The next day, Yang Hao was promoted to the account.

He found that the government affairs of Hengsai Town were not as chaotic as he had imagined, thanks to a man named Han Sui, who was thirty-six or seventeen years old, tall, with a thin and dark face, and a stoic and sharp look in his eyes. Han Sui now lives as a staff officer of the city patrol battalion. The staff officer was originally the attaché of the commander, who was in charge of the military staff and handled the correspondence, and had no real power. It was only because Qin Zhong was addicted to pleasure and didn't care about the military and political affairs in the town that the real power fell into the hands of this seemingly ambitious person.

The patrol camp has a total of 208 people, commanded by the commander or deputy envoy, and consists of three infantry troops and a cavalry team, each infantry army has 40 people, and there is a team leader and a team deputy, and a cavalry team of 60 people, with a team leader and two team deputies, in addition to 20 miscellaneous troops, who are responsible for guarding the city gate and the camp, and are directly commanded by the commander.

It can be seen that all the team members and team vice-presidents are very in awe of Han Sui. Yang Hao remained silent and earnestly inquired about the situation in the town, and soon he had a general understanding of Hengsai Town: in addition to the two hundred and eight garrisons in the town, there were also 370 households of ordinary people, most of these people were landless and displaced people in Guannei and Hedong, who cultivated land in the northwest of the town, planted grain and vegetables, and also grazed cattle and sheep, but the main livelihood was to make iron and wood tools and trade with the Uighurs, in exchange for cattle and horses, furs and dried meat, and then these things were transferred to the interior through Yongfeng in exchange for grain, salt and daily necessities. The transaction has to go through several hands, and after layers of exploitation, the displaced people have made little profit, just enough to make ends meet.

The non-commissioned officers of the patrol battalion were recruited from the ranks of the displaced people, and some of the officers were recruited and some were promoted from among the non-commissioned officers, and most of them brought their families. Three of them had served in the Inland Army, but had fled because of defeat or violation of military discipline, and then went into exile.

After questioning, Yang Hao inspected the team of 200 people accompanied by everyone. The sergeants were all in good spirits, and the cavalry's war horses were all well-bred Hexi horses, which were fat and strong. However, the clothes and armor on the soldiers were all worn, and the weapons used were also varied, except for the spears of each person who were uniformly configured by the army, the knives and bows were purchased at their own expense.

Yang Hao curiously took a soldier's scimitar, it was quite heavy to start, and it was very well-made, and he used the knife to chop the wooden stake, which broke in response, but it was also very sharp.

Han Sui explained that the enemies of the patrol camp were mainly Uighurs, who had no strong armor, and that it was more advantageous to use this scimitar, which was suitable for immediate chopping, than a straight-edged horizontal sword. Of course, if you are fighting against the ghost soldiers of those ghost towns on the other side of the river, the scimitar is far less convenient than the horizontal knife.

Yang Hao was about to ask Han Sui what the "ghost town" was, but the cook came over to report that the wine and food had been prepared, and asked when the meal would start. When everyone heard this, their hearts were overjoyed. Yang Hao said to the team and the team vice-presidents: "Today I am the east, please have a light meal." The crowd was overjoyed.

Han Sui hurriedly called over a team deputy and said, "Go and tell the stove: add vegetables tonight and eat stew, just say that Lord Changshi invited the brothers to make a tooth sacrifice." The team went in a hurry. Yang Hao was overjoyed when he heard this: he had just arrived, and he didn't want Han Sui to misunderstand that he was in a hurry to win over people's hearts and seize his authority. Therefore, only a few team members were invited but did not ask the soldiers below, Han Sui took the initiative to propose it himself, and gave all the rewards to himself, which was undoubtedly a friendly performance.

Qing'er is used to making small stoves, and suddenly asks her to prepare meals for more than a dozen people, which is inevitably a little at a loss, and because of the limited conditions, the ingredients here are also extremely limited, all of which are large pieces of mutton, beef and sheep. Qing'er tried her best to cut down those big bones and meats, so she had to ask the two cooks who went back to the camp to help.

It took a lot of effort for the three of them to make the meal ready.

