(Thank you for your continued support, pause)

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The summer was scorching and dusty, and seven people walked on a potholed official road. They all wore hats made of cattail, carried long and narrow straw tubes, pushed two carts, and the sound of wooden wheels echoed in the wilderness.

The person who walked in the middle raised his hand to top the grass hat, revealing a face full of dust and sweat washed into marks, but it was still difficult to hide his handsome face, which was Zhang Fang.

Although the living conditions are very difficult, in Zhang Fang's opinion, it is not unbearable to go back to the countryside to teach. It's just that the living conditions are almost nothing, but there is a group of outlaws behind them, like maggots attached to the bones, always staring at themselves, and they want to take their lives at any time, but what's the matter?

There has always been only a thousand days to be a thief, how can there be a reason to prevent thieves for a thousand days? I don't even have a good night's sleep, for fear that I will close my eyes and not open my eyes. If it weren't for his strong mental power, he would have been able to replenish his energy in a very short time, and it is estimated that he would have collapsed long ago without the help of others. It's just that dragging it out like this is not a matter after all, and if you don't clean up this gang of outlaws, you will be unlucky in the end.

After three failed assassinations, the gang had become very cautious and had not seen any movement for a long time. Zhang Fang felt that it was time to take the initiative. Before that, he needed to make some preparations, and these preparations could not be completed in Qingxiju.

"I'm going to a nearby city." Zhang Fang said to Father Han early in the morning.

"A nearby city?" Father Han wanted to speak and stopped, and Ai Ai said, "There is a city in the west, only fifty miles away, just ......"

Zhang Fang raised his eyebrows: "What's the inconvenience?" ”

"The name of the city is Sanshui, and it is a subject country of the Xiongnu."

"What? Huns...... Tributary? Zhang Fang blinked, isn't this the realm of the Great Han? How did you get to the Huns.

Under Han's father's explanation, Zhang Fang realized that the setting of this Xiongnu subject state first began in the period of Emperor Wu. At that time, the Hun Hun evil king led 40,000 people to surrender to the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Wu "was outside the five counties of the border of the migrants, and they were all in Henan, because of their customs, they were subject countries." "That is, set up five subject states to deal with them, and place them to rule by the governor, and such a city is called the capital of the subject country. Its nature is similar to that of today's ethnic autonomous regions. In the northwest of the empire, there were many such places, and Sanshui (now Tongxin County, Ningxia) was one of them.

Of course, with Han's father's knowledge, it is impossible to say it so clearly. The above content is roughly deduced by Zhang Fang based on the key parts that Han's father said.

In the time and space where Zhang Fang lived, the Huns were extinct thousands of years ago, and it would be false to say that they were not curious about this famous nation in history. You can not only see the appearance of the Huns, but also do things by the way, killing two birds with one stone, why not?

"Okay, let's go to Sanshui." Zhang Fang was very excited when he said this, and he didn't care about Father Han's bitter gourd face at all.

So, under the escort of the three Han brothers, Qingyan, Shi Niu and other young and strong people, Zhang Fang and his party appeared on the way to the Sanshui country.

Fifty miles is not far, but it is enough to walk, especially when nearly half of the distance is a mountain road. Although Zhang Fang strengthened his exercise during this time, after all, the time was still short, and he was tired enough just for the twenty-mile mountain road of Gyro Mountain. Shi Niu asked him to get on the roller and push it for a ride, but Zhang Fang refused. Although he is a teenager, he has an adult tenacity heart.

Ahead, a figure ran from afar, Qingyan's eyes were sharp, and he shouted happily: "Qu Liang is back." ”

Among this group of people, there are only two people who have been to Sanshui, one is Han Yi and the other is Qu Liang. The rest of the people have never walked out of Qingxi for a radius of thirty miles in their lives. It's Han Yi and Qu Liang, who haven't been to Sanshui for several years. In order to prevent the fork in the road, Zhang Fang asked Qu Liang to set off first, set off an outpost, and the rest of the people followed from afar.

After walking for most of the day under the scorching sun, they came to a half-dry river, Han Yi and Qu Liang both recognized that this was a place called "Qili River", and the reason why it was called Qili River was because this place was exactly seven miles away from Sanshui. So he asked Qu Liang to go to investigate-after all, it was a place where the Huns gathered, and he didn't have any support in his heart, so the rest of the people rested on the spot.

