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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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Lie Fan wanted his wives to breathe some real, fresh air away from the heavy, political atmosphere of the palace. More importantly, he wanted to allow his children to finally see the breathtaking scenery of the world outside of Xiapi. Up until this point, only Crown Prince Muchen, who often accompanied his father on military reviews and formal state functions, had truly seen the rolling hills, the vast farmlands, and the dense, ancient forests of the central plains.
For Muche'e twin sibling and also their younger siblings, toddlers and the wide eyed infants, the capital was the entire universe. Lie Fan wanted them to see the rivers, the mountains, and the endless sky. He wanted them to understand the sheer, incomprehensible scale of their inheritance.
The morning of the departure was a scene of beautiful, organized chaos within the private palace courtyards. Palace maids rushed back and forth, loading heavy, lacquered trunks filled with fine silks, warm furs for the autumn chill, and an endless supply of toys and snacks for the younger imperial children.
Empress Ying Yue oversaw the logistics with her usual, flawless grace, ensuring that the infants were properly bundled against the morning breeze. Diao Chan moved gracefully among the older princesses, her musical laughter ringing out as she pointed toward the sky, explaining the journey they were about to take.
Cai Wenji was already packing a small, portable library of bamboo scrolls, eager to read poetry by the scenic lakes of Xiaopei. Zhen Ji looked radiant, her ethereal beauty glowing in the crisp morning light, while Lu Lingqi paced the courtyard with barely contained, fierce energy, her hand resting habitually on the hilt of her decorative, yet fully functional, short sword, thrilled to finally be moving again.
Lie Fan stood near the grand archway, dressed in comfortable but highly refined traveling clothes of dark crimson and black, watching his family with a look of profound, unadulterated devotion. This was the peace he had waged a hundred wars to secure.
However, Emperor Lie Fan was not a naive man. The world was pacified, yes, but moving the entire royal family, the Empress, four highly visible Imperial Concubines, the Crown Prince, and the entire bloodline of the Hengyuan Dynasty, in a single, massive convoy outside the impenetrable walls of the capital was a logistical and security nightmare of staggering proportions.
If a rogue remnant of a desperate warlord's army, or a fanatical assassin funded by the ruined, old guard aristocracy, managed to strike the convoy, the entire empire would collapse into chaos within an hour.
Therefore, moving the royal family required a full, overwhelmingly massive, and heavily armed military escort.
For this unparalleled task, Lie Fan did not rely on standard garrison commanders. He brought forth the absolute titans of his military might.
The peerless generals Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Zhang He, and Pang De were explicitly summoned by Lie Fan to command the protection details. It was a staggering concentration of martial virtue and tactical genius, a quartet of warriors so legendary that their mere presence on a battlefield was usually enough to shatter enemy morale.
Zhao Yun, the Silver Dragon, rode at the absolute vanguard of the formation. His immaculate, polished silver armor caught the morning sunlight, radiating an aura of flawless precision and unbreakable loyalty. He was tasked with the immediate, close quarters command of the imperial carriages, his spear ready to strike down any threat with the speed of lightning.
Ma Chao, the fierce, untamed cavalry commander of the west, rode the flanks. His incredibly vibrant, colorful armor and his terrifying, magnificent presence commanded a massive screen of elite, light cavalry.
He had left his pregnant wife, Sun Shangxiang, safely resting in the capital, allowing his full, undivided, and lethal attention to be focused entirely on scouring the horizon for any sign of ambush. His riders pushed out miles ahead and to the sides of the wagonway, ensuring that no hostile force could even approach within visual range of the iron tracks.
Zhang He, the master of tactical fluidity and terrain adaptation, commanded the rearguard. His sharp, highly analytical mind constantly evaluated the changing landscape, ensuring that the massive convoy could not be trapped in a choke point or flanked from behind.
And finally, Pang De, the immovable mountain of defense, commanded the heavy infantry that marched in tight, impenetrable formations directly alongside the carriages. His imposing, unyielding presence promised absolute, grinding death to anyone foolish enough to attempt a direct assault on the imperial family.
Naturally, this legendary command structure was merely the outer shell of the defense.
