Xishan Road is under the jurisdiction of the land of seven states, Tongzhou is located in the north of Yunshan Mansion, the two places are nearly two hundred miles apart, the geographical environment is mostly mountainous, the natural conditions are also very bad, although it is separated from Yunshan Mansion less than two hundred miles, but the climate here is obviously colder than Yunshan Mansion, and the snow is deep.

Zhao Guangqing, the governor of Tongzhou, is also a cadre, but he has been in the position of Tongzhou governor for nearly ten years, but he has not been promoted because of local banditry problems.

Daqin has increased taxes in recent years, and Tongzhou has always been a land of bitter drought, even if the year is good, the crops in the field can only be put away seventy percent, in the year of the great drought, sometimes there can even be a situation of poor harvest, the tax pressed down by the imperial court can not be paid, but can only be taxed in the local force, the people sometimes can't even eat, where is the tax can be paid, official. Force. People. On the contrary, in a drought year, there must be a garrison stationed in Tongzhou to quell the civil uprising.

Zhao Guangqing understood that persecuting the common people too much would only make the situation in Tongzhou more and more chaotic, but the pressure of the imperial court could not be ignored, and he went to several folds and begged the imperial court to reduce or reduce taxes, but he was impeached and controlled by many officials of the imperial court, and he was almost dismissed from office several times.

He also wanted to leave this crater, but the imperial court seemed to be staring at him, neither promoting nor degrading, pressing him in this place, he was in a dilemma, and this Zhizhou did really hard work.

Since the autumn, Zhao Guangqing has been anxious, just because after the autumn every year, it is the period to pay taxes to the imperial court, but the taxes collected by Tongzhou are less than sixty percent, and there is a lot of shortage, and it is not easy to get together seventy percent of the taxes and transport them to Beijing, but it has caused several popular uprisings, and after the pacification, Zhao Guangqing is waiting for the news of the imperial court.

He knew in his heart that the court expenses had been flowing like water in recent years, and many officials in various places had been dismissed from office because of taxes, and there were not a few who even lost their lives.

Now that only 70% of the taxes have been paid, there must be a lot of impeachment.

There were a few years, Zhao Guangqing was still frightened, and he was really worried about losing his official hat, but after each impeachment, someone came out to keep it, and the court just issued an official document, reprimanded him, and ordered the arrears of taxes to be paid as soon as possible, and he still had to work in this office, year after year, he calmed down, from the beginning of worrying about the official hat being taken off, to now he would rather hope that the court will demote him, and wait for the will of the court every year.

He also knows that this tax needs to be paid just right, and if there is too little, it will not be paid, and if it is too little, it will be difficult to lose his head, and there is a sixty or seventy percent, but it is also so-so that it can pass.

It's just that looking at the current situation, this year's forced taxation will barely make up 70% at the cost of the people's commotion, but next year I am afraid that even 60% will not be able to make up.

Tongzhou, a large volcanic crater.

In Tongzhou City, Zhao Guangqing waited for the imperial court decree every day for a long time, but that night, it ushered in the official mission of the city, and the person who came sent an official letter and left.

Zhao Guangqing looked at the official document, but he asked him to gather people overnight, find an open place outside the city to set up 500 tents, and prepare meals for another 2,000 people.

Under the official document, the seal of the governor is stamped.

Zhao Guangqing was miserable, tossing such things in the middle of the night, he didn't know why there was this official document, but when the order came down, he didn't dare to slack off, so he gathered people that night, rushed to the east of the city to set up tents, and ordered people to prepare meals.

The day has just dawned, five hundred tents have finally been erected, and some subordinates have already reported that there are two thousand Praetorian Guards are quickly coming to Tongzhou City, Zhao Guangqing was taken aback, the Praetorian Guard was mobilized, it was naturally used to quell the rebels, and the two thousand Praetorian Guards were even more aggressive, and the number of rebels in Pingding was not small, but as far as he knew, in Tongzhou under his rule, there was no place where such a large number of elite soldiers could be used to suppress it.

The Praetorian Guards had little rest along the way, starting from Yunshan Mansion, each of them was distributed three days of dry food, day and night, and finally came to the outside of Tongzhou City in the early hours of the morning.

Chu Huan and Wei Tianqing had to set off one day later than the Praetorian Guard Brigade, and they met with the main force of the Praetorian Guard halfway through, and along the way, Chu Huan secretly admired the quality of this Praetorian Guard in his heart.

Although it is a rapid march day and night, but this Praetorian Guard has strict orders, there is no order to stop, no one dares to stop the next step, the rapid march is already difficult, plus it is a winter march, it is even more difficult, the requirements for physical strength and will are extremely strict, and this Praetorian Guard maintains extremely abundant physical strength, it can be seen that the physical training on weekdays is extremely strict, and the ordinary army must not withstand such a high-intensity rapid march.

Along the way, except for a short rest after eating dry food, there was hardly a good rest for three days, but when the two thousand men marched, they still maintained a neat formation.

This situation is seen in Chu Huan's eyes, but he has even more admiration for Wei Tianqing, as the saying goes, there are no weak soldiers under a strong general, and Wei Tianqing's ability to govern the army is just a matter of looking at the soldiers under him.

This Praetorian Guard is strictly disciplined, and orders are forbidden, although they have not yet seen them kill the enemy, but the abundant physical strength and tenacity shown in the rapid march have shown the strong style of this Praetorian Guard, there are soldiers like this, it can be seen that the commander of Wei Tianqing is talented, and it is no wonder that Governor Qiao Mingtang is so appreciative and trusting of Wei Tianqing, and it is indeed Qiao Mingtang's luck to have such a loyal and talented subordinate.

