The second day after arriving in Hengsai Town, Yang Hao was promoted to the tent to see the matter.

He found that the government affairs of Hengsai Town were not as chaotic as he thought, thanks to a man named Han Sui, who was 36 or 7 years old, tall, thin and black, and had a sense of perseverance. Han Sui now lives in the position of a staff officer in the city patrol camp. The staff officer was originally the commander's entourage, in charge of the military and handling documents of the exchanges, and had no real power. It was only because Qin Zhong was addicted to enjoyment and ignored the military affairs of the town, and the real power fell into the hands of this seemingly ambitious person.

The city patrol camp has a total of 208 people, led by the commander or deputy envoy, with three infantry troops and one cavalry team. Each infantry team has forty people, one team chief and one team deputy, sixty cavalry team, one team chief and two team deputy, and there are twenty miscellaneous troops responsible for guarding the city gates and camps, and are directly led by the commander.

It can be seen that all the team leaders and team deputys were very respectful to Han Sui. Yang Hao remained calm and asked about the situation in the town seriously. Soon he had a rough understanding of Hengsai Town: In addition to the 208 garrison troops, there were 370 households in the town. Most of these people were landless refugees from Guannei and Hedong. They reclaimed land in the northwest of the town, planted grain and vegetables, and also grazed cattle and sheep, but the main business was to make iron tools and wooden tools to trade with the Uighurs in exchange for cattle, horses, fur and dried meat, and then transported these things to the mainland through Yongfeng to exchange for grain, salt and daily necessities. The transaction took several steps. After exploitation, the refugees made little profit, which was only enough to make a living.

The soldiers of the City Camp recruited refugees. Some of them were recruited, some were promoted from the strokes, and most of them were family members. Three of them had served in the mainland army and fled because of defeat or violated military discipline. They later became here.

After asking, Yang Hao inspected the team of 200 people accompanied by everyone. The soldiers were all energetic, and the cavalry war horses were all good-bred Hexi horses, and they were fat and strong. However, the soldiers' clothes and armor were worn out, and the weapons they used were varied. In addition to the long spears each person were uniformly configured by the army, the swords and bows were all purchased by themselves. Unlike the horizontal swords equipped by the Shence Army and the Jinwu Guard, the swords used by the soldiers were all a kind of scimitar with guards.

Yang Hao curiously took a soldier's scimitar, which was quite heavy and made very well. He cut the wooden stakes with a knife, and broke them in response to the sound, which was also very sharp.

Han Sui explained that the enemy of the city patrol camp was mainly the Uighurs, and they did not have strong armor, so using this scimitar suitable for cutting immediately is more beneficial than a straight-blade horizontal knife. Of course, if you fight against the ghost soldiers in the ghost towns across the river, the scimitar will be far less convenient than a horizontal knife.

Yang Hao was about to ask Han Sui what the "ghost town" was. The chef came over and reported that the wine and food had been prepared and asked when the meal would start. Everyone was happy when they heard this. Yang Hao said to the team and the team deputy: "I'll be in the club today, so I'll invite everyone to have a meal." Everyone was overjoyed.

Han Sui hurriedly called a team deputy to come over and said, "Go and tell the stove: add food tonight and eat stewed meat, and it is said that the chief minister invited the brothers to have a tooth sacrifice." The team deputy went there excitedly. Yang Hao was happy after hearing this: he was a new arrival, and he didn't want Han Sui to misunderstand that he was eager to win over the hearts of the people and seize his authority. Therefore, he only invited a few team leaders and deputy teams but did not ask about the soldiers below. Han Sui took the initiative to propose and put all the rewards on his head. This was undoubtedly a friendly expression.

Qing'er was used to cooking small dishes and suddenly asked her to prepare meals for more than a dozen people. Moreover, due to the limited conditions, the ingredients here were extremely limited, all of them were large pieces of lamb, cattle and sheep. Qing'er tried her best to chop the big bones and meat, so she had to ask the two cooks who were called back to the camp to help.

The three of them took a lot of effort to prepare the meal.

