Li Ji Mule and Horse Company arranged for two coachmen, one named Mao Sixteen and the other named Kang Qinian, and Yang Zhi recruited a man named Jian Ru, and the other was Li Gon. After resting in Changping Village for the night, they were all raised eyebrows when they left, but to the surprise of Li Gon and others, Yang Zhi did not go to Yanzhou as Cao Qianli said, but changed the road from the three-way intersection in front of Changping Village, and drove the mule cart all the way to Pingxia City, the seat of the Huaide Army.

The Huaide army governed Tangqiang, Lingping, Tongxia, Zhenqiang, Jiuyang, Tongyuan, Shengqiang Qiqi and Xiaoguan, which was the only way for the Central Plains to the Western Regions. Shaosheng four years, when Zhang Ji knew Weizhou, Yang Weizhong led his troops out of the gourd river, built two cities at the mouth of the Shimenxia River, the yin of the good water river, it took 22 days to become, Song Zhezong gave the name of Pingxia City and Lingping Yan; Xia Chongzong Li Qianshun and his mother Empress Dowager Liang personally led hundreds of thousands of Xia soldiers to besiege Pingxia, fought hard for 14 days and retreated, it is said that the Empress Dowager Liang was so angry that she scratched her face, Pingxia City became famous in a battle, and became an unbreakable Xiongguan of the Great Song Dynasty.

Li Gon and the others thought that Yang Zhi was worried that Shi Dangdang would intercept them along the way, so they changed the route for safety reasons; Yang Zhi didn't think so at all, and it was a decision that had already been made to come to Pingxia City, because Wang Shu, the county commander of Pingxia City, was his friend and was on the same list. Yang Zhi only used five hundred taels of silver to buy tea this time, one was to explore the way, and the other was to prepare a failed record considering that there was a task, so after discussing with Xie Shi, he circled Pingxia City as an opportunity to enter the northwest market.

Considering the hard work of the border army, Yang Zhi brought Wang Shu an additional set of porcelain and two sets of Bianliang Xiangfutang costumes in addition to tea, plus ten bottles of Fan Lou's Hezhi wine. Wang Shu was very happy with Yang Zhi's arrival, and he was the only general in the Northwest Garrison who did not take his boss Tong Guan as a thing, so the small shoes of the Huaide Army could never be worn;

Wang Shu's figure is still as slender and capable as before, with a smile in his eyes, and he speaks in a gentle manner; Wang Shu and Yang Zhi greeted each other a little, so they first let people inspect the goods, report to the planter, and then according to the custom, they received Yang Zhi's tea leaves for 700 wen a catty, and gave Yang Zhi 700 wen a catty of green salt. These green salts were all smuggled goods confiscated by the Huaide Army, and the planter did not fill his pockets, but opened a salt contract to bring back to the merchants who came to the Huaide Army, but in the past year, Yang Zhi was the first order.

After the matter was done, Yang Zhi arranged for Li Gon and others to stay at the inn, and he brought gifts home with Wang Shu; Pingxia City was a military town, and there was nothing interesting to do, so it was still early, so the two of them went out of the city to hunt once. Yang Zhi was riding a war horse for the first time, and he was a little worried at first, but after half an hour, he gradually became familiar with it; Yang Zhi's body was already good at riding, and as soon as his timidity was gone, the original appearance of the blue-faced beast itself was revealed.

The gourd river is a no-man's land, the mountains are undulating, the rocks are full of rocks, there are many wild beasts, the two of them galloped for more than an hour, and shot a forest musk deer, a red-bellied golden pheasant and two rabbits; most of them are the credit of Wang Shu, Yang Zhi only shot the forest musk deer. Seeing that Yang Zhi took the musk, Wang Shu said with deep understanding: "Brother Yang, you have been in Bianliang for too long, and the bow horse is a little rusty. ”

Wang Shu knew that Yang Zhi's kung fu was above himself, and he had a great reputation in the martial arts during this time, but after not killing the enemy on a horse for a long time, Yang Zhi's kung fu on the bow horse was obviously lagging behind. Yang Zhi said with a smile: "I am a little common man now, the bow horse is useless, and I am satisfied if I can earn some money to support myself every year." ”

Wang Shu shook his head regretfully, he originally wanted to persuade Yang Zhi to join the border army, but Yang Zhi had no idea of this, so he had to give up. The two returned to the city, and in the separate courtyard where Wang Shu lived, Wang Shu asked the chef in the army to cook game, fry a few dishes, and with the wine brought by Yang Zhi, they sat down at a small table to eat and drink. The two talked about the past, Wang Shu asked about eating dragons very casually during the conversation, Yang Zhi could only be secretly shocked by the smooth news of Kyoto by the generals at the border pass, so he said his story lightly.

After Yang Zhi finished speaking, he changed his words: "The virtuous brother has been in the northwest for a long time, and he is familiar with the local characters, but he knows that the Crane Mingfeng in Shuzhong, the Iron Finger Xing Ke, the Ghost Dao Xia Gu, the Stone Hero who is all evil, and the drunken scholar Zheng Chuang of Kongtong, which kind of immortals are these people?"

Wang Shu smiled and said, "You really asked the right person." Tong Guan was able to control the northwest in a short period of time, in addition to the emperor's trust, he also got the help of two people, one was the Qizhou Zhejia, and the other was the wild dragon Zhuoli. You know better than me that the Qizhou family is the emperor of the soil in the Shenmu area, and the wild dragon Zhuoli is a horse thief in the northwest, and even the people of the Western Xia are afraid of three points. All those who did not obey were either removed from their posts or assassinated, and Wang Hou had no choice but to return to Bianliang soon after retaking Hehuang. ”

Yang Zhi sighed: "We only heard good news in Bianliang, how do we know that there are so many twists and turns." ”

"I heard that my brother killed the ghost Dao Xia Gu with one move, it is really very happy, they are ostensibly high-rollers, but in fact, they are the people responsible for the assassination under Tong Guan, and several officers of our Huaide Army died at their hands. Wang Shu picked up a piece of venison and said: "Heming Peak in Shuzhong is a loose place for cultivating real people, and there are people in the Qingcheng faction, Tianshi Dao, Tang Sect, and Jindan Sect; ”

Yang Zhi nodded and said: "Zhang San's appearance was an accident, and Shi Dang's retreat was even more unexpected, either in Changping Village to test me, or they had more important things that day." It's up to us to see if we can solve the mystery on the way back, and if no one looks for me, it's a misunderstanding. ”

Yang Zhi guessed in his heart that these people were here to judge whether they were sent by Cao Qianli, Changping Village was the only way to go west of Yan'an City, and he would rest for the night when he turned back. Yang Zhi didn't expect that the seed master was a person who cherished talents, and heard Wang Shu say that Yang Zhi was unwilling to be in the border army, so he specially wrote two letters and sent them, one was to his younger brother Qinzhou Zhizhou Planter, and the other was to his friend Jingyuan Army Soldier Ma Cha Yang Keshi, and the seed master asked the two to help Yang Zhi in the letter.

Yang Zhi knew that it was not because of his own face, but that Wang Shu had made a lot of effort, and said to Wang Shu before leaving: "Brother Xian, if you have time to go back to Bianliang, you must remember to come to me, even if I am not there, my companion Xie Shi must be there." If conditions permit, I will come back in a while, and you must tell me what supplies you need. ”