In the 14th year of Tianbao, the Anshi Rebellion broke out. An Lushan captured Chang'an the following year. Emperor Li Longji fled west in a hurry. The situation in the Tang Dynasty was in danger. The Maweipo Incident occurred immediately. The prince Li Heng ascended the throne in Lingwu and valued Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi. However, due to the weak military force, he asked the Uighurs for help. After seven years of hard fighting, the Anshi Rebellion finally subsided. At this time, Li Heng died of illness and a court coup occurred within the Tang court. With the support of Empress Zhang, the King of Yue killed the prince Li Yu, forcibly ascended the throne, and changed the yen name to Qingzhi.

However, the Uighur Dengli Khan peeked at the internal turmoil of the Tang Dynasty, colluded with the Tang general Pugu Huaien, and sent 100,000 cavalry to attack the Central Plains from Hebei, defeated Tian Chengsi, Li Huaixian, and Li Baochen, and then went to Hedong to capture Taiyuan. He defeated the 200,000 Tang troops led by Yu Chaoen in Shaanxi County, and attacked Guanzhong again. The new emperor Li fled into Hanzhong in a hurry. The Central Plains were shocked. When the Tang Dynasty was about to be destroyed, major families in various places recruited rebel troops to Beijing to serve the king, and responded to one million people. At this time, internal strife occurred within the Uighurs. Seeing that the people's hearts of the Tang Dynasty were gradually solidified, the Deli Khan ordered the looting of Chang'an and retreated from Shuofang to the north of the Mo. The crisis in the Tang Dynasty was finally calmed down, but the seven major families therefore held their own troops and controlled the government.

In the following decade, the Uighurs were always looking down on the northern desert, and occasionally attacking the border and plundering the people, waiting for the second chance to invade the Central Plains.

The winter of the 15th year of Qingzhi was particularly warm. The rivers were not frozen and the snow had not fallen. The climate seemed very abnormal. It was also from the summer of this year that the rain in the north of the desert had not fallen. Many rivers dried up, grass withered, and cattle and sheep died in large numbers. In October, a locust plague broke out near the Uighur capital Oerduobali. The overwhelming locusts devoured everything, and the intercourse between insects and droughts made the Uighurs even worse.

At the end of November, the Uighurs Dengli Khan decided to eat in the Tang Dynasty and ordered seven tribes including Pugu, Hun, Bayigu, Tongluo, Sijie, Qiezi, and Abus to send 10,000 troops each, and the Uighurs sent 30,000 troops, a total of 100,000 iron cavalry crossed Yinshan, headed south along Henan Mountain, and gathered near Lingwu County, trying to cross the river from here to open a passage into the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty.

Lingwu County was in a hurry, and Shuofang and Longyou Jiedushi Wei Yan urgently dispatched 60,000 troops from Longyou to the north to reinforce Shuofang's army, and ordered the Hexi Jiedushi Xin Yunjing to lead his army to aid.

Wei Yan personally went to Lingwu County to command the battle, with 150,000 against 100,000. The Tang army and the Uighur army formed a confrontation on both sides of the Yellow River. Since the Yellow River was not frozen, the Uighur army could not cross the river in large quantities, and the court gradually returned to peace. It was announced that the imperial examination in January 16th year of Qingzhi was held as usual. When news came out, scholars from all over the country rushed to Chang'an.

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On this day, several horses slowly walked back and forth on the official road south of Jincheng County (today Lanzhou), followed by a carriage. Everyone on the horses were all wearing scholar's robes and swords on their waists. It was Zhang Huan and his party who were going to Beijing to take the exam, Zhang Huan, Zheng Qingming, Song Lianyu, Lin Zhiyu, Zhao Yan, and Zhao Yan's wife Lin Qiaoqiao and his party set off from Taiyuan in early December. Zhang Huan was unwilling to walk with Zhang Xuan and others. Everyone decided to go around Longyou to walk from the west road to Fengxiang into Beijing, and to visit the scenery of Longyou. After visiting Jincheng County, the group headed towards Kaiyang County.

Kaiyang County is also the location of the original sect of the Wei family of Guanlong. The head of the family Wei Yan was the son of Wei Jiansu of the former prime minister. In addition to being the governor of Shuofang and Longyou, he also served as the Minister of War and was the Minister of the Central Secretariat. The Wei family recruited 60,000 Longyou Army during the Uighurs' rebellion fifteen years ago. After the Uighurs retreated, the Wei family became the fourth of the seven major families. However, after the Zhang family in Hedong split ten years ago, the Wei family jumped to the third place, and its main forces were distributed in Longyou and Shuofang. Now, the 120,000 troops of the Longyou Jiedu governor were recruited by their Wei family.

There were many pedestrians on the official road. In addition to the merchants who were traveling, many scholars from Longyou also came to Beijing to take the exam. From time to time, groups of horse riding people rushed past Zhang Huan and the others, stirring up rolling yellow dust. The dust floated in the air and was very piercing. Everyone's heads and bodies were dyed yellow.

