chapter 91 – entry into the city by a carload of loneliness

On the hills at night, the silver pale moon swam in and out of the clouds, reflecting the light and darkness of this place. Jing Ge stared at the lone carriage on the official road at the foot of the hill, and after a long time stifled a cold snort of anger from his silver mask. The gun, made of black material and hard as hell, hung beside his warhorse, yet there were more than just his two hands on the reins of this horse.

Since that rebellion in the fall of the seventh year of the Qingli calendar, the Qin family had been destroyed, and the silver-faced Jing Ge who had picked off Qin Heng alive before the eyes of ten thousand people in the Imperial City. Also became a rather legendary character. Especially in these three years Chen Pingping has been deliberately decentralized to cultivate the newborn forces of the Supervisory Yuan, in order to smoothly transition this courtyard to Fan Xian, Jing Ge, who is Fan Xian’s close confidant, naturally took over the position of the Supervisory Yuan’s five black cavalry commander.

The moment the wheelchair-bound old man at the foot of the mountain was carried into the carriage, a hint of despair and anger surfaced in Jing Ge’s heart, and with a clip of his horse’s belly, he prepared to bring his subordinate Black Riders to rush down and snatch the man. Because he simply could not manage to watch old dean Chen, just like this, embark on the road back to the capital to certain death!

Back then, he was bullied in the army camp, in a routine drill miserable howl out in self-defense, but unexpectedly was born to pick the death of the Qin family son, since that day, he was sent to the death row of the Qing Dynasty, and he stayed in his hometown family wives, were also killed by the Qin family secretly retaliation. Originally, he was already a dead man, but unexpectedly, he was secretly saved by Chen Pingping, and arranged for him to be among the Black Riders, wearing a silver mask to hide his real face, in order to take revenge, in order to pay back the favor, and has been in the Black Riders to achieve the position of Vice Commander.

Fan Xian had given him the opportunity to take revenge, so he was extremely grateful to Fan Xian, however, he knew better that it was Chen Pingping who had given him a second life, and in his heart, Silver-faced Jing Ge regarded Old Mother Chen as if she were a regenerative parent.

The black rider was on the mountain, Chen Pingping’s wheelchair was on the carriage, a hostile killing intent surged up in his heart and he was about to rush down, however, he was indifferently pulled on the reins by the bald guy beside him.

Jing Ge looked back angrily, those eyes that were as deep as the underworld glaring at that bald head through the openings in his silver mask, yet he did not make a move because this bald head was more senior than him in the Supervisory Academy and used to hold a more important position, this bald head was the former organizer of the Seven Divisions that Fan Xian had once met back then in the Supervisory Academy’s dungeon.

“The dean has said that your task, is to take these four thousand black riders and escort the caravan out of the country, and then make sure that you ensure that all …… of these four thousand black riders, one and all, are handed over to little Lord Fan.”

The bald head’s face today looked extraordinarily old and tired, how could his heart not be filled with sadness and anger just like Jing Ge’s, however, he was Chen Pingping’s most trusted old courtier, he appeared amongst the Black Riders today, it was under the old dean’s orders, to bounce off the Black Riders’ possible disturbances.

“Do you know that if the dean returns to the capital, he will never be able to get out again.” Jing Ge coldly looked at him and slowly asked word by word.

“This is the dean’s intention, everything I do is acting in accordance with his old man’s will.” The bald host’s face was calm, not retreating a step.

Jing Ge stared at the official road in a daze, then saw Chen Pingping at the car door, looking back at the stern eye aura, his body trembled, slowly raised his right hand, slightly clenched into a fist, binding the raging emotions in the hearts of his men’s sons and daughters.

After a long time, looking at the black carriage slowly stepping onto the road back to the capital surrounded or escorted by the three thousand cavalry elites of the Kyoto Guard Division, Jing Ge breathed deeply and slowly removed the silver mask on his face, revealing the ghastly and miserable wounds, and didn’t say a word for a long time.

He bid farewell to Chen Pingping, knowing that he might never see the old dean again in the future, Jing Ge’s eyes, who had always been incredibly cold and indifferent, slightly moistened.

The bald host had been looking over there in silence, with a faint smile on his face, but a hint of joyful death wish gradually surfaced in his eyes. The bald host dismounted and knelt down to the quiet official road over there, kowtowing very respectfully.

Jing Ge looked at his look his heart was slightly shocked, knowing that once this old senior had completed the task of monitoring his own exit, he was only afraid that he would go with the old dean of Chen …… His heart was slightly sad, but he did not say anything, just quietly looked at him, and then dismounted his horse and kowtowed to that side.

All of the Black Knight soldiers dismounted at the same time and knelt down densely right here on this small hill, kowtowing to the official road that was already deserted and without cars, bidding farewell to Old Dean Chen.

