The spring breeze of February once again turned the willow trees on both sides of the Imperial Capital's official road green. As the weather gradually warmed up, more people came to the official road. The Imperial Capital was home to many dignitaries and dignitaries, and the population was large, with a lot of consumption. Therefore, the people traveling on the official road were all merchants from all over the country, as well as escorts, cargo escorts, and grain transporters. There was an endless stream of people coming and going...
Just on the official road west of the Imperial Capital, a team of seventy to eighty escorts, carrying a red flag with yellow characters of the Wu'an Escort Agency and escorting forty to fifty horse-drawn carriages, were slowly approaching the Imperial Capital.
From afar, the majestic silhouette of the Imperial Capital City had appeared in everyone's sight. The escorts and porters of the escort agency were all happy. They had arrived at the Imperial Capital City, which meant that their escort mission was over. The escort team had good luck along the way and had a safe journey. After arriving at the Imperial Capital City, they could rest for a few days. If they were lucky, they could also take on a return trip, which would make them more profitable...
Behind this escort team, there are four or five horse-drawn carriages carrying people also following the escort team. This is the job the escort agency takes on the road to earn pocket money. For an escort team like this that is traveling a long distance, if the goods they are escorting are not too sensitive, and if they meet traveling merchants or pedestrians on the road, and the escort agency thinks you are not an eyesore, you can give the escort driver some silver and follow the escort team for two days. Ordinary thieves and robbers can be avoided. You get the convenience, and the escort drivers and porters of the escort agency get the benefit, and they can earn some money for wine and meat, and everyone is happy.
Many of the escort teams traveling to and from the Imperial Capital were followed by these little tails.
Seeing that there was a fork in the road ahead leading to the Imperial Capital City, a short porter in the Wu'an Escort Agency team, at the signal of the escort master, rode his rhinoceros horse and went to the back of the team.
"My dear young and old men, we have arrived at the Imperial Capital. It is just ahead. This Imperial Capital is at the foot of the emperor. There are no thieves or robbers on the road in broad daylight. Our escort team needs to deliver goods at the yard of the Laowang Temple ahead. We will not travel with you. I wish you all a smooth journey. After arriving in the Imperial Capital, those who seek wealth will get wealth, those who seek fame will get fame, and those who seek to meet people will get reunited. In the future, if there is a chance, our Wu'an Escort Agency may have to trouble you to take care of us. We will meet again in the future!"
The porter of the escort agency was also a smooth talker. After saying some nice words, he immediately clasped his fists to everyone. Those who were following the escort agency's team also knew that they had to separate from the escort team. They clasped their hands and said thank you. The two sides then separated at the fork in the official road ahead.
However, the carriage that followed the escort agency, after separating from the agency, drove along the official road for less than half an hour and arrived at a parking lot in the western suburbs of the Imperial Capital.
This carriage yard, which is equivalent to a carriage station, is a place for picking up passengers. The imperial city is so large that there is a huge market demand for transportation between it and the surrounding cities. Those who do not have their own carriages or can't ride horses will come to the carriage yard to take a carriage. If there are many people, they can share a carriage. There are quite a few carriages in the carriage yard, and people are coming and going, and it is bustling and lively.
The carriage following the escort team stopped, and the people sitting in the carriage got off one after another. The coachman stood outside the carriage and counted until seven people got off. There was still one person left. The coachman stretched his head and saw a young man leaning against the innermost part of the carriage, sleeping soundly, with his saliva almost flowing out.
"Bang... Bang... Bang..." The driver patted the carriage and raised his voice, "Sir, we have arrived at the Imperial Capital. You can get off now..."
"Ah..." The young man who was sleeping in the carriage opened his eyes and looked at the carriage yard outside the carriage, "Oh, have we arrived at the Imperial Capital?"
"We're here. If you want to find a place to stay, you'd better hurry up. After dark, all the hotels and inns in the Imperial Capital will charge extra for any outsiders who come to stay..."
"Okay, thanks for the reminder!" The young man yawned, grabbed his simple bag and a long sword, walked out of the carriage, and then squinted his eyes to look at the parking lot.
The people around looked at the young man and were not surprised, just as if he was transparent.
The young man was not good-looking, with slightly dark skin, a stature of medium height and neither fat nor thin. He wore a gray and somewhat worn suit, and carried simple weapons and simple luggage. This young man was obviously an outsider who had just started out and wanted to come to the Imperial Capital to venture out and look for opportunities. There were too many young people like him in the Imperial Capital, and there were at least 200,000 such young people who came to the Imperial Capital every year. However, the vast majority of them found it difficult to settle down in the Imperial Capital in the end. Only a very small number of those who were capable or lucky, or had relatives and friends in the city who could help them, could find a job doing odd jobs in the city to settle down. Those who were skilled in martial arts and had abilities might even be able to find a job as a guard for a wealthy family to settle down. As for those who could make a name for themselves and build a family in the Imperial Capital, it was not easy to find one among a hundred thousand people.
The young man stood there for a while and found that almost no one among the people coming and going around him was interested in staring at him. A strange smile appeared on the young man's face. He rubbed his face with his hands and whispered in a voice that only he could hear, "This place is really similar to a bus station..."
This young man, of course, is Yan Liqiang.
At this time, probably no one in the entire Han Empire could have imagined that Yan Liqiang, the legendary Qiyun governor who was seriously injured and practicing seclusion, would actually change his identity and appear in this parking lot west of the Imperial Capital City with the face of an ordinary person.
Yan Liqiang returned to the capital city this time, naturally to do something big.
The air in the carriage yard was filled with a smell mixed with horse manure and horse urine. People getting off and getting on the carriages were mixed together, coming and going. The drivers were shouting and pulling passengers. Next to the horse farm, several stalls selling pancakes, steamed buns, fried dough sticks, and lamb ribs were steaming hot and crowded with people.
Yan Liqiang was like a young man who had just arrived. He first asked the people next to him for directions, then squeezed to the scallion pancake stall, spent a few copper coins, bought a scallion pancake wrapped in paper, and then walked out of the horse farm while munching on the scallion pancake.
Outside the horse farm, under the trees on the roadside, there were a few young men from the Imperial Capital City standing and squatting in groups of three or four, holding grass roots in their mouths. The young men's eyes were roaming around the faces of the people entering and leaving the horse farm. Yan Liqiang walked past them, but they only glanced at him once and then ignored him without even looking at him a second time...
(End of this chapter)