At noon the next day, Luoyang City.

Although it is the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the weather in Luoyang City is still a little hot. There was not even a trace of cloud in the sky, only the bright sun hanging overhead, drying the mouths of passers-by.

Since Luoyang is the capital of Great Qin, it is also the face of Great Qin. Although the Great Qin's expeditions to the east and west have consumed a lot of the treasury in recent years, making life extremely difficult for people in many places, the people in Luoyang City are still well-dressed and do not seem to have been affected at all.

The people who came in and out of the city were in good spirits and well-dressed, and even the steps seemed to be larger.

A luxurious carriage quietly lined up into the city, ready to enter the city.

Xu was a little depressed after sitting in the carriage for a long time, and the curtain door of the carriage was opened, and a head with a hat poked out of it. The man looked at the towering city wall and the bustling crowd on the street in the distance, his big clear eyes showed an extremely complicated look, and he muttered, "I'm back!"

This person is Tang Zixi in disguise, although he did not see Li Ling at the foot of the mountain as promised yesterday, but Su Jing found clues of Jin Wuwei's activities from the surrounding woods, so as to deduce that Li Ling was coerced to leave. After discussion, the two decided to go their separate ways, Su Jing walked into the city first to find out the news, while Tang Zixi disguised himself as a young lady from a large family to enter Beijing to see a doctor.

Her mood was very heavy all the way, and the closer she got to Luoyang City, the more chaotic her heart became. The firmness by the lake finally disappeared the moment he arrived in Luoyang City. She didn't dare to go back, let alone face it. As long as she doesn't see the day with her own eyes, she can deceive herself, everything is fake. Her family is alive and well, her grandmother, her father, her mother, her brother are all alive and well, everything is as usual. But when I really saw the familiar and unfamiliar city gate again, those soldiers in bright armor who walked back and forth, suddenly felt like a world away.

At this moment, the rear of the line suddenly began to stir, and the crowd in line consciously moved out of the way.

Tang Zixi was about to probe to look, only to hear the sound of horses' hooves, a group of cavalry had already shouted loudly and came on horseback, and the wind blew the light yarn on her hat fluttering slightly.

The cavalry was followed by a carriage with a large iron cage. Although the iron cage was covered by a black cloth, it was impossible to see what was inside, but the faint roar of the beast made the crowd invariably move to the side a little more. The animals in the team began to dig the ground restlessly, and if the reins were not still in the hands of their masters, they would have turned around and run away.

The clever groom had already dragged the horses to the side and plugged their ears with cotton cloth, so as to avoid the fate of Tang Zixi rolling off the carriage.

She grabbed the wheels, frowned a little dissatisfied, and said, "Who are these people? How dare you go on a rampage here?"

As soon as she entered Luoyang City, Tang Zixi involuntarily began to recover the momentum of the eldest lady of the Tang family before, and her words were also quite dignified, but she didn't find it herself.

Fortunately, the groom was the person arranged by Su Jing, and he didn't feel anything when he heard the words, he looked left and right, and saw that the crowd was talking about what he had just seen, and no one paid attention to them at all, so he quickly turned around and whispered: "If I guessed correctly, this must be the strange beast that Gou Shangshu ordered people to bring back from the Western Regions, it is said that this strange beast can distinguish human speech, good and evil, and it is a gift that Gou Shangshu intends to offer on the birthday of the queen concubine." ”

"Is Concubine Niangniang's birthday coming soon?" Tang Zixi's mind was a little dazed, and he couldn't help but recall the scene on Concubine Niangniang's birthday in previous years.

At that time, their Tang family was greatly favored, so they could naturally have a place at the birthday banquet, and they still sat in the position closest to the emperor. Coupled with Li Ling's relationship, not only the Tang Mansion will start preparing for this birthday early every year, but Tang Zixi will also carefully prepare a gift. It's a pity that things are wrong now, and now she doesn't even remember this day.

At this moment, a loud voice interrupted her train of thought, and when she looked up, she saw a bearded military general with a murderous face appear at the gate of the city, and shouted loudly to the crowd: "From today onwards, all people who enter the city must go through a strict examination. Those who do not have tokens and no road guides are not allowed to enter the city. Then he waved his hand, and two cold iron fences were laid across the city gates, and several groups of soldiers stood on both sides with swords and guns in their hands, with the same murderous expressions.

"Praetorian Guard!" Tang Zixi recognized their identities at a glance from their clothes, because in her impression, the patrol battalion had always been responsible for guarding the city gate, but how could it suddenly be replaced by the Praetorian Guard. She couldn't help but start worrying if something had gone wrong on Su Jing's side.

The crowd suddenly became chaotic, and the bold ones immediately shouted: "It doesn't make sense, we have been entering the city like this for so many years, why do we suddenly need some token guides?"

The bearded man raised his hand and pointed at the man who spoke, and said coldly: "Arrest it!"

Immediately two soldiers squeezed into the crowd, wrenched the struggling man, and carried him to the bearded man, and one of the soldiers kicked him hard at the crook of the leg, and the man fell to his knees in pain.

