Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 242
Xiao Yun went out of the Kaiyuan Gate and headed for the Zhongwei Bridge.

Kaiyuan Gate is the first gate from the west of the capital to the north, and there is a Duting post nearby.Since the Kingdom of China, most of the soldiers stationed in distant places, traveling students, long-distance merchants, and officials traveling abroad have come and gone through this gate.

"The West Pole Road is nine thousand nine hundred miles away." Xiao Yun glanced at the writing on the city wall and smiled wryly.

This sentence is for the Rong people who are stationed far away, telling them that they can't travel thousands of miles to the west, so it's just to comfort them.

The Zhongwei Bridge was twenty miles away, and Xiao Yun and his party took half a day to arrive in a large and small vehicle.

There is a post at the head of the Zhongwei Bridge, called Lingao Post, which is very large in scale, and most people who greet and send off here wait or bid farewell, and there are also many banquets and farewells for public and private receptions.But Xiao Yun's trip was in private, although it was not a secret, but he did not want to be known by too many people.

The post station was also operated by the outside world. After having lunch here, Xiao Yun and the others planned to continue westward towards Xianyang County.

On the road, I met a lonely scholar riding a donkey, looking around while walking.Xiao Yun looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before, so he got out of the carriage and came forward to say hello.

"It turned out to be Officer Xiao." Wu Rong immediately got off his donkey and saluted, and said, "Wu Rong, an apprentice from Yuyue Prefecture, has met Officer Xiao."

Xiao Yun did resign as magistrate of Yongle County in Hezhong, but his elder brother gave him the job of Xuan Delang, so it's not wrong to call him an official.

"But Wu Rong and Wu Zihua who sang with Han Donglang (Han Xie)?" Xiao Yun asked.

"It makes the officials laugh." Wu Rong cupped his hands.

He is known for his talent, and he is considered talented in poetry.But what's the use?If you fail to pass the Jinshi exam, everything will be suspended.

Furthermore, after taking the exam for 20 years, he doesn't want to take the exam anymore, and now he just wants to walk around and find a place to stay.The king of Lingwu County is very thirsty for literati to seek talents, and wants to reverse the Hu Feng in Dingnan Zhuzhou. He might as well go and see for himself.

"Zihua is going on a trip?"

"I plan to go to the land of Hewei." Wu Rong said directly without hiding anything.

Xiao Yun nodded slightly.

In Chang'an in recent years, there has been an atmosphere of depression and despair as a whole.First, the nest thief entered the pass, broke Chang'an, and the sage was lucky to Shu, which shocked the world.Then there was the turmoil of moving the town, and the sage once "went on tour" again, but fortunately he was "welcome" by the king of Lingwu County, and returned to Chang'an soon without any trouble.

But even so, everyone's spirits were still involuntarily hit.If there is another moth in the future, forcing the sage to go on tour again, the morale of the people will be hit hard again-it won't make the world despair, the hearts of the people will be lost, and the number of times the emperor has left is too many , Everyone is numb.

"Hewei is newly restored, and the place is not stable, so we are going?" Xiao Yun asked.

"Didn't Xiao Guanren also go to Hewei?" Wu Rong said lightly.

Xiao Yun is the younger brother of Prime Minister Xiao Yun. He took hundreds of servants and guards to the west, and so many carriages and horses. He couldn't be doing business, could he?Either go to Fengxiang to visit Zhu Mei, or go to Hewei to meet Shao Shude.It is heard that Zhu Mei has only [-] soldiers, Shao Shude has [-] soldiers, Xiao Yun is more likely to go to Hewei.

"The king of Lingwu County may have returned to Xiazhou, so he just went to take a look around the river and Wei." Xiao Yun was a little embarrassed, and said insincerely.

The Xiao family in Lanling has been distinguished for generations, and their family names are as prosperous as those five surnames and seven Wangs.Going to see a martial artist like this is really shameless.

