The weather was growing warmer, and less and less snow remained on the shaded slopes.
Outside Fenyang Palace, beneath Guancen Mountain, a procession of over a thousand people and fully two or three hundred small carts was hauling grain. Bai Yousi stood on a hillside with her sword 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 group whose clothing was noticeably finer:
"Do you recognize me?"
These men-the leaders of Fenyang Palace's garrison, its senior clerks, its Northern Office eunuchs, and several Jinwu Guard officers-looked at one another. Then the eunuchs and Jinwu Guard commanders dutifully lowered their heads, becoming the first to withdraw from this simple exchange.
There was no other reason: when the Northern Office had been powerful, it had very much enjoyed expanding its influence through the secondary capitals and the temporary palaces scattered throughout the realm. They were the imperial household's people, after all. Establishing all manner of imperial storehouses through the secondary-capital and temporary-palace system, even stationing troops there, and directly sucking the lifeblood from local regions was itself one of the reigning Sage's defining policies, a taste no one could escape.
This could not possibly be pinned on the Previous Emperor. Like the Third Dongyi Campaign, it was unquestionably an innovation of the reigning Sage's era.
Back then, the Northern Office system-the Palace Eunuchs and the Jinwu Guard-had wielded considerable local influence. Even the most domineering 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, various storehouses, and Jinwu Guards protecting the palace buildings. Above them were temporarily appointed chief and deputy palace