My years as a soldier

At dawn the next day, Hu Jiuzhang took his 20 taels of silver and went out. He was still wearing Han Haijun's light armor and a horizontal knife around his waist.Originally, if they were not serving soldiers, foreigners would never be allowed to carry weapons when they went to Beijing, let alone wearing a knife in Chang'an City——

Hu Jiuzhang left the big rattan box carried from Beiting in the Shunchang Hotel.The store owner was probably afraid that he would renege on the bill, so he moved his suitcase of luggage to the store and waited for him to come back with the rent to pick it up.

Hu Jiuzhang didn't care, took the money and went out, but he didn't dare to spend it recklessly.Yesterday, he ate only one steamed bun. He was very hungry in the morning, and he didn't sleep well. At this time, his head was also in a daze.This day is finally about to get down to business, Hu Jiuzhang is no longer stingy.Following the sound of gongs and drums for the opening of the West Market, he found a breakfast shop on the main road where people were shaking his head. When he went in, he exchanged a tael of silver for a hundred big coins with the shopkeeper, and spent another big money to buy a piece of freshly baked brown sugar. biscuits.Hold it warm in your hand, take a bite, and the rich brown sugar filling will flow out.

This was a rare delicacy, and the glutton in Hu Jiuzhang's stomach was hooked out at once, and he swallowed a sugar cake in a few mouthfuls, and the cake was gone before the taste was fully tasted.Hu Jiuzhang was stunned for a moment, then sucked all the oil residue off his ten fingers, and then reluctantly left and got up from the small stool that had been laid earlier.

"No more cakes from customers?"

The store owner also saw that he was eating well, and asked him a question before leaving.

"No, one is enough."

Hu Jiuzhang shook his hand at the store, suddenly remembered something, and walked towards the store again.

"Boss, I would like to ask you something. I want to find someone. Where is the Yamen in Chang'an City?"

"Hehe...the customer just arrived in Chang'an, right?" Hearing Hu Jiuzhang's words, the shopkeeper laughed, "Our Chang'an city is divided into two counties, East and West, Wannian County in the east, and Chang'an County in the west. Now the customer is In Chang'an County, where is the person I don't know what to look for?"

"This..." Hu Jiuzhang couldn't help scratching his head, but he really didn't know.

"I don't know either. I only heard a letter from someone saying that something happened to my brother in Chang'an, so I came to look for it. I don't know where the thing happened to my brother."

"Oh? This is a bit difficult..." The shopkeeper thought for a moment, then looked up and down thoughtfully at Hu Jiuzhang.

"Don't blame me for talking too much. The city of Chang'an is full of fish and dragons. If you are not careful, you will get involved in right and wrong. I don't know what happened to the brother of the guest, and how big it is?"

"Uh... this..." Thinking of this, Hu Jiuzhang's face became more solemn, "A letter from an acquaintance said that my brother provoked someone in Chang'an and was beaten..."

Hu Jiuzhang lowered his voice, he thought that the storekeeper would give him a sideways glance, but who knew that the storekeeper sighed in response.

"Hey... It's not easy for outsiders to live in Chang'an. This kind of thing is like a common meal in our Chang'an city. Even if you are a county government, the county magistrate may not care about it. If you believe me, go to the bad guy in the county. Ask about the rule of man. Bad people are officials, not officials. Although I don’t say that they are the same as you and me, ordinary people like us, if we want to hang around in Chang’an, we have to understand our position, and we can’t do things like us. , otherwise things are not done properly, and you may get involved in it in a daze."

"That's true..." Hu Jiuzhang replied in a low voice, and couldn't help but raise his eyes to look at the store that opened earlier.Only now did he know what the so-called "water depth" in Zhang Duwei's mouth really meant.In this city of Chang'an, there is only one guy who sells breakfast, who can casually say such things to others. If this is put in other places, it would be unthinkable!

"Hey, the bad people's treatment center is not far from here. You walk north along the West Market, pass the first alley and turn to the right, and you see the first far away house. And I know, there are many people in Chang'an. The bad guys are all dispatched after veterans leave the army, and the guest is a soldier, so it should be easy to talk to them."

Hearing what he said, Hu Jiuzhang couldn't help but look serious, and bowed his hands solemnly to the man.

"Thank you, brother—"

After leaving the breakfast shop, not far away, Hu Jiuzhang saw the courtyard wall that the shopkeeper mentioned.Chang'an West City's Delinquent Treatment Center was built on the edge of the West Market, and the gate of the treatment center was always open. When Hu Jiuzhang looked into the courtyard, he saw a few men dressed in black clothes for delinquent people sitting in the courtyard. talking about something.

Hu Jiuzhang straightened the horizontal knife on his waist, took a deep breath, and then raised his feet and walked towards the courtyard.

These unscrupulous people are the errands in charge of investigation and arrest in various county yamen. As early as the early years of the Tang Dynasty, these errands were still taken up by people with bad deeds recruited by the government. Bad ridge is rotten', and its controller is called "bad handsome".But up to now, those who can enter Chang'an to be bad people have accumulated virtues of several generations.For ordinary people, this is a good difference, and this kind of good difference is often distributed to the veterans who have worked for the Tang Dynasty on the territory of the Tang Dynasty——

Such a group of unscrupulous people composed of veterans and gangsters are rough, ruffian, and full of quack air.When Hu Jiuzhang saw that the bad people in the courtyard were all the same reckless men as himself, most of the tension and worries in his heart were dispelled, and he raised his hands to bow here, speaking with a Northwest accent, calling some of the men A good impression was born.

