Translator: Myuu Editor: Myuu
Yan Liqiang trained hard at Deer Villa during the day and was making rapid progress. Before going to sleep at night, he didn’t forget to spend a day in the Heavenly Realm to continue his journey with the Four Seas Escort Agency of the Divine Sword Sect in transporting the goods.
Compared to the trip where he had to escort Ye Tiancheng to the Imperial Capital with Sun Bingchen last time, traveling with the Four Seas Escort Agency’s party made Yan Liqiang feel as though he was going on a trip with his buddies instead.
The party spent more than a month on the road and they encountered several thefts along the way. It was very interesting to see the thieves choose to make their move in the wilderness. They’d leave a tree trunk or a few huge rocks in the middle of the road to block the escort party’s path.
In this kind of situation, the escort party would usually stop and the escort leader who was responsible for delivering the goods would remind everyone to proceed cautiously. At the same time, he would also let someone shout the work chant of the Four Seas Escort Agency out aloud and fly the ensign. The obstructing rocks or tree trunks would then be moved out of the way before they resumed their journey.
Most of the time, the courage of those bandits and heroic outlaws would wane as soon as they heard the work chants of the Four Seas Escort Agency. After all, no one would dare to stir up trouble with the agency because most people knew that the Divine Sword Sect, one of the four major sects, was behind it. Anyone who succeeded in laying a finger on the Four Seas Escort Agency in the past ended up being relentlessly pursued by experts deployed by the Divine Sword Sect. By now, those people were already long dead. Therefore, no heroic outlaws would really dare to make a move against the escort party unless they were tired of being alive.
Perhaps a minority of those powerful stealthy bandits or ruffians were not intimidated by the Four Seas Escort Agency and the Divine Sword Sect. These people would dare to rob even bureaucracy funds and valuable tributes for the Emperor if they were tempting enough. However, the goods transported by the Four Seas Escort Agency on this trip were nothing special. They were all necessities for the military. Firstly, they were not rare items, and secondly, they were useless to those experts. So naturally, they wouldn’t come to find any troubles with the party.
In rare cases, the outlaws who set up the obstacles would even rush down the hills or forests on either side of the road. They’d show their faces to the escort leader and speak to him in some secret language known to only those who adventured the world. The escort leader wouldn’t make a move on those who dared to show their faces either. He’d gift them with two jars of wine from the carriage instead and make small talk. With the respect given by the Four Seas Escort Agency, these outlaws would willingly walk away complacently and let the escort party be on their way while drinking the wine brewed by the Divine Sword Sect.
The entire journey might have been daunting, but they didn’t actually run into any real danger.
The only thing that was more troublesome than those forest outlaws or bandits were those checkpoints set up along the roads in every county and prefecture in the Great Han Empire to collect taxes and duties. There were simply too many of them. Some counties had only one checkpoint while others had multiple checkpoints. Not only that, some of the checkpoints were privately set up by local clans or influential clans, so they were very difficult to deal with.
The ones who set up the checkpoints were the local tyrants. However, some low-ranking officers would still be stationed at most checkpoints. These officers were nobodies who were below average in terms of their martial capabilities. Unfortunately, these weaklings were representatives that held bureaucratic responsibilities, and they could care less about the Four Seas Escort Agency. After all, their targets were the escort agencies and caravans in the first place. At a time like this, the escort leader could not do much other than show the official letter from the Storm Army. The official letter stated that the goods transported by the fleet of carriages were all armaments ordered by the Storm Army and therefore hoped that the authorities could allow the party to pass by and waive any taxes and duties that might be imposed on them.
After verifying that the goods transported by the carriages were indeed armaments, the local officers at some of the checkpoints who were either concerned about the fate of their nation or knew the fighting prowess of the Storm Army would let the party go without a second look upon seeing the official letter. However, the officers at some checkpoints still wouldn’t care despite seeing the official letter and knowing that the transported goods were armaments for the Storm Army. They wouldn’t let the party pass unless they were paid with some silver. Under such circumstances, the escort agency had barely any choice but to quietly shell out some silver to avoid problems. After receiving the payment, only then did the bureaucratic officers allow them to pass.
The challenges that the escort agency had to overcome during the journey to deliver some goods were real eye-openers for Yan Liqiang. It included those heavily guarded passes and the people they encountered like the heroic outlaws, low-ranking officers, and traveling merchants. Not only had he seen all sorts of people out there, he also learned a lot of things and he finally understood the difficulty of doing business and what life was like for people of the lower social class in this era.
The escort party traveled across prefectures and counties. After more than a month of travel, they were finally halfway to their destination. In the evening on the seventh day of the ninth lunar month in the 17th year of the Yuanping reign, the party finally arrived outside Jinling City in the Southern Capital Region, one of the Imperial Capital’s ‘four regions’.
