(Thank you for the support of the two monthly tickets for Lao Tzu's book famine, thank you!) ）

In July, when the sun came out, it was as if there was a fire on the ground. Even Chang'an City, the capital of millions, didn't see many people at noon. At the south gate of Chang'an City, only two of the five door openings were open, and the three middle door openings were closed tightly as usual. There are 100 guards at the Mingde Gate, and at this time they are either hiding on the gate tower, or hiding in the door hole to avoid the hot sun.

Wu Chang Zhao Youcai took half a scoop of cold water from his recruit Kong Ergou, and poured it all into his stomach, which was finally cooler. Then he bragged to the brothers next to him about the grand scene of the soldiers and horses of the Eight Towns entering Beijing not long ago. As he was talking, he suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves.

On the official road of the rolling heat wave, a horse galloped in.

Kong Ergou hurriedly went to stop and check, but Zhao Youcai was quick and quickly pulled him back, and stood a few steps behind.

They had barely taken a few steps back when the rider had already galloped up, and immediately the knight was in the dust, with a small red flag on his back and a letter written on it.

"Eight hundred miles expedited! Eight hundred miles expedited! ”

A roll of yellow dust rolled, and the horses galloped in, but when they saw the figure flickering, they shouted: "Eight hundred miles of urgency, those who resist die, and those who oppose die!" Then the smoke and dust billowed from the horseman, and the knight had not yet seen the sign in his hand, and the rider had already left.

Seeing the knight gone, Zhao Youcai breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly lectured Kong Ergou, "You kid, have more eyesight in the future, that one just now is the eight-hundred-mile flying messenger of the post station, this is the highest-level messenger." Did you see the envelope and the letter flag he was carrying just now? ”

Kong Ergou shook his head, "He ran so fast." Didn't see anything! ”

Zhao Youcai slapped Kong Ergou on the head. "If it weren't for you, the kid was my nephew. I won't let you stay here on an errand, you kid lacks eyesight, don't think it's easy to guard the city gate, this errand requires the most eyesight. There were many people who guarded the gates of the city that could not be provoked, and among them, this messenger was one of the most unprovoked, although he was lowly. ”

As he spoke, he introduced this post messenger to his nephew, the stagecoach of the Tang Dynasty, and asked to travel about 180 miles a day. The fastest is 600 miles a day. An Lushan rebelled in Fanyang. At that time, Tang Xuanzong was in Huaqing Palace, the two places were separated by three thousand miles, and Tang Xuanzong knew the news within 6 days, and the transmission speed at that time reached 500 miles per day.

Datang has a post station every 20 miles, once the official document that needs to be delivered is marked with the words "immediately fly", according to the requirements of 300 miles per day, in case of emergency, 400 miles per day, 600 miles, and the fastest up to 800 miles. When delivering urgent documents, fast horses are used at each station. And the person who hit and killed is not responsible, "Six hundred miles urgent." "Eight hundred miles expedited" is used to indicate the urgency of the situation.

At the peak of the Tang Dynasty, there were 1,639 post stations in the country, with more than 20,000 people specializing in post services, including 17,000 post soldiers. The post post is divided into three types: land post, water post and waterway merger, and each post station is equipped with a post house, equipped with a post horse, a post donkey, a post boat and a post field.

Datang's 800-mile expedited is the highest-level urgent letter, and the 800-mile expedited military situation is urgent, and each post station must supply the best horses. Eight hundred miles of expedited to change horses every time I arrived at the station, eating and drinking all on the horse, running day and night, often running for two or three thousand miles in a row, for several days and nights. It often happens that a dead horse or even a dead person runs. The imperial court made special provisions for these post guards who sent urgent letters, and they were not responsible for hitting and killing people.

Therefore, whether you are a high-ranking official or an ordinary person, when you see the post man who delivers the urgent letter, you should quickly give way, otherwise you will be killed in vain, and if you delay the letter, you will have to be severely punished.

"In the future, remember, when you see a post man carrying a letter flag and a letter bag, don't stand stupidly anymore and stop it, otherwise you will be killed in vain!" Zhao Youcai said to his nephew seriously.

The galloping messenger galloped on Suzaku Street, attracting many people to watch. When they saw clearly that it was an eight-hundred-mile urgent post man, many people were surprised.

"Could it be that the barbarians of the Nanzhao Kingdom of Bixin Chieftain have led their troops to invade the border again?" Someone said loudly, in the more than ten years since the Nanzhao barbarian king Chieflong ascended the throne, there have been six major battles between Nanzhao and the Tang Dynasty with more than 100,000 people. It can be said that after the weakening of Tibet and the annihilation of the Uighurs, only Nanzhao was the only barbarian who dared to force the Tang Dynasty tiger whiskers frequently.

