Jia Ke didn't wait long in the flower hall, he heard footsteps outside the flower hall and remembered, Jia Ke looked up, only to see that the soldier was leading the way, followed by a big man in his forties, but now there was fat on his stomach. I think this big man is Wang Tao, the envoy of the festival.

Jia Ke didn't dare to slack off, and hurried to the door of the flower hall to greet him, that Wang Tao saw Jia Ke so reasonable, and nodded with satisfaction, you must know that in this side, most of them are rough men who don't know how to be polite, and it is still rare to be as respectful and polite as Jia Ke.

Wang Tao entered the flower hall and sat down on the Taishi chair in the center, and Jia Ke bowed in from the outside, standing respectfully aside and waiting for the question.

Wang Tao raised his eyes to watch at this time, and saw the young man in front of him, with a beautiful face and heroic spirit, although he was still young, he also had a majestic demeanor on his body.

In fact, when Jia Ke entered within a hundred miles of Xuanfu Town, he received reports from various people who were in the way, and knew that the small thousand households sent by the capital were coming. Originally, he was sent to Jingzhong, a fifteen-year-old little doll, who served as a thousand households of Kaipingwei, he shouted a lot of complaints, thinking that this was nonsense, if the disciples of the wealthy families in Beijing wanted to come to gild and stay in the rear military town for a while, then Kaipingwei was at the forefront of the confrontation with the Tatars, and he was not easy to explain if there were three long and two short. When I saw Jia Ke today, although I didn't know his ability, I was relieved to see that he was full of heroism and let him serve as the Qianhu of Kaipingwei.

Wang Tao's impression of Jia Ke was still very good, so he asked kindly: "You are Jia Ke of Kaiping Wei Qianhu?" ”

Jia Ke hurriedly returned: "The subordinate is the new Kaiping Wei Qianhu Jia Ke." ”

Wang Tao said again: "Do you know where Kaipingwei is? ”

Jia Ke bowed and replied: "When my subordinates came, they had already looked at the map, and Kaipingwei was in the northernmost part of Xuanfu Town, close to the grassland, which was the first line of defense against the Tatar invasion of our dynasty, and it was also the target of the Tatars' frequent attacks. ”

Wang Tao nodded with satisfaction and asked, "Since you know that you still dare to go?" Do you know how many fierce generals I have under my command, and they don't dare to go there to defend it. ”

Jia Ke replied to him: "My subordinates are also the queens of the generals, and I also have some martial arts on my body, but my subordinates are not grandchildren, if you don't give up your life and fight hard, I'm afraid there will never be a day to get ahead." And his subordinates still have some confidence in their own martial arts, so they dare to go to Kaipingwei to be this thousand households. ”

Wang Tao said to Jia Ke: "Since you have self-confidence, I won't stop you from making achievements, but I have a few words to tell you." ”

Jia Ke asked respectfully: "I don't know if the adults have any words and teachings, and my subordinates will definitely follow the orders." ”

Wang Tao instructed him: "Kaiping Wei is not as good as the side, it is said that there are thousands of households, but there are 2,000 soldiers, all of whom show the elite, and there are even 600 cavalry. If the Tatars come to attack with heavy troops, they must not leave the fort, but must have the advantage of the castle to stalemate with them. Send fast horses to inform the rear, and wait for our military order to make plans. ”

Jia Ke replied to Wang Tao respectfully: "Thank you for your advice, you must obey your orders." ”

Wang Tao was satisfied, and then ordered Jia Ke to take out the confession document, take out his personal seal letter, stamp the seal on the official certificate, and return it to him. He also ordered someone to take the Great Seal of Kaiping Wei Qianhu and hand it to him with his own hands, so that he could go to his post on the same day.

Jia Ke received the seal of the Kaiping Guard and left the Jiedu Mansion. took Liu Yu back to the inn, thinking that once the supplies were ready, he would go to Kaipingwei to take up his post.

You must know that Kaipingwei is still more than 300 miles away from Xuanfu Town, and the more you go, the fewer people become, unlike the inns everywhere in the interior, you can rest and buy supplies.

When Jia Ke was having lunch, he set up a table of wine banquet in the room and asked Liu Yu to invite the shopkeeper to come.

After a while, Liu Yu came in with an old man in his fifties, and when Jia Ke saw it, he immediately got up to greet him, and asked the old man to sit at the table, and the old man said: Don't dare. But in the end, he couldn't refuse, so he had to sit opposite Jia Ke in front of the banquet.

