Hanhou

In just five days, more than [-] criminals, child dealers, and suspected child slaves were arrested in Yunzhong County.

The prisons in the counties and cities were overcrowded, and the jailers and jailers patrolled the cells every day, helping Zhou Jue Cao interrogate criminals, and they were so busy hitting the back of their heads.Since the arrival of the first batch of villains, it was difficult for everyone to sleep well. After several days of busy work, everyone was exhausted.

Especially the jailer, when the jailer took a nap, he couldn't rest, and he had to sort out the confession together with the civil servant.Day after day, I was exhausted, my eyes were bloodshot, and I could fall asleep standing up.

Zhao Jia sent a group of villains into the city, and happened to meet the Qiang people who were escorting the Hu merchants.

Because Zhao Jia often went to Hushi to trade, the two parties were no strangers and had greeted each other. The leader of the team, Yeli, told Zhao Jia that a new batch of Xiongnu horses had arrived in the city, and there were more than 30 foals.

"The county lieutenant is interested, he can send someone to come quickly, the price is negotiable."

These words are no longer hints, but almost explicit.

"Thank you." Zhao Jia nodded.

Leader Yeli rubbed his big hands together, and said with a smile, "If it suits the county captain's wishes, can you buy me some more ice?"

Since the beginning of summer, Zhao's livestock farm has started to sell ice to outsiders. The price is not set high, and the profit is small but the turnover is high. It still makes a lot of money.

The most exciting thing is that the ice sold in the city can be imported.The young man guarding the booth demonstrated it himself. He chopped the ice cubes with a sharp cone, poured the fruit soup with honey, and sprinkled some fruit pulp. It tasted good and could relieve the heat.

There is an ice storage cellar in the prefect's mansion, but the stored ice is too much to enter.Whenever Shi Bing's cart enters the city, other people bring wooden bowls and clay pots, and the bosses directly use buckets to pack them.

The method of making ice is not difficult, Zhao Xin, Zhao Puonu and Wei Qing have already learned it.When the work in the pen and field is finished, they will gather in the emptied warehouse, and while reviewing the art of war they have learned, they will take saltpeter to make ice.As the demand increased day by day, in order to ensure the supply, some old people in the village came to help.

The business in the county city is booming day by day, and the biggest buyer of ice cubes is still not inside the city, but outside the city.To be precise, it was the surrendered Qiang tribe.

When the Qiang people saw edible ice cubes, they felt like a treasure.He did not hesitate to buy them at several times the price, and transport them to the camp one by one.Putting a large basin of ice cubes in the tent, the stuffy heat was quickly dispelled, and I almost didn't want to step out of the tent because of the comfort.

When living in the grasslands, there is no good way to relieve the heat. When the weather is too hot, the herdsmen in their prime can still carry it, and the frail children and the elderly will suffer a great crime.

Several tribal leaders had been to Chang'an with the envoys of the headquarters, and they knew that the Han people had a way of collecting ice for storage and relieving the heat in summer.However, the tribe is used to living by water and grass, migrating all year round, and living in tents, not to mention not knowing how to store ice, even if they do know, the collected ice cannot be kept.

After returning to the Han Dynasty, the life of the Qiang tribe improved rapidly.Entering the scorching summer, I found that ice can be bought in the city, and it can not only be used to cool down and relieve heat, but also can be imported. The leaders of the Qiang tribe would not say anything, and offered several times the price, just to buy more.

Ice is different from food, no matter how high or low the price is, it will not have much impact on the county.

Qiang people are willing to pay high prices and stick out their necks to be fat sheep. Zhao Jia naturally has no reason to push the money away.As long as you don't waste your money, you can pay for it with one hand and deliver the goods with the other. Let alone one car, ten cars can still be supplied.

Not wanting to squeeze the bald wool at once, Zhao Jiacai set a limit, stipulating that no more than three carts of ice cubes would be sold to the Qiang people each time the market opened.As for how to divide the Qiang people, that is their own business.

It is worth mentioning that there are many economically minded people in the Qiang tribe.Knowing that the carts of ice from the livestock market will not enter the Hu market, they just divide some of the ice they bought and sell it to Hu merchants from afar at a higher price.

It seems unbelievable that a small bowl of ice can be exchanged for five high-quality animal skins, but there is a long line of fat sheep willing to be slaughtered, which can circle the whole circle of Hushi.

Having tasted the profits, Chief Yeli dreamed of getting more shares.

Finding out that Zhao Jia likes to buy horses, he specially asked Wuhuan people for help, contacted a Da Yue clan caravan, asked the other party to bring a batch of good horses and horses, and took the initiative to do his best to help Zhao Jia. Ka lowered the price.

