After a slow ascent of about a quarter of an hour on the not very steep mountain road, and then a small bend was turned, and a snow-paved city appeared in front of the five people.

From a distance, this walled city has the momentum of being a man and a man. The walled wall was built in a recess between two mountains, which were the natural barriers of the walled city. Although these two mountains are not high, but Yanjing Village has an arrow tower on the top of the mountain, there is a low wall under the arrow tower, and there are sword guards behind the low wall, it is extremely difficult to break into the village from here, it is estimated that the archers on the arrow tower have not yet reached the top of the mountain and shot into a sieve.

Looking at the arrow tower on the top of the mountain, Qing Geng remembered the scene when he first came to this Yanjing Village, which was really dangerous. Before Qing Geng served as the salt patrol imperial history, he had never been to this salt well village, and he had never even come to Mo'er Kanfu, so he was completely parachuted here suddenly. Qing Geng has never seen the previous salt patrol imperial history, and he doesn't know who he is, but he heard the sergeant below say that this person's name is Deng Luping, and he has never gone to Yanjing Village to inspect once a year. One day, Deng Luping received a letter and rushed out of the government alone, but never returned. He left the house without telling the sergeant below where he went, and the sergeant below could not find him. After looking for half a month, he was still nowhere to be seen, but the matter of salt and iron was the top priority of the imperial court, and it was not possible to be without a person without a person for a day, and the emperor who got the news transferred the newly released Qinggeng over. Listening to the sergeant below, Master Jiang Zuo Du Yushi was originally going to arrange his own people to take over this position, but Qing Geng was transferred to this post by the emperor's order, and Lord Jiang Zuo Du Yushi could only give up. Since Qing Geng took over this position, Jiang Zuo has tried his best to woo him, but he has never made his attitude clear, but he has only been quite friendly with the patrol iron imperial Shi Qiao Zhengchu.

Qing Geng first came to Yanjing Village to inspect the salt affairs, the guards did not recognize him, and thought that he was a wrongdoer, so they opened their bows and arrows, sharpened their knives, and fortunately he carried the office documents and official seals with him.

A guard in front of the gate saw someone coming from a distance, and opened his mouth to shout, "Stop coming, this is the imperial court salt field, and idle people are not allowed to enter." "Hearing this, I know that this guard is new, since Qing Geng served as the salt patrol imperial history, although it is not diligent, but the short is half a month, the long is two months, will come to Yanjing Village to inspect once, those old guards have seen Qing Geng many times, how can there be no reason.

The archers on the walled wall did not look at who the people were, and they all opened their bows and arrows, and the archers on the arrow tower on the mountain heard the movement, and they were all waiting for the battle. The green and black warriors hurriedly took off their shields from the right side of the horse's body, held them in their hands, and drove their horses forward to block the green ploughing horses.

The other guard looked in front of him and hurriedly whispered to the guard before: "The young man Qingqiu who is the leader is the imperial court appointed to patrol the salt imperial Shi Qinggeng. ”

Before the words fell, I heard Qinggeng shouting: "This official is patrolling the salt imperial history Qinggeng, and he was ordered to come to Guizhai to inspect the salt affairs, please don't do it." ”

The guard in the back looked back and raised his hand, and shouted: "The person who is coming is Qingyushi, don't do it, put down your bow and arrows." ”

The archers on the walled wall and the arrow tower put away their bows and arrows one after another, and the green horses and black horse armor soldiers also put away their shields before they let Qing Geng out again.

The guard from before asked in a low voice, "Why did Qing Geng come so quickly, isn't it that what happened three days ago was revealed?"

The guard behind him whispered: "Don't panic, lest they see any flaws, you go in and inform the owner of the village, leave it to me here, and I'll delay them for a while." ”

The guard answered and turned back into the walled city.

The five Qing cultivators were already approaching the gate of the village, and the guard who stayed behind raised his hand and said with a smile: "The grass people see Lord Yushi." ”

The five Qinggeng dismounted one after another, led the horses up a few steps, and said, "No need to be polite." ”

The guard waved at the four armor soldiers again, and said, "Vice General Gao, Vice General Jiang, Vice General Cui, and Vice General Lu, don't come here unharmed?"

Jiang Yi scratched his scalp and asked, "Are you?"

The guard smiled, "Grass people Li Fu." ”

Jiang Yi and the four of them looked embarrassed, and they all hugged their fists and said: "Guard Li, forgive me, please forgive me for not having any impression of you." ”

Li Fu was not angry, but said with a smile: "The grass people have only seen you from a distance before, and your demeanor makes the grass people timid, and they don't dare to come forward to talk, no wonder you don't know the grass people." ”

Jiang Yi and the four of them laughed together.

Qing Geng remembered this Li Fu, but at that time he was only serving tea and pouring water, and he had only been seen for a month, and he actually served as the guard of the walled gate. Don't underestimate the guards of this walled gate, if the guards at the fork in the mountain are just eyes, then the guards of this walled gate are the nerves of the brain, and have the right to decide the entry and exit of personnel, which is related to the stability of the walled city, and looking at the posture of the archers he commanded, he is obviously the leader of this group of people.

Qing Geng looked at the back of the guard who had entered the village earlier and asked, "What is that guard going to do?"

Li Fu glanced back, then turned around and said with a smile: "The grass people asked him to go in and inform the owner of the village, saying that Lord Yushi is here." ”

Qing Geng nodded and said, "I'm tired." He paused, and then asked Li Fu: "Li Shouwei, this official still has a doubt, and he still wants to tell him." ”

Li Fudao: "It's okay for Lord Yushi to ask, but the grass people know something, and they must tell the truth." ”

Qing Geng said: "In the past, this official came to Guizhai to inspect the salt business, and there have always been outpost guards at the fork in the mountain, I don't know where those guards have gone today?"

