You rascal, stop right there!

At the end of May, it was raining. The archery banquet was to be held in four days.

There were only a few ordinary people on the streets of Xuanli. Most of them were walking on thin ice and struggling to survive.

At the city gate, the inspection was extremely strict, and few people from the Qing Dynasty entered or left. Only a few monks and Taoists, merchants, horsemen, and escorted prisoners were allowed in.

In particular, when the two armies were facing each other, the guards at the city gates were all carefully selected elites.

The current leader is none other than General Wan Yan, who captured the capital of Daying, abducted tens of thousands of people, and issued a wanted order for Han Miaoran.

He was defeated by Song Yuanshan's siege and was forced to return the capital. His original battle record was wiped out by Xuan Li, and he was demoted to be the general defending the city of Xingling.

Wan Yan glared with eagle eyes and carefully checked every person entering the city gate without any slackness.

A carriage with several horses slowly appeared at the city gate.

"Who is it?" Wan Yan and his guards shouted with guns raised.

The carriage stopped quietly, and a few coughs were heard: "Ahem, my surname is Yue, and I came to Xingling to do tea business."

The wind blew the curtains, revealing an old face, and the collar of Xuanli's short shirt could be seen from the collar.

A Yan and a dark-faced coachman got out of the carriage and handed over the pass.

"This is our festival, please let us go."

This dark-skinned groom looked like a rough man, but he had bright eyes and a kind demeanor, and behaved appropriately.

Wan Yan took the festival order, looked at it carefully, and looked it up and down.

There is nothing wrong with the pass.

However, the group of people in front of him looked rather strange.

A man in his forties or fifties with a long beard and a sturdy bodyguard, one of whom has skin darker than coal.

The horse team behind him seemed to be carrying something, several boxes, large and small packages.

Wan Yan stared at the boxes suspiciously and shouted, "What are these?!"

The white-bearded gentleman in his forties or fifties got out of the carriage directly, greeted people with a wrinkled smile, and opened the box in front of them.

Sure enough, it was pitch black inside and filled with the aroma of tea.

The white-bearded official said, "Hey, sir, look, these are all top-quality tea leaves."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wan Yan raised his eyebrows and stepped forward to grab his wrist.

"I always feel that Mr. Yue looks familiar!"

He looked from top to bottom, carefully examining the skin behind the ears, trying to find some flaws.

In his eyes, the man in Xuanli clothing had a rebellious temperament in his eyes that could not be ignored.

The fur coat was thin, and one could almost feel the man's thin arms and legs.

"General Wan."

A deep voice came from the side of the white-bearded official, calm and unhurried, each word gentle:

"Five years ago, our official came to Xingling. He saw you spending the summer at Canhe Village when he passed by. Perhaps we met then."

He spoke in a steady manner with the unique accent of the Xuanli Zanke tribe, just like a local.

"That's right, that's right!" the white-bearded official replied hurriedly, "The general seemed wise and powerful that day, and he also looked kind."

Then, the man quietly stuffed a heavy bag into his hand.

He acts flatteringly and effortlessly without any spine.

"So that's how it is." Wan Yan looked at it carefully, weighed the small purse in his hand, and saw wrinkles all over the man's white beard.

Just an elderly businessman, nothing special.

In other words, the light in his eyes is different from that of others.

Since you are from Xuanli, then forget it...

Wan Yan waved his hands to signal the surroundings, and said reluctantly: "Let it go!"

Several people bowed slightly, and the white-bearded man said, "Thank you, sir!"

The people around lifted the sedan chair, walked through the city gate step by step, and entered Xingling.

All the guards were still looking at him after he entered the city, squinting their eyes at everything from the horse's hooves to the decorations on the sedan chair, examining him very carefully.

Only after they entered the city did the dark-skinned guards get into the carriage.

Ah Yan asked, "Did you really give him the money?"

That heavy little bag is quite impressive.

But the person next to him said as if it was fake! It's made of copper and lead. How could I possibly give him real money?

White Pea shrugged.

"When did Wan Yan end up in such a miserable state, falling from the commander-in-chief of the three armies to a small leader of the City Gate Marquis? How could he even make such a fuss about fake silver?"

Bai Wan stroked his white beard and sighed.

"Keep your voice down." Ling Shumo immediately covered his mouth. "Xuan Li's rewards and punishments are very strict. If someone makes a mistake, even a king, a general or a minister will be demoted several levels."

Seeing the person who made his face dark and plain-looking speak so nicely.

It really makes people feel the contrast is too great and unnatural.

Bai Wansi's face twitched a little: "Zichen, when did you learn Xuanli language?"

If he hadn't just been rescued, with that Wan guy's constant pestering, he might have recognized him long ago.

Ah Yan said quietly, "That's nothing. As the Minister of Rites, you are naturally well versed in the languages, customs, and writings of the various tribes and prefectures of the Three Kingdoms."

Ling Shumo said calmly, "After serving as an official for a few years, you must learn something."

The people around him looked at this person with great interest, nodding their heads repeatedly: "As expected of our Mr. Ling, he knows everything. What he said just now was really..."

Cough!

A Yan coughed repeatedly and praised Ling Shumo whenever he got the chance, without even looking at the people around him.

In particular, his face is still full of wrinkles, his beard is long and white, and his smile is like a crumpled old leather paper ball.

Ling Shumo was used to it. He looked at people with a smile and let them talk freely. It seemed that praising each other had become a habit.

When Bai Wan finally finished speaking, he asked, "Are you done?"

"Yeah." Bai Wan nodded.

After the audience finished speaking, Ling Shumo, who had been listening quietly before, began to speak.

"Abai, we've now entered the Xuanli capital of Xingling. We must be careful with everything we say and do. Here's a map of the entire city. Try to memorize it."

After saying this, he spread out a map of Xingling that had already been drawn.

The entire Xingling was filled with imperial guards and imperial guards, and the court was mainly staffed by Master Gu.

The people in the city mainly live in the west, and the south is the Jiezhen Prison, which was originally an ancient temple, the Stone Buddha Zen Forest.

This place is used to detain prisoners from the jurisdiction as well as former prisoners of war from the Great Ying Dynasty and now criminal slaves from the Qing Dynasty.

To the east are the residences of the royal family and dignitaries, and to the north are clusters of Buddhist temples and Taoist temples.

The north and the south face each other, a prison and a Buddhist temple, killing and rituals, beggars and grooms gathered in a circle, which is extremely ironic.

"We just entered the North Gate. Rumor has it that Brother Qi Tu left the painting 'Night Walker' on the wall of the South Gate."

Bai Wan was shocked. "The prison is just to the south. Little Luoluo is a cautious person. He wouldn't appear at the South City Gate unless it was absolutely necessary, let alone paint on the city wall."

"That's right." Ling Shumo said solemnly, "After we settle down, we'll go to the South City Gate and take a look."

"Wait." Bai Wan clapped his hands and smiled slightly. "Let's go to the beggars' den in the west city first, where the grooms and laborers stay."

Only the beggars at the bottom of society and the redundant servants who are assigned to work everywhere know everything about a city.

"Zi Chen, let's pretend to be beggars and idlers!"