Tiantang

Chapter 235
Chapter 243 Female Slave

"Brother, there is a noodle restaurant in front. I heard that Lingzhou is very famous for its noodle dishes. Let's go and ask for a few bowls of noodles and a plate of mutton. Try something new?" Zhang Xuan stopped walking with a smile, and pointed to a restaurant with thriving diners nearby. In and out of the big wine shop, said with a smile.

Xiao Shisanlang nodded and smiled, he didn't care.

And Hua Nuer frowned slightly.She is not very interested in this Northwest pasta and meat.It was too rough and unrefined, and the taste was average, especially the mutton was so fishy that she couldn't swallow it at all.

Zhang Xuan took the lead to enter the noodle shop. As soon as he entered the noodle shop, he was greeted by a strong smell of sweat mixed with the unpleasant smell of sheep meat. Hua Nuer frowned even more and covered his mouth.

If Zhang Xuan hadn't insisted on coming in, she definitely wouldn't have stepped into this kind of place.

Most of the diners in the noodle restaurant are merchants from all over the world, including Tang people and Hu people. Most of them are people from the Western Regions, Huihe people, and Tuyuhun people who settled in Lingzhou.

Zhang Xuan randomly found an empty seat, took a few people over and sat down, then called the waiter to come over, randomly ordered three bowls of noodles, a plate of mutton, and a jug of wine.

After a while, both the noodles and the mutton were served.

Hua Nuer didn't want to move her chopsticks at first, but it can be seen that Zhang Xuan and Xiao Shisanlang ate with great relish, and their hearts were a little moved.He put a piece of mutton into his mouth and chewed it lightly twice.The pungent fishy smell rushed into the throat, and Hua Nuer almost spit it out on the spot, covering her mouth with a pained look on her face.

Zhang Xuan glanced at Hua Nuer, and smiled softly, "This mutton tastes really good, very pure. However, if you are not used to this kind of food, don't eat it."

Xiao Shisanlang also looked at Hua Nuer, smiled and said nothing.

He actually felt a little strange in his heart. Ordinarily, Hua Nuer was a monk before, so he should not be so "golden".But what Xiao Shisanlang didn't know was that although Hua Nuer was wearing Taoist robes, she had actually lived a life of poverty as a monk for a few days.

Whether it was in Luoyang before, then in Chang'an, and then in Fanyang, wherever you go, you will be well-clothed and well-fed.In Zhang Xuan's eyes, this Hua Nuer is a kind of woman with a very petty bourgeois sentiment. This habit is deep in her bones, and she is not coquettish.

Zhang Xuan no longer cared about Hua Nuer, and began to eat with big mouthfuls, the more he ate, the more delicious he became.

No one knows his mood at the moment.In his previous life, it was not easy to eat a plate of mutton with real taste.Although the current food is rough and bland, it really tastes like mutton, and it is pure green and pollution-free.

Just as he was enjoying his meal, he suddenly heard loud scolding and footsteps coming from the door of the noodle shop, even mixed with the sound of whipping.

Zhang Xuan looked up and saw a group of Longshuo soldiers escorting a few Tuyuhun women passing by the door. It seemed that these Tuyuhun people were not very disciplined. It was a miserable scream.

There were also a few Tuyuhun tribesmen in the noodle shop, but they glanced up and showed displeasure on their faces, but immediately lowered their heads to cover up and continued to eat and drink, not daring to meddle in their own business.

The Tuyuhun people were exterminated by Tubo and lived in Lingzhou. They have gradually merged with the Tang people in Lingzhou and became a very weak alien tribe.Although the imperial court gave the Tuyuhun people a certain degree of autonomy, few people in the local towns really took the Tuyuhun people seriously.

Tuyuhun was an inferior person in Lingzhou, and his status was even far inferior to that of Huihe people.

It seems that this kind of thing happens often, and the diners in the store are used to it, and there are not many disturbances.

Zhang Xuan frowned, but didn't care.

However, at this moment, the rapid roar of horseshoes was heard, and people on the street screamed and neighed into a mess.

The diners could no longer sit comfortably, and they all put aside the food on the table and crowded to the door to watch.

Zhang Xuan also came over.

More than a dozen young Tuyuhun riders held scimitars, got off their horses angrily, and surrounded the group of Longshuo soldiers.

The army man who looked like the leader of the army was furious, and pointed at the leader of the Tuyuhun cavalry in the opposing camp with a mo knife - a handsome young man with a square face, broad forehead, dark complexion and long hair, and angrily said, "Ge Cong, you How dare you lead your troops into Lingzhou City to rebel?"

Ge Cong suppressed the great anger in his heart, clasped his fists and said, "Master, Ge Cong dare not. It's just that these women are members of Ge Cong's clan. May I ask what crime they committed, and they should be sent to the city for disposal?" "

The leader of the army sneered, "These girls disrespected the government orders of the Lingzhou government and entered the city to sell fur goods without authorization. I was ordered by the Lingzhou Wei Zhonglang General Zheng Xiong to take them from the government office...Ge Cong , you hurry up and take people out of the city, I don’t have the same knowledge as you.”

Ge Cong was furious at Xiaohan when he heard the words, and said angrily, "Master, don't frame good people. Ever since the Lingzhou government issued an order, I, the Tuyuhun people, never dared to enter the city to sell fur goods, but only traded with merchants around the camp... Obviously you suddenly ran to Our tribe ransacked and arrested people! Although I, the Tuyuhun people, are destitute, I can't let others bully and rob people!"

