Jinghe Year Sixteen, the fourteenth day of the fifth month, Luoyang.
The Luo River surged eastward around the city, its shimmering waters meeting the sky as white egrets rose now and then.
Along the official road outside the city, willows stood in rows, distant mountains lay dark as painted brows, and the city towers loomed majestically...
An ancient capital of a thousand years, in a season of gentle beauty.
It was then that Wei Nisheng's party arrived in Luoyang.
The party numbered no more than twenty or thirty riders, yet every movement carried the unmistakable bearing of an Imperial Envoy.
Two riders led the way, holding the Apricot-Yellow Parasol high. Beneath it stood a staff bearing the Imperial Insignia, its yak-tail plumes spreading in the wind-the ceremonial display of a man entrusted with imperial authority.
Behind them, eight military officers each carried Royal Command Banners and Tablets. The banners were blue and white, the tablets engraved with the character for "command." They advanced in solemn silence.
Only then came Wei Nisheng, riding a chestnut horse. Though travel-worn and dust-covered, he showed not the slightest fatigue.
Behind him followed Cui Fu and two or three others, along with five or six mounted clerks. All rode briskly with composed expressions; not one raised his voice.
They had left the capital on the third day of the fifth month, traveling by day and lodging by night. Eleven days later, they had already reached Henan Prefecture.
They had covered only a third of the road to the Northwest.
As they approached Luoyang's city gate, they suddenly saw a man standing beside the road, rising on tiptoe and craning his neck, his eyes nearly worn through with waiting.
At the sight of the Imperial Envoy's banner, his eyes lit up. He rushed forward,