In the compound of the Bing Cao Gongfu of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, more than 30 people have unveiled the notice and come to sign an agreement on the construction and use of the station. This is a new thing created by General Li Siye, and it is a bit awkward to call it.

Li Siye still stayed under the eaves, sitting cross-legged on the sheep felt, holding a tea bowl in his hand and saying loudly to everyone: "Before signing and pressing the handprint, take a closer look at the agreement to see if the terms and conditions in it can be done.

A round-faced businessman came to Li Siye with the agreement in his hand, bowed down and crossed his hands, and asked earnestly: "General Li, there is a contemptible one of them that I don't know very well, so I have come to ask."

"But it doesn't hurt to ask."

"Article 6 of the agreement stipulates that the commercial post station must set up a guide for 16 miles on the left and right routes, and write the mileage on it, and indicate the name of the next post station.

"Aren't these guiding poles built to facilitate you business travelers? Walking at night, just follow the direction of the pole arrow, you can find the station, and it is worth the little money!"

"But there are still many government-built post stations on the middle of the Silk Road, and there are no such poles between them......"

Li Siye interrupted him and said: "Don't worry, it won't be long before there will be this kind of thing on the entire traffic arteries of Anxi, and you will bury it in accordance with the agreement for the first sixteen miles and the last sixteen miles." Seeing this requirement, the pole is five feet high, and the direction of the arrow of the previous station and the next station is marked on it, and the mileage is marked. If there is any special danger in the area, warning signs must also be buried, such as the section infested by large insects and the section infested by mountain bandits. ”

The merchant asked: "You see, there is another one down here, on the desert of the Khotanese Road, there must be not only a guiding sign, but also the direction and distance of the nearest water source, and in each post station in the Gobi, there must be a well for 100 people and livestock to drink within 12 hours."

"This well is not easy to dig, once you find the wrong location, even if you dig a hundred feet, you don't want to see water, not to mention the amount of water that will be used for 100 people to drink one day, it will be a bit too harsh for the Duhu Mansion at this point."

Li Siye pointed at it with his eyes and said, "What's so harsh about this?" To build a post station in the desert Gobi, the most important thing is the water source, what is the use of building a post station without water? You look at this, in terms of the location of the post station, the Duhufu has given you extraordinarily relaxed conditions, the post station on the Gobi Desert does not need to be strictly in accordance with the interval of thirty miles and one post, it can be relaxed to forty miles, within the range of ten miles, you can choose a point with a water source or a point with groundwater. ”

Shang Jia nodded helplessly, and hurriedly went to Xu to sign the agreement. According to the rules and practices of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, the earlier the person who signs the agreement, there is a priority to choose the post station location qualifications, for example, there are more than 60 miles of space between the restaurant post station and the Shache post station to build a post, here is very close to the intersection between the middle road and the south road, quite convenient, can choose the site to the people here, most of them are going to make a fortune, but unfortunately by the Dunhuang Zhang family to take the lead.

The Zhang family chose to build a post station on the Silk Road and Khotan Road for its own purpose, and they ate the construction and management rights of five post stations in one go, and scattered them evenly across the desert for the sake of permanent warehouses among them. Their family's main pepper business in Tianzhu is deeply affected by the sand bandits who wander in the desert, almost half of the goods fall into the hands of the sand bandits every year, and the mortality rate of the cargo operators is also high and terrifying.

It's just that in recent years, due to the fact that Xiao Bolu has become a vassal of Tubo, more than 20 countries west of the Green Mountains no longer pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty, and the trade routes of spices have also been blocked.

He, Zhang, could only find a way to reduce the loss on the way.

All the agreements were made in duplicate, one for the merchant and one for the custody of the Metropolitan Protectorate. Zhang Guihuai carried five of them and came to Li Siye to thank him.

"The agreement you got looks much more elaborate than the vouchers signed by our businessmen, but Party A and Party B in it, I feel a little dizzy, fortunately I have been in private school for a few days, otherwise I really can't figure it out."

Li Siye nodded with a smile, facing Zhang Gui, and these businessmen standing in the courtyard said: "The agreement has been signed, each can go back, immediately prepare people and materials, as long as you hold the agreement, you can pass smoothly at various checkpoints in Anxi." The required drawings and building specifications have also been handed over to you, and if you have any other requirements, as long as the Metropolitan Government can handle them, they can be handled for you. ”

As soon as Li Siye's voice fell, everyone stood dumb and stood on the spot, they actually had a request, but this request of the Anxi Protectorate would definitely not be able to agree, but it would make Li Siye embarrassed.

"What's wrong?" Li Siye stood up and asked suspiciously: "Zhang Gui, since there is a request, it is proposed, why don't you speak?"

