Zhang Xing looked back at White Wolf Pass, still within sight. There, Great Wei's banners still snapped in the bitter winter wind. Then he looked at the armored bandits who had suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, the trees blocking it behind them, and the steel crossbows clearly visible beyond the trees, and could not help exhaling a cloud of white breath.
His Highness the Prince of Qi looked rather bewildered. Besides, that little display of what he imagined was his keen edge the other day had been directed solely at Zhang Xing. At other times, he might well have to pretend complete ignorance.
Qin Bao, on the other hand, looked toward Zhang Xing with some embarrassment.
Yet Zhang Xing merely looked back at him. "They weren't here when you came?"
"No." Qin Bao answered truthfully, but his expression was awkward. "When I came, the announcement had been made, but the imperial entourage hadn't left Taiyuan. Everyone, high and low, thought there would be further word..."
Zhang Xing nodded. Qin Bao had, in fact, already told him when they met.
The imperial entourage had left Yunnei almost as though fleeing. Not only had the Wind-Observing Traveling Palace long since been burned, they had not even bothered with carriages. They really had set off each morning and stopped each evening, hurrying all the way to Taiyuan.
Then, as soon as they arrived, a new system of rewards was announced: fifteen hundred merit ranks and two hundred distinctions for exceptional service. The accompanying soldiers of the Upper Five Armies had immediately voiced their dissatisfaction. Some officers had even invoked Wei Chi's death, claiming there were treacherous ministers at court and demanding the death of Chief Chancellor Su Wei.
Although this was suppressed immediately, the court also changed its terms at