Gyeongju is located in the northwest of the Great Song Dynasty, and further north is the territory of the Qiang people in Xiazhou. And "Hulu County" is in the northernmost part of Gyeongju, which is really a place where the emperor is far away from the mountains, and the chickens do not lay eggs and the birds do not.

Zhao Heng didn't know such a place originally, but the Song-Liao battle was a stalemate a while ago. The northwest side is a little ready to move, and the Qiang people seem to have the intention of taking advantage of the fire to rob. Zhao Heng received the military intelligence report mentioning such a small county town, and Zhao Heng would know about it.

Hulu County was originally called Hulu County, which is said to be named after the only water source in the county, Lushui, and there are many Hu merchants and Hu people in the city, so it is called Hulu County. Later, word of mouth spread that it was mistakenly pronounced Hulu County.

Hulu County is located in the northwest, with a harsh climate and barren land. In addition, it is close to the border and is often harassed by the Qiang people in Xiazhou, so the living environment is very bad, and there are very few residents in the city, and it is said that there are only a few dozen families at the least.

Zhao Heng heard about such a situation, so he had a whim and demoted Chen Ao to this ghost place to be the county magistrate. He thought to himself, if you kid want to go to Jiangnan to enjoy happiness, I can't let you succeed!

Of course, he had no intention of killing Chen Ao. Because although it is close to the border, it is not very likely that there will be a war. First, at this time, Xia Zhou was still a courtier of the Great Song Dynasty on the surface, and there was no public rebellion against independence. Especially after the signing of the alliance between Song and Liao this time, the arrogance of the northwest was extinguished. Some careerists also immediately died down.

Second, the Qiang people were also divided into many tribes, and they were far from becoming a unified Western Xia state a few decades later. Their internal strife has not yet been sorted out, and naturally they have no intention of expanding outward. Therefore, Hulu County is located in the northwest border, and it is much safer than some places on the Song-Liao border.

Zhao Heng demoted Chen Ao here just to make him suffer a little and let his "arrogant" arrogance converge. It's best to live a year and a half, and Chen Ao will run back to the capital in disgrace and cry to him. Zhao Heng felt that in this way, his vanity could be greatly satisfied.

Chen Ao was confused and accepted such a position as the magistrate of Hulu County, and he didn't think much about it. First, he didn't know where Gyeongju was, and second, he didn't know where Hulu County was. There is no way to know Zhao Heng's "sinister intentions", so he is naturally ignorant.

He knew that Zhao Hengken had already given great grace to let his family leave safely, and it would be a bit too much to force it again. Therefore, Chen Ao took the order.

That night, Chen Ao packed up the henchmen in Lanzhou City, including Feng Hu, Qin Lang and others, and everyone got together. Then, he sent two people to quietly rush back to the capital, back to his marquis' mansion, and so on, and so on.

Two days later, just when the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty had just set off and the class teacher returned to the court, Chen Ao also quietly resigned to Zhao Heng, took a kind of family member, parted ways with the army, and went west. At the same time, the capital returned to the Yihou Mansion, and a mourning team also came out of the mansion. A line of dozens of sturdy men, dressed in linen and filial piety, blowing, blowing, sprinkling paper money, carrying a coffin, swaggering through the market.

Chen Ao has been martyred in name, and it is reasonable for these Chen Ao's family members to come to his funeral. It's just that there is no female dependent, which always makes people feel inexplicable. Those small people in the market only regard this martyred marquis as not a woman, and they are good at these mighty men.

Qin Lang and Feng Hu took their heads, barely pretending to be sad, and their eyes glanced to the sides from time to time, for fear that something would go wrong. Behind them, the coffin was carried by eight big men, and it was still wobbly and very difficult. What was in this coffin was not a corpse, but the gold and silver treasures that Chen Aoxin had worked hard to "accumulate" for a long time!

There is the silver he got from the Liangfu mine, the silver accumulated on the helmsman of the Yan Gang, and the gifts and bribes he received after he became the leader of the martial arts alliance and entered the capital. Chen Aoke pointed to this money for the rest of his life, of course, he had to be cautious.

He was afraid that Zhao Heng would know about this matter and make an obstacle from it and take the opportunity to rectify him. Therefore, he sent his henchmen to use this method to transfer property before Zhao Heng returned to the capital. Fortunately, few people in Beijing knew that he was still alive, and such a move did not attract much attention.

The coffin went out of the city smoothly, and Feng Hu and Qin Lang entered the woods with the funeral procession. A few mule carts had already been prepared here. The people changed into mourning clothes, opened the coffin, loaded the gold, silver and jewelry into the cart, and disguised themselves as wagons. The group turned into chariot and horse dealers again.

It's just that these guys are all cold-blooded killers who kill people without blinking. If the thief doesn't have long eyes and robs them all, I'm afraid that the entire cottage will be served in one pot.

Chen Ao agreed to Zhao Heng and no longer paid attention to the affairs of the martial arts. His title of martial arts alliance leader was originally a joke. As for the Salt Gang, the reforms promoted by himself are also on the right track, and with or without him as the helmsman, the impact is no longer great. The only people he left behind were a team of Salt Gang disciples led by Qin Lang and Zhao Ling's Ghost Hidden Society.

These people have now become Chen Ao's guards. After taking office in Hulu County, he will be the county government's fast soap catcher, and it can be said that all of them have been successfully whitewashed.

Chen Ao took a few women and slowly walked west, not in a hurry. Zhao Heng did not set a date for him to take office, and Chen Ao simply traveled all the way to Chang'an, where he met with the treasure team of Qin Lang, Feng Hu and others. The team is strong, and Chen Ao is also relieved to be bold. Although he went all the way to the northwest from then on, he felt a little poor and evil, and Chen Ao didn't care about it.

Chen Ao sent people to Gyeongju to find out the situation, and he still took everyone to walk slowly. There is only one Xiao Shuixian among the few women around him, but after a few days of getting along and gradually getting acquainted, they become harmonious, unlike ordinary families with groups of wives and concubines, and there is intrigue between women. Chen Ao naturally credits himself with this result.

In fact, all this is because Zhao Ling and Xuanning are older enough to be tolerant and witty enough. Yunlu looks down on life and death, so naturally she will not fight for anything. Although Liang Xiaoya and Xiao Shuixian have a bit of arrogant personalities, they are only petty and will never act excessively.

Among this group, the only one who is a little out of place is probably the youngest Long Qingping. From beginning to end, she appeared as Chen Ao's bodyguard, and although there was some ambiguity between her and Chen Ao, she never broke through that layer of relationship. First, it was because Chen Ao felt that he already had five wives and concubines, and he really shouldn't be greedy anymore. Second, Long Qingping is still young, and she can be regarded as a little Lori with strong martial arts. How can he be so bright as the flower of the motherland?

However, Zhao Ling and Xuan Ning didn't think so. During the confrontation between Song and Liao, Long Qingping risked his life to enter and exit the Liao army for Chen Ao. This affection can be seen by the blind. Zhao Ling and Xuan Ning privately summed up, and decided to match the two.

They were thinking about how to start, but they had already arrived at their destination, Hulu County. Chen Ao rode on a horse and walked in front of the team, with Qin Lang and Feng Hu on the left and right respectively. Seeing a half-collapsed earthen city wall in front of him, Chen Ao couldn't help but be a little stunned. He put his hand on the pergola, looked and looked, and said to himself, "I'm coming...... It can't be this place, right?"