At night, two desks were set up in the backyard of the inn, and there were naan bread, meat and vegetables, which were filled with mats.

Zhou Jun sat upright on the folding chair, looking up at the bright moon in the night sky, and Huayue was by his side, gently peeling the fruits and vegetables.

There was a sound of footsteps at the end of the courtyard.

Zhou Junxun looked at the voice and saw the judge Feng in the daytime, with his hands behind his back and frowning, standing at the entrance of the courtyard.

Seeing Judge Feng coming alone, Zhou Jun praised his courage in his heart, then stood up and reached out to make a "please" action.

Judge Feng did not move his steps, but asked Zhou Jun: "Who are you?"

Zhou Jun looked at the other party and smiled and said, "Your real name is Feng Changqing, a native of Yishi County, Puzhou. When you were young, you were exiled to Anxi for crimes and served as the guard of Hucheng. In the early years of Tianbao, Daxi's tribe suppressed the rebellion. Before the war ended, you will privately draw a good news report, which states the wellbore, spring water, garrison, tactics, etc., which is almost consistent with the war. Gao Dupu was surprised to see it..."

Feng Changqing became more and more frightened as he heard it, and asked loudly: "Who are you?!"

Zhou Jun smiled and took off the fish talisman from his waist, and let Huayue pass it to Feng Changqing's hands.

The latter took the fish talisman carefully and saw the words on it through the fire. His eyes widened and he hurriedly walked up to sing: "I've seen Zhou Jian."

Zhou Jun smiled and said, "Sit down and talk."

Feng Changqing hesitated for a moment and sat in front of the desk.

Zhou Jun poured himself and drank it himself, and said to Feng Changqing: "No need to be restrained, just treat it as a banquet for friends."

Feng Changqing responded, looked at Zhou Jun, and asked hesitantly: "Zhou Jian is the Longyou interview envoy appointed by the imperial court. Since he came to Shicheng Town, why not inform him in advance?"

Zhou Jun sipped the wine in the glass and said slowly: "Anxi is not as powerful as the Central Plains, with many forces and complexity... Sometimes, hiding one's identity is more convenient to act."

When Feng Changqing heard this, he recalled what he did in Shicheng during the day, nodded and understood.

Zhou Jun: "In the sixth year of Tianbao, you followed Gao Dupu to defeat the Xiao Bolu Kingdom, which was dependent on Tubo. Such an unparalleled contribution can be called the pillar of the Tang Dynasty."

When ordinary people hear these praises, they are mostly happy and say a few words of humility.

But Feng Changqing just stuck his neck and corrected Zhou Jun, saying, "Zhou Jian, this is a bad thing. If you want to break Xiao Bo's rule, your first merit should be the Gao Dugu. You are just in the supervision and transportation of food and grass. How can you talk about the word "master"?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jun smiled helplessly and asked, "As the judge of the Jiedushi, your job should be to deal with the military farming and expenses of the four towns of Anxi. How could you come to Shicheng Town?"

Feng Changqing: "It was supposed to be like this, but since the beginning of the year, Changxingfang came to Anxi mostly on the Dunhuang ancient road. Shicheng Town gradually replaced Yanqi Town and became the gateway to Anxi Changxingfang. Therefore, in the past six months, half of the time spent dealing with commercial roads in Shicheng Town."

Zhou Jun nodded slightly and asked again: "Then today in the lobby, I saw you browsing through the inn, but who are you looking for?"

Feng Changqing opened his mouth and said, thinking about it, then swallowed it back and changed his words: "It's just a case investigation, it's not a big deal."

Zhou Jun observed his words and expressions and knew that the other party was unwilling to tell the truth.

Zhou Jun thought about it carefully. After all, it was his first time meeting and he was not familiar with each other. It was natural for Feng Changqing to keep his words.

Thinking of this, Zhou Jun put down this topic and asked Feng Changqing: "I'll ask you something. Since you are a judge, is there any difficulty in spending money and food in the Anxi Protectorate?"

Hearing this question, Feng Changqing, who usually manages the military farms of the Protectorate, seemed to have opened up his conversation and complained to Zhou Jun: "The Anxi Jieduan Funing Western Regions, governs the four towns of Kucha, Yanqi, Yutian, and Shule, with 24,000 soldiers. Each garrison commander has another 3,000 to 5,000 troops. Another army, town, guard, beacon, garrison, etc., each garrison ranges from one thousand to dozens. After all, the soldiers in Anxi are very complicated and uneven."

