Cloudsdale.

This majestic city in the mountains of Saibei, in the spring and autumn period was incorporated into the Zhao land, Lou Fu Lin Hu and other Beidi clans are still hunting in the meantime. Li Mu, a famous general of Zhao State, fought a series of bloody battles with the Beidi tribes here, and finally trained the iron cavalry of Zhao State, which made the Qin people fearful.

The hometown of the Han Dynasty was the place where the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu fought again. The Xiongnu were strong and invaded south, and the Han general's counteroffensive was based on this.

After the decline and fall of the Han Dynasty, this place became a hunting place for alien races, first Xianbei Wuhuan, then Rouran, and then one clan came again. After the rise of Tuoba Xianbei, the Northern Wei Dynasty used this as the capital, and it was still called Pingcheng in the clouds at that time. The Northern Wei Dynasty migrated 3,000 heroes from the 22 states under its rule to enrich the people, and at that time Pingcheng was the number of heroic cities in North China for a while.

The Northern Wei Dynasty was divided into the Eastern Wei and Western Wei, and the Eastern Wei and Western Wei were usurped by the Northern Qi and the Northern Zhou respectively. Pingcheng has always been the focus of contention between the two sides, several times changed hands, occupy here, you can collect grassland horses, recruit border goblins, according to the shape of the victory. In the end, Pingcheng fell into the hands of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and Pingcheng was changed to Heng'an Town.

In the end, the Northern Zhou Dynasty defeated the Northern Qi Dynasty and changed Heng'an Town to Yunzhong County, which belonged to Mayi County. In the Northern Zhou Dynasty of the Sui Dynasty, this name has been followed until now.

The land in the clouds is basically the apex of the defense line that expanded northward when the Central Plains Dynasty was strong. At the peak of the Central Plains Dynasty, it controlled the grassland, covered the line of the Inner Great Wall, and kept the hinterland of the Central Plains safe. And the border athletes here formed one elite border army after another, fighting and dying here.

At the time of the decline of the Central Plains Dynasty, this was the pasture of the Hu people in the north, and the border athletes here either resisted to the end, or became the minions of the Hu people, and went south to cause trouble in the Central Plains.

Hundreds of years have passed after the Qin and Han dynasties, and the land in the clouds is full of mixed ethnic groups and strong folk customs. The belonging here is already a weather vane that can observe the weather of the Central Plains Dynasty.

And in the autumn of the twelfth year of the Great Cause, Cloud City was still under the rule of the Great Sui. Heng'an Yingyang Mansion sits here, maintaining the rule of the Great Sui over this period.

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It was a rare good weather, with the autumn sun shining and no wind, and the sky and the earth were warm.

The patrol of Heng'an Yingyang Mansion at the gate of the city was wearing shabby leather armor, sitting or standing, just chatting with the robe without a word. Some of the patrolmen took out their robes to wash and dry, and hung them everywhere near the city gates. It was like a scene of flags flying.

Even though the Turks have grown, the border areas have been under fire for many years. And Wang Rengong and Liu Wuzhou confronted each other, and both sides were making a fuss about this traffic artery. But after all, Cloud City is an important place connecting the hinterland of the Central Plains and the grassland outside the Saiwai, and it still has a somewhat lush scene.

There is a family's signboard protection, and the caravans that can not be afraid of tax cards along the way come north one by one and enter the city in the clouds. These caravans were loaded with grain from Hedong, salt from Hedong, all kinds of silk cloth, and even some of the brave ones with iron tools that were forbidden to be sold to the grassland, and they were pulled to Cloudsdale by cart.

As for the grassland tribes, the same teams drove horses, with furs, with sand gold and dongzhu and other grassland products, or even plundered in the Central Plains. Waiting in Cloudsdale to open a trading session. Even during the war with the Turks, people from various Turkic tribes came pretending to be Tatars and other tribes with the nine surnames under their rule, and those who knew about it turned a blind eye.

Of course, these transactions were all controlled by the big families of Hedong Mayi, Yanmen and other counties, and the Turkic tribes were not something that the Hengan Yingyang Mansion could easily offend. Every year after autumn, tents are set up inside and outside the city in the clouds, caravans gather, temples and inns in the city are full, horses and sheep neighing outside the city, and they are dispersed until the autumn is deep.

Only those small traders who have no way to go have to climb over the mountains, sneak into the air, and go to the grasslands to find those small tribes to trade. And the Hengan Yingyang Mansion can't move the big surnames and Turkic tribes that trade here every year, so they can only make up their minds with these small traders.

