Chapter 2: Huge Songs within Dingzhou

At the crack of dawn, the group of people from Kyoto woke up and washed up. Fan Xian had brought with him this time all the manpower of the institution, with the exception of Mu Feng’er, who was now in charge of the Qiyan group, the rest of the group consisted of members of the Second and Sixth Departments, and the semi-military management of the career of the Supervisory Yuan had left these people with a calm, silent air, hearing only the sound of water and the creaking of doors opening, but not much conversation.

From the post station to Dingzhou city nearly twenty miles of road, in eight horses wide official road speed, but not use too much time, and today do not have to love the horse power, so when this pedestrian came to Dingzhou city under the east gate, the sun did not rise not much high, warm in the middle of a hint of cold, but queuing up to enter the city of vegetable farmers, as well as from the hinterland of the Central Plains come over the merchants and travelers procession, has been lined up into a long queue.

Autumn was not yet in full swing in Kyoto, and the generals of the great border towns here had already begun to wear armor padded with layers of cotton. Fan Xian gave an unremarkable glance, then signaled Mu Feng’er to prepare the paperwork for customs clearance.

This time, when he came to Dingzhou, Fan Xian was not prepared to show his imperial regalia from the start, but of course, with just a dozen or so people, even if he wanted to, he couldn’t. This line of people disguised as Jiangnan merchants, holding the Ministry of the Interior and the Treasury Transit Division to open out the road tea deed. The reason for this disguise is not that the court has any suspicions about the interior of Dingzhou City, but Fan Xian wants to meet with someone privately, and in order to ensure that person’s safety, it is best to meet privately without going through the court’s channels.

After all, now that the Hu people had suddenly gotten the hang of things, both His Majesty the Emperor and Fan Xian suspected that there was a capable person in charge in Western Hu, so who knew if there were any spies planted by the Hu people in the military and political offices of Dingzhou City?

The East Gate sergeant’s checking was done meticulously. Fan Xian didn’t line up and stood aside from the queue and watched coldly, secretly nodding his head, the Ye family had been operating in the western frontier for decades but still hadn’t slacked off, no wonder His Majesty was so appreciative.

The post master wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and followed behind Fan Xian, his heart drumming. He had changed into the clothes of a merchant, and his face had been tampered with by the officials of the Supervisory Yuan, making him look more and more obscene. In his heart, he didn’t understand why the nobleman in front of him had to take himself into the city, and had to be dressed like this.

The queue soon reached Fan Xian’s group. Fan Xian noticed that although the Dingzhou Army soldiers were strict in their inspection, they did not take the opportunity to collect oil and water favors, and they did not deliberately make things difficult for the merchants and vegetable farmers from all sides, so their speed was extremely fast.

Mu Feng’er handed over the prepared customs clearance documents, the road, the tea deed. The school official was slightly stunned and frowned, seemingly feeling something strange.

Fan Xian squinted from the sidelines, wondering where the problem was, but he was not alarmed, anyway, in the afternoon, he would be going to the Governor’s Office of the Xiliang Road to show his identity, so there should not be any misunderstanding between the two sides.

The school official’s surprise is actually not what is wrong with these documents, but these documents appear too beautiful, especially the issuing seal and signature …… is actually the head of the various Yamen off. In this way, it shows that the identity of this team of merchants is very important, otherwise, those officials in the court, how will personally review these documents.

Fan Xian and his party had never realized that this was the point that attracted the attention of others. Supervisory Yuan to do these documents is naturally simple to the extreme, just recently the Academy stared, so these documents simply go to the ministries Yamen seek a real goods, but …… too real, will be too eye-catching. If Wang Qinian is still in charge of all the details around Fan Xian at this time, I don’t think he will make this kind of mistake.

That school official stared coldly at Mu Feng’er and subconsciously glanced at Fan Xian, realizing that this beautiful young man with a noble aura was the leader of this caravan.

Fan Xian didn’t look back at him, he was currently looking at the Dingzhou city wall in front of him with great interest, secretly wondering, “Dingzhou city is surrounded by a flat field or a desert, where did these big stones come from? Where did these boulders come from? Is the soil stuck between the stones? How can this be used to build a city wall?

The colonel frowned, but subconsciously didn’t want to provoke this young man who was so high and mighty, so he nodded his head and let them pass. After watching this line of merchants enter the city, he called a subordinate and whispered a few words.