Li Fu's eyes flashed, and he said: "The owner of the village only said that the heavy snow suddenly arrived today, and the weather was cold, and he couldn't bear the cold of the brothers, but he didn't take care of the matter of salt affairs, and he didn't think about it. ”

Qing Geng just smiled and said: "It's okay, it's okay, it's the most important thing for the people in Guizhai to be free of disease and pain, if you freeze your body, it's not good, I'm afraid that this official will end up with an inconsiderate mouth." ”

Li Fu smiled: "Lord Yushi said that he was laughing!"

At this moment, I saw that the previous guard had already led a few people back, and the first one Qinggeng was very familiar with it, it was Zheng Chudong, the deputy owner of Yanjing Village, except for Zhanpeng, the owner of the village, he was the person who negotiated the most with Qinggeng in Yanjing Village. He led a few people over, and said respectfully to Qing Gengzuo: "I've seen Lord Yushi." ”

Qing Geng signaled that Zheng Chudong didn't need to be polite, and Zheng Chudong said again: "It's cold outside, Lord Yushi, please go inside." ”

Qing Geng retracted his glance at the eyes of several people behind Zheng Chudong, strode away, and asked, "Is the owner of the Zhanzhai in the village?"

Zheng Chudong immediately said: "The owner of the village is holding a banquet for Lord Yushi, and ordered his subordinates to lead Lord Yushi to the lobby to serve tea first, and he will come to accompany him later." ”

Qing Geng said: "Don't bother, this official will leave after inspecting the salt business." ”

Zheng Chudong said: "It's just a trivial matter, why do you have to work hard! We have freshly boiled fine salt, and I am about to ask Lord Yushi to see the condition, so that the grass people and others can understand how many catties and taels they have, so as not to anger the officials, and by the way, I also ask Lord Yushi to taste the newly arrived snow buds." ”

Qing Geng's eyes lit up and said, "Since the fine salt is newly boiled, let's take a look." ”

Zheng Chudong immediately said: "The owner of the village has ordered someone to fetch new salt, Lord Yushi, all the guards here, please, let's go to the lobby to drink tea and wait." ”

Qinggeng and a few people followed Zheng Chudong into Yanjing Village, and deliberately paid attention to the deployment in the village, but there was not much change, but the previous patrol team is not there today, and the archers on the arrow tower are more energetic than before. On the left side of Yanjing Village is the Punishment Hall, and there is a plaque hanging on the door of the hall, which reads "Dagong is selfless"; on the right is the Internal Affairs Hall, and the plaque reads "Orderly and Reasonable"; in the middle is the lobby, and Yanjing and the Treasury Hall are behind the lobby, which cannot be seen here, and what can be seen now is that there are many people in the village shoveling snow, and even outside the lobby there are a lot, and Qinggeng can't help but take a few more looks.

Zheng Chudong was shocked in his heart, and thought: He can't find any clues, isn't it, isn't it that I have arranged too many people to shovel snow?

Despite this, his face did not change, and he said: "The snow is paved with the ground, the ground is slippery, if you don't shovel it in time, I'm afraid it will be inconvenient to walk, and you won't be able to go to work, so I sent more people to do it faster." ”

Qing Geng suddenly asked, "Can you shovel around the salt well?"

Zheng Chudong was stunned for a moment, and then immediately smiled: "It's shoveled." ”

As he was talking, the group had already entered the lobby with the plaque reading "Zhongyi Hall".

There is not much difference between Zhongyi Hall and other living rooms, that is, there is less of the smell of books, more of a reckless atmosphere, the main seat is a wide red lacquer Taishi chair, behind the chair is a large screen, on which is painted a picture of "the tiger descending the mountain", majestic; there are also some screens behind the guest seats lined up in a row on both sides, all of which are painted with fierce beasts and fierce birds, and none of them are painted with flowers and plants.

Qing Geng was arranged by Zheng Chudong to the position of the first on the right, the second from the right looked at Gao Chang who did not carry any weapons, the third from the right was Jiang Yi with a shield and a knife, the fourth from the right was Cui Hanliang with a bow and arrow, and the fifth from the right was another Lu Dengquan with a shield and a knife;

Although the salt patrol imperial history and the general are the same as the seven officials, but the general is a military general, and the commander is in charge of 440 soldiers; and the salt patrol imperial history is a civil service, according to the practice of the imperial court, it should not be in charge of the soldiers, but the salt field is mostly located in the seaside, remote mountainous areas, and the benefits are large, easy to provoke people's eyes, so most of them are operated by brave people, among which there are many people in the rivers and lakes, the salt patrol imperial history has to deal with these people, naturally can not be alone, otherwise if you encounter rebellion, your own casualties are small, so that the prestige of the court is damaged. However, if he was put in charge of hundreds of soldiers, it was afraid that it would cause dissatisfaction among the commander-in-chief and cause a greater rebellion, so the imperial court stipulated that there could be 50 soldiers under the command of a patrol official like the Salt Inspector.

Qinggeng's command was originally also fully staffed, but in the past two years, the war in the imperial court has been tight, and the supply of soldiers is insufficient, so there are only 378 people. Half a month ago, when Qiao Zhengchu came to look for friends from Qinggeng, he found that someone had made weapons privately, so he was ready to go to arrest the initiator, but because he did not bring the soldiers to come, he seconded 30 soldiers from Qinggeng to arrest the important people involved in the case, but how could these people who dared to make weapons privately be good? After a hard battle, although this workshop of private weapons was leveled, Qiao Zhengchu's side also suffered heavy casualties, and the soldiers were four or five, and 13 people were lost. Therefore, Qing Geng can only bring as few guards as possible to patrol the salt business.