The entire, full, terrifying force of the Yellow Ghost Bodyguards came alongside them. These elite, highly trained, fanatically loyal killers formed the innermost, completely impenetrable diamond of death directly surrounding the specially constructed imperial carriages.
They wore their dark, emotionless masks, their hands never straying far from the hilts of their heavy broadswords, their eyes scanning the crowds and the tree lines with cold, mechanical efficiency.
And lastly, marching with absolute, synchronized discipline ahead of the entire procession, were the elite of the elite Imperial Guards. Their specific, highly vital task was to secure the actual iron rails.
They marched ahead of the massive, custom built wagonway carriages, visually inspecting every single timber tie, every iron spike, and every bridge spanning the small rivers, ensuring absolute safety on the rails. They cleared the tracks of any debris, any fallen branches, and guaranteed that the Emperor's journey would be as smooth as polished glass.
The visual spectacle of the imperial convoy arriving at the grand, newly constructed wagonway station on the outskirts of Xiapi was truly breathtaking. It was the perfect, awe inspiring blending of ancient, god like imperial majesty with the stark, heavy, and undeniable dawn of industrialization.
The massive station, built of thick limestone blocks and heavy oak timbers, smelled of grease, hot iron, and the sweat of the engineers. The tracks stretched out into the distance, two perfect, parallel lines of wood and cold iron cutting a path straight through the beautiful, autumnal landscape of the central plains, disappearing toward the horizon where Xiaopei awaited.
Waiting on the tracks were the imperial carriages. They were magnificent, massive constructions, entirely distinct from the traditional horse drawn carts. They were wider, heavier, and far more stable, resting upon the ingeniously designed flanged iron wheels that Huang Yue Ying and Chen the blacksmith had perfected.
The carriages were crafted from dark, polished mahogany, intricately carved with golden dragons and sweeping phoenixes, their windows draped with the finest, semi translucent crimson silk to allow the family to view the world while maintaining their privacy.
Because the steam engine was still a highly classified, theoretical blueprint locked deep within the Ministry of Work, these carriages were pulled by teams of the absolute finest, most massive, heavily muscled draft horses bred in the northern pastures.
Hitched in long, tandem lines, the horses snorted and stamped their hooves against the crushed gravel bed, their immense strength ready to pull the heavy iron wheels along the frictionless tracks.
Lie Fan stood on the wooden platform, looking at the iron tracks, the massive carriages, and the staggering array of legendary warriors forming a perimeter around his family. He felt Ying Yue step up beside him, her hand slipping gently into his, her eyes wide with wonder at the sheer scale of the engineering marvel before them.
"It is time, my love," Lie Fan smiled, looking down at his Empress, before turning his gaze to his children, who were practically vibrating with excitement to board the massive wooden beasts. "Let us ride the iron road. Let us show them the world we have built."
With a sharp, echoing command from Zhao Yun, the imperial family boarded the luxurious carriages. The Yellow Ghost Bodyguards took their positions on the reinforced exterior running boards. The draft horses strained against their heavy leather harnesses.
With a deep, resonant, metallic groan of iron against iron, the heavy flanged wheels began to turn. The massive imperial carriages lurched forward, slowly at first, but rapidly gaining a smooth, undeniable, and unprecedented momentum.
The grand, heavily guarded procession began its historic journey, leaving the towering walls of Xiapi behind as the Emperor and his family rode the first iron veins of the industrial revolution out into the boundless, beautiful expanse of their unified empire.
The rhythmic, metallic clack clack, clack clack of the heavy iron wheels rolling seamlessly over the jointed rails became a hypnotic, comforting heartbeat for the imperial convoy.
The ride to Xiaopei was, without a single shred of doubt, definitively and astonishingly much faster compared to utilizing the normal, rutted dirt roads on traditional wooden carriages. In the old days, a journey of this magnitude required bracing for bone rattling jolts, enduring the suffocating dust kicked up by the horses, and constantly halting for snapped wooden axles or exhausted beasts sinking into autumn mud.
But this was the dawn of a new age. The massive, mahogany imperial carriage glided over the frictionless iron tracks with an eerie, majestic smoothness. The suspension systems, newly designed and heavily reinforced, absorbed whatever minor vibrations the rails produced, making the interior of the carriage feel as stable as a sitting room within the palace.
