In the winter of the thirty-first year of Jianing, it is the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

The strong wind outside Guyuan swept up the loess and flew it up into the sky, and then it fell lightly. When it fell on people, it made a rustling sound like rain.

On the wall of Guyuan City, a soldier wrapped most of his face in a gray cloth scarf, leaning against the wall and taking a nap.

There was a sound of camel bells in the distance.

The soldier pulled down his scarf and looked up outside the city. He saw a long camel caravan coming from afar on the loess official road that could not be reached.

The roads here are rugged, and even the official roads are full of potholes. Cars, horses, and ox-carts cannot travel here. Wheels have to be changed every tens of miles. All the merchants who came from here had to change their camels in Taiyuan Prefecture before their mules could continue on their way.

OK.

The soldier squinted his eyes and looked over, muttering in a low voice: "It's almost the end of the year, and there are still people coming to such a ghost place? Hey, an official?"

But in the camel team, the young boy was walking in front holding the reins, while the people behind him covered themselves tightly and sat on the camel's back.

If it were a caravan, merchants would be eager to load up their goods on the camel's hump, but they would never be willing to sit on it. Only officials would do this.

Not long after, the camel team came to the city. The soldiers held their swords in their hands and shouted: "Who is coming?"

A young boy held the reins in his hands, raised his hands and cupped his fists and said: "This military master, my master is Chen Liqin, the fourth-grade young master of the James Mansion. He is here on the orders of the prince! Open the door quickly!"

"Oh, it turns out he is the prince's man," the soldier's face slowly darkened, and he said lightly: "Wait, I will report it."

The camel team waited in the wind and sand for half an hour, but the city gate did not open. No matter how the boy called under the city wall, no one paid attention.

Zhang Xia, Zhang Zheng, Chen Ji, and Xiao Man at the rear of the camel team wrapped their mouths and noses with red scarves. The scarves were piled on their necks and shoulders, but they still could not block the cold wind.

Zhang Xia sat on the saddle, half of his face hidden in his scarf, and said in a low voice: "Something's not right. In a borderland like Guyuan, how can there be any reason to neglect a fourth-rank official of the imperial court? And he's also a vassal of the East Palace."

Chen Ji hummed and looked up at the city fortress. The fortress was so high that his neck felt sore from looking up. The green bricks on the wall were eroded by the wind and had been standing for who knows how many years.

Vicissitudes of life and majesty, this is Chen Ji’s deepest impression of Guyuan Military Town.

There are mountains on both sides of Guyuan, and the city seems to be built in a huge canyon, blocking the path of the Jingchao cavalry going south.

With a creak, the city gate slowly opened.

Two teams of armored soldiers lined up with halberds in hand, sandwiching the camel team faintly.

Chen Liqin glanced tiredly: "What is this?"

Wang Gui, who helped him hold the reins, said diligently: "Master, let me go and ask?"

"Go ahead."

Wang Gui is tireless. He is not a housekeeper yet, so he doesn't have to worry about these things. But if he doesn't know how to find a job, he may never be able to be a housekeeper again in this life.

Wang Gui stepped forward and asked: "Generals, why are you surrounding my camel team? We are the family members of Young Master Chen Liqin."

An armored general smiled and said: "Don't worry, Guyuan is an important military area. Recently, Jingchao Xizuo has sneaked into it to collect information. To avoid any mistakes, I have to search your luggage."

Wang Gui's expression changed: "The prince's instructions are there, the road guide is there, how can you dare to search our luggage?"

Na Pian put his right hand on the waist knife and sneered: "We and the border troops are here to shed their blood and kill enemy invaders and catch spies. It doesn't matter whether they are third-rank officials or fourth-rank officials. They are the Minister of the Ministry of War, and they will be in charge of the court."

Now that I’m old, I still have to search!”

Wang Gui was at a loss for words. From the capital to Luo City, he was used to being favored by others, but he didn't expect that the army here wouldn't even give him the respect of a fourth-grade official!

