Over the next few days, rumors flew thick and fast through the Western Three Commanderies of the Eastern Territories, growing ever fiercer. They even looked set to spread eastward, into Huaixi and Hebei, and on to the Eastern Capital, the Jin Region, and Jiangdu.
In fact, however, the Exorcising the Dragon Gang's senior leaders at the center of the storm had calmed down and quickly begun substantive talks-Zhang and Li swiftly discussed the division of their most fundamental interests; Xu Dalang yielded; Fifth Wang Lang stated his position; and Dan Tonghai received a letter in Hebei and promptly replied.
They hardly dared do otherwise. How far had they even come?
If a major internal bloodbath really broke out, they would truly go from prosperity to decline, left to perish on their own, proving the claim that a disorganized rabble had no future.
So, judging deeds rather than hearts, and setting aside certain sordid dealings and ugly displays behind closed doors, the speed of compromise and reconciliation on the surface was very impressive... in a few deft strokes, it seemed as though the crisis had never happened.
Conversely, however, this could not stop the rumors from erupting and spreading. The reasons were simple enough.
First, although the public rumors and the actual crisis were somewhat out of alignment—the former focused on Zhang Xing and Li Shu's supposed long-standing antagonism, while the latter centered more on practical problems such as the Eastern Territories Powerful Clans maintaining private troops, withholding revenue, and interfering in judicial and personnel affairs—the two were not contradictory. Li Shu had held firm until now partly because he had his own locally oriented staff of regional commanders, and partly because these overbearing local powerhouses had served as his shield. Those powerhouses, in turn, had behaved so unscrupulously partly because