Chapter 169: First arrival in Beiting

In the 14th year of Zhenguan, Hou Jun gathered to attack Gaochang, and the Western Turks stationed troops in Futu City, responding to Gaochang. The Tang army went deep into the Hanhai and defeated the Hu soldiers, so they took Gaochang. In April of the 20th year of Zhenguan, the Western Turks Nifushaboluo Yehu Ashinahelu led the people to join the army and established Tingzhou. In the second year of Chang'an, it was changed to Beiting Protectorate. From Yonghui to Tianbao, the Beiting Jiedu governor Guan Zhen had 20,000 soldiers. The command shocked Tuqi Shi, Jiankun, and killed Chuo.

As time passed, Jiankun and Zhanchu had been conquered by the Uighurs, Tuqi Shi weakened, Geluo rose, and the defense focus of Beiting Jiedu had changed to Uighurs, Tuqi Shi and Geluo, as well as Shatu, Qiang and Hu and sporadic Turks, and Gaochang Hu people in Xizhou.

Unlike Jianjun Town in Anxi, Beiting has a jurisdiction under the jurisdiction of Ting, Yi and Xizhou, and has a Hanhai Army in Tingzhou, an Yiwu Army in Yizhou, a Tianshan Army in Xizhou, and a command of 20,000 troops. It reaches Xingxing Gorge in the east, Yuegong City in the west, Kunjian in the north, and Xizhou Dashahai in the south, and across thousands of miles, establishes four-level defensive bodies such as the fortress, guarding, city, and army.

In addition, there were many Han people in Beiting. As early as the early Tang Dynasty, as the Tang army conquered the Western Regions, a large number of adventurous Han people followed the army to Anxi. They first settled in Beiting and then slowly spread to various places in Anxi. However, Beiting, especially the rich Tingzhou, was always the most concentrated place for the Han people. After a century of development, although Anxi's ownership had several ups and downs, a large number of Han people still firmly took root in Beiting. After the Kaiyuan period, with the final establishment of the military household system, Beiting and Anxi welcomed a new wave of Han immigration.

At this time, there were tens of thousands of Han people in Beiting. They brought advanced farming technology and drove the great development of Beiting's agriculture. In order to facilitate management, the court established the Central Plains County system in Tingzhou, which governed the three counties of Jinman, Pulei and Luntai. The Han people in Beiting basically lived in the three counties. At the same time, this place was also a place for goods transfers for the Hu merchants in Lingxi. After decades of governance, the commerce here was prosperous, the resources were rich, the nation was harmonious, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.

At present, the Beiting Jiedu and the Beiting Protector are basically combined into one. Right Prime Minister Li Linfu is also the governor of Beiting Jiedu and the governor of Beiting. Li Qing'an is the governor of Tingzhou, deputy envoy of Beiting Jiedu, deputy escort of Beiting Jiedu, and chief of the Beiting Jiedu, and the title of Chief Censor of the Censor. This means that Li Qing'an takes over the military and political power of Beiting.

On the eighth day of March 19th, Tianbao, Li Qing'an led a convoy of more than 1,000 materials to travel 5,700 miles. It took nearly 50 days and arrived in Jinman County, where the Tingzhou Governor's Office is located. It is also the location of the Beiting Jiedu Prefecture and the Beiting Protectorate, and it is also the garrison of the Beiting Hanhai Army. There are 12,000 troops. The Hanhai Army is the core army of Beiting, which is Li Qing'an's direct subordinate. He actually led this army as the governor of Tingzhou.

Twenty miles away from Jinman County, dozens of civil and military officials from the Beiting Jiedushi Office were welcomed. When Li Qing'an was in Yizhou, he had already handed over military positions with Lu Fengyuan, deputy envoy of Beiting Jiedushi. Lu Fengyuan went to the Andong Protectorate Office to serve and handed over the arrows and seals to Li Qing'an, which meant that he had officially taken over Beiting.

Dozens of officials came to greet Li Qing'an under the leadership of the deputy guardian of Beiting. Yang Fengche was forty years old and was well maintained. He had the best house in Jinman County. There were ten hectares of land outside the city. He had a wife and three concubines at home, and he was satisfied. He was the deputy guardian for ten years and did not seek progress. He did not want the court to transfer him away. He stayed in Beiting year by year and became the highest-ranking old official in Beiting.

Yang Fengche did not have the ability to do things, but he was very good at speaking. He praised and spoke as a lotus, and in just a moment he introduced all the civil and military officials in Beiting.

