Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

On the same day, a horse-drawn carriage was galloping through the Rong tribe's territory outside the Great Wall.

The carriage jolted violently, the wooden wheels clacking against the uneven road surface with a dull, monotonous clacking sound. Xiao Kewei's hands were tied behind his back, and the black cloth bag covering his head was airtight. Sweat soaked his temples and clung to his skin. He could feel the hard wooden planks beneath him, and the occasional violent jolt would cause his entire body to bounce up and then drop heavily, causing him to feel pain. Based on the severity and duration of the jolts, he was certain he was in a carriage on the move. The steady clatter of horses' hooves outside clearly indicated a team of guards.

The darkness and the unknown fostered a sense of unease. He licked his chapped lips and tentatively asked in a hoarse voice, "Excuse me... where are you taking me, Xiao? Based on this distance, it's been a day and a night. Judging by the sound of horse hooves, the official road should have been covered long ago... I reckon we're almost at the capital, right?" He deliberately slowed his speech, with a touch of the reserve of a civil servant, his ears perked up, catching any movement outside the carriage.

Outside the carriage, there was only the sound of wind and horse hooves, a dead silence. He waited for a long while, his heart sinking.

I don't know how much time passed, it felt like three or four hours. The sun's light was becoming glaring even through the black cloth bag, and the shaking of the carriage had calmed down a bit. At this moment, a deliberately low, emotionless voice finally came from outside the window:

"Someone's waiting for you up ahead. The master has instructed us not to show our faces."

The voice was unfamiliar, but the word "master" made Xiao Kewei's heart leap! He felt like he had grabbed a life-saving straw and asked anxiously, "Are you... Shi Xiang's people? Or are you the people of some prince?"

There was silence outside the car for a moment, and only four words were uttered: "No comment."

Then he added, "This carriage will go along the road, and when we get there, someone will help you untie it."

Xiao Kewei's heart was in suspense again, but the other party at least gave him some hope. He could only suppress his doubts and whispered, "...Thank you."

……

As the carriage continued to move forward, the surrounding sounds seemed to change. The wind was louder, the air was a little colder and drier, and a strange smell mixed with grass and livestock could be faintly smelled.

Just when Xiao Kewei was feeling a little drowsy from the bumps and speculation, a rapid and clear sound of horse hooves came from afar. It seemed that there were not just one team, but several horses that quickly caught up with the carriage and stopped beside it.

"Whoa!" A powerful voice rang out, "Is that Mr. Xiao Kewei sitting inside?"

Xiao Kewei's spirits lifted, and he almost shouted, "It's Xiao!"

The carriage door swung open with a clatter, and dazzling sunlight suddenly streamed in. Even through the black cloth bag, he subconsciously squinted. Then, the black bag on his head was neatly ripped off. The sudden brightness blurred his vision, and it took a moment for it to focus.

In front of him was a burly man as tall as a black tower. He was wearing a fur coat common among Rong people. His face was weathered. He was about thirty years old. His eyes were sharp as knives. He was grinning at him, revealing a mouthful of white teeth: "Mr. Xiao, you have suffered! My real name is Li Yi, and the young master changed my name to Li Yi. I will untie you right away!" As he said that, he took out a dagger and cut the hemp rope that had already left deep marks on Xiao Kewei's wrist in a few strokes.

His wrist suddenly loosened, and the blood rushed back, bringing a tingling sensation. Xiao Kewei rubbed his wrist while gazing at the burly man in front of him with uncertainty. That name… that face… a message flashed through his mind like lightning. His pupils suddenly constricted, and he cried out in shock, "Li Yi?! The chief bandit of Fenshui?! You… you should have been killed by the Yunzhou soldiers long ago…"

Li Yi (Li Yi) chuckled, with a bit of the nonchalance of a gangster, and asked: "You, Xiao Zhubu, should have been beheaded with a 'snap' at the vegetable market long ago?" He made a gesture of wiping his neck.

