Guan Yuyuan urged his horse to rush to the middle of the caravan, shouting loudly.
After entering Shanggui City, everyone can take a hot bath to relieve the fatigue of the long journey. The battle with the horse thieves last night exhausted everyone's last strength. The soldiers of the Suzaku Regiment fought bravely to kill the thieves and protect everyone.
The merchants were also busy cleaning the battlefield and taking care of the prisoners. How could they not be bothered? Thanks to the school captain Mr. Li, thinking of everyone's hard work, he ordered the captured horse thieves to be strung together and handed over to the guards.
.Everyone had a moment of leisure and quickened their pace, arriving in Shanggui before nightfall.
Shanggui has been an important military town on the Hexi Corridor since ancient times. It borders Guannei on the right and Hexi on the left. The unique geographical location allows the imperial court to station heavy troops here all year round, and gradually relies on it to become the gateway to the capital. Shanggui is also an important commercial town.
The throat of the Silk Road, most traders traveling from north to south passed through this place. Whether it was the Fu Fu people who trekked from the far west (Note 1) or the Hu people with nine surnames in the river (Note 2), in
After climbing over the snow-capped mountains and crossing the vast Gobi Desert, they would rest here and take a rest. The caravans coming from Xijing, whether they were going west to Liangzhou, turning north to sell goods in Mobei, or crossing Yumen Pass, went to
If you try your luck in Anxi, you must replenish fresh water and dry food here.
Over time, this place gradually became prosperous and became a transfer station connecting the west to the east, which was quite prosperous and lively.
"Everyone is in line, follow closely. Don't fight when we enter the city later, the government and soldiers may not be able to inspect you!" Guan Yuyuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and repeated it over and over again.
The vendors formed a long queue and arrived at the city gate escorted by the soldiers of the Suzaku Regiment.
Shanggui City was the administrative seat of Qinzhou (Note 3). It was completely modeled after Chang'an, the capital of Xijing, with only a slight reduction in regulations. There were four gates in the city, east, west, north and south. The east gate was called Rentai, and the doorway was very wide.
It can accommodate three carriages entering and exiting at the same time. The gatekeeper is called Wu Anguo. At this moment, he is sitting in front of the city gate with his eyes slightly closed, humming a tune. The city gate is wide open, and a group of gatekeepers are conducting routine inspections on the people entering the city.
It was such a leisurely day. He spent the whole day drinking wine and humming songs at the gate of the city, collecting some filial annual money. As for official promotion, being granted the title of Marquis was not worth mentioning in his opinion.
No matter how great the official position is, can it be greater than that of the Holy Emperor in Chang'an City? It would be better to live a more relaxed life. People should be content. Those who are content will always be happy, right?
"Boss Wu, a caravan is coming over there, and an army is following it! Should we accept it or not?" A soldier trotted up to Wu Anguo and asked in a low voice.
"Huh?" Wu Anguo slowly opened his eyes, glanced at the caravan in the distance, and hummed softly. "Take it, why not? When you come to my place, you have to abide by the rules set by me!"
"Hey!" the soldier responded loudly, ran to the wooden barrier in a few steps, poked his head sideways, and shouted to the mounted officer in front of the caravan:
"Our Lord Captain has given an order for anyone who comes to dismount immediately for inspection!"
Dou Qing reined in his horse, leaned half of his body forward, raised his hands to the soldier and said: "We are the Hexi Shence Army, and we have been ordered to escort a caravan to Liangzhou. I hope this brother will open the barrier and let us go!"
The soldier frowned and shouted: "Stop talking nonsense, get off your horse and get inspected. You have so many weapons in your hands, do you want to rebel?"
"You!" Seeing his arrogant attitude, Dou Qing became angry and was about to explode, but Li Kuo grabbed him by the corner of his clothes.
The real purpose of the Shence Army's trip was to transport a batch of ordnance to the Hexi Army. This matter was confidential and naturally could not be leaked.
"Show them the documents from the Ministry of War and tell them to check and release them!" Li Kuo, however, could not accept the inspection. He needed to secretly send the weapons to the Hexi Army. There were many people here, and military secrets would be leaked if they were not sure.
Dou Qing nodded, got off his horse, walked to the wooden barrier, took out a book of documents from his arms and handed it to the soldier.
"Boss Wu, here is an ultimatum from the Ministry of War!" The soldier did not dare to neglect, and shouted at the top of his voice, as if he was just a little sparing, and the captain who was resting at the side would not hear it.
"What kind of document? Show it to me!" Wu Anguo stood up straight, stepped forward, and pulled the document over in annoyance.
"Well, it has the official seal of the Ministry of War, so it should be true. These days, the army actually makes escorts for merchants, his grandmother's!" Wu Anguo muttered in a low voice, and a large amount of filial piety was just gone. He was naturally
He was angry. But he had the documents approved by the Ministry of War, so what could he do?
"Let go!"
