Autumn in the north is earlier than in Luoyang and other Central Plains, the grass and trees between heaven and earth are withered and yellow, and everything is decaying, a scene of slaughter, which makes people can't help but have a sense of awe of nature. A traveler wrapped tightly in his clothes, leading his horse, bent over, walked alone on the howling road.

"Rush!" "Thorn! "Loose! "Hold! "Wave! "Dump! "Smash! ”…… One after another, along with the trampling of horses' hooves and the roars of soldiers, came out of the huge soldier training camp and reached the ears of travelers in the distance. The lonely traveler couldn't help but be happy when he heard the voice, and secretly said that he didn't have to sleep in the open anymore. Following the sound, the traveler soon came across a brand new village.

"Guest officer, are you sharp? Or a hotel? Xiao Er diligently beckoned the travelers who walked into the inn.

"Stay in the hotel." The traveler untied the face scarf wrapped around his face and continued, "Ask you something, is there a military camp nearby?" How far is the nearest city from here? ”

Xiao Er replied with a smile on his face: "There is a city called Pingcheng twenty or thirty miles east from here, if it is late today, it is best for Mr. to spend the night here, and then go again tomorrow, and you can arrive in one or two hours; As for this place, it was originally built according to the barracks, and the barracks were within the wall on the opposite side, and if Mr. wanted to join the army, he could see the gate of the barracks two or three miles away. ”

As Xiao Er said: After a whole summer of construction, the facilities and overall scale of the training camp have roughly taken shape. The whole camp was several times larger than it was at the beginning, and the planning was quite reasonable: a wall about one person high was erected on the perimeter of the camp, the different training grounds in the camp were separated by a one-person high fence, and the soldiers' living quarters were either wooden or adobe houses, all next to the training grounds......

At the same time, due to the large amount of foot traffic in the barracks, some businesses saw business opportunities in between. In the blink of an eye, inns and eateries were erected outside the training camp, and then some residents from the vicinity of Heijo moved here, and in just one summer, a small village was formed here.

The autumn wind is sassy and the flowers are broken, and the military spirit is coercive. It is a good season for military training, and the generals and soldiers work together. The next morning, before the sun had risen, one slogan after another woke the traveler from his sleep. Obviously, the slogans must have come from the barracks.

In the past summer, Zhao Jie led the entire training team, accompanied all the soldiers to get up early and go to bed late, polished their strength, learned the art of war, and practiced their skills. Today's Zhao Jie has faded away from his former youth and naivety, and his clothing, food, housing and transportation have his own momentum as a superior.

"Zhao Gongzi sent an urgent letter overnight!" Zhao Yin hurriedly found Zhao Jie and handed him an unopened letter.

Zhao Jie unfolded the letter paper and hurriedly skimmed through it, suddenly feeling dizzy. "There is a problem in the field, and the Huns are afraid that they will be unstable!" Zhao Jie gritted his teeth and said: "Yan Ju, there is not enough success, and there are more failures!" ”

Zhao Yin took the letter and newspaper handed by Zhao Jie, and quickly browsed it, and in an instant, his face changed from shock to fear, from fear to worry. "What should I do?" Zhao Yin asked eagerly.

Zhao Jie pondered for a moment, and then replied, "You stay here for the time being and continue to help me train the army, and I will personally go to the field to see if there is any turnaround." ”

"The feeling of losing control makes people feel really uncomfortable!" Zhao Jie whispered a foul slap.

At noon, Zhao Jie arrived at the field with five guards, and after a meal, Zhao Jie roughly understood the ins and outs of the matter from Zhao Ying's mouth.

It is said that since Yan Ju served as the guard of Yanmen County, a large number of merchants from Handan arrived in Yanmen County one after another, and they exchanged cloth, grain, bronze and other exquisite Central Plains goods for a large number of horses, cattle and sheep and leather products. For a time, the cars and horses on both sides of the border were galloping, so it was not lively.

Initially, the two parties were able to trade according to the rules of the market, and the children were not deceived and paid their taxes on time. However, as time went on, the scale of trade continued to expand, and the limited trading space in the field could no longer satisfy the desires of these merchants with deep backgrounds from Handan. Under their instigation, Yan Ju privately opened several new places on the border, although they nominally copied the system founded by Zhao Ying and Zhao Jie, but in fact, the rules and regulations that Pingcheng Rong places relied on had long been thrown out of the sky.

In order to snatch food from the tiger's mouth in the Pingcheng Field, and at the same time to open up the consumer market on the grassland, the merchants initially had to implement a strategy of small profits and quick turnover, which in turn matched the expectations of the aristocratic buyers on the grassland. The two sides hit it off, and the frequent traffic exchanges, it didn't take long for it to greatly compress the living space of Pingcheng Rongchang and gain a huge market share.

However, the good times were short-lived. Soon after, the merchants who had achieved partial monopoly began to increase prices and reduce quality in order to greatly increase their profit margins. This undoubtedly aroused the disgust of the buyers in power on the grassland, and the contradictions between the two hairs gradually increased. Contradictions often turn into hostility and seriously hinder the progress of trade, so from ancient times to the present, merchants tend to "take their friends" in order to keep the water flowing. However, these businessmen from Handan seem to have forgotten this business principle. Relying on their strong background, they do not look at the buyers with whom they trade, and their recklessness further develops hostility into hatred.

Just a few days ago, the fuse that ignited the bomb of hatred appeared. Yan Ju's son traded ten carts of grain with the son of the leader of the Xiongnu Department in Rongchang, and the son of the leader returned to the tribe and found that the ten carts of grain were mixed with dozens of large stones, which was obviously a serious fraud. The son of the angry leader found the son of Yan Ju to reason with him and asked him to explain and deal with it. However, the son of Yan Ju served his father's power, refused to admit it, and cut down the leader's beloved son without saying a word, so the undercurrent of war preparation surged on the grassland, and the atmosphere on the border suddenly changed, and the war seemed to be about to break out.

After Zhao Ying, who was in Pingcheng Rongchang, heard the news from the mouth of the tribal leader who was friendly with him, he felt the danger of the situation and did not dare to be self-conscious, so he quickly wrote a letter to Zhao Jie, asking him to come and preside over the overall situation.

"Brother, what do you think we should do?" Zhao Ying asked eagerly.

"Let's write this news as an urgent report and send it to Yan Juyan County Guard!" Zhao Jie sighed and said, "I hope he can pay attention to this news and prepare in advance to reduce the casualties of the soldiers and civilians of our Zhao State." ”