Xiazhou City is an important town in the north of the Tang Dynasty, responsible for the management of several neighboring states and counties, and is also responsible for connecting Lingzhou in the west and the three surrendered cities in the north, compared to the administrative unit of the larger western Lingzhou and the three surrendered cities in the north, the status of Xiazhou seems to be lower, but Xiazhou is a transportation hub, so the importance is naturally self-evident, not only some people of insight in the imperial court value Xiazhou, even many discerning businessmen, but also look at the location of Xiazhou's transportation hub, and operate business here.

In order to deter the northern borders, the imperial court set up a strong economic strategy army in the northern part of Xiazhou, and built a new Youzhou, but in essence, Youzhou has no population, and the total population is almost the population of this economic strategy army, or there are many nomadic small tribes and horse thieves in this area, but they are too mobile and do not pay taxes at all, and the imperial court will not force them to pay taxes in order to prevent rebellion, so that this economic strategy army will become a burden on the imperial court, but it can deter the frontier, which is also worth it.

In most of the border areas of the Tang Dynasty, the expenditure is basically greater than the income, and the size of the territory of the Tang Dynasty depends entirely on how much money the mainland can supplement to the frontier, and the richer the interior, the more it can provide sufficient funds for the frontier, so that the Tang Dynasty can expand its territory to farther places.

However, with the gradual discovery of resources, some border areas have already seen the benefits outweigh the expenditures, such as the discovery of large coal mines and oil mines, once the resources in these areas are exploited, they can generate great economic value, can provide enough taxes for the local yamen, and even have a lot of surplus, making the border a profitable area.

The income and expenditure of Xiazhou City are basically balanced, because they can receive a lot of taxes from the merchants, so the benefits are greater than the expenditure of the imperial court, but after the rebellion due to horse thieves, the imperial court not only mobilized more soldiers and horses to Xiazhou, moreover, these soldiers and horses also need to be dispatched frequently, which greatly consumes the silver, so that Xiazhou has become a state and county whose income does not cover the expenditure, and the army in the north is a pure expenditure unit.

Fortunately, the economic development of the Tang Dynasty is becoming more and more prosperous, and some losses here can be made up elsewhere, and the imperial court is absolutely affordable, Xiazhou is a strategic hub, and it is also appropriate to lose some resources, but as long as the problem of horse thieves is solved, Xiazhou can turn losses into profits and become a state and county that can make money for the imperial court, and this is also one of the main purposes of Li An's visit.

In broad daylight, there are a lot of people shopping on the streets of Xiazhou City, and there are also many vendors on both sides of the road, giving people the feeling that they are bustling, and there is no trace of turmoil at all, and it is difficult to make people feel that there are horse thieves in this vicinity.

There are several of the busiest streets, and the area is not small, there are all kinds of shops, and there are vendors who set up stalls along the road, because the poor are the majority, so the business of the roadside hawkers is better, and the business in the shops is a little second, but overall it is still good.

There are a lot of blue-eyed and yellow-haired people here, they are Hu merchants from the Western Regions, and there are some stout men, they come from the northern grasslands, and there are many natives in the northeast, and they all come here for only one purpose, that is, to do trade, to bring their local products here to sell, and to buy rare items that they do not have there.

There are also a lot of merchants from the capital, and they have transported many rare items from the capital here, and the rare items in the capital are very scarce and can often be sold at a good price.

Merchants from all over the world gathered in Xiazhou City, exchanging all kinds of goods needed by each other, for the infested horse thieves, some merchants hated very much, and some didn't care, for example, merchants who came to Xiazhou from the capital didn't care much about the existence of horse thieves, because their goods were transported directly from the capital to Xiazhou City by train, and they entered the city after getting off the train, and the horse thieves did not have the courage to get close to the city, and they did not dare to rob the train, after all, the railroad tracks were the core interests of Datang. Whoever dares to sabotage is guilty of a great crime, and will inevitably suffer a great blow, and only a fool would do so.

