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Chapter 112 Entering the City
The desert is solitary and straight, and the long river falls into the sun.
Located in the desert, Xiaofangpan City looks a bit desolate, with only poplars and saxaul grass as its companions. Even elks and camels rarely come here.
The guard standing at the city gate lazily leaning on his spear seemed to be another expert at slacking off.
This is normal. There are no people within a hundred miles of Xiaofangpan City, so the guards at the gate sometimes don’t see outsiders for seven or eight days in a row. Even the Huns would not come to attack the deserted Xiaofangpan City.
Those who could serve as the county lieutenant of Xiaofangpan City were either demoted or sent here because they had no support in the court.
“Ha~, ouch!”
The armored guard at the side was halfway through his fight when he was kicked in the butt. He swallowed the rest of the breath and turned back angrily, wanting to see who was so bold as to kick his grandfather.
Turning his head, he saw his boss with an angry face and two guards standing behind him. He knew that the kick was definitely from him. The gatekeeper quickly put on a smiling face:
"Captain Sha, why are you here?"
"I've told you so many times that a distinguished person has come to the city and asked you to be more alert these two days, but you won't listen!"
"Also, don't call me Captain anymore. Call me Lieutenant of Sha County. The envoys from Chang'an are in the city. If the superiors hear about it, it will be a disaster."
Sha Chu, the county lieutenant of Xiaofangpan City, said unhappily that although he was the county lieutenant of Xiaofangpan City, he only had a hundred or so men under him, which was far less glorious than the county lieutenants of other wealthy counties.
His colleagues knew that he was a man who cared a lot about his reputation, so they usually jokingly called him "Captain". If this happened in the heartland of the Central Plains, he would definitely be reported.
But Xiaofangpan City is located in a remote area and no one cares about other people's business. He corrected a few times at the beginning, but in fact, Sha Chu was still secretly happy in his heart, so he agreed. After all, he was just satisfying his desire to talk.
At first, it was people close to him who called him that, and later his subordinates also called him that.
Even though he was just called a colonel, the title of colonel nowadays was quite important. Those called colonels were basically high-ranking officials with a salary of two thousand stones. Calling him a colonel was equivalent to calling a second lieutenant a commander.
But this period is different. A few days ago, a delegation came from Chang'an to visit Dayuezhi and passed through Xiaofangpan City.
Xiaofangpan City is the last supply point on the way to the Western Regions. After leaving Xiaofangpan City, it takes a long time to walk along the river to reach the next supply point, so the delegation has to make the last supply here to cope with the harsh conditions in the desert.
"Hey, Prisoner Sha..., County Lieutenant Sha, look, there are two people coming up ahead, leading several horses!"
The soldier guarding the city felt quite bored with Sha Zhu's chatter but had to flatter him. When he was gazing into the distance and daydreaming, he saw two people in strange clothes walking towards Xiaofangpan City from a distance. He hurriedly called out to Sha Zhu to interrupt him.
Sha Zhu put his hand on his forehead and squinted his eyes, trying to identify where the people walking towards them came from, but he only found that they were two good-looking boys and girls, but he could not tell where the strange clothes they were wearing came from.
Anyway, this is definitely not the dress of the Central Plains. Could it be that these are foreigners from the Western Regions?
General Sha Zhu put his hand on his sword and reminded his men: "Be alert, these two are not simple."
In those days, fine horses were hard currency, and a good horse was worth a thousand gold coins. However, these two men were leading three horses each, which was a treatment only the most elite cavalrymen among the Huns could get.
······
Hu Xiuwu looked at the earthen city in front of him. If the Eluohai City was the majestic and solemn king, then this small city was the short, poor and ugly farmer digging for food in the fields. He felt a little emotional:
"I never thought that the famous Yumen Pass would be in such a dilapidated state now."
Looking at the obviously alert city gate guards and a bearded man wearing leather armor.
Chen Duo said: "They found us. They don't seem to welcome us. We don't have ID cards here. How can we enter this city?"
"There is no such thing as an ID card nowadays. During the Han Dynasty, what was needed to enter the city was a 'chuan', which was a piece of wood that recorded the date of issuance, the name of the issuing official, the name of the holder, and the matters that required passing through the customs."