But there is no way!In today's world, warriors are unreasonable, even dare to snatch the emperor, let alone respect the aristocratic family.In the days of peace and prosperity, the Xiao family of Lanling could pinch a martial artist like Shao Shude to death at will, but in this event, the end of the dynasty is undoubtedly revealed, who would dare to disrespect a martial artist?Zhu Quanzhong, who is not well-known, and the Xiao family have sent people to climb up, not to mention Shao Shude, who doesn't cripple the people or despise scholars?
"Since we are going to Hewei together, why don't we go together all the way?" Xiao Yun is also a scholar, so he naturally has the hobby of a scholar.He admired Wu Rong's poem title very much, and planned to discuss it more along the way.The few proud works that I wrote in private can also be taken out and asked to be commented on by others.

"That's good." Wu Rong was frustrated in the examination room. He didn't have much affection for these aristocratic families at first, but he was too shy to follow the Xiao family's motorcade all the way. It should save a lot of money, so he nodded in agreement.

Great family, alas!

The convoy traveled all the way without staying in the prefectures and counties. They walked along the post road all the way and rested at the post station at night.

The post road system in Guanzhong, even at this time, is still well maintained due to military needs.After they left Lingao Station, they passed through Wangxian Station and Taohua Station all the way, and left the boundary of Xianyang.Both of these two stations belong to Xianyang, and they are basically one station for twenty or thirty miles, which is convenient for public and private travel, messengers, or military deployments.

Then it passes through Wenquan Station (between Xianyang and Xingping County), Huaili Station (under Guoxia in Xingping County), Mawei Station, Wangyuan Station (in Wugong County), Fufeng Station (Fufeng County), Longwei Station, and Shizhu Station. The station (Qishan County) and Hengshui station arrived at Tianxing County, Fengxiang Prefecture, on July 24.

Fengxiang Mansion is an important town in Guanzhong, and the east and west are related to the city screen.In the south there are post roads leading to Hanzhong and Shuzhong, and in the west there are post roads leading to Qinzhou, Liangzhou, and Anxi. It also has a rich household registration, grain and silk production, and is the first among the towns in the northwest of Beijing.

This is a very powerful town with a very good foundation. If there is no rapid rise of the Dingnan Army, whoever controls the Fengxiang Zhuzhou can look down on Guanzhong.

Xiao Yun and his party lived in a place called Qifangting.He didn't intend to go to the city to see Zhu Mei, and Zhu Mei might not live in the city, I heard that he had built a large mansion, searched for beauties, and most of them lived outside the city.

These martial arts leaders, Xiao Yun sighed.

Fengxiang and Zhu Mei are engaged in large-scale construction projects, building luxury houses, collecting beauties for fun, and completely caring about the life and death of the people.

Huainan Gao Pian devoted himself to cultivating immortals, and he used people who pretended to be gods and ghosts.His trusted alchemist Lu Yongzhi was greedy for the beauty of the general Bi Shiduo's concubine, and asked for it repeatedly, but Bi Shiduo refused.So Lu Yongzhi broke into Bi Shiduo's mansion while he was away leading the army, and "meeted" with the concubine in private.Bi Shiduo was so angry that he directly divorced the concubine, but Gao Pian didn't respond to this.

So King Gao was imprisoned by Bi Shiduo, and now ambitious people from all walks of life in Huainan have emerged one after another, making a mess.

Zhen Haijun Zhou Bao, who drank and feasted in the back building all day long, "addicted to sensuality", has now been rebelled by man and ran away.

There are too many generals like this, and the spiritual world of warriors is so empty.In contrast, the King of Lingwu County seemed so unusual. He fought all the year round and was determined to forge ahead.

It's not that King Lingwu is so good, it's that the others are too bad!When I went into battle, I had a brave spirit, and I was able to fight quite well, but what to do in my spare time!
If there are psychologists of later generations to diagnose, in the late Tang Dynasty after more than a hundred years of separatism, the warriors should be more or less mentally ill.In a state of extreme tension all day long, people rebel from time to time, wars are frequent, and there is no strong restraint from above. This "explosion" is indeed unstoppable.

