The next day, Zhou Jun, who was riding on his horse, was still thinking about the conversation he had with Tuoba Huaisu last night. Even Li Guangbi called several times, but he didn't hear it.
Li Guangbi had no choice but to slow down his horse, came to Zhou Jun's side, and asked, "I see Erlang's face is worried, but what are you worried about?"
Zhou Jun thought for a while and talked about another matter: "I went to the Liangzhou Prefecture yesterday and found out that many officials in the government were involved in corruption cases. Liangzhou is the hub of Daqi Commercial Road. When I left
, The official administration of the Qingming Dynasty has never had any serious officialdom malpractice. It has only been just over three years, and it has become so corrupt."
Hearing this, Li Guangbi said: "In the early years of Tianbao, Guangbi served as the guardian of the king's capital and served as an envoy of soldiers and horses. Regardless of military towns, military guards, and guards, although there were occasional illegal things, most of them were small evils.
After the Dian was dealt with, everything was fine. However, after he came out of prison this time, Guangbi talked with his old friends again, and learned that the Tang border town was full of chaos.
The tendency to lead troops privately without receiving military orders has already appeared, and is even getting worse..."
Speaking of this, Li Guangbi shook his head and sighed: "Guangbi only stayed in prison for three years. After he came out, he felt that the world was changing too fast, as if decades had passed."
Zhou Jun also shook his head when he heard this.
The group of people followed the official road outside Liangzhou City and headed west.
After walking for more than an hour, we finally saw Jinjiabao City in the north of Jialin County.
The fort here is called Suifeng Fort. It is a cage city built of earth and stone. It is more than 370 meters long from east to west and from north to south. There are many houses, shops, military stations, warehouses and grain cellars in the city.
Outside there are horse racing stables, drills, watchtowers and other buildings.
Suifeng Fort was originally a city used by the Tang army to guard against Turkic invasions during the Xianheng period. Later, the battle line moved north and a new city was built in the Wu'an area, leaving the old city abandoned and abandoned.
The Jin family spent a lot of money to manage their relationships, bought the abandoned fortress, and transformed it into an important stronghold for the Jin family to raise horses, store grain, and transport goods on long-distance routes.
The group came to the gate of Suifeng Fort. Uncle Shen put his finger to his mouth and whistled.
Not long after, a military guard from the Jin Family Trading Company came to the door, checked his identity, and then bowed to lead the way.
After entering the city gate, Zhou Jun looked around. The buildings in the city were lined up in rows, and pedestrians were passing by one after another.
Although it is just a castle belonging to a wealthy family, it has all the necessary living facilities, including several theaters.
From this point of view, it is more appropriate to say that this place is not so much a fortress as a military settlement.
Uncle Shen saw that Zhou Jun was looking carefully, so he said from the side: "Master, Suifeng Fort is the largest stronghold under the name of the Jin family. Due to the limited space in the city, the residences of the personnel are outside the city. Only those who are on duty
, will be stationed in."
Zhou Jun nodded and asked, "Approximately how many people are there in Suifeng Fort on weekdays?"
Uncle Shen: "If it is a weekday, there will be more than 7,000 people inside and outside Suifeng Fort. If it is a holiday, the number can exceed 10,000."
Zhou Jun was a little surprised: "Are they all from Jin's Trading Company?"
Uncle Shen shook his head and said: "Less than half of the people in the Jin family trading firm, the rest are idle people, either coming to do business or to make a living."
Even if it was only half, Zhou Jun still felt a little incredible.
The Jin family was rich and had many branches. Zhou Jun knew a little bit about it when he was looking through Kan's books.
But now that he had arrived at Suifeng Fort, he had a more intuitive impression of the size of the Jin family.
Uncle Shen was a little sad: "Although the Jin family is powerful now, it is still much weaker than before. The old slave remembers that after the Battle of Dafeichuan, the head of the Jin family came to Liangzhou with everyone. Used
In thirty years, the Jin family developed into a large clan in Longyou. At its most prosperous, the Jin family had hundreds of merchants under its name, spread across all states in the Tang Dynasty, and the number of people registered in Kan even exceeded that of ordinary counties."
Li Guangbi was a little surprised when he heard Uncle Shen mention the "Battle of Dafeichuan" and couldn't help but look at the old man a few more times.
After Uncle Shen sighed, he said to Zhou Jun: "Master, the newly recruited guys are currently working in the city, in the yard in front."
Following Uncle Shen's footsteps, Zhou Jun and Li Guangbi entered a house in the center of the city.
Stepping into the courtyard and entering the living room, the two of them saw a burly man in a short coat, leading a group of scribes, leaning on the desk, fiddling with calculations with a look of pain on his face.
The burly man looked at the scribes who had been calculating for a long time, but they still hadn't settled the accounts. He shouted angrily: "On weekdays, Kong Canjun can sort out the accounts alone. You have spent so long and still haven't settled them yet."
?!"
Li Guangbi looked at the tall man with a smile on his face and shouted: "Chu Liangshan."
The man named Chu Liangshan was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then slowly turned around and looked at Li Guangbi, with an expression of disbelief on his face. After a long time, he tentatively shouted: "General Li?
"
Li Guangbi smiled and nodded.
Chu Liangshan yelled, stepped on the desk, jumped directly to Li Guangbi, hugged the latter, and laughed loudly: "General Li is fine after all!"
Li Guangbi looked at Chu Liangshan, nodded and said with a smile: "It's okay."
Only then did Chu Liangshan come to his senses and found Zhou Jun and Uncle Shen next to Li Guangbi.
He was familiar with Uncle Shen, but Zhou Jun was still weak but still took the lead. Chu Liangshan just felt that he looked familiar, but couldn't remember it for a moment.
Li Guangbi looked at Zhou Jun and said to Chu Liangshan: "This is Zhou's consort, the founding county uncle personally sealed by the saint. He leads the envoy of Longyou and deposes Zhi, and acts as the envoy of Anxi."
Chu Liangshan's body was shaken.
Li Guangbi added: "Because of the Shibao War, Guangbi was imprisoned for three years. Fortunately, he was rescued by his consort and was able to see the light of day again."
After finishing speaking, Li Guangbi bowed to Zhou Junji, and then said: "In the battle of Shibao City, Zhou Erlang ignored his safety and risked beheading to save the Northern Fan from fire and water, so that three thousand partial troops could survive; in prison
Due to the disaster, Guangbi was imprisoned for three years. He thought he had no hope in life, but fortunately with the help of Erlang, he escaped and regained his freedom."
Hearing these words, Chu Liangshan immediately realized that the reason why he and the more than 2,500 Tang soldiers were able to survive and find a living in the Jin family trading house was all because of the kindness of Zhou's consort in front of him.
Thinking of this, Chu Liangshan no longer hesitated, knelt down beside Li Guangbi, and said: "The prince-in-law saved our lives. His kindness is like a mountain, and his kindness is like an ocean. Liangshan thanked the prince-in-law on behalf of his brothers. From now on, but
If there is an errand, the only thing I can do is to obey!"
Zhou Jun helped Li Guangbi and Chu Liangshan up and said: "Beifan officers and soldiers went to the battlefield with Jun, which is a life-long friendship. When I heard that you were in trouble, I didn't think about the gains and losses at all, so I just wanted to pour my heart out."
We will help each other with all our strength. There is no other reason. Jun never treats you as outsiders, but you are like brothers and sisters."
Hearing this, Li Guangbi and Chu Liangshan were filled with emotion, bowed their heads again, and called for death.