Enduring the agony of his injured leg, Yang Xingjian struck the Dengwen Drum standing before the gates of the Imperial City with all his strength.
He had struck it only once before the Imperial Guards on duty at the gate tackled him.
Seeing a lone man in commoner's clothes racing toward Duanmen like the wind on a scrawny donkey with a patchy mane, they assumed some deranged peasant had come to cause trouble and defy authority. They were about to drag him to the roadside and beat him.
Yang Xingjian raised his Silver Fish Bag and shouted, "I am an officer of a prince's household in the Capital! A member of the Hongnong Yang Clan and a duly appointed sixth-rank court official! I have a crime to report!"
One of the Imperial Guards snatched the Fish Bag from his hand and sneered, "If you're a court official, then I'm a heavenly king's mighty warrior."
The Tang court maintained a separate administrative establishment in Luoyang, the Eastern Capital, with its offices in the Imperial City in the northwest of the city. Its highest administrative officer was the Henan Governor. The Imperial House had long since moved to Daming Palace in Chang'an, and most of those left in Luoyang were idle officials drawing their salaries while awaiting retirement. Even so, the Imperial City retained its imposing authority.
The Dengwen Drum stood here as little more than an ornament. How could they allow just anyone to strike it? Had the donkey not run too fast for them to stop it, he would never have gotten close.
Yet after they dragged this madman to the roadside, he actually pulled an Official Appointment Certificate and a Black Gauze Cap from his bundle, along with a complete Green Official Robe.
The Imperial Guards froze. They checked