At this time, Chu Huan had already changed into the guard armor rationed by the Praetorian Guards, a gray-brown armor, with cowhide inside, plus iron scales, which was the black scale armor unique to the guards, and the eagle feather helmet on his head, this armor was worn on his body, but it was also heroic, especially Chu Huan's angular face, wearing a helmet, it looked even more heroic, and unnaturally, there was a fierce murderous aura diffused out.

Just as when he first put on this black scale armor, Wei Tianqing praised at that time, Chu Huan seemed to be born to wear armor, the armor on the ship, and the whole person suddenly looked very powerful.

Ordinary people will always be a little uncomfortable when they wear armor for the first time, but Chu Huan seems to be very satisfied with the armor, and with the armor on his body, his spirit is unnaturally excited.

Two thousand Praetorian Guards hurried in the cold weather overnight, but no one showed complaints, fortunately, the equipment of the Praetorian Guards was the best among the soldiers in the entire Xishan Road, with a very warm inner cotton coat in the armor, plus a trot along the way, the body was hot, but it was also supported to Tongzhou City, under the dawn, I had seen the black and oppressive Tongzhou City under the canopy from afar, and in an area under the city, five hundred company tents had already been set up, and the snow in that area had been cleaned.

On the side of the city gate, someone had already greeted him, also wearing armor, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, seeing Wei Tianqing, he had already stepped forward with a few flying horses, and there was a distance from the distance, and he had already turned over and dismounted, and knelt down on one knee: "The last general of the Tongzhou camp Qianhu Duan Xun will see the commander of the lord!" ”

This person naturally also knows Wei Tianqing.

The sixteen provinces of Daqin, each province has a prefecture city, and the palace city has a Praetorian Guard with a strength of 5,000 people, which is under the command of the Praetorian Guard, and the command is directly under the command of the governor.

In addition, each province has a battalion in each state, with an establishment of about 1,500 people, mainly for guarding the city gates, and occasionally for suppressing small unrest.

In order to prevent local autocracy, the local administration of Daqin was separated from military and governmental, and the right to mobilize the Weisuo army was directly ordered by the military department of the imperial court, and local officials did not have the right to mobilize the Weisuo army, but the military could not interfere in local government affairs.

Zhao Guangqing governed the side and made a decision that Wei Zhihou, the supreme commander of the Weisuo Army stationed in Tongzhou, had no qualifications to meddle at all, and on the contrary, Zhao Guangqing did not have the right to mobilize a single soldier of the Weisuo Army.

What Zhizhou can mobilize can only be hundreds of personal soldiers from the Zhizhou Yamen and the soldiers of the Tongzhou battalion, and the Tongzhou battalion does not belong to the guard army, nor does it belong to the Praetorian Guard, it can only be regarded as a local guard army.

The supreme commander of the battalions in each state is Qianhu, which is under the jurisdiction of the governor.

Wei Tianqing is under the command of the Praetorian Guard, and this section of Xun is a thousand households in the Tongzhou camp, which is lower than Wei Tianqing's level, so he naturally wants to pay homage.

Wei Tianqing didn't get off the horse either, and asked directly, "Have the tents and meals been prepared?" ”

Duan Xun immediately said: "Lord Hui, the five hundred tents have been set up, the brothers can rest at any time, and the food for the two thousand people has been properly prepared. ”

Wei Tianqing nodded, didn't say much, waved his hand, and led people to the station.

When they arrived at the camp, the tight strings of the Praetorian Guards had been loosened, and many people only felt a sore back, and only thought about getting into the tent to rest and sleep.

Wei Tianqing also knew the hard work of the soldiers for days, and said loudly: "Brothers, from today onwards, everyone will rest here for a few days, and when we have enough spirits, we will set off for Cangzhou...... These days, I will surely let you eat and sleep well. ”

Duan Xun had already asked people to bring food, all hot white-flour steamed buns, and fragrant rice porridge, although the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard were exhausted, they still lined up in an orderly manner to receive food.

Wei Tianqing led the generals under his command, under the leadership of Duan Xun, and walked around the camp, and then saw the soldiers eating and drinking rice porridge and eating white flour steamed buns, but they frowned.

Duan Xun observed his words and hurriedly asked, "My lord, is there something wrong?" ”

Wei Tianqing said with a straight face: "Duan Qianhu, do you know that these brothers under Ben Jiang have not rested for three days and three nights in a row, exhausted and lacking physical strength, if they eat these things on weekdays, Ben will not say anything, but this time it will not be!" ”

Duan Xun frowned, Wei Tianqing had already said: "I'm sorry for you to find fifty big iron pots, just next to the camp for the general, and go to Zhao Zhizhou to make it clear, no matter what method he uses, he will first find a hundred pigs, he will set up an iron pot here to cook meat, and the brothers under his hands can eat as much as they want, and they will want to eat pork and sleep, and continue to eat meat after waking up, so as to nourish their mental and physical ......!" ”

Duan Xun was stunned, and Wei Tianqing had already said loudly: "Duan Qianhu, why don't you go quickly?" The huge city of Tongzhou, there are many dignitaries and nobles, they delicacies from the mountains and the sea every day, and now my brother wants to eat some pork, is this very difficult? ”

Duan Xun hurriedly said: "The last general will go to report it!" "Take your men into the city.

Chu Huan secretly praised in his heart, Wei Tianqing really deserves to be a cadre, these three days of rapid marching, the soldiers are hard, although the military discipline is strict, and the soldiers have no complaints in their mouths, but people's hearts are long, it is estimated that many people still have some complaints in their hearts, but this time the iron pot pork is eaten, firstly, it can make the soldiers quickly recover their physical strength, and secondly, it will also make the small grievances in the hearts of the soldiers disappear soon.