The May rains fell thick and drifting, always coming and going on schedule.
By the end of the month, before the rain had even stopped, Eastern Capital City began to bustle. Countless chiefs arrived from all across the country, one after another. On Heaven Street and throughout the wards and markets, people speaking peculiar Hebei dialects were everywhere... It made sense: there were reportedly nearly four hundred chiefs in Eastern Capital City now. That alone was nothing, but these chiefs had not come alone. Many had brought entire teams of clerks and army staff officers, and once they arrived, public greetings and private inquiries were inevitable.
According to some, the last time Eastern Capital City had been this lively was at the end of the year four years ago. The Exorcising the Dragon Gang had just taken Jiangnan then, and the realm had more or less settled. Many who had earned merit or surrendered during the wars needed their appointments formally confirmed, so apart from a small number of generals, almost every chief had come to the Eastern Capital to report on his duties and attend the year-end assembly.
It had truly been a scene of burgeoning life, with all things vying to flourish.
Of course, it was much the same now... Yet something was different. Mainly, these four years had been rather too busy, leaving everyone dizzy and dazed, and then, in a rush, four years had gone by.
Everyone said Tyrannical Wei had fallen because of its two rulers: one had been harsh and miserly, plundering and oppressing beyond all bounds; the other had loved stirring up trouble, casually putting a million people to labor and leaving a hundred thousand skeletons, then eventually conscripting several million and scattering a million from their homes... Surely, then, the new dynasty's