Someone immediately retorted, "There is a high general in Xichuan, how can the Nanban come to attack the border again?" Don't forget, the previous Gao Da General defeated 100,000 Nanban in Annam, and the chieftain who fought fled in the wilderness. Last year, the chief dragon committed Xichuan, and the imperial court raised the general from the Tianping army to move to Xichuan, but the Nanban fled when he heard the wind. I estimate that it is possible that the tall general went deep into the territory of Nanzhao and broke the barbarian army, and it is possible that the chieftains were captured. ”

"The place of Nanzhao is full of miasma, and it is impossible to enter Nanzhao, and the gains outweigh the losses. Nanzhao is not easy to fight, and even if it does, it is useless, and the high servants will not fight. ”

"General Gao may not be able to do it alone, but don't forget, some time ago, didn't Yang Jianjun take Li Guochang, a Shatuo man, to lead Shatuo's soldiers to Xichuan to help? The Nashatuo people are still very strong, and with them, it may be possible to capture the chief dragon in a battle. Immediately someone joined in and disagreed.

However, these words attracted some people who didn't like the Shatuo people to fight back, "The Shatuo people are just a group of Hu people, what do you say is tough, Li Zhongshu led his subordinates to the soldiers of the Zhenguo Army, but they were directly annihilated and captured." The Zhenguo Army has been recruited and trained for less than a year. Are Shatuo people strong? Why can't even the Han soldiers of the Zhenguo Army, who have only been training for one year, be defeated? ”

"That's it, I think this messenger may be reporting on the situation of the Kanto War." Another old man who was covered in silk and full of elegance smiled, "During this time, various good news in Kanto have been reported frequently, everyone must have heard of it, right?" ”

Someone immediately replied, "I heard, of course I heard." Didn't the news come before that the smuggler Wang Xianzhi Huangchao was happy, united with Wang Jingwu, a rebel general in Ziqing Town, to erode the land of Kyushu in eastern Henan, making it difficult for the people to make a living, and they also tried to attack Songzhou and threaten Caoyun. ”

Although these rich and noble people in Chang'an don't care about the lives and deaths of the people in the Kanto region, the entire Chang'an basically depends on the southeast to survive. The imperial court needs the taxes of the southeast, and the nobles and commoners of Chang'an. It also needed food and other supplies sent from the southeast through the canal. Previously, the grass thief threatened Biansong. Prices across Chang'an immediately began to soar. In particular, grain prices have not only risen several times a day, but have even seen a rush to buy grain, and both high-ranking officials and ordinary people are desperately queuing up to buy grain. Many grain merchants took advantage of the price to hoard, and as a result, there was a grain shortage in Chang'an, the capital division, which reached a high price of doumi Qianwen, and hundreds of people ran out of food.

Not yet. Only less than half a month later, Luoyang came with good news, Li Jing led the Zhenguo army in Songzhou with more than 20,000 pairs of grass thief king Xianzhi more than 100,000, designed to lure the enemy, and then outflanked, defeated 100,000 thieves in a battle, beheaded 30,000, captured 40,000 thieves, and 50,000 were coerced by Qingzhuang. When the news reached Chang'an, the entire Chang'an was overjoyed. Prices have finally come down. Soon after, another good news reached Beijing. Ximen Sigong, the prisoner of the thief, and Yang Fugong, the envoy of the army, led an army of 100,000 in six towns to defeat Wang Xianzhi and Huangchao's 160,000 troops in Caozhou, beheaded 80,000 and captured more than 30,000.

After these two battles, the people of Chang'an already thought that the grass thieves were not enough to fear, and it was only a matter of time before they were annihilated. Sure enough, the good news was frequent, and Li Jing led the Zhenguo army to recover Pu, Yan, Yun, Ji, and Qi counties one after another, and swept away the remnants of the bandits in Zhuzhou County, and Huang Chao, Wang Jingwu and others had fled.

"It seems that it is estimated that Huang Chao, Wang Xianzhi, and Wang Jingwu have been beheaded!"

"I just don't know whose great work is for Lu Dao."

"Needless to say, it must be Li Zhenguo's."

"No, Li Zhenguo was still in Qizhou a few days ago, and I guess it may be the merit of Song Dashuai."

In order to cool off the summer, these days he is staying in the Jiucheng Palace on Tiantai Mountain near Linyou County, Qizhou, west of Jingzhao Mansion in Chang'an.

The environment where Jiucheng Palace is located is dripping green, the clear spring is murmuring, the wind is clear and the moon is shadowy, and the environment is quiet. The crown mountain resists the palace, the absolute gully is the pool, the cross-water frame is the Ying, the rock is divided, the high pavilion is built around the week, the corridor is all around, the building is glued and Ge, and the pavilion is uneven. The pearls are intertwined, the gold is brilliant, the clouds are scorching, and the sun and the moon are lost.

Li Yi, the son of heaven, played ball, chess and fought geese here, and he was also happy. Especially recently, the good news has been repeated, so that the Son of Heaven can't help but be even happier to hand over all the affairs of the court to Tian Lingzi and the political affairs hall, and leave it alone.

