Liu Cheng spent only a few days in the capital reporting on his duties.
The objectives he had originally come for had met with no obstacles from the outset.
Posthumous honors for the Ding uncle and nephew, and his own new general's title; magnifying the impact of the fighting to secure preferential resources for shipbuilding in Shouchun-this point was particularly important, since the shipbuilding industry South of the Yangtze was well developed, but Shouchun could not supply the timber itself-and adjustments to his reserve weaponry, including more powerful crossbows and long spears: with those several hundred ears and Murong De's seal, seal ribbons, and banners laid before them, everything went through at once.
What he had never expected was that the political situation in Jiankang had already developed to this point.
In just a few short days, he had witnessed quite a spectacle.
Wang Tanzhi declined the suggestion that he leave with Liu Cheng. Instead, he chose to take his time bidding farewell to Sima Yu before heading to Jiangling... As he himself put it, "What can he do to me now?"
Sima Yu and the Taiyuan Wang Clan were already bound together as tightly as a political alliance could be.
Never mind that in a few years, when the emperor came of age, Sima Yu would have to withdraw and count on Wang Shu and his son to speak for him politically. Consider just this: over these past few years, our Prince of Kuaiji seemed to have been possessed. The girls in his household were fine, but every boy born to him died young. Even his third son, whom he had particularly loved, had suddenly died in his teens. To put it bluntly, if this continued, the one tending dutifully at his deathbed might well turn out to be