On the day Du Shiyi set off, just like when he came, it was quiet, and there was no stirring up the crowd at all. Zhang said that a private banquet was set up for him to practice in the official residence in the back one day earlier, and Wang Han also pulled him to drink in the evening, although the former promised to write a book to express his merits, while the latter said that he would consider whether to enter Beijing to seek an official and a half-job, only from the inner bias, even if Zhang said that he was likely to soar after the rì, even if Wang Han had a family of thousands of wealth, it may not be smooth after becoming a prince, Du Shiyi was still more fortunate to meet Wang Han such a heroic madman on this trip, rather than the prime minister Zhang said in the future.

Because Yunzhou was broken by the Mosi Khan, the state is still there, but the people are all migrated to Shuozhou, so since they want to take this official road, Zhang said that he had to allocate ten more guards to Du Shiyi. Half of these ten people were the same people who had accompanied him to the Hengye Army in Ulju to pacify the Tongluo tribe, and now they were following him north, and although the road was a little difficult, they were all elated. As for the other five people, although they felt that Du Shiyi had left the easy road to take and had to take a detour to this remote and dangerous road, there was no room for them to question it, so they could only mumble in their hearts.

As for Yue Wuniang and Luo Ying, they didn't pay attention to Du Shiyi's proposal to let the two of them take the shortcut of Huanzhou, and they still followed along. This time, there was no need to rush at night, and it took everyone six or seven rì to arrive at the foot of Yunzhou City, which was already a ruin and broken wall. Since entering Yunzhou, it has truly interpreted what it means to be vast and sparsely populated, and the group occasionally encountered only the Tiele people who crossed the border to graze, and rarely encountered any trace of the Han people. Because of this, when Du Shiyi thought that the city of Yunzhou must be empty and depressed, but he found that there seemed to be people in the city, and after entering the city, he couldn't help but be surprised when he saw the land that had been reclaimed one by one, which was clearly used to grow crops, but a few guards were not surprised.

Yue Wuniang also looked at it curiously for a while, and then smiled thoughtfully: "Although Yunzhou City was breached at the beginning, the soil and stones here are ready-made, and there are wells, and there is no one here to levy rents and tune mediocrity, although there may be the danger of war, but no one cares about a deserted city, isn't it a good place to live and work in peace and contentment?" ”

That's why I said that it is better to read 10,000 books than to travel 10,000 miles

Seeing that it was getting late, Du Shiyi, who originally thought that he was going to sleep in the open, found a family in the city to stay. Hearing that more than a dozen people in his group were merchants who went to the Raole Du Governor's Mansion to do business, not from the government, the head of the household, Lao Han, was immediately relieved, and after receiving the reward, he arranged a rather sumptuous dinner.

At dinner, a bowl of home-brewed rice wine was served, and the old man and his two sons gradually talked more. It turned out that they were not from Yunzhou at all, but had moved from Guanzhong thousands of miles away from military service, and had settled in Yunzhou for seven or eight years now. Not only has more than a dozen acres of land been cultivated in the city, self-sufficiency is not a problem, but also can be quietly sent to Shuozhou to exchange for various necessities, although the rì son is not prosperous, but he is free, the only regret is that it is difficult to find a woman here, so from the widowed old man to the two sons of the right marriage age, all have to be single.

"Didn't my husband think about saving money and going back to his hometown for the elderly?"

"Save up? Hehe, Lang Jun really thinks highly of me. Guanzhong belongs to many powerful and large households, and the land that has been opened up with great difficulty, and if it is not good, it will be favored by others, the rent is heavy, and the military service is heavier, rather than dying, it is better to seek a leisurely place here. The drunken old man looked at the two sons who nodded again and again, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face, "Don't talk about us, among the hundreds of families in the city, which one of them didn't live here because of this?" The nearby Tiele people are certainly fierce, but as long as they are polite and send food every month, they don't come to sāo to disturb, which is much better than our hometown. ”

This kind of answer made Du Shiyi's heart heavy, but since he called himself a businessman, it was impossible for him to visit the past one by one, so he could only let Chibi take a few servants to go around the city early in the morning, although he did not visit carefully, what he saw and heard was much the same. When he started his journey again, he couldn't help but sigh deeply when he thought that it was still a peaceful and prosperous age.

Along the Yunzhou Road to the northwest, the population became more sparse for a while, but the winding Great Wall was almost always in sight. Du Shiyi thought it was the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty, but several guards in the same company were very familiar with it, and one of them even explained: "This was built by the Northern Qi Dynasty back then, because there were strong enemies in the north of the Northern Qi Dynasty at that time, and there were Northern Zhou Dynasty tigers eyeing each other, so it took several years of hard work to build the Great Wall one after another." Although more than 100 years have passed in the blink of an eye, the Great Wall was built quite firmly at that time, and the Qing Sai Army and the Tiancheng Army were set up adjacent to the Great Wall of the Northern Qi Dynasty. ”

As the guard said, although the Qing Sai Army and the Tiancheng Army were a little surprised and caught off guard by the arrival of Du Shiyi's party, and their attitude was not so enthusiastic, when it came to this Great Wall of Northern Qi, the generals of the upper and lower armies were full of praise, after all, compared to the construction of the city of Pingchuan, there was no danger to defend, and this Great Wall of Northern Qi gave them an extra natural shelter, and they would not be easily attacked by soldiers in the city without preparation. And when the Tiancheng military envoy heard that Du Shiyi was going to leave the territory of Yanzhou next, he couldn't help frowning, and hesitated to the day when Zuihou saw him off, he finally cautiously made a suggestion.