The dinner was over and over. Yang Hao sent the drunken team leader and the team deputy out of the door and said to Han Sui, who was walking at the end, "I want to go out of the town tomorrow morning. Brother Han is interested to go with you?" Han Sui was a little flattered when he heard this and hurriedly replied, "Of course I have to accompany the Chief Secretary to take a good look at our style outside the border."

After seeing off the guests, Yang Hao hurried to find Qing'er. During the dinner, the team members asked Yang Hao to invite Qing'er out. Yang Hao asked the cook to call someone. Qing'er finally showed up and smiled on her face for the first time. Qing'er only drank a glass of wine with everyone and then retreated, but Yang Hao already felt that he had given him enough face.

Yang Hao found Qing'er in the pile of firewood in the stove. She leaned against the firewood, her face was a little tired, and she was alone with her cheeks. The firewood in the stove had not yet been extinguished, and the red flames reflected her face flushed. Yang Hao unexpectedly saw that Qing'er, who looked rosy, was indescribable. Qing'er saw Yang Hao coming over and stood up and asked, "Do you want to serve food?" Yang Hao saw her rolling her sleeves around her apron, and she looked greasy, feeling pity, holding her shoulder and smiling, "The person has left."

Qing'er breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly pushed Yang Hao's hand away.

"Madam is exhausted tonight." said the cook who was washing dishes on the stove, "It's not an old woman, I'm too polite. Madam is not happy. You really shouldn't let her do such a heavy job."

Yang Hao knew what this "unpleasant" meant, and felt guilty in his heart, and helped Qing'er unbutton her apron to take her back to the room. The cook had already heated the kang, brought hot water, and then closed the door and left. Yang Hao was a little embarrassed. Isn't going out at this moment meant telling the cook outside the door that he and Qing'er were fake couples? In that way, it won't take long to spread the gossip throughout the town, and how can she be a human being in the future?...

Qing'er saw his embarrassment, smiled slightly, pointed to the corner and said, "You just stand there... facing the wall and think about your mistakes." This is the second time Yang Hao saw Qing'er smiling. This is the smile from the bottom of his heart, with sweetness and warmth.

Yang Hao really stood in the corner of the wall in a regular manner, standing straight.

Qing'er pursed her lips and smiled, took off her clothes and got into the quilt, and said, "You can turn around."

Yang Hao was so dazed that he was at a loss. It took him a long time to pluck up the courage to sit on the edge of the bed, wanting to say a few words to Qing'er, but he couldn't find a suitable word for a while.

"Tu Tuk Tuk" there was a knock on the door, and the cook brought a bowl of hot jujube brown sugar soup.

Yang Hao said, "I have to bother my mother to come and take care of her these days." The cook smiled and said, "It should have been like this long ago. You rich people don't know the hardships outside the border." Yang Hao served Qing'er and drank the red date soup, holding the bowl and stared at her blankly. Qing'er felt a little embarrassed by her, so she pulled the corner of the quilt and covered her head. After a while, she lifted the corner of the quilt and said, "You should sleep on the other end, take off the clothes outside, be careful not to catch a cold." After that, she covered her head and slept sideways inward.

Yang Hao blew out the light, touched and took off his leather jacket outside, got into the quilt and fell asleep with Qing'er's feet. When he slept until midnight, he held Qing'er's feet in his arms.

...

Early the next morning, the sun was shining and the cold wind that had been blowing for several days also stopped.

When Yang Hao came to the patrol camp, the two teams of infantry soldiers who were on duty had just returned, and the third team had already lined up and were preparing to leave the city. According to the rules, only one team of infantry soldiers was patrolling the police around the town during the day. Half of the horse army stayed in the camp, and the other half left the city patrol police, and changed their posts until the afternoon. Because it was not time for dinner, the two teams of soldiers who returned stayed on the small school field inside the camp gate to practice.

Han Sui walked over with a sword hanging from his waist and arrows on his back. Four strong soldiers followed him, all of whom were carrying guns and hanging from his waist. Seeing that Yang Hao was watching the drill seriously, Han Sui asked, "The Chief Secretary has been staying in the Imperial Guard. It's a bit unbearable to see these."

