The wind stirred the woods, and a tranquil air lay over the mountains and fields.
In the little village, houses stood in neat rows, with small plots of farmland laid out behind them.
Inside a bamboo house, Luo Ling was reading the decrees of the King of Qin Dynasty that his clansmen had brought back.
He paid close attention to every decree issued by the King of Qin Dynasty. Only by knowing both himself and his enemy could he fight a hundred battles without defeat.
Luo Ling mused, "The First Emperor has organized Chu State's former lands into commanderies and counties.
"Who knows which royal son or meritorious official he will enfeoff here afterward?
"If a son of Qin State is granted a royal title and stationed here to guard this region, our days ahead will not be easy."
Luo State understood the strengths and weaknesses of enfeoffment and the Commandery-Country System all too well.
The Luo Clan could remain here so peacefully precisely because the area was still administered through commanderies and counties.
A single order could take months to travel from Xianyang to Kuaiji. How much effect it could have when it finally reached the counties, or even further down, was easy to imagine.
This truly was a case of Heaven being high and the emperor far away. The central court faced extremely high costs of governance, and its rule was very rough. It simply could not react in time to what the officials below were doing.
But if enfeoffment were instituted, the center of power would instantly shift from Xianyang to Kuaiji.
Whatever the King of Kuaiji wanted done, the officials beneath him would naturally adopt a different attitude than they did toward the emperor.
"Clan head, news has arrived from Xianyang City."
Qiao Yun came in