Bypassing the adobe wall of the alley, the two came to a simple but not dilapidated small courtyard, at the gate of the courtyard stood a locust tree, the branches were thick, the trunk of the tree covered most of the courtyard, an old man sat on the millstone under the tree with a wooden cane, his chin against the horizontal crutch holding the wooden staff in both hands, and his eyes were empty as if he was reminiscing about the past.

Huangfu couldn't bear to come forward to disturb him when he saw such a situation, such a picture can always appreciate the sadness of life, he stopped Wang Sili, who wanted to come forward to inquire, and only stood in the distance and waited quietly.

The old man pulled his mind out of his memory, returned to the world in front of him, and asked the two uninvited guests who had been waiting for a long time: "The two distant guests want to beg for a drink?" ”

Huangfu Weiming stepped forward and hurriedly arched his hand: "Uncle, I heard that Geng Gongjing of the Han Dynasty was here, and I came to visit my hometown. ”

"Oh, I want to drink the water of Geng Gongjing, but unfortunately it can't be done for the time being, the Governor's Mansion has already rounded that bag and is repairing the ancestral hall."

Huangfu Weiming decided to attack from the side, inducing the old man to take the initiative to expose the loophole of his lies: "The old man's house is not far from this Geng Gong well, did he often pick up water to drink in this well before?" ”

"Where," the old man waved his hand: "This well dried up many years ago, and our family has always picked up water from elsewhere." ”

"You're saying the well is suddenly out of the water now? It's not necessarily a good sign. ”

The old man raised his head suspiciously: "Why did you say this auspicious omen?" Obviously, it was General Li who personally stood in front of the well to worship in Shule Town, and the dry well gushed out of the clear spring, which was his piety that moved the heavens. ”

"My husband's words are not true." Huangfu Weiming stroked his beard and smiled.

The old man knocked the ground with a wooden stick with both hands, raised his chin and said coldly: "You mean that my old man is nonsense?" By this year, I have lived ninety-nine, and I have deceived people in the first half of my life, and how can I ever say a lie in the second half of my life? ”

Huangfu Weiming hurriedly bowed down: "It turns out that the old man is already a human being, and he is disrespectful." ”

"Renrui doesn't dare to be anything, but is it for the well water, or for something else? If it's well water, you don't have to ask me if you go and taste it. If it was for other things, that day the people of our fang and this alley, but they saw Li Zhen's envoy standing outside the well to worship, and then there was a dry well and a spring, if you don't believe it, ask someone else to go. ”

After the old man said this, he no longer paid attention to the emperor, and continued to squint with his hands against the wooden staff.

Huangfu Weiming led the horse away, looked back at the old man, and thought to himself that people were old and fine, afraid that he had seen through their identities. Regardless of whether the water from this well is true or not, Li Siye's popularity in Shule City cannot be faked, since most people say good things about him, it means that he can at least maintain his superficial skills.

They have gone all the way, and most of the officials in Anthy are of this level. If you don't harass the people, the reputation won't be too bad. In terms of this person's military management, he is a little brilliant, but it is not to the point where he is admired by Huangfu Weiming, and the rest of the aspects are decent, and when it comes to the examination grade, he should be given a middle school, slightly weaker than Gao Xianzhi.

The secret visit was almost over, and they decided to lead the camels to the inn, settle down in their rooms, and wait for the large group to come.

Not far away there was the sound of horses neighing and hammers, and the two followed the sound and led the camel forward, and in front of them was already in the center of Shule City, but there was a large compound enclosed with adobe walls and wooden fences, the courtyard was divided into three parts: left, middle and right, and on the left was the stable, in which there were a few short ponies who looked sick and sick.

Ponies were usually used by soldiers to carry goods, and were much cheaper than the Shiguo Dawan and Turkdun horses, and could be purchased by private individuals.

In the middle was a flat-roofed house in the shape of a ruler, facing in two directions, and the smell of boiling Chinese medicine permeated the black hole door, and a guy wrapped in a leather apron came out carrying a bucket of water, and he came to the pony and groomed his horsehair with a comb dipped in water.

He knew the role of this institution at a glance, wasn't this the horse doctor in the army? But along the way, this one in Shule City is the most perfect.

On the left, there is even a blacksmith shop? They led the camel to the railing and watched curiously, and a blacksmith, with the help of his apprentice, lifted one of the horse's legs and nailed a ring-shaped iron palm to the horse's foot.