The other party was full of sincerity, Zhao Jia reciprocated, and promised a carload of ice in many cities, the price could not be lowered, but he could give two cans of wild fruit soup as a gift.

The leader of Yeli was overjoyed, with a fierce face with scars, he smiled so hard that his teeth could not be seen, and he poured out good words like money.

The compliment was too straightforward, Zhao Jia was inevitably a little embarrassed, coughed, turned his head, glared at the village chief and team leader who were watching the show, and signaled the team to speed up and take the villain to prison as soon as possible.

After handing over the man to Zhou Juecao, Zhao Jia ordered the county soldiers to return to the barracks, and took only a dozen cavalry to the prefect's mansion.

After days of interrogation, half of the study room was filled with the inmate's confessions.

Master Wang personally led people to sort out the bamboo slips, compared the confessions of villains, merchants, and boy servants, sorted out a clear context, extracted the most important parts, re-transcribed them, and sent them to Wei Taishou for preparation. Chang'an.

Not long after Wei Yue escorted the prisoner back to the city, he was arrested by Wei Taishou.When Zhao Jia came to see him, the third son of Wei had already buried his head on the desk for a long time, and the bamboo slips and slips around him were piled up half a person's height.

"Hodor is back?"

Wei Shang sat in front of the screen, looking a little tired.Master Wang and Wei Yue sat on the left and right, and when Zhao Jia walked into the study, they were still writing like flying, and they were so busy that they didn't lift their heads.

After saluting, Zhao Jiaxuan sat in front of Wei Taishou, reported the process of arresting the villains, and told what he found in the village.

"I haven't dug deep, but it is roughly estimated that there are no less than [-] bones hidden in the ground."

Wei Shang stopped writing, ordered his servants to bring iced fruit soup, then pointed to the pile of bamboo slips on the right side of the screen, and told Zhao Jia that what he reported was also found in other villain strongholds.What is recorded in the bamboo slips are the people who disappeared in previous years, as well as the old cases that have not been solved for many years.

"In the borderlands, there are wars and bandits, and there are countless people who are missing. People in this county still have their household registrations, and people from other counties are the most difficult to find."

The villains are bloodthirsty, and they don't even remember who they killed before they do it.

It has been a long time, not to mention checking the names and places of origin of the dead frontier residents and caravans, including the merchants who once worked together, and the rogues who were bought and driven, they still can't remember clearly.

Zhao Jia turned over a scroll of wooden slips, looked at the names recorded on it, and there were many bones in front of his eyes, thinking that most of them were innocent border residents, whose names were unknown after death, and could not be buried in a monument, so he unconsciously clenched his fingers and knuckles hard Gotta turn pale.

Seeing that Zhao Jia bowed his head and remained silent, Wei Yue suddenly stopped writing, apologized to Wei Shang, took the wooden slip from Zhao Jia's hand, and dragged him out of the study while he was in a daze.

The door closed with a soft sound.

Master Wang raised his head, glanced at the direction the two left, and then turned his gaze to Prefect Wei.

"My lord, Mr. Zhao Lang is still young."

"I know." Wei Shang sighed silently, and picked up the wooden slip that fell on the ground.

"Then why..."

"Knowing the evil of the Xiongnu, you can let go of unnecessary benevolence." Wei Shang rolled up the wooden slip, put it next to the screen again, and said in a deep voice, "If you are not of my race, your heart must be different. The generation of wolves can only be relieved by slaughtering them." Future troubles. Ah Duo is young, and his temperament is too gentle. If he does not become an official, let him go. Now he is a county lieutenant. If his temperament does not change, it will definitely not be a good thing for him in the future."

Master Wang pondered for a moment, and had to agree with Wei Taishou's words.Taking a sip of the warm fruit soup, he said, "What the third young master did was ordered by the envoy?"

"Ah Yue's own idea." Wei Taishou chuckled, "The two grew up together, and the friendship is very strong, and they can help each other when they enter the court in the future."

When Zhao Jia left the prefect's mansion, Wei Yue was cold for a whole month, which shocked Wei Shang who was used to his smiling face.

Although the third son of Wei quickly returned to "normal", but after experiencing this change, Wei Taishou finally understood that his son was far from being gentle and harmless on the surface.

Since then, Wei Shang has paid close attention to teaching Wei Yue, even surpassing his parents and raising him as his heir.

As Wei Shang's heir, Wei Yue has to shoulder not just one family, but the entire Wei family.

