After the total annihilation of the five thousand Xue Yantuo army at the Yinshan Pass, Yang Yuanqing and Qi Lie broke up in Yin, and nearly half a month has passed, and it is late January at this time, and the grassland is no longer as cold as some time ago, there is already a trace of spring in the air, the ice and snow have not yet melted, but the snow covered on the grassland has gradually thinned.

In half a month, the Yellow River will thaw, which means that a big war is coming.

The city of Dali is still a lively scene, the construction of the inner city is gradually entering the final period, tens of thousands of craftsmen recruited from Yan, Yuan, Qing, Ling and other states are busy building the city, the soldiers and civilians of the city are also on the battlefield together, contributing to build the city wall, transporting sand, moving wood, mining stone from afar, the inner city is extremely busy.

At the gate of the city, a group of grain trucks composed of hundreds of flatbed trucks was slowly entering the city, the cars were full of grain, Yang Yuanqing happened to be patrolling at the city gate, and he hurriedly ordered the soldiers to give way.

"General Yang!"

The grain officer flew forward to give Yang Yuanqing a salute, "See General Yang for your humble position!" ”

The grain officer is Fengzhou Cangcao Shen Military, called Zhao Ziwu, in charge of Fengzhou military rations, nicknamed the God of Grain, has served in Fengzhou for four or five years, and is very familiar with Yang Yuanqing.

Yang Yuanqing returned the salute and smiled: "Zhao Liangshen, how much grain did you send to Dali City this time?" ”

"The fish manager said that Dali City was going to prepare for war, and ordered me to send a year's grain, 100,000 stone of grain, I don't know how many times I have run, my legs are thin, General Yang has to compensate me well!" Zhao Ziwu pretended to complain.

Yang Yuanqing smiled, "I captured a large group of war horses from Xue Yantuo, I will send you twenty horses, you can pick them yourself, and the BMW is yours." ”

Zhao Liangshen was overjoyed, and he didn't care about talking to Yang Yuanqing, he turned the horse's head and ran to pick the horse, Yang Yuanqing quickly gave a brigade commander next to him a look, and the brigade commander immediately turned around and chased after him, a total of 2,500 war horses were captured from Xue Yantuo, and Yang Yuanqing had already selected hundreds of high-grade horses from them in advance, which he left for himself to use to form his own personal army, but don't really be picked up by Zhao Liangshen. ~

At this time, there was a shout from behind, and a large group of flatbed trucks carrying goods came over, and the carriages carrying timber were about to enter the city, and the carriages were filled with huge timbers, which were used to build trebuchets.

When the man carrying the wood saw that the grain cart in front of him was stagnant, he shouted in the back.

Yang Yuanqing hurriedly drove the grain cart quickly, he rode a horse to inspect the progress of the construction of the city, the construction of the inner city is his most important matter, and it must be completed before the arrival of February.

He immediately looked at the suspension bridge that was slowly falling overhead, and the suspension bridge between the inner and outer castles had been repaired and was being tried and tested again, and as soon as the suspension bridge was completed, the entire inner city wall would be almost completed.

His gaze turned to the city walls, and the inner city was busy like an ant colony of craftsmen, most of whom were young and muscular, numbering tens of thousands.

A group of stonemasons walked past him, talking and laughing, the bronzed tendons and flesh of the stonemasons shimmering in the sun, and a thought surged in Yang Yuanqing's heart.

"General, I just got the news that the soldiers and civilians of Jiuyuan City will be able to arrive in the afternoon." Yang Sien urged to report immediately.

Although Jiuyuan City is also a stone city, tall and strong, but there are not many troops there, and the city is basically inhabited by military households, if Xue Yantuo is really more than 100,000 troops to attack, Jiuyuan City can not resist, Yang Yuanqing ordered the 1,000 garrisons of Jiuyuan City and all military households to move to Dali City.

He has always been very worried about the current situation of the soldiers and civilians in Jiuyuan City, the army supports the old and the young, the marching speed is extremely slow, and he can only walk twenty or thirty miles a day, if he is attacked by Xue Yantuo's army halfway, the consequences will be serious, and now Yang Sien told him that he could arrive in the afternoon, Yang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief.

He pointed to the nearly 10,000 craftsmen at the head of the city, and a sly smile appeared in his eyes, "Sien, what do you think of when you see these strong laborers?" ”

Yang Sien suddenly understood what Yang Yuanqing meant, and laughed along, "Okay, I'll let them stay for another month, just to find something for them to do, otherwise they will run away." ~”

Yang Yuanqing nodded and smiled: "I give them double the salary, let them dig the rock wall, and then delay their wages for building the city, they will not leave, and I have to train them every day, give them armor and weapons, I am worried that no one will pull the trebuchet, these craftsmen are ready-made, how can they not make good use of it?" ”

"Weapons and armor may be insufficient."

"Train first, and I'll ask the commander for the armor."

While the two were talking, a city gate soldier rushed over, "Report to the general, Yu Shuai is here, and he is accompanied by a high-ranking official in the capital." ”

Yang Yuanqing laughed, "I was about to knock him on the bamboo pole, he came, Sien, the matter of training craftsmen will be left to you, let Liu Jian and Fat Yu assist you." ”

"General rest assured, I have a way to make these craftsmen obedient."

Outside the city gate, Yu Ju Luo is accompanying Pei Ju to inspect the Dali City Wall, Ji Ju day and night, just arrived in Fengzhou, and came to Dali City with Yu Ju Luo, more than a dozen non-stop galloping, he has obviously lost a lot of weight.