No matter how the undercurrents in the county are surging, no matter when the Turks turn their faces and go south again. At least for this moment, there is still a peaceful scene in and around Cloudsdale.

Seeing that the time was close to noon, on the official road outside the south gate of Cloud City, the convoy of horses gradually increased.

The convoy and horse team all set off according to the schedule, rushed in the morning, and entered Cloudsdale City in the afternoon, and settled down to dissipate for a while.

The guards were lazy all morning, and by the afternoon they had to cheer up. At least every convoy had to stand up straight and be on guard.

Although there was a tax card at the south gate, the tax collectors sent to guard only shrank in the straw hut and nap even when they saw that there were many convoys and horses on the road.

The south side of this official road was controlled by Wang Rengong and Wang Taishou, and the north side was controlled by Liu Wuzhou. Those who can walk on the official road are all caravans of the big families, and many hosts can't say that they are still surnamed Wang. Otherwise, the commercial tax will be paid and the capital will be compensated.

The small caravans that everyone could afford all drilled into the ravine, and the Hengan Eagle soldiers who were scattered out were playing hide and seek. I don't have anything to do here except for napping.

Suddenly, the tax collector heard a doorman greet him: "Scholar, there is a team of men and horses over there, it doesn't look like a caravan, what do you see the way from?" ”

The tax collector is in his forties, he looks like a township, and he is also a native of Heng'an Yingyang Mansion, because he has a relationship with a certain captain in the army, and he knows a few words and sent this idle errand.

This tax collector has been mixed in the army for a long time, but there is no stinking temper of scholars, and the doorman stands up lazily as soon as he greets him, and looks at the official road to the south.

There was originally a caravan walking in the official road, which was very large. There were sixty or seventy cattle carrying the goods, and more than a dozen heavy carts, all of which were covered with sweat from their furs. There were twenty or thirty chivalrous men guarding the caravan, all of whom looked light and swift, with bows and swords, and the procession ran back and forth, taking care of the pack horses and carts.

There were two or three cars in the procession, and the curtains of the carriages hung low, and it was impossible to see what was going on in the cars. It's just a dozen people who guard the car, although they are wearing short robes and pants, and they don't wear crowns with their hair in a bun, but they know that they are athletes in the army when they look at their behavior. I don't know which big man's caravan actually sent people from the army to protect it.

Despite this pomp, the doormen and tax collectors were accustomed to it. In this year, which family can still take this road leading to the grassland trade road is not deeply rooted in the Great Sui, and it is impossible to say that behind them are those old pillar families who have been handed down from the six towns of Xianbei.

The doorman beckoned the tax collector to see a fresh one, but it was another team.

This team is only eight or nine people, the caravan walks on the official road, and this team walks under the official road, and the two have nothing to do with each other.

These eight or nine people looked like dusty servants, and the mounts under their crotches seemed to have gone through a long journey, and the hooves of the horses were almost unable to lift, and some of the mounts spat out dots of white foam when they gasped, and seemed to be dead at any time and the next moment.

These eight or nine people all carried bows and swords, and they were dressed as border light warriors. But the first one, but only eighteen or nineteen years old, looking from a distance, sitting on horseback with flat shoulders and narrow waist, as sharp as a sword. At this moment, he seemed to be looking curiously at the caravan beside him.

The tax collector muttered in his heart, what is the way this is coming?

The young man of light chivalry either recruited Wang Rengong into the Yingyang Mansion of Mayi, or was driven to escape to Hedong. And Heng'an Yingyang Mansion is not where the young man dares to come and go easily.

And if it is a caravan, these eight or nine people have no goods with them. And how dare such a small-scale caravan swagger on this official road? I have already gone into the ravine.

The tax collector pondered for a while, and simply didn't bother to think about it, and explained to the doorman: "I don't have any goods with me, so what do you want me to do, how to collect taxes for them?" I look at the characters who are either the front station of the caravan, and when the time comes, I will interrogate them, and if there is a foundation, there are no roots in the Yingyang Mansion and there are few hard laborers, and eight or nine of them are not too many to fill in. ”

He glanced at the young man who was walking in front from a distance, and sighed: "But I see, this is not an ordinary person, but in these years, which family still dares to come to this place?" ”

The tax collector shook his head and looked back at the city gate: "This is in the clouds!" Only our Liu Ying, who has no background, dares to sit in the clouds, and there is a share in death, but there is no benefit. Wang Taishou has been thinking about the clouds to deal with! If you are a mother, one day you will have to give those people in the south a good look! ”