Seeing Wei Lou's expression, Yun Da realized that he had said the wrong thing.
But words were like water spilled—they could not be taken back. He simply said everything he had intended to say in one breath: "Lord Shen has the full support of the Gongxi Clan and abundant provisions. Even if she relied on those provisions to recruit troops and gather talent on the spot, plenty of people would be willing to answer her call. Yet she didn't do that. Instead, she used her precious energy on the common people. At first, I didn't really understand it."
That was somewhat different from Ji Sun Yin fooling him into believing that force could end conflict.
She had grain and troops. Shouldn't she take the opportunity to grow stronger?
Yet she hadn't. She had not pursued the ambitions everyone in the secular world chased, and under her rule, there was even an atmosphere of ease so unfamiliar that it made people deeply uncomfortable. How long had it been since she took over this place? Not long at all, yet in that short time, she had brought such a tremendous change to the spirit of this barren land, one that had endured intense pressure year after year. Yun Da didn't understand, but he possessed a spirit of inquiry and stubborn thoroughness.
If he didn't understand, he would go find the answer.
He went to the Prefectural Yamen, he went among the streets and alleys, and he went into the fields.
He vaguely grasped a thread of the truth.
Wei Lou sneered. "Do you understand now?"
Yun Da didn't mind Wei Lou's reaction in the slightest and continued on his own. "Actually, I still don't really understand. But something a peasant woman said did move me a little... Her newlywed husband had gone