Wang Chong waited seven days in Ling Prefecture Prefecture before news began arriving in succession. First, Lü Feng, whom Gao Gun had used every means to keep tied down in Tongzhou, had surrendered with thirty thousand troops to that celebrated scholar of the current dynasty, who had swept him and his soldiers back to the White Camel Tribe. Next came word that Sun Mingke, after pursuing Feng Pofeng relentlessly, had finally slain him on the Great Grassland. The other generals had also made many gains, killing countless enemies and taking some ten thousand prisoners, and were gradually returning in triumph.
The Central Plains were far from their heyday now. Apart from the Capital, Chang'an, Shangdu, Luoyang, the Central Capital, Haojing, and the Heavenly Capital, Chaoge, had all fallen to the grassland allied armies. Of the Thirty-Seven Provinces under heaven, at least half had slipped out of control, either occupied by the Eighteen Tribes of the Grasslands or held by local warlords. Now that An Dushan had rebelled, another three provinces had slipped out of control.
Wang Chong now held seven provinces. Huangzhou and Ling Prefecture in particular each had over a million inhabitants; their combined population was several times greater than that of Tongzhou, Ba, Yan, Shang, and Chi Five Provinces put together. With over a hundred thousand armored soldiers under his command, he was showing his horns and already had the bearing of a hegemon of the realm.
Although Wang Chong had used the Tailwind Army to cut off communications and made every effort to conceal the news, something so momentous was naturally difficult to hide. Several months after he took Ling Prefecture, everyone knew. Many people suddenly realized in retrospect that whenever Wang Chong moved his troops without authorization, he submitted a memorial tearfully protesting his grievances, and