As the Imperial Envoy's procession set off back to the capital amid drums and gongs...
The great wind that had risen in Yangzhou had already reached Luoyang.
Like a spring breeze sweeping in overnight...
Within a single day, news that Imperial Envoy Minister Yang Erlang had unleashed a massacre in Jiangzhe, executing three hundred and twenty-seven corrupt officials, spread through every street and alley of this thousand-year-old ancient capital.
Almost anywhere people gathered, one could hear the people of Luoyang vividly recounting the grand spectacle of Yang Erlang executing Jiangzhe's corrupt officials.
Some said the sun and moon had shone together that day.
Some said snow had fallen beneath the blazing sun.
Others said countless wronged souls had appeared that day, bowing three times to Yang Erlang in thanks...
They spoke with absolute conviction, as though each of them had personally witnessed that unprecedented execution.
Luoyang was, after all, the center of the Divine Land, the heart of Great Wei.
People who lived beneath the emperor's feet were naturally more sensitive to politics than those elsewhere.
Add a phrase like "executing corrupt officials," which drew attention all on its own, and such a storm of public opinion was hardly surprising.
What was surprising, however...
Was that in such an enormous storm of public opinion, with several different versions to be found on a single street, there was an exceedingly rare absence of any opposition.
Whatever version the rumors took, their focus remained on how wise and mighty Lord Yang Erlang was, how he could discern the finest autumn hair, and how loathsome, despicable, and vile those corrupt officials had been.
Whenever an opposing view appeared and tried to steer public opinion in another direction, it was swiftly drowned beneath the ever-swelling mainstream chorus.
Yes.
The people of Luoyi truly did