Xiao Kewei was stunned for a moment, then understood. He smiled bitterly, a hint of mixed emotions after surviving a disaster: "Haha... I see! My master loves to play this kind of thing... huh?" His voice stopped abruptly as he glanced outside the carriage. The bitter smile on his face froze instantly, turning into complete astonishment! Where was the capital's scenery before him? Looking out, all he saw were rolling, boundless, emerald green hills! The grass was so thick that it seemed to be dripping, completely different from the mountains and rivers of the Central Plains! The air was filled with the unfamiliar smell of grass and cow and sheep feces.

"This... where is this?!" Xiao Kewei's voice changed and trembled with disbelief.

"Rongdi." Li Yi answered straightforwardly, "The grassland of the Ulanqab tribe. I have been staying here for almost two months." He patted his fur coat, which was covered with grass debris.

"Rong land?!" Xiao Kewei was like a cat whose tail was stepped on, and he almost jumped up from the carriage. "What a joke! How can people from the Central Plains operate on the Rong people's territory? This... isn't this like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth, seeking death?!" Countless legends about the Rong people's brutality flashed through his mind.

"Mr. Xiao, don't worry." Li Yi waved his hand nonchalantly, his demeanor calm. "The Ulanqar tribe is different from other tribes. They're not as hostile to us Central Plains people. Why? Hey, because their Wuhan (tribal leader)'s favorite princess is a Han woman from our Central Plains! Pillow talk is powerful!"

Xiao Kewei was stunned. The amount of information was too much to digest. He took a breath and asked, "Then... may I ask what kind of business is Lord Zhang doing in Rongdi? Why would he take such a huge risk?"

Li Yi didn't answer directly. Instead, he fished out a letter sealed tightly with wax from his bosom and handed it to Xiao Kewei: "Here, this is the young master's personal letter. Everything is clearly written on it. Please read it for yourself."

Xiao Kewei took the letter suspiciously, and with trembling fingers, he tore off the sealing wax and unfolded the letter paper. After reading only a few lines, his eyes widened like bells, his lips trembled, and he almost said aloud: "Cow... beef?! He... he he he..." He suddenly looked up at Li Yi, as if he had seen a ghost, "How dare he?! The court has strictly prohibited the slaughter of live cattle and the smuggling of beef! This is a serious crime punishable by death and confiscation of property! How can he be so bold! This... this number..." He pointed at a number on the letter, his fingers shaking violently.

Li Yi folded his arms and looked at him calmly: "Mr. Xiao, don't be impatient, keep reading."

Xiao Kewei suppressed the turmoil in his heart and cast his eyes downwards hastily. When he saw a key piece of information in the letter, he felt like he was struck by thunder. His face turned pale as paper, and the letter almost fell out of his hand!

"The... the late emperor's son?! This... this... how is this possible?! This..." He suddenly covered his mouth, blocking the rest of the words, and looked around in horror, as if ears would pop out of the empty grassland at any time.

Li Yi's expression also became serious. He took a step forward, lowered his voice, and issued an unquestionable warning: "Mr. Xiao, you'd better keep these words to yourself after reading them! When we arrive at our base later, you can't say a word about it! This matter is known to heaven and earth, and the young master knows it. Now with you and me included, there must not be a sixth ear that hears it!" He stretched out two fingers and pointed at himself and Xiao Kewei.

Xiao Kewei felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, his back instantly drenched in sweat. He clutched the secret letter, weighing over a thousand pounds, tightly, his voice as dry as sandpaper scraping against it. "You... who are you exactly? Are you the Prime Minister's men? Or are you a hidden pawn of some prince? Could it be... could it be that you're one of those elusive Xinxue rebels?!"

Li Yi shook his head, a look of determination that was almost honest and straightforward on his face: "Don't worry, Mr. Xiao, we are not any of the factions you mentioned. We only recognize the young master."

"Who do you allege to, then? There has to be a reason, right?" Xiao Kewei pressed, his voice sharp, even though he wasn't aware of it. He needed an identity label he could understand.

Li Yi grinned, his smile filled with a hidden pride: "Name? Yes! We brothers who follow the young master to work in secret have a common name -" He paused, his voice was not loud, but every word was clear and carried a heavy weight, "It's called 'Tongtiandai'!"