"The Caodian used is exactly the same as the imperial guards, and it seems that the border troops should not be like this."

"The border troops of the imperial guards are all soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, and their clothes, armor, food and salary are different. Do you even have to make the carvings in the same way?" Han Sui seemed to be feeling and seemed to be robbing Bai Yanghao. Yang Hao was a little embarrassed and quickly changed the topic: "Take all the hunting dogs and falcons sent by the deputy commander to reward the brothers." Han Sui smiled and said, "I am just thinking that, if the chief minister doesn't say it, I will ask you for a loan." The two laughed and resolved the embarrassment just now.

Hundreds of miles outside Hengsai Town are tidal flats, grasslands, woods, hills, and horses. When they gallop, they suddenly felt an indescribable ambition in their hearts. The six people rode a good-bred Hexi horse. This horse is tall and can carry weights, with good endurance and explosive power. What is even more difficult is that it can withstand hunger.

Yang Hao was hunting while checking the terrain along the way. At noon, everyone settled down at a dirt mountain. The attendant picked firewood, lit fire, boiled water and boiled meat. Yang Hao and Han Sui walked to the top of the dirt mountain. Looking north, there was a vast weed and a blue river at the end of the sky. Yang Hao said in surprise: "Is this the Yellow River?" Han Sui said: "Sir, I have a good eye. This is the Yellow River. If you go north, you will not be the territory of the Tang Dynasty. I remember that there were my Datang Rivers and mountains thousands of miles north of this year."

Yang Hao sighed and suddenly asked, "I heard you say there is a 'ghost city' in Hebei yesterday. Where is this 'ghost city'?" Han Sui was slightly shocked when he heard this. He said nonsense. He actually remembered it carefully, so he pointed to the north and said, "In this way, there were hundreds of abandoned military camps thousands of miles north, all of which were left by the predecessors who opened borders and guarded the border. The country's power declined and the border areas were lost. These towns and military camps that had been built with countless people's efforts were abandoned. Later, the defeated and convicted soldiers occupied these places. They recruited refugees to reclaim land, grazed cattle and horses, dozens of people, and hundreds of people, all of them proclaimed themselves kings and did not obey the rule of the court. These people have no household registration, neither belonged to the Tang Dynasty nor the Uighurs, and everyone called them 'ghost cities', and those towns and military camps are naturally called 'ghost cities'."

Yang Hao said: "Why didn't the Tiande Army gather them to serve the court?" Han Sui said: "The Tiande Army is now only concerned with internal strife, so how can we care about expanding territory?" Yang Hao felt that it was inappropriate to discuss Shangguan's right and wrong in private, so he smiled and did not respond.

Although the terrain of the mountain is not high, it is surrounded by vast plains. In addition, the sky is blue and the grass is vast. Yang Hao couldn't help but sigh and said, "It's really hateful that the mountains and rivers fall in the hands of a group of incompetent eunuchsmen!" Han Sui looked at the words for a long time and suddenly asked, "The chief also thinks the eunuchsmen's authority is hateful?"

Yang Hao was shocked and secretly regretted it. He hurriedly said, "I am just feeling it. Don't go to your heart." Han Sui laughed and said, "The eunuch party is tyrannical, the ruling dynasty is sluggish, and the prosperous Tang Dynasty will never return. Who wouldn't sigh for anyone with a little blood? Han Sui is not the kind of treacherous villain who started his business by telling loyalty and good deeds."

Yang Hao felt relieved in his heart, and he had a little more appreciation for Han Sui's straightforward personality, so he said, "You misunderstood, I have no doubt about your intentions. Alas, it's just that the general situation is like this, and what can you do if you and I are humble and speak lightly?" At this time, the attendant had cooked the meat and called on the two to go down the mountain to have rice.

Yang Hao looked at the quietly flowing Yellow River in the distance again, sighed and went down the mountain silently.

———————
Chapter completed!