On the night of the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, the night the uprising began, thanks to Xu Dalang's three calls to arms and Zhang Xing's songs of the Eastern Commandery on every side, five cities-White Horse, Puyang, Weinan, Waihuang, and Chengshi-changed their colors overnight and fell into the Exorcising the Dragon Gang's hands.
Among them, Liu Yezhong, governor of Eastern Commandery, reached an agreement with the Exorcising the Dragon Gang: he would order the commandery's cities, settlements, markets, and crossings to submit to the gang in his capacity as governor, in exchange for his entire family being "courteously escorted beyond the borders."
Of Eastern Commandery's three principal subordinate officials, Commandery Assistant Zhou Weishi, who oversaw civil administration, formally submitted; Commandant Dou Bing, who controlled military affairs, was executed and his head circulated; only Li Tingwen, the Jing'an Directorate's Black Sash, who held authority over intelligence operations and major criminal cases, escaped.
Of the five county magistrates, those of Weinan, Waihuang, and Chengshi were attacked and killed immediately, while those of White Horse and Puyang chose to submit.
The next day, Kuangcheng, Lihu, Yuanju, and Jiyang fell into the Exorcising the Dragon Gang's hands.
On the third day, Zuocheng and Lingchang submitted.
On the fourth day, Leize City opened its gates and surrendered.
Overall, things had gone fairly smoothly, but there were still considerable deviations from the original plan... Some cities not included in the scheduled operations, such as Weinan on the first day, Jiyang on the second, and Lei Marsh on the fourth, were unexpected gains.
Lei Marsh in particular, situated on the border between Dongping and Jiyin Commanderies, had not even been included in the overall plan. Xiahou Ningyuan had merely been sent with some bandits to make a show of attacking it. Yet the county commandant