Lulong Prefecture, also known as Youzhou and Fanyang County; it is also among the sixteen prefectures in the world under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court, ranking fourth after Taiyuan, the northern capital on Hedong Road, Yangzhou Prefecture on Huainan East Road, and Chengdu Prefecture on Xichuan Road, Jiannan Big mansion. Geographically, it spans the interior and exterior of Yanshan Mountain in the north and overlooks the land of Hebei in the south.
There are also roads from Andong and the grasslands outside the Great Wall to the Central Plains. Therefore, like Yangzhou Mansion where the Huaiyang Governor's Mansion is located, this place is also one of the few permanent governor's mansions in the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty. And Youzhou/Fanyang City, as the administrative seat, is the top priority.
This is not only one of the largest distribution centers for the princes of Andong and beyond the Great Wall, with more than 600,000 permanent residents in the city; it is also a strategic hub and hub where the imperial court gathers heavy troops; the garrison guards, Hebei Guanjian, and Zhou Tuanjie are all stationed in the city. Soldiers, Yanbian garrison soldiers and Long March athletes;
There are as many as a dozen numbers and military orders, and it is known as a standing army of one hundred thousand people. But just like most side effects and products of long-term peace, in the absence of strong external enemy threats, the gears of the war machine that have not been turning for a long time will inevitably suffer from rust and stagnation.
Being stationed soldiers of guest armies or Long March athletes from various inland areas was fine; because there was sufficient mobility and frequency of rotation, the average level was basically maintained. The garrison men in Yanbian have to deal with bandits and gangs wandering around the border and outside the Great Wall all year round.
However, other local armies/Daozhou armed forces will inevitably be weakened in the long period of peace and tranquility. In the past, this would have been nothing; anyway, there were not many opportunities to put it to use; at most, it would be enough to send people to review and inspect it regularly and clean it up.
However, the changes in the celestial phenomena made the world of the Tang Dynasty become turbulent and changed many routine things. Therefore, as one of the few important garrison places in the two capitals and sixteen mansions in the world, the Privy Council intended to rectify and regulate the affairs of the Tang Dynasty. Sort out the long-standing shortcomings and chronic diseases of the Lulong Governor's Mansion that have formed over the years.
As for the soldiers and horses with a local background and the locally formed general families, they were not so willing to accept the drastic changes from the center of the imperial court. Although they dare not confront the authority of the imperial court, they can fight for their own interests within and outside the rules of the system...
Therefore, under this potential game between the center and the localities, a series of disturbances and undercurrents have arisen. The two lost troops were assembled and dispatched one after another in order to prove that the place was capable of solving the demonic chaos on its own.
Moreover, after the first dispatched troops lost contact, they did not report it to the court in time; instead, they tried to cover up the news and quickly assembled the second troops in a short period of time. Then when the second team lost contact, many people from the Youzhou branch of the secret censorship department who were invited to accompany them also joined in.
Only then could they conceal the news, and took the initiative to ask for help from the imperial center. Therefore, the third group of troops that were about to be sent out were also urgently stopped by the imperial center. At the same time, Gu Yi, the current governor of the Lulong Governor's Mansion, was also urgently summoned to the court not long ago to accept corresponding questions.
This is also part of the information and current situation that Jiang Tian can grasp at the moment, through the channels of the Yushitai, the Privy Council, and the General Affairs Department, which are regularly forwarded to Di Wen. Therefore, when the horse-drawn railcar arrived at Jieshiguan Station, Jiang Tian had already gotten off the train at the other end alone.
Finally, he took a look at the colorful shed set up in the station, and the figures of several officials who came with many advocates to greet them solemnly; Jiang Tian quietly rode his horse and merged into the flow of business travelers on the road heading to Youzhou Chengxiafang. middle. After all, some things need to be seen to be believed.
Otherwise, just relying on the postures put up by these local officials and the methods within the system that are accustomed to dealing with their superiors; you can basically only see that others have deliberately created it for you, which is a side of flowers and scenery. As a result, we still have no idea about the real core of the problem.
Of course, as one of the few prosperous cities in the world; compared to Jiang Dan, he has already seen the magnificence of Chang'an, the grace and beauty of Luodu, the flourishing flowers of Yangzhou, the extravagance and beauty of Jiangning, the elegance of Suzhou's water town; the city of Youzhou It is filled with the simplicity and majesty left by the wind and frost everywhere.
The huge city towering in front of Yanshan Mountain is like a giant beast that never stops sucking up wealth and people. It welcomes merchants and merchants all day long and sends them to the sea like hundreds of rivers. Therefore, here you can also see all kinds of ethnic groups outside the Great Wall, and various tribes under the leadership of the Andong princes are intertwined and gathered together.
