With heavy concerns, Zhang Xiaowu and others passed through Hunzhou, which was full of disaster victims, and finally came to Sizhou, the core of the country.

Sizhou was the center of the empire, but it was not the geographical center of the empire, because with the expansion of the Shenghan territory to the south, the geographical center had become Muzhou on the south side of Sizhou, and Muzhou and Sizhou were only separated by the Dragon River. The location of Sizhou is equivalent to the Zhili Province of the Republic of China before Zhang Xiaowu crossed, and it has an extremely special status and role, and the governor of Sizhou and the general of Sizhou must be the emperor's important ministers and cronies.

There is a checkpoint between Hunzhou and Sizhou, called Tengguan, which is named because it is located at the foot of Fuji Mountain. After the vine pass, it is Sizhou.

When they came to Sizhou, everyone immediately felt that there was no communication here, there were no victims in Sizhou, and after inquiring, they learned that Shi Chong had taken all the people who came to Sizhou to Lingnan to develop the territory, so that it seemed that there were no victims in Sizhou. So instead of disaster victims, there were no beggars in Sizhou, Zhang Xiaowu said with a smile: "In this way, isn't there no beggar gang in Sizhou?" ”

The crowd laughed.

Sizhou is more heavily guarded than the rest of the states, and the Tengguan that entered the territory of Sizhou was inspected by the Sizhou army, but the Sizhou army did not embarrass the ghost guards and his party, and they were released in turn after inspection in accordance with the regulations. The Sizhou army behaved reasonably, neither flattering nor squeezing out Zhang Xiaowu, everyone thought that they were used to seeing high-ranking officials, but in fact the Sizhou army was strictly disciplined.

For the goods carried by the ghost guards, the Sizhou army did not stop or collect the money, but only told them that after they were transported to Longdu, they must be inspected twice outside the city, and after obtaining the token, they would be sent to the destination, if there was no destination, they could only go to the Six Workshops to register.

The so-called six workshops are not a workshop called Liugong, but six workshops dedicated to handicrafts, which belong to the outer seventy-two workshops in the one hundred and eight squares of Longdu City. Most of the handicrafts in Longdu City come from the Six Workshops, where there may not be the most ingenious craftsmen in the world, but the six workshops are connected together to form the simplest industrial regional chain.

Zhang Xiaowu said with emotion: "When I arrived in Sizhou, I finally saw a normal soldier, a saint-Han soldier, and it should be so." The Hunzhou Army and the Daizhou Army are simply bandits, no wonder people are dissatisfied with the imperial court, these people can really discredit the empire. ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "That's because the Sizhou guard is no one else, it is Lou Chungui, the nephew of Du Shanbo." This person leads the army with strict discipline, is upright and honest, and no one in the Manchu Dynasty is disobedient and respectful. ”

Zhang Xiaowu smiled and said: "Another Dushan Bo partyman." ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "This is wrong. ”

"Why?"

Ruan Qingwen blinked his eyes and said, "General Lou is not only not a member of the Dushan Bo Party, on the contrary, he is very opposed to Du Shanbo. It can be said that if there is anyone in the world who can confront Du Shanbo, Zhang Kuan ranks first, then General Lou ranks second. It's a pity that General Lou has been excluded from the center, and he is just a state guard. Dushanbo knew that General Lou was hostile to him, so he did everything possible to squeeze him out, as the so-called out of sight and out of mind, the two could not see each other, but there was less dispute. ”

Wang Yijin said: "Du Shanbo is so arrogant and domineering, he didn't want to eradicate General Lou? ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "After all, the two of them are uncles and nephews, and they are not enough to eradicate each other, Du Shanbo is a bit domineering, but he is not a cruel person, nor is he a mediocre person." General Lou has a very high reputation in Sizhou, if Dushanbo dares to kill General Lou, then the Sizhou army will definitely do everything to avenge General Lou. ”

"Then why did they disagree?" Wang Yijin said.

Ruan Qingwen smiled and said: "Speaking of which, there is still a feud between them. ”

Zhang Xiaowu suddenly became interested, and hurriedly asked: "Is this feud for business or private?" ”

"For personal reasons." Ruan Qingwen said, "I have also heard that Du Shanbo and his brother-in-law Lou Shixiong went out to kill the enemy when they were young, but the two of them were trapped behind enemy lines. The two fought desperately to get out of the encirclement, but unfortunately in order to cover Dushanbo, Lou Shixiong died in battle. Dushanbo lived alone, and Lou Shixiong died in battle, so the Lou family thought that Dushanbo sacrificed Lou Shixiong in order to survive. is the so-called revenge of killing his father, even his own uncle can't do it, so Lou Chungui and his uncle Dushanbo became mortal enemies. ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "How can Uncle Du Shanbo kill his brother-in-law, this person should not be such a villain." ”

Ruan Qingwen smiled: "Not necessarily. ”

"Oh?"

"Because no matter how Lou Chungui opposes Dushanbo, but Dushanbo always doesn't punish Lou Chungui, who can not say that he is guilty?"

Zhang Xiaowu thought about it, there is really this possibility, but how can the husband act because of personal feelings, maybe there is another reason for it.

After Fujiguan is Fujiyama County, which is not famous, but within its territory there is a recreational resort, the royal hunting ground of the Holy Han Empire, and a royal forest army is stationed. This Imperial Forest Army is also the only Imperial Forest Army stationed outside the Dragon Capital City, and of course, it is also considered by everyone to be a place of exile, but anyone who is sent here must be a person who has made a mistake.

The ghost guards were ready to rest in Fujiyama County for the night and prepare to leave the next day, so they stayed at the Fujiyama County Station. It's now close to August, but the Central Plains is still hot, and there is no sign of rain. The head of the post station in Fujiyama County said that in the whole of July, it only rained three times in Fujiyama County, which was much better than other places, and Fujiyama County was close to the royal hunting ground, so people could secretly go to the royal hunting ground to hunt.

"The people go hunting in the hunting grounds? Does the official family care? Zhang Xiaowu said strangely.

"The first emperor has not come to the hunting ground for ten years, and the Great German Emperor has been on the throne for two years, and he has not come to the hunting ground. There are too many animals in the hunting grounds, so as long as they don't get hit by the Guards, they won't care, but if they are hit by the Guards, they have to peel off a layer of skin. The postmaster smiled.

Xia Ming suddenly came to report, saying that he found that several horses were sick and fell to the ground, everyone was shocked and hurriedly ran over. I saw seven or eight horses lying on the ground, and a few other horses stumbling and shaking, Zhang Xiaowu shouted: "The war horse has a serious illness and must be treated, can there be a veterinarian in the city?" ”

The post man in the post station will treat horse diseases, but the post man said that he can't cure it, but there is a veterinarian in the city nicknamed Niu, Ma and Yang, who is a veterinarian who specializes in treating animal diseases in the royal hunting grounds, because the income in the hunting ground is too low, so he started a part-time veterinarian in the city.

This cow, horse and sheep also served as a small official in the Imperial Forest Army, because his skills in treating animals were very good, but he was trapped in the royal hunting ground, so he could only dive into the study of veterinary knowledge, but refined his skills.

It's just that the emperor doesn't come to the hunting ground to hunt, and he, the royal veterinarian, is useless.