On September 15, the Ministry of Rites Shangshu, which was sent by the imperial court to the northwest camp to spread the edict, arrived in Liangzhou and conveyed the reward to the camp for meritorious soldiers.

"General Li Zongxiong gave the king of Tao County and worshiped the general of the auxiliary country; Guo Huaide gave Qin Guogong and Jin Huaihua general;

Qi Boyuan, Liao Yongxian, Feng Xian, Wei Wenyuan, Li Shouyi were all given marquises, and General Jin Yunlu to General Zhongwu, etc.;

Zhang Zhen and below, such as Wang Kai, Sun Wannian, Li Min and other generals with more outstanding merits were awarded to the founding sons, and Jin Mingwei generals ranged from guerrilla generals;

All the soldiers who went out to fight were promoted to the first level, and those who accumulated meritorious service were counted separately;

It may be that Liu Fan's actions in this battle are described in detail in the documents submitted by the camp to the imperial court, so Liu Fan's reward for Liu Fan is also relatively generous, and Liu Fan is also awarded the founding son and Jin guerrilla general, and for the Jincheng Army Liu Fan below Su Shu, Zhang Ting, Qu Yongping, Dong Zi and others are all promoted to Zhiguo lieutenant or Zhiguo lieutenant. ”

Therefore, in this battle, the northwest camp of Daqi killed nearly 60,000 Khitan troops and captured nearly 10,000 Khitan troops, which was not only the first great victory since the ascendation of the throne by the current saint, but also a rare victory for more than 20 years since the emperor Zhizheng, and the imperial court issued a decree to the northwest camp:

"The imperial court on September 10 that the decree of all the prefectures and counties in the world, together in early October, hundreds of officials will be closed for three days, and fireworks will be allowed to be set off for three days.

"Especially for the states to which the Northwest Camp belongs, it is a ten-day holiday to celebrate."

The decree also mentions that in order to further congratulate this rare and rare victory, and also to add another stroke to the current saint's cultural and martial arts, the prime minister's public office, with the consent of the saint, held a grand military parade, a forbidden military drill and a prisoner sacrifice in the capital on New Year's Day in the sixth year, and the decree has now been issued to all the forbidden armies and some local guards.

On the afternoon of 15 September, Liu Fan received the imperial court's account of the various departments of the northwest camp, and it was originally like this kind of imperial decree, and the generals and colonels above the brigade level generally had to go to the camp to listen to the order in person, but because Liu Fan was injured, the camp did not notify Liu Fan to attend the decree ceremony.

Since Xining Prefecture was injured and came to Liangzhou, Liu Fan has never been out of the gate of the post house, originally wanted to take the opportunity of this announcement to see the Liangzhou prefect Yamen where the camp is located, and by the way to appreciate the local customs, it seems that the "business trip" opportunity was canceled, and Dong Zi and Dong Zi could only find an opportunity to take the "No. 11 bus" to Liangzhou Street for a half-day tour.

Naturally, the one who sent them the news was General Wang Kai, the commander of the Second Brigade of the Shenwu Army.

As soon as he entered the door, he smiled and said to Liu Fan that his coming this time was different from any previous time, this time he was on business, and he was entrusted by the camp to convey the will of the court to Liu Fan, accompanied by Wang Kai's "Li Er's crutch".

Liu Fan had guessed from Wang Kai's expression that he was quite satisfied with the reward given by the imperial court.

Sure enough, after the two of them sat down and offered tea and soup to the soldiers, Wang Kai told the court about the rewards for Liu Fan and Dong Zi and others, and he couldn't wait to boast to Liu Fan that he had been promoted to General Ning Yuan by four ranks, saying that this was almost unprecedented in the history of Great Qi.

Liu Fan slandered in his heart, "Damn, it's one level more than the bastard Zhang Haogudu, who has been promoted to three levels in a row." But when I think about it, I seem to have risen five levels in a row, and I am even more bastard than him.

At this time, I only heard Wang Kai whisper again, "Brother, I heard a small piece of news, General Zhang Zhen may have to take over Deputy General Guo as the Sima of the Shenwu Army, if so, I will have the opportunity to take over General Zhang Zhen's class, are you interested in coming to my second brigade to mix?" ”

Liu Fan said casually: "What should I do if I come to Captain Li?" ”

Wang Kai immediately said, "Brigade B has nothing to do with Li Er's crutches, Lao Zhang said to me privately yesterday that Li Er's crutches are likely to go to Brigade C as deputy brigade commander, and you also know that the deputy brigade commander of Brigade C was seriously injured in his left leg during the siege of Ganzhou and was amputated, and he can no longer mix in the barracks." ”

