Chapter 2 Leaving the Customs
A desolate and long horn sound sounded behind him. Zhang Ruo turned around, and high on the city wall, the black military flag of Da Qin was blown by the wind. Under the main flag, a man The armored general held a horn and was blowing it vigorously. The horn contained endless anger and injustice, echoing between heaven and earth.
Zhang Ruo clasped his fists and bowed deeply.
I advise you to drink a glass of wine. There is no old friend when you leave Yangguan in the west.
The real crisis will only begin after you get out of this pass.
This is the farewell, I'm afraid we may never see each other again.
"Bachelor, let's set off!" Wu De, the escorting Dali Temple official, walked up to Zhang Ruo, glanced at the general who was still on top of the city, and then he raised his hand and said.
Although Zhang Ruo was the prisoner he was escorting, he seemed very polite.
"After leaving the customs, the next road will be difficult to walk. There are still hundreds of miles to go, and the road will not be smooth."
Zhang Ruo nodded and said, After leaving Yangguan, the following area can still be regarded as the territory of Great Qin. Great Qin also has a large number of garrisons, but in reality, all Great Qin can control are settlement points, forts, and countless horse thieves and wandering bandits. , the barbarian tribes were much more active on this land than the Qin army.
They come and go without a trace, and the government has no way to deal with them.
Even if we campaign vigorously, it seems that we will never be able to kill them all. They are like spring leeks. After one crop is cut, another crop will appear immediately.
Beyond the customs, it is a chaotic world.
Da Qin invested millions of taels of silver outside the customs every year, but it was like a stone thrown into the water. After a few splashes, there was no more sound.
Outside the pass, it was like a huge bottomless pit. No matter how much money Da Qin put into it, it seemed that it would never be filled enough. But it can't stop yet. If it stops, something will happen outside the customs.
For Da Qin, outside the Pass is a place that cannot be governed but cannot be abandoned.
Because this vast area is also an important area for Da Qin to defend against the feuding Great Yuan.
Without the buffer here, Bei Yuan could directly threaten Yangguan by sending troops, which was unacceptable to Great Qin.
For hundreds of years, Da Qin has always wanted to establish effective rule in this area, just like in the pass, to organize households and people, and to realize the system of counties and counties, but it has never been able to do this. Once there is a little progress, it will be blocked by countless rebellions, large and small. The most serious incident was that the Quanrong clan in this area colluded with the Northern Yuan Dynasty to invade in large numbers. The 100,000 Qin troops stationed in this area lost more than half before driving the Yuan army back.
At this point, the imperial court gave up its intention to organize households here to integrate the people.
Let there be chaos, as long as the Yuan army is not allowed to cross this area.
Of course, in the eyes of the imperial court, this place is a black hole of military expenditure, a place that is not worth it and cannot be abandoned. But in the eyes of others, this is their paradise and their treasure place. .
But Zhang Ruo, the Minister of Household Affairs, suddenly launched a challenge to this huge black hole that no one dared to interfere with.
After decades of searching old accounts, he has obtained countless authentic evidences, pointing directly at some of the most important figures in the court, including the emperor's relatives and relatives.
Under the uproar, Zhang Ruo lost completely.
The evidence that he had worked so hard to find out was burnt to ashes by the emperor's personal order, and Zhang Ruo was actually sent to serve in front of the Guanwai Army.
Zhang Ruo was attacking the military groups outside the Pass, but the final result was to deliver him into the hands of these people. The matter was so ridiculous.
"As long as you can walk in front of Linghuye, you may survive!" This was the only thing Zhang Ruo's teacher said to him before leaving.
Linghuye, the commander of the 100,000 troops outside the Pass. As long as he walked in front of him alive, no matter how much trouble this person made in the future, at least he would never let himself die in front of him.
But can I walk in front of him? Zhang Ruo thought it would be difficult.
"You are also unpopular in Dali Temple, right? Otherwise, the hard work of escorting me would not have fallen on you."
Listening to Zhang Ruo's words, Wu De I almost shed tears. Isn't it?
I am just a prison officer. I usually work too seriously and am not very gregarious, so I am squeezed out by those people. This escort mission of thousands of miles, Then it landed firmly on his head.
Fortunately, there are only the last five hundred miles left. As long as he delivers this whole person to Zhenwu City, he will be free.
"Wu Tixing, if something happens on the way, don't worry about me, just run away!" Zhang Ruo smiled and cupped his hands at the other party. From Chang'an to now, this Wu Tixing has been pretty good to him. of.
"Run?" Wu De smiled bitterly and shook his head: "If I don't send you to Zhenwu City, then I will be dismissed from my position and lose my head."