This time, Pei Ju's task was to contact the Tiele tribes of the Western Regions headed by Qi, Yujuluo told him that Yang Yuanqing had contact with Qi, Pei Ju was overjoyed, he was worried that he could not get along with Qi, and he didn't care about resting, and on the day he arrived in Wuyuan County, he immediately set off for Dali City.

Pei Ju squinted at the city wall, this outer city wall was at least four zhang high, and it was actually one zhang higher than the capital, so he smiled and said: "Manager Yu, this Dali city wall is higher than the capital, so you are not afraid of impeachment by the imperial history?" ”

Yu Juluo said with a smile: "This was approved by the Holy Lord when he was the prince, and the drawings of the city wall were sent to the Ministry of Works for the record a few years ago, and they didn't say anything, so it is estimated that there is no problem." ”

"They must not have paid attention, at least there will be a disturbance in the DPRK and China, but since the Holy Lord has approved it, then it is not a big problem, you are a border city, and it cannot be compared with the city in the Central Plains."

As he was talking, a sound of horses' hooves came from the city, and Yang Yuanqing shouted from afar: "Pei Yuanjun, why are you here?" ”

"This kid is here!"

Yu Juluo scolded with a smile: "I came all the way to see him, and he didn't even ask why Yu Shuai came." ”

Pei Ju laughed and said, "That's because I'm farther away than you!" ”

Pei Ju brushed his beard and looked at Yang Yuanqing who was running towards him with a smile, he hadn't seen him for a few months, Yang Yuanqing seemed to have grown a little taller, and his figure was even stronger.

He couldn't help but think of what the Holy Lord said to him when he was leaving, "Thousands of generals at the border pass, I love Yuanqing alone, this trip to the Western Regions, you can go from Dali City, treat him well for me."

It was Shengshang's words that made Pei Ju feel even more that Yang Yuanqing was a strange commodity to live in, the Yang family had no vision, and held on to the death point of view of valuing the heirs and ignoring the concubines, and gave up such a Yang family's Zhongxing material, which is a pity.

Yang Yuanqing stepped forward on a flying horse, and bowed his hand on the horse and said: "The last general, Yang Yuanqing, see Yu Shuai, participate in Pei Shilang!" ”

Pei Ju smiled slightly: "Yuanqing, this time I came to you from the capital as a guest, how are you going to entertain me?" ”

"The rough land of the frontier is nothing more than mutton and milk wine, but I can give Pei Yuanjun a good horse."

Yu Juluo is also a person who loves horses like his life, he has heard that Yang Yuanqing has captured a large number of war horses from Xue Yantuo, so he has always wanted to pick a few, this time he also came for this purpose, he heard that Yang Yuanqing actually gave the BMW to Pei Ju, and couldn't help but be anxious, "Yuanqing, what about mine?" ”

Yang Yuanqing saw that the master's eyes were glaring, and his eyes were extremely terrifying, so he scratched his head and smiled: "Of course the master has it, but I will say it first, and I will only give five horses at most." ”

"Stinky boy, you only gave me five horses."

Yujura laughed, "Alright then! Where are the horses? ”

Yang Yuanqing turned around and asked Pei Ju with a smile, "Do you want to go and see it now?" ”

Pei Ju shook his head, "Let's talk about business first, and then go to see the horse." ”

"Okay, Pei Yuanjun, please go to the county office."

Yang Yuanqing asked Pei Ju to go first, but he smiled at Yu Juluo in a low voice: "Master learn from Pei Yuanjun, don't worry about my horse." ”

Yu Juluo hated so much that he raised his hand and slapped him on the scalp, almost knocking his helmet away, Pei Ju saw that the two of them were disrespectful and disrespectful, and he couldn't help but feel sorry.

The group entered the county office, the county office was quite deserted, only a few sergeants were repairing the eaves that were crushed by the snow, Du Ruhui took several other officials who were handed over to the city supervisor to Wuyuan County to preside over the county examination, the situation in Dali City was unstable, and the county examination was held in Wuyuan County, that is, at the end of this month, the state government and the county government co-chaired.

Pei Ju and Yu Juluo sat down in the side hall, a soldier served him tea, Pei Ju took a sip of hot tea and said with a smile: "Yuanqing, the county exam you did caused a big storm in the imperial court. ”

Yang Yuanqing quickly glanced at Yujuluo, and when he saw that he was silent, he smiled and said: "Dali County is a new county, there are no talents, so you can only go to other counties to recruit, but you don't dare to find people at will, you can only use the method of examination, it shouldn't be as serious as Pei Zhijun said!" ”

This matter was mentioned in Pei Ju in Wuyuan County, Yu Juluo has not expressed his position, he has a jade Ruyi hanging around his waist, which is a thing given to him by the saint, and he has a bottom in his heart, this is actually the saint hinting that the county test is as he wants, and it was really said right by Yang Yuanqing.

It is precisely because of this that Yujuluo attaches great importance to the county examination, not only Dali County, but also Fengzhou Prefecture, Wuyuan County, Yongfeng County, and the county officials who are lacking in one state and three counties are also recruited, which is another important reason why the county examination is placed in Wuyuan County.

Pei Ju actually just gave them a wake-up call, and didn't mean anything else, he saw that the two of them didn't want to say much about this matter, so he changed the topic and smiled at Yuan Qing: "Let's talk about business!" Yuanqing, listen to the fish manager, do you know the people over there? ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "It's not just that it's as simple as acquaintance!" This time against Xue Yantuo, the contract will fight with us. ”