"Tongtiandai?" Xiao Kewei was stunned, his heart aching even more as he pondered this unheard-of name, a name that sounded like both a gangster jargon and a sinister aura. He looked at the "bandit" before him, thriving in the military, and an even more terrifying thought surfaced uncontrollably. His voice trembled as he asked, "'Tongtiandai'... what does he intend to do with this 'heavenly' power? Rebellion?" Even the mere mention of the word sent a chill through him.

Li Yi's eyes were frank, without a flicker. "Rebellion? I don't know. I just know that my life was given by the young master! The young master is the backbone of Tongtiandai. I do whatever he tells me to do, and never ask any questions! If there really comes a day like that..." He paused, an almost fanatical loyalty bursting out of his eyes. "The young master said he wanted to sit in the Golden Throne Hall. I, Li Yi, and my brothers in Tongtiandai will immediately hold his horse and stirrups and be the first to charge! If the young master says that the chair hurts his butt, we in Tongtiandai will continue to herd cattle and sell horses for him and make this northern land an iron bucket!"

"Horrible... so terrifying..." Xiao Kewei felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at Li Yi's unfeigned, pure loyalty. It wasn't fear of the rebellion itself, but rather a shudder at the organization's unfathomable penetration and execution capabilities, as well as Li Yi's blind obedience. The three words "Tongtiandai" were etched into his heart like a brand.

Li Yi raised his eyebrows and said jokingly, "Are you scared, Mr. Xiao?"

Xiao Kewei took a deep breath of the crisp, grassy air and forced himself to calm down. He looked around the vast, unfamiliar, and dangerous Rongdi grasslands, then glanced down at the secret letter in his hand that could stir up a bloody storm. Finally, his gaze fell on Li Yi's dark and red face, which was honest and straightforward, but concealed a sharp edge.

He suddenly smiled at himself, and there was bitterness and resignation in that smile, but also a strange open-mindedness.

"Hmph," he snorted, straightening his slightly hunched back. "I'm already a dead man who deserves to be beheaded on the execution ground. What's there to be afraid of? It's just that..." He looked at the rolling clouds in the sky with a bit of scholarly sourness. "I'm just afraid that the heavens will suddenly change their colors. My old bones, which crawled out of the pile of corpses, will be thrown into the muddy water of the 'Tongtiandai'. I'm afraid they won't be able to withstand the tossing and turning and will fall apart again!"

After hearing this, Li Yi grinned and showed an expression of agreement: "Birth, old age, sickness and death, these are the rules set by God, we can't change them." He patted his strong chest, his eyes brightening surprisingly, "But the master said that we can choose for ourselves! Choose to die standing or kneeling! Choose who to die for! Choose whether it is worth dying!"

Xiao Kewei was stunned, chewing on these words, a strange glint flickering in his cloudy old eyes. He was silent for a moment, as if making some kind of resolution. Suddenly, he looked up at Li Yi and asked a somewhat abrupt yet seemingly obvious question: "Can I...can I still call him...'Young Master' in this 'Tongtiandai'?" He mentioned the name of the organization again, as if confirming his position.

Li Yi was stunned at first, then, as if he had heard something extremely pleasing to the ear, the smile on his face instantly widened, and a hearty, resounding laugh rolled out from the depths of his throat. "Hahaha! Mr. Xiao, that's a brilliant question! Once you're in Tongtiandai, you're family! Call me Young Master? Of course!" He patted Xiao Kewei's shoulder hard, causing him to stumble. His laughter echoed across the empty grassland, carrying a tacit acceptance. "Let's go, Mr. Xiao. There's still a long way to go. We have to reach Tongtiandai's territory in Ulanqab before dark!"

Xiao Kewei rubbed his shoulder that was hurt by the pat, looked at Li Yi's back as he rode forward, and then looked down at the secret letter in his hand.

He finally condensed his complex emotions into a long, incomprehensible sigh and clumsily climbed onto the horse prepared for him. Verdant hills unfolded before him, leading to the unknown stronghold of Tongtiandai deep in the Rong land.