Before Heifu took office, he heard that there was a way back to the middle of Beidi County, and the transportation was convenient, and he was happy for a while.

But in early September, he arrived at the pavilion where Jingshui and muddy water meet, only to find that the flat Huizhong Road continued upstream along Jingshui. A group of them, however, had to go north along the muddy river, and Yiqu City, the county capital of Beidi County, was still more than 100 miles away......

Most of the roads in the highlands and mountains are built along these large and small river valleys, and most of the farmland and villages are also distributed along these river valleys. Mud water is as its name suggests: one stone of water, six buckets of mud. It was late autumn, the runoff was wide, the muddy river was rushing down, the loess on the river bank was eroded and peeled off in many places, and in some places, the roads also collapsed, and their journey was very difficult.

And the further north you go, the higher the terrain is, and you can be considered to have entered the real "Loess Plateau" – however, unlike the barren plateau with the loess facing the sky in Heifu's impression, the air is also more humid and much more habitable than in later generations. The vegetation is so abundant that at least half of it is covered by yellowed forests and meadows where hunters who can't tell the difference between Hua and Rong chase the deer.

Although there is more vegetation than in later generations, the loess under your feet is as thick and solid as it was two thousand years later. Moreover, the ravines are vertical and horizontal, and it seems that the distance is not far away, but it is very likely to climb up and down many times, which greatly affects the speed. The local people are trapped in the valleys, which has also created different customs for five miles and different sounds for ten miles.

When resting in the counties along the way, Chen Ping went to the market as usual and walked around, and found that Niyang was the last county to focus on farming, and as he continued to the north, not only did the price of millet begin to rise, but the scenery in front of him was also very different......

There are still farmland along the river, and farmers with white curtains tied to their heads collect the manuscripts in the fields. Sometimes, herdsmen in sheep's coats, wielding whips in their hands, drive black goats from the loess plateau to the river to drink water and graze.

Sometimes Heifu saw that they were wearing braided hair and riding horses skillfully, thinking that they were Rong people, and asked closely, but he claimed to be after the Qin people decades ago. Sometimes I saw a person with a right side of the bun and a right shirt in Xiaoyi, thinking it was a Qin person, with a mouth, but he could speak Rong fluently......

After another day's journey, when he arrived at a small town called "Bei 豳 (bīn)" built on a hill, Heifu was even more surprised.

"This is where the Zhou people lived before they moved?"

Heifu was a little incredulous, looking around, this is really a poor mountain and bad water, there are shrubs and mounds everywhere, and the soil quality is not good, such a barren place, a handful of millet seeds are sown, and after half a year, they can't harvest much, how do the Zhou people live?

Chen Ping said: "I heard that in the decline of Xia, the ancestor of Gong Liu, Bu Ji (kū), once abandoned the business of Houji and ran between Rong Di, probably here, I guess it should be to follow the custom of Rong Di and make a living from animal husbandry and hunting, right?" ”

The Zhou people mixed with Qiang and Rong here, became a small tribe, and after hundreds of years, under the leadership of Gongliu, they resumed their farming life and established a city-state.

Heifu said secretly: "No wonder Jiang Shang, these ancient Qiang chieftains, desperately support Zhou and anti-business, Ji Zhou and Qiang, after hundreds of years of getting along, have long intermarried with each other and become a family......"

But think about it, Qin Zhao's ancestors also used to herd horses and drive in the Rongdi Wasteland, and retrospectively, everyone's distant ancestors had a similar experience.

Here, agriculture and animal husbandry, Hua and Rong, do not seem to be as distinct as Heifu imagined, but as if two rivers flow together.

"Huarong is miscellaneous, agriculture and animal husbandry coexist...... This is Northland! ”

He understood the meaning of the first word that Nestein had given him better.

At the beginning of September, after more than ten days of trekking, he finally approached the capital of Northland County: Yiqu City!

……

Ye Zijin lifted the curtain of the carriage again, there are still pavilions ten miles away from Yiqu City, and according to the custom, the big and small officials of the Northland County Lieutenant System, without exception, are here to greet Heifu......

The position of the county lieutenant, in charge of the guard, the military officer, is related to military affairs, and is in charge of catching thieves, public security, customs defense, garrison, and training in peacetime, and can directly lead the army to fight in war. The officials directly under him include the soldier Cao Peng, the thief Cao Peng, Wei Shi, etc., as well as the county lieutenants.

After the officials greeted him with wisdom, Heifu also got into the car to explain the arrangements with his wife after entering the city, Ye Zijin saw that he was happy, so he asked, "Why is the lover happy?" ”

Heifu smiled: "There are four happy events in life, do my wife know what they are?" ”

At this time, there was no such statement, Ye Zijin shook his head, and Heifu said: "A long drought is a rainy day, a foreign country meets an old acquaintance, the cave house spends candle nights, and the gold list ...... Well, when I was paying homage, I happened to meet one of them. “

"A lover has met an old friend here?"

