In the month, the harsh winter in the north is gradually gone, the ice and snow melt, the new branches are sprouting, on the great plain of the Hexi Corridor, the pasture grass begins to grow, a group of healthy horses gallop on the grassland in the distance, cattle and sheep bow their heads and graze idly by the river, at this time, on the official road east of Ganzhou, a long carriage is slowly driving, extending to two miles away.

The first batch of immigrants from the Western Regions drawn from Huazhou and Wugong County, more than 1,000 households, did not volunteer, the government randomly selected from the landless peasant households, and under an order, every family began to pack up their meager property, with their wives and their gray-haired parents, they hurriedly bid farewell to the earthen huts and straw houses, bid farewell to their homeland, and began to move westward three days later, the only compensation was a horse-drawn carriage, which was pieced together by five peasant households.

In the procession, the old man sat on the carriage with the child in his arms, staring blankly at the farther and farther east, with muddy tears hanging in the corners of their eyes, and whispering to their grandchildren from time to time, "Son, you must remember that your roots are in the Tang Dynasty and in Huazhou.

The women were busy on the other side of the carriage with blank faces, while the men were walking on foot beside the carriage, different from the old man's nostalgia for their homeland, their expressions were relaxed, their eyes were full of hope, and from time to time they took out the official in their arms to take a closer look, with the autograph of the Anxi Dadu Protector, one hundred acres of Shangtian, and gently folded it, carefully put it into their arms, although it was in the far west, but a hundred acres of land are Yongye fields, for these men who bear the burden of supporting their families, land is always the most fatal temptation.

At both ends of the procession, there were a thousand officers and soldiers of the guards, and the procession marched slowly, honing their temperament, but no one dared to complain, because at the end of the procession, they followed the envoy of Anxi Jiedu and the king of Guangping.

When Li Qing went to Fengxiang, he learned that he was also the envoy of the Beiting Festival, and Feng Changqing replaced An Sishun as the envoy of the Hexi Festival, and this appointment was a loss and a gain for him. It seems that Li Longji's intention is to concentrate his energy on developing the Western Regions and prevent him from getting involved in the An Lushan incident.

At this moment, he was immediately on a low mound, the curtain of thugs blocking the horizontal sunlight, and he looked at the slowly marching procession, and sighed helplessly. The team has been walking for nearly 20 days before arriving in Ganzhou, at this rate, it will be at least five months to break, this is only a thousand households, hundreds of thousands of households will move to the Western Regions in the future, and I don't know what year and month it will be. It is a feat to be able to get there.

"Tell Wang Duwei that you will rest in Ganzhou tonight!"

"Yes!" A pro-soldier took the order and left.

Li Qing turned around and said to Zhang Ji: "Boundary." Conditions will be better and everyone will be able to eat hot meals. ”

Zhang Jigong bowed his hand and took a few soldiers to the immigration team, at this time, the sound of horses' hooves came from behind him, Li Qing turned around, only to see more than a dozen horses driving towards him quickly, one horse in front, and the people were handsome and heroic. It was Li Li, the king of Guangping.

"General, people are all overjoyed when they are promoted, why do they become unfazed when they come to you?" Li Jiaoce stepped forward immediately, standing side by side with Li Qing, here has a wide field of vision, he looked at the horses galloping on the grassland in the distance, and said with a smile: "Hexi has been an important place for horse herding in all dynasties since ancient times, and Hexi is a cavalry." It's a pity that the flowers are in other courtyards, but the general regrets it? ”

"Self-proclaimed clever guy!" Li Qing lightly punched him in the shoulder, then looked behind him and said with a smile: "But Li Laodao told you, I want to seek Hexi?" ”

Li Laodao is Li Li's teacher Li Mi, he was originally enshrined in the East Palace, and did a bachelor of Hanlin, has been a bad relationship with Yang Guozhong, after he served as the right minister, Li Mi resigned from the position of Hanlin, just Li Li was going to the Western Regions. In addition to Li Mi, there were more than 100 officials accompanying him this time, all of whom were lower-level officials from the Gyeonggi region who went to Anxi to serve for two years.