"This Wang Yichu, the deputy envoy of Hanhai Army, is known as the first shot in Beiting. There were countless people who fell under his gun. Of course, I was talking about women, ha! Ha!"

Wang Yichu is a big man with a black face, a native of Bianzhou, and the first group of Long March athletes. He looks quite a good temper. Although Yang Feng's car hurt him, he just smiled and stepped forward and half-kneeled to Li Qing'an to salute, "I'm humble in Wang Yichu, see the general!"

"General Wang is exempted from gifts."

Li Qing'an was serious and had no smile on his face from beginning to end. Yang Fengche couldn't see through the idea of ​​the new deputy governor, and he had a slight drum in his heart. He didn't dare to joke anymore. He also introduced another thin civil servant, "This is Chen Zhonghe, from Chang'an, a Jinshi in the 27th year of Kaiyuan, and is currently the county magistrate of Jinman County. He was a county magistrate in Jinman County for four years. He governed Jinman County so that he would not pick up any leavers and not close his doors at night. People from Hu and Han admired him in great respect."

Chen Zhonghe stepped forward and bowed and said, "I am not good at ease, please see Li Envoy!"

"The magistrate Chen County does not need to be polite, I hope to take care of him in the future."

Yang Fengche introduced dozens of officials one by one. Li Qing'an glanced at him, but saw another deputy escort, and asked, "Where is Protector Cheng, why don't he see others?"

It can be said that the enemy is narrow. Li Qing'an was promoted to the deputy envoy of Beiting Jiedu. Cheng Qianli of Anxi was also transferred to the deputy escort of Beiting. The two of them became colleagues again. Moreover, Li Qing'an also served as the deputy escort of Beiting. To some extent, they were at the same level.

I need to say a few more words here. Although the Beiting Jiedu and the Beiting Protector both serve each other, they are actually different. The Beiting Jiedu is also called the Yixi Jiedu, and is a military position. It is equivalent to the commander of the border military region in later generations. It mainly governs the garrisons of the Ting, Yi and Xi prefectures actually controlled by the Tang Dynasty, namely the Han Navy, Tianshan Army, Yiwu Army, as well as the guards, garrisons and forts in other places, etc.

The jurisdiction of the Beiting Protector is much wider, including not only the three prefectures of Beiting, but also the prison prefectures and prefectures of various tribes north of the Tianshan Mountains, such as the Shuanghe Governor's Office, the Luzhou Governor's Office, the Damo Governor's Office, the Shatuzhou Governor's Office, the Yingsu Governor's Office, etc. However, in fact, the Tang Dynasty only had nominal jurisdiction over these prison prefectures. Therefore, if the Beiting Protector does not serve as the Jiedushi and does not have the right to lead the military, it is actually a false position.

Li Qing'an is a two-term rank, the deputy envoy and deputy escort of the Jiedushi, which has one more military power than Cheng Qianli who only serves as deputy escort, and it is also the most critical power.

The lack of real power made Cheng Qianli very depressed, and he did not come to welcome Li Qing'an.

Yang Fengche quickly explained: "Hu Cheng has been ill for several days and cannot come to greet General Li, please forgive me!"

"Cheng Duhu and I are old friends. He is sick. I should visit him, but I have not had time these days and will go there again another day."

He turned over and bowed to the civil and military officials who came to greet him, "Dear colleagues, everyone will work together again in the future. I, Li Qing'an, have nothing extra to say to everyone, everything is done according to the rules, don't worry, I have never been right to the things and people, okay, now I can go back, and I will talk to you one by one another."

Although the Beiting Jiedushi Mansion is within the jurisdiction of Jinman County, it is not in the county town, but an independent castle, about three miles away from the county town. It is a majestic ancient city called Beiting City, divided into inner and outer cities, with an outer city with an outer city of three thousand steps and an inner city of two thousand steps. Both cities inside and outside have moats. The castle is made of giant bricks and is tall and sturdy, forming a fort that is easy to defend and difficult to attack on the wasteland.

There are 2,000 troops garrisons in Beiting City, which are the personal guards of the governors, but there are no military households or ordinary houses. In addition, there are more than 6,000 troops garrisons around the castle. The entire Jinman County is garrisoned by 8,000 Han military households in Beiting are concentrated in Jinman County. There are scattered farmland everywhere, and Han villages are distributed on the plains. The Jinman River formed by the Tianshan Mountains flows through the middle and flows into Ting Lake more than ten miles away. There is sufficient water source and fertile land, forming the Beiting Delta, Jinman, Luntai and Pulei counties are located on the three corners of this delta, which also makes this the richest area in Beiting.

