readx;    Seven days later, the three arrived at the town of Jikou, which is the border between the grassland and the Central Plains. It is surrounded by a vast Gobi Desert, which is the only way to go south to Youzhou.

In the inn lobby, three people sat at the small table and drank silently. Although it was midsummer in the Central Plains, the night in the Gobi Desert was still very cool. When someone lifted the leather curtain and came in, a cold wind would be caught.

They were about to break up when they arrived at Jikou Town. Cheng Yaojin wanted to return to Tudou Town to fulfill his filial piety to my mother, Yuchi Gong also wanted to return to Mayi County's wife and children, and Zhang Xuan wanted to return to Luoyang to take off leave to Yang Qing. Everyone was walking in a different direction.

Although both of them expressed their willingness to continue to follow him, Zhang Xuan thought for a long time and still felt that now was not the time.

Zhang Xuan's profit from going north this time was very generous, and the capital of 500 taels of gold was quadrupled, which of course was related to Tule's willingness to buy his goods at a high price.

Although he, Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong had agreed on the price in advance, he did not want to do that. Everyone was born and died together. When it was time to part, he also wanted to do a little friend.

Zhang Xuan divided the two thousand taels of gold into three. He took out two cloth bags, each with five hundred taels of gold. He pushed the package to the two, "This is yours!"

There was not much to give Cheng Yaojin. After all, Zhang Xuan had promised him that he had only one hundred taels of gold more than the ones he should have given him, but Cheng Yaojin knew very well that not everyone was willing to give him 500 taels of gold.

Cheng Yaojin is not a ungrateful person. He usually acts crazy and plays stupid, but his heart is like a mirror. But he is used to joking and doesn't know how to express his gratitude. He silently remembers Zhang Xuan's affection in his heart.

But Yuchi Gong refused to accept it. This was a lot more than the price that was agreed in advance. It was five hundred taels of gold! How could he accept it?

Zhang Xuan's face darkened, "Jingde, although you are the guard I hired for money, I never treat you as a friend. You are my brother. Money is just an external thing to me. If you think five hundred taels of gold is not enough, then I can give you all the gold, as long as you are willing to recognize me as a brother."

Yuchi Gong was extremely moved. His nose felt sour and tears almost burst out. He knew that he had to take the bag of gold, so he nodded, "Since the young master is willing to be my brother, I will admit it, okay! Thank you brother for the gift of meeting me."

When Zhang Xuan saw that he was willing to accept it and was willing to recognize his brother, he was overjoyed. He asked Cheng Yaojin again, "What about you? What are your plans for the next step."

"I want to respect my mother first, and then...and then!"

Cheng Yaojin's face was flushed and his eyes begged to look at Zhang Xuan, "Young Master, I still want to join Wagang--"

"If you don't do good things, you must be a thief!"

Yuchi Gong was a little angry and glared at Cheng Yaojin fiercely, "Can't you follow the young master?"

Cheng Yaojin's face was flushed and he lowered his head and was uneasy. Although he was always careless during his trip to Mobei, he regarded Zhang Xuan as his boss and his benefactor in his heart. Although going to Wagang was his wish for many years, if Zhang Xuan was willing to keep him, he could give up his ideals.

"Young Master, I——"

Before Cheng Yaojin could speak, Zhang Xuan waved his hand and interrupted him, "I understand the wish, you go to Wagang. I only have one request. If one day you really can't stay in Wagang, I happen to have an army, and I hope you will come to surrender to me at that time."

Cheng Yaojin was so moved that he wanted to cry. He grinned and finally lowered his head, "I remember!"

"Okay, don't say these words!"

Zhang Xuan raised the wine bowl and smiled and said, "For the next reunion of our three brothers, we have done this bowl of wine!"

"Damn!" The three of them drank the wine in the bowl in one go.

............

After Yang Guang ascended the throne, Youzhou was renamed Zhuo County. The county was dominated by Ji County, which is today Beijing and the capital of the ancient Yan Kingdom.

Since Yang Guang launched the war against Goguryeo, Zhuo County has become a major logistics site for the war. The world's materials and civilians gathered together, making Ji County extremely prosperous in just a few years, with a sharp increase in population and doubled the city.

At the turn of spring and summer in the tenth year of Daye, Emperor Yang Guang of Sui launched the third war against Goguryeo. Nearly one million civilians in the world were recruited to Zhuo County, and various food and supplies were piled up. More than 500,000 troops were transferred from military prefectures in various places to Liaodong. The war was about to break out.

In mid-May, Yang Guang personally led a hundred thousand Xiaoguo army to Zhuo County, living in Linshuo Palace south of Ji County, and the public security in Ji County became stricter.

That morning, a man riding a two-horse horse came on the official road north of Ji County. He was tall and straight, dark in skin, clear contours on his face and deep eyes. It was Zhang Xuan who had just returned from the north. He had broken up with Yuchi Gong and Cheng Yaojin and came to Ji County alone.

Zhang Xuan had two war horses, both of which were the best horses given to him by Tule. They had long limbs, strong physiques, pure and unmixed fur. One was red and the other was pure white. Zhang Xuan didn't have much luggage. Apart from the leather bag she carried, there was only a fifty-pound spear and a piece of Gasha black iron obtained from the shore of Beihai Lake. However, these two things alone required a war horse to be specially consigned.

"stop!"

