After Wei Xuanding and Xu Shiying, Cheng Zhili and Qian Tang also had matters for Zhang Xing to decide, all of them fairly urgent or important, so none stayed for dinner that evening, and they each took their leave.
Once they had gone, however, Chen Bin, Xie Minghe, Yan Qing, and Jia Runshi stayed with several staff officers to eat at the Jiangling County Office. At this point, Zhang Xing finally understood why every dynasty had always had an inner court and an outer court... power naturally developed distinct layers according to one's distance from its core.
Of course, this also showed that the Exorcising the Dragon Gang's operations really were growing ever larger.
"What did everyone think of today's business?" After dinner, the habitually unrestrained Yan Qing suddenly asked. Clearly, though the general atmosphere had been good, these men had still caught the dissatisfaction Zhang Xing had revealed midway through. "It's only been a few months, and the Eastern Territories and Hebei are already growing increasingly distant. We were prepared for it, but isn't this a little too fast?"
It was a sensitive subject, and the men from the Eastern Territories whom Yan Qing had addressed all exchanged looks.
Xie Minghe, however, offered an answer without hesitation. "I think Chief Yan is overthinking things again."
"How so?" Yan Qing immediately pressed.
"Quite simply." Xie Minghe remained as assured and fluent as ever. "The Eastern Territories may be wealthy, but they have, after all, just suffered the upheaval of the Three Expeditions. Supplying fifty or sixty thousand troops—even if our soldiers receive far less than the crack troops recruited by the Court in peacetime, and all our weapons and equipment are old—is already an all-out effort for the Eight Commanderies... they're putting everything into supplying Hebei with money, grain, and