"Shancheng, only 5,000 soldiers and horses?"

Qin Jin's attention had been focused on Hebei before, and now he was concerned about preparing for the Western Expeditionary Army, and he couldn't help but be taken aback when he heard that Shancheng was only garrisoned by 5,000 soldiers and horses. The so-called Shancheng is the Xining of later generations, and it is the key pass that controls Longyou and Hexi.

At that time, there were only two roads from Chang'an to Hexi. One is to cross the desert through Lingwu and Huining, from Liangzhou to Zhangye. The other is, out of Longyou, through Shancheng, over the Qilian Mountain to Zhangye.

Generally speaking, the latter is the path chosen by the vast majority of people, one is closer, and the other is relatively low risk and relatively low consumption. The only difficulty is to climb over the passes of the Qilian Mountains, if you encounter heavy snowstorms before spring and after autumn.

Therefore, the Central Plains Dynasty has always wanted to get the land west of the river, and it must first get Shancheng. And such an important Shancheng actually only stationed 5,000 border troops, which Qin Jin did not expect before, if it wasn't for the command of Shancheng to make Chen Changjie tie up a few spies and come back, I'm afraid he hasn't paid attention to this.

Fifth Qi also sighed.

"The soldiers and horses of Hexi and Longyou have been successively transferred to the Central Plains to quell the chaos over the years, especially in the third year of Zhide, when conquering Luoyang, Hexi Longyou gathered a total of 50,000 soldiers and horses, and almost hollowed out the border troops in these two places. The 5,000 soldiers and horses in Shancheng are still patchworked, and only a few hundred people are stationed in each fortress along the way, which is everywhere!"

In fact, looking at Zhangye's situation, Qin Jin doesn't feel strange.

Zhangye is an important town in Hexi, and the station of the Jiedu envoy is actually stationed with less than 10,000 people. The stationing of 5,000 people in Shancheng is already very important.

"Last year, the Tubo people attacked, Longyou suffered a heavy blow, if it wasn't for Ma Xiangzhong Bajie who died in Guanzhong, the Shenwu army defeated the Tubo army, and the court couldn't even keep Longyou!"

Fifth Qi shook his head and whispered the actual situation of Longyou.

In fact, Longyou and Hexi were in a military vacuum, and the Tang Dynasty, in a hurry to quell the chaos, emptied the border armies in these two places, and those who remained were either old, weak, sick or recruits who had not been recruited for a long time, and their combat effectiveness was not the same as that of the former Northwest Frontier Army.

Qin Jin stood up and walked to the window, he felt that the room was a little stuffy, so he pushed open the window, the fresh air outside came to his face, and his mind was immediately much cooler.

"Miao Jinqing is struggling in Hexi, and we have to hurry up in Chang'an!"

Fifth Qi Dao:

"Hu Kolao's expedition, why don't you let them enter Longyou, and they will be annihilated by exhaustion!"

This is also a good method, but Longyou is a barrier in Guanzhong, and there are a lot of people, once Hu Kou is allowed to come in, the harm caused is probably immeasurable.

As the Fifth Qi said, Hu Koulao's expedition was difficult to supply, and burning, killing and looting must have become the best and fastest means of supplementation.

After discussing the situation in Longyou, Hexi for a while, the topic of the two returned to the spy sent back by Chen Changjie.

"The network of spies in the city has been caught, killed, killed, but the mastermind behind the scenes has not been caught, if these spies caught by Chen Changjie are related to it, it can be regarded as the restoration of Skynet without leakage!"

Qin Jin nodded and said:

"These people should have been mixed in when Tubo fell into the city, after the Shenwu army entered the city, they only thought about how to restore the livelihood of the people and put everything back on track, but they ignored this fatal problem, and now they can be detected early and solved in time, and the problem does not break out after the Western Expedition, which is already a blessing in misfortune!"

When he said this, Qin Jin was a little dissatisfied with the newly established Qianniuwei last year, this kind of spy agency is just to detect the lawlessness, whether it is the court officials or the common people, but they have not been able to dig up the main envoy behind his tomb in time.

In the end, it was the fifth Qi who came forward in person to solve this problem.

However, Qin Jin was very patient, and he also knew that Qianniuwei had been established for a short time, and it was impossible to have extraordinary reconnaissance ability immediately after giving power, and he would always have to go through a process from immaturity to maturity.

Fifth Qi suddenly said:

"Xia Xianggong has asked the Son of Heaven to return to his hometown!"

His voice was a little lonely. After all, Xia Yuanji has a half-teacher friendship with him, and now he is old and drooping, how can he not be sentimental?

"Leaving so soon? Xia Yuanji's health is not good, staying in Chang'an, it is convenient for diagnosis and treatment, but after returning home, it is ......"

Speaking of this, Qin Jin's voice paused, he also knew that even if he was forced to stay, he couldn't keep it, it was convenient or inconvenient for Xia Yuanji, a person who was about to die, and there was no more urgency for Ye Luo to return to his roots, no matter how good Chang'an was, after all, it was just a guest country!

It seems that he can only ask Zhishi three times, and the drama of three times is enough, and then let him return to the township in style.

Now that the rebellions in various places have basically been quelled, and important ministers like Xia Yuanji have returned to their hometowns, their safety will be guaranteed enough, and Qin Jin will not be too worried.