"If you don't let my people go, Ge Cong will not let it go!"

Ge Cong waved his hand, and the dozen or so Tuyuhun men under him also showed their weapons one after another, assuming a posture of using force to snatch.

The faces of some Tuyuhun people next to him became a little complicated.Most of the people who were able to live in the city were wealthy and powerful aristocrats from various tribes in the Tuyuhun. Through their "relationships" with officials or generals of the Tang Dynasty, they gradually moved to the city to set up industries and became Tuyuhun people who were gradually sinicized in the city.

Most of the Tuyuhun people can only live as nomads outside Lingzhou City and move to the foot of the mountain, relying on selling leather goods to trade with Tang merchants to obtain food and supplies, making a difficult living.

And last year, the Lingzhou government government issued another decree, in the name of maintaining law and order, strictly prohibiting the Tuyuhun people from entering the city to sell fur trade, and the Tuyuhun people can only trade with merchants around the camp outside the city.

Zhang Xuan had just arrived in Lingzhou, so he didn't know the decree.

Hearing the whispers of the diners around him, and looking at the Tuyuhun people and a group of soldiers at the entrance of the noodle shop, Zhang Xuan frowned.

Looking at the situation, it turned out that the officers and soldiers went out of the city to arrest people, and all of them were women.And judging from the expressions of the diners nearby, this is already a common occurrence—it seems that the many Tuyuhun female slaves in the city came from this way.

"This must be Zheng Xiong's slave hunting team..." A diner and his partner beside him said softly, "I don't know how dare this Tuyuhun man dare to break into the city to snatch people! Look Come on, Zheng Xiong's army will arrive in a short time, and Ge Cong and the others will be unable to eat and walk around!"

Zhang Xuan frowned, and asked this person in a low voice, "Brother, what is going on? Who is Zheng Xiong?"

The diner glanced back at Zhang Xuan, and said in a low voice, "Brother, you must be a foreigner, don't meddle in your own business, we small-headed people can't meddle in such nosy business."

"Then Zheng Xiong is the confidant of Guo Ziyi's subordinates, General Wei Zhonglang of Lingzhou. It is said that he has a slave hunting team under his command, who specialize in capturing Tuyuhun women as slaves and selling them to Chang'an and other prefectures..."

"Zheng Xiong? General Zhonglang? Guo Ziyi's men?" Zhang Xuan frowned.

He didn't know that the Lingzhou government army dared to do this kind of slave trade secretly, and even attacked the Tuyuhun people.

If it was an ordinary matter of the officers and soldiers oppressing the people and the Tuyuhun people, it would definitely not attract Zhang Xuan's interest.Even if he suppressed this kind of thing forcefully, it would be difficult to stop it.But since Zhang Xuan encountered such a thing as selling his beloved as a slave, he would never ignore it.

He may not be able to control other feudal towns, but in Longshuo, under his governance and under his nose, this kind of bloody trade is absolutely not allowed to occur.

"Ge Cong, I advise you to be sensible. It is still too late to leave the city. If you wait for the Lingzhou defenders to arrive, you will end up dead." Facing the siege of the Tuyuhun people, the leader of the army was not afraid at all, and stabbed threatened.

Ge Cong is the son of the leader of the toothless tribe, the largest tribe of the Tuyuhun people, and he can be regarded as an upper-class nobleman of the Tuyuhun people.Although Ge Chong knew that he had committed a felony by leading his team into the city, he could not just sit and watch his people being sold into slavery.

"Go ahead, snatch people!" Ge Cong knew that he couldn't reason with this group of robbers in the armor of the Tang Dynasty official army, so he simply snatched people out of the city and sent them back to the tribe first.As for himself, he would rather go to the city alone to plead guilty to the Lingzhou government.

The Tuyuhun people who followed Ge Cong were a group of hot-blooded men. Tang Jun had been envious for a long time for snatching his own people as slaves openly and secretly.When Ge Cong gave an order, the Tuyuhun soldiers waved their scimitars, ready to strike.

The scene was chaotic, and the passers-by on the street retreated one after another when they saw that the Tuyuhun people dared to confront the officers and soldiers head-on.

"Stop!" Zhang Xuan squeezed out of the crowd and shouted loudly.

When the two gangs who were about to start saw a young man dressed as a scholar rushing out of the noodle shop, they all turned to look at Zhang Xuan.

Zhang Xuan frowned and cupped his hands at Ge Cong, "If you have any grievances, why don't you complain to the Lingzhou government? It's a capital offense to run into the officers and soldiers in the street and disturb the law and order in Lingzhou!"

Ge Cong let out a long sigh, glanced at Zhang Xuan, and bowed his hands back, "This gentleman invited... If we appeal to the Lingzhou government, we can only get a punishment. Over the years, my clansmen may have been punished. No fewer than a hundred people have been forcibly robbed or disappeared secretly."

"I know that I have violated the Tang Dynasty's criminal laws, but I will not hesitate to save my people. I must not just sit and watch my sisters being sold into slavery!"

Ge Cong shouted angrily, "What are you waiting for, save people!"

The soldiers also yelled angrily without showing any weakness, "You want to court death! Who dares to do it?"

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There will be an update at three o'clock tonight, and it will be around 10 o'clock, so it won't affect everyone's rest too much.

(End of this chapter)