Li Li glanced at the carriage that Li Mi was riding from a distance, and said with a smile: "The master also said that if the general really wins Hexi, this festival can only be done for another year at most, and then he will enter the dynasty and be promoted to the left minister." ”

"Li Laodao has a bit of vision, and he deserves to be a master in the world." Li Qing smiled casually, glanced at Li Jiao slightly, and saw a hint of smugness on his face, Li Qing immediately smiled and said coldly: "What else did your master say?" ”

Li Jiao was stunned for a moment, then his face was swollen red, a look of shame flashed in his eyes, and he lowered his head and said, "Thank you, General, Li Jiao has been taught!" ”

Li Qing nodded, and said slightly apologetically: "Forget it, you are also a child, I won't talk about you in the future." ”

After that, he gently pinched Li Li's shoulder, turned the horse's head and galloped back, Li Li looked at his back, and couldn't help but think of his father's instructions to him before leaving, "When the emperor gave the paperweight to Li Qing, he said that Li Qing's great use is to assist the successor king, and let you go to Anxi with him, which is of far-reaching significance, and now the emperor seems to intend to set up Li Cong, but no one knows his real intentions. ”

'Assist the successor king!' Li Jiao muttered, his eyes suddenly flashed with a strange look, his chest was full of pride, and he galloped towards the immigration procession.

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Seeing Li Qing running towards him, Li Jingyan immediately tore open the curtain of the car, and said with a slight annoyance: "Li Lang, where have you been, I haven't seen you all afternoon!" ”

"Am I not here?"

Li Qing gently patted her hand on the ground by the window, and said with a smile: "The more mature my county lord is, the more beautiful he becomes, but when he is angry, this beauty is reduced by three points, and there are two more wrinkles at the corners of his eyes." ”

"You dare to say that I am old, beware of me knocking on your ground!" couldn't help but take out the bronze mirror, looked down at the corners of her eyes, only to see that it was as smooth as jade, how could there be any wrinkles, her pretty face was cold, pretending to be fierce, but she didn't pretend to be like it, only stared for a moment, then 'fluttered' out laughing, gently pinched the back of his hand, and scolded with a low laugh: "You dead guy, you don't talk to me." ”

Li Qing saw that her skin was as white as snow and her eyes were like autumn water, her heart fluttered, and her eyes quickly turned to her

Sweeping, seeing that the guards were enjoying the scenery in the distance, he stepped forward and salivated, "Then I'll accompany you tonight!" ”

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Li Jingyan's face couldn't hold it, she was ashamed and anxious, and hurriedly glanced at Li Qing, told him that there was someone next to her, and looked at her. I saw a faint pretty face in the carriage. was pursing his lips and looking at them with a smile, Li Qing then remembered that there was still King Guangping's beloved concubine, Shen Zhuzhu.

"Hah! Ha! The climate in Hexi is indeed a little colder than in Chang'an. He chuckled dryly and touched the back of his head. He also took the initiative to ask Li Jingyan and said, "I'll shoot a few wild ducks and roast them for you to eat at night." ”

Let's talk about it. He beckoned to his own soldiers, "Sons, come with me to hunt game!" And Samar fled.

Looking at his back and running away, Li Jingyan was angry and funny, this is just the beginning of February, how can there be any wild ducks? A mesmerizing smile appeared on her lips. 'What a dumb bird,' and gently closed the curtain of the car.

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The westward migration team continued to move forward, eating and sleeping in the open along the way. This day in the evening. Finally arrived in Shazhou, Li Qing's long-hanging heart was finally relieved, and he did not encounter horse bandits along the way. It is also fortunate that it must be the deterrence of the army that has played a role, plus these people who have moved westward have no oil and water to fish, and the horse bandits are not interested.

After receiving Li Qing's prior notice, Wang Changling, who had just been promoted to the assassin of Shazhou, was well prepared. Nearly 100 huge tents were set up along the official road, steaming hot steamed buns and thick broth, and seeing the westward migration procession spreading, the officials immediately stepped forward to lead the people to the tents to rest and eat, until this time. It was only then that the weary migrants finally got a respite.

"General, Shazhou Assassin Wang Changling asks to see."

As soon as Li Qing settled down in the big tent, there was a report from his own soldiers at the door. Li Qing glanced at Li Jingyan, and Li Jingyan hurriedly packed up a few things with the maid and entered the inner tent.

"Let him in!"

