My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 122 Loufan County

Loufan County is a newly established county this year. When the emperor abolished the prefectures and established counties, many prefectures and counties were reorganized. This place used to belong to Lanzhou, but now it has become Loufan County, which only has three counties under its jurisdiction: Jingle, Linquan, and Xiurong.

The administrative center was located in Jing Le.

Upon arriving here, one can immediately perceive the stark differences between this place and the Central Plains.

There are no endless fields of farmland like in Xingyang here. In the distance, there are mostly hills, barren and bare. As you walk along the official road, it is hard to see any lush greenery. The protective forests on both sides of the road have been completely cut down, and the remaining tree roots on the hills on both sides are densely intertwined, which are obviously newly cut down.

This place exudes a desolation unlike that of Xingyang. Only when you get close to Jingle can you see some greenery. There are large grasslands around Jingle, and many government horse farms are located here. The imperial court sent people here to raise warhorses and train knights.

Unlike Xingyang, there is a military government nearby. After all, it is located around Taiyuan. The massive rebellion that took place back then may have affected this area. Traces of the great battle can still be seen on the road, both new and old.

Countless wars have been fought here.

While the bandits in Xingyang were beating the government into silence, Li Xuanba and his family successfully arrived in his father's new territory.

The Li family's children were filled with curiosity about this place, and they also had some expectations in their hearts.

But when they actually arrived on this land, their expectations were instantly shattered.

The city wall in the distance was low and dilapidated, and the main road leading to the county town was a bumpy dirt road. Looking around, there was no countryside to be seen at all, only an indescribable desolation.

Li Yuanji was stunned.

He repeatedly asked his elder brother, "Are we still within the territory of the Great Sui Dynasty?"
Although Li Jiancheng was not as surprised as his younger brother, he also realized the huge gap between this place and the Central Plains. It was not just the difference in the size of the city; the climate, the terrain, and everything else were different. It was as if the style of the painting had suddenly changed.

Although Xingyang is not as prosperous as it used to be, the city is still bustling with people, and there are many rural areas outside the city. Scholars go hunting and merchants pass through. It is just an ordinary ancient county town.

Loufan has a very small population, with only three county towns. There seem to be no large villages outside the towns, but military camps and drill grounds can be found. People pass by from time to time, but they are all fully armed knights.

These knights moved extremely fast, galloping past without a care in the world, and ignored Li Jiancheng and his men.

They had only been in Loufan for half a day when they saw seven or eight groups of knights galloping past. Sometimes there were three or four of them, and sometimes there were more than ten. What was even more surprising was that some of the knights were wearing armor.

Generally speaking, soldiers don't wear armor when going to war; they only put it on when they are about to fight. In this state, it feels like they are about to fight someone at any moment.

Madam Dou sat in the car, lost in thought.

Li Xiuning and Li Shimin were extremely excited.

When Li Shimin stepped into Loufan and saw the fully armed knights galloping past him, he knew that he had come to the right place!

Li Xiuning was no exception. At this moment, the siblings had huddled together, excitedly discussing the equipment worn by the knight. The two were practically cut from the same cloth, sharing the same interests.

Only Li Yuanji was somewhat dissatisfied with this desolate place. Looking at the dilapidated city in the distance, he could imagine what the situation inside was like. He was afraid there was nowhere to have fun here.

Li Xuanba paid no attention to these things; he was listening intently to Old Man Liu's boasting.

Upon arriving at this place, Old Man Liu became extremely excited.

Only after asking did I learn that the old man had fought here in the past and had walked this road before. Although he was not very familiar with the surrounding area, his memories of that time were exceptionally clear. He talked about his old friends, pointed to the high ground in the distance, and recounted the scene of riding through there on horseback.

Li Xuanba and Sanshi rested their chins on their hands, listening attentively to his story.

"This place was once the stronghold of the Eastern bandits!"

"The elite troops of the Eastern Bandits are scattered throughout Jinyang. This place has truly changed. When we arrived, there were chevaux-de-frise, fortresses, and several miles of pitfalls specifically designed to defend against cavalry."

