Night had fallen outside Chang'an City, at the post house.
"Dammit, why are there so many mosquitoes?!" A constable shot up from his bed, gasping for air. He lit the candle in the room with a Fire Stick and viciously scanned his surroundings for the cursed insects.
His movements woke the other constables in the room; Li Shenbin in the corner, however, remained motionless, sleeping soundly.
They were tasked with escorting Li Shenbin to the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains to serve his sentence of exile.
Exile as a form of punishment had existed since ancient times. Sending convicted individuals to undesirable and remote areas not only maintained social order but also helped populate sparsely inhabited State Mansions and cultivate the untamed wilderness.
The destination for Li Shenbin, Mang State, bordered the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains. It was one of the frontlines in Yu Country's territorial expansion and a primary location for exiling prisoners.
