Hanzhong Mansion, a thousand-year-old city.
The geographical conditions of Hanzhong made it a must-win place for the Han Dynasty when they changed dynasties, but it was not a must-pass for the Northern Barbarians to invade. Therefore, this thousand-year-old city is extremely well preserved.
Under the antique blue-black city wall, Dan Si and others rode more than 30 people. The momentum was not small, which attracted the attention of the soldiers guarding the city gate. Everyone became nervous. Some people had already gone to report to the city gate guard.
Compared with Jianghu, Shansi was not equipped enough to deal with the officialdom, so by the time they arrived at Hanzhongfu City, the leadership of the team had been handed over to Zheng Xiao.
Zheng Xiao left the team alone and arrived at the city gate first. At this time, the city gate guard had already arrived in a hurry.
This was a man from a hundred households, wearing armor. Zheng Xiao had already taken out his Qianhu waist badge. When he got to the city gate, he got off his horse and threw the badge away. The other party wouldn't dare come and take it in person.
The hundred households took the waist badge, their expressions suddenly changed, they came closer with a smile on their faces, and raised their hands to indicate:
"It turns out that he is a master of Qianhu of the Fujun Guard. He is subordinate to the commander of Shaanxi Han Zhongwei, and he is the same as the one of hundreds of households in Qianhu."
In Zhengyang, in addition to the five military governors' offices each commanding five armies and horses, each province also established military departments. A capital command and envoy department is established in the province, and a guard command and envoy department, a thousand household office, and a hundred household office are established under the department. There are 5,600 people in each guard, divided into 5 thousand-household units at the front, back, left, right and center. The Thousand Household Office is further divided into 10 Hundred Household Offices, each with a full complement of 112 people.
Each garrison station is stationed in peacetime and ordered to attack and defend in wartime. During wartime, the imperial court would temporarily appoint generals, but not all of them would be in charge of commanding operations. Therefore, on weekdays, the commander is concurrently served by the governor, the highest official of a province.
The governor's office of Shaanxi Province was established in Shaanxi Prefecture, but the Hanzhong Guards of Hanzhong Prefecture were the most powerful under the command of the Shaanxi Capital Commander.
One of the reasons is the existence of Hanzhong Military Horse Farm.
Most of Zhengyang's military horses are bred here. It can be said to be the most important part of the Zhengyang Cavalry. In the military horse farm, a separate guard post was set up, and the command, supply, and training all belonged to the Northern Army of Qin Guogong Tuoba Yunhan.
Therefore, Duke Guo of Qin also served as the governor of the four northwest provinces, and his powers were still superior to those of the governors of each province.
When they learned that Zheng Xiao and others were appointed by the Fifth Army Governor's Office, and that they had killed the bandit leader in Menglong Mountain and obtained the head of the enemy chief, the flattery on Baihu Gouyi's face became even more overwhelming.
"Oh my god, today has been full of twists and turns. First, General Gan failed in his campaign against the bandits and withdrew. When we thought that the bandits had become so powerful, there were reports from the officers and soldiers that the bandit chiefs were The leader of the cavalry was killed and he came back with his head. You know, it was this bandit chief who caused General Gan's defeat. Now, Mr. Qianhu, you have returned with the head of the bandit leader. If General Gan Knowing that the bandits are leaderless, I will definitely avenge my shame and wipe out the bandits."
Zheng Xiao was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then asked sharply: "You said that the bandit's cavalry leader was killed and his head was brought back?"
Gou Yiyi said: "Yes, those officers and soldiers have just entered the city and they were showing off to me earlier."
Zheng Xiao raised his head and looked into the city gate, then hurriedly got on his horse and went back. After explaining these contents to Dan Si, the two of them ordered people to go into the city to find a place to rest. The two of them quickly entered the city and found it soon. Those four officers and soldiers were driving more than a dozen horses. The target was huge and very easy to find.
He rode his horse forward and showed his identity, and the four officers and soldiers immediately showed their respect.
Zheng Xiao learned everything from them, and also learned that after entering the city, Liu Xin and the others went in another direction.
Zheng Xiao said to Shan Si: "I vaguely know who those three people are!"
Dan Si's eyes lit up. He was able to use three cavalry against a dozen cavalry. He was still the top horseman in Liangshan, and he was the one who finally won and wiped out the enemy. He was very interested in knowing the opponent's name.
Seeing Shan Si's expression, Zheng Xiao couldn't help but smile bitterly and recounted what happened when he saw three precious colts in the stable at the inn: "I guess it was these three people who did this, but it's a pity that I didn't do it at the time." I can meet them. But I originally thought that the owners of the three precious horses were at least some high-ranking officials in the court or veterans in the army. Unexpectedly, they were actually three young people."
