Aoyama

Chapter 499: The Suspicion Formation
The honor guard left the city through Deshengmen and headed towards Changping County. They set off in the early morning and arrived in the evening, which was the most suitable place to stay.

The long rammed earth official road stretches all the way to the north, with no mountains on either side, offering an unobstructed view.

Chen Ji rode at the very front, his whale-shaped sword and hard bow resting on the saddle, the quiver at his waist swaying up and down with the horse's movements.

Behind him, the Imperial Guards stood guard over the carriage, while Li Xuan and Qi Zhenzhuo rode side by side on either side, showing no intention of paying any attention to the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince tried several times to join the Imperial Guards, but he was blocked from entering, just like a passerby standing outside the ceremonial procession.

He scrutinized the sharp jawline of the Imperial Guard, and even Qi Zhenzhuo's face now showed a resolute and restrained quality he had never seen before.

The crown prince looked around and, seeing that he could not fit into the ranks of the Imperial Guards, finally gave up struggling.

As evening approached, he saw the outline of Changping County appear on the horizon. Finally, he rode forward and sighed softly beside Chen Ji, "Lord Chen is truly remarkable. I am ashamed to admit my inferiority."

Chen Ji said casually, "What makes you say that, Your Highness?"

The Crown Prince walked side by side with Chen Ji: "I led the Imperial Guards on their first expedition to Guyuan. I know them very well. To bring them to this state in just a few months is truly something that no ordinary person can do."

Chen Ji calmly replied, "Your Highness misunderstands. It is their own ambition that is at stake, and it has little to do with me."

The Crown Prince smiled and said, "As the saying goes, a bad soldier is a bad soldier, and a bad general leads to a bad army. The soldiers will learn from the leader. This has always been the case in leading troops into battle. Lord Chen, there is no need to be so modest."

Chen Ji suddenly sighed, "Sometimes I think Your Highness is very powerful, so powerful that you can remain calm and composed no matter what. Even if we have fallen out right now, you can still try to reconcile with me."

The Crown Prince said gently, “What is this? As the heir apparent, one must be patient from a young age. One cannot be too outstanding, lest the Emperor be jealous; nor can one be too unremarkable, lest the Emperor dislike one. One must suppress one’s affection for one’s parents, because they do not reciprocate. One must also suppress one’s dislike for someone, because that person is still useful. Sometimes, even knowing that there are spies planted in Zhongcui Palace, one must pretend not to know. I have been patient like this since I was a child, and I am used to it.”

Chen Ji remained expressionless: "Why is Your Highness telling me all this?"

The Crown Prince then changed the subject: "Lord Chen, I know there is no turning back between us, but today I will not discuss our past relationship with you, but rather our interests."

Chen Ji asked with a smile, "What can Your Highness offer me?"

The Crown Prince pondered for a moment: "If Lord Chen and the Chen family can lend me a hand, I can promise the Chen family a hereditary dukedom. Lord Chen, it has been a hundred years since our Ning Dynasty has produced a duke of a different surname."

Chen Ji laughed heartily, no longer concealing his intentions: "The Duke may be tempting, but that is not what I desire. With Your Highness's cunning and ruthless nature, the day you ascend the throne will be the day I am purged. Moreover, Your Highness still doesn't understand one principle."

The crown prince asked in confusion, "What's the reasoning behind this?"

Chen Ji said sincerely, "Your Highness has always thought that I secretly instructed the Imperial Guards to isolate you? That's not the case. I never said anything. All of this is simply Your Highness's own fault. Your Highness, dozens of brothers of the Imperial Guards died outside Chongli Pass. Zhou Chong and Zhou Li protected you when you were in Guyuan, but they died in battle outside Chongli Pass. After their bodies were transported back to the capital, did you go to pay your respects? They are to be buried tomorrow. Do you know where they are buried?"

The Crown Prince said softly, "I have been under house arrest in Zhongcui Palace and have been unable to offer my condolences."

Chen Ji continued, “When the Imperial Guards returned to the capital, no one said a word for them. Everyone cursed them as traitors who colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country. They were even forbidden from passing through Andingmen. If there were any other possibility, I would not want them to walk this road again, because if they did, they would be cursed again. But because of your own selfishness, they could not watch their comrades being buried with their own eyes, and they had to go to war again before they could even catch their breath.”

The crown prince was speechless.

At this moment, the city gate of Changping County was in sight. From inside the city gate came a commotion of shouting, cursing, and discussions. It seemed that someone had spread the news that the procession was going to pass through, so the people of Changping were waiting in front of the city gate, waiting to shout and curse in anger.

Chen Ji looked at the Crown Prince and said with a smile, "Your Highness, I can take a lot of criticism, and I hope you can too."

……

……

Before the ceremonial guard entered Changping County, Chen Ji rode up to Li Xuan and whispered, "Someone is deliberately creating chaos. They probably want to take advantage of the confusion to do something. Be careful in everything once we enter Changping County."

Li Xuan nodded: "I know."

Chen Ji rode ahead into Changping County, and the people in the town all turned their eyes to him as they entered.

He noticed that a few people among the crowd glanced at them, then quickly looked away and hurried away. Others kept their eyes fixed on them, their eyes filled with hatred.

Chen Ji couldn't tell whether these people were assassins who came to kill the Jing Dynasty envoys, or whether he had heard the stories in the teahouse and regarded them as traitors who had betrayed the country. He just felt that everyone looked like an assassin.

