Yet everyone merely glanced their way, then went straight back to whatever they had been doing, as though they had never heard who Hu Xiaotian was. Still, Xiong Tianba's furious roar had some effect: at least the guards no longer insisted on searching them.
Hu Xiaotian and his party promptly found themselves ignored. Visa whispered to him, "Master, what's going on? They don't seem willing to have anything to do with us."
Hu Xiaotian looked at the warriors keeping their distance and smiled. "It seems we aren't welcome."
Tang Tiehan said, "Lord Hu, isn't anyone from the local authorities coming to welcome you?" The emperor had already bestowed Eastern Liang Commandery on Princess Yongyang as her fief and personally ordered Hu Xiaotian to oversee all its affairs. In other words, from this day onward, Hu Xiaotian was its highest administrative official. How could these people refuse to show him even the slightest respect?
"Interesting!" Hu Xiaotian said with a smile. Before he came, Zhao Wusheng had warned him that the people of Eastern Liang Commandery had no sense of belonging. Most still considered themselves subjects of Great Yong. They resented their awkward situation and were full of resistance and hostility toward Great Kang, whose authorities had also failed to govern the region properly. The recent, unceasing influx of refugees had severely disrupted the locals' ordinary lives. Most people in Eastern Liang Commandery therefore harbored grievances, feeling like children loved by neither grandmother: Great Yong had ceded them to Great Kang without a word of consultation, while Great Kang lacked the ability to manage the place. They could only rely on themselves.
Suddenly, a commotion arose in the distance. The refugees who had just disembarked had clashed with the port guards. One refugee cried, "We only want to pass through on