Liu Fan said: "If I have the opportunity, of course I think of Brigade B, after all, the brothers of Brigade B will defend the western city wall of Ganzhou with us, at least there is the friendship of robes." ”

Wang Kai continued: "Yes, I think the same way, besides, isn't it more convenient for us to go to Yihong Courtyard at any time together?" ”

Speaking of this, Wang Kai shouted: "You see how you forgot your personal affairs after finishing your business, hurry up, change your clothes, I have already discussed with Li Er's crutches when I came over, I want to invite you and Dong Zi to go to Yihong Courtyard to see and see, what is there to drink in this clear soup with little water." ”

Liu Fan remembered that the brothel in ancient times seemed to have a very high consumption, and waved his hand and said, "My brothers only have a few taels of silver on them now, and they can't even enter the door when they go to that place." ”

Wang Kai shouted again: "Brother, you look down on my brother and me, you saved the lives of your brother and Li Er's crutches in Ganzhou City, and when you go to Liangzhou, you go to Yihong Courtyard and let you spend money, is that brother still a person?" ”

"However, don't worry about money, the holy decree in the morning said that the imperial court has rewarded us very generously this time, and I estimate that the bounty you can get will definitely be more than enough to buy a larger courtyard in this Liangzhou City, and I will wait to congratulate you on the housewarming at that time."

Liangzhou is located in the eastern section of the Hexi Corridor, bordered by the Qilian Mountains in the south and the Tengger Desert in the north, which is the key point of the ancient Silk Road. It has the reputation of "the ancient capital of Wuliang, the metropolis of Hexi" in history, and has attracted the attention of the world with its military strategic place of "connecting the first line in the vast desert and controlling the throat of the five counties" and the important commercial port town of "the carriages and horses are intertwined, and the song blows the sun vertically and horizontally".

It has a long history, humanities gathering, profound cultural heritage, since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty opened up four counties in Hexi, all dynasties have set up counties here, Tang Wu Zhou period, it is the three major economic centers of the Tang Dynasty with Luoyang and Yangzhou, when Hexi Longyou 33 states, Liangzhou is the metropolis of Hexi, economy and culture have reached an unprecedented stage of prosperity and development.

There is a chant of "100,000 families in Liangzhou seven miles, and the Hu people play the pipa half-detached" in the Tang folk songs, which is the swan song of the prosperous scene of Liangzhou City during that period.

Although the Tang Dynasty experienced the war, and after the establishment of the Great Qi State, there were also wars with the Khitan State, but in peacetime, both sides tacitly agreed not to make any obstruction to the trade travel from the south to the north on the Silk Road, and the business travel from Gaochang, Kara and more distant Persia, Dashi and other countries all stopped in Liangzhou through the Hexi Corridor, and then went to Chang'an and Luoyang. Similarly, after the jewelry, spices and jade brought from Chang'an, Luoyang and other places were sold, they were loaded with fine porcelain and silk from the Tang Dynasty and returned to the Western Regions through the Hexi Corridor through Liangzhou, so Liangzhou is still the economic and cultural center of the northwest region of Daqi.

Liu Fan chatted with Yicheng a few days ago, the circumference of Liangzhou City is about more than 25 miles, and the people in the city have reached more than 100,000, including many people from various countries in the Western Regions who settled here in the former Tang Dynasty, not including the nearly 100,000 forbidden troops and local guards stationed around Liangzhou.

When the four of them rode to Yihong Courtyard, it was already twilight, and Liu Fan saw more than 20 brothels lined up along the roadside, all of them were colorful, and the air seemed to be full of rouge and gouache.

Another street separated from the street of Qinglou is the most lively temple tower street in Xicheng, the street is wide here, there are almost no people on both sides of the street, all are large and small shops, the façade is one after another, the Xiuzhuang that sells rouge, the south shop that sells southern silk and Suzhou embroidery, the cloth shop that sells clothes and clothes, the ancient and modern shops that sell gold, stone and jade, and the flower shop, the rice shop, the bookstore, the fruit shop have everything. There are almost nothing that cannot be bought here, and the two streets that run side by side are also the most lively places in Liangzhou City.

Yihongyuan is the largest of the more than 20 brothels, the building is four floors high, and there is a black mahogany plaque hanging on the top of the vermilion lacquer gate, on which the dragon flies and the phoenix dances with three big characters 'Yihongyuan'.

Dismounted together, waiting for the servants at the gate to take the horse away, Liu Fan was still admiring this magnificent building in Liangzhou City with Dong Zi.

I only heard Wang Kai say in a rough voice, "What do you have to see in this dilapidated house, go in, there are thousands of charming girls in it for you to see." Before he finished speaking, he pulled Liu Fan with his left hand, and his right hand was stretched out to hug a woman in her early thirties who came out to greet her.