Translator: Myuu Editor: Myuu
The words of the cavalry stirred up a small commotion in the party. Yan Liqiang was also startled as he squeezed the Horned Python Bow in his hand. Someone actually dared to intercept the Patrol Inspector’s party in broad daylight?
“Sir, I shall go and have a look…” Liang Yijie immediately volunteered.
Sun Bingchen smiled instead. “There’s no need. That troop must be a party led by the Gan Provincial Governor, Lei Sitong, to welcome us. We shall continue to march onward. I reckon we will meet Lord Lei shortly.”
Yan Liqiang was stunned before he suddenly realized that the Gan Provincial Governor, Lei Sitong, would still be in Weiyuan Prefecture considering that it had only been days since he settled the affairs regarding the Ye Clan. He must have heard about Sun Bingchen’s arrival so he brought his people all the way out here to welcome him.
So, the party continued on.
As expected, after going three to five li forward, Yan Liqiang saw a group of more than ten cavalries galloping rapidly in their direction on their rhinodrake steeds.
One of them looked about forty or fifty years old, dressed in a bright violet armor. He was riding on a snow-white rhinodrake steed and he had a long, three-stranded beard, a sharp nose, and a pair of long eyebrows which reached his temples. He exuded an awe-inspiring aura, surrounded by a group of armored soldiers as though he was their core. It took Yan Liqiang only a single glance to correctly guess his identity.
Yan Liqiang had heard that the Gan Provincial Governor, Lei Sitong, was a military leader. That didn’t surprise him from what he had seen today.
As expected, Sun Bingchen raised his hand to stop the entire party as soon as he saw the man’s arrival.
“Hahaha, I am here to welcome you, Lord Sun. You have indeed done something great for the citizens of my Gan Province…!” The man roared in laughter when there was still quite a distance between him and Sun Bingchen’s party as he spoke while he riding over on his rhinodrake steed.
“You’re flattering me, Lord Lei. I have merely done what I should have done!” Sun Bingchen smiled.
In just a flash, the Gan Provincial Governor, Lei Sitong, finally came before the party with his group of officials on their steeds. Then he pulled on his reins.
“Where is Ye Tiancheng?” Lei Shitong was a bad-tempered person. The moment he stopped, he instantly asked the question without beating around the bush.
“He’s in that prisoner carriage at the back!” Sun Bingchen pointed at the prisoner carriage at the back of the party.
“Let me see his pathetic state…” Lei Sitong said and directly went to the rear of the party on his steed. After circling the prisoner carriage a couple of times, he shouted loudly, “Ye Tiancheng, I’m sure you didn’t expect the Ye Clan to end up like this, right?”
Ye Tiancheng, who was handcuffed and bound with fetters in the prisoner carriage, had completely lost the ability to put up any resistance. During the journey over these few days, he made no sounds, and the prisoner carriage was so silent as though it was empty. Aside from coming out from his prisoner carriage at specific times to take care of his needs or to go to his accommodation, he remained extremely silent in the prisoner carriage. It was to the point where people had to check up on him regularly through the windows of the prisoner carriage.
“Winners make the rules, and losers live by them. What more can I say?” Ye Tiancheng finally showed half of his gloomy face through the window slit on the prisoner carriage. He was squinting his eyes as he glared Lei Sitong who was riding on his steed with bitter resentment. The once extremely glorious Pingxi Prefectural Governor suddenly seemed to have noticeably aged. Not only did his face lack the glow and vigor it once had, even his hair had turned significantly gray.