And as long as the train is safe, and Xiazhou City is also safe, then, the merchants who come from the capital, there is no possibility of being robbed, only the merchants of the Western Regions and the merchants of the north, as well as the merchants of the east, the probability of being robbed is the highest, as long as they take the dirt road, passing through the Qiwu Mountain, there is a great possibility of being robbed, the Qiwu Mountain is hundreds of miles away from the world of horse thieves, and recently, the range of activities of the horse thieves seems to be larger, in the Wuding River and other areas, there will be occasional horse thieves, the smallest horse thieves are only a dozen people, everyone rode horses and covered their faces, the largest scale was not much, only a few hundred people, it could not be more, the population of the northern frontier was not large, and it could not afford to raise so many thieves.

Ang Lee and Li Hanlu's appearance is very good, and at first glance, the white and pure face is not a local, so it is easy to attract the attention of people on the street, but fortunately, businessmen from the capital often come over, and those people are the same as Ang Lee, and most of them are white and clean, but most of them are average in appearance, and few beautiful men in the capital who can be comparable to Ang Lee appear.

The snacks in the roadside stalls are relatively affordable, but some of them are too simple to fit Ang Lee's identity, and some are too dirty to look at.

Li An and Li Hanlu look at a teahouse that sells all kinds of snacks, the environment here is more elegant, and it is relatively clean, there are not many guests, there are not many guests, the attendance rate is about 60%, it is divided into two floors, and there is a hanging place in the middle, which can make the whole teahouse look more bright.

Ordinary people, if they are thirsty, at most they go to the roadside to ask for a bowl of water to drink, many times they do not charge money, if it is hot water with sugar, then it is definitely necessary to collect money, however, the price is generally very close to the people, at least, the price is much lower than the price in the teahouse, and it is the best choice for ordinary people.

Li An and Li Hanlu's dress and physiognomy, as well as the temperament exuded from their bodies, make people feel that they are not ordinary people at first glance, so as soon as they entered the teahouse, someone immediately ran over to greet them, and the guards who entered the teahouse one step earlier did not greet them for a long time.

"Guest, what do you want to eat?"

A young man asked with a grin, very friendly.

Since the other party is so polite, Li An can't be too stingy, and said very generously: "What delicious snacks and tea, although it is on it, it is the first time I come to Xiazhou, and I don't know what you have to eat here." ”

Such an atmospheric answer made Dr. Tea very happy, it is naturally the blessing of their small store to meet big customers, and the shopkeeper earns more, and they can also get more commissions.

"Okay, guest officer, wait a minute, it'll be right away."

Dr. Tea shouted happily, and then saw that the two guards were still sitting, but their attitude towards entertaining the two guards was much worse, just like the tone of ordinary people being asked for directions, not bad but not good enough, fortunately, the guards are rough people, and they don't care about these politeness, as long as the other party is not hostile, it is a good attitude.

Most of the guests in the teahouse are not here to drink tea, but to chat and have fun, chat and pastime is their fundamental purpose, as for drinking tea, it is just a gimmick, you can't just let people come in to chat! It's not easy to charge, and it lacks that unique atmosphere.

"Have you all heard? A big man from the imperial court came to our Xiazhou, and he just arrived yesterday. ”

"I heard that the south gate was blocked for a while yesterday, and I heard that it was to welcome the big shots."

"I don't know how big an official it is, he actually wants to block the city gate to greet him, and General Guo didn't have such a big pomp when he came!"

A few businessmen drinking tea chatted casually.

A guest at the table next to him turned to look at the three of them, and said in a slightly proud tone, "You don't know it yet, do you! The noble person who came yesterday is our Li Shilang of the Tang Dynasty, and his official position is much higher than that of General Guo, and the key person is the big celebrity around His Majesty, and he is the mainstay of Datang, which is not comparable to General Guo. ”

"Oh, it turned out to be the famous Li Shilang! No wonder there is such a big pomp. ”

"Li Shilang is the mainstay of our Tang Dynasty, what is he doing in our Xiazhou, we have a population of more than 10,000 in Xiazhou, and it is not very important, why do you want to come to our Xiazhou?"