Zheng Qingming coughed loudly by the dust. He patted the dust off his body hard and urged the horse to come to Zhang Huan and complained: "Old Zhang, can we change the road? There are still more than 400 miles from here to Fengxiang. Even if we enter Guanzhong, we still have to walk for a few more days. I am afraid that when we arrive in Chang'an, we will choke out of illness."

At this time, Zhao Yan also urged him to step forward. He looked at the carriage worriedly and said implicitly: "Get sick, I think it's better to get rid of the disease in winter. It's more rain and snow, and less yellow dust. Qiaoqiao won't feel so uncomfortable!"

Zhang Huan understood what he meant, so he stopped the horse and looked around. It was a valley with low hills on both sides. The hills were bare, with large loess exposed, stretching to the distance. At this time, the driver next to him smiled and said, "Young Master Zhang, twenty miles south from here is the Wei River. The weather is abnormal this year, and many big rivers have not frozen. I guess there are passenger ships on the Wei River. I think you are tired too, so why not go to the Wei River to take a boat into Beijing."

"Okay! The water surface is clean and there is no dust."

Zhang Huan immediately decided to come down. He turned around and shouted to everyone, "Everyone should hurry up and leave this valley, let's go to the Wei River to take the waterway."

I heard that I wanted to take a boat instead, everyone became more energetic and rushed all the way. After an hour, they arrived at the north bank of the Wei River.

This is the upper reaches of the Wei River. The water flows rapidly and the trees on both sides are dense, showing a golden color. The Wei River is not frozen, and the river flows rapidly, and the boats come and go, making it very busy.

Zhang Huan and his party walked three miles along the river, but did not see a pier. Song Lianyu urged him to approach a small dirt slope and used his hand to visit the two sides. Suddenly, he pointed ahead and shouted: "Get sick, it seems like a pier in front, there are many boats there!"

Everyone was overjoyed, Zheng Qingming and Zhao Yan were even more impatient. They rushed over with a horse and Zhang Huan and the others rushed forward. Sure enough, several large passenger ships were parked, all of which could accommodate two or three hundred people. The merchants and pedestrians were crowded on the dock. Flatbed trucks were filled with cargo and were trying hard to transport them to the ship. The dock was full of mules, horses and their feces, which were stinking.

"Get sick! Let's go and ride that one!"

Zhao Yan came up and shouted at the boat on the edge of his finger. Zhang Huanshun looked at him. There was no cargo there, and there were no pedestrians and merchants on both sides of the board. It was very quiet. The boatman was giving a lecture to a group of scholars before boarding the boat.

From afar, I heard the boatman say very seriously: "You are so fame that you will let you get on the boat, but you can only use two cabins. You must keep quiet after getting on the boat, especially don't pee on the river, otherwise I will drive you off the boat, do you understand?"

Zhao Yan whispered in Zhang Huan's ear: "I just heard that this ship was going to pick up a lady from a wealthy family in the capital. The boatman wanted to bring some private customers to get these scholars on board. I think the ship is very clean, so why don't we take it too."

Zhang Huan nodded, "I'm just thinking that, let me try it."

He turned over and dismounted, walked slowly forward and bowed to the boatman, pointed to his companion in the distance and said, "Boardman, we also want to take a sailboat, can we do it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the schoon who was moving his luggage next to him shouted, "There are only two cabins in total, we have all packed them, and there is no extra room."

Before Zhang Huan came forward to discuss, a tall purple-faced scholar among them stood up and shouted sternly to everyone: "When you go out, no one has any difficulties? They are also scholars. Are you so petty, aren't you afraid of others' ridicule?"

Everyone was obviously very afraid of him. When he shouted, they all kept silent and dared not speak. He then smiled and bowed to Zhang Huan, saying, "Everyone is a person who goes to Beijing to take the exam. Meeting is fate. You don't need to say anything politely."

Zhang Huan replied with a tribute to him and said, "Thank you then!"

Everyone settled the money for the car and horses, unloaded their luggage, carried them onto the boat in large and small bags, and the horses were led to the cabin by the crew. When everyone got on the boat, they immediately encountered an unexpected trouble. They only had one cabin. What should Lin Qiaoqiao do? You can't squeeze with them!

Zhang Huan thought about it and went to the boatman to discuss. He was willing to rent another cabin for double the price. However, the boatman refused. The other cabins had been packaged, and there was only these two cabins. They either pulled a curtain or asked another boat to board his boat. There was nothing to discuss. Zhang Huan had no choice but to look for the purple-faced scholar again.

"Brother, we have a young female family member here, which is inconvenient to share the same room. I wonder if you can accommodate more people there?"

The scholar with purple face didn't say anything. After a while, he suddenly asked, "I heard that my brother's accent seems to be from Taiyuan. Could it be that you are students of Jinyang Academy?"

Zhang Huan nodded, "That's right! Brother Taigui's surname? When did you have been to Taiyuan?"

The scholar smiled slightly and said, "In Xinlang, Xiajincheng County, I lived with my father in Taiyuan before I was ten years old. If my brother doesn't bother us, I will just move here!"

Zhang Huan was overjoyed and hurriedly thanked him deeply and said, "I am going to know Brother Xin in Taiyuan. It is indeed a fate to know Zhang Qubing today."

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Chapter completed!