Not long after the convoy of Wang Xiaotong and others entered the city, there was suddenly a burst of rapid horse hoofbeats in front of them, as if thousands of horses were galloping. A young general holding a spear and a group of cavalry were seen rushing forward.

The main road in Zhangye City is the same as that in Daxing City. It is divided into three parts: left, middle and right. Ordinary people and carriages and horses walk on both sides. The middle is reserved for officials and the army, and is reserved for scouts. This is not only the prerogative of officials and the army, but also to prevent emergencies.

At this time, the urgently mobilized troops bumped into the civilians, or were obstructed by the civilians and delayed the opportunity to fight.

The troops that were galloping in were all wearing exquisite armor. The streamlined armor was not only beautiful, but also exuded a simple sense of strength. Before it stopped, a murderous aura was already surging over. Don't even call it a human being.

The horses pulling the cart were all frightened by the murderous intent of the opponent, and they kept shouting.

When the army stopped, the tall, middle-aged Hu Shang rode out from the team, pointed at Wang Xiaotong and others on the left road and said: "General Dugu, after they entered the city, they asked around and seemed to be interested in Liang.

I know nothing about the state. I suspect that they are named Sui people and they look like Sui people, but they are foreign spies in their hearts!" (Note: During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, a large number of Han people fled to the Turks and took refuge in Tuyuhun.)

Wang Xiaotong and Xu Wenyuan looked at each other and smiled bitterly. They did not expect that Yang Ji's control over the city was so terrifying. Not long after they entered, they were reported.

But I saw the general riding his horse forward, glanced at everyone, and said coldly: "I have seen a lot of traitors, but those as bold as you are extremely rare. Which country are you traitors from?

Why do you go around trying to find out what my Sui Dynasty is like?"

"I know him! His name is Dugu Pingyun, and he is the cousin of King Wei. I will go and explain to him." Li Jiancheng said to Wang Tong, then rode forward, cupped his hands and said: "General Dugu, I am Li Jiancheng of Longxi.

This time I am accompanying all the great scholars to meet friends through literature. Since Zhangye is extremely prosperous and its customs are very different from those in Daxing, I asked you out of curiosity and have no other intention."

"It turns out he is the crown prince of Tang Dynasty!" Dugu Pingyun looked carefully and recognized Li Jiancheng. He said to Hu Shang beside him: "You made a mistake, there is no prize."

"I thought it was a big fish, but I was mistaken. What a pity!" Hu Shang glanced at Li Jiancheng and others with disappointment, ignored their glares, and left.

"The king and others have been waiting for a long time. Please come with me!" Dugu Pingyun bowed his hands to everyone.

"Please!" After hearing this, everyone continued to move forward.

"I learned a lot today!" Wang Xiaotong looked at the orderly Zhangye City and said to Xu Wenyuan: "Everyone in the world says that King Wei is vulgar and rude, but look at Zhangye City today and compare it with Daxing City. It's really funny.

pole."

Xu Wenyuan nodded, "At least in terms of rules and etiquette, it is not unreasonable for Zhangye City to be prosperous today. But if we look deeper than the surface, I am afraid it has something to do with Yang Ji's vigorous promotion of the rule of law. With laws and systems

To regulate all people, even illiterate people know what they should do, what they can do, what they should not do, and what they cannot do.

The rule of virtue advocated by Confucianism seems to run counter to the rule of law advocated by Legalists, but in fact they have many similarities. The rule of virtue requires everyone to be a polite moral saint. If everyone is a moral saint, then naturally

There will be no more crimes committed.

But is it possible? Absolutely impossible.

But the rule of law is different. The biggest role of the rule of law is to draw a bottom line. In fact, the rule of law has been around since the Qin Dynasty. However, because the Qin laws were too strict and the second generation of the Qin Dynasty died, everyone in the world said that the rule of law cannot be done. But the Han Dynasty

After the founding of the dynasty, many Qin laws were still used, but often due to compromises in interests, the execution was far inferior to that of the Qin Dynasty, which resulted in the inability to implement the rule of law to the end.

After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Han family's rituals and music collapsed, but in fact, it was not the complete collapse of the rule of law. In the war-torn years, people were all precarious and had distracting thoughts. How could there be anyone to redress the grievances of the people? And many times, the princes and the

Family members and officials are the makers of all kinds of unjust, false and wrongful convictions. Do you still expect them to kill you?

Later, the Jin Dynasty had a brief period of unification, but there were many internal interest groups and aristocratic families were flourishing. These forces were in the bloodiest and most primitive stage of accumulation of force. Each of them used various means to strengthen themselves and strive to safeguard the interests of their own gangs.

