In the 25th year of Kaiyuan, the Tang Empire formally established the border guard system of the Long March athletes, recruiting volunteers from the mainland to guard the border, allowing them to bring their families. At the same time, the government gave the athletes land and tax preferential treatment, thus forming a military household system on the border.

Kucha is the location of the Anxi Protectorate, and it is also the area with the most concentrated military households. It is generally distributed around major military farms, forming Han villages. There is also a large area of ​​military households in the west of Kucha City, living with thousands of military households. Long before the military households, many Han people who came to Kucha to make a living built houses here. After decades of development, this area has become a settlement for the Han people. Regardless of language, humanistic customs and architectural styles, they are not much different from the mainland. The Central Plains wine shops that Li Qing'an often comes to are also in this area.

Li Qing'an took a few soldiers and led a fireman to a small courtyard. This was the home of the missing veteran. The wall was only shoulder-high. After crossing the wall, he saw a little girl in a coarse cloth dress sewing her head down and sewing more than a dozen pairs of made cloth shoes next to her. She sewed her very attentively, so she didn't notice that a group of soldiers came outside.

The door was very dilapidated and covered with cracks of all sizes. The fire knocked heavily on the door.

"Who?" The girl's voice was very tender, and she could hear that she was not very old.

The door opened with a creak! The little girl who had just put on shoes appeared in front of them. She was still young, at most eleven or twelve years old, but her eyebrows were pretty, with a delicate nose, round lips, and a beautiful baby. Although she was young, she had a sense of maturity in her eyes that was not matched by her age.

"Who are you looking for?" the girl looked at everyone in confusion.

"May I ask, is this Xia Wuliang's home?"

"Yes, but my dad is not here. He is going to war and hasn't come back yet."

She looked at Li Qing'an and asked hesitantly: "Are you with my dad?"

Huo Chang nodded with a smile and introduced Li Qing'an to her: "Yes! This is your father's captain, and he will come to see you."

"Ah! Come in quickly."

The girl hurriedly opened the door and invited them in. Li Qing'an walked into the yard and looked around. The three old houses were swept clean and spotlessly. There was a tall locust tree with thick shade. There was a piece of land under the locust tree, full of flowers.

"Uncles, please sit down!" The girl brought a few chairs and poured another cup of tea.

Li Qingan picked up the teacup and smiled, "My surname is Li, please call me Li Ziwei, what's your name?"

"My name is Xia Xiaolian."

"Oh! This name is good." Li Qingan nodded with a smile, and asked again: "Xiao Lian, where is your mother? Why haven't you seen me?"

The girl lowered her head and whispered: "My mother disappeared five years ago, and I and my father were the only ones at home."

After saying that, she raised her head and looked at Li Qing'an nervously and asked, "Personnel Li, nothing happened to my father, right?"

"It's okay! It's okay!" Li Qing'an smiled and said, "He is a scout and went to Lingxi to perform military affairs."

From the girl's nervous expression, Li Qingan could conclude that Xia Wuliang had never come back, and he could not discard his only daughter. There were only two possibilities: one was to be captured by Tuqi Shiren, but this possibility was not great. The biggest possibility was that he had already died.

Li Qingan sighed secretly, feeling very guilty in his heart, and said softly: "Xiao Lian, according to regulations, the soldier will receive 50 acres of land after he is killed, but your father is only injured, so there is no pension. But he is brave in fighting and can get rewards. The rewards he gives to your father are 40 acres and 50 taels of silver. You can accept it!"

After saying that, Li Qing'an took out a land deed and two cakes of silver and handed it to Xia Xiaolian. Xia Xiaolian was more concerned about her father's situation. When she heard that her father was not dead, she immediately smiled and hurriedly bowed to Li Qing'an and said, "Thank you, Captain Li for your reward."

"No need to thank you, this is your father's military merit."

Li Qingan stood up and smiled and said, "Okay, let's say goodbye. If there is news about your father, I will send someone to tell you immediately."

"Thank you, Captain Li."

Xia Xiaolian quickly picked up the cloth shoes and stuffed them to each person a pair, "This is a cloth shoes made by Xiaolian. I have a little bit of my heart. Please accept them, uncles!"

The soldiers hurriedly refused, but Li Qingan smiled and said, "This is Xiaolian's wish, everyone should accept it!"

Everyone had to accept it and left one after another.

Leaving Xia Wuliang's home, Li Qing'an's smile disappeared. He turned around and told everyone: "No one is allowed to disclose her father's situation. Those who violate the order are responsible for the heavy responsibility."

"Don't worry, General, we will never disclose it!"

Li Qingan nodded and said to Huo Chang: "I give her three dou of rice and five hundred cents a month, which can be deducted from military expenses and there must be no mistakes!"

"Subsidiary obeys the order!"

Li Qingan whipped the war horse heavily and hurried towards the military camp.

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As Li Qing'an expected, the next morning, an officer from the Jiedushi Mansion came to the military camp. When he saw Li Qing'an, he bowed and said, "Person Li, on the order of the commander-in-chief, please go to the Jiedushi Mansion."

"I'll go now."

Li Qing'an returned to the account and collected the list. He followed the officer to the Jiedushi's Mansion. Two soldiers led him into the military office to the east, which was the office of Fu Meng Lingcha. After entering the yard, a soldier loudly reported: "Master General, Li Captain Li brought him."

"Come in!"

Fu Meng Lingcha's voice was very stern, and it was no longer as gentle as usual. Li Qing'an quickly walked into the room. In addition to Fu Meng Lingcha, there were several other people in the room, including Gao Xianzhi and Cheng Qianli.

Gao Xianzhi had a serious expression. When Li Qing'an came in, a trace of uneasiness flashed in his eyes. He only considered the emotions of appeaseing Li Qing'an's subordinates, but he did not expect that Cheng Qianli would catch this matter and make a big fuss. First, he said that he gave private military merits. When he finally explained that this was not a private military merit, but a commendation by the military envoy, another question arose. Since it was a normal commendation of military merits, did Li Qing'an privately beg for the rewards of soldiers, or was nepotism only?

"Li Qing'an, the captain of the scout camp, met with the commander!" Li Qing'an knelt on one knee and saluted.

"Person Li, do you know your guilt?" Hu Meng Lingcha asked coldly.

"I don't know where the sin comes from?"

"Hmph! I'm sorry you dare not admit it."

Fu Meng Lingcha threw a report in front of Li Qing'an, and cold sweat from Gao Xianzhi next to him emerged. He thought Fu Meng Lingcha was just asking questions, but he didn't expect that he could even have evidence. He glanced at Cheng Qianli, and Cheng Qianli glanced at him, and a smug smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Person Li, someone told you that you have unequal rewards. You have earned less and less. You can only follow me. How do you explain it?"

If it were normal, Meng Lingcha would have slapped the table and ordered Li Qing'an to be pushed out and killed. He would not have listened to his explanation. However, Gao Xianzhi was there, so he could not kill Li Qing'an at will. The evidence must be conclusive, so that Gao Xianzhi had nothing to say.

Li Qing'an took the list from his arms and handed it on his hands: "Master, Deputy Commander Gao gave his subordinates fifteen hectares of land to reward military merits. This is the list of rewards for subordinates. How much military merits do each person have? How much rewards are? It is clearly written on it, and you can tell at a glance that the commander can check them one by one."

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Chapter completed!