Heifu was sure that Xi would be famous all over the world from now on, which was too optimistic. As an official who had offended the emperor, Xi had to suffer more blank looks and indifference along the way.
Fortunately, thanks to the two people arranged by Ye Zijin to take care of him, his food and clothing were guaranteed. The guards who escorted him knew that the criminal had a close relationship with the Marquis of Changnan, so they did not dare to treat him harshly. After entering Longxi County, Xi was actually able to sit in the car without having to do anything.
Endure the trek.
In mid-August, a group of people came to a small town called "Jincheng" by the clear river.
"Xi Jun, after passing this place, we will reach Zhangye County." The jailer named "Chi" told Xi. He was the official responsible for the escort. He had been to Zhangye twice and was familiar with the roads.
He nodded happily. He had heard that in the twenty-seventh year, His Majesty visited the west and listened to Wu Zhu's talk about the Queen Mother of the West. He wanted to expand westward, so he sent Hei Fu and Li Xin to sacrifice the source of the river for her.
The two men, the black dog and the white horse, ran to this area after offering two prisons at Jishi Mountain. Here, Hei Fu saw the wool-weathering technique of the Xiqiang people and grafted it to Beidi County. Unexpectedly, wool would become a
It became the pillar industry of the northern border counties of the empire. Thick, rough, and slightly smelly woolen coats not only prevented the garrison soldiers from suffering from the cold, but also went into thousands of households, becoming a must-have for northerners.
Things to prepare for the winter.
Li Xin was an enterprising general. He saw that the West Qiang had the advantage of controlling the upper reaches of the river and was close to the Yueshi. It was a battleground for military strategists, so he ordered his soldiers to dig earth and build a city here.
I don’t know when and who buried the gold, so it was named Jincheng.
Now, after several years of development, Jincheng has become very prosperous, especially at the ferry crossing the river. There are corvees from Xianyang every day, and garrison soldiers queue up to cross the river. They are ordered to build thousands of miles of galloping roads, and hundreds of
A pavilion barrier.
On the opposite side, ships kept coming, carrying strange products from the Western Regions, caravans with camel bells, and even envoys from small foreign countries...
What passed by Xi and the others was an envoy looking around under the leadership of Qin soldiers. However, they saw that their hair was curly and dark, their noses were straight, their beards were thick, and their clothes were covered with a piece of cloth.
It hangs from the shoulders to the knees.
The Central Plains people and the barbarians Rongdi have different clothing customs: the people in the east are called Yi, and they are tattooed with hair and tattoos; the people in the east are called barbarians, and they have carved inscriptions on the fingers and toes; the people in the west are Rong, and they are covered in hair and clothing; the people in the north are called Di, and they wear feathers and live in caves...
However, this was the first time I saw the foreigner in front of me, and he was different from the barbarians Rong Di in the traditional sense.
"They should be the barbarians from the Western Regions. Those barbarians have all kinds of strange clothes and words."
The jailer Chi said so. When they asked later, they found out that they were indeed visitors from the Western Regions, a delegation from a country named "Daxia" who wanted to go to Xianyang to meet Emperor Qin Shi Huang.
"Daxia? Isn't it another name for Taiyuan? Your Majesty also calls the territory of Daqin 'North of Daxia'. Why is it also in the west?"
Xi was a little confused, but he didn't dig into it. It was only then that the group of people really went deep into the border.
But the Zhangye in Hexi in front of us is far different from the barren desert that Xi imagined was full of dry rocks and no water or grass.
What appeared in front of him was a land rich in water and grass under the snow-capped mountains. In the forest, red deer and deer were flying by, and on the grassland, there were herds of cattle and sheep. They were the main source of livestock in Guanzhong.
Under the irrigation of the river originating from the snow-capped mountains, there are many farms on both sides of the river. Now the millet is ripe, and 10,000 immigrants from the Central Plains are completing the harvest.
However, most of the workers were women and children, while the men were on horseback, holding spears and halberds, patrolling around the immigrant villages that had just been established a few years ago. The shadows of people and horses appearing on the hills in the distance would make them nervous.
Immediately the gong was sounded to warn, and in an instant, all the people, men, women, old and young, armed with weapons, made a loud noise, and the cavalry and followers in the distant mountains disappeared...
After asking the reason, Xi learned that it was not safe here. Qiang people from Huangzhong appeared from time to time and plundered the wealth accumulated by the farmers throughout the year. The Qiang people each had their own rulers, and there was no unified restraint. They rode on horses and howled.
It arrived, and then swept away after being captured, making it difficult to stop it. Now it has become a serious problem in the southeast of Zhangye...
"General Li also sent people to protect them, and even went deep into Huangzhong several times to exterminate the Qiang tribe. However, these damn Qiang people were like wild wolves that smelled blood. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't kill them all."
A border immigrant whose wife and children were taken away by the Qiang people told Xi with some sadness and anger that they could only organize themselves and fight against them with all the people as soldiers.
Xi was just relegating a guilty official, so what could he do? He only hoped that the beacon towers built along the Chi Road and the garrisons constantly dispatched from the Central Plains could protect these Guizhou leaders.
The journey continued forward. After crossing the Heishui River, the security improved slightly. Due to the obstruction of the remaining Qilian Mountains, the Western Qiang people could no longer penetrate this far. However, Zhuyezhe, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi, still occupied the lower reaches of the Heishui River.