Hu Xiuwu didn't take the matter to heart. Instead, he felt relaxed. He was even in the mood to share some historical trivia with Chen Duo.
"You should really ask Uncle Liao to teach you about history."
Chen Duo replied seriously: "The researchers in the bunker haven't taught me history yet."
Hu Xiuwu said helplessly: "That's not what I meant. Forget it. Don't worry about the customs clearance. If it were a later dynasty, it might be a little more troublesome, but now..."
"Stop! Who are you? Do you have a permit to enter the city?"
The two gatekeepers crossed their spears to block the way of Hu Xiuwu and Chen Duo, and one of them shouted at Hu Xiuwu.
Hu Xiuwu smiled and said, "Sir, we are brother and sister, but when we were crossing the grassland, we accidentally lost the pass we were carrying."
"But I have other credentials."
Just as the guard on the right was about to speak, Hu Xiuwu spoke slowly.
The guards were choked by him and felt that Hu Xiuwu was playing tricks on them. They said angrily:
"What proof? Hand it over quickly."
Even Chen Duo looked at Hu Xiuwu. They came to the Han Dynasty by accident, so they had no proof on them.
"Ah."
Hu Xiuwu chuckled, and then a dazzling golden light ignited on his body, which was so bright that it hurt people's eyes even in broad daylight. He moved his right arm slightly and the golden light flew out of his hand, leaving a ten-foot-long sword mark on the ground.
This is the Han Dynasty, and the Huang-Lao school of thought is prevalent in the world. At this time, Yiren does not need to hide like in modern times. Yiren is even regarded as a senior minister by those in power because of his unique and extraordinary qualities.
The king sat empty-handed at midnight, and did not care about the people but asked about ghosts and gods.
Hu Xiuwu mastered several magic spells, but he specifically used the Golden Light Spell. Anyway, no one here would complain to Longhu Mountain.
On the other hand, it was because among the magic spells he knew, only the Golden Light Mantra was the most upright, which made people know at first glance that he was an upright person. Unlike the Three Corpses Qi, which was fierce and evil, making people suspect at first glance that he was a demon.
Moreover, using the Golden Light Mantra at this critical juncture may bring unexpected gains.
Seeing Hu Xiuwu covered in golden light and looking like a god, the two gatekeepers who had never seen the world were terrified and stammered:
"God, immortal."
Sha Zhu, who had been observing the situation on the side, was also extremely shocked when he saw this scene. He knew much more than his soldiers, and of course he would not regard Hu Xiuwu and Chen Duo as gods, but he also understood that Hu Xiuwu was a big shot whom they could not afford to offend.
Nowadays, those who can cast spells often come from aristocratic families, where high-ranking officials have been in their families for generations.
Hu Xiuwu dispersed the golden light and said with a smile: "How about this certificate? Can we enter the city now?"
The two soldiers guarding the gate were already sweating profusely, their mouths trembling but they couldn't speak.
Not only them, but even Shazhu's guards knelt down in front of Hu Xiuwu, kowtowed repeatedly, and kept muttering to themselves:
"God bless me, I will be promoted and rich. God bless me, I will be promoted and rich."
Hu Xiuwu:······
Seeing this, Sha Zhu hurried over to take charge of the situation. He raised his hands and bowed, performing a formal ceremony that would only be used to greet elders or superiors: "I am Sha Zhu, the county lieutenant of Fangpan City. I am honored to meet you, young master. Of course, you can enter the city."
"But please leave your name, sir."
"My surname is Zhang."
After saying these three words, Hu Xiuwu walked into Xiaofangpan City without looking back, holding Chen Duo's hand in one hand and the horse in the other, and Sha Zhu did not dare to stop him.
After Hu Xiuwu left, the two gatekeepers wiped the sweat off their heads and asked, "Captain Sha, who is that person?"
"Who is that? Someone you can't even reach."
Sha Zhu was in no mood to explain to them now. He pulled up the guard who was kneeling on the ground and whispered to him:
"Hurry up and go to the embassy's residence to find County Lord Xu and tell him that two immortals who can emit golden light have come to the city. Go! Go!"
The soldier nodded and turned to run towards the location of the Xiaofangpancheng County Government Office.