At this moment, Yan Zhuang rushed over with a mysterious face, and when he saw that Fifth Qi was there, he didn't say much, and just sat quietly after the ceremony, listening to the discussion of the two people.

Fifth Qi and Yan Zhuang have always looked down on each other, and Fifth Qi has long been surprised by Yan Zhuang's attitude, obviously he came with something, but he deliberately didn't say anything when he saw that he was there, and he didn't bother to care about it, so he got up and said goodbye on the grounds that the government hall was busy with official business.

Qin Jin didn't keep him anymore, everything that should be said had already been said, and forcing him to keep him could only delay many of today's official affairs.

It wasn't until after the Fifth Qi left that Yan Zhuang said:

"Qin Zhiqi is reluctant to return to the political hall, but insists on returning to his hometown in Qi County, this stubborn temperament...... The subordinates can't be persuaded to stop it!"

Hearing this, Qin Jin secretly sneered, the young man didn't know the depths, thinking that he had suffered a great grievance, did he think that he could get away with his true innocence alone? Or, knowing that it was Qin Jin's nephew's identity that played a role? If it weren't for Qin Fen ignoring his old face and kneeling on the ground to beg for each other, Qin Jin might not really care about this idle matter.

Fortunately, Qin Zhiqi is innocent, otherwise even the king of heaven and Lao Tzu would not be able to save him!

Speaking of which, Qin Jin really admired his cousin, who was well-intentioned for the sake of his eldest son, and even begged Qin Jin not to tell him about his begging.

"Qin Fen is sick, in the post house, the subordinates ......"

During these days, Yan Zhuang had almost understood the relationship between Qin Jin and Qin Fen and other clansmen, and knew that there was a festival between them, but after all, blood was thicker than water, and Qin Jin intended to be deeply rooted in the center for a long time, and it was inseparable from the family's arm help, and the so-called lonely palm was difficult to sing.

Moreover, with strict speculation, Qin Jin did intend to ease the relationship with the clan, intending to bring the clan closer to the center of power, but this requires a gradual process, and if it is done too quickly, I am afraid it will backfire.

Originally, he thought that Qin Zhiqi was a manufacturable material, but now he looks like a stubborn idiot, from being in prison to being released from prison, he didn't understand that he had just walked from the road of life and death, if it wasn't for Qin Jin's intervention, it would have been only a matter of time before the autumn queen asked for beheading!

"Prime Minister, do you want to persuade him?"

Yan Zhuang asked tentatively, and Qin Jin waved his hand.

"No need, the young man has a high spirit, so it's good to sharpen his temperament. However, there is no need to let him return to Qi County, his father is sick, how can he withstand the bumps in the road?"

Yan Zhuang immediately understood, and said:

"It's better to let Qin Zhiqi go to Wannian County to be a county lieutenant, experience experience, and accumulate some qualifications......"

Chang'an has two counties, Chang'an and Wannian, and there are not many counties in the world, so going to Ji County to be a county lieutenant is naturally more than being a small official in the political hall.

"That's it, let him go to Wannian County, and take care of his father nearby!"

At noon, Princess Shou'an specially sent someone to tell him to go home for dinner in the evening, Qin Jin looked at the sunset gradually setting westward, and left the Prime Minister's Mansion to go to Shengyefang's home.

When he arrived at home, Qin Jin found that there were guests at home, and what made him headache was that he was actually a clansman from Qi County's hometown. Uncle Qin Wuan and cousin Qin Dan.

To be honest, he already had a very vague impression of those clansmen in his hometown in Qi County, and the only impression he had was the hatred after being taken away from his land.

Although these memories do not belong to him, Qin Jin now feels that he has gradually accepted this reality and body, and gradually integrated into this era, and many times it is even more difficult to distinguish which memories belong to him and which do not.

Compared with his embarrassed cousin Qin Fen, his uncle Qin Wu'an was obviously much more proud, although a brand-new brocade robe looked a little ill-fitting, but the joy on his face made Qin Jin frown slightly.

He is not a person with a small belly, but the old things that bullied orphans and widows in the past cannot be written off for no reason, even if he intends to raise the children of the clan, I am afraid that it is not a cat or a dog to lift, such as this clan uncle Qin Wu'an.

The five hectares of land that they forcibly seized were nominally included in the clan's public land, but the actual profits fell into his hands.

As the patriarch of the upper generation, Qin Wuan actually had the cheekiness to call himself an uncle in front of Qin Jin, as if he didn't notice Qin Jin's increasingly ugly face at all.

The reason why Princess Shou'an received these relatives from Qi County who came one after another was nothing more than looking at Qin Jin's face, but when she saw Qin Jin's face was so ugly, she obviously didn't seem to want to see this so-called clan uncle even more than the previous Qin Fen.

Princess Shou'an secretly regretted it, it would have been good to talk to her husband earlier, and finally returned home for a meal, but it made him unhappy. However, Qin Wu'an came here, and he could only receive it hard, after all, he was still the patriarch of the Qin family in Qi County, and he fell in the face and spread it, I am afraid that it will only become a handle for outsiders to talk about Qin Jin, and in the end, it will ruin the reputation of the husband.

Looking at his cousin who was the same age as himself, Qin Jin clearly understood in his heart that this clan uncle was planning to seek an official for his son!