In November of the first year of Ren, a once-in-a-century snowstorm hit the first stop of Helong, and when the faint sunlight shone on this land again, the power pattern of Helong had quietly changed under the cover of the blizzard.

Lingwu County, the base camp of the Shuofang army, has been occupied by Duan Xiushi's Anbei army, and the Shuofang army withdrew to Yan'an County, and Wei Ge in the Hexi region was forced by strong public opinion to finally let Zhang Huan enter Hexi, and assigned Tianbao County, the westernmost part of Wuwei County, to its garrison, Zhang Huan immediately appointed Li Hengqiu as the envoy of the soldiers and horses of Huizhou, and led 2,000 soldiers to guard the county, thinking that it was a supply base, and he personally led 3,000 people to march to the river army.

Liangzhou, Wude was promoted to the governor of Zhongdu in the seventh year, the first year of Tianbao, Liangzhou was renamed Wuwei County, under the jurisdiction of five counties, of which Panhe County originally belonged to Zhangye County, Tianbao three years, renamed Tianbao County, with a population of 2,000 households, totaling more than 12,000 people.

The brigade has been traveling on the Hexi Corridor for six full days, the thick snow makes their march extremely difficult, all the way is a world of ice and snow, it is difficult to find people, after passing Wuwei County, there are more trees along the road, and the river network is criss-crossed, although it is still

The snow is plugged into the river, but you can already imagine the beautiful scenery after the ice and snow melt.

"Dudu, there is the Tianshan Mountain, our natives call it the Snow Mountain, bypassing the Snow Mountain, it is Tianbao County."

The guide was a Qiang man, who called himself Ngawang, about 30 years old, but his nomadic life made his skin unusually coarse and dark, and he looked like he was in his early fifties, but he was simple and honest, and he was very talented in language, whether it was Chinese, Tubo, Turkic, or even some indigenous languages of Hexi, he was very proficient, and Hexi was poor. Zhang Huan only used ten times a year to hire him as his full-time interpreter.

Ngawang didn't care about Zhang Huandi's arrival, and the people of Hexi had been accustomed to coming and going all these years, and he was concerned about whether this young Han general could respect the customs of the Qiang people like General Xin Yunjing.

He pointed to the distant snow-capped mountain and smiled tentatively: "That snow-capped mountain is the patron goddess of our Qiang people, and we have to go to worship at four o'clock every year. If the governor is willing to respect it, he should win the hearts of the Qiang people. ”

Zhang Huan smiled and didn't say anything, he glanced back at the army that was walking around. He asked the guide again: "Has the Tibetan army come to harass you in the past few years?" ”

Ngawang shook his head, "I heard that there is a lot of fighting in Tibet, and I haven't come here for three years, and in addition, there have been droughts and locust plagues in the past few years, and Hexi is barren, and they don't have any oil and water when they come." ”

Ngawang saw that Zhang Huan didn't take the goddess of the snow mountain to heart. There was a slight disappointment in my heart, and I glanced at it. His eyes quietly fell on General Zhang's young wife, he had never seen such a beautiful woman, and he was not even worthy of Tusi's daughter to lift her shoes, and he couldn't help but admire in his heart, 'My goddess of the snow-capped mountains! How did you forget your daughter? ’

Pei Ying was wearing a thick firefox fur coat. The skin is crystal and delicate, and there is a touch of red on the face, which looks extremely delicate. It was the first time she came to Hexi, although the scenery was monotonous, but with Zhang Huan, she did not feel bored at all, at this time, she was admiring the jade tree Qiongzhi that stretched for hundreds of miles on the side of the road, although Chang'an also has, how to compare with Hexi's magnificence.

"Ying'er, how is the scenery in Hexi?" Zhang Huan saw that she was looking intent, and couldn't help but smile and asked, since the relationship between them broke through to a couple in Huijun City, Zhang Huan's name for her naturally changed, but it was also a little more troublesome, how to balance between her and Cui Ning, although it is normal for the eldest husband to have three wives and four concubines, but the key is which of the two of them is right and who is flat? One is the daughter of the right minister, the other is the daughter of the left minister, there are two major families behind him, Zhang Huan couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, let's talk about this later!

Pei Ying turned his head and glanced at Zhang Huan lightly, how many times did he tell him that he couldn't call himself Ying'er in front of outsiders, he just couldn't remember it, Zhang Huan suddenly felt it, he touched his nose and smiled embarrassedly.