Shan Si showed a look of longing: "If you are a young person, it would be even more amazing. Now is the time when our younger generation is rising. There will be outstanding people among our peers from all over the world. I can already feel the blood rushing through my body, eager to one sight!"
Zheng Xiao looked at Shan Si speechlessly. He should not be included in Shan Si's list of the best of his generation.
Zheng Xiao still has some envy in his heart. Although he works hard, he is still not strong enough. The passion and pride he had when he was a boy have long been wiped out in reality, and now he no longer has that passion. Naturally, what I envy is people like Shan Si, who have always maintained their pride and can still feel the feeling of blood boiling.
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After entering Hanzhong Fucheng, Liu Xin and others separated from the four soldiers. Although it is a military merit, it is not received at this time.
With the help of Leng Peijun, they found a secret stronghold set up by Dongchang here and found a place to live nearby. When they returned to this stronghold, the sky was gradually getting dark.
Take out the Dongchang Token. Liu Xin met the person in charge arranged by Dongchang here, a stall owner. Distributed in the east factory in various provinces are the guarding eunuchs in various places. They assist the governors in various places and at the same time supervise them. Under the guarding eunuchs, there are those who are responsible for the punishment of thousands of households and the management of punishment for hundreds of households. This is the same as the setup in the imperial capital. However, Dongchang will only open one Dongchang Yamen in the provincial capital in each province, which serves as the office for the guarding eunuchs, who are responsible for the punishment of thousands of households and the administration of punishment for hundreds of households.
In a city like Hanzhong Prefecture, the highest official of Dongchang is Zhang Ban. The Zhang Ban has the same rank as Li Xing Bai Hu, but in terms of status, Li Xing Bai Hu is far above Zhang Ban. Below the head waiter is the foreman, and below the foreman is the stall owner. Corresponding to the position of the hundred households, the general flag and the small flag.
As for Dongchang in the imperial capital, it was because it was close to the admiral and its status had improved. As a result, the stalls of Dongchang could also talk to the hundreds of households in Jinyiwei on an equal footing.
In the land of Yifu, the Dongchang spies would not appear in the sun, but would hide under the water, becoming one of the two swords always hanging over the heads of officials everywhere.
The other one is Jin Yiwei, but in recent years, Dongchang has surpassed Jin Yiwei in Lun An's secret methods.
Of course, the Dongchang stall in Hanzhong Prefecture did not have the same status improvement as the Imperial Capital, so it treated Liu Xin and others with great respect.
"The boss and several foremen are all performing official duties. Please forgive me."
Liu Xin waved his hand calmly, full of authority: "No problem!"
Liu Xin came here this time mainly because he wanted to secretly enter the Hanzhong Army Racecourse in the way of Dongchang, but to his surprise, the stall directly said that it was impossible!
Secret entry is not possible.
After a careful conversation, Liu Xin understood the reason.
From an administrative point of view, the Hanzhong Military Racecourse does not belong to Hanzhong Prefecture, or even to Shaanxi Province, but to the military and directly under the Northern Army Governor's Prefecture. Therefore, all the rules in the military horse racing field are set by the Northern Army Governor's Office itself, and Tuoba Yunhan, as the Northern Army Governor, has absolute control over the military horse racing field. With the power of Qin Guogong, he even reformed the system of the military horse farm, which ultimately led to a situation where even intelligence agencies such as Dongchang cannot easily send people there.
It’s not that you can’t send it, but you will be discovered immediately if you send it in.
The system of the military horse farm is a rotation system. Now the guard station responsible for guarding the military horse farm can only be stationed in the military horse farm for half a year. From the commander of the guard station to the lower-level officers and soldiers, no one can leave the military horse farm during this period. The scope of the enclosure is one step.
Even the Duke of Qin specially recruited a group of young and powerful civilian husbands, gave them extremely high rewards, and exempted their families from taxes, just to let them farm between the two hills within the military horse farm.
Except for the food for the horses, which was personally escorted by Tuoba Yunhan's troops, the food for the rest of the people was almost all produced and sold by themselves.
Even if there are occasional supplies that are needed, Tuoba Yunhan will personally appoint his subordinates to temporarily escort them.
It can be said that the Hanzhong Army Racecourse is like an iron barrel. People inside cannot get out. People from the outside can enter, but they cannot enter quietly.
