Wen Zisheng, a poet of the Northern Dynasties, wrote in "Liangzhou Songs": "I traveled to Wuwei County and looked at Guzang City in the distance. Cars and horses crisscrossed each other, and the sun was blowing and singing."
In the Tang Dynasty, Wuwei County was Liangzhou, and Guzang City was Liangzhou City, also called Wuwei City.
This is the famous international metropolis in the northwest!
If Chang'an City is square and its cities are independent like a chess game, then Liangzhou City is like a phoenix spreading its wings! At this time, Liangzhou City was long from north to south and short from east to west. There were East and West Garden cities in the south city, which looked like a bird city with two wings: head and tail.
Liangzhou City is not one city, but seven!
Cen Shen wrote a poem about this: "The crescent moon rises above the city, and the moon rises above the city to illuminate Liangzhou. There are hundreds of thousands of households in the seven cities of Liangzhou, and the barbarians are half-way playing the pipa."
The city of Liangzhou in this era was 11 miles long and 3 miles wide. It had a central city and 6 sub-cities surrounding it, with a total population of hundreds of thousands! It is the most powerful city in the northwest besides Chang'an!
This pattern was not formed in one or two years; its time span was even measured in hundreds of years.
After Liangzhou City became the capital, five local governments named "Liang" successively governed Liangzhou. The upgrading of political development prompted the city to be further built. It has many more functional spaces than the city, which is enough to reflect its status as an imperial city. the essential connotation.
In other words, the current layout of Liangzhou City is that of a capital without the name of a capital!
It perfectly explains what low-key luxury has connotation.
Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, going to Liangzhou on business has always been a favored job for central officials. The mountains here are high and the emperor is far away, not to mention the constraints. There is also the solid Liangzhou City as a barrier, the powerful Chishui Army as a cover, the goods from the Western Regions are abundant, and there are even Orchid and Hule wines that are addictive to the Western Regions. specialty".
But at this moment, Cui Xiyi, the governor of Hexi Jiedu, was frowning in the study of Jiedu Mansion.
Worrying about random chores.
As an old bureaucrat, he knew very well that in fact, the government affairs of the court were not very troublesome sometimes because everyone was used to it.
For example, deal with Tubo.
Yes, Tubo is difficult to deal with, but the problem is that after so many years, Datang border towns have formed two mobile defense zones against Tubo in Hexi and Longyou Jiedu Prefectures, and deployed nearly 150,000 troops. A standing army that is brave and good at fighting!
This does not include using the imperial court's "Autumn Defense Order", which can recruit tens of thousands more people from the local Sogdian Zahu settlements in Hexi.
If that's not enough, you can also borrow elite soldiers from Shuofang.
This is the power of the Tang Dynasty's "Autumn Defense Order". If the Tibetans come to 400,000 soldiers, the Tang army can increase the number to 400,000 people, until the Tibetans can't move anymore.
Therefore, this kind of seemingly huge trouble can actually be dealt with carefully in accordance with the court rules. It is not a big deal.
However, as a local official, what he fears most is that the Chang'an Center "parachute" some strange characters over.
These people have little ability, bad tempers, deep backgrounds, and a lot of shit. Wherever he goes, he makes a fuss.
However, the local officials who are soft-spoken can't do anything to them!
Now, the imperial edict was placed in front of Cui Xiyi, making him dumbfounded. An eighty-nine-year-old child took a job in the state to join the army and came here for "business." The saint personally said that he would "take good care of him." It was simply unreasonable!
The position of joining the army in the state capital is very special, because the state capital here is not the capital city of an ordinary state or county, but refers specifically to those "giant cities" that exceed the size of ordinary capital cities! Only an organization of this size is worthy of the idle official position of joining the army in the state capital.
For example, Yangzhou Prefecture (Yangzhou City), Yizhou Prefecture (Chengdu), Luoyang Prefecture (Luoyang City)... and of course Liangzhou Prefecture (Wuwei City).
Although this official position is actually useless, in "theoretically" it can have a hand in everything.
Including impeachment of Jiedushi!