In the imperial garden of Jiucheng Palace, Li Yi was fighting geese with some royal princes who came with him. However, Li Yi was unlucky today and lost several games in a row. Li Yi prefers geese to cockfighting. A fighting runs dozens of times, but Li Jing's fighting geese are as high as hundreds or even thousands. Every time he fights, Li Yi wins and loses thousands of times, and these attendants and excellent servants around him are very liked by Li Yi, and the rewards are bold, and the shot is tens of thousands of dollars.

lost 100,000 yuan in a row, and the eunuch who followed Li Yu helplessly said that he had no money. This made Li Yi very dissatisfied, "The whole world is mine, how can I have no money?" ”

The eunuch said in fear: "Tian Gong only gave 100,000 yuan to the slave today, and his majesty has already used it up today. ”

Li Yi frowned: "When you run out, I'll find Jin Guogong to get some more." ”

The eunuch hurriedly bent down and retreated, wiping his sweat and trotting away. After a while, he came back behind Tian Lingzi, and Tian Lingzi greeted the emperor and handed over 50,000 yuan of flying money. Li Yi took it and looked at it twice, and said dissatisfiedly: "It's only 50,000 yuan, it's enough to play for a long time, and then bring some more." ”

Tian Lingzi smiled bitterly in his heart, this emperor really knows how to use money, 100,000 guan is spent in one day, and 50,000 guan is too little. However, he did not intend to advise the emperor, he greatly respected the words of Qiu Shiliang, the great eunuch who had experienced the three dynasties of Xianzong, Wenzong, and Wuzong, and had served for more than 20 years. Qiu Shiliang has controlled the government for many years, and during his reign, he killed two kings, one concubine, and four prime ministers. This great eunuch once said that the Son of Heaven should not be idle, but should always cover his ears and eyes with extravagance, so that he will indulge in pleasures and have no time to take care of other things, and then our generation can achieve its ambition. Don't let him study, don't let him get close to the scholar, otherwise, he will know the rise and fall of the previous dynasty, and he will be worried in his heart, and he will be alienated from my generation.

For Tian Lingzi, it is precisely because Li Yi is young and ignorant that he can take charge of the government. If the emperor is no longer playful, then his rights will cease to exist. Therefore, even if the emperor spends money indiscriminately, he is happy.

"Back to His Majesty, Li Jing originally served as the salt and iron transfer envoy and money minting envoy in Ziqing and Liaodong, and said that he would hand over 2 million yuan a year. But so far, he has only paid half of the money. Now the imperial court is constantly using soldiers, and a lot of money and food are spent. Li Jing is now selling salt everywhere, and he has sold all the salt in Dengzhou to Chang'an, making a lot of money, but he refuses to hand over the salt tax to the national treasury for His Majesty's use, and it seems that there is no His Majesty in his eyes. Tian Lingzi held his hands on the dust, and said bad things about Li Jing when he saw the stitches.

Li Jing has been selling salt on a large scale recently, and the price is much cheaper than official salt. Although he didn't know why Li Jing sold it at such a low price, he knew that Li Jing must have made a lot of money. He now regrets very much that he handed over all the salt and iron money to Li Jing, and only collected two million guan instead of collecting taxes according to the amount of salt and iron produced.

Li Yi was impatient with him saying this, and waved his hand and said: "Li Zhenguo is loyal to the country, and he is a minister I rely on. After a pause, the emperor said: "Actually, it was a little difficult for Li Jing to pay two million salt taxes every year. The two pools in Hedong are only about one million a year, and the small Dengzhou still has to boil salt, but it has to pay two million a year, which is a bit much. Besides, Li Jing has entered Youzhou first, then Daibei, and then Henan, and has not returned home once in the past year. Li Jing has more than 20,000 troops in the town, but he has not asked for a penny of grain and grass from the imperial court. This salt tax can pay a million, which is not a lot. What's more, Ji Yu's dedication has never been interrupted, adding up, no less than one million. ”

After saying this, he suddenly asked Tian Lingzi: "Yesterday, I received a recital from Song Wei, the envoy of Ziqing Town, in which he said that he was seriously ill and wanted to ask Li Jing to serve as the queen of Ziqing Town, what does my father think about this matter?" ”

Tian Lingzi was shocked and stunned for a moment. He naturally saw this letter, but he didn't hand it over to the emperor, but directly withheld it. The emperor almost didn't pay attention to political affairs, even if he didn't read the notes handed to him, why did he see the notes that were not given to him? He suddenly understood that it must be Zhang Tai. After Ximen Sigong and Yang Fugong were driven out of Beijing by him, now only Zhang Tai spoke by the emperor's side. Song Weiding wrote two memorabilia, one of which was directly given to Zhang Tai and asked him to hand it over to the Son of Heaven on his behalf.

Speaking of which, Song Wei was originally a person from Xiangguo Lu Xi, and Lu Xi was his person, and it was precisely because of this relationship that when Song Wei asked to be a solicitor, he would agree. But now, Song Wei and Li Jing are suddenly so close to their father and son, and they actually asked Li Jing to take over as the queen of Ziqing Town, which is to hand over the seal of Ziqing Town to Li Jing. This damn Song Wei, is he going to change ships?

Tian Lingzi was very angry in his heart, he felt betrayed by Song Wei. Damn Song Wei, damn Li Jing! (To be continued......)