July 15th, after a slow journey, the Tiansheng envoy team finally arrived at Xiliang’s capital- Jiancheng. Due to its warm climate, the city is full of blooming flowers all year round. The flowers are as colorful as brocade, giving the city its name of Jiancheng. (Jian= lovely, cheng= city) 

Before they even reached Jincheng, Bai Deshan was already worried. The remnant of Commander Qiu’s troops, due to the loss of their horses and their subsequent guard duty, could not keep up with the envoy team after just two days. Feng Zhi Wei did not even mention the possibility of them stopping to wait for them to replenish the horses at the local government office. But then again, with the western borders being so barren, the local government offices would not be able to come up with that many horses to give them. As a result, most of those several hundred guards were left behind just like that. Leaving Commander Qiu with no choice but to grit his teeth and follow after them with a dozen guards. No longer riding their impressive black horses in unison, they were instead drawing attention with their horses of all different colors. The longer they traveled, the lower the heads of the people on the Xiliang’s side hung. 

Secretly anxious, Bai Deshan was thinking inwardly that the news of their arrival must have already been reported to the capital, and as usual, the regent would be sending people to welcome the envoy. On the surface, this was just an ordinary diplomatic exchange for the Tansheng envoy to come to congratulate the regent but in actuality, this was related to the future diplomatic relations between the two countries and Xiliang’s future as a nation. The regent took this first attempt to establish diplomatic relations in the world very seriously. The regent had called for countless inner court meetings just to determine what attitude and manner of conduct they should have when it comes to dealing with the Tiansheng envoy. The reception policy they settled on was “all etiquette would be solemn with the highest standard, but all private interactions would be generous and tight.” (tight meaning unyielding whenever they see the chance to show Tiansheng envoy that they are still on Xiliang’s turf) According to this policy, all receptions held outside would be extremely grand and glamorous, leaving nothing for Tiansheng to pick any fault with. Therefore, officials, gentry, and common people had long been arranged to come to watch the welcome ceremony. When they arrive, there would be a sea of people waiting for them. Everyone knew that the court had sent guards to escort the envoy team all the way to the capital so what would all of these people think when they saw that out of a thousand guards, only these few guards were left? 

He could only pray in his heart that the letters he had sent had already arrived in the imperial court, advising them to shorten the ceremony and use the soldiers to send away the gentry and commoners. Although doing that is a bit impolite but at the very least, they would not be too embarrassed in front of the first meeting between Tiansheng and Xilaing. 

Having long observed Bai Deshan’s worry, Feng Zhi Wei told her two deputy envoys in private, “Slow down and pay close attention. After entering the capital, be careful of the other side playing any tricks.” 

Deputy envoy Wang Tang was stunned, “Play tricks? Why?”

“The news of Commander Qiu losing not only most of his troops at Mount Teng, but the horses as well, must have been reported to Xiliang court by now.” Feng Zhi Wei said slowly, “Xiliang and Tiansheng are not exactly on friendly terms. It would even be more accurate to say they have a long-standing grudge. The two sides might seem friendly on the surface but in fact, they are competing with each other over everything out of sight. When we get to the welcome ceremony for the Tiansheng envoy, if what should’ve been a thousand guards all the sudden are reduced to these dozen people, in such an embarrassing condition no less, how can the Xiliang court keep their head up in front of its people?’ 

Hit by a sudden understanding, the two deputy envoys promptly ordered their people to pay attention to their surroundings but still had some lingering questions: “Wait, Minister Bai must have reported Commander Qiu’s defeat at Mount Teng a long time ago. If the regent was smart, he would’ve reduced the size and duration of the ceremony, along with not having the observers there. Wouldn’t that solve the problem?” 

Feng Zhi Wei smiled but said nothing. Inwardly, she thought to herself, if Xiliang was going to play dirty tricks on her, then is she not allowed to stab them back? Minister Bai did send the letter through the post station, but unfortunately, before it could make it too far, it was stolen by her people. The only thing the regent received was a simple normal report of “everything is normal.” 

Of course, now that they are this close to the capital, the truth can no longer be hidden. With such a short distance and time, let’s see this regent’s adaptability and ability, if he could really pull out some flowery trick to save the first round that Xiliang lost. 

Gently tapping the horsewhip, there was a faint smile in the corner of her lips, with a hint of expectation. Commander Qiu saw it from a distance and shuddered…

According to etiquette and regulations, the Minister of Rites would lead all the officials below the third rank in the capital to meet at Dragon River Post Station which was six miles away from the Capital. They are now only two miles away from the Dragon River Post Station. 

The long procession of the envoy team meandered forward on the major city road.

“There are government troops here—–”

“Help—–” 

“Give us a way to live—–”

“Wah…wah…” (crying sounds) 

An uproar suddenly broke out, with voices of men, women, old people, and children. The voices were followed immediately by a group of men, and women, old and young, rushing out of the woods beside the road. Everyone was pale and skinny, wearing tattered clothes. Not caring that they might be trampled on by the galloping horses, they rushed right up to the guards’ horses and refused to let go once they grabbed onto the saddles and begged repeatedly, “Sir…we are starving to death…please give us something to eat….” There were also people who were hugging the wheels of the carriage and crying. In no time, chaos ensued as the cries of children and the shouting of adults filled the air as they all ran around the envoy team 

The two deputy envoys who had been on alert after Feng Zhi Wei’s warning and had been nervously waiting for the “enemy” were stunned. They had assumed the one coming for them would be robbers or something, but who could imagine it would be a bunch of starving people? The guards were as stunned with surprise. They had already drawn their swords ready to battle but how could they chop off the heads of these starving women and children? 

Seeing the softening reluctance on the guards’ expressions, the starving crowd of people who would face death for a single bite of food immediately became more aggressive. Someone shouted, “There is food in the leather bag!” The leather bags hung by the guards on the saddle were snatched away. Someone else shouted, “These bridles are made of cowhide, they can be eaten too!” Immediately, countless people attempted to pull the saddles off. Discovering that they couldn’t pull the saddles off, some started to gnaw at it with their teeth and some pulled out blunt knives to try to cut it. More people climbed onto the carts behind the caravan to look for food. Clothes were being tossed out, with continuous loud laughter of people dancing with armfuls of food. The guards’ clothes were all pulled askew, and the carriages were covered with mud. In an instant, what had been an organized and neat caravan was immediately a mess. 

Looking at the mess, Bai Deshan stood there stunned. He thought the regent would try to teach the Tiansheng envoy team a lesson, but he didn’t expect it to be this way. 

In the mess of people, only Feng Zhi Wei had a faint smile on her face. The smile had a bit of sarcasm and a bit of admiration. 

What kind of refugees could show up at such a perfect time to block the envoy team? 

What kind of refugees could appear in the suburbs of the capital so freely and so unrestrained? Especially at a time when the whole city was under high alert due to the impending arrival of a foreign envoy? 

What kind of refugees, came here looking for food but knew to look for people of Tiansheng and not Xiliang officials? 

The refugees are real but they were organized and driven here. If she guessed correctly, there should be people from the local government in the woods on both sides. 

This regent of Xiliang, is indeed also a formidable character.

All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com

ps. I forgot to wish you all a Happy New Year! A big thank you to all of you who commented and wished me well. As you guys can tell, due to time constraints, I don’t usually reply to comments unless it’s a question I can answer and that another reader hasn’t answered, but I really do read every comment and they are much appreciated. In fact, just a few weeks ago I was thinking about how long this translation project has been going and wondered if anyone is even reading it anymore so I really do appreciate the comments!

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