Shao Yanshan wiped the sweat on his forehead and continued: "At that time, I didn't know that there were war horses mixed in it, and I didn't find out until the third entry, but it was too late, I had to continue to accept their bribes, concocted the same way, and let the horses enter the customs, and later found that the guys who drove the horses were different every time, and I realized that not only the war horses entered the customs, but also the people mixed in, until someone told me three months ago that this horse dealer was not a Hui people, but a Turkic people, and I finally reacted that I had caused a big disaster." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Zhang Xuan suddenly heard a hint of clues, and immediately asked, "Who told you that the other party is a Turk?" ”

"It's a merchant from Hejian County, named Wang Baolin, and he has a deal with this Turk."

"Which county in Hejian County? What kind of business to do, let's be more careful. ”

"It's Hejian County, it's a mule and horse business, and it's very famous in Hejian County, nicknamed Wang Mule."

Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment and then asked, "Why did the Turks smuggle hundreds of soldiers into the Central Plains?" ”

This is also what Zhang Xuan finds strange, their attack on the three northern counties only began in September, but the Turks have been smuggling war horses and soldiers to the Central Plains since the beginning of the year, what are their intentions?

Shao Yanshan shook his head blankly, "Weichen doesn't know either!" ”

"I don't know, do you still think you can get away with it?"

Shao Yanshan said with tears in his eyes: "The minister is deeply guilty, and it is not a pity to die, I hope His Royal Highness will spare the minister's old mother and young son." ”

Zhang Xuan said coldly: "You fornicated with the enemy country and betrayed the Northern Sui, everything you did was not enough to atone for your sins, but the life and death of your family are in your hands, you can do it yourself!" ”

Zhang Xuan waved his hand, "Take him down and imprison him, give him a pen and paper, and let him write a detailed confession!" ”

Shao Yanshan knelt down and kowtowed, and was escorted down by the soldiers.

Zhang Xuan saw that he was escorted away, and ordered: "Bring Zhou Yuanqing in!" ”

After a while, Lang escorted Zhou Yuanqing in with his back, and when he came in, he knelt down on one knee and said urgently: "Dashuai, I really don't know about my humble position!" ”

Zhang Xuan instructed the soldiers on the left and right, "Untie him!" ”

The pro-soldier stepped forward and used a sharp knife to break the rope, Zhou Yuanqing rubbed his numb wrist slightly, and said: "Shao Yanshan fornicated with the Turks, and he only knew about it just now, and he really didn't know anything before. ”

At this time, Mai Mengcai and Taishou Li Yi also walked in, standing aside with Zhou Yuanqing, Zhang Xuan paced back and forth in the room with his hands in his hands, and after a while, his sharp gaze fell on Zhou Yuanqing's body.

"You keep saying that you don't know, why do the army not inspect so many times when Turkic war horses and personnel enter the country? Let them go unimpeded! ”

"This ..... Neglect of duty! ”

Next to him, Mai Mengcai hurriedly said: "Your Highness Qiqi, there is indeed a loophole in this. ”

"What vulnerability?"

"The duty of the Beihukou garrison is to maintain the smooth flow of the Beihukou trade route and maintain the local order in Anle County, and later added two more items, to protect the mutual market of the municipal bureau and the Tiele ministry, and to assist the county government to investigate and block tax evasion and smuggling contraband, generally speaking, the county government has a special person responsible for checking and blocking tax evasion and smuggling contraband, but special circumstances occur, such as abnormal trade, or the local government is understaffed, and the county government can only participate in the investigation after the county government puts forward a request for assistance, otherwise the army will not interfere in local government affairs."

Zhang Xuan did not speak, the army does not interfere in local government affairs, and the local government cannot interfere with the garrison, this is indeed the rule he set, but he did not expect that there would be a loophole in this rule.

At this time, Zhou Yuanqing hurriedly said: "Thank you General Mai for explaining the humble position, but this matter is still the responsibility of negligence, the imperial court stipulates that more than 100 animals must be approved by the Taifu Temple to enter the customs, but the Turks have trafficked hundreds of horses into the country many times, but the humble duty has not been carefully checked, this is the negligence of the humble duty." ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, "You can admit this, it shows that you still have self-knowledge, no matter what, even I am responsible for this Anle County incident, except for Shao Yanshan, I will not pursue other officials." ”

Zhou Yuanqing was excited, "Xie Dashuai forgives!" ”

Zhang Xuan added: "From now on, every ticket of goods entering and leaving through Beihukou must be carefully checked by the army, and once prohibited and abnormal are found, they will be immediately arrested and interrogated." ”

"Obey the order!"