At this time, spring in Beiting has arrived, the fields are full of greenery, the fields are filled with farmers busy sowing spring wheat, and countless water birds live in the large poplar forest in the distance. The breeze blows on the face, making people feel the vitality.

The arrival of the vast convoy made Jinman County excited. Tens of thousands of men, women, young and old in the city rushed out of the city together, forming a long welcome team on both sides of the official road. Most of them were Han people, from all over the Central Plains. The greetings and the familiar local accent made many people burst into tears.

Among the supplies brought by Li Qing'an, in addition to money, grain and military supplies, he also brought a lot of civilian items, such as living utensils, sickles, hoes and other agricultural tools, and even several new giant water trucks that were dismantled.

Li Qingan was surrounded by more than a dozen old men and rushed to introduce the customs and customs of Beiting to him. Li Qingan nodded to them with a smile.

At this time, a group of soldiers came up, and someone shouted from afar: "Qilang!"

Li Qingan turned around and couldn't help but be overjoyed. It was Duan Xiushi. He quickly apologized to the old men, walked forward quickly, punched Duan Xiushi's shoulder heavily and said with a smile: "Why are you here?"

"Why, isn't it welcome?" Duan Xiushi smiled.

"I certainly welcome what I am saying."

Seeing Duan Xiushi, Li Qingan suddenly remembered Bai Yuanguang, and his eyes couldn't help but feel sad. He whispered: "Old Bai unfortunately died in battle. I am ashamed of Anxi's brothers!"

Duan Xiushi was also sad. Bai Yuanguang was his best friend. He hugged Li Qing'an, patted his back, and comforted him: "Being able to die on the battlefield is also a kind of glory for our soldiers. Qilang should not blame himself too much. It is already a blessing in disgrace to survive."

As he said that, he pulled two burly young officers and introduced to Li Qing'an: "These two are rising stars in the Anxi scout camp. They are both Bai Yuanguang's clan brothers, Bai Xiaode and Bai Xiaojie."

The two young officers immediately knelt down to Li Qing'an and saluted, "See General Li, we inherit our brother, Yonglie and follow the general."

"Please get up, two generals!"

Li Qingan quickly helped them up. Bai Yuanguang was the prince of Kucha, and these two were also nobles of Kucha. But he was a little confused. How could they come to Beiting and Duan Xiushi? Why did he come too?

Li Qingan hesitated and looked at Duan Xiushi, and Duan Xiushi laughed and said, "You must be wondering how we can come to Beiting, right!"

"Just say it! Stop playing puzzles."

"Speaking of this, you have to thank Gao Shuai for his generosity. Everyone heard that you became the leader of Beiting. Many brothers wanted to come to Beiting, but Gao Shuai didn't stop him. He said that those who want to go to Beiting can be at will. So I resigned from the Anxi military post and came to Beiting to join you. There are many brothers who are expected to arrive one after another in the past few days."

Li Qing'an was overjoyed. He was worried that his subordinates would not have enough power, so a group of people came. He smiled at Duan Xiushi and said, "Don't resign from the Anxi military position. It's a pity. I will report directly to the Ministry of War to transfer you."

"Eunuch Li, I'm here too."

A young civilian official appeared next to him. Li Qing'an almost didn't recognize him. He turned out to be Pei Kuan's eldest grandson Pei Yu. He hadn't seen him for more than half a year. He seemed to have completely changed. He had a lot of stature, but his face was as black as charcoal. He was a bit darker than Anxi's generals. He turned out to be a white-faced scholar with a charming and elegant white face.

Duan Xiushi introduced: "Mr. Pei has been inspecting all over Anxi for more than half a year, and has also visited Suye and Ningsu. He is also a genius. He has learned Turkic and Sogdian in more than half a year."

Li Qing'an was happy and patted his shoulder and said, "Very good. A real man should make achievements in the border. On holidays, you will definitely become the pillar of the Pei family."

Pei Yu nodded, "My grandfather also wrote to me to follow General Li and develop in Beiting for a long time. He is willing to ask General Li to give me more opportunities to go out. I am willing to go on a mission to General Li to Lingxi."

"Don't worry! I will make the best use of everyone's talents.

Speaking of this, Li Qing'an waved to everyone and said, "It's getting late, everyone hurry up and enter the warehouse to unload the goods."

The convoy suddenly became busy, and civilian supplies were unloaded directly in Jinman County, while military supplies such as money and grain were transferred to Beitingcheng warehouse. Most of the carriages were filled with military supplies. The carriages turned around and drove from another road to Beitingcheng.