The escort party was not allowed inside the borders of the Imperial Capital. Jinling City was merely one of the stops they had to make. After arriving at Jinling, the escort party would have to take a detour by going around the ‘four regions’ and use an alternative route along the Ling River as they continued northward. They would only arrive at their destination after another month on the road.
……
“Keep walking everyone, let’s do our best to arrive at Jinling City before nightfall. Everyone must be quite worn out from traveling all day and night over this past half month. When we arrive at Jinling City, everyone will get a day’s rest…!” Escort Leader Feng announced loudly as he gazed at the emerging silhouette of Jinling’s city wall in the distance on his rhinodrake steed.
Everyone in the escort party cheered happily as soon as they heard that they would be able to rest in Jinling City. The party’s morale was instantly boosted. Even the coachmen cracked their whips loudly in excitement.
Yan Liqiang sat in one of the escort carriages, leaning against the door. One of his legs which dangled outside the moving carriage swayed along with its movement. He squinted his eyes and gazed at Jinling City in the distance. After traveling for more than a month with the escort agency exposed to the weather, it was inevitable that Yan Liqiang’s face would be slightly weather-beaten and his skin would also be slightly tanned. After leaving the Divine Sword Sect for a few days, Yan Liqiang changed out of his disciple attire and changed into a set of plain black form-fitting clothes that the other escorts were also wearing. He also tied a kerchief around his neck so that he could wipe his sweat when he was hot and also use it to cover his nose and mouth when there was a sandstorm. He looked just like a lowly adventurer.
The prosperity of Jinling City could be observed from their current location. They were about twenty li away from Jinling City, yet the public road was already crowded with bustling traffic and there was an endless stream of travelers and merchants. From afar, the strategically located Jinling City seemed to be surrounded by a unique atmosphere.
A strange feeling welled up in Yan Liqiang’s heart as he gazed at Jinling City. He didn’t expect to find himself so close to the heart of the Great Han Empire once again after traveling around inside the Heavenly Realm. Jinling City was the southern gate of the Great Han Empire’s Imperial Capital. Rumor had it that about a thousand years ago, Jinling City used to be the capital city of the Great Han Empire. In reality, Liang Yijie was probably also touring around Jinling City these few days with a beauty by his side.
After those unenthusiastic coachmen heard the escort leader’s words, everyone seemed as though they were suddenly rejuvenated — their hips weren’t sore anymore, their feet no longer ached, and their shouts were filled with vigor. Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but feel curious. He recalled that the last time when they were given a break, these people weren’t this happy.
“Brother Niu, why is everyone so happy after hearing Escort Leader Feng’s words…?” Yan Liqiang asked the coachman beside him.
The coachman was surnamed Niu; his full name was Niu San. He was a tanned man in his forties, a low-ranking coachman under the Four Seas Escort Agency who was responsible for driving the carriage. After riding this carriage for about a month, Yan Liqiang naturally got closer to this coachman. On this journey, Yan Liqiang didn’t only have to take care of the steed that was pulling this carriage, he also had to cover for Niu San sometimes when he needed to rest. He’d switch to Niu San’s seat, take the reins, and play the role of a coachman. Therefore, he wasn’t left with much opportunities to cultivate during this period of time. His skills in driving a carriage improved by leaps and bounds instead, and he was already catching up to Niu San.
“Ahem, ahem… You’re still young, Liqiang. You will understand why when you’re a little bit older. Jinling City is a great place and many people in our party are still single. The thing they looked forward to the most on this trip was getting a chance to rest in Jinling while passing by. Of course, this didn’t escape Escort Leader Feng’s discerning eye…”
Although Niu San’s reply was vague, Yan Liqiang could catch the subtle message he was trying to convey. Furthermore, the manly smile on Niu San’s face made it even more obvious.
Yan Liqiang didn’t say anything afterward.
“My lady, look at how handsome that young man on that escort carriage is. This is really a rare sight…!” A voice traveled to Yan Liqiang’s ears, and he sensed someone’s gaze on him. He turned around and realized that there were two young beautiful ladies on a carriage that was traveling beside their fleet on the road. Both of them were gazing at Yan Liqiang with their sparkly eyes through the window of their carriage.
Compared to girls from ordinary clans, the two ladies on the carriage were bolder and their gazes were more direct.
Yan Liqiang smiled at the two ladies, but he didn’t say anything. He turned his head away and pulled up the kerchief tied around his neck so it covered most of his face. To Yan Liqiang, this was the third function of his kerchief — it acted like the sunglasses of those celebrities in his previous life.
The party, which seemed as though they had been injected with steroids, finally made it to Jinling City before nightfall. However, the party didn’t enter the city due to the high accommodation cost inside the city. They directly went to a place called the “White Stone Village” outside the city and settled down at a decent but cheap depot.
The so-called ‘depot’ was a little different than an inn. The depot could accommodate guests like an inn, but it was also much wider and more spacious than an inn. There was also a warehouse dedicated to storing things in there. The guests of the depot were mainly caravans, escort parties, and merchants with goods.