Some civilians followed the procession, shouting loudly: "Traitorous villains, colluding with the enemy and betraying the country!"

Gradually, some people noticed that the Imperial Guards didn't retaliate when they were insulted. Some even tentatively took out eggs and threw them at the carriage. Li Xuan caught the eggs with quick reflexes and stared at them with a complicated expression.

Chen Ji pointed at the Crown Prince and shouted at the people, "The Crown Prince is here, do not be rude!" The people looked in the direction he was pointing and immediately vented their anger.

Almost all the surviving Imperial Guards are now at the Innate Commander level, so they are unlikely to be hit by eggs. Only the Crown Prince is not an Innate Commander, so he cannot dodge the eggs when they are thrown at him and can only let them hit him, leaving him in a sorry state.

No one covered for him.

Some Imperial Guards tried to reason with the people, but Li Xuan only ordered in a deep voice, "Be careful and on guard, do not linger."

The procession headed straight for Changping Post Station. Chen Ji kept his hand on the hilt of the whale-shaped knife, but no one made a move until they stopped in front of the post station.

Li Xuan handed the reins to Qi Zhenzhuo: "Send the horses to the stable and take good care of them. Don't let anyone poison them and kill them all."

Qi Zhenxue agreed: "I'll bring my men to sleep in the stables tonight."

Li Xuan nodded: "Go ahead."

After the Imperial Guards sealed off the area around Changping Post Station, Chen Ji lifted the carriage curtain and said to Princess Liyang, "Get out of the carriage and rest in the main hall for a while. We will arrange rooms after we have searched Changping Post Station."

Princess Liyang put on a white veil hat, obscuring her face behind the veil, and helped Yuancheng, who was wearing a black cloth bag on his head, slowly get out of the carriage.

The Crown Prince was surprised. He hadn't expected that a day had passed and Yuan Cheng's head was still covered. He knew that Yuan Cheng was no longer a prisoner and there was no need to cover his head.

Chen Ji glanced at the crowd on the outside, then led Princess Li Yang into the main hall and found a table to sit down.

An official from Changping Post Station approached respectfully and said, "Sir, the post station has prepared food and hot water. The dishes include pan-fried tofu and lamb chops..."

Chen Ji shook his head: "No need, we brought our own."

After saying this, the Crown Prince saw the Imperial Guards take off their packs, abandon the lamb chops at the post station, and instead take out cold scallion pancakes and distribute them. The Imperial Guards silently tore off a piece of the pancake and chewed it silently.

The Imperial Guards also took out water pouches and passed them around to drink from. Even Princess Liyang was no exception. She took a water pouch and drank from it, and took a cake and ate it without any pretense.

The prince looked at the egg white hanging on his body and prepared to take the pancake, but when the pancakes were being distributed to the prince, he turned around and left.

Upon seeing this, the postmaster hurriedly came to the Crown Prince and said, "Your Highness, let me serve you some food."

The crown prince took a deep breath: "No need, I'm not hungry yet."

No one dares to eat food found on the roadside, as any food of unknown origin may be poisonous.

The journey to Chongli Pass by carriage would take at least ten days. Without food or water, and facing the constant threat of assassination attempts, the Crown Prince did not know how he would survive until he reached Chongli Pass.

He suddenly pointed at Yuan Cheng and said, "This person is not Yuan Cheng, is he right or wrong?"

Chen Ji glanced at him: "What nonsense are you talking about, Your Highness? Who else could this person be but Yuan Cheng?"

The Crown Prince said in a deep voice, "Lord Chen is far too reckless in disregarding his own life. He wants to use himself to draw away the assassination attempt so that the real Yuan Cheng can leave. Otherwise, why doesn't he take off his hood?"

Chen Ji calmly said, "Because this person is the Privy Councilor of the Jing Dynasty, we cannot allow him to survey the official roads and mountain ranges of our dynasty, lest he return to the Jing Dynasty and draw up a map. Not only that, we must also plug his ears."

The Crown Prince didn't believe it: "Now that we're in the post station, we don't need to worry about him probing our country's terrain anymore. We can take off his hood and have something to eat."

The Imperial Guards and the post station officials all looked at Chen Ji.

Chen Ji remained seated, holding a flatbread in his hand, staring intently at the Crown Prince: "Your Highness, it is our duty to send them back to Yuancheng. You don't need to worry about how they were sent back, as long as they were sent back. Is Your Highness actually worried that you will be implicated in Yuancheng and die on the way, so you want to expose this matter? Isn't that a bit too selfish?"

The Crown Prince knew that only if the assassins discovered that this was not the real Yuan City would they turn their attention back to the capital, and only then would he have any hope of returning alive.

Chen Ji calmly said, "Duo Bao, bring all the post station officials into the main hall for safekeeping. No one is allowed to leave Changping Post Station tonight. After we leave tomorrow, you take some men to stay and guard the post station until we return from Chongli Pass."

Duo Bao clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Yes."

The Crown Prince said in a deep voice, "The fact that Yuan Cheng was wearing a hood when he got out of the carriage just now has already been seen by the onlookers. If I could see it, others certainly could too. Lord Chen is just being clever for his own good. How can we risk the life of the Crown Prince for Yuan Cheng?"

Chen Ji looked up at the Crown Prince: "Your Highness, there's no need to rack your brains to save your life. This time, we're going to live and die together, there's no way to avoid it. If you return to the capital alive, consider yourself lucky. If you die on the way, don't blame others... Your life may not be worth as much as Yuan City."

(End of this chapter)