Pei Ying saw that he had admitted his mistake, so she spared him again, she pointed to the sapphire-like snow peak in the distance and smiled: "Where is Qilian Mountain?" ”

Seeing her delicate smile, Ngawang was dizzy again, and almost fell off the horse, and said secretly in his heart: "My fairy! That's not Qilian Mountain, that's your mother. ”

Zhang Huan discovered Awang's abnormality, seeing that he was fascinated by Pei Ying's beauty, he couldn't help but feel a little proud in his heart, he smiled slightly, and said to Pei Ying: "I heard that the county seat of Tianbao County is under the snow mountain, but the climate is very warm, like a paradise, when the weather is warm, I will take you to the grassland to hunt, we will watch the starry sky in the tent, do you like it?" ”

Pei Ying didn't know where to go, she suddenly had a shyness on her face, and she didn't dare to look at him when she turned her back on her face, but Awang next to her suddenly thought of a terrible thing for Pei Ying, he patted his head again and again, only to feel that his brain was broken, 'My God! How can a daughter in the snowy mountains live in a tent, that stinks, that's a blasphemous fairy! ’

At this moment, several pro-soldiers shouted in unison, they pointed ahead, their voices full of surprise, "General, look at that!" ”

Zhang Huan looked ahead, only to see that in the vast snow, a black line appeared, which was more than ten miles long, "Could it be the Tubo cavalry?" This thought was immediately denied by himself, and there seemed to be a lot of ox carts and wagons in the procession, and the march was slow, and there was no kind of killing air of an army.

At this time, two horseback scouts rushed over, "Governor, those are all ordinary people, there are 10,000 people, and they have been escorted to Wuwei County by the army. ”

"Surname, Lu Sigong implements the strong wall and clears the wilderness, leaving only an empty city for him.

"How many troops are escorted?"

"About 500 people, infantry and cavalry."

"Is the county burning?

"Governor Yudu, the county seat is intact!"

Zhang Huan smiled coldly, it seems that this Lu Sigong is not ruthless enough, if he kills all the people in Tianbao County, burns the city, and then pushes it on his head, this Hexi himself will not want to gain a foothold.

Thinking of this, he immediately ordered the soldiers behind him, "Protect Miss Pei to a safe place, and the rest of the brothers will come with me." ”

The 3,000 cavalry divided into three groups and galloped towards the emigrant convoy from the left, center, and right, completely blocking their path.

This team is indeed the people of Tianbao County. Because of the heavy snowfall, many herdsmen hid in the county seat for the winter, but they were all driven out of the county seat by the local army sent by Lu Sigong, and were escorted to Wuwei County. Everyone left their homes as if they were parting with life and death, but after two days of walking, the people gradually became numb and began to realize that crying too hard would drain their physical strength. Precious food was wasted, the crying was gone, and everyone silently followed the team.

Walking on the ground, women, children, and the elderly sat in horse-drawn carts or ox-carts, and the so-called family property was half an urn of rice. There were also a few scrawny sheep, and a few tattered leather mattresses around them. Occasionally, a few pairs of timid eyes would peek out of the leather mattress.

A total of 500 soldiers were driven away, including 300 infantry and 200 cavalry, led by a captain surnamed Zhou, who had to walk from Tianbao County to Wuwei County in one day, but the road was closed by heavy snow.

The people walked slowly, and it took them two days to walk half the way, and they had no oil or water. Just when Captain Zhou was scolding in his heart, he suddenly found that he had been surrounded by thousands of cavalry.

The procession stopped, the children were frightened into their mothers' arms, and the men ran to their families, drew their knives from the wagons, and watched the strange army warily.

The cavalry of the brigade rushed closer and closer, and the Datang Dragon Banner was clearly visible, and a large white banner next to it was written with a big 'Zhang, the word, and Captain Zhou cried out in his heart, 'Why did they come so quickly?' ’

"Who's the boss!" The tooth general Li Shuangyu took the lead, pointing at these soldiers and shouting.

All the soldiers looked at Captain Zhou, and a few of them quietly pointed their fingers, Captain Zhou smiled bitterly in his heart, being an official may not be a good thing! He stepped forward and saluted Li Shuangyu and said, "The last general, Zhou Hao, see General Zhang, no, Zhang Dudu!" ”

At this time, Zhang Huan came up from behind, he glanced at Captain Zhou, and asked coldly: "How dare you hold so many people hostage, and really regard my Tang Dynasty law as nothing?" ”

The cold sweat on Captain Zhou's forehead has come down, if he uses the law of the Tang Dynasty, he is a capital crime, he hurriedly stepped forward and arched his hand: "Governor, his subordinates are just an arrow, General Lu shoots there, I will fly there, if the governor is not allowed, I will go back!" ”

