North and South groceries

Li Daozong led the army back in triumph. In mid-August, the army traveled to Changle County and was still stationed in the wasteland outside the county seat.

Chang Le's elders and all the sergeants sent a lot of food, rice noodles, chicken, geese and mutton, and Luo Yong even sent them a few carts of liquor.

Seeing that the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, these men still have to trek thousands of miles away from home in the borderlands.

In any case, it is always good to be able to come back. Although they won the battle this time, many people were still left on the battlefield forever, even during the march.

As night fell, fires were lit one after another at the place where the army was stationed, and the sergeants were lighting fires to cook, but at this time they were sharing the same fire, and I don’t know if they were the brothers who came.

Luo Yong and Tang Jian went to see Li Daozong together. Li Daozong was lucky this time. He thought it was just to fill the gap of Hou Junji. He never thought that Gaochang Kingdom would grow a few pumpkins for nothing. Saint After that edict came down, the meaning of this war suddenly changed.

Hearing that there are legends about Gaochang Kingdom and the golden melon spreading everywhere in the Central Plains, Li Daozong also became famous after him.After all, this is still a closed era, and the common people don't know much about the civil and military officials in the court, and there are very few who can be widely praised.

This time the Tang army came back victorious, not in such a hurry as when they went to the battlefield. Luo Yong and Tang Jian passed by. Li Daozong received them warmly and thanked them for the many things they brought to the army.

They marched for thousands of miles and walked all the way. The poor places are indeed very poor. Those small towns composed of hundreds of households often can't produce anything. Changle County, with the power of a small county, can It is really rare to provide them with so much food and material support.

Especially the alcohol that Luo Yong gave them, he didn't pay much attention to it at first, but later he heard from a doctor in the army that using this thing called alcohol to clean the wound can greatly reduce the chance of pus and rot.

Making good use of this alcohol to treat the wounds, and taking some medicines internally, many soldiers who were seriously injured survived. Most of them thought that they would die this time, but they didn't expect, hey, to the gate of hell Walked around and finally came back again.

From then on, those military doctors regarded the alcohol as a treasure, and refused to use it for ordinary minor injuries.

At this moment, their large troops were heading back to Chang'an City, and the seriously injured soldiers were left in Gaochang. Qu Wentai promised to take good care of them and send them to Yumen Pass when they recovered from their injuries. Several doctors and the rest of the alcohol were also left in Gaochang.

There is also the compass given by Luo Yong earlier. Although Gaochang people who are familiar with the terrain will lead the way in this battle, they do not need to identify the terrain and direction by themselves, but as long as they carry this small thing with them, no matter where they are As long as you take it out and take a look, you can see at a glance, which direction Chang'an City is, and which direction the Turkic people are.

This is a clarity and convenience that many soldiers have never experienced before, including Li Daozong himself.

"I don't know that alcohol, but you still have it in Changle County right now?" Li Daozong felt that the matter of alcohol was very important, and when he returned to Chang'an City, he must have a good talk with the saint.

"There are still some, I'll send someone to deliver them later." Luo Yong said frankly.

"I don't know..." Li Daozong seemed a little hesitant on his face, but he said in his mouth: "I wonder if Sanlang can give me some craftsmen who make wine?"

When Luo Yong heard it, he paused. He didn't expect that there would be someone who could directly ask for such a skill for making money.

"You and I want this wine maker not for profit." Li Daozong said: "Since this alcohol can save the lives of soldiers, it should be vigorously promoted. How can it be for personal benefit and disregard the lives of others."

"..." Luo Yong also knew this truth. He originally planned to wait for the emperor to know the benefits of this thing, and then reward himself and give some more rewards. Yes, it turned out that Li Daozong...

"Saburo don't have to be in trouble." Tang Jian said at this moment: "If not, ask Qiao Junlin to go back to Beijing with him."

"Who is Qiao Junlin?" Li Daozong had never heard of Qiao Junlin. Although the two had been together in Chang'an City for several years, they were not on the same level at all. There were hundreds of distances between the circles. Lidi.

"It's the wine maker." Luo Yong said with a sigh.

Tang Jian's idea is good, let Qiao Junlin go back to Chang'an with Li Daozong, and take advantage of the wine making to get a half-job at least, and it's not too bad.

Qiao Junlin was originally a person who was dedicated to his career. If it wasn't for Luo Yong, he would not have come to this borderland. Now that there is such an opportunity in front of him, there is no reason to refuse it.

"When I go back and talk to him, I will tell him to go to Chang'an with the army tomorrow morning."