What makes Cui Xiyi even more embarrassed is that this man's father is Fang Youde, the Youzhou Jiedu envoy who has become famous in recent years, and his future father-in-law Wang Zhongsi is the new Chishui military envoy!
In order to protect his son-in-law, Wang Zhongsi actually sent a team of fifty elite Chishui soldiers led by one of his fellow villagers. They took off their military uniforms and put on regular clothes. They did not participate in military affairs and just played with this yamen!
The purpose is just to protect him!
Cui Xiyi felt like a fly flew into his mouth when he yawned. He felt extremely sick, but there was nothing he could do about it.
This little kid has a lot of background!
In the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty, everything must be done based on relationships! Without a network of connections, you cannot exercise the corresponding power. This is a very real problem.
Not only that, even Niu Xianke, who he recommended to go to the center and had a good personal relationship with him, wrote back and said that after the "Fang Langjun" came to Hexi, he must take good care of him and not let him get sick by neglect. injured.
A lot of people are like this, what else can he, the governor of Hexi Province, do?
However, now Cui Xiyi just wants to take care of that "Fang Langjun", but he can't find him!
Since leaving the customs, there are no records of that person's customs clearance at the inns everywhere.
In other words, either Fang Langjun had an accident on the road and did not pass through the station farther west at all, or... he got into the entourage of other officials and did not need to take out the customs clearance documents at all!
Judging from the current situation, the latter is more likely!
In the Tang Dynasty, slaves were equal to goods. As long as they were not the kind of "magnificent-looking" slaves, the postmen at the post station would not interfere at all. It didn't matter if there were more or less followers, as long as they did not exceed the corresponding grade of the official.
"Someone is coming!"
Cui Xiyi shouted towards the door.
"Commander Jie, please give me your instructions."
A civil servant came in and bowed with his hands crossed.
"Go to all the villages and towns in Hexi and put up posters to see who has seen Mr. Fang."
Cui Xiyi said while rubbing her temples painfully.
"Jie Shuai, the list of posts is fine, but the hope of finding him is very slim. We don't know what that person looks like. We only know that there are four people in total, two adults and two children. How can we find him so easily?"
"If you have no choice, why don't you think of a way?"
Cui Xiyi cursed impatiently.
Normally, he has a gentle personality, but recent annoying things have made him really irritable and want to hit someone.
First, he made an agreement with the Tibetan general Kilixu that the two countries would not defend each other on the Hexi border, and the other party agreed. As a result, when his lieutenant went to report his duties to the court, he suggested that Tang Ting betray his promise and conduct a sneak attack!
Fortunately, Li Longji actually agreed to this move. In desperation, he had no choice but to order the Chishui Army to go south to attack the Tibetans and beat Kilixu until he escaped alone. But the Tibetans are not Turks, and their recovery speed is much faster than that of nomadic peoples like the Turks. Less than half a year later, Tubo recovered its strength and began to frequently attack the Hexi Corridor through the Qilian Mountain Tunnel!
Cui Xiyi was exhausted from dealing with it.
Now there is an additional "Fang Yanei" to serve. Cui Xiyi only asks this person not to cause trouble or get into trouble, otherwise, it will be difficult to smooth things over.
…
Huizhou (the state is located near Jingyuan, Gansu Province) is the last stop east of Liangzhou. In order to prevent the situation in Hexi from being irreversible, Tang Ting established the Wulan Ferry on the Yellow River not far west of Huizhou. .
Wulan Pass was built on the west bank of the Yellow River near Liangzhou, and Huining Pass was built on the east bank of the Yellow River. The two passes face each other, guarding both banks, with the winding and majestic Yellow River in the middle.
At this moment, Fang Chongyong and his party, following the team of "Dugu Judge" Dugu Jun, made their way out of Wulan Pass. From the next step to Liangzhou City, there is no longer any inn that can provide accommodation. It can be said that this is the most difficult journey.
Of course, although there are no imperial inns, there are still many private "shops". They just need to pay for them at their own expense, and the services are not that attentive.
These shops are famous for being as big as ordinary inns, and some are even larger. But the small one only has a courtyard, which can only provide drinking water and simple food.
