There was one thing Wang Chong had never been able to understand: why, on either side of a perfectly good road, with nothing there-places that clearly had no roads before-people had built piles of houses they could not sell.
In fact, he knew that many people in ancient times lived in remote places. As The Book of Rites: Tan Gong, Part Two said, "Harsh government is fiercer than a tiger," though Liu Zongyuan's The Tale of the Snake Catcher was much more widely known. Thus, whenever he built roads, he made sure they connected villages and towns, setting up relay stations along the way so that no road ran through deserted country and there were people every few li. Besides providing lodging, the stations sold goods and reclaimed land nearby, gathering people into settlements. Each relay station could not only support itself but also produce a surplus, gradually drawing people out of remote places.
This relay station had several dozen dependents. Its squad leader was a Tailwind Army veteran who had never seen battle, but he was thoroughly conscientious. He checked the party's military passes, and only after seeing that they carried Wind-Treading Cavalry passes did he relax and arrange the best rooms for them.
Under Wang Chong, besides the Wind-Treading Cavalry and Tailwind Army directly subordinate to him, there were the troops under his various generals and the Ya Offices everywhere, formerly the Chrysanthemum-Slaying Alliance. With military passes proving their identities, these people could enjoy half-price rates when spending money at the Tailwind Army's various facilities. This single benefit not only made his subordinates more loyal but also exposed spies from every side for what they were.
News simply could not escape the ten prefectures under Wang Chong's rule. Outsiders could only learn about them through information spread by