Fan Xian didn’t know that his appreciation of the city walls would give the Dingzhou Army soldiers an impression of being above board, he was really enjoying looking with his own two eyes and seeing everything in the world. After all, it was a rare second life, so there was always a very strong desire to explore the beauty or history or existence around life.

He had seen the ancient walls of the capital city for hundreds of years, and was even more familiar with the tightly guarded walls of Kyoto, and today he had the rare opportunity to come to the westernmost city of Dingzhou in the empire, so of course he was more curious. Moreover, his heart still regretted that he did not know when he would have the opportunity to see the legendary real world’s first big city – Dongyi City.

Has been crying to follow into the city of the post minister, gradually know why Tanya Gong to take himself this small role into the city, the original small master is ready to shop, and Dingzhou city streets are chaotic, all kinds of Fang piece of messy intersections, if there is no one local people to lead the way, there are a lot of no name of the place, is really unable to find.

What made him feel some headache was that this honorable young lord, it seemed to be the first time to come to such a remote place, was actually interested in everything, strolling around, and didn’t mind getting tired, especially the Hu people’s utensils that were transported from the Hu people’s tribes in the Xijihezi side, which attracted his attention for a long time.

In about half a day’s time, Fan Xian and his group had strolled all around the Dingzhou Trading Place area, perfectly fulfilling the positivity that a merchant caravan should display.

Underneath one side of the earthen wall, Fan Xian squinted his eyes and looked at the distant towers of Dingzhou’s majestic city, lowering his voice as he asked, “Has the message been sent out?”

Mu Feng’er carefully looked around, nodded, and said, “According to the agreement between the two sides, it has already been sent out, it’s just that we came two days early, so I’m afraid that the other side hasn’t entered the city yet.”

Fan Xian thought for a moment and said, “It is necessary to come two days early. There’s no way to block the news of my departure from the capital, and Hongcheng, he definitely knows that I’m coming, so if he’s stalled by this kid, he’s sure to be dunked in a flurry of wine, so where else would he have time to do his job. Besides, in the camp and the governor’s residence, who knows if there are any spies from the Hu people.”

Mu Feng’er glanced at the nervous stagehand at the back of the group and said, “If I wasn’t unfamiliar with the terrain, I really shouldn’t have called out to this person to lead the way, I wouldn’t know how to handle it later.”

Fan Xian laughed and said, “It’s not like it’s a head-killing event, we just have to be so careful to ensure each other’s safety. As for that post master, when we leave some other day, just send him two beauties.”

Having said that, Fan Xian also felt some regret. Because His Majesty had always strictly forbidden the Procuratorate to penetrate too deeply into the military, the Procuratorate, whether it was the four divisions in charge of the various roads or the two divisions that collected intelligence, did not have any competent people in Dingzhou.

Of course, the Procuratorate must have some nails buried in Dingzhou. However, Fan Xian thought that Dingzhou city was extremely safe, so he refused to use these nails, lest the military and government offices would be unhappy afterward, and the ones who would suffer would be the subordinate officials of the Supervisory Yuan.

The group parked the carriage in a shady spot and waited in silence for the sun to move slowly. For lunch, they casually bought some burnt cakes and ate them with fresh water. Fan Xian was no exception, and his demeanor always brought the hearts of the subordinates of the Supervisory Yuan one point closer every time he acted. It was just that the postal minister was secretly marveling as he watched the young lord nibbling on the biscuits with great effort.

When the shadow of the earth wall behind the carriage gradually lengthened, one of Fan Xian’s subordinates came back humming a little song, his hands still carrying the specialties of the Hu Department that he had purchased along the road, and he seemed to have been very careful along the road. Behind the carriage, he threw these things back onto the vehicle and lowered his voice to say something to Fan Xian.

Fan Xian raised his head, glanced at Mu Feng’er, and said with a smile, “It seems that the other party is in a bigger hurry than we are, so let’s go and meet them.”

Mu Feng’er thought about it, this shouldn’t be a conspiracy, after all, in the city of Dingzhou is the world of Daqing, no one would have the guts, to do any traps against the Supervisory Court, so he nodded and went over to call out to the postman.

Separated from the caravan, Fan Xian, Mu Feng’er plus the post master, only three people, passed through the earth wall, traveling through the bustling market, just like the mainland first-time merchants generally curious to walk through. I don’t know how long they walked, but they finally arrived at a mutton store.

