Chapter 1 First Blood

Zhang Jianliang jumped down from a carriage and looked up to see the Chengguan of Jiayuguan.

Immediately, his backpack was thrown from the shelves on the roof of the carriage by the coachman.

The backpack was very heavy, and he held it hard to keep it from hitting the ground, and for this, he glared at the driver with a very bad attitude.

The coachman smiled with yellow teeth, feeling nothing of Zhang Jianliang's anger, jumped back to the coachman's position, shook the reins, and the carriage slowly began to move, and soon, it ran up.

Horse-drawn carriages do not enter the city.

The city wall of Jiayuguan is very tall, however, there are no guards on the city wall.

Only a group of tax collectors were inspecting the caravan entering the city.

Zhang Jianliang carried the backpack, which was almost as tall as himself, dusted off the armband with his hand, and walked towards the gate of Jiayuguan.

An officer dressed in a black military uniform and wearing a black inlaid silver ornament appeared in the procession preparing to enter the city, and it was very conspicuous, and the tax collectors had already discovered him, but they were busy with the work at hand, so they ignored him.

After the head of the tax officer sitting on a recliner saw Zhang Jianliang, he slowly got up, came to Zhang Jianliang and arched his hand: "Visiting relatives? ”

Zhang Jianliang glanced at the tax official and said, "Go home." ”

The tax collector was a little embarrassed and said, "...... to check"

Zhang Jianliang said: "Then check." ”

The tax collector said with a smile: "If my brother accidentally brings something like jade, agate, gold, etc., you can now put it on your body, according to the rules, for a soldier like my brother, only check the luggage, not the person." ”

Zhang Jianliang said with a smile: "When I went out, my hands were empty, and now that I'm back, I don't have anything long." ”

The tax officer smiled: "That's good, that's good, it's not that the brothers don't give face, but the peak is tightly tracked, some brothers go out of the plug, and when they come back, they carry two hundred taels of golden sands, which is not like words." ”

Zhang Jianliang smiled: "I'm from Tuoyun Ranch......"

The tax collector was stunned for a moment and said, "I heard that there is ...... there."

Zhang Jianliang said: "We won. ”

The tax officer's tense face burst into laughter in an instant, and he said again and again: "I'll just say, General Duan is here, how can you allow those Mongolian Tatars to be arrogant." ”

After that, let the road open and invite Zhang Jianliang to enter the customs.

"Don't check it out?"

"Don't check, don't say that the captain is a hero who came down from the battlefield, as long as you are from a place like Tuoyun Ranch, you shouldn't be wronged here."

"I have gold in my backpack and jade in it."

"It must have been the captain's trophy."

Zhang Jianliang patted the tax officer's arm and said, "Thank you, brother." ”

With that, he walked straight to the city gate, which was close at hand.

"Brother, how many have you killed?"

The tax officer's voice came from behind, Zhang Jianliang stopped and turned back to the tax officer: "I didn't kill many people this time." ”

The tax officer frowned and said, "Why didn't you kill it?" Our envoys of the Ming Dynasty have their ears cut off. ”

Zhang Jianliang laughed and said: "The head of the Mongolian king who cut off the ear of the envoy has been made into a wine bowl by the general, and more than 36,000 captives under the Mongolian king have officially entered the Tuoyun Ranch to plant trees, graze, and cultivate for us. ”

The tax official also laughed and said: "In this way, in the coming year, the land of the Western Regions will no longer need to transfer grain from the Guannai?" ”

Zhang Jianliang shook his head and said: "It won't work next year, let's see three or five years later, Mongolian Tatars won't be able to farm." ”

Bidding farewell to the tax officer, Zhang Jianliang entered the Guannai.

Jiayu Pass is an important pass, yes, but the military status here has declined a lot, and the reason why there is still an official office here is that the most important significance is to raise taxes, not defense.

Hami is the place where the army gathers.

After eating a big bowl of roast mutton noodles at the bazaar, Zhang Jianliang went to the post station here to stay overnight.

The inn was full of people, even in the courtyard, there were many people sitting and lying.

These people are all women without exception, women from the Western Regions, when Zhang Jianliang appeared in the post station wearing a military uniform, those women immediately became agitated, involuntarily shrunk together, bowing their heads and not daring to look at Zhang Jianliang.

Yi Cheng, who was drinking tea, saw an officer coming in, so he hurriedly greeted him and said, "Where is the captain from?" ”

Zhang Jianliang took out a bronze medal from his jacket pocket and threw it to Yi Cheng and said, "Give me one to go to the room." ”

Yi Cheng looked at the bronze medal of the accommodation voucher representing the school officer in his hand, and then looked at Zhang Jianliang's epaulette and said: "Captain, it's not that I won't get you a room, if the gendarmes come, you won't be able to explain." ”

Zhang Jianliang said: "I have been awarded the medal and promoted to major." ”

Yi Cheng glanced at Zhang Jianliang's epaulettes and said, "There is no silver star." ”

Zhang Jianliang turned around and showed his armband to Yicheng.

Yi Cheng looked at the armband carefully and said with a wry smile: "It's the first time I've seen the condition that the epaulettes don't match the armband, and I suggest that the captain should get it neat, otherwise it will be a trouble to be seen by the military police." ”

Zhang Jianliang glanced at Yi Cheng and said, "You shouldn't have given all the upper houses to those slave traders, right?" ”

Yi Cheng shook his head and said, "I knew you would ask that, and the answer to you was - no!" ”

Zhang Jianliang put down his backpack, took out a delicate wooden box from the backpack and hugged it in his arms and said: "This is Lieutenant Colonel Liu Guomin Liu, my backpack still contains six lieutenants, three lieutenants, plus I have a total of five lieutenants, I don't know if I can live in the upper room?" ”

Yi Cheng took a closer look at the urn inlaid with two silver stars, and solemnly saluted the urn: "I'm slacking, this is arranged, major, please come with me." ”

Zhang Jianliang got his wish and got an upper room.