After a while, the curtain of the tent was lifted, and Wang Changling, who had a dark and thin face, hurriedly walked into the tent and saluted Li Qingshen, "My subordinates have seen the general!" ”

"Brother Yuhu doesn't have to be polite. Have a seat! ”

Li Qing posed for him to sit down, and personally poured him a cup of tea, Fang smiled: "When I first met Brother Yuhu, I thought it was an old farmer who went to the wrong room. But now eight or two years have passed, and Brother Yuhu's demeanor has not diminished. ”

Wang Changling raised his head and smiled, and sighed: "Back then, I was the county minister, and Yangming was the main book, but now I am the history of the state, but Yangming has become the left servant of Shangshu and the protector of Anxi, and his life is like this." It can also be called a legend of Tianbao, but thanks to Yang Ming's old love, I was able to work in Shazhou for seven years, otherwise I would have been transferred away a long time ago. ”

"No!" Li Qing shook his head slowly and said: "It's not that I miss the old feelings, if there is no Brother Yuhu, how can there be the vitality of Shazhou today, turning a poor rural area of less than 2,000 households into a 50,000 households in the prefecture.

"Last year, a lot of displaced people fled from Hexi, and now it's 70,000!" Wang Changling corrected in a low voice.

"Good guy, it's only a year after that, it's 70,000 again." Li Qing laughed, suddenly, he had an idea in his heart, if Shazhou, Qiuci, Bachang City (now Aksu) each set up diversion points, this will greatly alleviate the pain of migration, so that those old and weak people will not die halfway, the sudden thought made him impatient excited, back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back, carefully consider the feasibility of his ideas, the key is food, in this way, the immigrants on the road to spend longer, the consumption of food is huge, and the imperial court can not allocate food, everything has to be solved by themselves.

Thinking of this, Li Qing asked again: "How much grain is still in the Shazhou warehouse now?" ”

Wang Changling thought for a while and replied: "There are still nearly 200,000 yuan in money, and there were originally 400,000 stones in the grain storage, and Zhang Xun wanted to go to 100,000 stone of military grain last month, and there should be about 300,000 stones, but the private grain reserves in Shazhou are quite sufficient, and some more can be purchased, and I estimate that it will eventually reach 500,000 stones." ”

Li Qing nodded, "I keep all the 500,000 stone grains, I plan to build an immigration diversion point in Shazhou, so that they can raise them here for a month or two before they go on the road, do you think it is feasible?" ”

Although it was a tone of discussion, Wang Changling knew that this was just Li Qingnian being polite to himself for the sake of the old man, in fact, it was an order, which could not be disobeyed or bargained, Wang Changling immediately agreed: "I will start this matter tomorrow, please rest assured general!" ”

The two chatted for a while about the current situation in Shazhou, and at this time, the soldiers came in to report, 'Li Mi is asking to see him at the door!' ’

"Please wait a moment!"

"Since Yang Ming still has something to do, I won't bother!" Wang Changling saw that Li Qing had a guest, so he said goodbye and left, Li Qing did not stay, and immediately sent his own soldiers to invite Li Mi in.

Soon, Li Mi, who was dressed in a Taoist robe, came in with a curtain, and saw that he was about thirty-five years old, tall and thin, with fair skin, slightly insufficient blood, an unusually full forehead, and a pair of slender eyes that always contained a mischievous smile.

Although Li Yu has already gone to the position of Hanlin for the second time, Li Qingdi's etiquette has not decreased, and when he saw him enter the account, Li Qing immediately got up and greeted him with a smile, "Li Hanlin has ignored me all the way, how can there be Yaxing today?" ”

"I'm no longer a Hanlin, I'm just a civilian, and the general doesn't need to be so polite." Li Mi bowed his hand to Li Qing and saluted back: "I have come to find the general for the matter of the king of Guangping." ”

'The matter of King Quang Binh? Li Qing was a little stunned, but he reacted immediately, walked to the door of the tent with a serious expression, and specially told his soldiers a few words, ordering no one to come in.

Li Qing had completely calmed down at this time, and he asked with a faint smile: "Say it!" What is the matter for the king of Quang Binh? ”

"Naturally, there is nothing to do but go to the Three Treasures Palace!" Li Mi slowly walked in front of Li Qing and sat down, thanked the soldiers for pouring the tea, and then saw that there was no one left and right, so he approached Li Qing and said in a low voice: "I am here for the king of Guangping to seek the throne." ”