.........

Zhang Xuan sent an eagle letter to Zhongdu on the same day, asking Fang Xuanling to find Wang Baolin, a mule and horse merchant in Hejian County, to see if he could get any clues from him.

Early the next morning, Zhang Xuan immediately set off to Beihukou to check the current state of defense.

Compared with the Turkic cavalry infiltrating the Central Plains, Zhang Xuan was more concerned about the defense of the Northern Tiger Pass, and once the Turkic army chose to break through from here, the Northern Sui would face a catastrophe.

Beihukou is one of the three passages of the Yanshan Mountain Range, it is the Baoqiu water after tens of millions of years of erosion and gradually formed a river valley, the river valley is very wide, the widest part has more than ten miles, the narrowest place also has a mile, and Lou Fu Pass is the same, the mountains on both sides are the continuous Great Wall.

Because Beihukou is far away from the golden pastures of the Mobei grassland, and it is also far away from the habitat of the fishing and hunting peoples in Liaodong, which makes Beihukou far away from the war, and has hardly encountered the threat of war for hundreds of years.

Beihukou should actually be called Beihugu, Baoqiu water flows in the valley of dozens of miles, the mountains on both sides are majestic, the mountains are high and the forests are dense, the ravines and valleys are all over, there are many elk and beasts, a clear river flows from the valley, the water is turbulent, and the riverbed is full of large and small stones on both sides.

However, it was the middle of winter, and the whole valley seemed to be solidified, the thick snow reached people's knees, the flowing water turned into jade carvings, the entire mountain forest was covered with a layer of snow, the sun shone on the glacier and the snow, flashing with magnificent light, and occasionally you could see colorful snow leopards slowly walking through the snow.

At this time, a group of birds in the distant woods were startled, and a group of elk foraging for food prick up their ears vigilantly, only to see a cavalry coming from the far side of the avenue next to the woods, and the horse team was trudging through the snow with difficulty, and this cavalry of 2,000 people was Zhang Xuan who inspected the defense situation in the Beihukou.

However, he was deeply disappointed by the situation along the way, except for a few soldiers' forts along the way, there were no buildings in sight, and the entire valley was almost undefended.

At this time, the guard Zhou Yuanqing pointed to a giant pine not far away that was more than 20 zhang high and said, "Has Your Highness seen that pine tree?" That is the famous welcome pine of the North Tiger Valley, and it is also the narrowest part of the whole valley, the cliffs on both sides are only one mile apart, and after about a hundred steps, it suddenly opens up, like the waist of a gourd. ”

Zhang Xuan reined in the war horse and looked at it for a while, then urged the horse to rush up, and the cavalry behind followed, and after a while, Zhang Xuan came to the giant pine, he first looked at this big tree that he had never seen before, it was twenty-three or four zhang high, and the bottom was even thicker, and it took at least seven or eight people to surround it.

Zhang Xuan patted the huge pine tree and said with a smile: "I like this pine tree, I am not allowed to see it off, save it!" ”

At this time, Mai Meng urged the horse to follow, looked at both sides and said with a smile: "Dashuai, this place is very suitable for building a Guancheng!" ”

Zhang Xuan also looked at the surrounding environment, looked at the mountains on both sides, nodded and said: "It is best to build a four- to five-zhang high Guancheng, we come all the way, there are many boulders in the river, so we will use boulders to build them, and they must be completed before mid-February." ”

Everyone looked embarrassed, no one said a word, it was very difficult to build the city wall in the middle of winter, not to mention that the time was only more than a month, how could it be repaired.

Zhang Xuan glanced at Taishou Li Yi, "How many people can Anle County recruit at most?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, it is estimated that it is about 10,000 people."

Zhang Xuan immediately decided: "Go and inform all the families in Anle County that as long as they are willing to come here to build the Guancheng, they can be exempted from taxes for five years." ”

Li Yi nodded, "If this is the condition, I estimate that all the families are willing to come and build the city wall." ”

"I'll leave this matter to you, within ten days, all the people will arrive here, in addition, let them bring their own dry food, each person will be given 300 yuan a day as a food subsidy, and the required tents and other materials will be taken care of by the army."

Zhang Xuan asked Mai Mengcai again: "You need at least 3,000 tents to build a city here, do you have one over there?" ”

Mai Mengcai said with a sad face: "Your Highness, all our tents have been transported to Shanggu County for the use of immigrants, and there are no tents in the Lushui warehouse. (To be continued.) )