Lin'an Prefecture, Zhaozhou.

Zhaozhou is located in the north of Lin'an Prefecture. It was Zhaoyuan County in ancient times. Because of its extremely important military status, it was born into Zhaozhou by the Song Dynasty court. It has four counties. It is adjacent to Xueting Mountains in the north and the Star River in the south. It is the only gateway to Lin'an in the north. It is extremely steep and has the momentum of "one man is at the pass, ten thousand men cannot open", and it is also the last line of defense for the Song capital Lin'an, known as the "Northern Cloud Screen"

The scorching sun was hanging high, and before I knew it, it was already noon. Ma Jin and his group finally arrived at the gate of Zhaozhou City. This was not good in the Song State. There was a huge lack of horses. Not to mention being tired of magic horses, even ordinary horses were extremely rare. Most noble families traveled on ox carts, and only those princes and grand clans had horses available. As for ordinary people, it was even more conceivable.

Although it was already afternoon, there were still crowds of people in front of Zhaozhou city gates. The people carrying cars were lined up in a row, waiting for the city to enter the city. Ma Jin lined up among the crowd and looked around. He saw that the city tower was tall and majestic, seven or eight feet high, all made of huge stones. Perhaps because of the disrepair, the entire city wall was bumpy and covered with green moss, which looked a little dilapidated, but it still looked so indestructible.

Unfortunately, there was no one on duty on the city tower, and only a few flags were swelling in the wind. At the three door holes below the city tower, dozens of military men in worn-out iron armor stood, but their faces were pale and weak, and they were holding a white spear crookedly in their hands, lazily, like an old man basking in the sun, without any deterrence.

Ma Jin narrowed his eyes and sighed in his heart that the State of Song was so corrupt that even the military important areas near Lin'an looked like this, and the others were even more conceivable.

Looking at the malnutritional materials in front of the city gate, it may be a bit difficult to even close the city gate, let alone blocking the enemy. Besides, there are not even a sergeant on duty on the city tower. If a large group of soldiers suddenly attacked, it would be a matter of breaking the city for a moment, and it is no different from the wilderness. Jian is just giving people military achievements.

Let’s talk about entering the city. This is the passage to Beijing. You have to check and ask routinely. What if there are any evil people? But Ma Jin saw that these city gate guards were like wooden men, and ignored the people entering the city, with an indifferent and numb expression, just like the clay sculptures in the temple.

"Brother Xu, the soldiers guarding the city in Luzhou are the same." After entering the city gate, Ma Jin asked Xu Chang'an. He is still a little incredible.

"This is already considered good. There are also military soldiers on duty in the imperial guards. In our Luzhou, the people guarding the city are all old, weak, sick and disabled, and they have never even had any auxiliary armor clothes." Xu Changan said helplessly.

Ma Jin was secretly shocked. The Song State was so decayed that it was so decayed that it was rotten from top to bottom. He was a little confused for a moment. I'm afraid that the tens of thousands of cavalry under Li Mu could turn the Song State's Beijing Road upside down, and there was no need to make any plans.

As Ma Jin thought about it, the group went out of the door hole and suddenly realized that there was a huge market in front of the city gate. There was a bustling market in the market and the crowds of people. Such a lively scene made Ma Jin stunned for a moment. This was the first time since he entered the Song Kingdom that he saw such a prosperous scene and couldn't help but murmur:

“It’s really lively here!”

"That's of course. This is the only gateway to Beijing from the north. Merchants from all over the world gather here, so it's naturally very lively." Xu Changan was also influenced by such a lively scene for a while and said excitedly.

It took a lot of effort to squeeze out the market. Looking at the lively scene behind him, he couldn't help but feel a little worried. Although the Zhaozhou city tower seemed to be defenseless, the market was just a barrier. I'm afraid anyone who came would be blocked by the dense crowd.

At this time, although the street where they were located was not as crowded as in the market, it was also extremely prosperous, with hawking sounds one after another.

"Brother Xu, is your father-in-law in Zhaozhou?"

"They live in Lin'an and have never been here." Xu Changan shook his head and said.

"Isn't he the deputy envoy of Zhaozhou regiment training? How can he leave the land without permission?" Ma Jin asked in confusion.

"It's just a false reputation. If you were in another prefecture, it would be better, so your rights should not be underestimated. However, Zhaozhou is a military prefecture, and all affairs are under the jurisdiction of the Zhaozhou Commander's Office. The deputy envoy of the regiment training does not have much real power. On weekdays, he only manages the transportation of grain, grass, and military pay. Therefore, he has never lived in Zhaozhou, but only leads people to Zhaozhou to deliver food, food, and pay once a month." Xu Chang'an shook his head.

Ma Jin nodded when he heard this. Here we will talk about the local official system of the Song State. It is roughly divided into three levels: road, prefecture, county, and road level. There are four departments, namely, commander, casing, constitution, and warehouse, namely, the commander's office, the transfer envoy, the procuratorate, the procuratorate, and the procuratorate, and the procuratorate, respectively, to manage military affairs, finance, taxation, criminal prison, and storage and transportation.

There are also appeasement commanders or expedition commanders above these four departments. However, these two official positions are similar to imperial envoys and are very different, but they have very strong power in charge of military and political affairs, and life and death are all in their hands.

At the state level, it is divided into military prefectures and ordinary prefectures. Military prefectures are generally located in military prefectures and border areas, just like the Zhaozhou where they are located. They have a governing prefecture, which is in charge of all military and political affairs in the state. They do not have a magistrate, and other aspects are no different from ordinary prefectures.

In ordinary states, in addition to the prefectures, there are also two officials such as the magistrate, the deputy envoy of the regiment training, and other assistant officials. Among them, the deputy envoy of the regiment training is the military commander of a state, in charge of the military, military recruitment, and food and salary distribution of a state. As for the county level, it is similar to the Zhou State, so there is no need to explain in detail.

So as soon as he heard what Xu Chang'an said, Ma Jin realized that Zhaozhou was a military prefecture, and the deputy envoy of this regiment was naturally dispensable. To put it bluntly, he had a title but no position.

"Brother Xu, are we still rushing to the road today?" Thinking of this, Ma Jin asked with a smile.

"this……"

Xu Changan hesitated for a moment and said, "Zhaozhou is only more than fifty miles away from Lin'an. If we go faster, we will be able to reach Lin'an City before dark today."

Ma Jin nodded. He naturally understood that Xu Changan was short of money and could not afford to stay in the hotel. He smiled and said:

"That's great, I have the same intention, let's go out of the city now."

……………………

Twenty miles outside Zhaozhou City.

Xu Changan, who was walking in the front, stopped. The sun had already set in the west at this time, and even the last light in the sky disappeared. Looking at the last ray of setting sun that disappeared on the horizon, he couldn't help but sigh, turned around and said to Ma Jin with apologies:

"Brother Zhou, I never thought that the official road was so difficult. It seems that we can only sleep in the wilderness tonight." As he said that, he took out a fire note from his arms and handed it to Xu Xiaoqi, indicating that he would go to make a fire.
Chapter completed!