Thousand Miles Walk Chapter 1

Amidst the backdrop of palace intrigue, personal vendettas, and the ever-present threat of betrayal, "Thousand Miles Walk" is a story of survival, resilience, and the enduring power of loyalty and friendship.

"Thousand Miles Walk" follows Parker, Griffin, and their siblings as they navigate political intrigue and hidden truths to protect their family and honor.

On the street outside the Qian'an Palace, more than a dozen carriages were waiting in a row, and servants were going in and out of the corner gate, hurriedly carrying luggage and loading it onto the carriages.

In the tavern across the street, a few people were looking in curiously and whispering to each other.

"What's going on? What's going on in the prince's mansion?"

"In three months it will be the Emperor's birthday. I heard that several masters in the Prince's mansion will go to Beijing to celebrate his birthday."

"Are you coming back then?"

"Nonsense! Why don't you come back after celebrating the birthday?!"

"The Wanshou Festival is held every year, why do we have to go this year?"

"How should I know that?"

"Go back to work!" The owner of the tavern slapped the two men on the head and drove them away. He smiled and poured tea for the guests himself, "Take good care of them."

"No problem." The guest was a foreigner, who was listening with great interest, and asked, "Are there several masters in the prince's mansion? I heard before that the Prince of Qian'an is only in his teens this year, but he has already married?"

"No." The boss smiled, "In addition to the Prince of Qian'an, there are also the prince's brother and sister in the prince's mansion."

The guest nodded, hesitating to speak, "How come this nobleman is here, here..."

"Have you come to this poor and remote place like ours?" The boss smiled and continued, "This story has to start from the time of the late emperor..."

The sky is high and the emperor is far away in southern Xinjiang, and the people are open-minded. They never shy away from discussing state affairs. Early in the morning, there were no other customers in the tavern, so the boss simply sat down and started telling the story.

"The late emperor had a total of six princes. In his later years, he favored two princes, the second prince and the sixth prince.

"The second prince is older and more mature, while the sixth prince is younger and more intelligent."

"It is said that the late emperor favored his youngest son in his later years, but the Sixth Prince was too young. He was only fifteen years old when the late emperor passed away. Perhaps thinking that the country depended on the eldest son, the late emperor passed the throne to the Second Prince, who is now the current emperor, before his death."

"After the death of the late emperor, the Sixth Prince's mother, c0ncubine Zhong Guifei, was so grief-stricken that she followed the late emperor. The Sixth Prince's aunt, c0ncubine Xiao Zhong, who entered the palace as a c0ncubine with him, also followed."

"The Sixth Prince's maternal family also committed crimes. As these crimes came to light, the Sixth Prince's situation deteriorated drastically..."

The guest nodded in understanding: "This is really embarrassing."

The boss and the guest smiled at each other, hiding what they couldn't say, and continued, "But the emperor is pretty good to the Sixth Prince. In the second year after he ascended the throne, he conferred the title of Prince Ning on the Sixth Prince, who was not yet an adult, and treated him well in many ways..."

The guest frowned, and suddenly remembered something, and slapped the table: "Prince Ning! He is the one who was once captured..."

The boss nodded: "It was him. In the fifteenth year of Taihe, the northern barbarians invaded. I wonder if you know that the emperor of our dynasty has set an iron rule that whenever there is a war, a prince must be sent to accompany the army to boost the morale of the army. That year, the princes of the emperor were sick, some were young, so... Prince Ning was sent."

The guest hesitated: "This..."

"Hahaha, brother and son are almost the same." The boss said leisurely, "We ordinary people don't know how the war went. We only heard that Prince Ning was greedy for merit and advanced rashly, was defeated and captured, and died in the northern border half a year later. Some people on the front line said that Prince Ning actually surrendered to the enemy. What happened exactly... who knows?"

"Prince Ning's wife passed away when she gave birth to the twins, leaving behind a ten-year-old eldest son and a pair of two-year-old twins. The three young masters were in a state of panic. If Prince Ning really surrendered to the enemy, then these children..."

The guest was worried: "Will I be implicated too?"

"The emperor is merciful and suppressed those rumors. He did not vent his anger on the three youngest sons of Prince Ning." The boss smiled calmly, "Not only that, he also made an exception and allowed the Prince Ning's son, who just turned ten, to inherit the title at the same level. This can be considered a generous treatment."

The boss looked outside and said, "The prince who lives in the Qian'an Palace now is the former Prince of Ning, and his twin brother and sister."

The guest was confused again and hesitated, "You just said that the Prince of Ning inherited the title at the same level, so he should be the Prince of Ning. This is clearly the Prince's Mansion outside..."

"Hahahaha, that was not long after the prince came to us, he petitioned the emperor, saying that he had no virtue or talent, and was unworthy of the emperor's favor, and asked to be demoted to a county prince."

"The prince took our Qian'an as his fiefdom, so he naturally became the King of Qian'an. It has been seven years since then, and the King of Qian'an has been living peacefully here."

The guest thought about it for a moment, understood it, and sighed: "King Qian'an is young, but he is smart and knows how to advance and retreat..."

The boss shook his head and smiled, "That's wrong."

The guest was puzzled, and the boss slowly said: "Prince Qian'an is naturally intelligent, but he was so young at the time, how could he understand these things?"

"Yes." The guest calculated the time, "Prince Qian'an was only eleven or twelve years old at the time, how could..."

The boss said: "The one who protected the prince and his brother and sister was actually another person in their mansion..."

The guest immediately asked who that person was, and the boss smiled secretly, "I don't need to say more about this person, you must have heard of him."

The guest sneered: "I just arrived here, how can I know..."

"Griffin." The boss smiled, "Have you heard of her, sir?"

The guest slowly opened his eyes, slapped the table, and said excitedly: "Famous in the imperial city! Known throughout Jiangnan! Is this the Griffin Zhong that Prince Yu has been longing for for so many years? Who in the world doesn't know him!"