After learning about it, Liu Xin felt that Tuoba Yunhan seemed to value the military horse farm too much, but he heard Leng Peijun explain:
"Qianhu, Zhengyang's biggest worry is the Northern Barbarians. We have to compete with the Northern Barbarians, especially on the grassland. We don't have a strong city wall, so we can only be passively beaten by the Northern Barbarians' cavalry. Therefore, Qin Guogong five years ago I once published the statement "Ma Ma Fu", which means that if Zhengyang wants to completely defeat the Northern Barbarians, they can only decide the outcome on Ma Ma."
Liu Xin hummed, he understood. He glanced at Leng Peijun and found that the latter looked more and more like his staff officer. This was probably the purpose of Yuan Dongxiang sending him.
His qualifications were too low, and Leng Peijun supplemented his shortcomings very well.
Liu Xin pinched the center of his eyebrows and felt that he was suffering too much. If he couldn't secretly enter the military horse farm for this mission, he could only alert the enemy, but in that case, the investigation would be too difficult.
"Is there anyone who wants to enter the racecourse recently?" Leng Peijun saw Liu Xin's confusion, so he asked tentatively.
You can enter the military horse farm, but you must apply in advance and get the signature and approval of the Northern Army Governor's Office. If someone has entered recently, they can go in with them, but this is just what Leng Peijun asked with the attitude of giving it a try. Not hopeful.
But the result was unexpected. The stall owner said without hesitation: "It's true!"
Liu Xin's eyes lit up and he asked: "Who is he, when is he going to come in, and why?"
Faced with Liu Xin's three consecutive questions, the stall owner was stunned for a moment, and then said thoughtfully: "I received the news half a month ago, saying that a group of young men from the imperial capital are coming to the military horse farm to choose their mounts."
Liu Xin and Leng Peijun looked at each other. Aren't they the same group of distinguished second-generation people they met at the inn? At that time, they didn't pay attention to what they said about choosing a horse. They later forgot about it. Now that they think about it, Liu Xin suddenly had an idea.
"Help me check the current location of those second-generation nobles. They set off earlier than us and may have entered the city!" Liu Xin ordered.
"Yes!" the Dongchang stall said respectfully.
The Hanzhong Army Racecourse is located 30 miles south of Hanzhong City. There are two hills there, one to the east and one to the west, 40 miles apart. There is a river on the southernmost side that eventually merges into the Yangtze River, named Hanjiang.
The Han River is wide and spans nearly 100 meters from north to south. It is a natural barrier. Coupled with the two hills on the east and west, the location of the military horse farm is a natural fortress, the kind that can be blocked by one man and cannot be opened by ten thousand people.
The military horse farm is usually responsible for the horses used by the royal family and government offices, as well as the transportation horses and cavalry horses of the national army. Therefore, the officials or groups responsible for horse administration often have very strong political power.
The military horse farm is generally under the Ministry of War, but the Hanzhong military horse farm is special. It is directly under the governor's office of the Northern Army and under the control of Qin Guogong Tuoba Yunhan. Moreover, the Hanzhong Military Horse Farm is not responsible for the training and training of horses for government offices, transportation, etc. The Hanzhong Military Horse Farm only breeds one type of horse:
War horse!
Today, the number of horses at the Hanzhong Military Horse Farm exceeds 20,000, and the number of handymen responsible for caring for these horses exceeds 30,000. This does not include the two guard stations outside and inside the military horse farm.
The garrison of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion is different from the garrison of the pro-army army. People don't know the details and are collectively called the garrison. However, in fact, the organization of the Five Army Governor's Mansion is army, town, battalion, sentry, team, etc.
The first army has about 20,000 people, and its commander is the deputy general military officer, who has the rank of commander. There are about 5,000 people in a town, and the commander is a general, commander, or commander with the title of magistrate. There are about a thousand people in a battalion, and the commander is a guerrilla general, also known as a garrison or a general. A thousand households or a commander have the title of general. There are 250 people in a sentry, and the commander is the sentry officer, with the title of 100 households. There are fifty people in a team, and the commander is the captain, with the title of general flag or small flag.
The two guard posts at the Hanzhong Military Racecourse are actually two town defenses, with the outer layer of defense deployed by Hanzhong Prefecture and Shaanxi Prefecture. The internal defense of the military horse farm is garrisoned by the Northern Army on a rotating basis. This Northern Army garrison was jointly managed by a commander who stayed at the military horse farm all year round and a commander who rotated the army.
The commander in the military horse farm listened to the commander and left the military horse farm, and the command was automatically handed over to the original commander-in-chief of the army.
