Luoyang was the largest commodity distribution center in the world at that time, and it was close to Luoshui, and the goods connecting the north and south were naturally indispensable for water transportation. There are various wharves on both sides of the strait, and large and small passenger and cargo ships come and go in an orderly manner. Shu Yan and his party came to the dock and found the big ship. I selected two sandalwood sticks I liked, negotiated the price with the cargo owner, and watched the crew unload the cargo.

Among the many crew members, there were two young men, who were not only dressed differently from the other crew members, but also carried them unfamiliarly. Shu Yan guessed that he must be a new apprentice who was forced to make a living. After unloading the boat, everyone else ran to the owner of the ship to get their wages. The two of them didn't take a penny, and they still looked at the owner of the boat, as if they were still very grateful.

Shu Yan commanded everyone to carry the two sandalwood sticks to a carriage he brought and tied them firmly. Because wood was very expensive, he didn't dare to be careless, and he didn't have time to care about the two of them. But they saw that the two men had said goodbye to the ship's owner, and they were cheering and leaping, and they were walking toward the shore.

One of the older ones said: "We have finally come to Luoyang, and I didn't expect that our brothers could also have the honor to come and see the prosperity of Jingshi." ”

Another younger one said: "Yes, brother, don't talk about Jingshi, even along the way, I have gained a lot of knowledge." It's time to come back and have a good time. ”

"Play is to play, but you have to do Han Ruoxin's business well first. Let's go to Shangshutai to find Brother Yan immediately. ”

"Why are you so anxious, if you find Brother Yan, he wants to restrain us again, how can we be free at that time?"

The very familiar local accent made Shu Yan can't help but turn his head to look at the two young people, and when he heard them say Ruoxin and his own name, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he shouted: "Shu Jin, Shu Yin!" ”

The two of them couldn't imagine that when they first arrived in a foreign land, someone actually called their names, and they turned back in surprise, and couldn't help but be overjoyed, and shouted in unison: "Brother Yan, it turned out to be you." We're worried about not being able to find where you are, so that saves us trouble. ”

Shu Yan took their hands and asked happily, "Why did you come here?" ”

Shu Yin said: "We brought you two letters, one is from Brother Ruoxin and the other is from Father-in-law Xia. ”

Shu Yan was about to ask, but he heard Shu Jin cramped and said: "We are our own brothers, and my brother will still call us the eldest slave and the second slave as before." ”

"Then what's the matter, you have grown up, not to mention that now you are away from home, it is not as good as being in Ruyin's hometown, if you mention the name of the milk again, it will be too thin."

These two are Shu Xiaoliu's two sons. Shu Xiaoliu didn't know any words, and the two sons never had official names, and they kept calling their names. The eldest slave and the second slave didn't study well when they were young, they were idle, and they only did some petty theft. It wasn't until later that he stole the money for Shujiazhuang's preparation for the establishment of the school. Fortunately, Shu Yan thought of a way to change his house into a school and asked Ruoxin to be a teaching assistant. The eldest slave and the second slave also reformed themselves and went to school while they could. After his children learned well, Shu Xiaoliu was happy, so he gave his two sons an official name: Shu Jin, Shu Yin.

This time, the two brothers came to Luoyang, and they also came specifically to Ben Shuyan. Some time ago, Shu Yan once sent a letter to Ruoxin, wanting to match him with Ruan Shui.

Ruoxin is also the same as Shu Yan, she only treats the Ruan Shan brothers and sisters as a hurried passerby, she never thought that she would be able to meet again, and the Nanyue girl who only had a one-sided relationship was interested in herself. Of course he was very pleased. Although he is already in the age of the weak crown, he is worried that he is still very poor, how can the brothers and sisters of the Ruan family say that they are also people who work for the imperial court, will they really not dislike themselves? Brother Yan thinks about me wholeheartedly, could it be that he didn't consider other people's feelings, too wishful thinking? Moreover, although he and Brother Yan are brothers of the opposite sex, they are like a family. Since my sister's death, as an elder brother, he has been alone and has not started a family, how can I, as a younger brother, go ahead of my brother?

Ruoxin made up her mind, so she didn't dare to accept it rashly. He wrote to Shu Yan, firstly, on the pretext that as his younger brother, he could not precede his brother in starting a family; The second is to shirk that he is a cloth cloth, and he is not worthy of the Ruan family's woman, so please consider it carefully.

Xia Chun also had to write a letter to Shu Yan. It turned out that since Shu Yan went to Luoyang, he had been writing with his family. However, after being transferred to the Chefu Order, he has not communicated with his family. Shujiazhuang can be regarded as waiting for Shu Yan's letter, but the letter does not mention his own recent situation. Xia Tingchang was not at ease, so he dictated it himself and asked Ruoxin to write another letter on his behalf. Xia Chun's purpose in writing this letter was not only to inquire about Shu Yan's current situation, but more importantly, to reflect the situation in his hometown of Xuxue to Shu Yan, so that he could come forward to think of a way.

