Tibet

After Li Ye returned to Beijing from his inspection tour, the weather in Chang'an became warmer day by day.

The hearts of Li Ye's daughters also grew wings and flew to the distant Jiangnan.

The study tour plan had been arranged long ago, and the departure date was set on the last day of February.

Since ancient times, sages have taught younger students to read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles, go out more and see more, and increase their knowledge.

Therefore, study tours have always been an important part of the student life. Generally, three or five friends will make an appointment to travel together, hire a car or a boat, and take some money to go out.

When you go out, you usually spend money on three things: food, accommodation and transportation.

However, the court encourages study tours and will take some measures to help students who go out to study. It will require various places to build dormitories to provide food and accommodation for students who study abroad. Generally, as long as students have a study tour permit and a student ID card, the local education department will arrange food and accommodation.

Accommodation is free, and a small amount of rice and vegetables will be charged for food, which is much cheaper than eating out. A bowl of noodles at a stall outside costs twenty coins, but in the dormitory, only a few coins are enough.

This arrangement is to reduce the burden on students. Of course, the conditions are definitely more difficult.

If they are from a wealthy official family, the children's travel will be different. There will be old servants and servants to follow them, take a big ship, stay in an inn, and eat in a restaurant. Some wealthy families will also have guards to follow them for fear that their children will be kidnapped.

This is all very normal. If you have the conditions, you will be more comfortable, and if you don't have the conditions, you will suffer more. However, there are also wealthy families who let their children travel with students from ordinary families in order to train their children, go out to suffer and hone their will. This situation is not uncommon.

Even the hundreds of noble students from Hongwen Academy had a hard time traveling. Including the Crown Prince Li Tan, they all went to endure hardships. They first took a boat to Longyou, then rode on horseback, made their own fires and cooked, and slept in tents at night. After arriving in Longyou, they had to go to the fields to farm, visit the mines to mine, experience the military camp, and stay in Chiling Garrison for a few days to experience the soldiers guarding the border, and then travel through Dadouba Valley to Hexi.

Of course, someone would take care of them. Although the conditions were difficult, they would not be exhausted. After all, they were all teenagers. They were just allowed to visit and experience, and would not be allowed to mine in person or train with the soldiers.

When they were seventeen or eighteen years old, they would go out to study again, and then they would really work hard and train.

But even so, it took two or three months to complete a circle. All the noble children became dark and thin, but everyone was tempered, gained knowledge, became more resolute in character, and had more collective spirit.

But the female students of Hongwenguan Girls' School traveled, which was completely different. They were all the precious girls of the third-rank high-ranking officials, all teenage girls, especially there were three princesses, a total of 48 people. Their study tour was not to suffer, but to be precise, to go to the mountains and rivers, to broaden their horizons and gain knowledge.

So their travel alarmed many departments and many counties along the Yangtze River and Han River. The internal security specially sent a thousand people to the eight counties where they planned to disembark and play in advance to set up control. Not only female professors, but also several maids and dozens of female guards accompanied them.

They basically took the boat all the way, first taking ten thousand-stone passenger ships to Shangluo County, then playing in Shangluo County for a day, and then changing to five three-thousand-stone passenger ships to Xiangyang, playing in Xiangyang for three days.

Finally, they set off on the emperor's 30,000-stone Shuguang building ship, and disembarked six times along the way in Jiangxia, Qiupu, Yangzhou, Jiangning, Suzhou, and Hangzhou.

The ultimate goal is Hangzhou, and there is also a chance to go out of Hangzhou Bay to see the sea. The whole journey takes three to four months, and it will be summer when we return.

This is the difference between men and women. Boys have to take on the heavy responsibility of governing the country and maintaining the country in the future, so they have to endure hardships and experience the people's livelihood.

The young ladies will get married in five or six years, and traveling now is a kind of compensation for them. The conditions are very comfortable and safe, so that their families can also rest assured.

Li Ye's three daughters were so excited that they didn't sleep well all night. Before dawn, the three of them came to the Hongwenguan School to gather. All 48 female students arrived.

Their luggage had been sent away in advance, and each person only brought a small bag with them. They gathered in groups of three or two to discuss, and they were particularly excited.

At this time, the teacher Xue Wenniang clapped her hands and said with a smile: "Girls, if you need to go to the toilet, go quickly. We are leaving immediately."

Xue Wenniang was the daughter of the great scholar Xue Qian in Guanzhong. She married the son of Pei Xiangqing, the Minister of Rites, at the age of 17. When she was 30, her husband died of illness. She became a professor in her father's Tongwenguan School, specializing in teaching daughters of noble families. She was very famous in Chang'an.

She was favored by the Queen Dugu Xinyue and invited to be the teacher of Hongwenguan Girls School, that is, the principal.

Ten palace carriages had stopped at the door, and everyone got on the carriages. There were also six female professors, eight maids who took care of daily life, seven cooks, and thirty female guards, plus the general manager of the tour, that is, the teacher Jiang Wenliang. Amidst the chattering, a full army of 120 women set off in a mighty manner.