“Nonsense! The Ye Clan also wanted to be a winner, but only managed to be a loser at best, and the lowest one betrayed their own nation!” Lei Sitong spat on the ground from his rhinodrake steed, then looked at Ye Tiancheng disdainfully inside the prisoner carriage. “If the Ye Clan merely had different political views from me, then I, Lei Sitong, could still turn a blind eye and tolerate all of you, even if you carried on by doing your own things to try to lord over the others in Gan Province. But then all of you thought you could collude with the Shatu people and even illegally sell the Gan Province’s military weapons to them just because you have a backing from the imperial court. If, I, Lei Sitong, were to allow the Ye Clan to continue doing whatever you all pleased, then the military really paid me for nothing over all these years! This time, I will eradicate the Ye Clan and return justice to the citizens of Gan Province even if my position as a Provincial Governor is at stake!”
“The Grand Chancellor will decide the Ye Clan’s fate. We will not admit to any crimes you all try to accuse of the Ye Clan!” Ye Tiancheng, who was imprisoned in the prisoner carriage, sneered coldly. Then, with an icy tone, he gritted through his teeth, “Don’t you and Sun Bingchen be pleased just yet. We shall see who will suffer a defeat in the end when we reach the Imperial Capital. I look forward to seeing the consequences both of you will face. It’s not certain yet that the Ye Clan cannot turn this situation around…”
“Hahaha. I’m afraid it might not be possible for the Ye Clan to turn the situation around!” Lei Sitong’s tone grew icy too.
“What do you mean?” Ye Tiancheng’s countenance contorted slightly in the prisoner carriage.
“Some Shatu people attempted to break into the Weiyuan Prefecture’s prison two days ago, but failed in the end and also alarmed the soldiers. A war ensued, and everyone in your Ye Clan, including Ye Tianhao and Ye Tianfa, perished along with those Shatu people. Just this morning, every member of the Ye Clan was cremated after they were identified. To date, you are the sole survivor of the Ye Clan…”
Ye Tiancheng’s face turned deathly pale when he heard the news from Lei Sitong before it turned red again. He trembled and coughed out a mouthful of blood. “Lei Sitong, you are indeed a ruthless one…!”
“The cries of one clan is still better than the cries of a province. Compared to the evil that the Ye Clan has committed, their deaths hardly amount to anything…” Lei Sitong shot a cold glance at Ye Tiancheng, then turned his steed around and trotted to the front, not bothering to interact with Ye Tiancheng any longer.
“LEI SITONG, I WON’T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS EVEN IF I BECOME A GHOST…!” Ye Tiancheng gripped the bars of the prison carriage and bellowed in rage from inside.
Yan Liqiang, who was standing on the side, was also stunned when he heard the news from the Gan Provincial Governor. He didn’t expect him to be this ruthless and direct — he had only made an excuse to kill everyone in the Ye Clan without even holding a trial. Having all those Shatu people breaking into the prison was most likely just a show orchestrated by the Provincial Governor to really pin the crime on the Ye Clan so he could eradicate them once and for all…
As expected of a Provincial Governor with military experience. His method of dealing with his enemies was nothing but ruthless. Even so, it was very impressive!
“Lord Lei, were you… really telling the truth…?” Sun Bingchen hesitated for a moment before he asked when he saw Lei Sitong coming back to him on his steed.
“Ahem, ahem, of course I was. Don’t tell me you still wish to lead these scourges from the Ye Clan to the Imperial Capital and continue to let them stir up havoc over there, Lord Sun? They will only truly be purged by eradicating their clan once and for all…” Speaking up to this point, the Provincial Governor scanned his surroundings once before he spoke in a carefree manner. “This is also what I wish to report to Lord Sun here today. After today, I’m not going to admit anything. I will not let anyone who tries to frame me off the hook either. After today, I will be clueless as to how those people from the Ye Clan died. Weiyuan Prefecture is the Ye Clan’s stronghold, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they had any other henchmen here. I still kept the corpses of those Shatu people who died trying to break into the prison. If anyone didn’t believe me, they can come and take those corpses back for investigation. I also kept the evidence from the Ye Clan. So I won’t cower in fear, even if the Imperial Capital were to send someone to investigate this…”
Sun Bingchen could only shake his head while smiling wryly…