"What does Zihua think of this Fengxiang mansion?" After dinner, Xiao Yun dragged Wu Rong to chat again.

"It was originally a place where the people were rich and prosperous, but the management of Jieshuai was not good, and the people were hungry." Wu Rong said.

"How is it compared to Ding Nanjun?"

"A million Tibetan Han people, raising fifty thousand warriors, shouldn't be much better."

"That's not polite." Xiao Yun laughed loudly and said, "But you still have to go to Hewei."

"The king of Lingwu County can still be saved, but the rest of the generals in Guanzhong are hopeless."

Xiao Yun was out of breath laughing, and said: "The king of Lingwu County is also very beautiful."

"As long as you still have benevolence towards the common people, and you can see the sufferings of the common people, so what about a beautiful woman? It's just a concubine, and even her big family is raised by the common people. As long as you don't cruelly expropriate the people, thousands of concubine Concubines can afford it."

Xiao Yun laughed again.But with a smile, he suddenly thought of his own daughter, if he could persuade King Lingwu to divorce his wife, that would be great.It's a pity that Zhezong originally held Jiebinning, and the governor of Linzhou in Guanbei was also Zhe Silun, so he absolutely dare not say this.

Alas, the king of Lingwu County is quite talented, so why did he marry a Xianbei woman?
"Zihua's words are in line with my wishes." Xiao Yun said with a smile.

Xiao Yun didn't find it strange that Wu Rong had such an idea.Scholars in this meeting have very low requirements for Wufu.

There are those who are handsome in the world, some are from rebels, some are from nest thieves, some are from bandits, some are from generals, and of course some are from high-ranking officials.But it's strange, even if you come from a famous family and have been a martial artist for a long time, in the end, you will gradually become similar to the martial artist who was born as a grass thief.Is this "Wu Fu disease" still contagious?

Shao Shude seems relatively normal, will he also contract "Warfu disease" in the future, and be gradually assimilated by millions of martial arts in the world?

It's hard to find someone who can be rescued, but don't!
Continue to depart early in the morning on July 25.

Pass through Qiyang County, Siyuan Station, Anrong Pass, Dazhen Pass, Fenshui Station, Gongchuanzhai, Suirongzha, Qingshui County, and arrive at Shangyu County in Qinzhou Lisuo. It is already the beginning of August. six.

Along the way, they passed through several gates, and people from Fengxiang Town were collecting taxes, which were very heavy.Forcing some small businessmen to bypass the main road and walk across the mountains and ridges to avoid the tax card.

Wu Rong suddenly remembered the "forbidden pit" next to Tongguan.Because there are tax collectors in Tongguan, the taxes are very heavy, so many businessmen choose to walk along a deep valley and dense forest next to it. Over time, they find a road called "Forbidden Pit".The merchants in Qinzhou who traveled across the mountains also have the meaning of Tongguan.

Going southwest from Shangyu is Weizhou.These merchants are all going to Weizhou to do business, right?Weizhou is newly restored, and the people are poor. What business is there to do?

Merchants are probably the most sensitive people in the world.

"The head of a hundred feet is tilted five or two, where in this life is not home." Wu Rong shook his head, and there should be no difference between himself and those merchants, they are all exiles.Merchants still have a way to go, so why are they?
Cen Shen went to Anxi, Wang Wei went to Zhangye, Gao Shi went to Wuwei, and Du Fu went to Qinzhou. They all followed this path. Today, I also take this path. I hope that I can walk out of a different future.

After leaving Qinzhou, I walked along the Weishui Avenue, passing through Fuqiang County and Luomenchuan, and arrived at Longxi County, which was on August [-]th.

There was something strange along the way, there were many more Tianxiong soldiers belonging to Fengxiang Town, who were cutting wood to build fences.Are they worried that the Dingnan army will attack Qinzhou from the east?

