After the incident broke out, officials across the prefecture hurried into action, persuading the crowds to leave or dispersing them to maintain order.
The people in most cities soon dispersed, but crowds in four cities refused to leave. Only at noon, when hunger became unbearable, did they gradually abandon their blockade of Qing Kingdom shops.
By afternoon, local authorities began reporting their losses. The houses burned down and goods destroyed alone amounted to more than 1.2 million taels of silver, to say nothing of the indirect losses.
Discussion of the incident also began on the Discourse Ranking. Much as they had in the preceding days, people from the Qing Kingdom continued attacking Xiang Prefecture, claiming that the Xiang Bandits only harmed their own people and that any opposition to the Qing Kingdom was wrong.
All the scholars of the Jing Kingdom opposed excessive actions, but they also pointed out that the incident had been caused by the Qing Kingdom army's looting, and that the Xuanwu Army should bear the primary responsibility. They further argued that most of those who had truly gone too far were not ordinary citizens. Ordinary citizens would never resort to assault, smashing property, and looting; only the thugs and hooligans who habitually swaggered about and picked fights would take action at a time like this.
Then some Jing Kingdom citizens from Xiang Prefecture appeared. Without exception, they all apologized to the Qing Kingdom, felt ashamed to be citizens of the Jing Kingdom, and considered opposing the Qing Kingdom the height of stupidity. They also denounced everyone who had taken to the streets as Xiang Bandits, or even Jing ****.
A Provincial Graduate named Ge Songxiao wrote a lengthy, free-flowing essay fiercely condemning the ugly conduct of the Xiang Bandits. He called those people tumors on the