He touched it With the horizontal knife on his waist, he continued: "Xueshi Zhang, our executioner in Dali Temple is not just a talker. Besides, don't we still have those two friends?"
Zhang Ruo followed Wu De. Looking over, dozens of steps away from them, two men were adjusting their saddles. One saddle had a knife stuck on the left side, and the other saddle had a knife stuck on the right side.
The two men smiled and bowed to Zhang Ruo.
"The two guardians of the Long Whale Gang, Yuan Rong and Yuan Tong, are extremely skilled. According to the archives of our Dali Temple, these two brothers have entered the Xuanyuan Realm and are masters at the seventh level, which is even more rare. With one sword in their left hand and one in their right hand, the two of them can form a sword formation together. Even an eighth-level master can fight. With them accompanying you all the way, how can any ordinary person defeat you?" Wu De said.
“Do you know who wants my life?”
“No matter who it is, it is impossible to send out the army, and those big guys in the army will not be shameless and personally Take action!" Wu De lowered his voice.
“Never overestimate the character of those people, they can do anything they want!” Zhang Ruo sighed: “If things don’t go together, then just run away, it’s better than dying in vain. Okay!”
Watching Zhang Ruo get on the carriage, Wu De panicked inexplicably, and for a moment, he had no idea. He just held the knife in his hand tightly.
The driver raised the long whip in his hand and made a whip in the air with a snap, and the two camels pulling the cart stepped forward consciously.
In the carriage, Zhang Ruo's expression, which had been high-spirited before, suddenly collapsed. He looked at a young woman sitting opposite and leaning against the wall of the carriage, with a look of sadness on his face.
"Qingyun, why do you want to come with me? You can stay in Chang'an. Where your father is, there are always some relatives and friends who can take care of you. Even just now, you can also agree to follow Uncle Ma. Leave." Zhang Ruo closed his eyes slightly, but still couldn't hold back the tears in his eyes. "Follow me out of seclusion, I'm afraid you'll escape death."
"That's what happened to those relatives and friends in Chang'an. When my father charged into battle earlier, those people promised to back him up, but what was the result?" Zhang Qingyun slowly shook his head and said: "Father, even if my daughter stays in Chang'an, I'm afraid she won't live long. When those people see my daughter, they will think of how sorry they were for their father, so it's better not to see her. Follow. Father, at least our family can die together. If it is as father expected, then my daughter will accompany her father to find grandma!"
"But you are only sixteen years old! "Zhang Ruo said sadly.
"Although I am only sixteen years old, I have seen these turbulent years!" Zhang Qingyun took out his handkerchief and gently wiped away the tears on Zhang Ruo's face. "A father is always trying to pick on a man, how can his children be in love!"
"A ruthless man may not be a true hero, so how can he not be a husband if he pities his son?" Zhang Ruo took a breath: "What dad regrets the most now is that he didn't have a husband in the first place. Go and learn martial arts, otherwise with your talents, how can you worry about these people who hide their heads and show their abilities now? "
"Dad has learned a lot about governing the country, so how can he have time to learn martial arts? "Zhang Qingyun smiled. "It's hard to have both fish and bear's paws. And in the eyes of my daughter, father's learning is the great way, and martial arts is no more than a small way."
Zhang Ruochang sighed: "Outside this pass, I'm afraid he will not be able to have it both ways." He is the master of the trail, and force is king. "
Lifting the curtain, the two looked outside. Under the gray sky, there was an endless expanse of withered yellow. Goshawks were fighting in the sky, and suddenly they were like arrows. It shot straight down, and when it was about to hit the ground, it suddenly pulled up. Under the iron claws, a gray-yellow rabbit moved its head and kicked its legs in vain.
Looking back, Zhang Qingyun exclaimed in surprise. On a large tree with branches not far from the road, a big cat was looking up at the group of them. Between the big cat's paws There was a big bloody mass underneath. It was unknown what kind of prey it had captured.
The big cat was not afraid when it saw people. It stared at them with its green eyes for a long time, then lowered its head, bit and tore it, and tore off a large piece of flesh bloody.
Zhang Qingyun's mind is different from that of ordinary people. When he suddenly saw this scene, his face turned pale. The escorting officers and soldiers around the carriage were all policemen from Dali Temple in Chang'an, but they rarely looked at them. At this scene, one person shouted softly, drew an arrow with his bow, and shot at the big cat with a clang, but it was far away, and when the arrow hit the tree, it was already weak and fell down.
The big cat was frightened by this, jumped down from the tree, and instantly disappeared into the withered yellow.
Zhang Ruo looked at the bloody flesh and blood hanging upside down on the tree and sighed: "Qingyun, this is the outside of the pass, where the weak eat the strong. Animals are like this, and so are people."
(End of this chapter)