On Chinese New Year's Eve, Zhao Ziliang sent people to call Li Siye, Wei Meng, Huo Kan, Lei Wu, and Liang Qi to have a reunion dinner together, and Wang Can, Chu Ge, Zheng San and others did not need to send someone to call, they came themselves.

After eating, Zhao Ziliang mentioned in the chat: "Everyone here followed me out of Shule Town, some followed me from Tuoyunbao, and some followed me from Swap City, no matter what you think, others will see you as my people, I will not be here in the future, you people must move around often, support each other, and help each other." If you want to make all your contributions to Datang and make contributions, you must have friends to help you in the officialdom and help each other to make progress together, and you can't go it alone."

Everyone thought so, and they all said that they would definitely move around often and help each other.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, Zhao Ziliang brought Chen Qingying's mother and daughter to ask: "I guess you already know, after the year, I will go to Beijing with Lord Gai to see the driver, and then I will visit relatives in my hometown, as for whether I can come back, I am afraid that I will wait for the decision of the emperor and the imperial court, will your mother and daughter continue to follow me, or will you stay here and settle here?" Or go to the mainland to settle down? ”

The mother and daughter glanced at each other, and Chen Qingying hurriedly said: "Our mother and daughter have nowhere to go, so we can only rely on the general to eat, we want to go with the general, and I hope the general will not dislike our mother and daughter as a burden."

"In that case, you should go along, from the eighth day of the new year, you two will start to pack your luggage, except for my books, just bring some change of clothes."

"Good, good! We got it! ”

After the seventh day of the first lunar month, Zhao Ziliang began to prepare for the departure, in addition to the one hundred and twenty entourage, there were also Chen Qingying's mother and daughter, two maids, two grooms and two bookkeepers, because Chu Ge was about to go to Qiuzi Town to serve as the deputy envoy of the Qiuzi Army, so he had to vacate his position as Zhao Ziliang's housekeeper, and Wang Can temporarily served as Zhao Ziliang's housekeeper. Responsible for handing over some matters related to Zhao Ziliang's net worth and property with Chu Ge, Wang Can will not go with Zhao Ziliang for the time being this time, and when Zhao Ziliang arrives in the capital, it depends on the situation, if Zhao Ziliang can't come back, then Wang Can will sell all Zhao Ziliang's fields, pastures, cattle, sheep and horses here and then go to Chang'an to join Zhao Ziliang and others. As for Zheng San, he went with Zhao Ziliang.

After Chu Ge became the deputy envoy of the Qiuzi Army, he no longer served as the chief of Zhao Ziliang's guard, Zhao Ziliang's chief of guard was served by the former deputy chief of the guard, Balerhan, and Bai Xiaode served as the deputy chief of the guard. As for the black giant Nur, he is still Zhao Ziliang's personal guard.

Early in the morning of the tenth day of the first month, Zhao Ziliang led his subordinates and his entourage with a total of 136 people to set off for Qiuzi Town.

As Zhao Ziliang and the others walked towards the city gate, the crowd of people delivering letters on both sides of the street also moved slowly, and Zhao Ziliang led the war horse all the way, constantly waving goodbye to the people on both sides.

An old man with a sheep blocked the way, and the two servants were about to drive it away. Zhao Ziliang hurriedly shouted, only to see the old man holding a sheep and beckoning to a man next to him, and walked over to Zhao Ziliang and said: "A few months ago, thanks to the general, he sent troops to exterminate the horse bandits and rescued the old man's son from the horse bandits' den. The general's grace is rebuilt with the old man and my son, I heard that the general is going to enter Beijing to see the emperor, the old man took my son over to see the general for a ride. There is nothing valuable in the old man's house, this is a sheep raised by the old man, and it was given to the general to be slaughtered and eaten on the road. I hope the general will not be disgusted."

Zhao Ziliang hurriedly said: "Where did the old man say, today you brought your son to send him off, which is the greatest affirmation of my tenure as an official." Your heart, I have received it, but I can't accept it, you better take the sheep back and continue to raise it! ”

The old man hurriedly said: "How can this be, the general must accept it, otherwise the old man will be too little!" As he spoke, he simply stuffed the rope of the bolted sheep into Zhao Ziliang's hand.

Zhao Ziliang couldn't help but smile bitterly, looking at the streets in front of him, there were still many people carrying eggs, some carrying pastries, baked cakes, and wine jars. He had to shake his head at Zheng San, "Take the sheep and give the money!" And when other people give them, they all accept them, but they all give money."

Zheng San promised: "No! ”

When he walked to the gate of the city, the things sent by the people who came to send each other were full of dozens of baskets, all loaded on horseback, and the people sent more than 300 cattle and sheep, these things and livestock, Zhao Ziliang could only take them away, ready to eat while hurrying on the road, and the dried meat that could not be eaten was taken on the road, and the servants were excited.

Sent to two miles outside the city, Zhao Ziliang stopped, and Li Siye and other generals and officials of the Governor's Mansion said goodbye one by one, at this time an official brought a glass of warm wine with a tray, and after Lai Yao picked up the wine glass, he squatted on the ground and twisted a little soil with his fingers and put it into the wine glass, and saluted with both hands: "Please drink this cup to the general, I wish the general a safe journey, and don't forget the Broken Leaf City when you arrive in Chang'an or return to your hometown, I hope that the general can return as soon as possible to deter the countries of the Western Regions!" ”

No one spoke, only the cold wind blew the flag hunting, Zhao Ziliang looked at the wine glass, his mood was extremely heavy, as if there was a big stone pressed on his chest, he took the wine glass and drank it all, and then turned over and got on the horse, waved to everyone and shouted: "Don't send it again, all the gentlemen go back!" Maybe in a few months, so-and-so will be back! Come back, go back! ”

Even if they were reluctant, Zhao Ziliang and the others finally left Broken Leaf City and marched eastward, but they arrived at General Pei City in an hour, and General Pei City Captain Huo Kan led his troops to greet him, Zhao Ziliang just explained some things to Huo Kan, and did not stop in General Pei City, but continued to move southeast.