Standing at the city gate and looking into the city, Sha Zhu tightened his grip on the hilt of his knife, feeling somewhat uneasy:
A delegation from Chang'an just arrived, and now two immortals have come. I'm afraid this small Fangpan City is about to become lively.
Chapter 113 Mission
The interior of Xiaofangpan City is as poor and humble as its exterior. There are almost no houses built with blue bricks in the city. All the houses are made of rammed earth. There are less than 10,000 households in the city, and there are not many shops on the streets.
However, the residents of Xiaofangpan City came from various backgrounds, and the household registration files were not strictly managed. There were vagrants from the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions who accidentally came here, and even horse bandits who lived here in seclusion under unknown names.
You can see groups of little children playing on the streets, some with blue eyes and some with curly hair.
At this point in time, the Han Dynasty still didn't know much about the Western Regions, and Xiaofangpan City was not yet the great gateway to the world that it would become in the future. The same was true for Yangguan, which shared the same fate.
The noble man who changed the fate of this pair of twins is now staying in the city and has not yet embarked on his magnificent journey.
Where there are people, there is the world of martial arts. Although Xiaofangpan City is small, there are still some small gangs who come into the city as civilians and leave the city as bandits to make a living here, and there are also some scattered caravans that still stay in the city.
However, when Chen Duo and Hu Xiuwu were walking on the dilapidated dirt road of Xiaofangpan City, no one was foolish enough to provoke them. Even the children knew to avoid them.
This was not because the news of Hu Xiuwu's divine appearance in front of the people at the city gate had spread back to the city. There were no mobile phones here, and the transmission and fermentation of news took time.
The reason they were hiding from them was because of the six horses they were holding.
In this era when horses are hard to come by, someone who can lead six horses is definitely not an ordinary person. Some smart people even discovered the unusualness of Hu Xiuwu and Chen Duo.
Even though they were in the Gobi Desert, the skin of these two people was still as white and tender as sheep fat.
There are almost no fools who can make a living in the frontier. There are still only a few people who are as blind as the bandits who sent them maps and horses. Before figuring out the background of the two of them, no local tyrant is willing to provoke them easily.
Chen Duo was indifferent to the spies who were watching them vigilantly in the dark, and the fearful eyes of the children. She had seen a lot of these in the bunker and at the Medicine Fairy Conference.
She was more curious about what had just happened at the city gate. That situation went against the common sense that the bunker had given her. She asked Hu Xiuwu in confusion:
"Why did he let you in just now after you showed that man the Golden Light Spell at the door? Didn't they say that aliens should keep a low profile?"
"That's the modern era. The power of the Inhumans is no longer superior to that of ordinary people."
Hu Xiuwu said with emotion: "The situation was very different in the Han Dynasty. At that time, the status of Yi Ren was very high. This was the last time that Yi Ren was still active in the court on a large scale."
The status of Yi people in ancient times was different from that in modern times. The more ignorant the era, the higher the status of Yi people. During the Xia and Zhou dynasties, only the strongest Yi people among the royal descendants were qualified to ascend the throne.
This tradition was not ended until the First Emperor, who despite his lack of talent and low cultivation, still conquered the six kingdoms and unified the world.
However, Yiren's status did not decline, and it was still very high in the early Han Dynasty.
After all, although Liu Bang was not an extraordinary person, his subordinates Zhang Liang and Han Xin all had unique skills.
Therefore, at that time, there was even an unspoken rule that the position of one of the Three Dukes could only be held by an extraordinary person with profound cultivation, and each of the various schools of thought that have been passed down to this day had its own unique skills.
Nowadays, people believe that those who can practice extraordinary skills and are far superior to ordinary people must be better than ordinary people in governing a country, just like people nowadays believe in the words of so-called successful people, thinking that if they can accomplish one thing, they can accomplish everything.
Ordinary people are not qualified to become one of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, and sadly, ordinary people themselves also think so.
This saying "Kings, princes, generals, and ministers are all born with different species" seems to have nothing to do with them.
After telling Chen Duo about the history of the extraordinary people, Hu Xiuwu said mysteriously: "The Golden Light Mantra has miraculous effects in this era. Do you still remember the full name of Longhu Mountain?"
Before Chen Duo could answer, Hu Xiuwu picked out a restaurant and dragged her towards it: