Tibet

He went back to wake up a clerk and whispered to him: "These little ladies are going to be trafficked to Sogdia. You should report it to my cousin immediately. You know his family."

The shopkeeper's cousin works as a policeman in the county government, and the shopkeeper always comes to him for help when he has trouble.

The guy nodded and quickly slipped out of the back door.

The county magistrate of Guangwu County is called Liu Chi. He was a Jinshi in the same discipline as Wei Yingwu. He served as a chief minister and a county magistrate. Last year he was promoted to the county magistrate of Guangwu County.

At midnight, Liu Chi was woken up by his maid in his sleep, saying that Capt. Zhang came to see him in an emergency. His wife muttered, "Why bother if you don't sleep in the middle of the night?"

Liu Chi had no choice. He was on the border and usually had nothing to do, but if there was an emergency at night, it would often be a big deal.

He put on his clothes and went to the outer hall. Zhang Captou hurriedly stepped forward and said: "County magistrate, my humble subordinates discovered the group of young ladies that the inner guard told them about."

Liu Chi was startled, and was not sleepy at all. Five days ago, a team of internal guards came and brought them a report on a major case, asking them to pay attention to a group of Han girls, about fifty or so, all ten years old. You are about to go to the Western Region. This is a serious case of the inner guards, and even the emperor is very concerned about it.

Liu Chi asked anxiously: "How did you find out?"

"My subordinate Xu Manzi's cousin is an inn owner. He is at the Old Ping'an Inn outside the city. These young ladies are in his inn now. They will stay for three days and leave the day after tomorrow."

Liu Chi didn't dare to sleep anymore, so he quickly took Zhang Captou to the post house, where three internal guards lived. The other internal guards went to Wucheng Shoudu in Wushaoling for interrogation.

The three internal guards were composed of a captain and two soldiers. The captain was called Jiang Xin. When Jiang heard that he had discovered those little ladies, he was immediately overjoyed. He had captured the credit.

He quickly asked: "How many people are there on the other side?"

"There is a Hu man in charge, five coachmen and three horseback guards, that is, nine people. The lady has a total of fifty-five people."

Captain Jiang thought for a while and then said: "I want to see these little ladies with my own eyes. Is there any way?"

Capt. Zhang has rich experience. He nodded and said: "There is a way. I will lead Team Jiang there tomorrow morning."

At the same time, Team Chiang was sending one of his men overnight to Wucheng, eighty miles away, to capture and report the news. There were fifty-eight internal guards led by Huben Lang General Wang Qian.

The next morning, Jiang Xin, a member of the internal guard, followed Zhang Captou outside the back wall of the inn. The two of them, dressed in ordinary people's clothes, quickly climbed up a large tree with lush branches.

Zhang Captou pointed to the two-story inn in the distance and said: "They live on the second floor. They have booked the entire inn, and the entire second floor is their residence."

Jiang Xin nodded, took out a single-cylinder clairvoyant, and looked out the window on the second floor. It was already hot now, and all the windows on the second floor were open. He could clearly see a row of five rooms filled with young ladies. There are eleven people in each room, which adds up to exactly fifty-five people.

"It's them!"

Jiang Xin and his soldiers stayed and continued to monitor the inn, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

In the evening, fifty-eight inner guard cavalry rushed back from Wucheng, and Jiang Xin immediately greeted them.

The leader of the inner guard was none other than Huben Zhonglang General Wang Qian. He led 60 people to Wucheng, Wushaoling, around the clock to guard the capture, and arrived at the entrance of Hexi five days ahead of the opponent.

The entrance to Hexi is Wushaoling. Wushaoling lies in the southernmost part of the Hexi Corridor, like a giant dragon blocking the entrance to the Hexi Corridor. There is only one road with a slightly gentle slope, which is also the only way to enter the Hexi Corridor through Wushaoling.

The Tang army built a garrison city, Wucheng and Herong City, in the south and north of this passage. This was the only way for merchants or troops traveling from south to north.

At that time, Master Xuanzang did not have a customs clearance document and tried to sneak across from Wucheng several times, but failed and was sent back to Chang'an.

After looking for various connections, he got through the Wucheng garrison and was able to pass the border and continue his journey north.

Wang Qian led fifty internal guards to sit in Wucheng, waiting for the fish to take the bait. The fish did not come to Wucheng in the end because it was discovered in advance in Guangwu County.

Jiang Xin bowed and saluted and said: "General, a lot of big wine barrels were delivered to the inn last night. I guess they wanted to put the young lady in the wine barrels and put a real wine barrel outside. It would be very sad even if they were randomly checked. We found them, but they used to pay off the guards with heavy bribes to get through, and now they may be planning to do the same thing again. "

Wang Qian no longer cares about how the other party plans to pass the test. What he cares about is the present.

Wang Qian thought for a while and asked, "When is the best time to take action?"

"Reporting to the general, the most appropriate time is eating. The ladies eat first, and then go upstairs. The nine of them continue to eat. This is the only time they are separated."

