North and South groceries

During the Western Han Dynasty, the Yellow Emperor of the Central Plains had ordered troops to be stationed in Gaochang. Since then, the children of the Han soldiers have taken root here and multiplied.

Hundreds of years have passed in the blink of an eye, and now in Gaochang Kingdom, there are not only many Han Chinese, but also many Turkic people, as well as Husbands from various countries.

As an important crossroad on the Silk Road, the country's commerce is quite developed, and the cultures of various countries meet here.

However, Gaochang Kingdom is very similar to the Central Plains in terms of national structure, laws, and folk customs.

People here also celebrate New Year's Eve. Because the place is relatively wealthy, the four big cities in the middle school are very lively during Chinese New Year. The royal family will also hold various celebrations to celebrate with the common people.

This year's situation is a bit different, it seems that it will be the [-]th of the new year, the palace is actually quiet, there is no movement at all, only princes and ministers are seen rushing in and out every day.

Many people in the city speculated that it should be because of the fact that the Great Tang declared that they would send troops to their Gaochang country, but the Central Plains and their Gaochang country were six thousand miles away. They can only come to them after crossing the endless Gobi Desert. Can those Han soldiers really survive?

Originally, the Gaochang royal family also had such a fluke mentality, and also thought that there were Turks as a reliance, so the Tang army came all the way to them, so it should not be too difficult to resist.

Never thought that those few monks who came back from Dunhuang City brought them such news, saying that they met a strange person in Dunhuang City, and that person brought them the teachings of the Buddha.

Recently, Gaochang Wang Qu Wentai and his son Qu Zhisheng, as well as the princes and ministers of Gaochang Kingdom, have been discussing countermeasures and arranging follow-up matters day and night.

All of them believed in the content of that piece of paper. It was clearly the mercy of the Buddha. Because they couldn't bear to see their Gaochang people being slaughtered, they appeared in the mortal world and gave them hint.

Gaochang Kingdom originally survived in the cracks between Tang and Turks. When the two empires were evenly matched, Gaochang still had room to breathe. Once this balance was broken, Gaochang Kingdom caught in the middle would often suffer. Now, the Turks will perish...

"The Turks will be destroyed, and Gaochang's security will be intact. Why not surrender to the Tang Dynasty instead of stubbornly resisting?"

How to do it, the Buddha has already made it clear.

The problem now is that Datang has already announced that they will use troops against Gaochang. If they show weakness at this time, the opponent may not give up easily.

Furthermore, what is the purpose of those Central Plains people declaring war on them this time? Do they want Gaochang Kingdom to surrender, or do they intend to completely turn the territory of Gaochang Kingdom into the territory of Tang Dynasty.

Now it is no longer a question of whether they are willing to surrender, but a question of whether those Central Plains people are willing to accept.

When everyone was at a loss, a minister suggested that King Gaochang present treasures to the emperor of the Central Plains.

As soon as this remark came out, everyone was shocked, Qu Wentai actually expected this matter, but until this moment, when someone actually proposed this suggestion to him face to face, his heart was still full of reluctance.

"Since your Majesty has obtained the new treasure, let's give up the old treasure. Although the treasure is good, it is not as important as the lives of my Gaochang people." The man said.

The so-called new treasure is the white piece of paper brought back by those saints. The material of the piece of paper is rare, and the handwriting on it is even more unusual. The Gaochang royal family and these princes and ministers all regard it as a treasure, not only because It is rare, but also because it is the trace left by the Buddha when he appeared in this world.

Qu Wentai remained silent.

"Your Majesty!" the ministers wailed and persuaded.

"Dedication, how can I dedicate it?" Qu Wentai finally spoke at this time, his breath seemed a little weak.

In Gaochang country right now, there are Turkic people everywhere, and there are also Turkic troops stationed in the country. As long as there is a slight disturbance on their side, those Turkic people will definitely get the news. This treasure offering is full of dangers along the way. Erlang died in a foreign land, and the yellow sand covered his face...

……

From Lishi County, since Da Luoyong sent Chen Ji away, there has been no news from Gao Changguo.

In the blink of an eye, the new year passed, and it was the first month of the 14th year of Zhenguan. On a certain day at the beginning of the first month, the soldiers guarding the city reported to Luo Yong, saying that there was the sound of horse racing outside the city last night. There are as many as fifty, and as few as twenty or so. I don't know if they are soldiers, merchants, or some family of gentry and local tyrants.

Luo Yong was not quite sure whether these groups of people were related to the Gaochang Kingdom, and while secretly paying attention, he asked the county captain Guo Fenglai to send a few more guards to guard the city gate.

After a long period of time, there was no more movement. It was not until February that news came from Dunhuang that Gaochang Prince Qu Zhisheng was going to Chang'an City to present treasures.

