If Little Ba's defeat and capture had previously been the biggest news in Jingzhou, then after Hu Xiezhi reported their achievements and proclaimed them throughout the commanderies and counties, the Jianping tribes submitted, the Jingman were pacified, and Wang Yang's great army returned in triumph!
The attention of all Jingzhou then converged, without any doubt, on Wang Yang alone!
With Xie Xinghan and the others having already laid the groundwork in public opinion, Wang Yang's fame now soared straight to its peak.
Throughout Jingzhou, everyone repeated tales of Wang Yang's chivalry and loyalty, of how he had returned alone to Jingzhou to rescue his old friends in Jiangling!
And of how he had maneuvered perilously around the Rebel Prince, risking his life to protect Jingzhou's imprisoned civil and military officials!
As for leading the Jing Army a thousand miles home, he had used his great achievement of bringing all the Jingman into submission and securing the frontier to turn an army of condemned men at the end of its rope into meritorious soldiers who had redeemed themselves and returned home laden with honors!
Such a debt of rebirth moved countless soldiers' families to grateful tears, engraving his kindness deep in their hearts!
Old women burned incense and bowed westward through their tears; women and children brought their little ones and set up offering tables with tablets bearing his name! Some even erected living shrines to Wang Yang!
Before those shrines, the elders admonished their children:
"The Military Commander gave us a second life. Never forget it for as long as you live!"
The stories of Wang Yang's pacification of the barbarians spread even more feverishly through Jingzhou's ward lanes!
Some said Wang Yang had entered barbarian territory alone on horseback, without a single soldier, and drunk with their chieftain. Laughing