Spring departed and autumn returned; many rings of years passed.
Gusu was tranquil. Beneath a little bridge mottled with green, water murmured and emerald ripples shimmered. A young girl held a punting pole and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"Second young miss, Madam calls you home."
The fair-skinned girl started, hurriedly handed her pole to the boatman aboard, and left in haste.
The Duke of Gusu Commandery's residence.
Its walls were exceedingly high and its moat deep. Though called a residence, it was actually a small fortress. The Aristocratic Gentry Clans were powerful precisely because they possessed such sprawling, almost self-sufficient estates. Together with their clan troops, these were virtually impregnable against ordinary bandits, unless an army from the Court attacked.
When Luo Youzhi and Luo Xianzhi struck at the Aristocratic Gentry Clans, they targeted political privileges and control over the avenues of advancement. They did not directly strike hard at the clans' economic foundations, for a simple reason: the Gusu Luo Clan could not surrender its own security as well.
After all, unlike the former Main Lineage, the Gusu Luo Clan had no supernatural abilities with which to protect itself. Fortified manors were something the Luo Clan needed.
Otherwise, if they encountered a fatuous ruler like Cao Chengsi or a madman like Erzhu Rong, everything would be over.
Population meant human presence. Without that presence, a few weeds casually springing up in Luoyang and a little fire could cause irreparable destruction.
"In these years of war between the Court and Yan State, we have lost more than we have won. Yan State has many great generals, but Daliang has had no pillar to hold it up. The Yellow River defensive line has already become the Xu-Huai defensive line, and Daliang retreats step by step. We do not even