Along the way, it passes through Yezhi City, He Hunting City, Frozen City, and Dunduo City, this section of the road has been specially built, and the road is very wide and smooth, even if the carriage can pass, it is very stable.

Two days later, Zhao Ziliang and his entourage arrived at Dunduo City, preparing to cross the Bodaling on the Tianshan Mountains into the land of Anxi, Bodaling was originally a steep and important place, but when the Tang army controlled the Broken Leaf City, Bodaling was not so important, in order to facilitate access, Zhao Ziliang also asked the administrative officials of Dunduo City to organize herdsmen and soldiers to take a special break on the road, so that Bodaling became less rugged, so that the caravan could pass, and also cooperated with Dashicheng to repair the road between Bodaling and Dashicheng, so that it could be doneThe traffic road from Qiuci Town to Broken Leaf City can be greatly reduced, and there is no need to detour to Shule Town to take Tuoyun Fort to Broken Leaf Town, and you can turn to Dashicheng after arriving at the Swap City, passing through Bodaling, and going west along Dunduo City to Broken Leaf City.

However, it was possible to pass through Bodaling on foot and on horseback, and even caravans carrying large quantities of goods on horses and camels, but horse-drawn carriages were still impassable, mainly because the roads on Bodaling were too steep and at that slope, the carriages were prone to lose control.

When Zhao Ziliang and his entourage arrived in Dunduo City, they abandoned the carriage and switched to horses to transport grain, grass, materials and other luggage.

According to Bi Sichen, he will soon be transferred to Qiuci Town, which will be taken over by Xi Yunqing, and with Fumeng Lingcha going to Qiuci Town as the envoy of the four towns, Cheng Qianli, who was originally guarding and capturing in the Green Ridge, was also promoted to the town guard of Shule Town as his descendant.

Zhao Ziliang and his entourage continued to march northeast after staying in the city for a day, and finally arrived at Qiuzi Town on the nineteenth day of the first lunar month.

Gao Xianzhi, who received the news, took a few servants to the city gate to greet them in person, and the two were very happy to see each other, and they greeted each other for a long time, although the age difference was more than ten years, the two were like peers.

"I only arrived three days earlier than you, General Fumeng was very happy when he heard that you were coming, let me take you to settle down first, and then take you to see him and Lord Gai" Gao Xianzhi said and pulled Zhao Ziliang to the city. Zhao Ziliang had to ask Brehan to arrange for the servants to camp outside the city to rest, and called Bai Xiaode, the deputy chief of the guard, to take a few servants and the black giant Nur to go over together.

After entering the city, Zhao Ziliang found that Qiuzi Town was very lively and prosperous, at least much more prosperous than Shule Town and Broken Leaf City, where there was a large population, people of all colors, and the materials sold on the street were also very rich.

Soon, under the leadership of Gao Xianzhi, Zhao Ziliang and others arrived at the Soldiers and Horses Envoy's Mansion, and met the deputy envoy of the soldiers and horses who had been working here a year ago.

"The last general has seen General Fumeng!" Zhao Ziliang saluted to Fu Meng Lingcha, who was sitting behind the desk.

Fu Meng Lingcha was very happy, and hurriedly got up from behind the case and walked over to help Zhao Ziliang up, and said with a smile: "Ziliang, I heard that you are doing a good job in Broken Leaf City, and you are doing a good job, it seems that your original idea is right, controlling Broken Leaf City, the tribes of Tuqi Shi will not dare to move, I heard that you thwarted the rebellion of the Daxi tribe a few years ago, and also killed their patriarch Murong Changge, and annihilated his 3,000 people, now no one should dare to be disobedient, Lord Gai is very happy after receiving your good news, he also told so, I didn't expect you to bring him such a big surprise before leaving, if he hadn't named you to enter Beijing to see him, he would really be reluctant to let you leave Broken Leaf City! ”

Zhao Ziliang arched his hand and said: "If it weren't for the wisdom and strong support of the general and Lord Gai, this idea proposed by the last general would not have been completed!" It is precisely because of the general and Lord Gai at the helm that we can get to this point today, but this idea has not yet been completed, and we still need a lot of support from the general, Lord Gai and Lord Tian! ”

Fu Meng Lingcha immediately patted Zhao Ziliang on the shoulder and said, "You can rest assured about this, as long as there is a certain person in Anxi for a day, there will be no problem in this matter!" ”

Then the two sides sat down and continued to chat, Fumeng Lingcha was responsible for arranging Gai Jiayun's work report in Beijing this time, the five hundred soldiers and horses escorting the prisoners and escorting Gai Jiayun were ready, plus Zhao Ziliang's more than 100 followers, a total of more than 600 people, so many troops escorted dozens of Tuqi Shi royal families and protected Gai Jiayun to Beijing, as long as they did not encounter a large force of Tubo cavalry when passing through the Hexi Corridor, it should be no problem. (To be continued.) )