At the end of February, another news came from the direction of Jinchang, saying that the imperial court would not attack Gaochang.A few days later, there was another news that Gaochang was rude and hindered the Western Regions from entering Beijing. This time, even if they donated their national treasures, they would not be able to expose it easily. Therefore, the battle to conquer Gaochang will definitely continue as scheduled.

The news on the street is messy, one day says one thing, the next day another way, they say everything, and the people in the city don't know which version to believe.

Not to mention the people of Changle, even people like Tang Jian don't know how the situation will develop at this time, but let Luo Yong build the city wall and build the city wall, store grain and store grain, and drive carefully for thousands of years Boat.

Those clan disciples who had been sent by the sage before from Chang'an City finally arrived in Changle County in February of this year.

I heard that their trip encountered some troubles on the road, and two young people were injured by gangsters. Fortunately, the injuries were not serious and their lives were not affected, but the journey was delayed.

At the end of last year's winter, news came from Chang'an City that Gaochang was going to be conquered. At that time, their group had already entered the Hexi Corridor.

Hearing that there might be a war in the Changle area of ​​Dunhuang, several of them backed down, saying that a gentleman would not stand under a dangerous wall. If this war really broke out, Changle County might also be affected. They If not, stay in the local area and wait, and see the situation later.

Some people even directly suggested that if they wanted to go back to Chang'an City, although they were not short of rations and money along the way, they had suffered a lot, and the further west they went, the more desolate and barren they saw before them, so They missed the prosperity of Chang'an City more and more.

They live well in Chang'an City, eating and drinking well. Although the situation in the family is a little bit unsatisfactory, they are still from a family after all. Among other things, as long as they are willing to work hard, put in more effort to study and get some grades After coming, the family will naturally attach importance to them.

Why do people like them have to go to the poor and remote Changle County to suffer? It’s not a good job to learn the culture of the Western Regions, and to increase their knowledge on various commercial roads in the Western Regions.

This time they encountered a group of gangsters on the road, which completely made these gentry gentlemen understand that the more backward and barren the place, the more ferocious the wolves, tigers and leopards, and the less valuable human lives are. Compared with this Hexi city, Chang'an City, Not only rich, but also safe, not to mention those robbers and bandits, even if it is a war between countries, they can't easily break into Chang'an City.

In the past, they laughed at those who came from small families, and they wanted to stay in Chang'an City to become officials.

Now it seems that they, noble men, were born in Chang'an City since they were young, and they didn't know how good Chang'an City was. Now that they understand, they want to go back!

At that time, as soon as the voice of wanting to return to Chang'an City appeared, several people echoed it.

So in the end the team was divided into two, some continued to go to Changle County, and the other went back to Chang'an.Some of them were undecided and wanted to stay in the local area to wait and see, but they all made their own decisions in the end, either to go to Changle or return to Chang'an.

There were less than ten people who finally arrived in Changle County, and two of them were hanged.

But when the two arrived in Changle County, the injuries on their bodies were basically healed. The young people had good health and vigorous vitality. As long as they survived the most dangerous stage, they would heal later. Also very fast.

Before these people arrived in Changle County, they had already heard that the magistrate of Changle County was short of money recently. It's a discounted sale.

I heard that no matter how much, they are willing to sell when they see the money, and the grain and cloth are the best. It is said that Changle County is building a city wall, and hundreds of young and strong people want to eat every day. empty.

After hearing these news, these gentlemen of the gentry were all a little uneasy.

From the looks of it, Changle County is really poor to death, so poor that they are notoriously poor, so how will they live in Changle County in the future...

Who would have imagined that when they arrived in Changle County, it would be full of enthusiasm. The young men were repairing the city walls, the cement workshops outside the city were also busy, and merchants and hawkers were constantly coming and going.

After entering the city, because of hunger and curiosity, these young gentlemen did not report to the government office immediately, but went to a restaurant that seemed to be doing well.

"How many gentlemen are you inviting?"

"What do you guys eat?"

"Today, the secret bacon in Changle County only costs half the price. It used to be [-] Wen per catty, but now it only costs [-] Wen per catty."

"A few gentlemen, do you want to buy some to try?"

"It means that our County Magistrate Luo has no money at the moment. After he recovers, we won't have such a good price."

"Shopkeeper! Another fish-flavored shredded pork!"

"okay!"

"Shopkeeper! Come serve us another pot of winter melon soup!"

"Hey! Come here!"

"Shopkeeper!"

"Hey, come here, come here!"

These young gentlemen from Chang'an City sat in the shop, and saw that there were quite a lot of diners in the shop, bustling with each other in groups, quite lively.

The store owner was so busy that his feet didn't touch the ground, his forehead was sweating, his face was flushed, his face was full of spring breeze, his eyes were piercing...

Where does this look like a war is coming!How could this look like he was so poor that he was about to jump off a building!