The scene was busy. After Li Qing'an greeted everyone, he turned over and was about to leave. At this moment, a familiar shout suddenly came from a distance, with a crisp and pleasant voice.

"Brother!"

Li Qingan suddenly turned around and saw two young women with ordinary appearances and identical clothes running from the roadside, jumping and waving at him. It was his poetic and picturesque sisters. They rushed up regardless of the surprise eyes of others.

Li Qingan was overjoyed. What he was most worried about was the two sisters who left them alone in Anxi, but they didn't expect that they also came to Beiting.

"Brother, you are finally back." The two sisters rushed forward and grabbed Li Qing'an's arm and were filled with tears in their faces. They missed each other day and night, and waited for nearly a year, and finally waited for Brother Li back.

"Brother, do you want us anymore?" The man cried in grievance.

"You are like a painting." Li Qingan recognized him immediately.

He quickly wiped Ruhua's tears and smiled: "Brother has been fighting in Qinghai. I miss you whenever I have free time. I also want to come back early!"

He held Rushi's hand and asked with a smile: "Who sent you to Beiting?"

Rushi was full of tears. Although she didn't cry out, the resentment and sorrow in her eyes made Li Qing'an even more heartbroken. She held Li Qing'an's hand tightly and said in a choking voice: "It was Brother Duan who brought us here, saying that Brother will not go back to Anxi again in the future. Wu Niang said the same thing, so we came with him."

Li Qingan felt Rushi holding her hand tightly, as if she was afraid that she would run away again. She couldn't help but feel moved and funny, so she patted her hand and asked, "Where is Xiaolian? Is she still in Anxi?"

"Brother, I'm here."

A timid voice came from behind him. When he turned around, he saw Xiaolian standing behind him, lowering her head, looking distracted. After not seeing her for a year, she grew taller and a pretty girl had already appeared.

"Brother, it was Miss Wu who asked me to come."

Seeing that she was well-behaved and cute, Li Qingan couldn't help but like her, and said, "You are my sister, of course you are going to Beiting, it has nothing to do with Gao Wu."

Xiaolian's eyes gradually became brighter. She glanced at Li Qing'an and wanted to say something, but she couldn't say a word, and her face turned red with shame.

Li Qingan touched her hair lovingly and asked the three of them again, "How long have you been here and where are you living?"

Ruhua rushed to say, "We have been here for half a month. Yang Duhu arranged a house for us and said that it would be our home in the future, so we will live in it."

Li Qingan turned around and looked at Yang Fengche, and saw Yang Fengche bowing to him. He smiled and nodded to him to express his gratitude.

This was the first time Li Qing'an smiled at him after coming to Beiting. Yang Fengche was worried for a long time and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly shouted to Li Qing'an: "General Li, I will take the carriage to the warehouse and take a step first."

"I'll go too, Yang Duhu waited for a while."

He immediately smiled at the three girls and said, "Come with me, I'll take you to see someone."

Li Qing'an led the three of them to Wuyi's carriage. Wuyi saw them from a distance. She couldn't help but be surprised and jumped off the carriage and came up, "Like poetry and picturesque, Xiaolian, aren't you in Anxi?"

"Ha! It's Sister Wuyi."

Ruhua jumped up happily and ran up quickly. When Li Qing'an was in Yangzhou, they were together almost every day and had a good relationship. Today they met again in a foreign land and became more intimate. Ruhua and Xiaolian held Wuyi's hand and asked excitedly.

But Rushi quietly asked Li Qing'an with a smile, "Brother, have you coaxed her?"

"It's still a little too late, I have to work harder, and this task will be handed over to you."

At this time, he was with Rushi. Seeing that Rushi was brighter and more charming, more delicate and plump than last year, and holding her soft and smooth hands, I couldn't help but feel my mind, and I whispered: "Tonight, you must accompany me."

Rushi nodded shyly, but quietly pinched his palm and whispered affectionately: "Brother, I know."

Li Qingan loved this gentle and considerate beauty. He nodded and smiled, "Take Wuyi back to your residence first, I want to go and handle official business."

"Well, brother, go!"

Li Qing'an turned over and rode his horse forward and smiled at Wuyi, "Wuyi, you go back with them first. I have to go to handle official duties, so I won't accompany you."

Wuyi saw Rushi Ruhua, and her worries about the first visit to Beiting were also wiped out. She felt particularly comfortable, so she smiled at Li Qing'an and said, "Even if General Li is busy, I am with Rushi Ruhua, so don't worry."

"Okay, I'll leave."
Chapter completed!