Seeing that none of the three had objections, Gao Le continued to treat them to drinks and dinner.

But at this time, except for Murong Ling who was still pouring and drinking, Li Xiaofei and Ju Renshan were not able to drink.

Gao Le raised his glass to Li Xiaofei: "Little Marquis, Hero Li, our business is business. We must continue to drink this wine. We must distinguish between public and private matters."

Ju Renshan quickly raised his glass, and Li Xiaofei slowly picked up the glass: "I admire the Prime Minister's hard work, but if this happens, won't everyone have to live a hard life? But what is the explanation for the many meat stalls in this city?

?”

Murong Ling also put down his cup and wanted to hear Gao Le's answer.

Gao Le sipped his wine: "Tsk, I, Gaochang, are a small country with few people. If we want everyone to have food, it is nothing more than farming, herding, and doing business. Only nobles and foreign guests can buy this meat, or exchange it with goods. This is the only way.

Only then can the nobles' money be used somewhere. Only when the money is used is it effective, can you understand?"

Murong Ling filled up another glass to pay tribute: "It is really not easy for the Prime Minister to work hard to maintain food and clothing in Gaochang. I would like to propose a toast to you. Even the qualifications for buying things are restricted, and other laws must be very strict."

Gao Le nodded and drank the glass in one gulp, and breathed a long sigh of relief: "That's true. The laws enacted by Gaochang Kingdom have all kinds of express regulations from the nobles to the common people's clothing, shoes and travel. By the way, the common people cannot gather in groups.

Anyone who gathers more than 30 people will be punished. Of course, kings who break the law will be punished in the same way as ordinary people. Our King of Gaochang can only have four banquets a year, once every quarter, and can have no more than three concubines. Officials at all levels can only

If you can marry a wife, this is Gaochangguo."

Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling were dumbfounded when they heard this. Ordinary people in the Central Plains had many concubines, not to mention officials and emperors.

The two couldn't help laughing, and Li Xiaofei said: "If the Prime Minister has to impose such restrictions on everything, no matter how big or small, wouldn't everyone hate you?"

Gao Le raised his hands and cupped his fists: "This was decided at the beginning of the founding of Gaochang, but I have implemented it seriously. Everything is for the benefit of everyone. If a small country with few people does not exercise restraint and abstinence, it will not be far from defeat.

.Even if I am hated by people all over the country, I don’t care.”

Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling couldn't help but admire Gao Le. After the banquet, they consciously followed the Lion Guards to the army.

Along the way, Li Xiaofei always tried to strike up a conversation with the soldiers, but no one paid any attention. When he arrived at the camp, the captain of the team couldn't help but speak: "You are not allowed to make any noise in the army."

After saying that, he gave the two men armor and spears, and led them to guard the tent at the entrance of the camp.

Li Xiaofei also carried some dried fruits from the Hou Mansion in his arms, and deliberately scattered them on the ground when others were not prepared.

Sure enough, several soldiers came and picked up the dried fruits: "Anyone who throws away rubbish will be punished with thirty lashes."

Li Xiaofei thought they would pick it up and eat it, but he didn't want to get a whipping in exchange for it, so he yelled: "I took this out to dry the fruit, and it tastes better when it is dried again. If you don't believe me, try it."

The soldiers stretched out a piece of melon stained with ashes: "If you eat it, we will believe it."

Li Xiaofei quickly took it and put it into his mouth to eat. The soldiers watched Li Xiaofei eating with gusto and secretly ate a few pieces.

Murong Ling laughed at the side: "Have you never eaten here for many years?"

A soldier said while chewing: "There are only biscuits and wild vegetables in the military camp, and dried meat is eaten once a month. Where can we get so many things to eat?"

Another soldier hissed: "Keep your voice down, you don't want to

Dead?"

The next day, Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling went to stand guard again, only to find that the heads of the two soldiers who had eaten dried fruits yesterday had been hung at the camp gate.

An official was reprimanding the commander of the military camp: "Bald Commander, the soldiers in your camp broke the ban and ate prohibited items. You, the commander, can't escape the blame. Come here and I'll be whipped fifty times."

After that, several Lion Guard soldiers pulled the bald commander out and whipped him. After fifty lashes, he was covered in blood and he could no longer get up.

Li Xiaofei couldn't stand it any longer, so he stepped forward to help the commander: "I gave you the food. To eat something is to violate the prohibition, and to kill people. Is this what humans do? If you want to kill or behead me, just come at me!"

The official sneered: "If you weren't a foreigner, you would have been beheaded long ago."

Li Xiaofei, Murong Ling and others were stunned. The other soldiers lowered their heads and did not dare to speak. The official glanced at everyone again: "Remember, the laws of Gaochang Kingdom are supreme. You must keep them in mind.

Don't offend again, or the whole family will be implicated next time."

Li Xiaofei slowly helped the bald commander into the tent. Murong Ling touched the long knife on his back and prepared to draw it, but the two people next to him grabbed his hands.

The two people made gestures on his palm a few times, and Murong Ling gently put his hand down. In fact, Murong Ling didn't even guess what the two gestures were.

Murong Ling also went to the camp to help the Bald Commander treat his injuries, but was stopped by the Bald Commander: "No, otherwise you will violate the law again."

The soldier on the side secretly wiped his tears, looked outside the tent, and whispered to Murong Ling: "Get out quickly, the commander will be punished again if you leave your post."