"Xi and Khitan have been fighting from time to time recently, although Yanzhou is the land of our country, but occasionally Xi people commit crimes, Du Langjun please be more careful along the way."

Because Yanzhou is located on the border, it is also vast and sparsely populated, and there are no people for dozens of miles at first. In the evening, everyone stayed at the foot of a section of the Great Wall. Unlike the previous ones, this section is obviously a different rest, and it looks like the rammed earth is tight, which is very different from the Great Wall that has been blown by the wind and rain. Although it has now entered the territory of Hebei, there are also people among the guards who know about this section of the new Great Wall, and a sentence that Zhang Yuanjun made when he was the governor of Youzhou made Du Shiyi quite surprised. However, what surprised him even more was that it was still in the middle of the night.

He woke up in a daze, and thought that the sky was already bright, but when he found that it was still dark all around, but the sound of horses' hooves and the sound of wheels was getting closer and closer, he sat up without sleep. At this time, Chibi put on his robe, and then said in a low voice: "There should not be many people, about forty or fifty, and there are carriages, so they should not be villains." But in the middle of the night, who would still be on the road? ”

While talking, the group of people who were hurrying seemed to have seen the bonfire here, and there were repeated questions for a while. Among them, there are not only Du Shiyi's unfamiliar foreign languages, but also his familiar Guanzhong dialect, not long after, someone came forward to ask, but he spoke fluent Chinese: "My master dares to ask all the guests, where is this going."

Chibi glanced at Du Shiyi, got out of the small tent, and replied in a deep voice: "We are merchants going to Youzhou. ”

"Heading to Youzhou? Why don't you go to Hengzhou or Ulzhou, but go from Yanzhou? ”

Chibi's brows furrowed at this unceremonious tone, however, there were many people on the other side, and there were obviously Turkic-speaking foreigners in the middle, so he had to be cautious: "Because I was carrying some goods to be delivered to the Qing Sai army and the Tiancheng army on the road, I went there and went around." But you are in a hurry at night, it is very rare, I don't know where to go? ”

"Then I won't bother you to ask." The visitor replied indifferently, turned around and was about to leave, but only heard a pleasant voice from the side of the carriage, he hurriedly left Chibi and walked quickly, and only after the car manager listened carefully to the master's instructions, did he turn around, but said in the same unquestionable cold tone, "Who is your man in charge, my master wants to see him." ”

Chibi stared intently at the carriage surrounded by people, and his heart was even more suspicious. He was thinking about whether to find a reason to push, or to let anyone pretend to be a steward step forward to test it, when he heard Du Shiyi's voice behind him: "I am the one in charge, what do you want the master to tell me?" ”

"You come forward and speak"

Although there were many people on the other side and the person who asked the question was arrogant, Du Shiyi still stepped forward according to his words. When he got to the carriage, he found that the horses were tall and powerful, and the carriages were made of paulownia wood, and even if there was no ornamentation to identify them, they were still sturdy and sturdy. And as a glass lamp was picked up in front of the car, a woman's voice came from inside, and he raised his eyebrows slightly.

"This Lang Jun is so young, he can be in charge of a caravan, and he really has the ambition not to be old."

Just judging from the voice, Du Shiyi judged that the woman in the car should not be very old, and this somewhat condescending tone clearly revealed that her identity was quite extraordinary. Moreover, this fluent Chinese is very different from the Kunnar he has seen, and there is no doubt that he is a Tang person. At this moment, he took a light breath, and then said unhurriedly: "Thank you for the compliment, I am a fledgling, and I am all old people in the family, and I am also used to walking the road I used to take." ”

"That's already remarkable." The woman in the car paused for a moment, then opened her mouth and ordered, "I have been walking for a long time day and night, and now that I have entered the territory of Yanzhou, I don't need to be so panicked, I will rest for the time being, and I will leave again in the morning." Borrowing Lang Jun's camp, Lang Jun won't mind, right? ”

Those guards are all experienced people, and the servants such as Chibi have also been away for many years, and they are quite good at choosing a place to camp, and this flat leeward and slightly higher terrain is indeed far better than other places. Although it was impossible to determine the identity of the other party, since the woman in the car asked, Du Shiyi knew that this was not so much a discussion as a notice, so she immediately agreed happily. When he returned to his tent after saluting, and saw that the entourage of the other party had packed up the camp in an orderly manner, he could not help but call one of the guards led by him.

"What can you see?"

"Du Langjun, about half of these people are Tang, and half of them should speak Khitan, that is, Xi. It looks like a Khitan or a Xi person, which is a little weird. All in all, let's be careful. ”

Thinking of the woman's fluent Chinese with a Guanzhong accent, Du Shiyi nodded and motioned for the guard to deploy defense, and couldn't help but be extremely suspicious in her heart.