The Han brothers, Shi Niu and others walked to the river to pick up water and wash their faces. Zhang Fang and Qingyan originally wanted to wash their faces, but looking at the turbid river, their brows furrowed, they glanced at each other, and honestly took the wooden tube water they drank from the wheel, poured out a small handful, and slowly wiped their faces.

Han Yi looked at the muddy river, looked up at the blazing sun, and shook his head: "When I went to Juyi to buy grain a few days ago, the grain merchant said that this year is already dry, and the harvest is afraid that it will be difficult to harvest. Now I look at this Qili River like this, I'm afraid it's ...... Alas! ”

At this moment, Qu Liang returned.

"I've seen it, it's okay, you can bring weapons." This is the news that Qu Liang brought back.

Although Zhang Fang's history is not very good, he also knows that a group of people with swords and swords openly appear in the downtown area, whether it is ancient or modern, it is absolutely not allowed, but it is an exception for subject countries. For the Huns, swords, bows and horses were their lives. According to Han Yi and Qu Liang, Sanshui is not forbidden to bring weapons into the city, but that was several years ago, and it must be confirmed in advance for the sake of insurance.

The news that Qu Liang brought back made everyone breathe a sigh of relief, if the weapons could not be brought into the city, it would be troublesome.

"Guess there's going to be someone following us later?" Qing Yan suddenly burst out with a sentence.

Han Zhong scratched his scalp and said, "I've been paying attention to the rear, but I haven't found ......."

Han Jun snorted: "I didn't find it, it's not nothing." ”

Zhang Fang swept his eyes to the miscellaneous woods on both sides of the road, and said lightly: "With such a terrain, it is too easy to follow a group of people without being discovered...... Don't worry if you have a tail or not, let's go, go into town. ”

……

Zhang Fang has been wandering around Gyro Mountain since he came to this time and space, and this is the first time he has come to a place that can be called a "city".

Sanshui, before it was a subject state of the Xiongnu, was a county seat. At present, the administrative level is up, but the scale is still at the county level.

From a distance, the city wall is low, but only three or four meters, and it is made of rammed earth. On the city wall, there are flags of various colors, and under the banner stand a big Han guard wearing a red curtain, wearing a short shirt, covered with short leather armor, wearing poor trousers, tied feet, and holding a long ge. The summer breeze is blowing, the scorching sun is shining, and the black and red faces are dripping with sweat.

Zhang Fang stood in the city and looked up, speechless for a long time. This is the sergeant of the Great Han? No helmets, no armor skirts, no swords, no shields, no military boots...... It's completely different from what I imagined! Well, it seems that the equipment of the county soldiers of the Han Dynasty was the worst, and the Beijing division soldiers and the border guards will probably be different.

When they entered the city, everyone was still a little uneasy in their hearts. In detail, there were seven of them, but they had a sword, three knives, a short blade, and a horned bow, and only Qu Liang was empty-handed. Although the weapons are all stuffed into the straw tube, which is inconspicuous at a glance, a discerning person can guess what it is just by looking at the appearance.

Thankfully, what they feared did not happen. After Qu Liang held ten coins in his hand and Xiao Mimi handed it over to the guards at the city gate, the guards nodded, waved his big hand, and let him go.

As soon as you enter the city, you will be greeted by the unpleasant smell of human beings and livestock. As far as the eye can see, there are rows of straw sheds, and there are those who sell melons and fruits, all kinds of bone utensils, live sheep and dead dogs, and slaves...... Most of the pedestrians on the street are bearded with braided hair, tangled beards, black and red faces, short and stout, wearing half-cut sheepskin jackets, and half-arms bearded. In the small city, the voices of people, the neighing of cows and horses, and the mooing of alpacas, one after another, make people's heads as big as a fight.

Han Jun, Han Chong, and Qingyan, including Shi Niu, had never seen such a prosperous and lively scene in their lives, and they were stunned for a while.

In Zhang Fang's eyes, this county town is inferior to the most backward towns in later generations: the streets are narrow, the houses are low, the reeds are the roofs, and the rammed earth is the walls. Livestock manure is all over the ground, flies, mosquitoes, gadflies are flying around, and all kinds of dirty and messy ...... This is like a county town, it is simply a large livestock trading market.

If it wasn't really important, Zhang Fang would not hesitate to turn around and go back and forth from where. Seeing that the Han brothers and even Qingyan had a sense of eagerness to try and want to join the crowd in their eyes, Zhang Fang immediately pressed his stomach and said loudly: "I have been walking for most of the day, and the little oil and water in the morning has melted early." I don't care where you go, I just go to eat. ”

At this moment, there are only these two words that can pull the Han brothers, Qingyan and Shi Niu and others back from the strong desire to go shopping - eating.

Sure enough, as soon as Zhang Fang spoke, the desire to go shopping in the eyes of the Han brothers, Qingyan, and Shi Niu immediately turned into a frenzy for food.

At that moment, Qu Liang took the lead, and the group walked through the crowd and headed towards the east of the city.

In such a small county, there are few food shops, only one in the east and one in the west of the city. From the appearance, in addition to picking out a white flag in front of the door, with the words "wine and meat shop" written on it, indicating that it is a food shop, I really can't see that this large courtyard covering an area of three or four acres is actually a food shop.

When Zhang Fang and his entourage entered the restaurant, it was already past the meal, and there were not many people in the store. As far as the eye can see, the restaurant is very spacious, at least 300 square meters, divided into two floors, but it lacks windows, which makes it look quite gloomy. The store is divided into four rows, with a total of more than 40 desks, and the seats are placed at the back of the case. In the northeast corner of the store, there is a row of large vats half a person high, with their hands together. According to Qu Liang, it is a wine bottle, which contains all kinds of wine, and if you want to drink it, you can take a scoop and drink it yourself.

Zhang Fang and the seven people each looked for a few cases to sit down - the Han Dynasty was still a "food sharing system" at this time, that is, one table per person, instead of a common banquet around one table in later generations.

The shopkeeper (i.e., the shopkeeper) stepped forward and asked diligently what to eat, and everyone looked at him.

The maid was quite eye-catching, and immediately knew who the owner of the payment was, and immediately nodded and came to Zhang Fang. At this time, Zhang Fang just took off the hat, and when the maid saw it, his eyes straightened - when did such a handsome figure appear in this contemptible city?

Those who can be a gutender in this mixed place are all shrewd people. Although I saw Zhang Fang wearing a cloth dress, he had an extraordinary appearance, and he could tell at a glance that he was not an idle person. I didn't dare to say much at the moment, I just asked about food.

Zhang Fang asked with interest what kind of food they had eaten, and the maid pointed her fingers and counted them one by one, such as soup cakes, hu cakes, bait cakes, wheat porridge, sweet bean porridge, sheep, horses, dog meat soup, dried meat, wolf sauce and so on. Alcoholic beverages include millet sake, sake, rice sake, mare's milk sake, moromi grains, and so on.

After a detailed inquiry, Zhang Fang ordered a bowl of soup cakes, a bowl of sweet bean porridge, a kui (a flat-bottomed jar that is mainly used for soup dishes) dog meat soup, and a pot of mash. The Han brothers also came with a big bowl of soup cakes, with more pieces of preserved meat and wolf sauce. Qingyan only needs a bowl of soup cakes, a bowl of sweet bean porridge and half a catty of dried meat.

The "soup cake" that Zhang Fang and others ordered is actually a kind of "slice soup", which is to tear the dough into the soup pot, similar to knife-cut noodles, which can also be said to be the prototype of noodles. Mash is a low-alcohol rice wine with a slightly sweet taste, similar to the sweet wine of later generations. For the dried meat that everyone likes, Zhang Fang is grateful for not being sensitive. This dried meat is a pickled product with a slight smell, the Han father and son had bought it in large quantities before, and Zhang Fang also ate a lot, but he couldn't stand the smell, but it was much better than eating multigrain wild vegetables, so he had to swallow it. Now that there are so many options, you won't touch this smoked meat even if you kill it.

Zhang Fang and Qingxi gathered everyone, for the first time in their lives, they could let go of their bellies and eat and drink, and after the seven of them raised their bowls to each other, they immediately buried their heads in munching. In the empty food shop, the sound of smacking lips and banging bowls echoed with the sound of sucking noodles and swallowing. Except for Zhang Fang and Qingyan, whose eating and behavior were still restrained, the rest of the people ate ugly, which made the shopkeeper and the maid pout.

Just as he was eating, he heard a burst of noise, and more than ten people poured into the store.

Zhang Fang's eyes flashed, but he saw that the people who came were all Hu people with braided hair, deep-eyed tendrils, leather jackets on the left side, and short knives at their waists - to be precise, Huns.