Fan Xian looked at the lack of a signboard for the store and couldn’t help but smile, “Motherfucker, this place is really hard to find.” He patted the postman on the shoulder, “Looks like you’re good, you even know about these places.”

The stage minister only felt a softness all over his body, secretly thinking that this shoulder is the shoulder that has been patted by the young lord, it seems that this half month can not afford to take a bath …… No, he was supposed to wash once a month, it should be half a month without looking for a woman, without looking for a woman, it seems to be a bit uneconomical … …

Right in the midst of this postman’s rambling thoughts, Mu Feng’er had already walked into that mutton store first, sidestepped and walked through the inner door of the earthen room, covered his nose, walked to the inner room, and sat down on top of the cooler seat that he had arranged with that person beforehand.

This store in the inner door there are four mats, mat resting on a small table, is to provide guests with meat and wine, between each mat is separated by a thin cloth, but not separated from the sound, barely a meaning.

Fan Xian sat in the innermost room. The postman only dared to sit half an ass in the outer room, and in his heart he was straightly muttering, not clear about this honorable person, why must he find this very inconspicuous store, is he here to see someone?

Then he fearfully took the bowl of wine handed over by the young lord, carefully drank a mouthful, and then drifted off into a deep sleep.

After eating a few pieces of hand-held mutton and drinking two bowls of strong wine, Fan Xian’s eyes grew brighter and brighter, and glancing at the thin cloth curtain beside him, he gave Mu Feng’er a wink.

Mu Feng’er thought for a moment, picked up the bowl of wine, got up, lifted the curtain, and went to the other side of the cooler. When the curtain was raised, Fan Xian’s eyes were very sharp, and he saw that the man was about forty or fifty years old, but his face was dark, and after all, he was a hu man, so he couldn’t see accurately.

At this time the sun is in the sky, the day is gradually hot, the earth house is still quiet. This was not the right time to drink, so the store was extraordinarily quiet, with only Fan Xian and his party and the mysterious hu man.

I don’t know what Mu Feng’er said to the hu man over there, but after a long time, the cloth curtain was pulled back, and Mu Feng’er nodded to Fan Xian, indicating that she had confirmed the other party’s identity.

Fan Xian half-sidestepped his body, staring at the calm-faced hu man, and noticing that the other party was holding the bowl of wine steadily in his palm, and that the pupils of his eyes did not change much, he opened his mouth and slowly said:

“As the number one expert under the account of King Zuo Xian, why do you need to change your face and be so sneaky?”

The hu man put down his wine bowl and glanced at Fan Xian, seemingly wanting to know this young man’s true identity, a glance that was like an electric light, piercing straight through the heart with an intimidating aura.

However, Fan Xian’s expression was indifferent, without the slightest reaction.

The hu man raised his eyebrows slightly, as if he hadn’t expected that a random official from the Qing State Supervisory Court would possess such unfathomable city and strength.

“Not bad, I am Hu Ge.” The hu man, who appeared to be in his forties or fifties, stared at Fan Xian’s face with a hawk-like gaze, “He said that you’re the ringleader, so I’ll talk to you.”

Fan Xian smiled, raised the bowl of wine in his hand, and said, “There’s not much I want to know.”

“I must first confirm the princess’s safety.” Hu Ge, the number one expert under the account of the Left Virtuous King of Western Hu, with a reputation that shook the Western Borderlands and was deeply feared by the Hu people, his demeanor was extraordinary. However, when he opened his mouth to speak the words of the Central Plains, he always felt a bit awkward, and for no reason at all, he lost a bit of his momentum.

Fan Xian reached into his pocket and took out a jade hook and handed it over. After Hu Ge received the hook, his brows locked up deeply, as if he was in some kind of contemplation. Fan Xian did not bother to disturb his recollections, but simply watched the scene quietly.

The fact that the Supervisory Court had hooked up with this number one expert under King Zuo Xian’s account was not because Fan Xian had heavenly skills, but because the other party had taken the initiative to come to his door through extremely troublesome means. For this kind of character who took the initiative to come to the door, the consistent response of the Supervisory Yuan was – no initiative, no commitment, no responsibility.

Until the other party did give the Supervisory Yuan some extremely usable information, the Supervisory Yuan only began to follow up this line. The one who was able to follow up on this line, apart from Fan Xian himself, could not find another person, because the reason for the relationship between Hu Ge and the Academy was Marcelle.