"Yes! Why do you want to come to Xiazhou? ”

The three businessmen just now said suspiciously.

The guest who was coaxing before spoke again: "This is a secret, how can it be known to ordinary people, and the secret of heaven must not be revealed!" ”

After speaking, he looked mysterious.

"Do you know why, can you tell us? We're not going to say it. ”

"That's right! Tell us quickly, we promise not to say. ”

"What the hell are you here for, we know and we won't make trouble."

Several businessmen asked.

The person who coaxed him opened his mouth and said: "Our Xiazhou, what can be worthy of Li Shilang's personal visit, don't you think about it yourself?" The answer you come up with is the most correct. ”

"Yes! What can we have in Xiazhou that is worthy of Li Shilang? ”

"It can't be a horse thief! In addition to the horse thieves in Xiazhou, there is nothing worth letting Li Shilang come over in person. ”

"Horse thief, that's right, it must be a horse thief, in our Xiazhou, only horse thieves are a more serious disaster, except for horse thieves, there is really nothing worthy of Li Shilang coming in person."

"If we really come to deal with horse thieves, it will be a blessing for us! In the past few years, we have been robbed by horse thieves and suffered a lot of losses! ”

"Yes! Oh, yes! Horse thieves have robbed me not once or twice, at least five or six times, and I have lost a lot of money. ”

"If we can really destroy our horse thieves in Xiazhou, it would be the best, and we will never have to worry about being robbed by horse thieves in the future."

"But the horse thief has come and gone without a trace, can it really be completely eliminated? General Guo has been here for several months, and he has barely touched the shadow of the horse thief, so Li Shilang will definitely be able to do it? ”

"How can it not work, General Guo can't find the horse thief, so he can only consider himself unlucky, but if Li Shilang is angry, maybe he can mobilize more soldiers and horses from the capital and surround the entire Qiwu Mountain, so that even if there are more horse thieves, there will be nowhere to hide."

"That's right! If Li Shilang is really angry, maybe he will really send tens of thousands of troops over, and if several armies are encircled, the horse thieves will have no way to escape. ”

More businessmen joined the discussion, and the biggest reason that everyone could think of was the problem of horse thieves, because in the eyes of these businessmen, the most headache for them was the problem of horse thieves, as long as the problem of horse thieves was solved, they could sit back and relax in the future, and no longer have to worry about their goods being robbed by horse thieves.

Listening to these businessmen talking about themselves and the horse thieves, Ang Lee's expression was very indifferent, and there was no change in the slightest, so as not to let others see the clues.

"How many people are there in the horse thieves? Why is it so hard to destroy? What is the reason for this? What is the best way to wipe out all the horse thieves? ”

Li An opened his mouth and asked questions, this is also the question he has always wanted to ask, the horse thief has existed for so long and has never been eliminated, what is the reason behind this, others don't know, don't these locals who have lived in Xia Zhou for a long time not know?

Hearing Ang Lee's question, many businessmen were stunned and paused for a while.

"No one can say how many horse thieves there are, some say less than a thousand, some say there are three or five thousand, and some say tens of thousands, I don't know who is telling the truth."

"Horse thieves are haunted, as long as they find the shadow of the official army, they run faster than rabbits, and they are easily unwilling to fight with the official army, and they will not all be dispatched to rob in peacetime, so naturally no one can figure out how many people and horses they have, and it is not easy to exterminate them."

"The horse thieves are not immortals, they come and go without a trace, but why can they prepare to know the news of our business capital, I am afraid that there is an internal response in Xiazhou City!"

"That's right, there must be horse thieves in Xiazhou City, who often send messages to horse thieves, so that they can accurately rob the caravan and avoid the pursuit of the official army in time."

"The date of departure of the caravan is not known to everyone, only a few people can know, it seems that the horse thief is not an ordinary person? I'm afraid it's all infiltrated into our interior. ”

"Yes! The horse thieves have infiltrated our interior, and it is really difficult to completely eliminate the horse thieves, maybe this Li Shilang will have a way! We should believe in Him! ”

A group of businessmen got together and talked.