how this thing can run 6,000 miles in a day. You can't even fly."

"Two days, two days at most!"

(End of this chapter)