A few moments later, Jing Ge carefully put on the silver mask on his face and issued an order in a hoarse voice: “Close the line. Head east.”

Yes, these 4,000 Black Riders were the most powerful and dependable force of the Supervisory Academy, no matter how His Majesty the Emperor wanted to deal with Chen Pingping, no matter what methods the court would think of to weaken the Supervisory Academy in order to offset the possible backlash that might occur because of Chen Pingping, the Black Riders would be the top priority in the eyes of the court.

And Jing Ge received Chen Pingping’s order, he must properly send these 4,000 black cavalry, safely, without missing a single one, outside the border of Qing, to Fan Xian’s hands. This was supposed to be one of Chen Pingping’s last gifts to Fan Xian.

Silver-faced Jing Ge knew that his mission was heavy, so his back was also heavy as he led the Black Riders to gallop down the hill.

If Chen Pingping was really willing to go to war with His Majesty the Emperor head on, there was no doubt that these 4,000 black cavalrymen who roamed across the states and counties of the Qing Empire could start from the inside of the Qing Empire and start to cut countless wounds deep enough to be seen on the bones of the Qing Empire’s abdomen, and coupled with the treacherous spies that the Supervisory Board had planted in the various government offices and border armies over the years, it was not that hard to say that Chen Pingping, in her last breath, could plunge the whole of the Qing Empire into turmoil.

However, Chen Pingping did not choose this way, he would rather go back to the capital alone to face the powerful emperor, nor did he let the loyal supervision court ministers and the court tear their faces off and start a big war. He had protected the interests of the Qing court to the greatest extent possible, after all, he was loyal to the Qing state.

Of course, as sophisticated as Chen Pingping, naturally, he could not let his own sons and daughters of the Supervisory Court be toyed with by the court, by His Majesty the Emperor, because of his return to the capital; he knew that under His Majesty’s mighty strength, in front of the powerful machine of the Qing State that had lifted up the power of the nation, the Supervisory Court, even if it came to shake with all its strength, would only be able to plunge the world into turmoil at the very most and not be able to ensure its own survival.

He was not willing to let the sons and daughters of the Supervisory Yuan suffer any harm, so he chose to follow the caravan out of Kyoto to Dazhou, and then skillfully gathered these people he wanted to protect, and wanted to leave these strengths to Fan Xian, so that they would leave Kyoto far away from this place of wrongdoing.

Including Wang Qinian, including those baggage beauties on the caravan, including those officials of the Supervisory Court who were the most loyal to him, including the old organizers of the Seven Divisions who had followed him for thirty years, and, of course, even more so, including the four thousand Black Riders that he had secretly operated for many years.

These were all the people that Chen Pingping thought must survive, and also the people that Fan Xian needed, and these people were now marching in silence and sadness in the darkness of the night, preparing to cross the border of the State of Qing, and penetrate deep into the city of Dongyi, which had already been grasped by Fan Xian and the Grand Palace, and from then on to break away from His Majesty, the Emperor of the State of Qing’s control, and to truly become an independent and powerful force in the hands of Fan Xian.

These forces were the chips that Chen Pingping had left for Fan Xian, chips that would allow him to negotiate with His Majesty the Emperor.

However, the chips had their own emotions, their own sentiments. While the black riders foraged the mountain roads around the official road, moving forward like ghosts, and Silver-faced Jing Ge had to eliminate the idea of sending his troops forward to slaughter the cavalry of the Kyoto Guard Division and snatch back the old abbot under the cold gaze of the bald organizer, the officials and spies of the Supervisory Academy on those caravans they were protecting had even more far-reaching thoughts in their minds.

Wang Qinian disguise after the face, at this time is not only stiff, and actually pale, he glanced at the side of the body covered with blood stained up to the high, silent for a long time after suddenly opened his mouth and said, “The dean back to the capital …… is just begging for death.”

Gouda at this time is still in a semi coma, and the dumb lady can t speak, she looked at this lord in dismay, not knowing to whom this sentence is addressed.

Outside the slowly traveling carriage, someone suddenly sighed, an ordinary looking official of the Supervisory Academy pushed open the door of the carriage and walked in, sitting across from Wang Qinian, and after a long moment of silence, he said, “Everyone knows it, but everyone can’t stop it. You should be clear that the dean is doing this all for the benefit of the institution. He doesn’t want to cause turmoil in the Kingdom of Qing, and he doesn’t want the young lord to get involved.”

“Zongchou, you’ve been following me, are you afraid that I’ll go and inform Little Lord Fan.” Wang Qinian didn’t have the slightest will to joke around this night, he just coldly looked at his partner across from him and said word by word, “If the dean dies, it’s impossible for Lord Little Fan to get involved if he doesn’t want to. If that’s the case, why don’t you make this move in advance. Nowadays, in this world, the only person …… who can stop things from happening in Kyoto is him.”