Several soldiers guarding the city gate stopped him. Although Zhang Xuan's spear was covered with a spear, it was still very conspicuous and was stared at by the soldiers guarding the gate. Ordinary people were forbidden to carry long weapons. Although various long weapons had already spread among the people, the ban was not abolished, and it became the way for many patrol soldiers to make money.

"Where did you come from?" The head officer looked at Zhang Xuan and saw that he was dressed in strange clothes, including the Sui army uniforms, the Hu breeches, and the headscarfs of ordinary people. More importantly, he had two majestic horses, and these two horses alone were worth a thousand gold.

The officer was puzzled and thought to himself, 'Is this man also a deserter?'

If the other party is a deserter, if he catches him, he can be promoted. Moreover, the person carries a lot of items, and maybe he can make a fortune. The more he thinks about it, the more suspicious he becomes. With a wave of his hand, more than a dozen soldiers surrounded Zhang Xuan with spears, and the officer shouted: "Are you fleeing from Liaodong?"

Zhang Xuan took out the bronze medal of the Qilin guard of the Yan Prince's Mansion from the horse bag and shook his eyes in front of the gatekeeper, "Do you know it?"

The gatekeeper was so scared that he trembled all over and quickly bowed and said, "Please enter the city!"

Zhang Xuan snorted and rode into the north city gate. The gatekeeper looked at him far away, and couldn't help but sweat. He turned out to be from the Yan Prince's Mansion, and he almost did something stupid.

"Boss, will it be fake?" a soldier asked in a low voice.

The gatekeeper slapped him hard, "Go to die! Who dares to pretend to be the token of King Yan?"

.........

Jixian is a majestic city with a circumference of nearly fifty miles and a population of more than 300,000. However, due to several wars against Goguryeo, Jixian was crowded with people, and the streets were crowded with all kinds of people, including groups of beggars, merchants from foreign lands, adventurers from all over the world, and more were bankrupt farmers.

The streets and alleys were filled with all kinds of simple mud thatched houses, and teams of patrol soldiers rushed by, making the entire city full of chaos and uneasiness.

Zhang Xuan only walked more than a hundred steps and was surrounded by three groups of beggars. He felt a little bored. He saw an inn not far away, three stories high, and the storefront was quite luxurious. A huge death lantern with four big words "Ping An Inn" written on it.

He rushed out of the beggars and walked quickly towards the inn. A friend hurriedly came up, "Do you stay in the hotel?"

“Is there a separate courtyard?”

Zhang Xuan didn't care much about food and accommodation, but he cared about his horse. The world is not peaceful now, and good horses are easily stolen. Generally, there are special stables in the individual courtyards that can solve this problem.

"There is a separate courtyard!"

When the guy heard that he was going to live in an independent hospital, he immediately looked at him with admiration and hurriedly stepped forward to lead the way for Zhang Xuan.

"It is wise for the young master to live in a separate courtyard. Your two horses are BMWs. If you lose the store, you can't afford to pay."

Zhang Xuan followed him into the backyard. There were five or six separate yards here, and there seemed to be only one yard. Zhang Xuan smiled and said, "It seems that your business is not very good."

"Hey! Whoever is willing to come to Zhuo County now? The war is about to start, and it is impossible to hide."

At this time, the gate of the yard where the living room suddenly opened, and a tall and burly man walked out from it. He was about thirty years old, with very long hands and feet, wide forehead, and a pair of eyebrows like steel brushes, with a very strange appearance.

There seemed to be someone following behind the man. He was talking to the person behind him. Without paying attention to Zhang Xuan and his friend in front, he almost bumped into Zhang Xuan. The man quickly took a step back and looked at Zhang Xuan up and down.

Zhang Xuan saw the man behind him. He was a middle-aged man dressed in gorgeous clothes, wearing a black gauze hat, a white brocade robe, a jade belt, and a long sword inlaid with gold-wire gems. He was tall and fat, with slender and fair fingers, without any wrinkles. It was obvious that he was well maintained, so his eyes were full of coldness and arrogance.

The middle-aged man also saw Zhang Xuan. He didn't seem to expect to meet a friend. He was stunned for a moment, glared at the friend fiercely, walked out of the yard quickly, looking very cramped, as if he was afraid that others would recognize him, so he hurried to the east gate.

But the man with thick eyebrows was calm and composed. He was the resident of this yard. He stopped looking at Zhang Xuan, coughed heavily, and said to the friend: "The water tank in my yard is empty. You can fill it up later."

"Yes! Yes! The little man will do it right away."

The man with thick eyebrows looked at Zhang Xuan again, but his eyes fell on Zhang Xuan's two war horses. His eyes suddenly lit up and a strange magic flashed.

Zhang Xuan suddenly became alert. This person's appearance is not a good person, and it may not be a good thing to be interested in his horse.

The man did not say hello to Zhang Xuan. He passed by and walked quickly to the front yard. When he turned, he turned back and took a deep look at Zhang Xuan's war horse.

"Who was that person just now?" Zhang Xuan asked the guy in a low voice.

"He seems to have a surname Lu. The Lu surname is the largest surname in our Zhuo County. Have you heard of Lu Zhi of the Three Kingdoms? It is the ancestor of the Lu family in Fanyang."

The guy looked at the back of another middle-aged man who had just disappeared and said to himself: "It's strange, why is he here?"
Chapter completed!