Over the next few days, Gao Gun said nothing about how to seize Yanzhou, and Wang Chong did not ask. He simply made sure his teacher was comfortable every day, with arrangements for morning and evening alike. Not long after Gao Gun arrived, word came from the Tailwind Army: all twenty-four prefectures of Ba Prefecture had submitted. After confiscating Shi Lushan's entire fortune, Xuangang, Gan Ci, Qin Gao, Su Luoyan, and the others followed Wang Chong's advance instructions and repaid, one by one, the wealthy households in each prefecture for the grain bought on credit.
But Wang Chong's repayment came with a condition: these wealthy households had to supply household retainers for labor service. Those who supplied more men would receive their grain payments sooner.
Wang Chong incorporated all the retainers sent by the wealthy households into the Tailwind Army. With no fighting to do for the time being and no need to transport military provisions, he changed his tune, having the Tailwind Army continually carry goods from Tongzhou to Ba Prefecture and bring Ba Prefecture's specialties back to Tongzhou. These were then sold to merchant caravans from various regions and circulated throughout the country, with the army shouldering the triple duties of traveling merchants, transport crews, and armed escorts.
Gao Gun occasionally watched Wang Chong handle government affairs, but most of the time, this Grand Preceptor of the Crown Prince, celebrated scholar of the age, and Great Grandmaster toured the mountains and waters around Tongzhou Prefecture. He even visited the Golden Light Temple on Yanyun Mountain, which Wang Chong had twice wanted to visit but had never managed to reach.
But the Great Grandmaster returned in a huff, having clearly failed to find a target on whom to vent his anger.
Gao Gun had brought the court's decree, and