Jia Ke sat opposite the old man: "I don't know how many years the old man has lived here. ”

The old man said politely: "Don't dare to ask the guest officer, the little old man's surname is Hu, he is fifty-five years old this year, and he has been opening an inn here for thirty years." ”

Jia Ke listened to the old man's words, poured wine and cloth for the old man first, and then asked: "Since the old man has been in Xuanfu Town for many years, I don't know if there is a grain store nearby, as well as a place to sell supplies for traveling far. ”

The old man surnamed Hu asked: "I don't know why the guest officer wants to buy these things, these materials are controlled items, and ordinary people can't buy them casually." ”

Jia Ke hurriedly explained: "The old man misunderstood, I am an officer who went to Biansai to take office, and I should only be on the road because of the long distance and the need to buy some supplies." ”

The old man surnamed Hu hurriedly apologized and said: "It's the little old man who is abrupt, it turns out that the guest officer is an adult, so it's okay, the little old man knows a company that does this business, and the little old man can introduce the adult." ”

Jia Ke hurriedly thanked him, and then the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves, and after the banquet, the old man surnamed Hu said to Jia Ke when he left: "Although the lord is waiting in the inn, I will send Xiao Er to summon the person to come now, and then the lord will discuss with him in person." ”

Soon, the shopkeeper brought in a middle-aged man in his thirties.

When Jia Ke asked, he found out that this person was also surnamed Hu, and he was related to the innkeeper, but he didn't care about the lecture, after all, the fertilizer water does not flow into the fields of outsiders, and it is normal for people to introduce business to their own people.

The negotiation between the two went very smoothly, and Jia Ke ordered ten loads of grain, one hundred catties of dried meat, and some camping supplies such as tents. A total of 30 taels of silver were spent. Agreed delivery the next day. Both the buyer and the seller are very satisfied with this time, and Jia Ke does not need to look for and buy materials everywhere in an unfamiliar place. And the businessman surnamed Hu can also earn a few taels of silver because of this transaction.

Early the next morning, the merchant surnamed Hu sent all the supplies, and there was a whole carriage. Jia Ke saw that their original carriage contained the luggage of himself and his soldiers, and now it could not hold so many things in any case, so Jia Ke consulted with the merchant and spent another twenty taels of silver to buy his carriage together. The merchant surnamed Hu was very happy and gave them a lot of fodder for the horses.

Everything was ready, and Jia Ke and the others set off, heading all the way north in the direction of Kaipingwei.

The further north he went, the more desolate he became, but fortunately, Jia Ke had the foresight to bring enough supplies. Otherwise, you will have to be in the barren mountains and mountains, cold and hungry.

I walked straight north from Xuanfu Town, and walked for five days before I arrived at Kaipingwei.

Kaipingwei was the closest castle to the Tatars on the border. As soon as they arrived near Kaipingwei, a ranger spotted them and came up to interrogate them. As soon as I asked and knew that it was the newly appointed Lord Qianhu, I immediately dismounted and knelt down to give a salute.

Jia Ke asked the rangers to ride up and asked them about the recent situation of Kaipingwei. The one who came forward to answer Jia Ke was the leader - Xiaoqi Zheng Kai, this man was twenty-five or sixteen years old, with a strong body and quick movements. At first glance, it looks like a battle-hardened battle.

Zheng Kai came to Jia Ke, knelt down on one knee, gave a thousand salutes, and said loudly: "The third team of Kaiping Guard Cavalry, Xiaoqi Zheng Kai has seen a thousand households. ”

Jia Ke saw him kneeling on the ground and hurriedly dismounted to help, this is Liu Yu took the stool and put it behind Jia Keshen, let Jia Ke sit down, Zheng Kai stood beside Jia Ke, waiting for Jia Ke to ask.

Jia Ke first asked: "Now, who is in charge of Kaipingwei?" ”

Zheng Kai replied: "All small things are the king's lord's book, but whenever there is a big thing, it is the king's lord's book that summons hundreds of households to discuss together. ”

Jia Ke was silent for a moment and then asked, "What kind of frequent method?" ”

Zheng Kai was stunned by his question, and then thought for a while before saying: "The last few Thousand Households were assassinated by the Tatars, so it is said that the attacks are frequent. ”