Chapter 245: Imperial Capital

At noon, on the 18th day of the third lunar month in the 13th year of the Yuanping reign, a spring rain fell on the capital city of the Great Han Empire. The historically rich capital city, which had a thousand years of history, was shrouded in the misty rain.

In this slightly chilly spring rain, Yan Liqiang’s party finally arrived at the Great Han Empire’s capital.

“So this is the Imperial Capital?” Yan Liqiang looked at the tall city wall which towered like a behemoth in the distance. He couldn’t help but turn his head around to ask Hu Haihe who was beside him under the heavy spring rain.

“Guard Yan, this indeed is the Imperial City. We’ll just have go straight along this road. Ahead of us is the Imperial Capital’s West Glorious Gate. There are three city gates on the western side of the Imperial Capital. The West Glorious Gate is just one of them…” Hu Haihe’s voice was laced with sadness and exhaustion. Yan Liqiang noticed that Hu Haihe couldn’t help but caress the bag hanging on his mount while he spoke. His brother’s ashes were inside the bag.

Yan Liqiang only nodded and didn’t say anything else. He lightly squeezed his steed’s abdomen with his legs to keep pace with the rest. At the same time, he also pushed Goldie’s head, which had poked out from his raincoat, back inside.

The battle with the Blackwind Bandits seemed like it was only yesterday. Yet, people who were sacrificed in the battle could never return again. The person that those people sacrificed their lives to protect ultimately didn’t make it to the Imperial Capital alive either. This made Yan Liqiang doubt the significance of the journey they had made all the way from Pingxi City.

The entire party seemed to be quite depressed. All ensign flags were put away and not shown. Everyone just sullenly rode on their steeds and pressed on in the rain.

The commotion in Hui Provincial City was so huge that it delayed their journey for several days. In the end, even the local authorities came to settle the matter. Yan Liqiang and the rest ended up waiting for the other guards to arrive at Hui Provincial City, then converged with them to return to the Imperial Capital together.

However, Ye Tiancheng was no longer in the party.

Sun Bingchen’s silhouette appeared to be rather desolate in the drizzle, yet he stood tall and remained unyielding. Yan Liqiang looked at Sun Bingchen’s silhouette and he could pretty much guess his feelings at this moment.

A courtier of the Emperor and a felon who was going to be sent to the Imperial Capital had died in Hui Provincial City without rhyme or reason. Of course, the murderers were going to be arrested, but Sun Bingchen who was involved in this incident could also face trouble as well. If someone were to find fault, then one of the factors that contributed to Ye Tiancheng’s death was the fact that Sun Bingchen took the liberty to put a serious felon of the imperial court in a disguise, separated themselves from the main party, and made their way to Hui Provincial City without giving Ye Tiancheng solid protection. If this incident were to be investigated, Sun Bingchen would inevitably be implicated.

As Sun Bingchen’s personal attendant, he would also be held responsible for failing to protect Ye Tiancheng.

Yan Liqiang was secretly muttering in his heart. He had already thought things over on their way here. He didn’t really care about being held responsible because he had nothing much to begin with. He wasn’t receiving any benefits from the Imperial Capital. To date, he still hadn’t received his official rank either. Hence, he didn’t really mind losing what he never received in the first place.

However, there was still something else that bothered Yan Liqiang — just where did Ye Tiancheng get those silver needles?

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Yan Liqiang found two long silver needles on Ye Tiancheng’s corpse. When they were discovered, the two silver needles were still inserted in two major acupoints on his body. Ye Tiancheng was using the two silver needles to clear his acupoints and meridians, hoping to regain his freedom.

He had not given Ye Tiancheng any silver needles, much less Liang Yijie and Sun Bingchen. Therefore, that could only mean that the silver needles on Ye Tiancheng’s body were given to him by someone in the party who could come into contact with him. Throughout the entire journey, there were at least twenty or thirty people who could have possibly come into contact with Ye Tiancheng before Sun Bingchen split up from the guards with Ye Tiancheng in tow. Therefore, it was extremely obvious that someone in their party had given in to Ye Tiancheng’s temptation and had secretly handed him the silver needles.

With Ye Tiancheng’s eloquence and slyness, it was probably not too difficult for him to tempt an ordinary guard into making a deal with him.

The way Sun Bingchen handled this incident was extremely intriguing. He ordered Yan Liqiang and Liang Yijie to refrain from further disclosing this incident and told them to keep it a secret from the other guards in the party. Since Ye Tiancheng was dead, he was ready to move on from this incident.

Yan Liqiang could more or less understand Sun Bingchen’s intention. If this matter got out among the party, then the little comradeship within remaining party, which had been built up through the experiences everyone had together, would probably be tested in the blink of an eye. Since it would be very difficult to find the culprit, everyone would end up suspecting each other and all the previous trust they had between them would be lost.

This was perhaps the most humane decision Sun Bingchen had ever made throughout the entire journey.

…

The group arrived at the West Glorious Gate of the Imperial Capital. The city wall and its gate tower which extended over thirty zhang in height made Yan Liqiang take a few more glances at them. After Sun Bingchen identified himself, the party entered the city without a hitch.

It was needless to mention the Imperial Capital’s prosperity. Unbeknownst to Yan Liqiang, the previous curiosity he had for this city gradually faded when he finally arrived here in person. The more cities he went to, the more he understood that the characteristics of a city were actually decided by the locals. The Imperial Capital was the Imperial Capital, not because of how huge and how beautiful this city was, but because it was the heart of this vast empire. The people who held the highest authority in this empire basically lived in this city. Hence, this city was different than the rest. In other words, this city was full of hidden impressive individuals. Therefore, the things that were truly worth his attention here were still the people.

Not long after the party entered the city, everyone parted ways.

Hu Haihe and the other guards went to report to the cavalry unit so that they could complete their mission and return to their station. With that, they’d have no direct relevance to Sun Bingchen unless they were reassigned to carry out a mission for Sun Bingchen again. Sun Bingchen brought Yan Liqiang and Liang Yijie back to his residence in the Imperial Capital.

Sun Bingchen’s residence in the Imperial Capital was located somewhere in Carriage Alley. The size of the residence wasn’t huge, but it was pretty clean and tidy. Judging from its exterior, it would appear to be the residence of an above-average clan instead of a wealthy clan. The three of them stopped. Yan Liqiang only realized that they were at Sun Bingchen’s residence when Liang Yijie leaped off his rhinodrake steed to knock on the door.

“This residence is just a temporary shelter. A person can’t occupy more than a square meter while standing up or seven feet while lying down. Therefore, a house doesn’t need to be too big, and it doesn’t have to be lavish either. It’s good as long as it is habitable…” Sun Bingchen seemed to have noticed the doubts in Yan Liqiang’s eyes, so he patiently explained it to Yan Liqiang.

“Liqiang still has much to learn!” Although Yan Liqiang completely didn’t agree with Sun Bingchen’s words, he still nodded.

Liang Yijie knocked a few times before the door opened. An old servant with an umbrella peeked through the door crack, showing half his face. When he saw Liang Yijie and Sun Bingchen on the other side of the door, a look of pleasant surprise finally appeared on his face. “Ah, you have returned, Old Master…”