Xu Zhi put her arm around Miao'er and talked in detail about the local customs and culture of Tai'an. Miao'er listened in a daze. Xu Di and Chen Zhaoci came in from outside. When Chen Zhaoci saw the two of them, she smiled and said, "These two look like best friends."
Xu Di recalled that when he was here a few days ago, Miao'er often came to visit Xu Zhi, and the two of them could chat for a long time. He smiled and said, "These two are not just similar, they are just a pair of best friends."
Chen Zhaoci nodded and said softly, "She didn't experience being a child like herself when she was little, so she especially likes innocent and cute children like this."
Xu Di seemed to realize something, and looked at Xu Zhi, who was laughing heartily in the distance, with a pained expression.
The Feng family left first, and Xu Zhi reluctantly saw them off. Then Chen Zhaoci and the others escorted Xu Zhi and Zheng Boyuan to Luzhou. Finally, Xu Di escorted Chen Zhaoci and the others back to the capital. After everyone who was supposed to leave had left, Xu Di stood at the gate of the courtyard where Xu Zhi used to live, looking at the somewhat desolate scene inside, and couldn't help but sigh slightly. This place would soon begin a new chapter under his leadership. Thinking of this, Xu Di couldn't help but feel a surge of pride and energy.
To get from Miaozhou to Lüzhou, you need to take a boat upstream, then disembark and walk for several dozen miles along a small path between two mountains.
Luzhou is a very small place. It was only because a garrison was set up here that some soldiers brought their families to settle here, and it gradually developed into a small town. Later, the imperial court directly established Luzhou Garrison here to guard against the Great Yan on the other side of the border river.
The garrison was located more than ten miles west of Luzhou City. Zheng Boyuan had already sent a steward over to find a small courtyard in Luzhou City. Xu Zhi got off the carriage and stood at the entrance of the somewhat old courtyard.
There are two steps leading up to the courtyard gate. After climbing the steps, there is a black painted wooden door. After stepping over the threshold, there is a screen wall directly opposite the gate. After turning around the screen wall, there is a wall directly opposite the back building. On the other side of the wall, there is a hanging flower gate.
The house was built of blue bricks and covered with black tiles. Xu Zhi walked along the blue brick wall to the hanging flower gate. Looking inside from the hanging flower gate, there were three main rooms and east and west wing rooms. On one side of the three main rooms, there was a moon gate. Passing through the moon gate, there was a narrow alley. On one side of the alley was the kitchen. Continuing along the alley, there were two small courtyards.
The courtyard wasn't large, so each of the smaller courtyards was extremely small. Xu Zhi knew that finding such a courtyard in a place like Luzhou was no easy feat.
The steward was talking to Zheng Boyuan about something. When the topic turned to this courtyard, he smiled and said, "It's really lucky for you, sir and madam. When I came here to look for a house, there happened to be a family who were planning to sell their house and move to the capital. They said they were originally from the capital, but later came here to do business and bought this house. Since they're going back to the capital, there's little chance they'll return in the future, so they thought they'd sell the house to make up some money and buy some land in the capital. It took me a lot of effort to buy this courtyard."
Zheng Boyuan nodded repeatedly. His family didn't lack the money to buy a house, but the conditions here were not good. Zheng Boyuan originally planned to send Xu Zhi back to the capital, while he would stay in Luzhou. However, Xu Zhi disagreed and insisted on coming to Luzhou with him. Even Chen Zhaoci and Xu Di had the same idea. So Zheng Boyuan asked the steward to come ahead of time, so that Xu Zhi could at least have a courtyard with slightly better conditions to live in.
The steward continued, "Sir, I've inquired around and found out that the Great Yan hasn't invaded Luzhou for decades because of the natural barrier along the river. However, the area of Wuzhou near the border river has been occupied by the Great Yan. Some people say they've seen Great Yan people coming from Wuzhou in the north."
Zheng Boyuan naturally knew that the Great Yan had occupied the area outside Wuzhou City all the way to the boundary river last year. Now, Feng Wan'er's father and one of Wei Lang's deputy generals were holding Wuzhou to the death. As long as they held a pass outside Wuzhou City, they would have stopped the Great Yan's invasion.
Luzhou is actually very close to Wuzhou, with a straight-line distance of just over 100 li (approximately 50 kilometers). However, because there are several high mountains between the two prefectures, some places require detours, so the journey from Luzhou to Wuzhou is not easy.
Zheng Boyuan nodded and asked, "Are the people in the Luzhou government office easy to get along with?"
The steward quickly replied, "Luzhou was established because of the garrison, so the people in the prefectural government have to follow the instructions of the garrison. I have specifically inquired about it, and the prefect of Luzhou has been here for many years. This is because the Luzhou garrison's pay comes from the Ministry of War, and the pay for all the officials and servants in the Luzhou prefectural government also comes from the Ministry of War."
Since he was taking someone else's money, he naturally had to listen to them. Zheng Boyuan knew very well that the Luzhou government office was just a decoration. But that was fine too. If anything happened, the government office would be at his disposal, which would save him a lot of trouble.
Xu Zhi has moved to the backyard. The weather in Luzhou is distinct in all four seasons. Because of the high altitude, the temperature is already quite low in the morning and evening, even though it is not yet Mid-Autumn Festival.
It was already evening. The steward arranged for two people to go to the kitchen to cook, while Xu Zhi, along with Bai Ying and the others, put away the luggage they had brought from Miaozhou one by one. Xu Di had told Xu Zhi when he saw them off from Miaozhou that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Zheng Boyuan would remain in the garrison in Lüzhou. The garrison here currently only has about five hundred men, many of whom are elderly, weak, sick, or disabled. The imperial court intends to reinforce Lüzhou, connecting Lüzhou, Wuzhou, and the northernmost Hexi along the border river to form a line that would rival the Great Yan.
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