The dinner was a joyous one. Yang Hao sent the drunken team leaders and team deputies out of the door, and said to Han Sui, who was walking at the back: "I want to go out of town tomorrow morning to go around, can Brother Han be interested in going together?" Han Sui was a little flattered when he heard this, and hurriedly replied: "I must accompany Master Changshi to take a good look at our outside style." ”

After sending off the guests, Yang Hao hurriedly came to find Qing'er, and during the dinner, the team asked Yang Hao to invite Qing'er out, Yang Hao asked the cook to call someone, and it was easy for Qing'er to show up, and for the first time a smile appeared on her face. Qing'er only drank a glass of wine with everyone and withdrew, but Yang Hao already felt that he had enough face to lose.

In the end, Yang Hao found Qing'er on the pile of firewood and grass between the stoves, Qing'er leaned on the firewood and grass, her face was a little tired, and she was alone in a daze with her cheeks. The firewood in the stove had not yet been extinguished, and the red light reflected Qing'er's blushing face. Yang Hao was surprised to find that Qing'er, whose face was ruddy, was indescribably delicate. When Qing'er saw Yang Hao coming, she hurriedly stood up and asked, "Are you going to eat?" Yang Hao saw her wearing an apron with her sleeves rolled up, and she looked greasy, she felt pity, held her shoulders and smiled: "People have already left." ”

Qing'er breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly brushed Yang Hao's hand away.

"Madame is tired tonight." The cook, who was washing the dishes and chopsticks on the stove, said, "My lord, it's not an old woman, oh too much, Madame's body is not well, you really shouldn't let her do such heavy work." ”

Yang Hao knew what this "unhappy" meant, and suddenly felt guilty in his heart, and hurriedly helped Qing'er untie her apron and send her back to the room. The cook had already heated the kang and brought hot water, then closed the door and withdrew. Yang Hao was a little embarrassed, going out at this moment, wouldn't it be equivalent to telling the cook outside the door that he and Qing'er were a fake couple? It won't be long before gossip spreads throughout the town, and how will she be in the future? ……

Yang Hao was a little overwhelmed.

Qing'er saw his embarrassment, smiled slightly, pointed to the corner of the wall and said, "You are standing there...... Faced with the wall, I thought. This is the second time Yang Hao has seen Qing'er smile, this is a heartfelt smile, which is completely different from the previous squeeze out against his will.

Yang Hao really stood in the corner of the wall in a proper manner, standing straight.

Qing'er pursed her lips and smiled, quickly took off her clothes and got into the quilt: "You turn around." ”

Yang Hao was a little at a loss, and it took a long time for him to muster up the courage to sit on the edge of the bed, wanting to say a few words to Qing'er, but he couldn't find the right words for a while.

There was a knock on the door, and the cook brought a bowl of hot jujube brown sugar soup.

Yang Hao said: "I have to bother my mother to come and take care of her these days." The cook smiled and said, "It's long overdue, you rich and noble people, how do you know the hardships outside the plug." Yang Hao served Qing'er and drank the red date soup, holding the bowl and staring at her blankly. Qing'er was a little embarrassed by her, so she pulled the quilt corner and covered her head, and after a while she lifted the quilt corner and said, "You sleep over there, take off your clothes outside, be careful not to catch a cold." After saying that, he covered his head and fell asleep on his side.

Yang Hao blew out the lights, fumbled and took off his leather coat, got into the quilt and slept with Qing'er's feet. When he slept until midnight, Yang Hao hugged Qing'er's feet in his arms.

……

Early on the morning of the second day, the sun was shining, and the cold wind that had been blowing for several days had stopped.

When Yang Hao came to the city patrol camp, the two teams of infantry soldiers who had gone out to patrol had just returned, and the third team of soldiers had also lined up and were preparing to leave the city. According to the rules, only one group of infantry sergeants patrolled around the town during the day, and half of the horse army stayed in the camp, and the other half went out of the city to patrol the guards, and the guard was changed in the afternoon. Because it was not yet time to eat, the two teams of soldiers who had returned stayed in the small school field inside the camp gate to practice.

Han Sui hung a horizontal knife at his waist, strode over with a bow and arrow on his back, and he was followed by four healthy soldiers, all with bows and guns on their backs. Han Sui saw that Yang Hao was looking at the drill very seriously, so he asked, "My lord has stayed in the forbidden army, it's a bit embarrassing to see this." ”

"The discipline used here is exactly the same as that of the forbidden army in the palace. It seems that the border army should not be like this. ”

"The border troops of the forbidden army are all Tang Dynasty soldiers, and their clothes, armor, food and salaries are different, do you even have to make the drill code into two things?" Han Sui seemed to have a feeling, and seemed to be robbing Bai Yanghao. Yang Hao was a little embarrassed, and hurriedly changed the topic: "Bring all the hunting dogs and falcons sent by Lord Qin, and hunt some prey to reward the brothers." Han Sui smiled and said: "I have this intention, Lord Changshi doesn't say it, I will ask you for a loan when I turn back." The two laughed and resolved the embarrassment just now.

Hundreds of miles outside Hengsai Town are tidal flats, grasslands, woods, and hills, and when the horses gallop, there is an indescribable pride and ambition in their hearts. The six of them rode all high-quality Hexi horses, which were tall, could bear weights, had good endurance and explosiveness, and more difficult were to withstand hunger and thirst.

Yang Hao was hunting while checking the terrain along the way. At noon, the crowd settled down at the foot of a dirt mountain. The attendants collected firewood and lit a fire to boil meat, Yang Hao and Han Sui walked up to the top of Tushan Mountain, looking north, a barren grass, and a blue river at the end of the sky. Yang Hao exclaimed: "Isn't this the Yellow River?" Han Sui said: "My lord has good eyesight, this is the Yellow River, and further north is not the territory of the Tang Dynasty." Thinking back then, within 10,000 miles to the north were my Tang rivers and mountains. ”

Yang Hao sighed and suddenly asked: "I heard you say that there is a 'ghost town' in Hebei yesterday, where is this 'ghost town'?" Han Sui was slightly shocked when he heard this, and as soon as he said it, he actually remembered it, so he pointed to the north and said: "Within thousands of miles to the north, there are hundreds of abandoned military villages, which are left by the predecessors who opened up the frontier. The country declined, the frontiers were lost, and these towns and military villages that had taken countless people's efforts to build were abandoned. Later, the defeated and convicted exiles occupied these places, and they recruited displaced people to cultivate the land, graze cattle and horses, dozens of people, hundreds of people, each of them set themselves up as kings, and did not submit to the rule of the imperial court. These people did not have a household registration, they belonged to neither the Tang Dynasty nor the Uighurs, we all called them 'devils', and the towns and villages where they lived naturally became 'ghost towns'. ”

Yang Hao said: "Why didn't the Tiande Army gather them to serve the imperial court? Han Sui said: "The Tiande Army is now only concerned with internal strife, where can it care about expanding its territory?" Yang Hao felt that it was not appropriate to discuss the rights and wrongs of Shangguan in private, so he smiled and did not answer.

Although the terrain of the mountain is not high, it is surrounded by empty and boundless flat land, coupled with the blue sky and barren grass. Yang Hao couldn't help but sigh and said: "It's really hateful that such mountains and rivers fall into the hands of a group of incompetent eunuchs!" Han Sui looked at the words for a long time, and suddenly asked: "Lord Changshi also thinks that the eunuch dictatorship is hateful?" ”

Yang Hao was shocked in his heart, secretly regretted it, and hurriedly said: "I just feel it, don't go to your heart." Han Sui laughed and said: "The eunuch party is dictatorial, the dynasty is sluggish, and the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty will never return." Who doesn't sigh at anyone who is a little bloody? Han Sui is not the kind of traitorous villain who started by denouncing Zhongliang. ”

Yang Hao secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and appreciated Han Sui's upright character a little more, so he said: "You misunderstood, I have no doubt about your meaning." Alas, it's just that the general trend is like this, what can you and I do about it. At this time, the attendant had already cooked the meat and called the two to go down the mountain to eat.

Yang Hao glanced at the Yellow River flowing quietly in the distance again, sighed, and silently went down the mountain.