Behind the emperor's back, many transactions were made under the law, and countless tragedies were committed privately. How could they maintain the rule of law that was not good for them?

In the troubled times, in order to unify the world, the capable emperors of various dynasties had no choice but to turn a blind eye to the generals and noble families. As for emperors like Chen Shubao, they just lived in the harem drunkenly, and you can expect him to take care of state affairs.

?

Even the late emperor who ruled the country by law actually made most of the compromises. The only thing he could do was not to show favoritism and be strict with himself. In order to let the concept of ruling the country by law be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, he had to have his own son operated on; but despite this,

It was just to establish a concept and a standard for the people of the Sui Dynasty. The rule of law did not actually penetrate into the local areas. At most, where he saw it, the country could be governed by law and the officials could be governed by law. But in places far away, in fact,

There is no difference from before.

However, Yang Ji has been in Liangzhou for many years. On the one hand, he has maintained external stability, and on the other hand, he has vigorously promoted the rule of law internally and continuously improved the laws. Over the past few years, without much interference, Liangzhou has become what it is today.

.

From the perspective of the whole world, this is a bottom-up reform in Yang Ji. If this is the case in other large states, then ruling the country by law is not empty talk.

Wang Xiaotong's ideas are different from Xu Wenyuan's. He also knows the benefits of the rule of law, because the Wang family in Taiyuan has a large business and luxuriant branches. An elder is equivalent to a prime minister, and a steward is equivalent to a governor. The descendants compete for it.

The limited number of elders and stewards are also scheming and fighting openly and secretly. Among the many elders and stewards, there are also some who are corrupt, eating away at the bone marrow of the Wang family. Therefore, the Wang family also has a set of family laws, which are more severe than the national law.

But that is the Wang family's business. Once out of the Wang family's family, the Wang family's children are a whole. If the whole country is governed according to law, how can the Wang family take advantage of the situation to grow? If Yang Ji's approach is followed, it is just to settle old cases.

It can make their Wang family shrink by 70 to 80% of their strength.

"Brother Xu, I have seen that the rule of law advocated by King Wei is very effective. However, after we entered the city, we were subject to bottom-up supervision. Under such high-pressure supervision, the people within the territory had no happiness and freedom at all.

, if things go on like this for a long time, I’m afraid there will be problems with my temperament.”

Wang Xiaotong said to Xu Wenyuan: "Confucianism emphasizes governing people by virtue, while Legalism uses laws to restrain and suppress human nature. If human nature is suppressed for too long, big problems will definitely occur. This is like a camp roar, soldiers

Their emotions have been suppressed for so long, and they will eventually burst out with terrifying power. So after I go back this time, I should invite the world's great scholars to oppose Liangzhou's strict laws and let the people of Liangzhou live a carefree life.

.”

In the final analysis, Wang Xiaotong was afraid.

Along the way, I saw that Liangzhou is very orderly, everyone abides by the law, and everyone is used to the days of governing the country according to law. Just this orderliness alone makes Liangzhou better than any other state. If it expands to the whole country from now on, all the powerful families will

How about taking bribes, perverting the law, and doing evil?

Xu Wenyuan frowned and remained silent. He came from a poor family. Although he was an admirer of pseudo-Confucianism, he did not agree with Wang Xiaotong's statement and so-called opposition.

Today, the boundaries between hundreds of schools of thought are blurred, and it is difficult to distinguish between Confucianism, Legalism, Mohism, and Yin-Yang. The so-called Legalists and Legalists of Wang Xiaotong are, at best, law enforcers appointed by the imperial court, but you

Can we say that they are descendants of Legalism? Not Confucian?

Moreover, the laws of the imperial court and the laws of Liangzhou actually set a limit for people. It is not as strict as the Qin Dynasty. As long as the people do not do anything illegal and disorderly, they almost do not need to be supervised; and the existence of laws

, are protecting the vast majority of honest people, but are they maliciously suppressing humanity? Looking at the people who are constantly coming and going, who looks like they are being suppressed?

Therefore, what Wang Xiaotong said about "opposing Liangzhou's strict laws" was purely for the sake of opposition.

But Wang Xiaotong had to give him face. Xu Wenyuan thought for a while and then said ambiguously: "Let's finish the debate first and then let's talk."

"That's fine!" After hearing such ambiguous words, Wang Xiaotong felt really unhappy, but it wasn't a big deal, so he nodded.

The motorcade slowly approached the Prefectural Mufu Mansion, and following Wang Tong, who was walking in front of Dugu Pingyun, Li Jiancheng suddenly saw a long line of people lined up at the entrance of the government office, and most of these people were foreigners, each wearing silk and silk.

