The weather was growing warmer, and less and less snow remained on the shaded sides of the mountains.
Outside Fenyang Palace, at the foot of Guancen Mountain, a procession of over a thousand people and fully two or three hundred small carts was transporting grain. Bai Yousi stood on a slope, her sword cradled in her arms, watching the scene. Behind her stood two distinctly separate groups.
After a while, Bai Sanniang suddenly turned and put an exceedingly simple question to the more richly dressed group behind her:
"Do you know who I am?"
These people-the commanders of Fenyang Palace's garrison, the senior clerks, the Northern Office eunuchs, and several Jinwu Guard officers-exchanged looks. Then the eunuchs and Jinwu Guard leaders meekly lowered their heads, becoming the first to withdraw from this simple exchange.
There was no other reason for it: when the Northern Office had been powerful, it had loved expanding its influence through the secondary capitals and the temporary palaces scattered everywhere. They were the emperor's people, after all. Establishing all manner of imperial storehouses through the system of secondary capitals and temporary palaces, even stationing troops there, and directly sucking the lifeblood from local areas was itself a hallmark of the present Sage's rule-something everyone had to taste.
This had absolutely nothing to do with the Previous Emperor. Like the Third Dongyi Campaign, it was an unmistakable innovation of the present Sage's era.
Back then, the Northern Office establishment-the palace eunuchs and the Jinwu Guard-had wielded considerable local influence. Even the most forceful local officials had to hold their noses and leave this little patch of territory alone.
A large temporary palace with a strong military character like Fenyang Palace had garrison troops, assorted storehouses, and Jinwu Guards defending its halls. Above them were temporarily appointed chief