In the evening, in Chang'an City.

Li Ru's car drove out of the palace and drove along the crossroads toward his mansion. He did not need to take the provincial seats tonight, so he could return home.

Sitting quietly in the ox cart, he opened his eyes that were sleeping, revealing a cold light. Through the curtain of the ox cart, he looked at the scenery along the way. His face was complicated, which was both a little cozy and a little worried.

In the past two months, it was Li Ru's proud life. After he returned to Chang'an, he was immediately granted the title of marquis by Li Jue, and then took over all the government affairs of Jia Xu, who had stepped down from Ding You.

After that, even if Jia Xu was reborn, he was excluded from political affairs by Li Ru and others, and could only serve as a noble and idle position like a counselor.

If Li Jue wants to attack the emperor and court officials in politics, he must also handle government affairs through scholars like Li Ru who rely on him. It can be said that in the past two months, Li Jue, who is below one person, has been in charge of the court alone, and Li Ru has also risen and has become more and more addicted to taking charge of the government affairs.

However, Li Ru, who was obsessed with profit, still retained a little soberness compared to the Li family members listed in the court.

He had personally experienced the Assassination in Chang'an City, and had become extremely sensitive to some unusual events.

Especially when Li Ru was watching the Li family's children indulging their soldiers and acting rampantly in Chang'an City, Li Ru couldn't help but feel a little worried.

"Lüshi Chunqiu" says, "Will you not get a fish after fishing after exhausting the lake? And there will be no fish next year. If you indulge your soldiers in this way, you will sooner or later cause a big disaster."

Although Li Ru saw the hidden dangers, it was difficult to advise Li Jue and restrain his soldiers. Isn’t this just a disguised embarrassment with the Li family?

Jia Xu offended Li Jue's intentions and even had to be idle. He used this to get to the top. Should he repeat the same mistakes?

Li Ru said goodbye, put away the mess in his mind, only his eyes, and looked straight at the scenery outside the car.

Under the slanting sunset, the city of Chang'an, Xijing seemed a little desolate. The thick clouds surrounding the Weiyang Palace had piled up above the city. Looking up, it seemed that the thick clouds were hanging on the eaves that were slanted from the top of the palace.

Compared with the towering palaces, most parts of the city are flat and low-rise towns, and are now shrouded under a large area of ​​dark clouds.

Li Ru even saw that some of the houses in the city had turned into ashes and ruins. From a distance, it looked like dark clouds in the sky fell on the ground.

Perhaps some soldiers in the army who were willing to plunder and plunder were reluctant to stop after entering the house and looting, so they simply smashed and burned all the houses in the original owner's house, and squandered the wealth and treasures in the military market. All the remaining houses were thrown away at the roadside and picked up by poor people as firewood to keep warm at night.

The ashes soon passed with the rumbling wheels. The wind in the distance rushed towards the ox cart, and some wind angles even took the opportunity to get into the curtain, causing Li Ru to squint his eyes slightly.

The wind has a direction, but from nowhere, many noisy crows flew over. Flocks of crying on the way Li Ru's ox cart passed by. The black horn's body, under the red light of the doomsday, seemed to have black sesame seeds in the blood, and it was clear and blurry.

Of course, they fly and cry for purpose, mostly to call their friends, scattered in ruins to peck at the human flesh. In the cracks of the collapsed earth walls and on the steps with weeds, you can also see white bird droppings.

In this desolate scene of the setting sun, they will continue to nod until the night is deep, and they will be satisfied and full.

By that time, it will be a good time for other robbers to take advantage of the opportunity.

Therefore, when the sun sets, most of the curfewed city are in a gloomy atmosphere, and evil spirits are rampant, and good people will never dare to step outside.

Even Li Ru, who had a team of guards to go out, would urge the driver to speed up and return home. Only when he was in the place where he lived was the Lilü, where the noble generals lived, was protected by the personal soldiers of the lieutenant generals, could he be considered safe and sound.

Otherwise, it would be far from being safe to take only one team of soldiers at night.

Once you encounter a group of soldiers in the army who are robbing at night, your wealth will be touching. No matter whether you are a minister in the court or a soldier in the army, you will directly take off your wealth, carry away the remains of the corpse and throw it away among the ruins. You will end up with a cowardly way of death.

This is Chang'an City in the second year of Xingping!

Reciting the reign of "Xingping", Li Ru couldn't help but smile bitterly. It was just that people's hearts in troubled times could not be easily controlled by his own strength.

While smiling bitterly, the ox cart that had always been stable suddenly stopped, causing Li Ru's body to tilt forward involuntarily and almost hit the carriage.

Li Ru, who was sorting out his crown and court uniform in a mess, scolded with anger:

"How did you drive a dead slave?"

"Lord - lord, there is a soldier in front of you who is drunk!"

The driver who was driving was scolded by Li Ru and responded tremblingly.

At this time, Li Ru also heard the soldiers following the ox cart walking guards trot forward and drove away the soldiers who were drunk in the street and blocking the carriage.

However, the soldiers who were drunk and collapsed on the street seemed to remain a little awake again, and soon quarreled with the soldiers who were driving away. The noise became louder and louder, and the sound was overwhelming the noisy crows.

