Big man: I am the Champion Marquis!

Chapter 118 Official Business
Huo Xian ran away, but the emperor did not order him to return. Now everyone is angry, how can they take the first step easily?

After all, he was the emperor, not to mention the emperor who held all the power. If he rescinded his order at this time, it would be too embarrassing. With Liu Che's character, he would definitely wait for Huo Xian to bow his head first.

He continued to be busy with the tour, which was very important to him. He had been planning to seek immortality, and now he had another reason to relax.

There is no need to talk about the other party involved in the incident. The sky is high and the birds fly freely. He is now free and easy.

Wei Zifu sent people to chase him, but she didn't explicitly ask Huo Xian to go back, but her words implied that he should bow his head first. The result is predictable, he firmly believed that he had to carry out the emperor's will.

The prince sent people to chase him, but Huo Xian still gave the same excuse, that he had to inspect the border and train the army, and he certainly could not disobey the emperor's order.

Wei Buyi came with Wei Qing's letter and criticized Huo Xian harshly. But he still couldn't change some realities, for example, Huo Xian still set out for Dai County.

"Sir, we gathered here that year." Liu Mo said with great interest, "We followed the general out of Dai County, marched north for more than 2,000 miles, crossed Lihou Mountain, crossed Gonglu River, and defeated the Xiongnu!"

Huo Xian said, "If I have the chance, I would like to walk the same path that Aweng walked! If I really reach Wolf Mountain, I will also offer sacrifices to the heavens and perform ceremonies! By then, I will definitely be better than him in offering sacrifices to the heavens and performing ceremonies!"

Zhao Hexi had no doubts at all. "The general's heaven-offering ceremony was a bit hasty. We were all wearing helmets and armor, and we were very imposing. It's different for you, the prince. You followed His Majesty to offer sacrifices to the gods!"

If Huo Xian had performed the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven and conferring the title, everyone would definitely think that the etiquette would be more perfect.

The reason is very simple, when Huo Qubing was offering sacrifices to heaven and conferring titles, many of them were hasty military salutes etc., after all, they were all a group of warriors.

Before Emperor Liu Che performed Fengshan in Mount Tai, he summoned great Confucian scholars to study the ancient rituals. Only when the ancient rituals were restored as much as possible and improved upon, could they be officially performed Fengshan.

Apart from the emperor, the person who understood Fengshan best in the Han Dynasty was Huo Shan. Even now, many people are curious about what the emperor said on the top of Mount Tai when he took the ten-year-old Huo Shan to perform the Fengshan ceremony!
But think about it, Huo Qubing was also incredibly brave. Building an altar to offer sacrifices to heaven is not something that ordinary people can do.

Offering sacrifices to heaven and building altars were basically the emperor's privileges.

Fortunately, Huo Qubing still had some sense and only performed the "feng" of offering sacrifices to heaven, without the "chan" of offering sacrifices to earth. However, this is still an exaggeration.

But if you think about it carefully, offering sacrifices to the gods on the sacred mountain of the Huns must have been so proud and inspiring, and it has indeed become a famous story for more than two thousand years.

"Sir, there is an inn ahead." Zhao Congxiao rode over and said with a smile, "We can rest for a day or two. It's not good to travel in the rain."

Huo Xian thought it made a lot of sense and said, "Send someone over first to prepare hot water so I can take a good bath. My aunt loves me so much that she sent me some clothes."

Huo Qubing and Huo Shan were probably regarded by some as "favored to the point of being fearless". Although they were annoyed that Huo Shan ran away in a huff, they were also worried that he was not having a good time outside, so they sent him a lot of clothes and other things.

After taking a bath and changing his clothes, Huo Xian began to write a letter. Whether his handwriting was good or not was another matter. He was a general, and he was not a traditional aristocrat. It was acceptable for his handwriting to be ugly, as long as it was understandable.

He wrote a letter to Wei Zifu, describing what he had seen and heard along the way, mainly to express the joy of traveling.

I wrote a letter to Liu Ju, in which I described what I had seen along the way. I also saw that some villages were dilapidated, some small towns were ruined, and the people's livelihood in the Han Dynasty needed to be improved.

Writing a letter to Wei Qing was simple. It was just about sharing my experience in leading troops and seeing if I could get some more guidance.

He also did not forget to write a letter to Huo Guang. His uncle was very cautious and was probably feeling uneasy in Chang'an.

After finishing all this, Huo Xian handed the letter to Liu Mo, "Uncle Liu, give it to the messenger later and have them deliver it back to the capital."

Liu Mo probably knew why his lord suddenly wanted to patrol the border, and he cautiously advised, "Lord, why don't you write another letter?"

It's no wonder Liu Mo thought too much. Huo Xian would write a letter every time he arrived at a post station, reporting the situation. But he just didn't write a letter to the emperor, and he still looked like a punching bag and sulking.

Huo Xian said proudly, "That's why you don't understand. You can only be my subordinate! I told you to write a letter to my aunt, so your majesty would naturally ask. If not, would your majesty be able to see my aunt more often?"

It is an indisputable fact that Wei Zifu has fallen out of favor, and the emperor now only has family affection for the queen. And this family affection is not necessarily very strong.

Liu Mo suddenly realized what was going on, and then asked doubtfully, "My Lord, if you calculate the time, His Majesty should also go on tour."

"I'm on tour now, so can't my aunt write to His Majesty?" Huo Xian was so disappointed. No wonder the elders always advised him to get married. "You really have the mind of a warrior. Don't you usually use your brain?"