Why is this so?

Seeing that the negotiation failed, Chen Liqin was helped off the camel by the servant: "General, I wonder if we have done anything offensive? If so, I will make amends on my behalf."

The general smiled but said: "Mr. Chen's words are serious, we are just responsible. Look at the pass behind me. If the pass behind me is taken away by the Jing Dynasty, the people of Ningzhou and Shaanzhou will suffer.

Damn, don’t you think so?”

Liang wrapped herself tightly in a scarf. She winked at Wang Gui. Wang Gui immediately took out a silver ingot from his sleeve and quietly put it into the hands of the general: "My lord knows that the soldiers on the border are working hard. You are accommodating.

.”

"Who do you think our frontier soldiers are?" The general threw the silver ingot on the loess: "We are just following orders. If you stop us again, we will arrest them all according to the detailed rules of the court! Search them for me!"

Wang Gui became anxious: "Hey, stop it!"

He stepped forward and grabbed the soldier's arm, but the soldier beside him was so murderous that he pulled out his sword with a clang: "Get away!"

Wang Gui looked at the bright sword light and took a few steps back.

Zhang Zheng, who was at the rear of the camel team, said cheerfully: "Fortunately, we have no luggage and we are not afraid of being searched."

Chen Ji laughed: "Brother Zhang is naturally optimistic and lives a happier life than others."

After being praised, Zhang Zheng said happily: "Well, when you get back, you have to tell your father not to come to the border, otherwise he will have to suffer the humiliation of body search."

Zhang Xia glared at his brother, then turned to Chen Ji and whispered: "I wonder what the prince did in Guyuan to make people angry. My father also said that after General Wen Tao was executed by Lingchi,

The border troops had constant problems, and there were even incidents where border troops led troops to defect to the Jing Dynasty..."

Chen Ji asked in confusion: "Lingchi? What crime?"

"Collaborating with the enemy." Zhang Xia glanced at the soldiers on the border not far away and whispered: "A few years ago, people in Ningzhou secretly built shrines for General Wen Tao, but the court found out and tore them all down. At that time, there were

The mutiny of the border troops coincided with the cavalry of the Jing Dynasty going south. If Mr. Wang had not been ordered to lead the troops to put down the rebellion at this critical moment, I am afraid it would have caused a catastrophe."

Zhang Zheng smiled and said: "I heard about this. It is said that there was a mutiny in the Qianhu Station. As a civil servant, Mr. Wang entered the Qianhu Station one man and one horse and quelled the rebellion overnight. Later, Mr. Wang was promoted to the Commander of the Guards.

, led five thousand households to surprise Jing Chao's baggage and forced Jing Chao's cavalry to retreat.

Bing is a well-known Confucian general in the capital... Originally, my father thought that Mr. Wang could enter the Ministry of War this time, but he didn't know who stopped Zhu Pi. It's a pity. My father said that if Mr. Wang is here in Bian Town, peace can be guaranteed for twenty years.

Without worries, he can do many things with peace of mind."

It suddenly dawned on me that no wonder Mr. Zhang was so depressed when he didn't see Mr. Wang's promotion documents in Luocheng.

At this time, the soldiers on the border took off the Chen family's luggage from the hump, opened it one by one and searched, and threw the gold and silver items on the floor. The other party did not check the items inside carefully, but just wanted to take them apart and throw them on the ground.

That's all.

This was not a search for spies of the Jing Dynasty, it was clearly an attempt to intimidate the subordinates of the East Palace.

When the soldiers searched Chen Ji, a soldier saw the whale knife wrapped in a long strip of cloth lying horizontally in front of his saddle, and immediately asked in a cold voice: "What is this? Is it a weapon?"

There was no answer.

The soldier called his colleagues: "Come here, this man has a weapon! Capture all these horsemen and send them to the general to wait for death!"

