Youzhou, one of the important military towns of the Tang Dynasty. In the past, Emperor Taizong raised a large army to attack Goryeo, that is, with Youzhou as the rear base camp; Emperor Gojong took advantage of the civil strife in Goryeo and marched to occupy Silla and Baekje, and later withdrew his troops from Goryeo due to military pressure from the northwest.

There are Xi, Khitan, Goryeo and other ethnic groups living together, but at this time Huhua is not strict, Han culture still occupies a dominant position, the Tang army has heavy troops deployed in the Youzhou area, Youzhou Assassin Li Shouli is also the Li Tang clan.

That day, Xue Chongxun got down from the official ship heading south to Guangji Canal in the middle of the night, and came to Youzhou by land with five or six people with his entourage. They rode horses, which must have been faster than boats, and when they entered the boundary of Youzhou, it was estimated that Yu Liben and his party had not yet arrived, and they were still on the canal.

Xue Chongxun and his entourage pretended to be fur dealers, and the identity of the road guide was not a problem, and they had already been prepared by someone.

At this time, the North China Plain was very different from later generations, and horses could be seen everywhere, and the situation of Huma drinking water made people feel like they were congested. Xue Chongxun watched the scenery along the way, and couldn't help but sigh a little bit in his heart, the capital of the Central Plains Empire hundreds of years later is here, where is the same as now, you can see Hu people everywhere?

The Anshi Rebellion took place in this area, and it was the outbreak when the Huhua in Northeast China could not be controlled. Huhua in Youzhou is indeed not such a simple process, freezing three feet is not a day's cold, the root cause of the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty has been buried, and since then, the Tang Dynasty has been enemies on all sides, and it is not easy to solve the problem here.

If it weren't for the palace struggle in his heart, Xue Chongxun really wanted to spend more time investigating this time...... But if the infighting fails, all lives will be gone, and the chaos of Anshi will be all floating clouds, and Xue Chongxun will not bother to care.

They hurried along the grain route for several days, and Youzhou was getting closer and closer. One morning, they had only walked for more than half an hour, and when they looked up, they saw a majestic city standing in front of them, the morning sun rose in the east, and when they looked at it from the west, the momentum of the ancient city was even more vigorous.

"Look, Youzhou City!" Xue Chongxun pointed ahead with some excitement, looked back at his entourage and said.

After rushing for so many days, the target was in front of them, Fang Yuzhong and the others were very excited, and in this big environment, several people couldn't help but shout a few times.

Youzhou is a commercial center, a place for the distribution of goods, and there are more people on the roads near Youzhou, and there is an endless stream of ox carts and donkey carts. Xue Chongxun and the others happened to be mixed in and moved forward silently.

At this moment, I suddenly saw a banner hunting, a team of cavalry rushed out of the city, the armor soldiers were violent, and the pedestrians hurriedly gave way to the side of the road from a distance. Xue Chongxun didn't want to reveal his identity for the time being, so he also asked his entourage to move the frame horses and let everyone go to the side of the road.

At this time, an old man next to him said: "Look at this battle, it seems that the king is going out hunting." ”

Another pedestrian couldn't help but whisper: "It's the autumn harvest season, and he really knows how to pick the time for hunting." ”

Xue Chongxun and his entourage looked at each other, even if it was a house slave like Fang Yuzhong who didn't have much knowledge, I am afraid that they all knew that the official government of the agricultural empire should pay attention to persuading farmers first, Li Shouli is good, he took the lead in hunting in the busy farming season, and he was all nonsense.

Then I saw a fast horse chasing after the city gate, and the man cried out on the horse, "What do you want?" ”

Xue Chongxun heard the sound and looked at it from afar, and saw that the person on the horse was a bearded man wearing a gray dress, and he didn't know what his identity was. But at this time, the arrogant cavalry slowed down, and it can be seen that the bearded man who shouted was also a relatively important person.

When the bearded man caught up with the horse team, he happened to be not far from Xue Chongxun's side.

A middle-aged man in a purple ayara in the middle of the armor and horses said: "I have nothing to do, I want to go out hunting and move my muscles." I am very relieved that I have the secretary of state to handle official affairs. ”

The bearded man was furious, pointed at the purple-robed middle-aged man and scolded, "Is this the time to hunt? In this way, the upward and downward effects, the land of Youzhou, how should we govern? ”

The purple-robed man's face was ugly, and it was unreasonable, so he couldn't answer, and he was almost not annoyed and angry, and said angrily to the left and right: "Forget him, let's go." ”

When the bearded man heard this, he rode his horse in front of the caravan, jumped off his horse, and lay down in the middle of the road without saying a word.