"Go back?" Zhang Huan smiled with a hint of mockery: "Run to me to make trouble, do you want to leave as soon as you pat your butt?" You can go back and tell Lu Gongji that each soldier has two stone rice, and a war horse is also two stone rice, and I don't want much, but ask him to take 1,500 stone rice to ransom people, otherwise I will send him 500 heads. ”

Captain Zhou's face was pale, he didn't dare to say more, he lowered his head and fled, until he ran away, Zhang Huancai urged him to immediately step forward and said to Captain Zhou's subordinates: "Being a soldier is nothing more than eating with a mouthful of food, following Lu Gongsi is to eat, and you can also eat with me, the governor of Bendu is the governor of Liangzhou appointed by the imperial court, and the assassin of Wuwei County, which is justifiable, how about it?" Will you surrender to the governor of Pontus? ”

Everyone just heard him say that he wanted to exchange himself for rice, and now he wants to surrender by himself, I don't know what he thinks, they all look at each other, and they can't make up their minds, but Zhang Huan smiled slightly, and said to them: "As long as you follow the governor of Pontus, I will exempt you and your family from the military status, which is no different from a free people, how about it?" ”

As soon as he said this, everyone was in an uproar and knelt down one after another, "I am willing to return to the governor!" ”

After the Anshi Rebellion, the rise of the major families, in order to solve the shortage of soldiers, but also in order to effectively control the army, the major families began to implement the military registration system in the Northern Wei Dynasty in part of the army, that is, some free people turned into military households, there was no land, the family relied on men to support the army, when men died in battle or grew old, and then their children took over from the army, in fact, they were military slaves, under the strict control of household registration, children and grandchildren were not allowed to turn over, Their local family members are called hostages, which are actually the private property of the major families and local governments.

This kind of military registration system is implemented to different degrees in major families, among which the implementation of the Wei family in Guanlongdi is the most common, eighty percent of the sources of soldiers are military households, and Zhang Huan today let them out of the country as a thorn in history, although their families are in Longyou or Wuwei, but for them, it is a great blessing in life.

Pei Ying next to her was a little worried, Zhang Huan's move was undoubtedly against the major families, is this appropriate? But she didn't dare to say much, she knew her identity very well, and before she became Zhang Huan's wife, she must not interfere in military and political affairs.

At this time, Zhang Huan said to Li Shuangyu again: "Take these brothers down and scatter them into the teams." ”

"But Governor, what if Lu Gongji really sent food to ransom them?" A little apprehensive.

"And what do you say?" Zhang Huan sneered, ignored him and walked towards the people, at this time, the people of Tianbao County knew Zhang Huan's identity, Wuwei County Thorn History, that was his own parents, everyone gradually calmed down and was no longer afraid.

An old man with a scorched face walked out of the team, and he stepped forward to give Zhang Huanshen a salute, "Tianbao County Cheng Li Hanjie see the governor." ”

"What about your prefectural order? Why didn't he come to see me! ”

Li Xiancheng sighed, "Wang Xian Ling was arrested by the Tubo patrol last year, and he still doesn't know whether he is alive or dead. ”

"Then why didn't you report it to the court?"

"There's nothing going on in the county, and it doesn't make a difference if he's not there, so we didn't report it, in case someone scrapes the ground, everyone will be offended."

Zhang Huan nodded, he waved his hand and said with a smile: "Tell the people that now everyone can go home, the team turns around!" ”

In the midst of cheers, more than 10,000 people in Tianbao County turned around and slowly drove towards their homes again.

.

It was slowly getting dark, the team came to a canyon, the canyon was about three miles long, it was the most dangerous place to enter Tianbao County, it was difficult to walk at night, Zhang Huan decided to camp here, the soldiers began to unload the tents from the horses, and the white tents began to support them, like mushrooms emerging after the rain.

And the people stared blankly at the soldiers busy, they had no tents, so they could only huddle in the carriage as a family, sound, Zhang Huan sighed secretly, found Li Xiancheng, and instructed him: "I let my soldiers squeeze in, you can divide half of the tents, you can arrange for women, children and the elderly to live in, if there are sick people, you can live alone, I will order a military doctor to heal." ”

Li Xiancheng was overjoyed and turned around to make arrangements, but at this time, Pei Ying quietly stepped forward and praised in a low voice: "You can think of giving half of the tent to the people, I'm really happy for you." ”

Zhang Huan slapped his head and regretted: "I gave them the tent, so where do I live?" ”

He glanced at Pei Ying, and suddenly smiled ambiguously: "There is really no way, then the two of us have to squeeze tonight." ”