Ma Suosuo was still being hidden by the Prince of Harmony, but in terms of belonging, she was still Fan Xian’s person. This princess of the Hu tribe was a female captive, but not a female captive. Because of her tribe, then was ready to surrender to the big prince’s ministry, but things have not yet come to fruition, it has been exposed, the whole tribe was slaughtered by the Western Hu King’s tent clean, the remaining members of the clan can only be dispersed in the western region, each defecting to the nobles.

And this Hu Ge, is the year this small tribe out of the warrior, just have not had time to bright identity, for the tribe to win the honor, has been the tragic news of the slaughter of the tribe.

After confirming Hu Ge’s identity from Ma Soso, Fan Xian began to strengthen his secret contact with Hu Ge.

Marcelle not only knew Hu Ge, but the two were even good friends when they were young, and in the words of the Central Plains people, they were the so-called childhood sweethearts. So Fan Xian at this time looked at the other side of the old face, the heart will be muttering, is the Hu people every day blowing the wind and sun, it is really so easy to see old?

Hu Ge very carefully put that jade hook into his bosom, looked at Fan Xian and said, “I do want to avenge my tribe, but don’t forget, I am also a Hu, so there are some things I can say, and some things I can’t say …… You Qing people are too insidious and cunning, and I can’t trust them. ”

Fan Xian understood this, if he were to ask the other party to lead the way for the Qing army and raid the Western Hu king’s tent for thousands of miles, not to mention the other party’s willingness to do so, no one on the court side would dare to trust him. He bowed his head and thought for a moment before saying, “I don’t need you to do anything, on the contrary, I can also support you in what you do. I heard that King Zuo Xian is not in a good position right now, so if you can help him stand on his feet, I’m sure your own power will rise.”

Without waiting for this Hu Clan expert to open his mouth, Fan Xian waved his hand in an extremely dry manner and said, “I’m giving you support, and I’m not asking for much. First, you must do everything you can to stop the big offensive next spring, even if you can’t stop it, I still need your information …… Don’t worry, we Qing people are straightforward and won’t fight any ambushes, we just have to put up a front and terrorize each other. This time difference, you yourself should be clear if the arrangement.”

Hu Ge’s brow wrinkled, said, “It’s just that right now, even the Left Virtuous King has little power to speak, let alone me.”

“That’s your problem, since it’s a cooperation, you always have to give some sincerity.” Fan Xian looked at him and said calmly, “I won’t treat you poorly either. You’re going to convince those people, but of course you can’t rely on your fists alone.”

“All nobles under the sky are the same, they all like gold, silver, jewelry, and damask.”

Hu Ge glanced at this young official across from him.

“I’ll give you as much as you need to bribe.” Fan Xian’s tone was normal, but it was permeated with a powerful confidence, “And since you want to revitalize your tribe, I think you need a large sum of money. It’s actually very simple to make a deal with me, I only need to ask you one thing.”

“Do you want to get rich?”

This sentence Fan Xian had asked some people before. For example, the former Northern Qi Jinyiwei Commander, Lord Shen Chong Shen, Lord Shen didn’t want to get rich with Fan Xian and wanted to get rich on his own, so he died. Then Fan Xian had asked the state uncle of Northern Qi, Marquis Changning, and this marquis was very willing to get rich with Fan Xian, so his family not only got rich, but Wei Hua also became a big official.

History had long since proven that those who worked with Fan Xian were always happy.

But Hu Ge didn’t know the other party’s true identity and said in a cold voice, “Anyone likes gold and silver. But your words are unbelievable …… So much silver, even goods that can t be bought with silver, you have one sentence, let me agree to it …… Don t lie to me, our children on the prairie are not fools, although they are straightforward in nature. ”

Fan Xian’s words did sound somewhat like a lie. The grasslands were lined with king’s tents and countless nobles, and all of these nobles were insatiable, so if they wanted to fill their appetites, it would not be possible unless they were strongly supported by the court of Qing, and how could a small young official of the Supervisory Court do that.

“I can give you a good sword from the inner treasury.” Fan Xian did not bother to pick up on his words and said indifferently, “But the quantity is limited. After all, in the future, I don’t want to give you knives that cut into the necks of my Daqing subjects.”

Fan Xian did not answer Hu Ge’s doubts, Hu Ge instead felt even more uneasy as he stared at this handsome young face and lowered his voice to ask chillingly, “Who are you in the end?”