"Ministry of Secrets".
As the only Yuezhi people to surrender to the Qin Dynasty, the Xiumi tribe was allowed to retain their territory, but now, their existence, like the Huangshui Xiqiang, poses a threat to Chidao. It is said that General Li Xin has brought them back again
The meaning of migration.
Finally, in mid-September, Xi finally arrived at Zhaowucheng, the capital of Zhangye County.
The jailer who escorted him came here for the third time. He told Xi that according to legend, there is another story about the construction of this city: the Yueshi tribe, who lived in pursuit of water and grass, came to this place with lush water and grass during a hunting trip.
King Yuezhi rode on a tall horse and looked to the south. He saw the towering Qilian Mountains covered with white snow. Looking to the north, he saw the rolling hills and green trees. Birds sang harmoniously in the mist. At the foot of the mountain, the weak water flowed thousands of miles away.
It made his heart flutter.
So King Yue Zhi led his tribe to gallop wildly in the dense reeds. Suddenly, a pair of mating red deer jumped into his sight. King Yue Zhi was very ecstatic when he saw the pair of tall red deer. It was inconvenient to lead his tribe with his bow like the moon.
, he drew the arrow and shot towards the two deers.
But then, the two red deer stepped on the auspicious clouds and floated into the sky, disappearing among the white clouds and blue sky...
Although the deer was not hunted, the place where the red deer disappeared became the place where the Yuezhi people settled. The Yuezhi king captured slaves from the city-states in the Western Regions. Under their labor, a city was built and named "Zhaowu".
”.
Nowadays, the Yuezhi who once dominated Hexi with tens of thousands of bows have been destroyed. The king of the Yuezhi was beheaded by Li Xin, and the tribe either fled or fled. Li Xin occupied the magpie's nest, and the immigrants of Qin followed suit, slowly.
The slow migration here has completely changed the population structure of Zhaowu City. Today, half of the people in the city are Qin people.
Outside Zhaowu City, Xiye finally met the general who decided his future destiny, Dingyuan Marquis Li Xin.
The first meeting with Li Xin was at a safari tent by the weak water. Li Xin sat high on a tiger skin, flanked by two beautiful bearded women serving wine. They had high noses and deep eyes. When Xi entered, they were serving Li Xin.
Put on the exquisite Khotan white jade cup, then open the cold lid of the cup, use a golden spoon to take out the dark red liquid with sweet fragrance, slowly pour it into the cup, and then serve it with loving hands.
This is wine sent from the Western Regions. It is a very precious drink in Xianyang, but for Li Xin, it is almost like drinking water...
But this leisurely and enjoyable style made Xida, who advocates minimalism, frown.
In Xi's eyes, Li Xin is the complete opposite of Hei Fu. Hei Fu is thick and thick, while Li Xin is sharp; Hei Fu is cautious in everything, but Li Xin is informal; Hei Fu restrains his desires, and Li Xin enjoys himself in time; Hei Fu is timid in fighting.
For example, Li Xin likes to build strongholds and fight dull battles. Li Xin likes to use extraordinary weapons. He himself is the tip of the sword that he uses to pierce the enemy.
Also, Hei Fu’s face is dark, and Li Xin’s face is white; Hei Fu is called a black dog, and Li Xin is known as a white horse…
But Li Xin also has a kind of heroic straightforwardness that Hei Fu never had, like Lord Grim lying drunk on the battlefield!
"Hi? I've heard of it."
Li Xin gently shook the white jade cup, and Hu Nu on the side reached out to wipe the wine stains from the corners of his mouth. The wine juice was bright red, like human blood: "Your reputation comes faster than you yourself."
"Some people say that you slandered His Majesty? Others say that you were outspoken in admonition and dedicated to serving the public good, so you were demoted. Who do you think I should believe?"
"It's all unbelievable."
He is neither humble nor arrogant: "If you are a legal official, you should check the evidence yourself and do not trust the words of the criminal. General, please save yourself."
"As expected, he is indeed a straight official."
Li Xin laughed: "Since you are proficient in the law, then become a military law official in the army!"
Xi is a little dazed, military law official? That is a minor official from Baishi. Although it is nothing compared to Xi's previous position, he is now in a state of crime, so he is directly appointed as an official. Doesn't it matter?
Li Xin's reasons made Xi laugh and cry, and he became even more convinced that the Marquis of Dingyuan was really drunk.
"I like your name, Xi, Xiqi!"
Li Xin pointed out the joy, stood up, poured a glass of wine and handed it to him: "Just recently, there is a big happy event in Zhangye County! Did you meet the envoy of Daxia on your way here?"
"Messenger of Daxia?"
Xi refused the drink, but remembered a group of barbarians he met at Jincheng Ferry a month ago, wearing a piece of cloth hanging down from the knees as clothes.
"After several years of searching, thousands of people died in the desert!"
Li Xin was in a very good mood today. He raised the wine in his hand high and sighed: "We searched all over Kunlun and Beishan, but we couldn't find any trace of the Western Queen Mother State. Until we visited Daxia west of Congling, they actually knew that...
The whereabouts of the Western Queen Mother State!”
Accompanied by fine wines and beautiful women, making achievements in foreign lands, the knot that had been pent up for many years was finally loosened!
"This time, Li Xin finally lived up to His Majesty's high expectations!"