Chapter Six: Out of the Pass (VI)

“Keep up, keep up!”
Keyu Yuan spurred his horse into the middle of the caravan and shouted loudly.
Now that they had entered Shanggui City, everyone could take a hot bath and properly relieve the fatigue of their recent journey. Last night’s battle with the horse thieves had exhausted everyone’s strength. The military officers of the Zhuque Team fought bravely to defend the people. The merchants and peddlers were also busy clearing the battlefield and guarding the prisoners. Who would dare to neglect their duties? Thanks to the efforts of Inspector Li, who, mindful of everyone’s hardships, ordered the captured horse thieves to be strung together and handed over to the garrison for safekeeping. The crowd finally got a brief respite and quickened their pace, aiming to arrive at Shanggui before nightfall.
Shanggui has since ancient times been a military stronghold on the Hexi Corridor. To the right it connects with the interior passes, and to the left it embraces the Hexi region. Its unique geography has meant the court has permanently stationed heavy troops here, gradually relying on it as a gateway to the capital region. Shanggui is also a commercial hub, situated at the throat of the Silk Road. Merchants traveling south and north usually have to pass through this place. Regardless of whether they are the Pu-lin people from the far west (Note 1) or the Nine Clans of the Hu from the river, after crossing the snow-capped mountains and traversing the vast desert, they would all stop here to rest and recuperate. Moreover, caravans coming from the Western Capital must stop here to replenish water and dry provisions whether they are heading west to Liangzhou, heading north to trade in the desert, or passing through Yu Men Guan to gamble on reaching Anxi.
Over time, the place gradually prospered, becoming a bustling transit point connecting the West and the East, quite thriving.
“Form a line, keep close. When we enter the city, don’t jostle about; the official soldiers at the gate might check!” Keyu Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and repeated it again and again.
The numerous merchants formed a long dragon, escorted by the Zhuque Team’s soldiers, arriving at the city gate.
Shanggui City served as the seat of Qinzhou (Note 3), completely modeled after the Western Capital Chang’an, though slightly reduced in its regulations. The entire city has four gates facing east, west, south, and north. The eastern gate is called Renta, with a very wide gateway capable of accommodating three horse-drawn carts entering and exiting simultaneously. The gatekeeper is called Wu Anguo; at this moment, he was sitting lightly before the gate with his eyes slightly closed, humming a tune. The great gate was open, and a team of gate guards was conducting routine checks on the incoming civilians. These days were truly leisurely; one could while away the time lounging at the city gate, sipping a little wine, humming a tune, and casually collecting some tribute money. As for official promotion and being ennobled, in Wu Anguo’s eyes, it was simply not worth mentioning. Could any official rank surpass the sage Emperor in the Chang’an City? It’s better to live a light and easy life; a person should know contentment, for those who know contentment are long-lived, aren’t they?

“Wu Tou’er, a caravan has come from over there, and there’s an army following them! Should we accept them or not?”

A soldier ran up to Wu An-guo’s side and asked in a low voice.

“Huh?”

Wu An-guo slowly opened his eyes, glanced at the caravan in the distance, let out a light hum, and said, “Accept them, why not? At my place, you have to follow the rules I set!”

“Hey!”

The soldier loudly responded and ran a few steps to the front of the wooden barrier. He poked his head out and shouted at the cavalry officer in front of the caravan: “Our School Captain has an order: those who come must quickly dismount and accept inspection!”

Dou Qing reined in his horse and half leaned forward. He gestured with his hands at the soldier and said, “We are the Shen Ce Army of Hexi, escorting a caravan to Liangzhou on a secret mission. Please, brother, open the barrier and let us pass!”

The soldier frowned and shouted, “Cut the chatter, get down and accept the inspection immediately! You’re carrying so many weapons—are you planning to rebel?”

“You!”

Seeing Dou Qing’s overbearing attitude, he felt a surge of anger and was about to flare up, but Li Kou pulled at his sleeve.

The true purpose of this Shen Ce Army mission was to transport a batch of military equipment to the Hexi Army. This was a secret matter, so they absolutely could not let word get out.

“Give them the Ministry of War documents and tell them to go to the checkpoint for passage!”

But Li Kou could not accept the inspection; he needed to secretly send the military equipment to the Hexi Army. There were too many people and complex situations here, and who knew if military secrets would leak.

Dou Qing nodded, dismounted, and walked to the front of the wooden barrier. From his bosom, he took out a document and handed it to the soldier.

“Wu Tou’er, this is a Ministry of War edict!”

The soldier dared not be negligent. He shouted at the top of his voice, as if he exerted a little force, and the School Captain beside him would not hear anything.

“What document, show it to me!”

Wu An-guo jumped up with a start, took a few steps forward, and snatched the document away with an unfriendly tone.

“Hmm, it has the Ministry of War’s official seal; it should be genuine. These days, the army is actually doing escort duty for merchants, the scoundrel!”

Wu An-guo muttered to himself. A not-small amount of “filial piety” money just flew away like that. He was certainly upset inside. But since the other party had a Ministry of War edict, what could he do?