Wei Shang never regretted making this decision.Even if the husband and wife turned against each other, the second son lived in Chang'an for a long time, and the relationship between father and son was estranged, he never wavered.

Emperor Jing abolished Linjiang King and established Jiaodong King because he understood better than anyone else that Liu Rong had no shortage of talents and was more than enough to be a successful king, and he could even do a good job, but he lacked the most important thing - a sword pointing in all directions, The sharpness of attacking powerful enemies.

After two generations of accumulation, the Han Dynasty already had the strength to fight hard against the Huns.What Chang'an needs is no longer a gentle monarch, but a tough emperor who can sweep the world and open up territories.

Emperor Jing clearly realized that in order to eradicate the strong enemy in the north, his successor must be strong, even domineering, but not gentle.

Therefore, Liu Rong was abolished and Liu Che became the prince, which is completely a historical necessity.

Wei Shang also faced the same choice.

During the few years when he was dismissed from office and laid off, he saw the warmth and coldness of many people, and saw far more things than when he was in office.

If the eldest son hadn't died in battle, he should have been the best candidate to carry the Wei family.

Unfortunately, time cannot be turned back.

However, even if he could do it all over again, Wei Shang would not stop his son from going to the battlefield.Erlang of the Han family had started his career on the battlefield, trampling the heads of his enemies under his feet, paving the way to promotion with the bones and blood of the Huns, even though he died without regrets!

The second son is different from the eldest son in that he has no shortage of talents, but his temperament appears to be indecisive.Wei Shang tried to teach, but with little success.

At this point, Wei Shang has to admit that with the character of the second son, he can support the family, but he cannot support the whole family.

After careful consideration, Wei Shang surpassed his parents and took his son Wei Yue as his successor.As expected, the latter did not disappoint him. He made great achievements not long after he joined the army, and his new career was just beginning to show off the weapon of a general.

Wei Shang can be sure that Wei Yue's future achievements will not be inferior to his own, and will even be higher than his own.

Zhao Jia is Wei Yue's playmate, and the two formed a friendship when they were young. If they can continue to strengthen it, it will be a tacit understanding and foundation that no one else can shake when they step into Chang'an in the future.

Having been an official of the prefect for many years, Master Wang can naturally guess Wei Shang's plan.I didn't say much at the moment, drank the fruit soup in the bowl, continued to bury my head in the papers, and tried to sort out all the confessions at hand before lighting the lamp.

Outside the study, Zhao Jia was pulled forward by Wei Yue, walked through two corridors, and passed through a courtyard door, until he came to Wei Yue's study in the backyard, where his footsteps stopped.

"Third Young Master?" Zhao Jia looked puzzled.

Wei Yue didn't make a sound, pushed open the door, put her big hand on Zhao Jia's back, and almost pushed him into the room.

When the door was closed, Wei Yue leaned against the wooden door and stared at Zhao Jia without a familiar smile on her face.

On Zhao Jia's face was a capitalized "Mu" and he opened and closed his mouth several times, but he still didn't know what to say.

The situation in front of him was too familiar. In his memory, whenever he was in a bad mood, he would be brought to the study by Wei Yue.The news of Zhao Gongcao's death came, and he was held in Wei Yue's arms. When he realized it, his face was cold and his eyes were covered with tears.

For the first time, Zhao Jia took the initiative to hug Wei Yue; also at that time, a certain string in Zhao Jia's heart began to loosen.After he realized what the string represented, Zhao Jia had already moved out of the prefect's mansion, and began to deliberately distance himself from his childhood playmates.

"A powerful enemy is more evil than Ah Duo thought. What happened today, we will see more in the future." Wei Yue leaned forward, pressed Zhao Jia's shoulder with one hand, and pressed his fingers hard to break the silence.

"More?"

"More." Wei Yue straightened up, but she still didn't take back her hand on Zhao Jia's shoulder.

Thinking of when the Xiongnu went south, the frontiers were full of wars, and the frontier people were in danger; thinking of breaking down the bandit villages and digging out the bones buried in the ground; thinking of holding bamboo slips and feeling suffocated, Zhao Jia's eyes flashed with a touch of complexity.

"A Duoke still remember what I said a few days ago?" Wei Yue stared at Zhao Jia, and said word by word, "There are thorns and wild beasts on the road, you should strike them with swords and arrows!"

The words hit the ear, like the roar of thunder.

Zhao Jia closed his eyes, then opened them again, his complexness turned into firmness, his whole body was like a sharp sword being sharpened, showing its sharpness in an instant, its sharpness was frightening.