At noon on March 18th, the 13th year of Yuanping, a spring rain fell on the capital of the Han Empire, shrouding the capital with a thousand-year history in a hazy rain fog.
In this slightly chilly spring rain, Yan Liqiang and his party finally arrived at the capital of the Han Empire.
"Is this the capital?" In the drizzling spring rain, Yan Liqiang, wrapped in a raincoat, looked at the tall city walls in the distance that looked like giant beasts. He turned his head and asked Hu Haihe beside him.
"Guard Yan, this is the Imperial Capital. Go straight along this road and in front of us is the Xihua Gate of the Imperial Capital. There are three city gates on the west side of the Imperial Capital and Xihua Gate is just one of them..." Hu Haihe's voice was also filled with fatigue and sadness. While speaking, Yan Liqiang saw Hu Haihe's hand involuntarily touching a bag hanging on his mount. In the bag were the ashes of Hu Haihe's brother.
Yan Liqiang just nodded and said nothing more. He just squeezed the horse's belly lightly to let the rhino horse keep up with the team. At the same time, he also pressed the yellow-haired head that was sticking out from the raincoat back down.
The battle with the Black Wind Bandits seemed to have happened just yesterday, but those who sacrificed their lives in that battle could never come back. The person who those who sacrificed their lives in that battle wanted to protect did not eventually enter the Imperial Capital alive. This made Yan Liqiang doubt what the meaning of the journey since leaving Pingxi City was.
The whole team seemed a little dull. Sun Bingchen had put away all of his ceremonial objects and did not display them. Everyone rode on their horses in the rain with their heads down.
…
The incident in Huizhou City caused such a big fuss that it delayed the process for several days. Finally, local officials came and worked hard. After the other escort teams arrived in Huizhou City, Yan Liqiang, Sun Bingchen and others joined up with the later teams and returned to the capital together.
But Ye Tiancheng was no longer in the team.
Sun Bingchen's back looked a little desolate in the drizzle, but he was still tall and stubborn. Yan Liqiang glanced at Sun Bingchen's back several times and could probably guess what Sun Bingchen was feeling at the moment.
A close minister to the emperor and a criminal who was about to be escorted to the capital both died inexplicably in Huizhou City. The murderer would naturally be wanted, but Sun Bingchen, who was involved in this matter, would probably be in big trouble. If someone wanted to find fault, Sun Bingchen took the court criminal Ye Tiancheng in disguise and left the guard team without authorization to go to Huizhou City, and did not provide Ye Tiancheng with enough protection, which was one of the causes of Ye Tiancheng's death. If the matter was really to be investigated, Sun Bingchen would inevitably be implicated.
As Sun Bingchen's attendant and bodyguard, he was also responsible for not protecting Ye Tiancheng well.
Yan Liqiang muttered to himself that he had thought about all these things clearly on the way here. Yan Liqiang did not care about responsibilities or anything like that because he was alone anyway and had no conflicts of interest in the capital. Up to now, his official identity had not been issued, so since he could not gain anything, he did not mind losing it.
But there was still one thing that puzzled Yan Liqiang—where did the silver needles on Ye Tiancheng come from
Yan Liqiang found two long silver needles on Ye Tiancheng's body. When they were discovered, the two silver needles were still piercing two major acupoints on Ye Tiancheng's body. Ye Tiancheng was using the two silver needles to open up the meridians and acupoints in order to regain his freedom.
I have never given Ye Tiancheng a silver needle, and Liang Yijie and Sun Bingchen are even less likely to do so. Therefore, the silver needle on Ye Tiancheng can only be given to Ye Tiancheng by someone in the team who can contact Ye Tiancheng. And along the way, before Sun Bingchen took Ye Tiancheng and separated from the guard team, there were at least 20 to 30 guards who could contact Ye Tiancheng. So, it is obvious that someone in the guard team could not withstand Ye Tiancheng's temptation and secretly gave the silver needle to Ye Tiancheng.
With Ye Tiancheng's eloquence and cunning, it would probably not be difficult to get an ordinary guard in the team to agree to exchange interests with him.
Sun Bingchen's handling of this matter was very intriguing. He asked Yan Liqiang and Liang Yiji not to make it public and not to tell other guards in the team about it. Since Ye Tiancheng was already dead, he was just going to let the matter go.
Yan Liqiang understood Sun Bingchen's intention a little bit, because if this matter spread within the team, then this team that survived the disaster would probably lose the little friendship that they had accumulated after experiencing all the hardships together in the blink of an eye, because it would be difficult to find that person, so the end result would be that everyone would suspect each other and no longer trust each other.
This may be the most heartwarming decision Sun Bingchen has made along the way.
…
The group arrived at the Xihua Gate of the imperial capital. Yan Liqiang looked at the more than 30-meter-high city walls and towers for a few more seconds. After Sun Bingchen revealed his identity, the group rode their horses smoothly into the city.
The prosperity of the Imperial Capital is self-evident. However, after Yan Liqiang came to this city, his curiosity about it had slowly faded away. The more cities he visited, the more Yan Liqiang understood that the characteristics of a city were actually determined by the people here. The reason why the Imperial Capital was the Imperial Capital was not because of how big or beautiful it was, but because it was the power center of this huge empire. The most powerful people in this empire basically lived in this city, so this city became different. In other words, this city was full of hidden talents, and the people here were the ones who really deserved his attention.
The group separated shortly after entering the city.
Hu Haihe and other guards went directly to report to the yamen of Mabusi, and rejoined the team after completing their mission. From then on, they had no direct relationship with Sun Bingchen unless they were sent to Sun Bingchen's side to perform some mission again. Sun Bingchen, on the other hand, took Yan Liqiang and Liang Yiji directly back to his residence in Dijing.
Sun Bingchen's home in the capital was in a place called Chema Lane. The house was not big, but it was clean and tidy. From the outside, it looked like an upper-middle-class home, not a wealthy family. When the three of them stopped and Liang Yiji jumped off his rhino horse to knock on the door, Yan Liqiang realized that Sun Bingchen lived in this place.
“A house is just a place to live in. A person can only stand in a square inch, and lie down in a space of seven feet. So the house doesn’t need to be too big, nor does it need to be luxurious. It just needs to be big enough to live in…” As if seeing the doubt in Yan Liqiang’s eyes, Sun Bingchen patiently explained to Yan Liqiang.
"Li Qiang has learned something from Sun Bingchen!" Yan Li Qiang nodded even though he did not agree with everything Sun Bingchen said.
Liang Yijie knocked on the door a few times, and it opened. An old servant holding an umbrella showed half of his face through the crack of the door. When he saw Liang Yijie and Sun Bingchen outside the door, he finally showed a hint of surprise on his face, "Ah, Master, you're back..."
(End of this chapter)