Liu Mo seemed to be well-reasoned and confident, "We are used to just following orders. We know we are stupid. We just need to listen to the orders of the generals and the princes. There is no need to think about other things!" Looking at Liu Mo, and then thinking about Liu Zhengnu, Huo Xian said earnestly, "Uncle Liu, Zhengnu is the same as you. I just thought that if he has children, he can't be like this anymore!"

Liu Mo was not happy. "If he has a son, it should be the same. When he grows up, he will protect the prince and fight the enemy, and then follow the young prince to fight the enemy!"

These troops of ours are definitely full of martial virtues, and asking them to take off their armor and return to the fields is like asking them to die. Although the fields in Guanjun Village are all fertile, the yield is average. The main reason is that the people in the village like to study war, and they are not particularly enthusiastic about farming.

But there is nothing much to say about this. "Every profession has its specialties." The main focus of a military officer's troops is to prepare for war, and farming is just a "part-time job."

After a simple two days of rest, Huo Xian didn't feel tired at all, and the troops who followed him didn't feel tired either.

This time, including Huo Xian, the team has only twenty-three people in total. Even if there are disabled people like Liu Mo and Zhao Hexi, these two, although somewhat inconvenient, are far stronger than the average young and strong man.

No one dared to underestimate such a team. Huo Xian did not have the seal of Grand Marshal and General of the Cavalry, but he always had the tortoise-shaped seal of Marquis Guanjun on him, which could not be taken away.

Huo Xian led the team directly out of the Great Wall. There was nothing to worry about because there was still an outer city and they were only crossing the Qin and Han Great Wall.

We haven't really arrived in Mo Nan yet, and it's not just a casual statement that there is no royal court in Mo Nan now.

"Sir, let's go west." Zhao Hexi said while riding his horse, "I'll go look for yellow sheep first. I'm afraid it will be difficult to find the city and the barrier today."

The so-called city, barriers and pavilions are part of the Great Wall. A living area for garrison is set up every ten or dozens of kilometers along the wall.

There are outer cities outside the Great Wall, namely Juyansai and Guangluxai, but these two outer cities are still under construction and are being continuously improved.

The main structure is a long wall, also known as a wall. Small cities built every few dozen miles at the mouths of valleys or in plains along the Great Wall are called barriers, and are guarded by officials, so they are also called waiter cities.

Lookouts and defensive posts built in the mountains are called pavilions. Defensive posts built at the mouths of important valleys and on major transportation routes are called forts. Strongholds built on major transportation routes are sometimes called passes.

Under the Houguan, there is a Houzhang, who is in charge of a part of the beacon tunnels, so it is called a department, and is stationed in the big beacon tunnel. Under the Houzhang, there are beacon tunnels, and each beacon has a beacon chief, who is stationed in the small beacon tower. There is a wharf wall near the beacon tunnel, that is, a courtyard wall, and there are houses for living in the wharf.

Most of these soldiers were farmers. They left their homes and came to the border. Many of them were still "farmers" of the government, still cultivating land, repairing houses, and building military facilities.
Among them, the "river and canal soldiers" were responsible for digging canals to divert water and building water conservancy projects; the grain guards, warehouse guards, and storehouse guards were responsible for protecting grain storage facilities and military supplies; and for every ten soldiers there was one "food soldier" who was responsible for cooking.

Everyone has their own responsibilities, and as long as they do their own work well, they will naturally complete the task.

Although it was bitter and cold here, the treatment was slightly better than serving in the inland areas, for example, the rations were slightly more. The families of the border soldiers were also included in the list, and the government allocated grain and food on a monthly basis.

"Congxiao, you lead two people first." Huo Xian thought for a moment and said, "Let's have ten people. Let's see if these people are alert."

Huo Xian was not afraid of "playing tricks on the princes by lighting beacons", because according to the military system of the Han Dynasty, these garrisoned soldiers were not only responsible for farming, but their main task was to defend and observe the enemy.

The size of the enemy can be divided into different alarm levels, including less than ten people, more than ten people, less than five hundred people, less than one thousand people, and more than one thousand people.

This includes checking the appearance, household registration, and official documents of the checkpoints that people have passed through, etc. Daily maintenance of weapons and work content all need to be recorded.

The ancient frontier guards were not idle, and were similar to the soldiers of many border guards in later generations. In addition to their duties as soldiers, they also had to do various police work.

Zhao Hexi, who was watching the fun and not afraid of trouble, said, "Sir, let's go around first! We will go east for more than 50 miles, which is outside the outer city. We might be mistaken for Huns!"

Liu Mo also said, "That's right. We are south of the outer city, so at most people would think we are out of the city. It would be interesting if we were north of the outer city!"

Huo Xian thought about it and it made sense, so he said, "Okay, let's do this!"

Looking to the west, Huo Xian said, "Now that the outer city is built, the Xiongnu will have to go around in a big circle and walk hundreds of miles if they want to take it!"

Liu Mo also said, "Not only that, it will be easier for us Han to gather troops by then!"

It does cost a lot to build the outer city, but as a fortification, it is of extraordinary value!
Huo Xian did not simply run away from home in anger, he was now performing official duties, checking the situation at the border. He would make some adjustments at the appropriate time, rectify military discipline, or start training troops directly.

After all, it's an oral order, so he still has room for flexibility!
(End of this chapter)