The two of them left the camp angrily and continued to guard, and several months passed in the blink of an eye.

Let us also say that on the day when the city of Chang'an was breached, Xiang Dahu was injured and fell from his horse into a ditch. Instead, he escaped with his life as a blessing in disguise.

Xiang Dahu begged all the way to Luoyang, where he went to find Liu Jian, the king of Han.

When he arrived at the gate of the palace, the guard regarded him as a beggar and sent him away with some steamed buns.

Xiang Dahu was restrained by them and had to shout: "Your Highness, King Han, I have news about Master Murong and Master Li."

As soon as he said this, the guards directly put him into a carriage on the roadside and dragged him outside the city.

It turns out that in the past few months, people have been pretending to be people who escaped from Chang'an and went to the palace to report and receive rewards, but they were all discovered by Xiang Xiaoyu.

The guard threw Xiang Dahu on the side of the road: "Don't come here to claim the reward, there are so many scammers these days and they are stupid."

Xiang Dahu endured the pain and yelled: "I can beg for food from Dahu, but I will never pretend to receive the reward. You two just need to send a message for me and tell the prince that Taishi Murong and Taifu Li escaped to the west.

Didn’t die in battle!”

The two guards smiled: "Stop acting, next you must say that you can find them as long as you lead the way." After all, the people who came before either said that the two of them died in the battle and buried them on their behalf, or that they were hiding somewhere.

Wait, today's Xiang Dahu is just one of them.

Xiang Dahu roared out again: "I don't know where they are now. I only know that they took more than forty people and rushed westward and are still alive. Just tell the prince the news. I will walk back to Ba by myself."

"County"

The guards then looked at Xiang Dahu carefully and saw the scars all over his body: "It seems like you have really fought in a war. Okay, let's go back and bring the message to you."

The two guards drove the carriage back to the city, leaned on Dahu's crutch and walked slowly south.

The guard returned to the palace and told Liu Jian what had just happened. Liu Jian stood up and said, "Bring that man back quickly. I have something to ask him. It turns out they are not dead. They are not dead. They are all still alive, hahahaha."

Liu Jian's smile scared the sleeping children awake, and everyone rushed over to see what was going on.

Liu Jian pulled Xiao Qian and jumped up: "It turns out that Murong Ling and Li Xiaofei are still alive. They are still alive."

Xiang Xiaoyu sighed: "It seems that the prince misses them too much and is unconscious. Someone come and help the prince sober up."

The servants immediately brought water, and Liu Jian hurriedly waved his hands: "No, no, no, this time it's true. We only need to wait for another hour to know the details. This time the person who reported the news left without asking for any reward."

Xiang Xiaoyu put down the basin in his hand. Xiao Qian looked disgusted: "I'm afraid you don't miss me so much if I lose it. If they come back, you can go with them."

Zhu Xuehua ran over: "Prince, you didn't lie to me, did you? Murong Ling is still alive?"

Liu Jian laughed loudly: "We should have believed that they are still alive. Your Murong has always only killed others, how could anyone kill him, haha"

Zhu Xuehua burst into tears: "This heartless guy didn't even know how to go home after escaping. When he comes back, I will pull off his ears."

Xiang Xiaoyu also smiled with tears in his eyes: "This is the best news I have heard this year. By the way, send someone to tell Miss Hongrui this news."

Meng Wuwu also rushed over: "Yes, yes, hurry up and tell Miss Hongrui the news. Otherwise, when Li Xiaofei comes back, his wife will remarry. That would be bad."

Xiao Qian rolled her eyes at him: "Hongrui is now the royal wife, how can she remarry and lose her integrity?"

Everyone was happy for a while with tears in their eyes, and finally Xiang Dahu arrived.

Xiang Dahu started talking about the day when the city was destroyed and Wang Xian died for his country. Everyone listened in awe. When he talked about escaping to the west, Liu Jian ordered someone to bring a map to check.

When everyone looked at the map, it became gloomy again. It turned out that at the west end, apart from the pass, there was a cliff and a large river.

Xiang Xiaoyu asked Xiang Dahu: "Did you ever hear where the team heading west went?"

Xiang Dahu asked back: "Didn't everyone escort the body of General Wang Xian back to Chengdu?"

Everyone was surprised for a while: "Isn't it the Hanzhong prefect who is responding?"

Xiang Dahu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "If he is so capable, it would be better to directly rescue Chang'an. It is not a new thing for officials of this dynasty to be greedy for merit and take rewards."

Then everyone suddenly realized: "If this is the case, they have already arrived in Chengdu. It would be strange. If they arrived in Chengdu with the general's body, the imperial court would not know about it, and they would come back to find us."

Xiang Dahu shook his head: "I can't guess this. Maybe there are some things we don't know about."

Liu Jian coughed: "Since those forty-one people can escape, let alone a peerless master like Master Murong, I think they must still be alive, and maybe they will give us a surprise."

Everyone accepted the letter together and took Xiang Dahu down to recuperate from his injuries. They also asked Meng Wuwu to go back to Shouxian County to report the news to Hongrui.

The city of Luoyang was still bustling with traffickers and lackeys, as if the fall of Chang'an had nothing to do with them. Chen Hongyi led the army back to the city and asked Luoyang officials to close their doors under a curfew. The officials in Luoyang first obeyed the general's order, but only issued a notice and posted it on the city.
Chapter completed!