When Liu Chounu talked about the past, he became much more energetic.

Li Xuanba was engrossed in listening when Li Shimin hurriedly found him.

Li Shimin seemed even more excited than Liu Chounu.

"Sanlang!" "The Eagle Soaring Mansion is located here!"

Li Shimin grinned, "Perhaps we can find an opportunity to go in and take a look!"

Li Shimin had many thoughts in his mind. In his opinion, this place was much better than Xingyang. In Xingyang, he could only make friends with wandering knights who had no property, but here, he could make friends with many true heroes.

Seeing his second brother so happy, Li Xuanba was also happy for him. "Brother always complained that he couldn't learn anything from those village soldiers. This time he can learn skills from real officers."

"You're coming too."

Li Shimin said with great interest, "Didn't Commander Liu go home? Perfect timing, you come with me to find Grandpa. With you there, he'll definitely agree. We can make friends with the brave warriors in the army and learn some useful skills from them."

Li Xuanba hesitated for a moment, "Before my master left, he had already written down the training arrangements for the coming days and given them to me. I'll just continue training according to what my teacher taught me. Most of the soldiers in this army are real warriors. I've only been practicing martial arts for a few months, so I'm afraid I won't learn much."

"Hahaha, you are the famous Li Sanlang! You subdued the wild ox, captured the bandit chief alive, and were awarded a marquisate for your military achievements. What are you afraid of? Just come with me!"

Just as Li Shimin was about to say a few more words of persuasion, they had already arrived at the city gate.

Li Yuan only sent someone to greet him, which means he has a lot on his plate. In the past, he would have come to pick people up in person.

Once inside the city, the situation was completely different from that in Xingyang.

Most of the buildings in the city are small, but sturdy. Even the residential buildings have very thick walls. The roads are quite wide, much wider than those in Xingyang, allowing many people to pass at the same time.

They continued on their way until they finally arrived at the new residence.

The prefect's residence wasn't as dilapidated as I had imagined; it had been newly renovated and was probably the best building in the entire city. In terms of both scale and height, apart from the grand temple in the east of the city, no other building could compare.

Li Yuan had already prepared seats for everyone in the mansion. As before, Li Jiancheng still lived on the east side, while the other young men sat on the west side. The small courtyard arranged for Li Xuanba was also the same as before, located at the very end, right next to the west outer wall.

This courtyard was larger than the one Li Xuanba had lived in before, and there were more rooms. Everyone busied themselves moving things and placing furniture. Li Xuanba didn't have anything else to move, just some training weapons, so he packed up quickly.

At that moment, Madam Dou was busy instructing everyone on how to arrange the furniture when someone suddenly rushed into the room.

Lady Dou was greatly surprised. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the person who had come was none other than Li Yuan.

Li Yuan's face was solemn, his clothes were somewhat disheveled, and he did not seem to be in good spirits.

Seeing her husband like this, Lady Dou understood what was happening. She quickly told everyone to leave and pulled Li Yuan inside.

"What happened?"

Why do you look so haggard?

Lady Dou led Li Yuan to the inner room, helped him sit down, and hurriedly asked.

Li Yuan breathed a long sigh of relief, but a fierce glint flashed in his eyes.

"We shouldn't have come here."

"The emperor wanted to build the Fenyang Palace, and various counties sent laborers to carry it out. The people here are fierce and unruly, unlike those in Xingyang. Not long after the decree was issued, there were cases of laborers injuring officials in various places. They used homemade iron forks, hooks, and knives to resist the officials, and there were even casualties."

Madam Dou frowned. "Didn't the corvée labor just end? Now they want to build a palace again?"

"His palaces are located in Daxing, Luoyang, Jiangdu, Linjiang, Weinan, Linhuai, Zhuojun, and Taiyuan. There are nearly ten palaces already. Why does he still need to build more?"

Madam Dou truly didn't know what to say. Why build so many palaces for him when he's all alone? Is he going to move to a different place every day?
Li Yuan said sternly, "The problem doesn't lie with these laborers."

"In Yingyang Prefecture."

(End of this chapter)