It was clear that the bearded man was a scholar with status, and seeing him lying there on all fours, covered in mud, he was really a bit wolf. He lay there looking at the sky and said loudly: "Now that the crops are all over the ground, the envoy will trample on the seedlings at this time to damage the people, it is better to let the horse trample me to death first, and then let the envoy do what he wants." ”

When the people heard this, they were quite moved, and they shouted loudly to help the momentum. Seeing this, the purple-robed man's face turned red, and he said with shame: "I still won't go today, let's go back." ”

After a while, the horse team turned around and left, and the pedestrians got the wagon onto the road and continued on their way. Xue Chongxun couldn't help but ask the pedestrians who were watching the excitement just now: "Who was that bearded man just now?" ”

The man replied, "Pan Haoli, you don't know this? Oh yes, listen to your accent, it's from out of town. ”

Xue Chongxun hugged his fists and said: "Let's come over and buy some strange goods, I don't know the famous people in Youzhou, I will laugh and laugh." ”

The pedestrian laughed: "Pan Alang is irritable, just don't bump into him." ”

"Thank you for the reminder." Xue Chongxun said goodbye, and continued to drive towards the city gate with his entourage. The sergeant guarding the gate checked their luggage and interrogated them before they entered the gate.

The situation in the city is very different from that of Chang'an Luoyang and other metropolises, there are relatively few luxurious courtyards, most of the surrounding low hard mountain-style houses, people are not brightly dressed, the Han people wearing linen clothes are fine, and some of the Hu people with fur on their bodies are dirty and not very beautiful.

However, after Xue Chongxun and others walked along the street for a while, he found that everything could not be seen on the surface, and there were all kinds of white rice, slaughter, oil, five ripening, fruit, charcoal, pig iron, milling, and silk silk, and people's lives were in good order, and there was no chaotic scene, which shows that Youzhou is governed quite well.

"Most of Li Yuanjun's subordinates have a few capable people." Xue Chongxun couldn't help but say.

Fang Yuzhong and Sanniang's temperaments were relatively dull, and they didn't answer, Xue Chongxun suddenly felt that he was talking to himself, and he felt a little bored, so he stopped talking nonsense. After walking for a while, he asked Sanniang again: "Where is it better for us to live?" You've been running before, so you definitely know where outsiders live. ”

Sanniang thought for a while and said: "Let's live in an inn at the entrance of the market, there are people from all over the world in the market, and we won't attract attention if we live in such a place." ”

Xue Chongxun adopted Sanniang's Jianyi, asked someone about the direction of the market, and took someone over. A town like Youzhou, which has the nature of a military fortress, has a similar layout to Chang'an, and it is all planned in the city. Residents live in the square and are divided into management; The place where the transaction is circulated is the two cities. Sure enough, as soon as you arrive at the market, the population is even more dense, with all kinds of shops lined up, and there are many stalls, jokes, and snacks, which are extremely lively.

They walked to the front of a wooden building and looked up to see that it read "West Market Inn". At this time, a boy with a towel on his shoulder greeted enthusiastically at the door: "A few people have made a fortune in Youzhou, why don't you live here with us, so that we can also get rich." ”

Xue Chongxun said with a smile: "Xiao Erzui is good, just here." ”

The group handed over the carriage and horses, walked into the inn, Sanniang whispered on the side: "This kind of place is mixed, Lang Jun don't show his wealth, I'll negotiate the price later." ”

Xue Chongxun nodded after hearing this, and didn't say much.

Xiao Er took them to the counter and said, "How many rooms are there upstairs, the best, how many rooms do you want?" ”

Sanniang immediately took it and said, "Don't use the best, the upstairs, clean, clean, and cheap." If we want a big one, we will go out to ask for money, and it will be good if we can make do with it. ”

Although Sanniang wore a hat, she looked like a woman at a glance, and Xiao Er hurriedly persuaded: "Why don't you have two rooms, and it's not okay for the lady and a few Ah Lang to squeeze together." ”

"Alright, two. Just now outside the door, I asked other peers about the price of Youzhou, don't deceive customers. Sanniang said lightly.

Xue Chongxun was silent on the side, and he said in his heart: If you follow my method, you can simply forget the whole package.

After some bargaining, and went upstairs to choose, Sanniang chose two big houses on the side, and finally settled down. After Xue Chongxun closed the door, he couldn't help but sigh: "It's still Yu's father-in-law who is comfortable, after handing over the official documents, the government has arranged everything." Look at this place where we live...... Sanniang, it's really not a comfortable day to run the rivers and lakes, right? ”G