As Luo Chang methodically advanced his plans, another massacre in Qi State shocked the states.
For political purposes, Linzi's great nobles launched a retaliatory purge against some of the lesser nobles, achieving tremendous success. More than thirty nobles died outright in Linzi, and together with the private soldiers and household retainers they had brought, thousands perished in the massacre.
"Xue Yuan and the others were all nobles enfeoffed by our late lord, yet instead of repaying their sovereign, they coerced the Lord of the State to achieve their aim of launching a war.
"How many Qi people died on the battlefield? How many noble houses had their ancestral sacrifices cut off as a result?
"What natures they had-tigers, leopards, jackals, and wolves! Would people like these ever repent?
"If such treacherous villains were not executed, Qi State would surely plunge into another terrible defeat in the future."
The State People of Qi cursed Xue Yuan and the others. Killing Qi people and laying the blame on the people of Song to launch a war had once again breached the bounds of morality.
Since the execution of Tian Chang, Qi politics had remained shrouded in bloody slaughter, following an utterly ruthless pattern: the winner took everything, while the loser's entire clan was exterminated.
The forces of Qin and Wei State stationed in Huai-Si could not help shuddering at the sight. "These Qi nobles really are ruthless. Let them stay in Qi and ruin their own state."
Faced with Qi's continuing decline, the Marquis of Yan began entertaining other ideas. He asked his close attendants, "During the great war among All Xia, Yan resisted the Hu People in the north.
"That was an enormous favor to Qi.
"Yet after the war, Qi offered Yan no thanks. That was contrary to ritual propriety.