Zhang Gui stood up straight, bowed to Li Siye and said: "Actually, we have requirements, sand bandits are rampant on the Khotanese Road, if we want to build a post station on the desert, we need to be on guard against sand bandits at all times." Hiring swordsmen will increase the cost but will have little effect, and we only hope that the imperial court will send an army of several hundred people to suppress the bandits and provide us with the guarantee of building a post station. ”

This requirement...... At present, it is a little difficult, Tian Renwan mobilized more than 19,000 people to expedition to Xiaobolu, and the Tang army stationed in Anxi and other places was only 4,000 people, scattered in the four towns of Anxi and each city to defend and capture, almost unable to mobilize troops to suppress bandits. Although there are officials in charge of managing law and order in the surrounding cities, these people are okay to maintain order, but it is estimated that they will not have much effect in fighting the sand bandits in the desert.

Not to mention this time, even if there is no war in Anxi, the Metropolitan Protectorate is powerless against the sand bandits who are active in the desert, and the sand bandits are scattered into small groups of troops wandering in the desert, and it is not easy to find them out and eliminate them one by one.

Li Siye hesitated for a moment and said to everyone: "Although Tanaka Cheng is on an expedition to Xiaobolu, and there are no soldiers available in the four towns of Anxi, Li Siye can ask Fumeng Duhu to protect him, and he is willing to personally lead a strong army to the desert Gobi to eliminate bandits."

"If that's the case, I'll thank General Li!"

All the merchants bowed down in unison.

……

Fumeng Lingcha knelt down in front of the desk and raised his head in surprise: "You want to go to the Tulun Moraine Gobi to suppress bandits?"

"The construction of 23 post stations on the Khotanese road requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and the lives of these people are always threatened by the bandits, and if the threat cannot be eliminated, the post station will not be built for a long time."

Fu Meng sighed and said, "Tanaka Cheng went on an expedition to Xiao Bolu and took away most of the troops of the four towns of Anxi. Not to mention other places, even in this Qiuzi City, there are only more than 600 people left in total, and other places are also a bracken and a pit, and I have no one to adjust to you. ”

Li Siye had long expected such an answer, but he had already made up his mind in his heart, and resolutely said to Fu Meng Lingcha: "There are more than 20 people around the last general, and they have been following me since the beginning of the change of cities. Please give an order, I am willing to take these more than 20 people to the desert to clear the sand bandits. ”

"More than twenty people! You don't want your life!"

Fu Meng Lingcha stretched out his hand and slapped it on the desk heavily, stretched out his hand to point at him, but he couldn't say the words of reprimand, so he had to say helplessly: "When Tanaka Cheng returns with the army, you can directly take the jumping battalion under your command to Tulun Moraine."

"Tougo, it's the end of July now, and Tanaka Cheng has returned from an expedition, I'm afraid it will be after October. As soon as October passes, it will be cold and freezing, and it will no longer be suitable for construction, and the sand bandits will also shrink up and wait for next year, which is a year. ”

Fumeng Lingcha may not know that next year and this year is a watershed, a transition from one era to another, the twenty-nine-year-long old calendar Kaiyuan is coming to an end, and the new era name "Tianbao" will indicate that the Tang Dynasty has begun to enter a period of decadence and extravagance, gradually declining.

This is the sense of crisis in Li Siye's heart, in the first year of Tianbao, all the signs of crisis have begun to thrive, Li Linfu is in power to the government and the opposition, An Lushan began to become a festival envoy, the Yang family began to be hot, and he must also achieve something. Since Tian Renwan's expedition to Xiao Bolu will not be successful, then he must make achievements in other directions, so this year's post station in Anxi must be built, and the sand bandits must also be exterminated.

"You're right, a year is a wait."

Fu Meng Lingcha took a pen and signed a military order on the paper, ordering Li Siye to take his own soldiers and others to the Khotanese Road to suppress bandits and escort the Shangxiu Post Station.

"Thank you," he said, taking the order, and turned to retreat to the door of the study, just pulling the partition door open.

"Wait a minute!" Fu Meng Lingcha raised his head and said in annoyance: "The dignified four-rank Zhonglang general, how can you only take twenty people to the desert with you, I will transfer the pro-soldier brigade to you, and Bai Xiaode will be dispatched by you." ”

"This is absolutely impossible, Du Hu, the pro-soldier brigade is your personal guard, how can you leave the Du Hu Mansion?"

"You don't have to worry about this, even if you don't have a pro-soldier brigade, there are still three city defense regiments in Qiuzi City. Take my fish bag as a voucher and go for it. ”

Li Siye bowed his hands and stepped forward to take the fish bag, then slowly retreated, turned around and pushed open the door, and strode out of the mansion.

Fu Meng Lingcha pushed open the window sash of the study, looked at the distant back and snorted: "The dignified Zhonglang general, holding a nine-foot Mo knife to suppress the sand bandits, isn't this a knife used to kill chickens?" ”