At the beginning, Fang Chongyong invited Dugujun and Gao Shi over to drink and socialize, with the intention of giving them a try. Unexpectedly, the atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty was open, and no one would refuse such an invitation, let alone Fang Chongyong's backstage.
Dugujun didn't talk much and didn't say a few words from beginning to end. However, after Gao Shi heard that Fang Chongyong and his party were going to Hexi, he enthusiastically introduced the customs and customs of Liangzhou to them.
Probably because he spoke so nicely, Fang Chongyong slapped his forehead and immediately wrote a letter of recommendation to Gao Shi, and then said: "Youzhou Fang Jieshuai is very thirsty for talents. He may not listen to other people's words. As the only son in the family, the words of me are more or less the same." It has some weight. You can take this letter and go to Youzhou Jiedu Mansion to work as an official or something."
Gao Shi was overjoyed and thanked him quickly, but Dugujun watched with cold eyes and did not express any opinions.
After Gao Shi left, Fang Chongyong proposed that the four of them pretend to be Dugujun's slaves and accompany them after they left the Guanzhong, and Dugujun happily agreed to this request.
"The west wind is strong, and the geese in the sky are calling Shuang Chenyue.
In the frosty morning and the moon, the sound of horse hooves breaks and the trumpets sound.
The long road through Xiongguan is really like iron, but now we are crossing it from the beginning.
From the beginning, the mountains are like the sea, and the setting sun is like blood. "
Fang Chongyong looked back at Wulan Pass under the setting sun and recited a poem with emotion.
"Okay! My dear brother has great literary talent. He is worthy of being Fang Jieshuai's son!"
Dugujun's clapping sound came from behind. Although this "Dugu Judge" was not enthusiastic about Fang Chongyong in Maweiyi, along the way, the two became so familiar that they became brothers. Fang Chongyong is young, mature and wise, which makes Dugujun feel ashamed.
"My dear brother is hiding in my team. Is it because he is afraid of being plotted against?"
Dugujun asked with a strange look on his face. He found it strange that Fang Chongyong's father was the military envoy of Youzhou Jiedu, and his father-in-law was the military envoy of the Chishui Army. Generally, people who served as military envoys of the Chishui Army would soon take over as the military envoy of Hexi Province according to unspoken rules.
The most conservative estimate is that there is an envoy and a half standing behind Fang Chongyong! It’s scary just to think about it!
This kind of person is very low-key if he doesn't walk sideways, but the one in front of him is so cowardly that he wants to hide in other people's ranks and pretend to be a slave.
"Brother Dugu, you don't know something. When you go out, the rivers and lakes are dangerous, so be careful when sailing. People wearing the clothes of gangsters may not be real gangsters."
Fang Chongyong sighed with emotion.
Dugujun nodded slightly, this was a true statement. If Fang Chongyong is killed in the open fire battle, then of course the world will not be able to go anywhere, and Li Longji will not be able to protect this person. But is it possible to kill secretly?
A crime that is not discovered can only be called an accident, right?
On such a long road from Chang'an to Hexi, there must be many people who died in vain with their bones buried underground.
"My good brother is prepared for danger in times of peace, which is admirable, but..."
Dugujun was about to speak but stopped.
He had wanted to ask this question for a long time, but the two of them were chatting happily along the way, so they didn't care about it.
"Brother Dugu, you might as well speak up if you have something to say."
Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and said.
"Gao Shi is a person who tends to be popular. Although he has tried to please me along the way, I dare not recommend him to my superiors casually.
Although the wise brother can recommend him to serve in Youzhou Jiedu Mansion, if he commits adultery in the future, Fang Jieshuai will also be jointly and severally liable. "
Dugujun did not continue. He believed that with Fang Chongyong's intelligence, he definitely understood what he was talking about.
You've only known Gao Shi for a day, so it's your first time meeting him.
The biggest taboo in life is to communicate with others superficially and deeply. You don't even understand who Gao Shi is, how could you trick your father into death like this?
"Don't worry, my father's eyes are like lightning, and monsters and monsters will behave in front of him."
Fang Chongyong waved his hand indifferently and said, not taking Dugujun's words seriously.
