The imperial palaces of the past dynasties were sitting in the north and facing south, and in this direction, it was customary to take the east as the left and the west as the right.

Longyou refers to the vast area from the west of Longshan (Liupan Mountain) to Qinghai Lake, the Longyou Road of the Tang Dynasty has jurisdiction over 18 prefectures, and the ambassador Yamen of the festival degree is located in Shanzhou.

After passing Weizhou, there are layers of loess plateau, looking at it, reckless and desolate. It's already April, but there is still no warmth on the plateau, and the cold wind is howling over the top, raising bursts of yellow dust.

On the official road to Lanzhou, you can see a caravan from time to time, with the sound of camel bells and the wind and dust, heading towards Chang'an, the holy land in their hearts.

When people arrive in this reckless plateau, they seem particularly small, and from time to time there is a sonorous and powerful Qin tone, and there is a majesty in the sadness.

Tinker Bell seemed very excited, and from time to time ran to the high slope and howled, and the sound was through the sky, and Li Ang no longer restrained it, it could always bring one or two prey every day, which made Li Ang and Wu Xuan live quite nourishing all the way.

It was almost time to arrive in Lanzhou that day, and Li Ang and the others traveled eighty miles in a hurry, missing the overnight stay, so they had to spend the night in the woods by a small stream.

On the Loess Plateau, the sun is like blood, and the wild fox is crying in the barren grassland, listening to it like a human crying.

Tinker Bell lives up to his expectations and brings home a hare that weighs a few pounds.

Li Ang stood on the bank of the turbulent stream, his feet were like a rock, and his breath sank into the dantian, Huo Ran pulled out the cold horizontal knife, and suddenly swung it out with both arms holding the knife, and roared in a heroic Qin tone, "The wind is blowing and the clouds are flying...... It's all about Tinker Bell! ”

Burst! There was a soft sound, and the hare that fell from the sky was slashed open in the stomach with a knife. And then...... No, Leon then turned and walked under the tree and continued to look at his grandson's Art of War.

Wu Xuan couldn't cry or laugh, thinking that he would make a meal by himself today, but he put on such a big posture. He opened the rabbit's chamber.

There is no way, I missed the accommodation today, so I can only do it myself, Wu Xuan picked up the rabbit and went to the stream to clean up. Then a fire was lit in the middle of the woods, and the cleaned hare was put on the fire to roast.

Soon. The hare was buzzing with oil, and its enticing aroma wafted through the trees. Leon didn't have the heart to read, so he made do with the fire and roasted it.

Wu Xuan said casually: "For a long time, Longyou has been defending against Tibet, Shuofang has prepared Beidi, and while guarding Guanzhong together, he has guarded the two wings of Hexi. In order to ensure the smooth flow of the Hexi Corridor. Hexi is the rear headquarters of the Western Regions, the four towns of Anxi, and the north court is occupied by the two fronts. The military pattern of the northwest of the Tang Dynasty has been formed.

Last year. Together with the Hui Hui, Ambassador Wang Zhongsi wiped out the Turks, and the northern Xinjiang was pacified. It is conceivable that in the future, the military center of gravity of the Tang Dynasty will definitely move to Longyou, and it will be a priority to deal with Tubo.

Lang Jun released Longyou at this time, which can be said to be the right time, with Lang Jun's intelligence. If there is a good plan, fight against Tibet. This is much faster than going to the local government to get promoted. ”

"Tubo is on top, my Datang is on top, Tubo occupies all the geographical advantages, I Datang wants to attack on the back, how can it be so easy? Let's go to Shanzhou first to find out the situation and then talk about other things. ”

Li Ang rubbed his thighs, and rode his horse for days during this time. There is some soreness in the thighs. Tinker Bell was still a little afraid of fire, lying under a big tree a few feet away, a pair of green eyes looking at him.

Wu Xuan took the wine jug and shared the roasted rabbit with Li Ang, while he nibbled on the burnt roast rabbit leg. While saying: "Lang Jun really doesn't have a plan in his heart? If you arrive in Longyou, you are willing to guard the treasury and deal with a few post letters, and your subordinates will not believe it. ”

"Okay, I'm going to destroy Tubo after I take office, you should believe it, right?"

"Hey...... At least that's more like Lang Jun's character. ”

Leon took the flask and took two sips in a row, this wine was a bit like sweet wine, for Leon the root drink was almost the same, and it was quite thirst-quenching. The sunset outside the mountains and forests gradually sank down the high slopes, and in the eastern sky, a faint full moon had risen, and the evening breeze blew through the treetops with cold air, making bursts of whistling sounds.

He changed the topic and said, "Nanmen, how about you ride Xie Kung Fu?" ”

"Okay." Wu Xuan also picked up his own wine jug and drank it with a grunt.

"When I arrived in Shanzhou, the first thing I did, taught me to ride and shoot." Li Ang's riding skills are already very good, but he rarely has the opportunity to touch the bow and arrow, and Li Jin, the king of Ruyang, has first-class archery skills, and when he was in Chang'an, Li Ang had asked him for some archery essentials, but he lacked practical training.

Wu Xuan said with a smile: "You don't need me to teach, when you get to the army, Lang Jun will practice more." The Hu people are good at shooting, not because of how talented they are, but because they have been riding and shooting since childhood, practice makes perfect. ”

This is also true, Li Ang remembered the story of the oil seller, archery is similar to pouring oil into a bottle, practice makes perfect, of course, everyone's talent is still different.

It was night, the wind was strong, the moonlight was cold, Li Ang and Wu Xuan each rolled a blanket and slept by the fire, and when they arrived at the second watch, Wu Xuan woke up from the cold, got up and returned to the firewood, but found that Li Ang seemed to be not afraid of the cold, and slept soundly, he was secretly surprised in his heart.