Most of them were wearing Tang Dynasty-style round-neck shirts or lapel robes, but they also wore the customary pointed boots, sheepskin shoes, pointed leather hats, and furry rolled-brimmed hats. At the same time, it also brought various traces of its own customs and customs to the ever-expanding Chengxiafang;
For example, a dripping grill with whole sheep, whole cattle and camels is set up in the open air; an open-top restaurant surrounded by large wine vats and piles of jars, where people drink happily and make loud noises; Up and down the tent bag in his hand. Goods yards and warehouses filled with felt bags, wool rolls, and leather bundles;
But the most common ones are the large and small sheep and horse markets and the large livestock market that are full of excrement and fishy smell; as well as the simple sheds not far from them selling coarse cloth, tea cakes and salt blocks. The stalls and shops selling spices and medicinal materials will be more organized, and there will even be buildings with dedicated front shops and back warehouses.
But there are also many barbecue and cake-making shops mixed in; scattered through vendors holding baskets filled with food. The neatest and most presentable ones among the Chengxiafang are the di shops and square cabinets that specialize in providing storage services; there are often guesthouses and restaurants nearby.
There are also pawnshops that pawn sundries, junk shops that sell second-hand items, and even money shops that exchange gold and silver. And deep in the residential area surrounded by these street shops, there are still several towers and observation decks with hidden fire shops from time to time; they just look different in shape.
Some are standard city wall towers wrapped with rammed earth bricks, some are eight-sided or six-sided brick and wood pagodas, some are pillar towers with spiral staircases, and some are the simplest small wooden dock towers. ; Or a flat-roofed adobe tower with a small top and a large bottom; filled with small flags for messages.
Most of the streets in Chengxiafang are paved with relatively solid large bricks, gravels, and pebbles, as well as light and dark drainage ditches leading to both sides; while in the parts close to the city wall and the main streets, they have become Relatively neat, there is a large area of gray granite ground covered with ruts.
This also shows that Youzhou/Lulong Mansion has accumulated financial resources and wealth over the past dynasties; you must know that the city square surrounding Youzhou Waiguo is more than dozens of miles in radius. Although Youzhou City in the Tang Dynasty was not as good as Jinzhongdu, Yuandudu, and Beijing City in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in later generations.
But it is also a giant square city with walls three to four feet high and a width of ten miles from north to south and from east to west. And Jiang Tian's process of entering Youzhou City through Jingfeng Gate, one of the three gates in the south of the city, is also extremely simple. Although due to the frequent changes in the celestial phenomena, access control checks have been stepped up in various places.
However, as one of Jiang Tao's cover identities, as a teaching assistant from the Tokyo University of Tokyo study tour, it was enough to make the guarding military officer with a weathered and indifferent face on the side give up watching indifferently and step forward proactively, squeeze out a smile and say hello, The queue waiting for random inspections was formed and led into the city.
In the process of walking through hundreds of steps of the inner and outer urn city and corridors, this veteran military officer who reported his identity as Weiwei Xidake was eager, enthusiastic and without losing any sense of proportion. He introduced many convenient and clean things in the city. places to stay, places to have fun and more.
However, when Jiang Tian and he had a few meaningful conversations and walked away, someone around the old military officer Xida Ke couldn't help but pulled him to one side and asked in a low voice: "Men, why do you want to treat this person like this?" , so polite and special! Is there another explanation from above?"
"Don't think wildly, nothing is wrong!" However, Xidake did not hesitate to rely on his old age and hit his leather helmet with the handle of the hookah he brought with him. How can those who can take care of themselves and take care of themselves are just idle people?"
"At least I'm sure that the thin sword he wears on his waist will kill people. On weekdays, it's better to teach you one thing more than one thing less. It's self-conservation that can adapt to the ever-changing situation; but when you meet such an unusual person, , it’s better to have a good relationship than to accidentally offend someone in a small way, right?”
"In that case, why not, then, the doorman... take some credit for it?" Another doorman couldn't help but muttered cautiously; then, Xidake hit his knee with a pole, and he immediately jumped up in pain: "Does it hurt?" "Of course it does." The young guard bared his teeth and said:
"You know it hurts, why are you still thinking wildly?" Xidake then said: "Everyone gets three to five hundred coins a month, so just do your duty; do you have the strength to give up? A few words from those officials The situation makes you forget yourself and support your parents regardless of your parents?"
"Officials can pass dishes and order plates from Luhua Building every day; you can only save a few cents and go to the cheapest local advocate at the entrance of the kiln; if there is really a conflict, we have to stand in the way Before, which official has not arrived late in the end, do you think it is worth it?"
"You have to know how many people there are in the old military workshop waiting to fill your shoes; but as long as you keep your current stable job, you don't have to go out into the wilderness in the face of wind and dew, risking death or injury. Find and destroy those monsters; and you don’t have to bear the brunt of the neighborhood.”
"Not only can the cost of clothing, food, and accommodation be saved, but each person can get hundreds of cents more per month, which can also be given to the family. After all, prices in this city have been rising again and again; Lao The neighbors of Junfang are also having a hard time, it would be nice if the cooperative could save more cloth, rice and wheat."
However, even after Xida was so moved and calmed down, there was still someone with twinkling eyes, and then he left for a while. At the same time, Jiang Tian also found that he seemed to be being followed.
(End of chapter)
