Deputy Regular Inspector Zhang did not know how Luo Shu had negotiated with Daoist Gao. In any case, over the next two days, he kept reassuring the somewhat frightened Daoist, repeatedly stressing that he had an old connection with Xiong Bonan and, for the Purple-Faced Heavenly King's sake, would certainly not let today's affair land Daoist Gao in an irreconcilable mess... provided the man obediently contributed manpower and supplies. He would not even have to accompany them himself.
Moreover, he was genuinely trying to protect the man from additional extortion by Luo Shu's troops, even publicly backing Huairong County in his capacity as imperial envoy and refusing to let Luo Shu's soldiers enter.
To put it plainly, Zhang Xing did not know whether Daoist Gao was some scoundrel secretly given to thieving and whoring, nor did he consider the remnants of Eastern Qi anything good. But just as he had told Qin Bao, the times, the times-change would surely come... once the emperor of Great Wei had completely lost his composure before that arrow that might have killed him, Zhang Xing had no doubts left.
He firmly believed that, with His Majesty's state of mind thrown off balance and this latest incident, the situation might well have reached a point of abrupt change. A few more steps with the gale at their backs would bring them to a crossroads.
At a time like this, forcibly drawing lines between friend and foe was ridiculous. Rather than that, he might as well focus on the present and do whatever he considered morally and reasonably right... he could not even be bothered to ask Qin Bao whether Luo Shu really had eighteen riders who had mastered four extraordinary meridians... as if he did!
On the twenty-seventh day of the tenth month, fully twelve