Seeing his attitude, Dugujun stamped his feet anxiously and said:
"Let me put it this way, besides Gao Shi, the person who wrote my farewell poem was also the famous Li Bai.
But so what, do you think they really want to be friends with me? They just thought that I could introduce them to their superiors. If I don't hold any official position, or if I am not a judge but only join the army for a small amount of time, do you think they will pay attention to me?
Even if these are not mentioned, will writing good poems lead to doing things?
That’s not necessarily the case!
We officials in the Jiedu government must be able to handle government affairs. Otherwise, you will harm yourself and the superior officer who appreciates and recommends you. "
The judge is a position established by the imperial court and cannot be recruited by Jiedushi. Jieduzhi only has the right to make suggestions, not decisions.
Therefore, Dugujun became this official, which shows that there are people behind him who are strongly supporting him.
It was obvious that Dugujun didn't like Gao Shi very much, even though the latter licked him very hard. It is also very possible that Dugujun also despises Li Bai.
Perhaps he recognized the poetic talent of these people, but writing poetry and being an official were two different things after all!
Tang poetry has left a bright memory in the history books, but this does not erase the fact that many poets often had to grovel to please and cater to the powerful.
Even some officials with a slightly higher status than them.
Ironically, many famous works in the prosperous Tang Dynasty were produced by kneeling and licking with extraordinary performance.
The reason why Dugujun thinks highly of Fang Chongyong, apart from his personality, is that this kid dared to come to Hexi to practice at the age of nine, and he could also get a part-time official position and the status of his concubine. So ten years later, twenty years later, he What status will it have?
Not to mention his background and background.
Where can there be love without reason in the world? Fang Chongyong mingled with Dugujun's team not just to hide his whereabouts, but where could he go?
The two of them were sitting in the carriage chatting. Time passed quickly, and it was night in a flash.
"This line was originally maintained by the Xinquan Army, but in the third year of Kaiyuan it was downgraded to Shouchuo. Now even the station has been moved to Wulanguan. If not, we wouldn't have to sleep in the wild along the way."
Dugujun couldn't help but complain.
In the past, Datang had an army stationed between Liangzhou and Wulanguan to maintain the safety of the passage. By the way, the station also provided some conveniences for passing merchants and officials to supplement military expenses.
But later the ecological environment of the station deteriorated, resulting in the administrative downgrade to Shoutuo. And because Wulanguan is far superior to the original station of the Xinquan Army in terms of geographical location and natural conditions, this caused the Xinquan Army to almost change its name to the Ulan Army. The Xinquan Army's station was relocated and became an out-and-out "fortress army."
Anyway, there is a relatively short but real flaw in the Silk Road between the Hexi Corridor and Chang'an.
For Fang Chongyong and others, after all, it is still the same sentence: be careful in sailing the ship of ten thousand years.
Even if we are almost to Liangzhou City, it doesn't mean we can sit back and relax.
After Fang Chongyong arrived at the original garrison of the Xinquan Army, the group of people chose to camp by a river whose water was very shallow and slow and only flowed when the water rose in spring and summer. They lit a bonfire and barely formed a half circle with carriages and horses. , this is also a last resort.
A little away from the earthen house abandoned by the Xinquan Army.
They chose to leave Wulanguan at dusk, walk to the Xinquan Army station, and then rest and camp. They traveled all day the next day and arrived at Liangzhou City without going into the night. The location arrangement of the Xinquan Army's original garrison was so clever.
If you leave Ulan Pass early in the morning, when you have to camp at night, the team will be right within the range of activities of the Tibetan cavalry.
It was the lesser of two evils, and there was nothing wrong with Dugujun's choice.
While everyone was chatting casually around the campfire, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance, galloping from the road, from far to near!
"The Tang army won't patrol the post roads at night, they must be bandits! Hide quickly!"
Dugujun's expression changed drastically. He didn't expect to encounter such a thing just after leaving Wulan Pass.
There will be no Tubo people here, but barbarians pretending to be Tubo people and trying to fish in troubled waters cannot be ruled out! Fortunately, he hired a dozen guards so that if something happened, he could hold off for a while.
First update, let’s swing the oars.
(End of chapter)
