Chapter Twenty-Five: Heading North

  "When Master is recovered, we will set out on our journey northward." After talking for half a day, Zhang Shiping still shifted the topic to the most crucial issue.

  Li Mingfeng was also worried that he didn't study history well at first, and if he wanted to know the specific historical timeline, he wouldn't have had to consider going north with an injured leg. However, in his compulsory history subject, he wasn't clear about the specific details.

  But as soon as one analyzes it, one can know the general idea. Since an unequal treaty was signed, it must be that the Qing Dynasty was defeated, which means that in 1858, the Qing Dynasty suffered a great loss before signing the Treaty of Tianjin. Now it's just over two months after the Lunar New Year, probably around April in the Western calendar. Li Mingfeng thought to himself, he must hurry to Beijing before the war ends, otherwise once the other side has finished negotiating, he won't be able to gain any advantage.

  "My leg injury is not serious, I can leave now. Moreover, Zhang Maozhang occupies the Yangtze River, taking the land route would be too risky. I think it's better to hire a large ship and transfer to the land route once we reach Zhili." Li Mingfeng did not want to miss this great battle.

  Zhang Shipei couldn't wait for Li Mingfeng to leave early, and when he heard him say so, he also agreed: "The earlier the better, my family has a tea transport ship going north, whenever you want to leave, I can send it directly to take you."

  "Alright then, let's set it for the day after tomorrow. You get ready and we can leave the day after tomorrow."

  Zhang Shiping and Li Mingfeng also settled the matter of how many people and how many boats to bring. As they looked on, the sky outside had already darkened, and Bai Gui ordered someone to invite Li Mingfeng to come and eat, and Li Mingfeng pulled Zhang Shiping along to have dinner in the back hall.

  Li Mingfeng going out to eat is a waste of manpower, several servants and attendants lift him onto a sedan chair, from the front yard all the way to the back hall. A dozen or so people follow in front and behind.

  Bai Gui's two sons were already standing at the door waiting, Li Mingfeng didn't like the complicated etiquette of ancient people, he just hung a fake smile and nodded to them, then went straight in. The two didn't think much of it either, and called for the servants to bring up the dishes.

  While eating, Li Mingfeng told Bai Gui about his intention to go north. Bai Gui also didn't like having someone with a special identity living in his home, so he pretended to persuade him to stay for a few sentences before wishing Old Li a smooth journey.

  Nothing was said that night. The next day, Li Mingfeng instructed his servants to pack everything up, including the gold, silver notes, and clothes he had demanded from Zhang Shipei.

  On the third day, Li Mingfeng boarded Zhang's tea transport ship without notifying anyone. It wasn't that Li Mingfeng didn't want to take advantage of the opportunity to extort money from local wealthy people again, but he had heard that pirates in the East Sea were very rampant and was afraid that if news got out, they would be robbed on the way, so he could only sneak onto the ship. Bo Gui was still quite considerate, letting Qin Cheng bring a hundred Green Camp soldiers to follow him northward.

  No need to say more, the voyage at sea was monotonous and boring. After more than a month, Zhang's large ship had already arrived in Bohai Bay. The other day, when replenishing fresh water near the shore, it was learned that the British and French coalition fleet was facing off against the Qing army at sea recently. To avoid being caught in the fisherman's net, everyone unanimously decided to disembark and take a land route.

  The boat stopped at a small port at the junction of Shandong and Zhili, where everyone unloaded tea leaves, silk, and cloth from the boat, leaving dozens of people to watch the boat, and the team continued on.

  Zhang Shipei was wealthy and extravagant, buying many horses and carriages. Over a hundred Green Camp soldiers, plus several dozen sailors from his household, all rode horses when they went out. Li Mingfeng, whose leg injury had already healed, still didn't want to suffer any hardship, using an extremely luxurious carriage as transportation instead.

  All the way north, for the sake of appearances, the Green Camp soldiers also changed into servant attire, disguising themselves as escorts for the Zhang family's goods entering the capital. This was also a helpless move; one reason being that although the governor had the power to mobilize troops, deploying them to escort private friends was against Qing law, and another reason being that the purpose of this trip to the capital was not enough to be made public. Should they tell everyone that they came to coerce the Qing court into compromise?

  On the third day of their journey, they arrived within the borders of Langfang, which was only a day or two away from Beijing. At noon, the caravan carrying cloth and tea leaves marched along the official road, attracting curious glances from passersby. In these turbulent times, merchant caravans had become increasingly rare.

  "Master, there's an official procession ahead, let's pull over to the side of the road." Qin Cheng's voice came from outside the carriage. For convenience, Li Mingfeng allowed people to address him as "master", also a habit he had developed as a boss.

  The crowd parted to make way for Li Mingfeng, who got down from his carriage and saw from a distance that the approaching procession was extremely grand, with banners fluttering and spears and swords standing upright. As he drew closer, Li Mingfeng roughly estimated that there were at least five or six hundred guards in this procession. Some of the Qing soldiers held various weapons, while others carried flags representing their identities. In the middle of the procession, they were escorting a large sedan chair with a silver top and a dark green canopy. From this display, even Li Mingfeng, who was not familiar with specific etiquette, knew that the occupant of the sedan chair must be an extraordinary person.

  Qin Cheng and Zhang Shiping, who were familiar with the situation, knew that these soldiers and attendants also understood that a big shot was passing by, so they quickly dismounted their horses and stood guard at the side of the road. The imperial entourage rushed past in a great hurry, without even noticing the merchant caravan on the roadside.

  After the team passed by, Zhang Shipei looked at Li Mingfeng beside him and found that he seemed to be thinking deeply.

  "The master, look at their direction, they are heading towards Tianjin, possibly related to foreigners." Zhang Shiping said.

  "Zhang, what level of imperial officials do you think this team is for? It seems to be even higher than the one used by the Marquis of Pinggui." Li Mingfeng said as he gazed at the receding figures.

  Zhang Shiping listened to this and looked at Li Mingfeng with a puzzled expression, saying: "Just now that was an eight-bearer silver sedan chair, which is usually used by officials of the third rank or higher. However, judging from the ceremonial escort, it seems that there is an imperial edict involved. If my guess is not wrong, it should be a special envoy. Master has been in and out of official circles for so long, how can you still not recognize the ceremonial escort of a special envoy?"

  Li Mingfeng smiled awkwardly: "I've never paid much attention to these things, anyway I just know that the more people in the team and the more sedan chairs there are, the higher the official position, other than that I don't understand."

  "Haha, I never thought that the East House would be so unconcerned about official matters. Originally, I thought the East House had ambitions to enter the imperial court, but it seems I was mistaken." After spending over a month together, Zhang Shiping and Li Mingfeng's understanding of each other gradually deepened, and their conversations became more casual.

  "What's the point of being an official? You still have to kowtow when you see the emperor. It's not as free and easy as it is now. Emperors and empresses, they're not worth a single penny in my eyes." Li Mingfeng spoke his mind directly.

  Zhang Shiping was smiling happily, but after hearing this, he couldn't smile anymore and was stunned for a long time. It wasn't until Qin Cheng coughed that he came back to his senses. He turned his head to look at Li Mingfeng, only to find that he seemed completely unaware that he had just said something extremely inappropriate. Zhang Shiping saw the situation and could only pretend that he hadn't heard anything.