Besides plastering notices throughout the streets and alleys, both sides sent large numbers of soldiers galloping along the main streets, shouting back and forth as they read the proclamations aloud.
Everyone understood one thing clearly: the sky over Linjiang Prefecture had changed.
The old powers at the top had all been purged. Now, Song Yinglong of Crouching Tiger Manor and the man known as the "Startling Swan Spear" stood as two rival champions.
The common folk trembled in fear, but were the gentry and wealthy households any less terrified?
Still, life had to go on.
Ming Province was prosperous, and ordinary people lived better here than in most other provinces and prefectures. Yet there were still plenty at the bottom who went hungry whenever they missed a day's work.
On only the second day after the citywide proclamation, many shops had already reopened. Though the streets were not as crowded as before, they had come alive again.
At that moment, Hong Yuan was meeting his senior subordinates at the Tao Residence.
Besides several Jintang Battalion officers who had retained their posts after being screened, a number of senior Canal Gang members were also present.
The Canal Gang's influence extended across all twelve counties of Linjiang Prefecture, and naturally, it had a branch in the Prefectural City. As soon as Hong Yuan defeated Song Yinglong, he had sent someone to summon its branch leader.
He had instructed the man to contact headquarters at Twin Dragon Gorge and have Qian Shanzhi and the others come to the Prefectural City.
Twin Dragon Gorge was only sixty or seventy li from the city. In fact, they had arrived yesterday.
But after ransacking the libraries of the Hua Family, the Guo Family, and other powerful clans, Hong Yuan had acquired many more books. Busy reading,