Xihe County is located in the central part of Bingzhou, connected to Taiyuan County in the north and Linfen County in the south. Among the fifteen counties of Bingzhou, it is a very inconspicuous small county. It is the towering Lüliang Mountain to the west and the continuous Taiyue Mountain and Zhongtiao Mountain to the east. More than 90% of the land in the county is covered with tall and majestic mountains, and the Fen River passes through the mountains and becomes an important water transport channel connecting the north and south of Bingzhou.

The canyon that Fen River has washed out for tens of millions of years has also formed a land route that runs through the north and south. The only official road is built in this canyon that is nearly a hundred miles long. This is the strategically-positioned Jushi Valley. It is like a long thin line, linking Taiyuan County in the north and the four counties in Jinnan in the south together. If this line is cut off, the connection between Bingzhou is cut off.

Although there are countless small or secret paths that communicate north and south among the mountains and ridges, there is only one official path that can walk on large baggage trucks. For the army, merchants, and almost all those traveling, this valley road is the lifeline of the north and south communication between Jinzhong.

Queshi Valley starts from Xihe County and Jiexiu County in the north and ends at Huoyi County in the north of Linfen County. The widest part is dozens of miles, but the narrowest part is only two miles. There are several important strategic locations distributed in the nearly 100-mile-long valley. One is Jiexiu County, which is the northern gate of Queshi Valley. Its importance is not terrain, but because it is an extremely important material transit station in the North and South Roads.

The second is Yindi Pass. Xihe County and Linfen County are at its junction. It is a pass standing between the two mountains. It is only two miles long. The city wall is tall and solid, and the terrain is very dangerous. This is also the narrowest part of the entire Bird and Rat Valley.

After Li Yuan started his army from Taiyuan, he was able to successfully pass the pass through the Queshi Valley because the guard of Yindi Pass was his man at that time, so he passed the pass without bloodshed.

The third dangerous place is Huoyi County. Huoyi County is located at the junction of the two basins of Jinzhong and Linfen, and guards the must-pass official road from south to north. On the right side of the county town is a towering mountain, and on the left is an open valley, more than ten feet deep. The Fen River, like a jade belt, winds through the valley and flows to the south.

The strategic position of Queshi Valley is so important that the Tang army also deployed heavy troops here, deploying three thousand troops in Jiexiu, Yindiguan and Huoyi respectively, which were commanded by the Bingzhou General Manager.

The head generals of Huoyi County were Xie Yingdeng, Xie Yingdeng, Wang Jungua, and Wang Bodang were known as the three generals of Taiyuan. They have been stationed in Taiyuan County for many years and are all factions of Li Jiancheng. However, during the Turkic Battle, Li Jiancheng disobeyed the imperial orders and cooperated with Zhang Xuan without authorization and finally angered the emperor Li Yuan.

After the war, Li Yuan began to clean up Li Jiancheng's army, and all the three generals of Bingzhou were demoted and suppressed. Wang Bodang was transferred to train the militia, Wang Jungu was transferred to Shangjun to participate in the encirclement and suppression of Song Jingang, while Xie Yingdeng was demoted to the garrison of Huoyi County.

As time goes by, the fate of the three of them has changed again. Wang Bodang was transferred to Li Jiancheng's chief guard and followed Li Jiancheng to inspect various places. Wang Junkuo changed his garrison and was named General of Cavalry by King Li Shimin of Qin. This time he led 20,000 troops to Taiyuan with Pei Ji.

Only Xie Yingdeng seemed to have been forgotten. He had been in Huoyi County for more than a year, but no one asked him about him. What made Xie Yingdeng even more unbearable was that two months ago Pei Ji sent a confidant to Huoyi County to inspect the city defense. He had a bad attitude and secretly asked Xie Yingdeng for bribes. If he failed to ask for bribes, he wrote a letter back to sue Xie Yingdeng. Pei Ji was furious and immediately demoted Xie Yingdeng from General Lang to General Lang, and appointed his confidant as the defense envoy of Huoyi County, in charge of the defense of Huoyi County, thus undermining Xie Yingdeng.

Xie Yingdeng angrily submitted a letter to Li Shude to defend, but the two defense letters were like stones and no news, which made Xie Yingdeng completely desperate. He just drank in his own account every day and no longer involved in any military affairs.

At noon that day, a caravan slowly came from the south. The caravan was composed of hundreds of mules, full of packed goods. They were wearing the business flags and dozens of horse-riding guards with knives. It was obvious whether they were small individual caravans, but large caravans with backgrounds. This was not common in Bingzhou business roads.

Since the Zhou Dynasty army occupied Shangdang County and Changping County, it began to suppress bandits and wiped out dozens of bandits of all sizes in the Taihang Mountains and Wangwu Mountains. Without the trouble of bandits, caravans in Bingzhou began to rise rapidly. Several time-honored merchants also expanded their scale and purchased livestock mules from Beihai County. There were tens of thousands of merchant mules walking on the Bingzhou business road every day.

The south gate of Huoyi County was very lively. Farmers, peddlers, porters and gorgeous carriages driving out of the city, dozens of soldiers guarding the city shouted loudly, maintaining order at the city gate.