“Pass through!”

“Hey, hey, what are you waiting for? Move the wooden barrier, you stupid heads!”

The soldier shouted and cursed at the two new soldiers beside him, venting the mischief in his heart.

The two new soldiers had nowhere to vent their frustration, so they could only hang their heads down and move the wooden barrier, standing on either side.

“Li Xiao Captain is really something!”

“Everyone will have a table of wine and invite Captain Li to drink when we enter the city later!”

“Li Xiao Captain, young and promising!”

All merchants were exempted from unloading and inspection, thus saving a large sum of tribute fees. They were indeed overjoyed. Traveling south and north, heading west and east, they were the group that valued actual interests the most. Recently, they had received favors from Li Kuo several times. Everyone naturally held him in high regard, a young Shen Ce Jun Xiao Wei, and praised him repeatedly.

“Brothers, keep close behind me, to the North Great Camp!” Li Kuo instructed, flicked his horsewhip, and led the way into the city.

“Goodness, what a grand scale! After all, officials from the capital are just different in style!” A new recruit smacked his lips and exclaimed repeatedly.

Pingyao City, imitating Chang’an’s system, was divided into thirty-six wards. Similar to Chang’an’s eastern and western markets, the city had southern and northern markets. Of course, for this kind of border city, the restrictions were not so strict. Wine shops and inns would still appear outside the markets, entertaining guests from afar.

There was a large camp set up in the North. Usually it was used for the training of Fu Army. Of course, if border troops passed by, the prefect would enthusiastically order the cleaning of extra quarters for the border troops to stay.

Li Kuo belonged to the Chang’an Shen Ce Army, and with a Ministry of War scribe by his side, it was only natural for them to move into the camp. Where there are people, there is business; where there are interests, there are merchants. Seeing the huge benefits, merchants flocked outside the camp, paying money to buy the government’s permission to set up wine shops, tea houses, and inns. After decades of accumulation, a prosperous commercial port area had already formed outside the camp, bustling and lively.

The Jiyuan caravan could not enter the camp, so under the guidance of Keyu Yuan, they moved into the Huayuan Inn adjacent to the camp. All the way here, everyone was exhausted. Hastily unloading goods and packages, handing them to the inn’s staff, the merchants rushed into their rooms and slept with their heads down. As for the promise to entertain and thank General Li, it had already been forgotten far away in the clouds. Even the usually steady and steady Keyu Yuan of the Jiyuan caravan leaned against the desk and snored loudly, falling into a deep sleep.

At this time, in the North Great Camp, Li Kuo was in no mood to sleep at all. Last night’s battle with the horse thieves had completely shattered his youthful dream of a safe arrival to Liangzhou. Although he had reasonably deployed and commanded, leading his brothers to a complete victory over the horse thieves, the young man was not happy at all. These people were not horse bandits; no horse bandits would actively attack a military escort team! Until this knot in his heart was untied, the youth could not feel at ease.

Although he had captured some horse bandits, he got no useful information. They insisted they were mountain bandits, and Li Kuo was helpless.

“Brother Dou, prepare horses. I want to go to the Qiuzhou Prefectural Mansion to see the Prefect!”

Li Kuo thought for a moment, then cleared his throat and said in a low voice.

“Ah, my lord, why not take a bath first and then go rest?”
Dou Qing entered from the outer room and replied.
“Wait until I finish dealing with those horse thieves who surrendered the prisoners; then I’ll be tired and go rest!” Li Kuo gave a wry smile and walked toward the exit.

11：the Eastern Roman Empire 11：the Eastern Roman Empire：the designation of the Eastern Roman Empire in medieval Chinese historical texts（seeing the Byzantine Empire）the title。The people of Fulin are the Eastern Romans.。
11：the Eastern Roman Empire 12：Nine Surnamed Hu people：accounts vary in the classics，according to the records《New Book of Tang》according to the records。including Kang、An (An)、Cao、stone、rice、He、Huaxun、Wu Di、the Shi clan of the Nine Surnames。
11：the Eastern Roman Empire 13：as the seat of the Longyou Circuit：as the seat of the Longyou Circuit。the entire Tang Dynasty，Qinzhou governed Cheng County.（today’s Shui City District），Ling Cheng Ji、the northwest of Qin’an County（the northwest of Qin’an County）、now Qin’an County（now Qin’an County）、Qingshui、eastern Ganyu County（eastern Ganyu County）、northeast of Lixian County（northeast of Lixian County）6county。
11：the Eastern Roman Empire 14：The Tang Dynasty’s local administrative system was relatively complex.。Overall speaking，The administration is governed by civil officials.。the army is governed by the various military governors established (jiedushi)。such as those remote places like Anxi，Provincial military governoradministering local administration。Let me understand it this way.，The provincial military governoradministering local administration。As for those provincial officials, the state officials in Zhongyuan are called Cishi.，As for those Protectorate General (Protectorate General) state officials, they are concurrently held by the Supervising General (Duduke).，military and civil affairs are handled by one person。