Even though he agreed in this way, when he returned to the county office, looking at Qiao Junlin who was reciting Turkic, County Magistrate Luo didn't know what to say.

"But something is wrong?" Qiao Junlin raised his head and glanced at Luo Yong. Seeing that his face was a bit dignified, he couldn't help but have a guess in his heart, so he closed the book and looked at Luo Yong fixedly.

"Nothing." Luo Yong pulled his face, smiled and got on the kang, taking off his shoes and socks.

"You can talk about it if you have something to say." Qiao Junlin said in a deep voice.

"Today Li Daozong asked me for a drink, so Tang Jian said, I want you to go back to Chang'an City with him." Luo Yong said smoothly, with a relaxed tone.

"..." Qiao Junlin remained silent for a while.

"I said you don't want to learn Turkic anymore. Why do you really want to go to the Western Regions? The Western Regions are so far away and the journey is too hard. Why don't you go back to Chang'an City? Go back and get a job as an official, and then send me to the Western Regions." Take it back too." Luo Yong talked non-stop with Balabala alone.

"I don't want to go back to Chang'an." Qiao Junlin said.

"Why?" Luo Yong asked him.

"..." Qiao Junlin just looked at him fixedly and didn't speak.

"..." Luo Yong also looked at him.

The 21-year-old Qiao Junlin is no longer the stubborn and foolish boy in Xipo Village, nor the young man with a strong face and a smile in Chang'an City. He has grown into a calm and stable young man with countless thoughts in his heart. It seems that he knows exactly what he wants most.

He found a balance point in his tangled and contradictory heart, and he was no longer confused.

"Have you thought about it?" Luo Yong asked him.

"Think it over." Qiao Junlin curled his lips and said softly.

Early the next morning, Luo Yong took two craftsmen from the winery to the barracks. He said that Qiao Junlin caught the wind and cold last night and couldn't go out for a while, so he asked the two craftsmen to go with them to Chang'an City.

When Luo Yong and Qiao Junlin selected these two people, they also asked their wishes, and after confirming that they were willing to go to Chang'an City, they were asked to send Luo Yong to the military camp.

"It's an official position in vain, just like that." Luo Yong stood on the city wall, looking at the direction of the army leaving, still feeling sorry for the official position in his heart.

"Let's go, go eat." Qiao Junlin didn't care much.If Hou Lin, who was far away in Chang'an City, knew what good deeds his nephew had done, he would probably want to break his leg.

"What do you eat for lunch today?" Luo Yong wrapped his clothes and walked under the city wall with Qiao Junlin. The Mid-Autumn Festival was almost here, and the weather in Changle County had begun to cool down.

"Corn pancakes." Qiao Junlin replied.

They don't have to think about pumpkins for a while anyway. This autumn in their Changle County, the price of this corn is much lower, lower than corn and wheat, and they often eat this in the county government.

When it was time to eat, their county office was very lively. This large group of servants threw off their arms and ate and gorged, as well as the many officials and their families in the Changle County Government.

Most of the female relatives brought food to eat in their own houses. The children didn't care, they just ran around in the yard. At first, they were detained, but later everyone saw that the county magistrate didn't care about it, so they didn't care.

It's a majestic county government office, and when it's time to eat, the atmosphere in the courtyard is not much different from that of a countryman holding a banquet.

There are a few guards over there bragging:

"I have to eat six of these burritos in one meal."

"I have to eat eight."

"You put less bacon, come on, put some more bacon."

"I don't like bacon, I like shredded eggs."

"I ate seven at noon yesterday, and I'm still not full. Seeing that there are still a few pancakes left over from breakfast in the steamer, I ate them all."

"It's enough for me to eat five, but my stomach is very hungry, and I will be very hungry before dinner."

"By the way, what shall we eat tonight?"

"I heard it is to eat Hoto."

"Hey, Houtou's soup is so watery, I can't get enough."

"Eat two more bowls."

Luo Yong: ...

Seeing that it's time to collect taxes again, he might as well not collect the tax. There are so many empty households to fill in, and the personal tax collected is not enough to fill in the holes.

After being beaten up by the Gaochang battle this year, none of the large caravans outside the pass have been seen, and the liquor cannot be sold. Now even the wine party has been taken away, and no benefit has been gained.

The year is not good, there is no money and food in the treasury, and there are a lot of big belly men waiting to feed.

"Eat less, the granary is almost empty by you." Magistrate Luo worried.

"Then how can it be?" The guards only thought that the county magistrate was joking with them, and when they were in a good mood and their appetite was whetted, it was inevitable that they would eat another cake or two.