Li Ru opened the curtain impatiently and leaned out to see the soldiers in the quarrel. He saw four or five soldiers drunk and blocked the streets, all of whom were tall and tall. He shouted loudly with the drunkenness and looked fearless, pushing and shoving the soldiers who were driving away, but he refused to give way.

As for the faces of the drunk soldiers, Li Ru, who was far away, could not see clearly in the dim light.

Li Ru, who retracted back into the car, thought about it and decided to get off the car and handle the dispute personally.

With the help of the driver, Li Ru, who jumped out of the carriage, walked over with two soldiers. He saw that the person who was quarreling and pushing with his soldiers was a tall drunk soldier with a red face. Looking at the leather armor inlaid with iron leaves on his body, he should be a middle and lower-level military officer in the army.

"Which general are you waiting for?"

Li Ru frowned and asked coldly.

"Hey, come and ask-I, who are you?"

The soldier with a flushed face was not afraid of Li Ru at all. After burping, he squinted his eyes, looked at Li Ru, and asked vaguely.

"Hmph, boldly, the person in front of you is Li Shizhong of the current dynasty, a close minister of the emperor, and a close confidant of the Grand Sima, and you still pay your respects!"

The soldiers who acted as guards around Li Ru, who relied on the power of Li Ru now, were arrogant in their actions. Seeing this little military officer despising his lord so much, he was angry and did not fight on the spot, and wanted to force the red-faced soldier to bow down and salute.

As a result, the two soldiers who came forward to capture were easily pushed away by the red-faced soldier one after another. One soldier staggered back a few steps because he couldn't stabilize his body.

"Bold, do you want to commit a treason!"

Li Ru's guard, who was pushed down for a few steps, had a dull face and turned red. He was also angry and angry on the spot. He drew his sword in an instant and yelled and was about to step forward.

"You little man, do you want to use a knife?"

Looking at Li Ru's guard who rushed forward two steps, the red-faced soldier was not afraid at all. He sneered and asked, but just pressed the hilt of the knife contemptuously, but did not draw out the knife. Instead, a few soldiers behind him who seemed drunk drew their swords at the same time, scaring Li Ru's guards hurriedly protected Li Ru behind him and hurriedly pulled out the knife.

The scene became tense in an instant. Looking at these drunken soldiers who were also elite among the army, Li Ru thought about it and asked his guard to put away his sword, put on a smile, and looked at the red-faced soldiers in the lead and asked:

"You already know who I am. Now, you should tell me which general you are under, why are you blocking the road while drunk?"

After hearing Li Ru's words, a trace of shiny appeared in the eyes of the blushed soldier. He asked with a slight hint of worries with his belly shyly:

"Are you really Shizhong Li?"

"Don't it look like it?"

Li Ru sneered when she heard the other party's tone and asked back.

The red-faced soldier stared at Li Ru a few more times, then laughed and said:

"The Shizhong was joking. How could ordinary people pretend to be like this?"

After a pause, the red-faced soldier continued:

"We are all under the command of the Grand Sima, but we are close to Shizhong Li. As for why we are drunk here, hehe, I heard from the comrades in the army that at dusk, there are mostly carriages and horses of wealthy families passing by. So, I will take a few men under my command to ask for some loan fees here!"

After hearing the undisguised words of the red-faced soldier, Li Ru was a little amused and cried. He looked at the red-faced soldier again. Seeing that he had extraordinary strength just now, he must have been one of the arrogant generals in the army in the past, and he was also a soldier in Li Jue's army. This can explain why he was so bold that he dared to bring a few soldiers to the east and west roads in Chang'an City to collect the travel expenses for noble vehicles passing by.

I had heard of these arrogant soldiers and generals who were bold and reckless, but I didn't expect that a small military officer would dare to act so boldly.

If the sky wants to perish, it will make it crazy. Li Ru thought silently in his heart, and then said to the guards beside him with a smile:

"Get two pieces of cloth from the car and give them to these soldiers."

"Master!"

The guards beside Li Ru were already very angry when they saw a small military officer who dared to block the streets and charge the tolls of the Grand Secretariat. Unexpectedly, Li Ru really wanted to give them tolls, which was simply unbelievable.

In Chang'an City, Wuzhu coins are used as cheap, and grains and cloth have become hard currency in the circulation market.

Li Ru waved his hand and told the guard not to say too much and go and get it immediately.

He was not kind-hearted or showed weakness, but wanted to lure him into being rampant. In addition, he was caught and captured. If he took down these soldiers, he would not be afraid that Li Jue would be afraid of being afraid of the gap and instead became suspicious.

Although the guard was unknown, he quickly brought two pieces of cloth.

The red-faced soldier took the cloth and suddenly smiled on his face.

At this time, the price of grain in Chang'an City soared and cloth was scarce. I heard that even the emperor and his close ministers were not good at food and clothing, and they could barely make ends meet. Among the civil servants, they could give two pieces of cloth at will. Apart from the current hot Shizhong Li, there were probably not many people.

"Thank you, Shizhonggong!"

The red-faced soldier brought several soldiers to thank him all at once, and then quickly took a few steps back against Li Ru. At this time, Li Ru also noticed the abnormal behavior of the other party after getting money and was about to order the guards to take down these soldiers.
Chapter completed!