Their first goal was Guangyuntan outside the East City, from where they would take a boat to Shangzhou.

In early March, the 40,000 Tang troops heading to Suiye arrived in Xizhou, which is Gaochang, today's Turpan Basin. It is also the most populous and commercially developed area in the entire Beiting. The Tang army stationed 5,000 troops here.

The 40,000 troops will rest here for five days and then continue to march towards the Yili River Valley.

There are two routes to Suiye: the southern route and the northern route. The southern route is to go south from Dunhuang, enter the long Gobi Desert, and then reach Pulehai, which is Lop Nur, and then follow the Chihe River to Qiuci, the residence of Anxi Jiedufu, and continue along the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. After crossing the Tianshan Mountains at Lingshan, you will be not far from Suiye.

The northern route is to go through Beiting and enter the Yili River Valley, and finally arrive at Suiye.

Relatively speaking, the army is more willing to take the northern route to Suiye. There are grasslands and lakes all the way, which are very friendly to war horses and camels, especially the Yili River Valley, snow-capped mountain grasslands, and the scenery is magnificent.

The caravan prefers to take the southern route. There are more small countries along the way, and there are many Sogdian settlements, so they can do business all the way.

The 40,000-man army agreed to meet the Anxi army in Suiye, so they took the northern route.

The army had to rest in Xizhou for five days, so they set up camp outside Gaochang City. Immediately, merchants heard the news and set up stalls at the entrance of the military camp to do business, selling local specialty foods, which was very lively.

But the best business was the red tent area at the edge, which was the brothel. More than a dozen brothels came to do business, set up dozens of red tents, and the soldiers lined up in a long line.

Let me say a few more words here.

From ancient times to the present, in order to improve the morale of the army, the rulers would find ways to solve the physiological needs of the soldiers. The Jiaofangsi was originally used to reward and comfort the army. The outstanding prostitutes who were good at singing and dancing were rewarded to the generals, and the ordinary prostitutes were rewarded to the soldiers. This was a national welfare, and the soldiers did not have to pay for it.

The second was local condolences. When the army passed through, the local officials would pay the government to organize a group of prostitutes to reward the army in order to ensure local safety.

The next is military prostitutes. From the time they entered the military camp when they were young to the time they died, they basically followed the army. This was the most common way in history, and the fate of military prostitutes was generally tragic.

There are also commercial prostitutes, who do business next to the military camps. This is also the existence second only to military prostitutes.

Finally, there are women from the enemy country. Wealth and women have always been hard currency. Soldiers plunder young women from the enemy country not only to meet their own needs, but more importantly to sell them for money.

Sometimes we are very curious, where did those captured women go in the end? There was no soldier marching with them, in fact, they were sold.

If they are lucky, their families will pay money to redeem them, and if they are unlucky, they will be sold to human traffickers.

But since Li Ye implemented the abolition of slavery, the Jiaofangsi has disappeared, and the military prostitute system is too inhumane and has been abolished. Only commercial prostitutes are left, which is also the most common form of the Tang army at present.

There are also two types of commercial prostitutes. One is the garrison commercial prostitutes, which is the situation next to the Gaochang military camp now. No matter where they are stationed, merchants will come to hear the news.

The other type is the military prostitutes. There is no difference between the military prostitutes and the military prostitutes in form, but their nature is completely different.

Military prostitutes are slaves, completely like machines, with no autonomy and no income. Only soldiers occasionally give them a little bit of money.

Military prostitutes are purely for making money, it is a business. They can leave when they want to, stay when they want to, and stop receiving customers if they are not feeling well. They do nothing else except receiving customers, unlike military prostitutes who have to wash clothes and cook.

Under the abolition order, the military prostitute system was abolished, and the Privy Council promulgated the military prostitute regulations, one of which is that brothels are not allowed to accompany the army, only prostitutes can accompany the army.

The biggest advantage of this regulation is that the price is cheap, but the military prostitutes also make a lot of money.

The commanders are still quite welcome to the military prostitutes. They can not only solve the soldiers' physiological needs, but also solve psychological problems. For example, if the soldiers lose control of their emotions, they can find prostitutes to comfort and persuade them, and the soldiers will be in a good mood. For example, when the soldiers hold a competition, the prostitutes can dance on the stage to adjust the atmosphere.

According to the regulations issued by the Privy Council, the commanders must open up a separate area for them, not allow them to mix with the camp, and prepare large tents and food for them.

Most of these military prostitutes are older prostitutes, about 30 years old, who are their own hosts. They mainly sell cheap prices, 20 to 30 coins per time, but fortunately there are many soldiers and no exploitation by the madams, so the income is generally generous. They can save a pension for ten years and retire at the age of 40.

This time the army went to Suiye, and more than 200 military prostitutes followed.

The army was stationed in Xizhou, and the military prostitutes went shopping and buying cosmetics on holiday, leaving the business to the military prostitutes, so there was a long queue in front of the red tent outside the brothel.

On the second day of stationing in Xizhou, Li Feishouyu, the governor of Beiting, came from Tingzhou and brought the latest news of Suiye.