In the seventh year of Shaoyuan, the court underwent two great upheavals. The first needed no further mention.
By autumn that year, perhaps to calm the situation, perhaps because the emperor himself had a guilty conscience, or perhaps because he had intended to do so all along, the excessive purges and investigations targeting some of the Old-School Civil Officials ceased, and the trend of submitting memorials based on hearsay was halted.
The prefects of several provinces who had concealed the disasters were convicted and beheaded, while a number of officials in the Capital City, including Vice Minister of the Chancellery Zhan Shiwei, were also sentenced to death.
Whatever might happen afterward, at least the reigning Great Yong Emperor believed he had handled matters reasonably well.
But these were largely measures to appease the nobility. They had little real impact on ordinary people, who knew nothing of such depths. Affairs of court and country stirred less fellow feeling than The Tale of Duke Chu.
For the people far away in West River Town, Yuanjiang County, Moon Province, the passing of the Yi Household's Old Master was a major event. They had no attention to spare for anything farther afield.
And with the Yi Household now numbered among Yuanjiang County's prominent families, the funeral arrangements were naturally substantial. Ordinary families could not spend too long on funerals and mourning, since they had to consider their farmwork and livelihoods.
A household like the Yi Household also had to consider the reputation of its eldest grandson, who held office. Aside from the Old Master's burial, which could not be delayed, the funeral observances would continue for some time.
Yi Yong'an was still buried on South Hill Ridge in Broad South Mountain, which had now become the Yi Household's exclusive ancestral burial ground.
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