Howl! Howl! Howl............

On the high slope in the distance, there were suddenly a few wolf howls, Wu Xuan went out to look, but saw that under the cold moonlight, a giant wolf was looking up on the high slope and howling at the moon, the voice was distant and mysterious, as if communicating with the cold moon in the sky.

Soon, there was also a faint wolf howl in the four fields, and more and more, closer and closer, Wu Xuan and their two mounts began to become irritable, constantly snorting and kicking their hooves.

"South Gate, sleep, I'm going to hurry tomorrow."

Li Ang's voice suddenly came from the side of the fire, and Wu Xuan said with some anxiety: "Lang Jun, you sleep, I'll keep it." ”

"What are you keeping, Tinker Bell is looking for its friends to talk about life, talk about ideals, what are you doing to make a scene?"

"Hehe...... " Wu Xuan laughed dryly a few times and went back to sleep by the fire.

This is also one of the magical places of Leon, others have brought wolf cubs to raise since childhood, and it is not for nothing that they can get along well, but like Leon, I have never heard of Tinker Bell so obedient.

It's not the first time they've stayed overnight in the wilderness along the way, and with Tinker Bell there, they don't have to keep vigil. Even in the morning, Tinker Bell can hunt back game and make breakfast for them.

From this night on, Tinker Bell became more and more active, especially after passing through Lanzhou, and every night it always found a nearby high place to howl, and the response of the wolf became more and more dense.

That night in the Huangshui side of the Longquan Station to stay, Tinker Bell still howled at night, all night, afraid that there will be two or three hundred wolves to respond, the sound is extremely terrifying, the four fields are full of terrifying wolf sounds, one after another, the beasts are frightened.

Several post guards were so frightened that they didn't sleep all night, they stayed up all night, and the next day their eyes were full of bloodshots, and they were floating when they walked, and they laughed when they saw Li Ang.

After Wu Xuan went to bring the horse over, he said: "Lang Jun, do you still have the heart to laugh, Tinker Bell's movement is getting bigger and bigger, and our mount is also terrified all night and can't rest, you don't care about Tinker Bell, we have to walk to Shanzhou." ”

Li Ang looked at his mount, it was indeed a little listless, his was a good horse, this was not bad, Wu Xuan's mount looked like it might lie down as soon as he rode it.

"Forget it, it's only two days away from Shanzhou, Tinker Bell has been closed in Chang'an for so long, let it spread wild. Let's go slower. ”

In order to take care of Tinker Bell, Li Ang and Wu Xuan walked for four days before coming to Shanzhou.

The location of Shanzhou City is probably the seat of Ledu County in later generations, and it is not far from Shancheng (Xining). Here the river contains hundreds of rivers and beautiful rivers, the water is beautiful, its flowing soup soup, the mountains and rivers are abundant, and the water and grass are fertile.

Since the second year of Kaiyuan, after setting up the Longyou Jiedu envoy in Shanzhou, Shanzhou has become the military and political center and important commercial and trade town in the northwest all the way, and the city has set the Longyou Jiedu Embassy, the Shanzhou Governor's Mansion, and the Huangshui County Ya three-level military and political bureau in a city, with dense population, businessmen gathered, and the economy is prosperous;

Gao Shi once wrote here: Ten thousand horses compete for the song of Yang Liuchun, and thousands of dances embroider unicorns. Everywhere is suitable for negotiation, and it is always peaceful to look at each other. Verses. It can be seen that since the beginning of the century, the rule of the Tang Dynasty here has been quite stable.

Looking at it from afar, the perimeter of the city wall is afraid that there are more than ten miles, the city wall is towering, the city tower is towering, and the banner of the Tang Dynasty is fluttering on the city gate, just like a northwest city.

Li Ang and the two of them walked for nearly a month, and finally arrived at the ground, this is Wang Zhonghe's territory, no matter how long Li Linfu's hand is, he will not be able to reach here for a while and a half.

Li Ang was in a relaxed mood, and couldn't help humming a song again: "I wandered with time, through thousands of years, and came to this dream-like Tang Dynasty." Meteor never tells him about his loneliness, and the heather always blooms silently, I want to tell you! Don't look back, life is a light, if you don't move forward, you will die ....... ”

Outside the city gates, caravans came and went frequently, and their main commodity was plain silk, that is, silk that was not dyed. You have to ask Shanzhou that doesn't produce silk, where does so much silk come from here? This is a question that needs to be addressed.

Since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the border army has mostly recruited soldiers, and the recruits have to pay silver. Datang copper production is limited, copper coins are not enough for domestic circulation, and copper coins have always weighed seven or eight catties, to transport 10,000 copper coins to the frontier, just the cost of the road, is a huge number.

According to the regulations of the imperial court, a silk horse is one foot eight inches wide and four zhang long, and its weight is only a few taels, which is much lighter than transporting copper coins.

The annual salary of the military town of Xianglongyou is 2.5 million horses, which can be traded as currency when they are in the hands of soldiers. The merchants collected the silk from the soldiers and sold it westward.

This can be said to be one of the main reasons for the unprecedented prosperity of the Tang Silk Road.

Li Ang squeezed through the caravan, and after the soldiers at the city gate checked the official seal, he successfully stepped into Shanzhou City, at this moment, a horn drum sounded at the head of the city, Li Ang couldn't help but be surprised, could it be that there was an enemy attack?

**********

PS: One more chapter, ask for a monthly pass! Ask for a subscription!. (To be continued.) )