Sitting opposite him was Zong Chui, this person and Wang Qinian were known as the two wings of the Supervisory Yuan, traveling thousands of miles and tracing traces in a hidden manner, and was one of the strongest duo in the world. He looked at Wang Qinian and said calmly, “Before the dean left, he had strict orders for you, strictly forbidding you from informing Lord Xiao Fan.”

Wang Qinian’s brow suddenly frowned and said, “It is said that Lord Little Fan has already left Dongyi City and was pursued by a number of Dongyi chaotic soldiers on the road …… How did those Dongyi chaotic soldiers know the route of the Supervisory Yuan back to the country?”

Zong Chui didn’t answer, and Wang Qinian stared at him and said, “It was the old dean who put the word out. He wanted to stop Fan Xian from returning to the capital early, and he wanted to put an end to all of this before Fan Xian returned to the capital.”

Zong Zhui acquiesced to this.

Wang Qinian slowly lowered his head and said, “It will take some time for Dazhou to return to the capital, if I leave the caravan at this time and rush to the east of Yanjing to inform young Lord Fan, I should think that he will still have time to make it back to the capital.”

Very complicated emotions suddenly surfaced in Zong Chou’s eyes as he said, “Over the years, I’ve been following the old dean, and you’ve been following Lord Little Fan. The dean gave me the task of keeping an eye on you.” He sighed, “The dean-sama is right, those who have been following Little Lord Fan for a long time become different from the rest of us, becoming too impulsive and not thinking much about the outcome.”

Then he said very seriously, “I must carry out the dean’s orders, I can’t let you drag Lord Little Fan into this.”

“You can stop me?” Wang Qinian said as he stared at him.

“The two of us have never been able to split up, even some years ago when you were working as a civil servant.” A strange smile surfaced on Zongchou’s face.

Immediately after that his smile froze on his face as a knife hilt silently clicked on top of his waist and eye, causing half of his body to go tingly, followed by Wang Qinian’s palm turning into a knife, ruthlessly slashing on top of the back of his neck, he didn’t even grunt before he collapsed on the wooden planks of the wagon.

The mute maiden was holding her child, looking at the scene with a shocked face, unable to speak.

Gouda, who was holding the knife tightly, opened his eyes, breathed twice with great difficulty, and said to Wang Qinian, “Let’s go.”

Wang Qinian glanced at him, slowly nodded and said, “Lord Little Fan said that living is the most important thing, and I think he’s willing to let the old dean live as well.”

Gao Da coughed twice, coughing up blood, and said in a sandy voice, “Time. Nonsense.”

Wang Qinian smiled extremely ugly, turned around and lifted the door of the black carriage, like a gust of wind just swept out. At this time, the night was deep and the ink was heavy, the only person in this world who could catch up with him, Zong Chou, was unconscious in the carriage, he was going to inform Fan Xian, and I thought that no one would be able to stop him, I just didn’t know if the time would come in time or not. When Fan Xian knew all this happened in Dazhou, Kyoto, and rushed back, was Chen Pingping still able to sit peacefully in her wheelchair.

The night was as cool as water and as dark as ink, mixing together as ink in the water, transforming into countless shapes of wind and sand that were hard to recognize.

Several days later, the cavalry of the Kyoto Guard Division finally rushed back to the outskirts of Kyoto. Because the cavalry brigade contained a black carriage that could not possibly be too fast, the entire speed was suppressed extremely slowly. However all of them did not have the slightest objection, they even felt that the slower the better. The commander of the guard division, General Shi Fei, had been accompanying Chen Pingping in the carriage these days, just like a filial junior, serving Chen Pingping’s food and water, getting up and resting, and accompanying him on weekdays to gossip, telling him about the past and future of the Kingdom of Qing, the political anecdotes in the imperial court that caused people to laugh, or those rather elusive rumors about the palace.

It was really like an old minister being taken back to Kyoto by his son’s generation to retire. However, everyone knew that this was not the case.

At this time, it was already autumn, when the Kyoto guard division that “invited back” Chen Pingping rushed back to Kyoto, it deliberately chose the darkest hour before dawn. East of the sky there is a touch of white, but not very bright, no way to show the autumn Kyoto open sky in front of the eyes of the people, the people can only smell the light to the extreme, even so light that there is a trace of dry air, in their own mouths and noses back and forth stringing.

Three thousand six hundred cavalrymen, in addition to the dozens of people who were injured, the rest of the people all arched over that black carriage and came to the outside of Jingyang Gate in Kyoto.