"Hey, hey, what are you waiting for? Move the wooden barrier, you are stupid!" The soldier yelled at the two recruits beside him, pouring out the evil in his heart.
The two recruits had nowhere to vent their anger, so they had no choice but to move their wooden barriers away with their heads lowered and stand on either side.
"Well done Captain Li!"
"You guys will go to the city soon to set up a banquet and treat the captain to a drink!"
"Captain Li is young and promising!"
The merchants were overjoyed to be exempted from unloading inspection and save a large sum of filial piety fees.
They travel south and north, west and east, and are a group of people who value practical interests the most. Recently, they have been favored by Li Kuo several times, and everyone is naturally very fond of this young Shence military captain and praises him repeatedly.
"Brothers, follow closely and go to the camp in the north of the city!" Li Kuo ordered, whipped his riding whip, and took the lead into the city.
"My dear, you have such great style! After all, you are an official from the capital, so you have great style!" A recruit smacked his lips and sighed repeatedly.
...
Shanggui City is modeled on the regulations of Chang'an and is divided into six, six and thirty-six squares. Similar to the east and west cities of Chang'an, there are two markets in the south and north in the city. Of course, for this kind of border town, the restrictions are not so strict. Some wine shops and inns
They will still appear in places other than the market, entertaining guests from all over.
There is a large camp in the north of the city, which is used for training by the government troops on weekdays. Of course, if the border troops borrow it, the governor will enthusiastically order people to clean the redundant barracks so that the border troops can stay.
Li Kuo and the others were affiliated with the Chang'an Shence Army, and they had documents from the Ministry of War, so they naturally moved into the military camp. Where there are people, there are business opportunities, and where there are benefits, there are merchants. Businessmen who saw the huge benefits gathered in the big hall one after another.
Outside the camp, people spent money to get permission from the government to build restaurants, tea shops, inns and brothels. After decades of accumulation, a prosperous commercial port area has been formed outside the camp, which is very lively.
Naturally, the Jiyuan caravan could not stay in the camp, so under the guidance of Guan Yuyuan, they moved into the Huiyuan Inn next to the camp. Everyone was exhausted along the way. They hurriedly unloaded the goods and packages and handed them to the inn clerks and traders.
They rushed into their rooms and fell asleep. As for the banquet to thank Captain Li for his promise, they had long forgotten about it. Even Guan Yuyuan, the leader of the Jiyuan caravan, who had always been calm and solemn, leaned on the bed and got up.
Stopped snoring and fell into a deep sleep.
At this time, in the camp in the north of the city, Li Kuo was not in the mood to sleep. Last night's battle with the horse thieves completely shattered the boy's dream of arriving in Liangzhou safely. Although he made reasonable arrangements and command, and led his brothers to defeat the horse thieves, the boy was not able to do anything.
I couldn't be happy. This group of people are not horse bandits, and no horse bandits would take the initiative to attack a caravan escorted by the army! If this knot is not resolved for a day, the young man will not feel at ease.
Although he captured some horse bandits alive, he could not get any useful information. They insisted that they were bandits, and Li Kuo was helpless.
"Brother Dou, prepare a horse for me. I'm going to the governor's house in Qinzhou (Note 4) to meet with the governor!" After thinking about it, Li Kuosi cleared his throat and ordered in a low voice.
"Ah, sir, why don't you take a bath first to feel tired?" Dou Qing walked in from outside and echoed.
"As soon as I hand over the captives to the horse thieves, I'm going to leave because I'm tired!" Li Kuo smiled bitterly and walked out of the house.
Note 1: Fu Fu: The name given to the Eastern Roman Empire (see Byzantine Empire) in medieval Chinese historical records. The Fu Fu people are the Eastern Romans.
Note 2: Hu people with nine surnames: there are different records in classics, and the records in "New Book of Tang" shall prevail here. They include the nine surnames of Zhaowu such as Kang, An, Cao, Shi, Mi, He, Huoxun, Wudi, and Shi.
Note 3: Qinzhou: It was the administrative seat of Longyou Dao. Throughout the Tang Dynasty, Qinzhou governed Chengji County (today's Shuishui District), led to Chengji, Shanggui (today's northwest of Qin'an County), Longcheng (today's Qin'an County),
Qingshui, Fuqiang (east of present-day Gangu County), Changdao (northeast of present-day Li County) counties.
Note 4: The local official system in the Tang Dynasty is relatively complicated. Generally speaking, local administration is under the jurisdiction of civilian officials. The army is commanded by the established military governors. As for relatively remote places like Anxi, the military governors naturally also oversee local administration.
. Let’s understand it this way. The governor of the Central Plains is the governor. As for the governors of the Protectorate, they are concurrently appointed by the governors, and the military and government are in charge.
ps: After the exam, I am exhausted physically and mentally. Please help Liu Yun, a book friend, to give me some motivation!
{Piaotian Literature www.piaotian.net thanks all book friends for their support, your support is our greatest motivation}