Brawny, utterly ferocious soldiers shattered the county town's silence. These sudden outsiders carried the Court's royal banners, drawing countless eyes. From commoners to scholars, everyone watched in bewildered suspicion.
Since ancient times, the smaller a place, the more its society consisted of familiar faces. In this age when travel was both dangerous and expensive, most people lived in the same county town for generations. Apart from traveling merchants, they never left.
To most people, the Court at Jianye was an unimaginably distant place of legend, farther away even than the sun they could see by raising their heads.
To commoners, an envoy from the Court at Jianye was no different from one sent by the commandery. But to Shanyin County's gentry, the difference was enormous.
Shanyin County had five great gentry clans. Those entrenched here were all relatively low-ranking clans. In the eyes of Jianye's great houses, they possessed little beyond their gentry status.
Within Shanyin County, however, these families were like emperors. They controlled most official posts, and even the county magistrate appointed by the Court had to cooperate with them to administer county affairs.
At Shanyin County's seat, the heads of the five great families had been notified to welcome a superior official together. Everyone of standing in the county, including County Magistrate Huang Si, had gathered in the government office.
They were all dressed in fine silks, looking around anxiously.
Huang Si could barely remain seated. Deliberately lowering his voice, he asked, "Gentlemen, why do you think the Court suddenly sent someone here, and with such a grand display? Is the Court going to war again and asking us to gather supplies and laborers?"
The Prominent Officials in the Court generally paid no attention to a tiny county town. To put it bluntly, they thought nothing of