Inside the lavishly appointed main cabin of the imperial wagon, Crown Prince Muchen sat beside his twin sister, Princess Yaoyao. Both children had their hands pressed against the intricately carved wooden window frames, the semi translucent crimson silk curtains pulled back so they could eagerly overlook the passing scenery.
For Yaoyao, the world outside the imposing stone walls of Xiapi was a vast, unending canvas of wonder. Her wide, dark eyes tracked the sprawling, golden-hued farmlands ready for the autumn harvest, the dense clusters of ancient pine forests that blurred past them, and the distant, rolling foothills that kissed the endless, pale blue sky.
She watched flocks of birds take flight from the fields, startled by the massive, rumbling iron beast that was carving its way through their domain.
"Imperial Father!" Yaoyao suddenly exclaimed, turning away from the glassless window, her face flushed with the sheer, unadulterated excitement of a child experiencing true speed for the first time. Her delicate silk robes rustled as she bounced slightly on the plush velvet cushions. "This is wonderful! But... could the ride become much faster? If we make the horses run as fast as they can, we could arrive at Xiaopei much sooner, couldn't we?"
Lie Fan, seated across from his children, lowered the small bamboo scroll he had been casually reviewing. A warm, deeply affectionate light touched his sharp, handsome features. He opened his mouth to explain the delicate balance of momentum and the stamina of the draft horses pulling them, but before he could even utter a single syllable, another voice chimed in.
Muchen, sitting with a posture that was already remarkably disciplined and eerily reminiscent of his father, answered his twin sister first.
"We could probably go much faster if we truly wished to, Yaoyao," Muchen said, his young voice carrying a calm, incredibly intelligent cadence that belied his few years.
He looked out the window, his gaze sweeping over the golden fields not just with childlike wonder, but with the analytical eye of a future sovereign observing his realm's agricultural yield. "But I think our Imperial Father deliberately commanded the drivers to maintain this steady pace. He wanted to use this rare chance so that we could all enjoy the fresh air and truly see the beautiful, peaceful scenery of the heartland. If we go too fast, the world is just a blur, and we cannot appreciate what the empire actually looks like."
Lie Fan's eyes widened slightly, a profound surge of paternal pride swelling in his chest. He looked at the Crown Prince, marveling at how naturally the boy grasped the subtle, unspoken intentions of leadership and the importance of observation.
Lie Fan offered a bright, warm smile, nodding his head in absolute agreement with his son's assessment. "Your brother speaks the truth, Yaoyao. The destination is important, yes, but today, the journey itself is the reward. We have spent too long looking at stone walls. Today, we look at the earth."
Sitting gracefully beside Lie Fan, Empress Ying Yue chuckled softly. The sound was musical, filled with the deep, relaxed contentment of a mother watching her family thrive in safety. She reached out, her delicate hand gently brushing a stray lock of hair behind Yaoyao's ear.
"You must learn to be patient, my sweet flower," Ying Yue told Yaoyao gently, her voice a soothing balm against the girl's frantic energy. "Enjoy the journey itself. Look at how the sun catches the leaves of the maple trees. We will be in Xiaopei soon enough, and the lakes will not dry up before we arrive."
Yaoyao pouted playfully for a mere fraction of a second before nodding, turning her attention back to the mesmerizing, passing world outside the window, pointing excitedly whenever a flock of wild geese took flight from the harvested fields.
The journey continued in a state of absolute, unprecedented comfort. What historically required almost an entire, grueling day of travel from the dawn's first light until the deepest shadows of the night to arrive at Xiaopei, was effectively halved by the revolutionary efficiency of the new wagonways.
The sun was only just beginning to dip toward the western horizon, casting long, spectacular streaks of orange, bruised purple, and vibrant crimson across the sky when the massive stone walls of Xiaopei finally came into view. They had arrived smoothly in the late afternoon, almost early evening.
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 36 (203 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 1,010 (+20)
VIT: 659 (+20)
AGI: 653 (+10)
INT: 691
CHR: 98
WIS: 569
WILL: 436
ATR Points: 0