Along the way, after leaving Datong, Lu Zhen finally truly appreciated the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty today, but it was about to be put in a big quotation mark.

In fact, the description of the prosperous era in history is almost the same, it is nothing more than the monarchy and the ministers, the politics are clear, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. However, if you look more closely, there will be less such as what kind of life the common people are living, especially the people who are far away from the Imperial Kyoto City.

is the rule of Zhenguan or the prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, which has been recited for a while, and at most it is just a mention of how much Chang'an doumi sells, but as for how much money the people can have every day, it is not a word. This is the prosperous era depicted by those high-ranking literati, but in fact, they don't understand, or don't want to understand, how the most ordinary people in the world are living and what they want.

And now in the prosperous era of the Ming Dynasty after the rule of Renxuan, the situation is actually not too optimistic. Walking on the official road, all Lu Jin's eyes could see was a deserted and withered. Although it is not like the white bones of the troubled times to be exposed in the wilderness, and there is no rooster crow for thousands of miles, it is really rare to meet any pedestrians. Even if there are pedestrians, they are in groups, unlike the pedestrians who go on the road alone as shown in some later film and television dramas.

What does this mean? First, the population at this time was still small, especially in the north, which was even more sparsely populated, which led to the infestation of wild beasts, so that ordinary people did not dare to walk alone in the wild. Not everyone has the ability to kill tigers like Wu Song and Li Kui, and ordinary people can often only become food in the mouths of beasts when they encounter wild beasts.

The second is the rarity of villages and other settlements. Along the way, there is often only one small village for dozens of miles, and there are only a few dozen people in these villages, which is really pitiful and deserted. No wonder Datong City is so important, otherwise, once it is breached, the Mongolian people can really drive straight into Pingchuan with one horse, and there will be no more power to block them.

This is the real situation of the Ming Dynasty today, or the real situation of the northwest and other border areas, which is far from being as beautiful as depicted in the book. In fact, not only the Ming Dynasty, but also the so-called Kangqian Shengshi, the peak of the Central Plains, was also average. That's just based on the fact that sweet potatoes and corn can be planted on a large scale, and the people can finally fill their stomachs, and it has nothing to do with those pockmarked emperors and incomplete old people.

After seeing all this, Lu Jin unconsciously began to wonder what the situation in Beijing would be, and he wondered whether everything there was in line with what he thought, or whether he was disappointed again.

The only advantage of the sparse number of pedestrians on the road is that Lu Zhen can use it to practice his riding skills.

Now that the weather is getting hotter and hotter, it is really unbearable to always be stuck in the carriage, so Lu Zhen asked for a horse soon after hitting the road and began to ride. Although he also practiced riding in the grassland for a while, it was only self-taught, and at most he managed not to fall off the horse, and he could not really make the horse under his crotch obey. Now, with the guidance of some cavalry in the army, the situation is much better.

After a few days, Lu Zhen was really able to control the horse to advance and retreat freely, that is, he suddenly accelerated and turned, and he was able to be stable on the horse, without the slightest feeling of being in a hurry. He believed that if he had suffered the events of that night at this time, it would not have been so easy for those Mongols who attacked at night to catch up with him.

After traveling for a few days, they came to the vicinity of Guangchang County, where Shanxi and Beizhili intersect. This road may be because they are a large number of people, and they are all cavalry escorts, those beasts and strong beam bandits are not visible, and the road seems quite calm.

Seeing that they were about to enter Beizhili, the security there was much stronger than that of Shanxi and other border places, and everyone was unconsciously relaxed. When he heard Wu Kui mention that a military camp in front of him was garrisoned by their old comrades, Lu Zhen simply became a good person and asked them to go there to meet friends, while he was escorted by Li Xian and a dozen other soldiers to go forward first, and the two sides would meet again after reaching the boundary of Beizhili.

"This ...... I'm afraid there's something wrong, right? Wu Kui said with some hesitation: "Although this journey is safe and sound, and it is far away from the grassland, there may be some bandits in the mountains......"

"How can it be such a coincidence? There are few pedestrians in this place, where do bandits and other things come from? But it takes a day or two to get to Beizhili, so how can something happen? The brothers in the army are the most affectionate, you haven't seen you for many days, it's better to go and see. Lu Zhen shook his head and said.

Seeing that he was so persistent, and Wu Kui really intended to get together with the brothers who fought side by side at the beginning, he agreed. However, just in case, he left ten brothers behind, and ten crossbow machines for everyone. This thing is extremely powerful, and it can be pierced by an arrow from an idle beast, even a fierce beast such as a tiger and a bear, and it will not be able to take a few hits.