Must be on the way, Shi Fei has already reported the situation in Dazhou to the Privy Council or the inner court of Kyoto through top secret way, so when such a dense cavalry, in the dark night came to Kyoto gate, the thirteen officers and soldiers of the city gate division at the east gate didn’t have the slightest consternation, and moreover didn’t startle some signals of the imperial enemy that shouldn’t be there.

The city is so quiet, a dark and cloudy, occasionally can hear the sound of two horses lightly kicking hooves. The pale white color of the east only reflected a sliver on the high Kyoto city wall, shining the top layer of green bricks with a hint of austere sound. One of the most hard-working morning birds quickly swept past the front of the wall, letting out a joyful chirp.

Creaking heavy sound, Kyoto city gate once in a rare time not to the hour will be opened, heavy city gate in the role of the armature unfolded a channel, will be able to accommodate a carriage through, black hole, can not clearly see what kind of danger hidden inside.

The officers and soldiers of the thirteen city gate divisions stood guard on top of the city wall, vigilantly and curiously looking at the city gates. They didn’t know what was going on, and why everyone from their superiors to those inexplicable officers and soldiers of the Kyoto Guard Division who appeared outside were all acting as if they were on the verge of an enemy.

A handover was done in a palpitating silence. The black carriage, under the control of the old servant, slowly entered the Kyoto city gates.

Until this moment, this carriage was still under the control of the old servant of the Supervisory Academy, this carriage was still under the control of the old cripple in the carriage, none of the military officials inside and outside the city dared to forcibly seize the position of the carriage’s driver, and even more so, none dared to lift the curtains of the carriage, to check out the old man’s proper body inside.

Shi Fei watched in silence as the carriage entered Jingyang Gate, and then watched the gate slowly close. He knew that his mission was finally accomplished, and before his departure, he had thought that the Kyoto Guard Division would have to pay countless lives to accomplish the task, but it was done so easily. There was nothing left for him to do, no matter what kind of anger His Majesty had towards him for not being able to fully accomplish his mission, Shi Fei didn’t care, he just stared blankly at the tightly closed heavy city gates, and countless complicated emotions floated up in his heart.

The courtiers of Qing Dynasty for the Supervisory Yuan, for the Supervisory Yuan’s old cripple, are in fear in addition to more disgust, they think that this old cripple is His Majesty’s an old black dog, the horror of the guy who bites every person. And in the eyes of the military bigwigs, the Supervisory Yuan was their most loyal, reliable and powerful partner, although they also had infinite fear for Chen Pingping. However, at this moment, Shi Fei suddenly felt that this old man who preferred to return to the capital single but was not willing to let the Supervisory Yuan have a big battle with the military was worthy of his admiration.

After being silent for a long time, he slowly waved his hand, and with more than three thousand soldiers of the Kyoto Guard Division who each had their own complex emotions and the joy of escaping from life, he slowly left the thick city walls and the devouring city gates.

The black carriage slowly entered the Jingyang Gate. The heavy city gate slowly closed, a few people slowly approached the carriage, at this time it was still in the darkest hour before dawn, the light was extremely dim, it was impossible to see the faces of those few people clearly.

Responsible for guarding at Jingyang Gate, are the top figures of the Qing court, one is the palace sent out Yao eunuch, one is the hand control of the world’s troops and horses of the Privy Council Ye Chong, one is under the door of the Central Committee of the University of walking He Zongwei, the three people close to the black carriage, for a time, but no one to open their mouths to speak.

After all, it was Ye Chong who opened his mouth, he looked at the carriage and said in a harmonious voice: “The dean has returned to work hard.”

Eunuch Yao calmly said, “Please follow the dean into the palace to see the emperor.”

He Zongwei did not open his mouth on the side, he calmed his face and maintained the silence that he should most certainly maintain at this time.

The carriage was silent. After a long time, that old man slowly sighed and said mildly, “A lone old man returning to the capital has actually disturbed the peace of the three of you, I really feel sorry for you.”

The carriage slowly started, and under the collective escort of the inner court eunuchs and military experts, it traveled along the street under the Jingyang Gate, towards the imperial palace in the middle of Kyoto. The Inspectorate in Kyoto did not seem to know that their old ancestor had returned to Kyoto and was about to face His Majesty’s 10,000-foot wrath, and even the ministers in the court, as well as the people of Kyoto who had an extremely sharp sense of smell, were unaware of this.

Dark dawn ah, Jingyangmen down the street on both sides of the trees, like countless boats, in the cool autumn wind rocked ah rocked ah rocked.

The street leads straight to the palace, there are no pedestrians on both sides, I think it has long been cleaned up, and made the highest level of martial law.

Empty, lonely, only the black carriage, in the forward, in the lonely forward.

Has been traveling to the front of the brilliant imperial city, just at this time, the sun finally broke free of the earth’s restraints, jumped out, the imperial city shines brightly, the warm golden light like fire, but also happen to be the black carriage package melted into it.