Fan Xian glanced at him and said, “I am Fan Xian.”

With a crunching sound of a shine, Hu Ge’s back hit the top of the earthen wall heavily, and oddly quickly, he drew the curved sword at his waist and aimed it at Fan Xian. Ash from the earthen wall fell downward, staining the dishes and wine on the table.

Hu Ge looked at Fan Xian warily, a hint of fear growing in his eyes.

Fan Xian lowered his head and tapped his fingertips on the table, not realizing that his true identity had scared the other party into such a state, thanks to the fact that this person was still claiming to be the number one expert under the account of King Zuo Xian.

But where does he know, the name of the Qing State Supervisory Yuan Fan Tisi, has long been resounding throughout the world, as far as the Hu people live in the land. Just in the hearts of the people of Qing, little Lord Fan is glorious, while in the eyes of the enemies of Qing, this legendary young man is really the first target of prevention.

Of course, until now, the Hu people had never suffered a loss from Fan Xian, but they had suffered many losses from Chen Pingping, so they had countless fears to be on guard against Chen Pingping’s successor. Hu Ge’s first thought after Fan Xian confessed his identity was that this joint today was a trap, and his second thought was that if it wasn’t a trap, then this deal would also plunge the Hu people into doom in the future.

“Don’t be so scared.” Fan Xian raised his head and slowly said, “Yes, I am the head of the Supervisory Court, but don’t worry, I am even a good businessman. Don’t forget that I hold the imperial court’s internal treasury in my hands, and if you don’t believe in my credibility, you can send someone to the Central Plains to check it out.”

“I’m not afraid.” Hu Ge had calmed down, his eyes showing a wolf-like wildness as he stared at Fan Xian and said word for word, “I just didn’t expect that a figure of your stature would condescend to come and see me, and that you would be so brave.”

“This is the world of my Daqing, and this is in the city of Dingzhou, so I don’t think my boldness is anything special.” Fan Xian looked at him and said, “Even you, a hu man, dare to come to see me, why would I not dare to see you?”

“You don’t know how much your head is worth.” Hu Ge said, “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll set up a trap here and kill you?”

Fan Xian gave him a mocking look, wiped the meat grease on his hands on the cloth curtain beside him, and said, “This store is filled with your people in front and behind, so if I was afraid of you setting up a trap, why would I still walk in and sit down for a drink?”

“Besides, do you think you can kill me with you, the so-called number one expert under King Zuo Xian’s account?” Fan Xian’s brow furrowed, as if he was looking at a very unintelligent child, “The name is extremely long, but just how is this guts.”

A man’s name is a tree’s shadow, this strongest expert of the young generation of Qing Guo had long since branded himself into the hearts of all martial artists, Hu Ge truly did not have the guts to make such a dangerous attempt.

Fan Xian stood up, stared into his eyes, and said, “I don’t care what you’re thinking, but I’m going to need to know that person’s name when my conditions are opened.”

This was the one piece of information that had concerned the Inspectorate the most in the three months of tentative contact with the other side. Because the figure hidden in the Hu people’s king’s tent was really buried extremely deeply and had brought great harm to Qing, the Supervisory Court and the Privy Council had tried everything they could think of, but were still unable to know who that person really was.

Even the two Houses were not sure if there was such a horrible military advisor in the Hu tribe, or if the two wise kings and Shan Yu had suddenly gotten the hang of it.

But Fan Xian didn’t think so, neither did His Majesty the Emperor of Qing, and both father and son shared the same judgment that rivers and mountains were easy to change, but nature couldn’t be changed, and that the change in the Western Hu must be due to external influences, and they concluded that that person must exist.

This was the most important purpose of Fan Xian’s trip to Dingzhou City, he wanted to dig out that person.

Hu Ge was the highest level of the Hu Clan that the Qing court had access to, and had been hyped up for a very long time, at this time, hearing this again, this Hu Clan expert’s face changed, he knew how much help he would get from the side of the Qing court, and that Suo Suo’s life and death was now in the hands of the young man in front of him, and that he didn’t have much of a choice.

Just ……

“It’s true that I haven’t seen that person, but there should be that person.” Hu Ge put down the scimitar and said, “The left sage king should not even have seen it, but there was once a time after drinking, indignantly mentioned an unfamiliar name …… Songzhi Immortal Order.”