In this way, the two sides are separated on the road, one to the south, the other to the east, and make an appointment to meet again at the boundary of Zhending Mansion.

After seeing them leave, Lu Jin's convoy continued to move forward, and everything didn't seem to be too much of a problem......

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After another day, I came to the vicinity of Wuhui Mountain at the junction of the two provinces. Although the mountain is not very high, the terrain is quite complex. In addition, the road in the mountains is difficult to travel, and it will take a lot of work to cross it, so a few people took a break in a small town called Gushan Town in front of the mountain, and at the same time purchased some food for emergency needs.

Although Lu Zhen has been an official of the imperial court for several months, some of his temper has not changed much because of this. Along the way, he had not had much contact with the people outside, so he became interested, simply brought some money, and walked around this palm-sized town.

Moreover, he also pulled Chu Yunrong and Cui Mei, the master and servant. The two girls were already bored because they had been staying in the carriage, and as soon as Lu Zhen invited them, they also followed half-pushed, half-on-the-spot. As for Li Xian, Lin Lie and the others, they were left by him to rest in the only inn in the town, he didn't want to make the formation too big and scare the people in these small places.

However, the harvest of this tour is really not much. As a traverser, Lu Jin's vision is much higher than that of people hundreds of years ago, and he is not interested in the things that are sold in the town. And the two girls were from good backgrounds, and these ordinary rural products were the most curious, so they only bought some of the most ordinary food, and planned to go back to the inn.

At this moment, there was a rush of horses' hooves at the entrance of the town's small street, and in the blink of an eye, five fast horses galloped straight like a fly.

The movement of these five horsemen was really not small, so that the surrounding people were so frightened that they walked to the side one after another. But even so, the few stalls along the street were kicked to the ground by these horses. In the face of the misfortune he had caused, the knight on the horse did not pay any attention to it, and the young man laughed even more, looking quite proud of his destructive ability.

Seeing this, Lu Jin's brows furrowed. Looking at the people around them who were so destroyed, they all frowned, but none of them dared to scold, let alone resist. Seeing this, Lu Jin already understood that these must be the bullies who were rampant in the township.

In this regard, although Lu Zhen was also quite annoyed in his heart, he did not have the intention of standing up and speaking for those people. Because he knows that this is useless, although he is an official, he can't control the people here. Even if they really rely on their official status to stop this person's behavior, after they leave, they will still do what they should do, and there will be no improvement.

But Cui Mei beside her was a straightforward master, and she was very upset when she saw this, and when those people came to her, she couldn't help but say, "These people are really ...... It's like a robber, why doesn't the government care? ”

Originally, the three of them followed a group of people to avoid the side, and the five horsemen came and went so fast that they would not notice the three of them. But as soon as Cui Mei opened his mouth like this, somehow, he was actually listened to by the young man who looked delicate and a little frivolous, which made his face gloomy for a while, and then he grabbed the reins with one hand and waved the horsewhip with the other, wanting to teach this disrespectful guy a big lesson.

Seeing that he stopped suddenly, Lu Jin's heart was also vigilant, and he immediately stepped forward and blocked the two women. Although he is a master according to his status, he has been accustomed to the good tradition of men protecting women for many years.

Just as the whip was about to hit the man with a whistling, the young man suddenly made a light sound in his mouth, and the whip shook suddenly, and he took it back very lightly.

At the same time, the four knights who followed him had stopped their horses. These people stopped quite in an orderly manner, and they had already surrounded Lu Jin's three of them at once, and it seemed that as long as the young man gave an order, they would step forward and make a move.

Although Lu Zhen was exempted from the pain of this whip, he did not feel any relaxation in his heart. Because he saw that the young man in front of him was staring behind him with a pair of eyes at this time, and there was already a little lust in his eyes.

"This brother Tai is a foreigner, in Xia Guo Que, he is the young owner of Guojiazhuang outside this Gushan Town, I don't know if I have the honor to invite the three of you to my village for a few days?" The young man's eyes only swirled on the faces of the two girls, Chu Yunrong and Cuimei, and their mouths were still a little elegant.

Lu Zhen immediately shook his head: "Thank you for the kindness of this son, we are just passing through here, and we will leave early tomorrow morning, so we won't bother." "When you're away from home, it's better to have more than less. As he spoke, he wanted to leave.

But Guo Que said: "Slow! Why, doesn't this brother even refuse to give this thin noodles to the younger brother? Or do you look down on us? As he spoke, the four knights came closer again, and a look of ill intent flashed in their eyes.