Captain Wen Xuanran"s attention to the Old Town Wall and its a.s.sociated gates, on the other hand, had nothing to do with the history of the site. Instead, his attention was fully focused on the safety of his charge. And of his troop."The place can be defended with a small number of guards, given the wall. It is tall enough to match the fortresses in the South. And the City of Yanyun. Clearly, it had been re-enforced, after that initial clash with the Wei Kingdom back then. And the locals have kept up its maintenance since then," he commented softly, no doubt directing his words at the Second Ducal Prince.
"There are two towers, which can house three archers to one side. So they can rain down a continuous barrage of arrows against all attackers. And the gates appear to be heavily reinforced with iron and is made up of thick planks. Something far more elaborate that what a small town needs.
"This place is meant solely for defense, and perhaps, to safeguard this one road that leads to the Duchy of the Westlands."
That was true. Even Qin Feng, who was barely able to make head or tail of a military-styled map had realized that there was only one route that led from Yanyun City all the way to the Shu Kingdom"s Capital. And Ningfei Town lay directly in the middle of that route.
Well, more or less. It was about twenty li closer to the Capital than to the first town in the Duchy, to be exact. But who would bother to count that?
After all, merchants were more concerned with how fast their goods could go, from one place to another, so that they would be able to predict if perishables could stay fresh. And valuables needed more guards, to keep them safe from possible bandits and such.
Although the efforts of the Duke of the Westlands in that aspect, has kept the roads in his Duchy largely unaffected by such lawless behavior.
Perhaps that was why the people of the town were not so surprised to see the soldiers there. Although those who were in civilian attire were stared at, since they were rather unusual, the soldiers themselves were hardly given a second glance.
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Which was enough to tell Qin Feng just how often they had appeared around that place.
Something that Li Changhai had been pleased to confirm, when Qin Feng asked him about it, later on in the day:
"They are used to seeing soldiers about. So both your father"s people and the rest of Shu Kingdom have been active hereabouts? They won"t be making a fuss over the fact that we are seen here?"
The Second Ducal Prince nodded back at him with a smile. "That is true. The Royal Family had invested a good bit of coin here, to make sure that it stands as a monument to the victory that turned things around for them, and for the Shu Kingdom. If we head further in, we will see a large monument stone too, praising my family. Both sides of my family. That has been there since there was still a Wei Kingdom hereabouts."
Qin Feng thought the Second Ducal Prince seemed a little proud of that, judging from the almost haughty smile on his lips. But it was certainly something to be proud of. After all, that war had killed hundreds of thousands, on both sides. And had caused the collapse of a rather sizable Kingdom, to the South.
One that no longer existed.
Even in the books that he had read in the Heaven Sword School, there were a few mentions of that place, when it was still around. He had always thought the writers to be just pandering to the new regime though, given how they were tossing dirt on the Wei Kingdom n.o.bles. But that was always the way of the world, so he wasn"t too bothered by it.
"Captain Wen. Perhaps you and your aide should step to the front and the right of the group? I think it would be safer, if we had Young Master Du Yan properly surrounded by our own forces, meager though they may be. Brother Qin Feng, if you could take the rear? I shall handle any attackers that would try their luck from the left."
Lin Liushui"s little reminder was enough to settle everyone into the roles that they were playing. And left Du Yan looking a little embarra.s.sed as he walked in the heart of the group. Clearly, he was not used to being the center of attention like this. So it was no surprise that he cheeks were a little redder than usual.
But Lin Liushui had already explained why they needed to play this game, so he didn"t say a word, and simply followed his direction.
That is, until the whole group arrived at the main gate of Ningfei Town itself. And saw a particular old man, clad in a light green-colored robe, with a graying beard that hung down to the top of his chest, clad like a courtier similar to what Qin Feng had seen in those pictures that had been drawn in his books. Indeed, the one with the graying hair was even wearing one of those old-fashioned hats, that were popular long before he was born!
For a moment, Captain Wen seemed to tense, and his hand started reaching for the hilt of his side-arm. But he was abruptly pushed aside, by someone who was behind him. And had to spend the next few moments recovering his balance.
Du Yan, however, being the fellow who had pushed past the Captain, stepped to the fore of the group. And dipped into a deep, respectful bow towards the man in green, and his voice, when he finally straightened up and spoke, was firm, and filled with affection.
"Father. Your disobedient son has returned."
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