Kunzhou, tea house.
Tea houses and taverns had always been places where news gathered.
Shen Tang's personal expedition had not been kept secret.
Before she had even led her troops to the front lines, rumors were already spreading through the streets. The front-line regions had received the news, and the local governments had ordered some people to stay behind and maintain basic farming, while relocating some of the old and weak elsewhere in advance to reduce wartime losses once the great battle began. "Come to think of it, that's strange."
Groups of two or three tea drinkers gathered in the tea house, chatting about this and that.
One of them suddenly voiced his confusion, drawing sidelong glances from his companions.
One asked, "What strange thing have you heard now?"
The one who had first raised the topic shook his head instead.
His companion snapped, "Then why did you suddenly say it was strange?"
"How is it not strange? Think about it. Whenever we used to mention what the Royal Court had done, or what the Sovereign had done, there was always someone arguing against us. We'd say the harvest was good this year, and someone would say the local taxes were too high. We'd say some official had been punished, and someone would say the Royal Court's officials protected one another, and that he'd been punished only because the person above him had fallen. We'd say the Royal Court was better than before, and they'd say it was only putting on a show, and what did commoners like us know about the situation... Tsk, how strange. Why haven't we heard any of that today?"
Reminded by him, his companion also looked around.
He was bewildered. "That's true. Not only are those voices gone, there are far fewer people around the