They put iron boots on horses? Huangfu Weiming glanced back at Wang Sili, Wang Sili shook his head and shrugged his shoulders to say that he hadn't seen it either. However, Shule is located at the westernmost point of the moraine, and it is normal to learn this kind of thing from Da Shi and Fu La.

From this point of view, it is not for nothing that this Li Siye can be the town guard of the two towns, although he is not as bright as Gao and Fumeng in leading the army, but it should be far more than in terms of horse administration and logistics.

The two led the camel to the Chengzhong Mansion store, and handed it over to the shop to lead the stable in the backyard to feed the food. After a morning of cruising around the city, his stomach was already empty, so he simply ate some food in the hall downstairs to entertain guests.

The two sat cross-legged in front of the desk, and the wine doctor in the store came forward to wipe the desk with a burlap towel, and asked enthusiastically, "Guest, what are you two going to do?" ”

"Mutton soup, Hu cake."

"Okay, wait a minute, the mutton soup will be here soon!"

Huangfu Weiming suddenly saw a string of dried meat hanging under the eaves, and couldn't help but be curious: "I heard that the people of Jingchu like to make air-dried bacon, but I didn't expect this custom to spread to the west of the moraine?" ”

There were two or three old local guests sitting diagonally opposite them, and after hearing this, they said, "This cured meat still came from the Tang Army barracks." ”

The two nodded, Wang Sili expressed surprise, and said: "I didn't expect Shule Town to be so rich, we just walked around the street outside for half a circle, and saw cured meat hanging outside almost every house. ”

"Where is the abundance?" A man in a brown shirt said, "This is the mutton that was saved after the disaster last winter. ”

The emperor knew that the listener was intended, just like a keen hound smelling the wound of his prey, and then asked: "What kind of catastrophe and heavy snowstorm did you encounter last winter?" Or frost? ”

He actually wanted to know what kind of stance and how the Tang Army officials in Shule Town maintained and how they behaved in this kind of disaster?

Maybe it was a problem with the accent, and several old guests frowned, as if they heard the taste of schadenfreude in it, and immediately choked back in a weird way: "Can the blizzard and frost still be considered a disaster?" We should be able to have heavy snowstorms in Shule in winter, and it is estimated that those who farm can wake up with a smile when they sleep at night. Speaking of frosts, frosts begin every year in October, and although the days are getting colder day by day, it is also a reminder for herders to prepare for winter in advance. ”

The guests obviously did not want to follow their questioning, and then talked about other things, but the emperor simply stopped talking, and only chewed the mutton slowly, only as an audience.

When the two chose to shut up, they heard what they wanted to hear. The old guests drank a lot of wine and casually talked about last winter's fires.

"Did the third man who set the fire come out?"

"It was released a long time ago, and he didn't mean it, it could only be regarded as an unintentional mistake, and the Governor's Mansion beat him and locked him up for another two months.

"Hehe, this bastard."

"Hey, Bu Laosan has already admitted it, and the lady of the Bu family is also ready to take the initiative to send all the sheep out and wait for the Tang army to be slaughtered one by one. Strangely, Tang Jun didn't do that, and gave his family fodder, and their family kept half of the sheep. I heard that on the night when Bu Laosan was released, he stood at the door of the sheepfold and cried, and kowtowed three times in the direction of the barracks. ”

"Where is the barracks, I heard that it was against the town guard envoy's mansion."

"Ahem, no matter where it is, it's a knock anyway."

An old guest said with emotion: "If this is in previous years, not to mention that the hundreds of sheep of the Bu Laosan family can't be saved, even if it is the herdsmen who were affected, it is estimated that there will not be a few left, and tens of thousands of sheep will be killed at one time." All the shearlings were sold to a few local shops at a loss, but this person was still unwilling to accept them. ”

Fortunately, Li Zhen's envoy rushed back from Khotan in time, and as soon as he entered the city gate, he scolded the soldiers who killed sheep, prevented Pei Dudu from killing sheep, and forced him to write a requisition order, so that the entire army and people of Shule Town could share a little profit from their own pasture. He also ordered General Duan of Tuntian to go hundreds of miles to the pastures north of the Tianshan Mountains to harvest pasture, and the herdsmen were able to save most of the sheep. ”

A few guests sighed, and the slightly older man sighed: "We have never had an official like General Li in Shule, and the first thing that comes to mind when something happens is to save the losses of our herdsmen and save tens of thousands of sheep, which is equivalent to how many sheep herders have been saved?" That's a great kindness. Even God thinks he is benevolent, otherwise how could he suddenly come out of the water when he worships Geng Gongjing? ”