Since Ruyin removed the country and restored the county, Qiu Shoutai has changed from the minister of the state to the Taishou. The identity has changed, but the heart of corruption has not changed at all. As usual, we will work the two lines of revenue and expenditure. deliberately distorted the standards in terms of taxation, with both light and dark, dealing with the court in the open and filling the private pockets in the dark; However, the use can be reduced, especially in the expenditure of Xuanxue. In the first two years, the expenses of the various schools in Ruyin were completely solved by themselves. Since Shu Yan learned of this situation, he has negotiated with Qiu Shoutai many times. Qiu Shoutai did not dare to ignore Shu Yan's fact that he was an official in the court. Rao is like this, and the salaries of the teaching assistants are only based on the minimum limit, and they are often prevaricated and not paid for various reasons.

This is not only a matter of Shujiazhuang, but also involves dozens of schools in eight counties under the jurisdiction of the entire Ruyin County. Many teaching assistants had no choice but to leave because of the unsustainable salary problem.

Because Xia Chun held the position of the head of Shujiazhuang, he could have sent these two letters to Luoyang through the official post station, but he felt that it didn't seem appropriate. It happened that a merchant ship near the Japanese countryside was going north, but it did not reach Luoyang. Shu Yinzheng was very bored at home, and when he learned the news, he pleaded with his brother, and the two of them volunteered to go to Luoyang in person. Of course, Pavilion Chief Xia was happy, and immediately made up a plate for them. Let the merchant ship carry them for a while, and let them spend the rest to take a passenger ship to continue north to Luoyang.

Shu Jin was more responsible, so he wanted to do what Pavilion Chief Xia instructed. But Shu Yin didn't think so, the purpose of his coming out was to have a good time. After leaving his hometown and seeing all kinds of new things, he couldn't help but feel itchy, and he couldn't control himself, and he spent all his coils in just two days. Although Shu Jin complained about his younger brother fiercely, it didn't help after all. If you don't have money in a foreign land, you can't move an inch. With the trick of stealing when they were children, it was still easy to get some money to go to Luoyang. But they've changed their ways, and they're determined not to do that again. Fortunately, on the road of endless heaven, the two of them met this cargo ship transporting timber to Luoyang. They approached the owner of the ship and asked for a boat ride to Luoyang, and were willing to repay it with hard work. The owner of the ship, seeing that the two young men who were away from home, felt pitiful, agreed to the deal.

Shu Yan was not in a hurry to read the contents of the two letters, but carried them in his arms. He asked Zhang Chi to drive the car, and he walked behind with Shu Jin and Shu Yin, chatting about the affairs of his hometown while escorting two sandalwoods. Shu Yan also told the two of them about his recent situation, and the two of them didn't quite understand the specific difference between Shang Shulang and Che Fu Ling, in short, they felt that it was great to be an official in the imperial court, and the entire Shu family was added to the glory.

A group of people passed through the towering Waiguo City Gate along the main road, and saw that there were countless pedestrians, cars and horses bustling inside and outside the city gate. Shu Jin and Shu Yin were accustomed to a short and lonely city like Ruyin, and now they couldn't help but be overjoyed when they saw this grand scene.

"Luoyang Guo is at the foot of the Son of Heaven, and if I think of my Ruyin's city, I'm afraid it's not as good as one here."

"Not only is it a city location, but compared to this flow of people, what can be seen inside and outside the city gate alone is enough to equal the number of people in the whole city of Ruyin."

After walking for a long time, I saw a majestic city in the distance. Shu Yin was surprised: "We just entered the city gate, why is there another one?" ”

Shu Jin reprimanded him: "You don't know when you're young, don't you know that Luoyang is where the Son of Heaven is, there must be a big palace, and inside the gate in front of you must be the legendary court." ”

Shu Yan listened to the two of them talking thoughtfully, and corrected with a smile: "Luoyang City is indeed divided into the inner city and the outer Guo, from the city gate just now, we are now in the outer city, and most of the people living here are ordinary people. The gate in front is called Xuanyang Gate, but it is not a palace yet, otherwise, how could there be so many people coming and going. Entering the Xuanyang Gate is the inner city, and most of the people living in the inner city are high-ranking officials and nobles. Xuanyang Gate is a royal road that is directly connected to the copper camel street, along the copper camel street to the end, it is the gate of the palace, and the gate is the palace. ”33

Only then did the two of them come to their senses, and Shu Jin couldn't help but sigh again: "I only have a total of four small city gates in Ruyin, and Luoyang is an outer city, an inner city, and a palace city, are you afraid of twelve gates?" ”

One sentence made Zhang Chi laugh: "It's not more." Not to mention the outer city and the palace city, there are twelve gates in the inner city alone! ”

"What? How can there be twelve gates in an inner city with four walls? ”

Zhang Chi looked at Shu Jin's surprised expression and explained: "Each city has four city walls, but each city wall does not have only one gate, but multiple ones. It's just that there is a distinction between primary and secondary, big and small. This inner city has three gates such as Jianchun in the east, four gates such as Xuanyang in the south, three gates such as Chang Qi in the west, and two gates such as Daxia in the north, a total of twelve city gates. ”

"Is it necessary to set up so many gates?"

"Of course it's necessary. Luoyang City is seven miles from east to west, nine miles from north to south, hundreds of streets in the city, vertical and horizontal, if there is only one gate on each side, isn't it very inconvenient......

Some people died, but not completely......