Things always went this way: plans could never keep pace with change, yet without plans, it seemed difficult to handle change properly.
Zhang Xing had pooled everyone's ideas and drawn up a military plan against the Empress's southbound entourage, only to seize an unexpected opening and achieve a great success with one swift, decisive surprise attack. But on closer reckoning, without that earlier military plan, he would not even have dared launch the attack, let alone manage its aftermath.
The same held true for the arrangements for dealing with all the parties afterward.
Despite adjusting things over and over, trying to cut through the tangled knot with a sharp blade in a way the gang would generally accept, Zhang Xing was still moved when Eunuch Wang came to plead on behalf of a group of Ziwei Palace eunuchs with nowhere left to turn. In the end, he chose to implement a solution that was not particularly sound from a rational standpoint.
After all, giving the eunuchs weapons and grain meant the Exorcising the Dragon Gang would have less for itself, and would invite discontent within its ranks. Giving up Xiayi also meant that the gang and Great Dragonhead Zhang were bound to lose diplomatic ground with both the officials of Liang Commandery and Meng Shangong.
Of course, as the saying went, some people refused to accept face when it was offered. Master Zhang San's face was still worth quite a lot at this year's end, and for now, no one really dared refuse him that respect.
No one knew what Meng Shangong thought privately, but outwardly, he expressed complete understanding of Zhang Xing's perfunctory explanation. He explicitly said he was willing to wait until Dragonhead Li returned before discussing joining the gang, and that leaving him only Yucheng would be