Hearing someone carrying weapons and more than a dozen soldiers surrounding them, they uniformly aimed their halberds at Chen Ji and others. Zaozao was restlessly spitting out white arrows, and trampled on the loess with his thick hooves.

The shouting woke up Xiao Man who was dozing on the pony, but he saw her tightening the reins and asking in a low voice: "Master, what should I do?"

Wuyun stood up from Zaozao's head and stared at all the soldiers coldly.

Chen Ji said softly: "Don't act rashly."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of horse hooves came from the city gate, and he saw a man galloping towards him, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, wearing silver armor, and a white pheasant tail rising into the sky above his head. He was extremely heroic.

Seeing the soft gold and silver scattered on the ground, this man shouted loudly: "Bold, this is a subordinate of the East Palace, how dare you create trouble?"

The frontier general in front of the city gate sneered: "Master Li, why don't we track down Jing Chao's spies? You may be enjoying yourself by following the prince's side, but you may not know how serious the consequences of letting in Jing Chao's spies are."

Mr. Li, who was wearing silver armor, said angrily: "You have let so many merchants in, and Jing Dynasty's spies have long been among them. The prince asked you to investigate the Jing Dynasty's spies on your own, but you want to start with the prince's subordinates. How is it proper?"

"

The frontier army general said slowly: "His Royal Highness the Prince said that there are many secrets in Jingchao in Guyuan Army Town, so we will investigate according to his instructions. As for where to start, we have the final say."

Master Li said angrily: "You!"

The general of the border army held down his sword: "Why, the prince's subordinates can't be investigated? Not only must they be investigated, but they must be investigated carefully. The day after tomorrow is the day after tomorrow. Who of the serious people would come to my Guyuan at this time?"

At this time, the halberds stood in the middle, and the old man slowly rode his horse forward as if there was no one around, cupped his hands and said to him: "General, I wonder if you can take a step to speak?"

The general of the border army sneered: "If you have anything to say, just say it here. Do you still want to bribe me?"

Chen Liqin looked at Chen Ji and frowned: "This is not the place for you to talk. Go back."

However, Chen Ji didn't look at him. Instead, he jumped off his horse, clasped his fists at the general and said, "This general, I am a direct disciple of Mr. Wangdao Shengwang. I wonder if you can be accommodating?"

The military commander over there was slightly startled. He looked at Chen Ji up and down, and then at Zaozao, who had an unusually sharp look in his eyes: "Are you Mr. Wang's disciple?"

The soldiers looked at each other and lowered their halberds involuntarily.

Pianjiang thought for a moment: "Young man, don't talk nonsense. If I know you are lying, it will not be as simple as a search. Let me ask you, do you have a token to prove your identity?"

Chen Ji shook his head: "There is no token. Mr. Wang and Ding You are at home. I have studied with Mr. Wang. When we were at Luhun Villa, Mr. Wang recognized me as his direct disciple in front of more than a hundred literati. There is no falsehood."

The general said solemnly: "How can I trust you without a token? We are far away from here and have never heard of Luhun Villa."

Chen Ji lowered his head and pondered, then raised his head again and said: "This general, Mr. Wang once gave his sword to the deputy commander-in-chief of Guyuan Army Town. No outsiders know about this. You can go to the deputy commander-in-chief to verify it."

Pian Jiang's eyes lit up, he turned around to get his war horse, and galloped away.

After waiting for a stick of incense, Pianjiang galloped back with joy in his eyes. When he saw the soldier still holding the halberd, he immediately waved his hand: "Hurry up and put down the halberd... What are you still waiting for? Didn't you fucking hear that?"

Did I say anything?”

When he got close, he turned over and dismounted, smiled mellowly and cupped his hands to Chen Ji: "It turns out that he is really Mr. Wang's disciple. How offending, how offending!"

After that, he turned around and waved to the soldiers: "Let's go!"
Chapter completed!