This time, the fact that several factions had made a move against Great Zhou had caught everyone completely by surprise. Ji Haodian's death had been even more unexpected.
But with Ji Haodian dead, those petty schemers lurking in the shadows had thought they could emerge and stir up trouble. The result, of course, had been disastrous for them: Great Zhou crushed them with overwhelming force.
Great Zhou wasn't like the old Great Jin, where the emperor's death had plunged the realm into chaos. Even without Ji Haodian, everything in Great Zhou continued in orderly fashion.
Within the Forty-Nine Circuits of Great Zhou, the civil officials needed no explanation. As for military force, the local Six Fan Sect and Military Governors kept watch over things. If trouble arose, they would suppress it.
If they couldn't, they would use secret methods to report it to Su Xin and the other Four Great Constables, as well as the military's generals, and let them decide what to do.
And if even Su Xin and the others couldn't handle it, that was no problem either. The Imperial Offering Hall and the many members of the Ji Imperial Clan were more than enough to suppress anything.
When Ji Haodian was alive, all these major matters were reported to him. But even then, the reports merely informed him of the outcome; they weren't asking him to make a decision.
So Ji Haodian's absence had little effect on Great Zhou's internal affairs as a whole. Those who had been the first to stick their heads out had died horribly. The rest had learned their lesson and stopped causing trouble, turning their attention instead to Shengjing City.
The Forty-Nine Circuits of Great Zhou weren't in chaos, and they wouldn't be. The only place in turmoil now was Shengjing City.