This Zhu Mei is not as ignorant as in the legend, but she is very strict about her own territory.Qinzhou, to the west of Longshan Mountain, is still separated from Fengxiang Mansion by a large mountain, and has many household registrations.It used to be the No. 40 prefecture in Longyou, and it has been stable for nearly [-] years since it was recovered in the Dazhong period. It is not impossible for the Dingnan army to covet it.

The countryside in Longxi County is a bit desolate.

Wu Rong strolled to the ruins of a post station and carefully looked at the moss-covered rubble.

The Tubo people who ruled the Longyou states were incompetent.

In the Hexi states, they kept a large number of post stations for their own convenience.The cities of Gua and Shazhou were also intact, so that they could live conveniently.Perhaps the people on the Hexi side are real Tibetans, and those on the Longyou side are fake Tibetans.

There is an extremely small village next to the site of the post station, with less than ten families.Wu Rong, Xiao Yun and others stepped forward to find someone to buy water.As a result, after a long time, no one could speak official language.

A child came over, his face seemed to have some paint on it.Seeing an outsider, his mother dragged the boy back and wiped off the paint on his face, with a disturbed expression on his face, as if he was saying something, but everyone couldn't understand.

"Where did the guest come from?" An old voice suddenly sounded from behind.

Xiao Yun and Wu Rong both turned around and looked at an old man on crutches, who was speaking Mandarin just now.

"My father-in-law (the face name for male elders in the Tang Dynasty, can also be called an old man, the latter means respect) can still speak official Chinese?" Xiao Yun said happily: "I just want to buy some water."

"The old man (used in the Tang Dynasty to call himself) was originally from Qinzhou and was plundered by Tubo, so of course he can speak official language." Zhang Lao shook his head, looked at the mother and child with a slightly sentimental look, and said, "They are both Tianbao. The survivors can no longer speak the official language. Living in the barbarian land, for a long time, I don't know what is the barbarian custom, what is the Chinese custom. It is the custom of the Fan people. Although General Yang has ordered to change the barbarian style, in one sentence, What a blessing! Someone needs to do it! People in the countryside are even worse than the people in the city. They have no one to teach them. When will they be able to learn the style? A certain old man has no family and no one to listen to his words. That’s all, that’s all. The imperial court doesn't care, it's useless to talk more."

"General Yang is the Commander Yang who regained Weizhou?"

"Not only Weizhou has been recovered, but Minzhou has also been recovered. In the past few days, soldiers have been withdrawing from the south one after another. If luck is good, you can see it. A lot of Tibetan prisoners have been captured. The military capacity can be described as magnificent."

"Even Minzhou was recovered?" Xiao Yun was a little surprised.

There are three counties in Minzhou, four counties in Weizhou, three counties in Hezhou, two counties in Linzhou, and only two counties in Lanzhou. Recently, the imperial court approved the establishment of Gaolan and two counties in Yuzhong. There are sixteen counties in five prefectures in Hewei Town up.It's just that there are too few household registrations, and the prefectures and counties are empty, so we have to think of ways.

"Naturally recovered. General Yang is really a godly general. If there were such a general back then, the old man would not have the time to chop firewood, so he would be plundered." Zhang Lao said in a sentimental tone, but his expression was quite calm , more than thirty years have passed, and it is obvious that he has long since looked away.

"Where is General Yang at this time?" Wu Rong asked.

"Should still be in Minzhou, but will come back sooner or later. I heard from the sergeants passing by that the commander ordered the troops to return, and the troops will return one by one."

"Why don't you continue to fight? Recover all the lost ground?" Wu Rong asked anxiously.

Xiao Yun glanced at him.War, how can it be so simple?If the lost ground can be regained easily, presumably the King of Lingwu County will also be happy to see it.This Wu Rong is quite anxious.

Suddenly, the sound of horseshoes sounded in the distance, and a large group of cavalry appeared at the end of Hegu Avenue.

The flags are flying, and the army is at its peak, this is the victorious teacher.

Wu Rong and Xiao Yun looked over in a daze.

(End of this chapter)