Wang Qian nodded and asked, "When will they eat?"

"Report to the general, they have already started eating."

Wang Qian immediately made arrangements, and fifty of his men sneaked into the inn from the back door. Two soldiers climbed up to the second floor first, and everyone lurked outside the main hall, waiting for the opportunity to come.

A quarter of an hour later, the ladies finished their lunch together. Kongsberg clapped his hands, and the ladies rushed up to the second floor.

Kongsberg and his seven men sat down to eat. The shopkeeper and his waiters served them wine, food and barbecue.

There is also a subordinate who is watching over the young ladies upstairs to prevent them from climbing out of the second floor window and escaping.

"Have a good rest tonight. We will set off early tomorrow morning. The coordinator has bribed a few sergeants in Wucheng to ensure that we pass safely!"

At this time, there was a sudden scream of terror from upstairs, and a young lady discovered the body of her subordinate who had been strangled to death.

Kongsberg secretly screamed that something was wrong, and just jumped up to run, when suddenly countless internal guards poured in from outside, pushed them down together, and tied them up.

Kongsberg was the top priority. The soldiers removed his arms and jaw and dislocated them all so that he could not commit suicide. Then they were tied up and taken away.

Not long after, fifty-five young ladies were brought down by five female guards and lined up in several rows in the yard. Wang Qian looked at these innocent, flower-like young ladies and felt a heartache. How many of them were like them? The young lady was sent away and never came back.

He said softly to these young ladies: "We are not bad people, we are internal guards from Chang'an, specifically here to rescue you. Your owner is actually a human trafficker. He has sold many batches of people with you." Little lady."

"Master Kang said he would send us to Anxi to learn Hu Xuan dance!" a young lady said tremblingly.

Wang Qian shook his head, "There are more than two hundred music studios in Chang'an, but none of them have ever gone to Anxi to learn Hu Xuan dance. He is lying to you in order to sell you to the distant Sogdia, or the even more distant food country. Once you go there, you will never have the chance to return to Datang in your life."

More than fifty young ladies were so frightened that they hugged each other and cried. Five female internal guards quickly comforted them.

At this time, more than a dozen carriages prepared by the county magistrate Liu Chi arrived. Wang Qian rewarded the innkeeper heavily. He led thirty of his men to escort the prisoners back to Beijing first, while the fifty-five young ladies were escorted by the rest of his men and slowly returned to Chang'an.

At night, Li Ye finished his dinner and was sitting in his study carefully reading the Liaodong battle report that had just been sent today. The Tang army had three victories in Xidi, annihilating more than 50,000 Xijun, plus the 20,000 Xijun who had been burned before. , more than 70,000 Xi troops have been wiped out, and the Xi tribe has no troops left to fight. Xi King Mo Lixie fled westward with hundreds of nobles and tens of thousands of tribesmen, and was captured by Ma Lin's army.

Nan Jiyun led his army to defeat 30,000 Silla troops on the east coast of Liaodong. The Tang army had captured Liaodong City on the Yalu River, and Guo Ziyi's army had been deployed in the Bohai Kingdom and was about to launch an attack on the 50,000 Japanese troops entrenched in the capital city. Encirclement and annihilation war.

Li Ye put down the battle report and walked to the window with his hands behind his hands. The night breeze was blowing on his face and was very cool. It had been more than four months since the war in Liaodong began. During the war, the soldiers' salaries were doubled. For an army of 200,000, the monthly salary was It exceeds one million yuan. Now the military salary alone is close to five million yuan. In addition, a large amount of food, meat, vegetables and various military supplies are consumed, and the expenditure also exceeds one million yuan.

The war is about national strength. This sentence is absolutely correct. The imperial court has spent five to six million guan in financial resources. Adding Nanzhao's war expenditure, it is close to 8 million guan.

The reason why the court did not complain was because they were eagerly waiting for the dividends of the war.

The financial pressure is too great. Li Ye is considering whether Silla and Japan need to be temporarily put aside and wait for the court to prepare for another year or two. Especially Silla, which needs to be destroyed, re-dividing states and counties, sending a large number of officials and The army moves in.

At this time, his wife Dugu Xinyue said at the door: "Husband, excuse me!"

Li Ye smiled and nodded, "What's the matter?"

Dugu Xinyue took a report to her husband, "This is what Li Chenghua just sent."

Li Ye quickly took it and opened it, and he immediately laughed, "I found the little ladies I told you about before!"

Dugu Xinyue is overjoyed. She has been worried about the fate of these young ladies these days.

She asked anxiously: "Where did you find it?"

"In Guangwu County, Lanzhou, human traffickers were also caught. All fifty-five young ladies are safe and on their way back to the capital."

Dugu Xinyue breathed a long sigh of relief, and suggested with a smile: "If those little ladies are homeless, just adopt them in the palace!"

Li Ye nodded, "Let's see when we come back! If you are really homeless, you can also adopt her in the palace."