In Ye Zijin's mind, her husband is from Nanjun, and he has never been to Northland before, so he shouldn't know the local officials, so how can he come from?

"It's the first time I fought in Chu, the robe who fought together in Liyang is called Zhai Chong!"

The Battle of Liyang was a battle for Heifu's success, and Ye Zijin had also heard of it, but Heifu rarely talked about it. It's just that when he returned to Anlu and came to visit Nanjun Township Party Paoze, looking at the lively feast, Heifu suddenly sighed:

"It would be nice if Huaimu was still alive......"

When the loyal royal mulberry beside her husband heard this, he attended the bow, wept and wept, and Ye Zijin knew that Huaimu was Sangmu's brother, who died in the battle in Liyang, and his bones were buried in the "martyr's cemetery" in Yan County.

She knew the meaning of that battle to her husband, and she also knew that Heifu was a person with great feelings, so she smiled and said: "It is a coincidence that I actually met the old robe!" ”

Heifu bowed: "The hundred generals who fought with the Chu people that day, in addition to me, there were three others, who served in Nanjun, and Tu Si was a member of the Tuju tribe, who was transferred to Changsha and worked with Zhao Tuo. Only Zhai Chong, he is a native of Shangjun, and now he is an official doctor, and he is a soldier in Beidi County, Cao Zuoshi, who happens to be my subordinate. ”

"Bing Cao Zuoshi, isn't this a position that Liang took a few years ago?"

After all, it is not An Lu's lineage, and he didn't catch the upgrade express of Heifu, and Zhai Chong's development is certainly not as good as that of An Lu's old department.

Although this person did not behave too well, they were all throwing their heads and spilling blood together, and having an acquaintance also helped Heifu to familiarize himself with the local situation as soon as possible and carry out the plan that Qin Shi Huang expected......

While he was talking, there was a loud shouting outside.

"We are obstructed, and we are late, and I hope that the county lieutenant will not be blamed!"

Heifu is a county magistrate who is more than 2,000 stones, equivalent to a high-ranking official, and is also in charge of the provincial military district, public security department and other departments.

When he got out of the carriage, he saw two tall men on the side of the road, one wearing a military uniform and braided hair, and the other wearing a suit of armor, and when he looked up, Heifu found that they were still somewhat alike, both with leopard heads and ringed eyes, swallow jaws and tiger whiskers, like brothers.

"Who is this?"

Heifu asked, pointing at the two.

He has changed into a silk robe, wearing a silver seal and green ribbon around his waist, and has been in Xianyang for two years, and he is not angry but threatening when he speaks.

Zhai Chong was about to answer on his behalf, but Heifu said, "Let them say it themselves." ”

"The subordinate Gongsun Bailu! Yuzhi County Lieutenant! The man in armor said, looking up at Heifu, and found that he was so much younger than himself, and couldn't help but envy him.

"The subordinate Yiqu white wolf! Ohara Riders! The man dressed as Rong said that he had a very strong accent and sounded very strange.

Yuzhi County is a small county not far north of Yiqu City, and Dayuan is a loess plateau between muddy water and Jingshui, which is called "Dong Zhiyuan" in later generations, where the group of Rong is mixed, and it is the main source of soldiers for the Qin army to recruit Rong cavalry.

Heifu looked at the two of them, and saw that they were indeed sweating profusely, and it was not like they were intentional, so he said, "The law decree is not guilty of being late for the officials, but if the army is marching and fighting, you and the two of you will be late as today, as they are today......"

His face was blank: "Then the captain is going to kill the three armies!" ”

The second general said yes again and again, and then stepped aside.

"I thought my lover was going to kill someone."

When the convoy started again, Heifu got into the car, and Ye Zijin said that when her father went to Nanjun to take office, he found an excuse to cut off the head of a young official who was late for some reason.

"Liwei can't pick these two people."

Heifu had also done some homework before he came, especially for the local forces in the Northlands.

He said to his wife: "This Yiqu white wolf, Gongsun Bailu, do you know who they are?" ”

Ye Zijin shook his head: "The concubine doesn't know." “

"Both of them are the chieftains of the Northland, if they kill them for no reason, half of the Northland will have to be in chaos, that's all, they have another layer of identity."

Heifu's next words immediately detonated the curiosity of the woman's family.

"Do you know that Empress Dowager Xuan gave birth to two sons for Yiqu Jun back then? After the death of Yiqu, the clan of Yiqu Jun was slaughtered, and the only two sons remained. One of these two people took Yiqu as his clan to show that he would not forget his father's family. One person was ashamed of this identity, and only recognized his mother's family, so he took his grandson as his clan...... This is the origin of Yiqu and Gongsun Ershi! ”

Ye Zijin understood, this is the Qin court's tight-lipped gossip! Then he said excitedly: "In this way, this grandson Bailu and Yiqu Baiwolf should be the great-grandsons of Empress Dowager Xuan?" ”