Shuzhou

Biodata

Geography and Borders

Shuzhou’s frontier is described as surrounded by enemies on three sides 11.

Government and Military

Civil Administration

Frontier Defense

• Founding arrangements: Great Wei established the Iron Wall, Azure Wolf, and Black Armored Army garrisons in Shuzhou. Military households cultivated land and built defensive cities 11.
• Shared defense: The Shu Prefecture Protectorate, Supervision Court, and hereditary military marquisate were established to defend the region together 11.
• Marquis Dingyuan: The Xiao Family holds hereditary responsibility for commanding Shuzhou’s three military towns 11.
• Dingyuan Army: Xiao Jinghong becomes its commander. Earlier interference by officials obstructed its training and withheld money, grain, and armor 338 387 438.
• Later expansion: Xiao Jinghong proposes training ten thousand elite soldiers by sending small units to the Tea Horse Road, despite the risk of displeasing the emperor 587.

The Xiao Family’s Influence

The Xiao Family has approximately two hundred years of history in Shuzhou. Its authority rests on both substantial military forces and descendants serving in civil offices, including the Provincial Administration and Supervision Court. Its marriage alliance with the Duke of Gan’s household further strengthens its southern connections 32 165.

Although outsiders liken the family to Shuzhou’s “local emperor,” its dominance is contested. Following the apparent deaths of Xiao Fengchun and other core figures, officials and aristocratic families begin restricting the Xiaos, testing their limits, and considering replacing them 165 182.

Economy and City Life

Trade

• International commerce: Shops advertise goods associated with Poshir, the Western Buddhist Kingdom, and Japanese people. Chen Yi regards Shuzhou as a major southern city trading with all corners of the world 15.
• Eastern-city merchants: Most shops are operated by Great Wei people, particularly Shuzhou locals, alongside merchants from other Central Plains prefectures 79.
• Tea Horse Road: A major commercial corridor threatened by mounted bandits and later used in Xiao Jinghong’s military-training plans 11 587.
• Mutual Market: The Xiao Family develops a trading arrangement with the Mountain Tribe. Sabotaging its construction is one objective of the schemes surrounding the Three Towns’ Summer Grain 119 206.

Medicine Trade

Public Life and Order

• Literary gatherings: Guiyun Academy holds a Mid-Autumn poetry gathering attended by young women from Shuzhou’s aristocratic families 214.
• Examinations: Shuzhou holds an annual scholarly examination. Ma Shuhan’s revised assessment rules threaten scholars with losing their credentials 245.
• Everyday routines: Residents sweep the streets outside their homes, shops prepare their entrances, and acquaintances exchange morning greetings even amid political unrest 391.
• Criminal shelters: Parts of the city harbor wanted Jianghu figures, foreign bandits, and itinerant criminals protected by paid intermediaries such as Black Tooth 151.

Notable Locations

History

Founding Defenses and Frontier Losses

Great Wei’s founding authorities organized Shuzhou around military garrisons, defensive settlements, and a hereditary military marquisate. The Xiao Family subsequently maintained its position for roughly two centuries while defending the southern frontier 11 32.

Barbarian incursions continued after a major war twenty years before the early narrative. Another attack on Mengshui Pass five years before the main unrest killed prominent Shuzhou figures and weakened the region’s martial establishment. The Xiao Family also lost several members in border fighting over the preceding decade 11 119 256.

Arrival of Imperial Examination Graduates

Li Huaigu’s return as Tanhua produces a celebrated procession through Shuzhou City. Its novelty lies not in Shuzhou producing a high-ranking graduate, but in such a graduate parading locally rather than in the Capital Prefecture 29 34.

The posting of both Li Huaigu and Chen Yunfan to Shuzhou raises questions about the emperor’s intentions. Chen Yunfan later suspects their assignments serve a larger purpose 29 245.

Summer Grain Sabotage

Hidden Guard operatives and other conspirators target the Three Towns’ Summer Grain. Their overlapping objectives include weakening the Xiao Family, destabilizing Shuzhou, and delaying the Mutual Market 157 206.

Xiao Jinghong and Marquis Dingyuan resist immediate, uncontrolled retaliation against the Liu Family because open conflict could throw the province into chaos. After Xiao Jinghong eliminates numerous unorthodox practitioners, officials begin sweeping western-city streets that Yamen runners had previously feared to enter 119 209.

Grain Crisis and Epidemic Plot

Chen Yi uses the genuine presence of Asutai, the Barbarian Left King’s son, together with a false invasion rumor to manipulate grain prices against the Jizhou Trading Company. As prices rise, Liu Hong refuses to approve stabilizing measures 267 279.

Liu Hong’s broader scheme combines grain inflation, famine downstream of the Chishui River, and an engineered epidemic to provoke rebellion. Suppression would draw northern troops south and redirect the imperial court away from a Northern Expedition 306.

Acting as Liu Wu, Chen Yi detects the Epidemic Poison and supplies a treatment before it can overwhelm the prefectural city. Marquis Dingyuan mobilizes the authorities and sends a memorial to the Capital Prefecture 332 336.

Official Purge and Renewed Pressure

Marquis Dingyuan kills Liu Hong after discovering his betrayal of Xiao Jinghong’s parents. Xiao Jinghong beheads Zhu Hao for selling ironware to the enemy. Connected officials, aristocratic families, and powerful clans are also punished, causing further administrative disruption 356.

The struggle continues through Ma Shuhan’s examination question about campaigning south or fighting north, investigations implicating the Mountain Tribe, and suspected Qinghe Cui Family involvement. Chen Yi concludes that provoking a southern war could still force the emperor to abandon his northern plans 359 380 385.

Later Security and Martial Developments

Large numbers of Jianghu visitors place the city’s authorities on alert. The Provincial Administration posts prohibitions against private fighting, while the Judicial Department later arrests twenty-three suspicious arrivals, including wanted practitioners and foreign spies 385 525.

Xiao Jinghong’s Sword Dao breakthrough strengthens her authority over provincial officials and local gentry. Meanwhile, Liu Wu’s reputation gives Shuzhou’s orthodox martial factions a figure capable of rallying their previously scattered strength 436.

At one point, Chu Xiudao identifies Master Jingci of Wumeng Mountain as the only Earthly Immortal among Shuzhou’s major factions. Chu Xiudao subsequently achieves his own Earthly Immortal breakthrough in Shuzhou 553 593.