The man was quite stiff, and he still craned his neck and shouted: "We are all law-abiding people, why are you doing this to us? Even if you report to Lord Jing Zhaoyin, I am not afraid of you." Do you think so?"

The crowd suddenly became chaotic, and many people began to nod secretly, although they had not yet spoken out, but their dissatisfaction with the bearded man's style had already been expressed.

"Lao Tzu is not one of the soft eggs in the patrol battalion! The bearded man glanced at him and ordered: "Lock him up and beat him for three days, and if he is not honest, he will be sent to Tiecheng, Lao Pang just complained about the shortage of labor there a few days ago." ”

The big man was shocked when he heard this, and said with a look of horror: "I won't go to the Iron City, I won't do labor!" Many people in the crowd also changed their faces.

Seeing this, Tang Zixi asked a little puzzled: "What is the place of Tiecheng?" She has lived in Luoyang for more than ten years, and she has really never heard of this place in Tiecheng.

The groom glanced at the bearded man cautiously and said in a low voice: "The girl doesn't know, the iron city is not a city, but a new weapons processing workshop ordered by the emperor last month, in a village thirty miles away. It is said that more than a dozen charred corpses are thrown out every day, and the surrounding people are so frightened that they have long since moved out. That's why everyone is so scared when it comes to this iron city. ”

"Weapons workshop?" Tang Zixi was stunned, and secretly wondered in his heart: Could it be that the emperor is going to send troops to fight again?

"My lord, spare my life, my lord! There is an eighty-year-old lady in the small family, and a three-year-old child in the bottom, and the whole family points to me alone. Spare your life!" the man clung to the iron fence, and the soldier did not move after a few tugging, and looked at the bearded general with some embarrassment.

The bearded man snorted coldly, slammed his feet over, only to hear two crisp sounds, the man's hand was suddenly broken, and his two soft arms let out a heart-rending wail.

"Drag it off!"

The soldiers hurriedly grabbed the man's leg and dragged him away.

The crowd, who were still angry, suddenly fell silent, and they didn't know whether they were frightened by the fierceness of the beard or the threat of being sent to the Iron City.

"Next!" A young scholar at the front of the line was so frightened that his knees almost fell, but fortunately the kind lady next to him helped him.

He nodded gratefully at the eldest lady and moved forward tremblingly.

The bearded man knocked on the iron fence impatiently and said, "Hurry up! Do you want Lao Tzu to help you?"

"No, no, no. The scholar hurriedly trotted to the iron fence, raised the road guide in his hand above his head with both hands, and said respectfully, "This is the road guide below, please take a look." ”

The bearded man took the road in his hand and flipped it casually, then waved his hand and let go.

The scholar was pardoned, and crawled all the way into the city.

The next thing was very smooth, and soon they arrived at the carriage where Tang Zixi was riding, and the groom bowed down and stepped forward to present the token.

The bearded man took the token and glanced at it, and was about to wave his hand to let it go, when he saw the carriage slowly passing by, he frowned, pointed to the airtight curtain and said, "Who is inside?"

The groom hurriedly replied, "It's our young lady!"

The bearded man snorted and said, "Let her come down!"

The groom suddenly looked embarrassed, and said with a wry smile: "My lord doesn't know, our young lady accidentally contracted a serious disease, and this time she came to Beijing to seek medical treatment." ”

The bearded man was obviously not very patient, and shouted angrily, "Come down!" Several soldiers drew their long knives and surrounded the carriage.

The groom had no choice but to hurriedly walk to the carriage and whisper, "Miss, why don't you come down and let the adults take a look." ”

"Good!" came a faint voice from inside the carriage, and then the curtain door was lifted, and a woman with a hat came out, although the hat was covered with a black veil and her face could not be seen clearly, but from the figure it was indeed a woman.

The bearded man's face softened, and he continued, "Take off the hat!"

"Adults, by all means!" the groom was startled, and hurriedly fell to his knees, "Miss's illness cannot be seen. ”

The bearded man made a look, a soldier understood, and the long knife picked off the hat on the woman's head, revealing a face full of abscesses and red spots, and the surrounding crowd couldn't help but gasp when they saw this, and they all stepped back. Even the soldiers who surrounded the carriage took two steps back with some fear.

The bearded man glanced at the extremely ugly face, frowned, and said, "If you are so sick that you dare to enter Beijing, what if you infect other people? No, you can't enter the city." After saying that, he threw the token in his hand, "Next!"

Tang Zixi was shocked when she heard this, if she was not allowed to enter the city, then what would she do all the way to do, and said busily: "Adult Mingjian, the little girl's disease will not be passed on......"

"You, come here!" the bearded man didn't listen to her at all, and pointed directly at a thin man at the front of the line.

Who knew that the thin man was glared at by him, and simply collapsed on the ground and couldn't move anymore.

The bearded man frowned and said, "I don't want to enter the city, do I?" suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "Close the city gate!"

"Wait!"