Even though they were jewels and jewels, the soldiers were groveling, nodding and bowing in front of the officials who came and went. Even ordinary waiters would be treated with courtesy by these people.

"General Dugu, where did these people come from?" Li Jiancheng asked curiously.

Dugu Pingyun took a look and said casually: "These people are all from the small foreign countries on the Silk Road. They are either the envoys of the king, or the sons and envoys of nobles. The nearest ones are the small countries in the Western Regions, and the far ones are the eight Sogdian countries; and more

The far one is from Persia."

Li Jiancheng asked again: "Then what are they doing?"

Dugu Pingyun said casually: "Their purposes are similar, either they want to establish friendly relations with us, the Sui Dynasty, or they want to open a new Silk Road; and some small countries in the Western Regions are because of the Western Turks and Tiele

When the two tribes went to war, they were worried that their country would be destroyed in the war, so they all surrendered to me, the Sui Dynasty, and sought the protection of the Sui Dynasty."

"In fact, there were not so many in the past. This should be some agreement reached with various countries after Prime Minister Pei went to the Western Regions, so these small countries sent envoys over first and asked the king to give instructions to the Western Turks and Tiele."

Li Jiancheng pondered for a long time and asked: "The Second Division of Western Turks and the Second Division of Tiele are so obedient?"

"Don't dare not listen." Dugu Pingyun said proudly: "We in the Sui Dynasty were famous for being belligerent, and the Liangzhou Army was the most bellicose army in the Sui Dynasty, so the surrounding countries were afraid of us.

Sui Dynasty. It would be okay if our Liangzhou army was fighting, but once the king stopped fighting, the surrounding countries began to worry. They were worried that they would become the next target of the Sui Dynasty, and they had to get a clear answer before they could rest assured.

The two Western Turks and Tiele tribes who were killed were equally powerful. They were originally afraid that the Sui Dynasty would suddenly send troops, so as long as a small country was protected by the Sui Dynasty, they would not dare to attack."

"I really envy you." Li Jiancheng heard this and felt very much in his heart. What the nobles of Guanlong discussed most about Liangzhou was how backward Liangzhou was, how barbaric the people in Liangzhou were, and how many wars there were in Liangzhou.

, there is a kind of gloating in the tone of many people, as if Liangzhou is a place of despair, a big fire pit. But in fact, the people of Liangzhou have already lived a good life, and their sense of security may be stronger than that of the people in Guanzhong. It turns out that Liangzhou people have already lived a good life.

The Qiang, Xianbei, Sogdians, and Turks now only have the honor and pride of being Sui people, rather than rejection and resistance.

Li Jiancheng knew that all of this was brought about by Yang Ji, which made him feel a deep envy in his heart. Today's Guanlong aristocratic family has many children who live and die in the prosperous Daxing City all day long.

They fell behind and fell behind under the protection of Liangzhou, while Yang Ji and many young generals who were far away in Liangzhou not only achieved all military victories, they also surpassed the noble children of Guanlong who lived in comfort in every aspect.

Not only is he not that kind of degenerate person, but he also has the ambition to make great achievements. However, his status as the crown prince of Tang Dynasty forces him to live in comfort, which is really not what he wants.

But, what can I do?

You can’t just ignore everything at home, right?

"War is not a treat, it is playing with one's life. What is there to envy?" Dugu Pingyun said with a bitter smile: "I was also possessed by the devil back then, so I followed the king to Liangzhou. Now I regret it to death. If I

If he is the eldest son, even if I am locked up, I will run back to Daxing and become a playboy."

"General Dugu, do you really think so?" Li Jiancheng was a little unconvinced.

"Of course, in fact, it's not just me, but Yang Shidao also thinks so." Dugu Pingyun sighed: "What a mistake that will lead to eternal regret! I miss the comfortable days before, but it's a pity that because of my wrong choice, I followed someone

Wrong and overbearing bosses, no more."

"..." Li Jiancheng was speechless.

At this moment, a group of people appeared outside the gate, led by the majestic and heroic Yang Ji.

Li Jiancheng and others dismounted, and those who dismounted got off.

After dozens of them were gathered together, Liu Xuan and Liu Zhuo strode forward, cupped their hands to the leaders Wang Xiaotong and Xu Wenyuan and said: "Two gentlemen, we haven't seen each other for several years, but now your demeanor is even better than before."

"I have met Mr. Guangbo and Mr. Shiyuan." Wang Xiaotong, Xu Wenyuan and others quickly bowed and saluted.
To be continued...