In the early morning of July 24th, the eleventh year of Xuyang, it was rainy and muggy.
Dan Si left Hanzhong Mansion in a grand manner with the second-generation nobles. There were six of them, plus a group of guards. Three of the second-generation nobles were bedridden. I wonder if they had eaten bad food at the celebration banquet last night. He was so exhausted that he had to let others choose the mount for him.
Just when Dan Si and the others brought the head of the bandit chief to the Hanzhong garrison, the commander who had suffered a defeat was unwilling to wait when he heard the news. He went directly to the military camp to order the general, and headed towards the Menglong Mountain under the cover of night. , with a passionate look ready to avenge his past humiliation.
The prefect of Hanzhong Prefecture personally received several second-generation nobles. These people are all powerful nobles in the future, so they naturally want to make good friends with them. The banquet that night was even renamed the Celebration Banquet. It seemed that the commander-in-chief was sure of capturing the bandits in Menglong Mountain.
Several second-generation nobles accepted all this naturally. Except for Shan Si and Zheng Xiao, who were more restrained, the rest only went back to their rooms to rest in the middle of the night. At this moment, these people still looked depressed.
A person from the prefect led the way, and everyone headed to the military horse farm. Because he had already said hello, Shan Si had the official certificate to enter the military horse farm. Only with this official certificate issued by the Minister of War personally could he enter the military horse farm. Officials with one rank less are not qualified to issue it.
There was a post station ten miles away from the military horse farm. Shan Si and others wanted to pass by directly, but Zheng Xiao's sharp eyes suddenly saw the three precious colts in the stables of the post station.
"Stop!" Zheng Xiao called to Dan Si and others. Dan Si looked at him strangely, but Zheng Xiao pointed at the stables of the inn. Dan Si's eyes lit up and he immediately understood what Zheng Xiao meant.
"Let's go, let's go to the inn to rest for a while!" After Shan Si said that, he and Zheng Xiao turned around and headed to the inn. The other second generation nobles were puzzled, but had no objections.
In the inn, Liu Xin and Leng Peijun were having a meal. The food here was only adequate. The three of them were not hungry, so they just ate and chatted there.
Shan Si and Zheng Xiao entered the inn first. They looked at each other and Zheng Xiao went straight to the three people in obvious positions.
Liu Xin raised his head and looked at Zheng Xiao curiously. His acting skills were top-notch, and it didn't look like he was waiting for him here on purpose.
Zheng Xiao comes from a famous family, and his etiquette is impeccable. He wears a tight-fitting robe, which is the favorite of the princes of the imperial family. However, the hem of Zheng Xiao's robe does not have those complicated decorations, such as jade pendants. , waist badges and the like.
"Forgive me, my name is Zheng Xiao. Due to some chance, I knew that the three of them had done a big thing near Menglong Mountain yesterday. I had been looking forward to seeing them. Today, I happened to see the mounts of the three brothers at the inn, so I was so shameless. Come in and talk, if the three brothers don't mind, can my brother and I get to know you?"
Zheng Xiao behaved very appropriately and spoke nicely. When Liu Xin agreed, he summoned Shan Si, who was not good at official communication, and the five of them sat down. Under Zheng Xiao's guidance, the communication between the few went very smoothly.
"It turns out he is the son of Magistrate Liu of Qingyang Prefecture. No wonder he has such ability. Three cavalry against more than ten cavalry. Only you, a family of generals and generals stationed on the border, dare to do this." Zheng Xiao sighed.
Qingyang Mansion is one of the three major cities of Governor Yansui. Governor Yansui is an important province in the north of Zhengyang, with many families of military generals. The families of the generals in the north and the nobles of the imperial capital are the two pillars of the military. Although Tuoba Yunhan is a noble, he is also from a family of military generals, which is why he has the current momentum in the military.
Although the other party is just the son of the prefect, the prefect of Qingyang Prefecture and the prefect of Hanzhong are completely different, so Zheng Xiao treats Liu Xin and others with the same status. Moreover, what the other party does is not something he can do. The single four players around him may have this ability, but they have never actually done it, and no one knows the result.
Dan Si had a very good eye for seeing people. He judged at a glance that among the three people opposite him, Liu Xin was the strongest one. Don't ask why, he just had a good eye for it.
Therefore, after Zheng Xiao exchanged greetings with the other party for 300 rounds, the straightforward Dan Si asked directly: "Are you guys here also going to the Hanzhong Military Racecourse?"
Liu Xin's heart moved. He didn't even need to take the initiative to speak when he came.