"Brother is a soldier in the northwest?"

Before Hu Jiuzhang could get down to business, some of the bad guys started asking him questions.

"Yes, I am serving as a soldier in Longyou."

"You just came to Chang'an?"

"Correct."

"Hehe, to tell you the truth, our brothers are also retired soldiers, so it's kind to see you in your body. What's your business here?"

Seeing that the other party took the initiative to ask, Hu Jiuzhang was glad that he came to the right place, so he told the truth, and explained everything he knew about Hu Yan to the bad people in this courtyard.But after he finished speaking, the expressions of the people in the courtyard changed instead. The brothers looked at each other for a long while, but they didn't answer.

"Cough...this..."

After a long time, the man with the short beard who spoke to him at first opened his mouth, but he hesitated for a long time, and he still didn't finish his sentence.

Hu Jiuzhang's heart was instantly pulled into his throat by the reactions of these people. He thought that he might or might not be able to ask questions when he came here.But he never thought that these bad people would keep secret about his brother who had nothing to do with the world.Who did Hu Yan mess with in Chang'an? Now, Hu Jiuzhang really didn't even know where to guess.

"Who did he provoke?"

Hu Jiuzhang simply cast out the doubts in his heart, but when he said this, the expressions of the brothers in the courtyard became even uglier.

"It's... hard to say."

"You can't tell me this, so you can always tell me where he is now? Even if he is dead, I still want to see the body!"

Hu Jiuzhang is not a secretive person, and he doesn't like to hide in front of these veterans.

"Cough... this matter... eh..." The short-bearded man pondered again, "Brother, you said it yourself, your brother messed with someone who shouldn't be messed with, since that's the case, why do you bother to pursue it again?" ? If you put yourself in it, wouldn't the gain outweigh the loss?"

"I'm here to find someone!" Hu Jiuzhang couldn't help feeling a little anxious, "I'm here to look for my brother. I have to know whether he is alive or dead! After all, I want to see people and dead bodies—if you really know his whereabouts , please also inform, Hu will definitely thank you!"

"Hey... these days, everyone is a soldier, whoever wants to thank you..." The man sighed lightly, and then shook his hand at Hu Jiuzhang, "You said your brother's name is Hu Yan... your surname is Hu? I said, Old Hu, if you want to spare your life, just trust me and don’t investigate this matter any more. As for your brother’s whereabouts, half a month has passed, and we don’t know now. But he is probably dead, Hey...this is fate, so don't think too much about it. This trip is just a trip to Chang'an to increase your knowledge."

"you--"

Hu Jiuzhang was in a hurry, the words in his head were already rushing to his mouth, but when he heard what the man said, he was so stunned that he couldn't utter a word, he held it in his throat and his face flushed red.But if you can’t say it, then the words are gone?During his five years of bloody fighting in northern Xinjiang, the heads of the enemies he beheaded, the reward money he accumulated little by little—and the half-month of his heart-burning and restless journey from Beiting to Chang’an—these, Can it be dismissed by this sentence?

Hu Jiuzhang didn't even think about it, the anxiety and worry that he had kept silent for many days gushed out instantly at that moment.His bloodshot eyes were already flushed by the hot blood rushing up to the top of his head, but he saw Hu Jiuzhang clenched his fists tightly, the veins on his forehead burst, and he turned into a vicious ghost for a moment, vicious and ruthless , extremely ferocious——

Hu Jiuzhang made that movement even subconsciously. As soon as he raised his hand, he grabbed the short-bearded man standing in front of him by the collar, and suddenly pulled him in his direction, staring at him with dead eyes. , the already clenched fist was about to swing straight at the man's face.

"Hey! What are you doing!"

All of a sudden, the other three or four villains immediately surrounded Hu Jiuzhang. Two hands, one from the left and the other from the right, pulled Hu Jiuzhang's shoulders forcefully, pulling his arms back three times with crooked joints. More than ten degrees, the pain was transmitted to Hu Jiuzhang's mind in an instant, but this kind of pain was nothing to him at all.

"What are you doing! What are you doing!"

"I ask you where my brother is!"

Several unscrupulous people yelled, but Hu Jiuzhang yelled louder and deeper than them.He was hysterical, as if he had yelled out the anxiety of the whole half month in this sentence.

"Let go of your hands!" The man twisting his shoulders threatened him harshly.

"Where is my brother!"

Hu Jiuzhang only said this.

This sentence has been circling in his mind for half a month. Ever since he heard the news of Hu Yan's accident from Zhang Duwei, he has been asking himself in his heart.There is no answer, but even if there is no answer, he still wants to pursue the answer. Even if he risked his life, he still wants to know the final answer. At this moment, he has no sense at all, only the blood and grief burning in his head , burned his eyes red, and he couldn't even feel the pain in his shoulder.

"Hey! What are you all doing? What kind of fight!"

Suddenly, a stern reprimand flashed across the sky, and Hu Jiuzhang was taken aback, only to see a middle-aged military general in black clothes and light armor walking out of the bad people's camp.The general had a short blue beard on his chin, a strand of long hair hanging sideways in front of his forehead, and a high ponytail crown on the back of his head. He looked like a son of a martial artist!But this man's face was sharp like an arrow, and he was extremely stern. He stood with his head up in front of the gate of the government office, and everyone in the courtyard, including Hu Jiuzhang, was stunned by his words——