Traveling on the road is boring. Zhao Jun, who has lived in the Bianjing Imperial Palace since he was a child and has never even left the palace gate a few times, soon changed from being excited about the surrounding scenery to being bored.
The official road at this time is not like the road in the previous life. There are various scenery around it. Except for the highway, it basically travels through the city.
Almost all official roads are four or five miles away from the nearby city, and all that is left around them is endless wilderness and bare roads. There are no people around, and few people make their homes in this wilderness.
Unless you rush to the next city, you can see the looming village with smoke rising from the distance from the fork in the road that occasionally appears on the official road. The rest is the same deserted wilderness, which is boring and boring.
In this way, Zhao Jun and his party followed the official road all the way north, passing by cities one after another, and finally arrived at Yunzhou County after three months.
As I said before, Yunzhou County was not originally a territory of the Song Dynasty. It was newly annexed fifty years ago. It turned out that this area was already a border area of the Song Dynasty. Liaobei County, which is close to Yunzhou County, was originally almost a border area. The military town was specially established to defend the northern border.
With the surrender of Yunzhou County, although Liaobei County has not completely returned to a normal state and county, the military towns adjacent to Yunzhou County have been abolished a lot, and they no longer have the solemnity and restraint of being a border military state. Solemn.
However, it may be that the imperial court was also worried that the newly surrendered Yunzhou County would surrender and rebel again. Therefore, on the surface, Liaobei County was gradually normalized, but the number of troops stationed there was not reduced at all. It was just shifted from the original full-scale defense to heavily guarding key areas. .
This not only saved the court the huge expense of a comprehensive defense, but also gave the court a reassurance that it would not have the power to resist when an accident occurred in Yunzhou County.
This also led to the fact that even if Zhao Jun and his party showed their identities when they left Liaobei County, they still encountered strict interrogation by the troops stationed in Liaobei County.
For no other reason than to check just in case, Zhao Jun and his party easily left the checkpoint and arrived at the boundary of Yunzhou County.
The most different thing between Yunzhou County and other territories in the Song Dynasty is that it is a large area of grassland and a special state and county where part of the territory adjacent to Liaobei County is a plain.
In addition to the villages that could be seen from time to time when they first left the Liaobei County boundary, the team faced only endless grasslands and occasionally large areas of cattle, sheep and horses driven by herdsmen tribes to graze. group.
It was a real beautiful scene of wind-swept meadows and cows and sheep.
The beautiful scenery is beautiful, but when you travel for a day and a night without being able to see a city, and end up camping in the wilderness, no matter how good the scenery is, it becomes a ghost place where birds can't poop.
As the team gradually heard complaints, the team kept asking for directions from the herdsmen they encountered. Half a month later, they finally arrived at the destination of their trip, Yunzhou City!
The only city established by the Song Dynasty in Yunzhou County, it was used by the Song Dynasty court to control the administrative center of the entire Yunzhou County!
Even though he was prepared in his heart, when Zhao Jun jumped off the carriage and saw the simple urban building in front of him, which was said to be a city, but could not even compare to an inferior city in the interior, he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. Down.
The tattered city wall made of stone was less than two people high, and the crooked and dozing defenders stood at the door.
This dilapidated appearance looks like a crudely built refugee city that just suffered a disaster!
"This damn thing is really "simple"!"
An unclear word whether it was emotion or complaint came out of Zhao Jun's mouth, and a touch of bitterness appeared on Zhao Jun's face.
There is nothing we can do. This is the current situation. It seems that in the past few years, we will be busy with many things in the future. If we want to live a good life in the future, then the early work will definitely be indispensable!
After clearing up the complicated emotions in his heart, Zhao Jun shook his head and returned to the car helplessly, immediately giving the order to enter the city.
News of the arrival of the vassal king Zhao Jun quickly spread to Yunzhou City, and everyone with some strength in Yunzhou City got the news.
In the center of Yunzhou City, there was a large building that was much better than the messy tents and stone houses around it. The Yunzhou County Sheriff's Mansion quickly gathered a lot of people.
The current governor of Yunzhou County, Li Yi, looked at the large group of people below and his head was getting big!
After receiving the news of Prince Yun's arrival, he immediately wanted to go to greet him, but before he could get out the door, he was blocked in the governor's mansion by these ghosts and monsters who hurriedly rushed to the door.
Among them were his subordinates, as well as Cheng Cheng, the local military chief in Yunzhou City and the defense envoy of the Xiang Army.
Of course, more of them are the chiefs of various tribes in Yunzhou County who are under the jurisdiction of Yunzhou County, as well as some families who have moved from the interior and settled in Yunzhou County.
These people represent all the forces in Yunzhou County.
The county governor's office, headed by the county governor Li Yi, represents the administrative power of the Song Dynasty in Yunzhou County, and is the "ostensibly" strongest force in Yunzhou County.
The highest military officer, defense envoy Cheng Cheng, represented the military force of the Song Dynasty in Yunzhou County. The Yunzhou garrison of 2,500 people was the basis of military power to ensure the basic interests and control of the Song Dynasty in Yunzhou County.
Those tribal leaders represent the various tribes in Yunzhou County. They form the basic base of the entire Yunzhou County, which is equivalent to the clan power in various places in the mainland.
The smallest remaining group of people are the branches that migrated from some families in the interior of the Song Dynasty. The power they control cannot be underestimated. Although they are newly migrated forces, they do not have a deep local background or foundation. stable.
But what they hold in their hands is the trade chain between the mainland of the Song Dynasty and Yunzhou County!
Yunzhou County is located in the grassland. It can be said that materials are extremely scarce and everything is lacking.
In order to maintain the stability of Yunzhou County, the Song Dynasty court opened the trade authority between Yunzhou County and inland cities after Yunzhou County surrendered to the Song Dynasty. This resulted in a large amount of Song Dynasty materials that were extremely scarce for the grassland. Entering Yunzhou County ensures the stability of Yunzhou County.
Some families saw the benefits, so they moved some of their branches to settle in Yunzhou County. With their own power in the interior of the Song Dynasty, they gradually controlled various channels for transportation from the Song Dynasty to Yunzhou County. Collectively, They monopolized the trade channels for these materials and made a lot of profits from them.
Use some extremely low-priced materials in the interior, such as iron pots, tea residues, and the lowest quality salt, in exchange for batches of good war horses, cattle and sheep from Yunzhou County, and sell them to the interior to earn higher profits.
Therefore, although these inland family forces have few people in Yunzhou County, their status in the entire Yunzhou County is also very important.
Almost every tribe has a relationship with them, and they are almost in a semi-controlled state. After all, herdsmen are also human beings, and they need to eat and have enough to eat!
If you want to have enough food in Yunzhou County and obtain those inland materials of the Song Dynasty that are not easy to obtain, you have to be hijacked by these families who control the trade channels.
And these people gathered here for only one purpose after receiving the news that King Yun, the vassal king of Yunzhou County, had arrived in Yunzhou City!
That is the current peaceful situation in Yunzhou City with all forces balancing each other. Will it change because of King Yun who came to Yunzhou City from Bianjing?
If so, how can they maintain their own interests during these changes?
Therefore, as soon as they received the news, they hurried over and blocked the way of County Governor Li Yi.
The Lord County Sheriff, the highest administrative official in Yunzhou City, was dragged to the County Sheriff's Mansion. They must give them an answer, or reassurance!
Li Yi said in his heart: "Fuck you, I have an uncertain future. You asked me to explain it to you. Who the hell can point out a clear path for me?!"
…
