Concerted Effort from Top to Bottom

Shunan Prefecture.

Several old horses plodded along the road. Their riders silently watched the surroundings, almost blending into the night.

Only as they neared an oil lamp hanging beside the road did their faces come into view. The rider in front was Qi Hongxin, prefect of Shunan Prefecture.

He rode the oldest horse confiscated from the Three Gangs. It could no longer go into battle, but for an official of rank traveling on business alone, such an old horse would just about do.

He had not wanted to come in an ox cart. It would make too much commotion and might alert people. Qi Hongxin looked around quietly, then asked with apparent nonchalance, "Zhilin, you've been with me nearly ten years now, haven't you?"

"Yes!" Behind him, Yu Zhilin kept a wary eye on their surroundings. "I remember it was the eighth or ninth year of Chengshou then. I've forgotten which."

"You've forgotten, but I haven't." Qi Hongxin smiled. "Back then, you were a young swordsman who wanted to kill me!"

Qi Hongxin looked gently at the man before him. That young swordsman had followed him for ten years, protecting him time after time, thwarting more assassination attempts than he could count.

Ten years. He had held the man back for ten years.

"I was deceived back then. They told me you were a corrupt official and a cruel tyrant." Yu Zhilin rested a hand on his sword and swept his gaze from side to side. "Only later did I learn you were an upright official, a good one."

"I'm not truly upright. Whether I'm corrupt might be open to debate, but 'cruel official' fits." Qi Hongxin spoke gloomily. "Those villagers were led astray. I didn't necessarily have to kill fifty-three of them."

"Suppressing the Three Gangs was one thing,