"However, although Anxi is vast, most of them are poor mountains and rivers, and the military farms are not abundant, and the taxes and tributes are also low. In addition, the number of ethnic groups in the Western Regions is large and widely distributed, so it is even more difficult to apply for taxation in a unified manner." "So, the grain and silk that the Anxi Protectorate in warehouses every year can sometimes not even make up for the food and salary of the soldiers of the Dufu Army, let alone other part of the Rongwei Army."

Zhou Jun could understand Feng Changqing's statement.

The Anxi Protectorate needs to be under the jurisdiction of too large. If you only look at the map, the land under its jurisdiction accounts for almost one-fifth of the entire Tang Dynasty. Although the Anxi soldiers recorded in the Book of Tang are 24,000, the actual number of troops under the Anxi is far greater than this number.

Therefore, the court allocated grain money every year to supplement the Anxi Protectorate in the form of Changxingfang. This is the reason.

Feng Changqing: "Earlier, Wang Zhongsi had restructured commercial taxes to raise military salaries. Gao Dudu wanted to follow suit when he saw this, so he asked the leaders of various races to discuss it, and finally parted in a bad mood."

Hearing this, Zhou Jun remembered something and asked Feng Changqing: "The court wants to reopen the ancient Dunhuang Road. What impact will this move have on Anxi?"

Feng Changqing: "If the Dunhuang ancient road is reopened, it will be beneficial to the Anxi Protectorate, but it will be a bad thing for some people."

Zhou Jun: "Some people?"

Feng Changqing: "The towns of the prefectures that the northern line trade routes, such as Gaochang and Yiwu, are controlled by the Sogdians and Longyou Heroes. If the Dunhuang Commercial Road is opened, the caravans will definitely abandon the Northern Line in order to save costs, which is obviously unfavorable for the Sogdians and Longyou Heroes."

"Guardian Gao was overjoyed when he heard that the court wanted to open the Dunhuang commercial road and ordered Feng to cooperate with him. However, some sluts in Anxi were all focused on their own interests and tried their best to make trouble."

Zhou Jun put down his wine glass and said, "Do you know the true identities of those soldiers who pretend to be Liang Governor Changfang today?"

Feng Changqing shook his head first and then said, "I don't know, but it's okay. Someone has sent someone to set out from Shicheng Town. In less than three days, they can obtain the order of the Protectorate. Once the order is in hand, some people will be interrogated. Even if the Shicheng Town Guardian comes forward in person, they will not be able to plead for mercy."

Zhou Jun smiled slightly, looked at Feng Changqing and said, "Three days? I'm afraid there will be no one to mention it in three days."

Feng Changqing was stunned and asked in confusion: "No one can mention it? How can Zhou Jian explain this?"

Zhou Jun shook his head, just drank and chatted with Feng Changqing, and no longer studied it in depth.

Although the latter is confused, it is hard to ask again.

Three days later, Feng Changqing invited the Anxi Protectorate's Order and went to the prison guard to interrogate the prison.

Ling Shi, who was guarding the prison, looked embarrassed and explained to Feng Changqing: "Dare you know that the prisoners who were taken to him three days ago were only in prison for the middle of the night. He got acutely ill early the next morning and all died."

Feng Changqing was shocked when he heard this and shouted, "Die?!"

The prison commander nodded and said, "The body is still parked in the charity village in the back, and the coroner is planning to take a test of the autopsy."

Feng Changqing rushed out of prison with a quick step, and then walked into the charity house in the backyard of the house.

When I opened the door, a stinking stinking came to my face.

Feng Changqing covered his mouth and nose with his sleeves, rushed into the hall, pushed the coroner away, and lifted the mortal coffin.

I saw that the body in the coffin was the head of the prisoner team who fought with him that day.

The latter has a blue-black face, a sudden eyeball, and several blood marks on his throat. He looks miserable and can't bear to look at him.

Feng Changqing was going to come to the coroner to cut open the dead man's trachea and pick out some petals stained with black blood and strange-shaped appearance from the tip of the knife.

Seeing the petals, Feng Changqing shook his palm, took a breath of cold air, and whispered to himself: "Hidden Gate."

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