Qu Yutang frowned when he heard this, got out of the carriage, stood on it and looked towards the city gate.
Sure enough, he saw a crowd of people at the city gate, with people coming in and out, seemingly unaffected.
This made Qu Yutang confused.
The city gates are wide open. Isn't Magistrate Deng afraid that spies or people from the imperial court will sneak in?
Could it be that he was overthinking it? Governor Deng did this just for...
Why? He really couldn't think of any excuse to cover up for Prefect Deng.
Unauthorized expansion of the city walls and unauthorized change of the city name are both capital offenses.
It is impossible that Magistrate Deng did not know this.
It was hard for him to understand why Magistrate Deng still did it even though he knew it was a capital crime.
Previously, when the capital city received news that Fire Extinguishing City had secretly expanded its city walls, all the civil and military officials regarded it as a joke.
It's like a child who has no milk to drink, so he makes a fuss and waits for his mother to notice him and give him a mouthful of milk.
The drought in Huohuo City was so severe that so many petitions for disaster relief were submitted to the capital, but all fell on deaf ears.
So Prefect Deng took an unconventional approach and planned to expand the city wall in order to attract the attention of the court.
Not to mention that Emperor Tianwu didn't care, even the civil and military officials didn't take the matter of destroying Fire City seriously.
However, if the news of Huohuo City secretly expanding its city walls spread, Emperor Tianwu might do something even more extreme if he did not send someone to reprimand and punish Prefect Deng.
So, they randomly assigned him a hundred officials and appointed him as the imperial envoy to inspect the area.
Now, everyone in the capital has made the mistake.
Magistrate Deng is not a child waiting for the imperial court to feed him. He is determined to grow up and replace me.
The officer glanced at Qu Yutang who was staring at the city gate in a daze and reminded him softly,
"Sir, if we hurry over now, we may be able to reach the city gate before sunset."
"If we delay any longer, I'm afraid the city gates will be closed by the time we get there."
Of course, the officers knew that entering this unfamiliar Qianhuang City would be very dangerous.
But now they have to go even if they don’t want to.
After coming out of Bailong City, they had been hungry and thirsty for two days and two nights.
The horses were so hungry that they could hardly walk.
If we turn back now, the journey back to Bailong City will only be slower.
At that time, we will have to kill a horse for food, but we cannot kill a horse at will.
There are only three horses pulling the carriage. If one is killed, the remaining two horses will only pull slower.
Besides, Governor Liu of Bailong City is extremely stingy.
During the time when these officials rested in Bailong City, they were not provided with a single drop of water, let alone food. They didn't even see a single hair.
Before they could ask the yamen runners of Bailong City for food and drink, Qu Yutang hurried out of the prefectural yamen with a gloomy face, urging them to set off immediately.
After walking for half a day out of Bailong City, when it was time to rest at night, I realized that I had nothing to eat or drink.
They are truly the worst inspectors in the Great Celestial Empire.
Other officials who followed the imperial envoy on his inspection tours had delicious food and drinks, but they had worse and worse food along the way, and in the end they didn't even have a sip of water to drink.
Miserable!!!
Qu Yutang pursed his lips, looked back at the dusty road, and let out a long sigh.
It's impossible to go back.
He was carrying the emperor's order, and if he returned before entering the city, he would inevitably be scolded by Emperor Tianwu.
Qu Yutang turned his head and looked deeply at the city wall that stretched for miles in the distance. He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice,
"Keep going!"
Whether you stick your head out or hide it, you will be cut. It’s better to go and see, so that you can die with a clear mind.
I thought this was the easiest errand, but who knew it would be the gate of hell...
The horse, with foam at the corner of its mouth, grunted twice, its head drooped, and its eyes revealed endless fatigue and weakness.
Under the whip of the officer, the horse raised its slightly trembling hooves, and each step seemed very difficult.
The horse's hooves dragged on the ground, making a dull sound, which was particularly harsh on the quiet official road.
The city wall seemed to be right in front of me, but it took me half a day to walk there.
The group walked from noon until the sun set before they arrived at the gate of the majestic Qianhuang City.
The closer they got to the city gate, the more panicked the officials became.
This city gate tower looks tall enough from a distance, and it's even more damn scary when you get closer.
They had never seen a city with a gate tower so tall.
The soldiers standing on the city gate tower looked extremely energetic.
The most important thing was that they discovered that there were soldiers guarding the walls of Qianhuang City from beginning to end.
This shows how wide the city wall was built.
If the walls surrounding the entire Qianhuang City were like this, then Qianhuang City could be said to be like an iron barrel, leaving no place for people to hide.
It was impossible to sneak in. There was a soldier every three or five steps on the city wall. With just a shout, countless soldiers would rush over from all directions.
The officers tightened their grip on the knife handles and suddenly regretted not persuading Qu Yutang to return.
Now we have reached the city gate. It is impossible to turn around and run away. We have to go on.
"Who is it?!" The guard at the city gate looked at the large number of officers and soldiers and immediately stepped forward to stop them and ask.
The leading officer flashed the token at the gate guard.
"The Imperial Commissioner is inspecting."
After the gate guard saw the token clearly, a smile appeared on his face.
"It turns out to be the Imperial Envoy. Let him pass!"
The city gate guards, who had already received the news, did not look shocked at all and simply let them pass.
Everyone guarding the city gate knew that the imperial envoy's carriage had stayed in the distance for half a day.
They also secretly made a bet on whether the imperial envoy would dare to come.
He won the bet and got two taels of silver, so of course he happily let them go.
Seeing the guards at the city gate let them pass so easily, the officers became even more uneasy.
The chief officer looked at the guard at the city gate hesitantly, put away the token in a panic, frowned, waved his hand, and led everyone into the city.
We're already at the city gate. No matter how nervous we are, we have to go ahead.
What could he do since the imperial envoy in the carriage didn't say anything.
Anyway, if the sky falls, there are high-ranking officials to support it, so these little people like them should not be punished with death.
Qu Yutang, who was sitting in the carriage, was also very nervous.
When he heard the guard at the city gate let him go, his heart instantly rose to his throat.
It was not until the carriage had creaked along for a cup of tea that he quietly lifted the carriage curtain and took a look outside.
This sight made Qu Yutang confused again.
I saw many people tidying up the ground on the open space created by the expansion of the city wall.
Some carried soil to fill the pits, while others pulled weeds.
Pull out weeds! ! ?
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