At this time, some soldiers saw the caravan winding in the distance and shouted to the top of the city, "There is a caravan!"

The soldiers guarding the city gate suddenly became excited and looked at the caravans in the distance and whispered. According to the convention, they could all earn a hundred cents of wine at this time, and some soldiers had already rushed to report to Jin Zongjun.

Jin Zongjun's full name is Jin Jiong, a native of Longquan County, Bingzhou. He is an aide to the prime minister Pei Ji. This time he followed Pei Ji to Taiyuan to preside over the defense. He was appointed as the army by Pei Ji and went to the three places of Queshi Valley to patrol the defense. He failed to ask Xie Yingdeng for bribes in Huoyi County, so he wrote a letter to Pei Ji and reported that Xie Yingdeng was neglected to defend. This made Pei Ji very angry, so he appointed Jin Jiong as Huoyi Defense Envoy and replaced Xie Yingdeng.

Frankly speaking, the defenders of Huoyi County prefer Jin Jiong, rather than Xie Yingdeng. Although Xie Yingdeng is skilled in martial arts, he is very strict in training the soldiers. The soldiers are exhausted all year round. Moreover, Xie Yingdeng's military discipline is very strict. He strictly prohibits his subordinates from extorting merchants and is not allowed to accept bribes from merchants. However, Huoyi County is a must-pass road for the caravans, but the generals guarding the city cannot get any benefits. Over time, the middle and lower-level generals gradually become dissatisfied with Xie Yingdeng.

On the contrary, Jin Jiong was the opposite. He let the army go and not only canceled daily training, but also after accepting bribes from the generals below, he turned a blind eye to the middle and lower-level generals who falsely reported the number of soldiers and were vain paying wages. He even blackmailed the merchants who were dealing with him. He ate meat and the people below drank soup, and everyone was happy.

Soon Jin Jiong rushed over when he heard the news. At this time, the caravan had already arrived at the city and the soldiers were checking the goods one by one. The Tang army also strictly prohibited the caravan from trafficking some items, such as pig iron, copper ingots, weapons, armor, etc. If these contraband were trafficked, it would be useless even if they were bribed. Once seized, the merchant would undoubtedly die, and even the county magistrate of the origin would be held accountable and dismissed.

It is precisely for this reason that bribery of the army guarding the city is inevitable. Once framed and killed, the goods will be confiscated. There is no place to seek innocence due to great injustice. Therefore, although the business profits are great, the risks are also great. Especially without a background, you must not traffic in valuable goods, otherwise something will be easy.

"Where did the caravan come from?" Jin Jiong asked loudly.

A city guard lieutenant rushed to report: "You are the caravans who join the army."

Jin Jiong was stunned. Pegasus Xing was a business run by Wenxi Pei. No wonder it is such a large scale and has a knife guard.

Although the Prime Minister Pei Ji is the Pei clan of Hedong rather than Wenxi, they are all ancestors and have a close relationship. Jin Jiong dared not attack them. At this time, several soldiers ran up to the top of the city and reported loudly: "You have joined the army and have searched them. They are all cloth and dyes, and there are no contraband!"

"Let them into the city!"

Putting the caravan into the city means that the caravan does not have to pay for the road. Although Jin Jiong was quite unwilling to do so, there was no way. This was the Pei family's caravan, and he could not help but give Pei Ji face.

The soldiers made way and the caravan began to slowly enter the city. One mule next to the other, carrying heavy goods into the city cave.

Jin Jiong came down from the city gate. He saw dozens of sword-bearing guards and frowned. People riding horses and swords were not allowed to enter the city. At this moment, an old fat middle-aged man walked up and bowed and smiled, "Does Jin Zengjun still remember the villain?"

"Who are you--"

"I may have forgotten to join the army. Last year, I joined the army and Pei Xiangguo came to the Baigong Jewelry Store in Dongcheng City. I was just a villain who was welcomed by the army. Do you still have the impression of joining the army?"

"Your surname is Du. Isn't it?" Jin Jiong finally remembered.

"The villain is Lao Du, the shopkeeper of Baigong Jewelry Store."

"So it's Shopkeeper Du, why don't you do it in the jewelry store?" Jin Jiong asked with a smile.

"Reported to join the army, Baigong Jewelry Store is also the property of the Pei family. The villain was transferred to Pegasus Trading Company today as deputy deacon. This time, he brought 6,000 fine linen and 800 ingots of dye to Taiyuan City. These guards are all subordinates of the Pei family, which is crucial to our caravan. I would like to ask Jin Zhanjun to take care of him."

When the words were spoken, a ingot of gold was stuffed into Jin Jiong's hand. Jin Jiong weighed it slightly and weighed it about ten taels. The harvest was good. He immediately smiled and said, "It's not easy to make a living outside! Well, let's forget it this time, let's not take the example!"

"Thank you for joining the army."

Gold entered his pocket, Jin Jiong waved his hand, and eighty guards followed the caravan into the city. Nearly a thousand mules, two hundred men and eighty servants, quickly crowded several inns.
Chapter completed!