It is said that it is an upper room, but in fact it is not big, a bed, a chair, and a table.

Zhang Jianliang carefully took out the ten urns and placed them on the table, lit three cigarettes, put them on the table to pay tribute to his comrades who died in battle, and took a wooden basin to take a bath.

The bathhouses in the post station are all the same, Zhang Jianliang looked at the blackened pool water, and gave up the idea of taking a bath, standing under the shower pipe, twisting the valve, and a stream of cool water poured down from the pipe.

After a few moments, the water was boiling hot, and he stood under the column of water, letting the hot water pour down from his head and cover his whole body.

The sound of the water hitting his body and making a loud noise could easily lead Zhang Jianliang's mind to that brutal battle......

"Block, block, destroy the cavalry first......"

"Captain, I've been shot, I've been shot, medics, medics, medics......"

"Follow me, ......"

"Get on the bayonet, get on the bayonet, throw the grenade out first......"

"Boom, boom...... I'll kill ......"

Zhang Jianliang opened his eyes suddenly, his hand was already on the slightly hot water pipe, Yi Cheng pushed the door in, rubbed his hands and looked at Zhang Jianliang's body full of scars and said, "Major, do you want a woman to serve." There are a few clean ones. ”

"Get out—"

Yi Cheng was stunned for a moment and said: "It's okay, it's okay, tell me when you need it, you are all good men, and you don't dare to lose." ”

When his thoughts were interrupted, it was difficult to enter the kind of emotion that made Zhang Jianliang tremble.

He hurriedly soaped his body, rinsed it off, and walked out of the bathhouse with a wooden basin.

There were still those women in the courtyard, but at this time, they were eating, and the so-called eating was just a piece of naan.

Yi Cheng, who was standing in the courtyard, saw Zhang Jianliang coming out, so he walked over and said, "Major, your meal is ready." ”

Zhang Jianliang shook his head, and returned to the upper room with a wooden basin.

The cigarette on the table had burned to the point of only a piece of ash, and when the door was opened, the ash was blown away by the wind.

Zhang Jianliang put down the wooden basin, re-lit a cigarette and put it on the table, Liu Guomin was very addicted to smoking, and he couldn't leave this thing for a moment.

Zhang Jianliang looked at the rucksack on the ground again, and poured all the things inside on the bed.

Just like he told the tax officer, there were ten packets of golden sand, and a lot of jade and agate that were very valuable when they looked at it.

He was going to go to the bank to exchange all the gold for silver bills, otherwise, it would be too difficult to carry such a heavy thing back to Guanzhong.

The most important thing is that the tax collector in Jiayuguan may let them go, and the tax card encountered later is not so easy to let him go.

Since the beginning of the third year of China, the gold of the Ming Dynasty has been withdrawn from the coin market, and the private trade in gold is prohibited, and only gold products can be traded, such as gold jewelry.

Zhang Jianliang put away the gold, put it in a small bag, and left the room to go to the bank next door to the post station.

Daming's post stations are all over the world, and they shoulder many responsibilities, such as delivering letters, some small items, ushering in those officials, and people who go on errands.

Later, banks and carriage shops were slowly added, and finally the post station became an indispensable part of the life of the Ming people.

I heard that there is even a telegraph in the post station in Guanzhong, and there is no such thing in a small place like Jiayuguan.

Zhang Jianliang can actually ride a fast horse back to Guanzhong, he misses his wife, children, parents and brothers at home very much, but after the battle of Tuoyun Ranch, he doesn't want to go home quickly.

Sometimes he wondered if he had come home later, wouldn't the families of the ten brothers in life have been less tormented?

He pushed open the door of the bank, which was small, with only a tall counter with an iron fence above it, and a middle-aged man with a small goatee sat on a high chair with a blank face, looking at him indifferently.

"Exchange for two hundred taels of golden sand."

Zhang Jianliang held ten bags filled with golden gold high and placed them high on the counter.

The middle-aged man behind the counter seemed to have been accustomed to this scene for a long time, opened the bag, and began to check the condition of the golden sand.

"One tael of golden sands and nine and a half silver coins."

After the middle-aged man finished inspecting the golden sand, he said lightly.

"Didn't you say that one or two golden sands can be exchanged for thirteen silver coins?"

The middle-aged man sneered and said, "That's in Wuwei, in Jiayuguan, there are only nine and a half, and if you don't exchange it, take it away." ”

Zhang Jianliang gritted his teeth and said: "This is the pension of my ten brothers, and I am not a gold seller, these gold are all accumulated by the brothers in Tuoyun Ranch." ”

The middle-aged man looked at Zhang Jianliang and sighed: "Ten silver coins, no matter how high I am, I really can't do anything, brother, you can't bring this gold with Wuwei, the prefect of Jiuquan Mansion is currently carrying out a campaign to crack down on bad luck gold, and you can't pass the checkpoint." ”

Zhang Jianliang looked up at the middle-aged man: "Is there a way to bypass them?" ”

The middle-aged man shook his head and said: "This is the safest way, one less silver coin is one less silver coin, you are an officer, you have a great future in the future, there is really no need to commit the crime of smuggling." ”

Zhang Jianliang put the ten bags of golden sands on the table back into his pocket and walked out of the bank silently.

One or two golden sands for ten silver coins was too much of a loss for him to explain to his brothers who had died in battle.