Who was Xu Dalang?
He was the actual head of Jibei's foremost powerful family, a hereditary remnant of Eastern Qi, a man naturally opposed to Great Wei because the highest avenues of official advancement, passed down through his family for generations, had been cut off, and the chief of the largest band of outlaws around Juye Marsh.
A man like him had countless unlawful deeds to his name, yet he had lived perfectly well to this day.
But today, just when every discerning person, himself included, felt that his greatest enemy-the Great Wei court-had embarked on a road of no return, he had broken into a sweat over a mere case of stolen imperial horses.
The reason could not have been simpler: one wrong turn in this affair might truly mean the confiscation of his property and the extermination of his clan.
The others, Li Shu and Xiong Bonan alike, had clearly realized something too, and fell silent for a while.
To put it plainly, at a time like this, even if you truly rebelled, no one would necessarily bother with you. Things were too chaotic, and too many people were becoming rebels of their own accord... With so many fleeing, hadn't they only publicly killed a few hundred to anoint the war drums with their blood? Had that stopped the others from continuing to flee and become rebels?
But a few imperial horses had gone missing, and the Jing'an Directorate had come under direct pressure from the very top. They needed something to report, and time was short. Even if those horses weren't in the Xu family's hands, the Xu family might very well be made to answer for them... Who had made you the foremost outlaw around Juye Marsh?
No wonder Xu Dalang had lost his composure so