"Driving~" Li Zhang rode a horse and followed behind Cao Wei, and there was Cao Wei's son Cao Mata next to him, and there was only a team of guards, and there was no one else, and the city of Gyeongju behind him was also getting farther and farther away under their gallop.

Li Zhang looked at Cao Wei who was galloping in front of him and was also a little helpless, originally he wanted to take advantage of this relatively leisurely period to ask Cao Wei for a leave, and then took the Jin mother and daughter to leave Gyeongju City to find Jinshan, but he didn't expect Cao Wei to say that he happened to have something to go out of the city, and he was on the same road with Li Zhang, so he took him out with him, which made Li Zhang unable to take the Jin mother and daughter anymore.

Thirty miles northwest of Gyeongju City, there is a strong walled city, called Tuoyuan Village, this is the place where Jinshan was exiled, when Jinshan arrived here before, Li Zhang also asked someone to send him some property, but the way is far away, Jinshan has not come to any news, which makes Li Zhang also quite worried.

When it was almost noon, Li Zhang and his party finally came to Tuoyuan Village, here is a mixed residence of Han and Hu, and the folk customs are also quite fierce, Li Zhang has seen four or five fights and brawls on the road alone, but as long as there are no dead people, no one will generally care, and even if they are dead, it is common to not be able to catch the murderer, it can be said that there is only one truth here, that is, the big fist is the truth.

Although there is a word "village" in the name of Tuoyuan Village, it is actually a strong military fortress, the city wall is tall and strong, and there are soldiers stationed in the city, "army" is the military institution of the Great Song Dynasty, an army has five battalions, a battalion of five hundred people, an army is two thousand five hundred people, the commander of the army is also called the commander, but the prefix has an extra word "army".

In addition, it is worth mentioning that about three miles to the north of Tuoyuan Village is the border of the Great Song Dynasty, and there is also a border market opened, where foreign tribes can exchange cloth, porcelain and other goods with the Great Song Dynasty with cattle and sheep, salt, etc., and Tuoyuan Village is to guard the border on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also to provide protection for the border market.

"Tuoyuan Village is stationed at the border, there is an army stationed here, the commander of the army is named Wang Fang, and he is also my old brother, I will go to him to discuss some things after entering the village, Li Zhang, you are here for the first time, you must not be familiar with this place, let Yu'er take you around here!" Cao Wei said to Li Zhang with a smile at this time, Cao Wei also attached great importance to Li Zhang during this time, not only often took him to familiarize himself with the situation in Gyeongju City, but also deliberately asked his son Cao Ma to walk around with Li Zhang a little more, probably also taking a fancy to Li Zhang's potential in the future.

"Father, although he is busy, I will take Brother Li to taste the roast sheep here, I haven't been here for a long time, and I am almost dying!" Cao Mata also replied with a smile at this time, he was also very familiar with Tuoyuan Village, and there was a roast mutton here that was known as a must, and it couldn't be eaten in other places.

"Then there is Brother Lao Cao!" Li Zhang also bowed to Cao Ma at this time, Cao Ma is a few years older than him, and he is almost twenty this year, but he is a veteran on the battlefield, he was brought to the battlefield by Cao Wei at the age of fourteen, and he killed people on the battlefield at the age of fifteen, according to him, the enemy who died in his hands was not a hundred but eighty, and he didn't know if it was true or blown?

Seeing that his son and Li Zhang got along well, Cao Wei also laughed, and then the three of them went into the city together, speaking of which Cao Wei has four sons, but what he loves the most is this third son Cao Mata, because compared to his other sons, Cao Mata is also the most like him, and Cao Mata is talented and intelligent, and likes life on the battlefield, and is also very interested in the art of war, so Cao Wei has always regarded him as his successor to cultivate.

After entering Tuoyuan Village, Li Zhang found that although it was a military fortress here, the city was not all military, there were many merchants on both sides of the street, and there were also all kinds of merchants among the pedestrians, not only Han merchants, but also a lot of Hu merchants, these Hu merchants were of different shapes, and their clothes and hairstyles were also strange, and they spoke Chinese with strange accents and bargained with the surrounding merchants, which seemed to be very lively.

Cao Wei said goodbye to them immediately after entering the city, and took people to the military commander's yamen, Cao Ma wanted to take Li Zhang to wander around the street, and by the way, he also tasted the special roast mutton here, but Li Zhang was worried about Jinshan at this time, so he asked Cao Mata: "Brother Cao, do you know where the prisoners exiled here are usually arranged?" ”

"Uh, Brother Li, do you know someone who has been exiled here?" Cao Yu also immediately guessed something when he heard Li Zhang's inquiry, after all, there are many exiled prisoners in Tuoyuan Village, and the relatives of these prisoners come to visit every year.

"Yes, I have a friend who was implicated in a crime by a relative, and the result I found out was that he was exiled here, but he has not been heard from since he arrived here, and it just so happened that I came to the northwest this time, so I came to visit him." Li Zhang nodded immediately.

"I see, the prisoners who are exiled to this side of Gyeongju will be placed here in Tuoyuan Village, first, this is close to the border, except for those merchants who ask for money and don't want to die, ordinary people are not willing to come here, and secondly, there is an iron mine next to Tuoyuan Village, which requires a lot of labor to mine ore, so the exiled prisoners will generally be placed to work in the mine." Cao Mata replied immediately.

"In which direction this iron ore is, I want to go to my friend, who was also taken care of when I was in Tokyo." Li Zhang asked eagerly.

"It's not far, there are just too many people eating now, and you may not be able to find a place, so I'll go with you!" Cao Ma smiled again at the moment.

Before his father let him get closer to Li Zhang, he was still a little unconvinced, after all, Li Zhang was younger than him, but he had been reused by the imperial court, which made him instinctively repulsive to Li Zhang, but with this time of getting along, he found that although Li Zhang was young, he was far better at talking and doing things than him, and even the musket was made by Li Zhang himself, which also made him change his opinion of Li Zhang, and the two got along very well.

"Then there is Brother Lao Cao!" Li Zhang was not polite at the moment, and once again bowed to Cao Yu, after all, he was not familiar with life here, and he couldn't find anyone to solve some problems, and Jin Shan must be very hard working in the iron mine, if he had the opportunity, he also wanted to give Jin Shan a light job.

At the moment, Cao Yu took Li Zhang through Tuoyuan Village, out of the city and walked out of the northwest direction for a mile or two, in front of which was a large iron mine, and then Li Zhang found that this was an open-pit iron mine, and the scale of mining was also quite large, the ground was dug into a big pit, countless miners were like ants working in the pit, thinking about the fat of Jinshan, Li Zhang couldn't help but worry again.