After retrieving the anti-miasma wine, Fan Xicheng hurriedly left with Zhao Zhixian.

Fondling the white jade bracelets with their fine, smooth texture like mutton-fat jade, Han Qian summoned Zhao Wuji, Yang Qin, Lin Zongjing, Guo Nu’er, Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, and the others to question them: “We’ve been spreading the news all morning. Why hasn’t anyone come calling yet?”

“Perhaps most people are still deliberating and watching,” Gao Shao stepped forward and asked somewhat puzzled, “Since we erased all the hard evidence last night, why are we still spreading the news about the Four Surnames colluding internally and externally to incite the prisoner riot?”

“Although Xuzhou is dominated by indigenous tribal people, over the past several hundred years, those who fled to the Wu Mountains and Wu Waters due to war and famine also number over four thousand households. Just in and around Qianyang City alone there are over a thousand households of migrant households. Their strength is not weak. So why have several successive Great Chu Regional Inspectors found it difficult to gain a foothold and accomplish anything in Xuzhou?”

Han Qian had too few people he could use around him. With doubts in his mind about Gao Shao and the others, now that they were behind closed doors, he naturally wanted to explain as thoroughly and clearly as possible, saying:

“There are several reasons. First, the migrant people also come from different places. When they migrated into Xuzhou, they mostly gathered according to local dialects, forming different tribal communities. Second, among the migrant people, especially those who migrated in recent decades due to war, most have no farmland and depend on being employed by the fields and other properties of the great surname and powerful clans. Third, Great Chu was only founded thirteen years ago and has controlled Jiangnan West Circuit for even less time. No one knows when Great Chu might face upheaval again, so they don’t place much hope in Jinling. Fourth, the Ma clan in Tanzhou forms its own system. Those with any foresight in Xuzhou would distance themselves from Jinling and draw closer to Tanzhou. Under all these circumstances, if the migrant people held any reverence for the Regional Inspector appointed by Jinling, that would truly be miraculous. The only exception is if they felt a strong survival crisis! Otherwise, how could my father gain a foothold in Xuzhou?”

“But isn’t it somewhat hasty to hint at the great households among the migrants to curry favor with us now?” Gao Shao saw Han Qian still playing smugly with the two white jade bracelets sent by prefectural Medical Academy Doctor Zhao Zhixian. After hesitating for quite a while, he couldn’t help but ask, though he worried about being scolded and looked at Han Qian expectantly.

“The Third Imperial Prince only allocates three million cash to me each year, yet I must feed you, clothe you, provide you with constant meat and wine every few days, and from time to time take out reward money to settle your hearts. Do you think three million cash is enough for anything? If I don’t quickly scrape together some wealth here in Xuzhou, will you make up my deficit? Or do you think that just so I myself can live more extravagantly, I need to come to this poor, broken place to collect wealth?”

Han Qian glared at Gao Shao irritably and said:

“Even among those great households in the migrant population, they won’t fear us reaching out for money. What they’re thinking in their hearts is just hoping that my father can support them without principle in competing for profit against the indigenous great surnames in Xuzhou. Being able to send out wealth will only make them feel more secure.”

“Your lordship’s lesson is correct,” Gao Shao, who had previously risen from being a scout leader, was more quick-witted than Tian Cheng and Yang Qin. He said with a fawning expression, “This matter requires urgent action. Hoping for those migrant great households to take initiative is unlikely. Besides their many hesitations, fearing the Regional Inspector’s authority and not daring to call is also a factor. However, we can be more proactive. I see this Zhao Zhixian is quite tactful and sensible. Moreover, as prefectural Medical Academy Doctor, I believe he has dealings with the migrant great households in the city. If he could take the lead and make your lordship’s intentions more explicit, things would be easy to handle…”

Zhao Wuji, Lin Zongjing, and Guo Nu’er held the deepest reverence for Han Qian. They were also young, so whatever Han Qian said or did, they had no particular feelings and simply obeyed.

Yang Qin and Tian Cheng looked at each other, feeling quite awkward discussing behind closed doors how they could receive bribes as quickly as possible.

Han Qian actually thought Gao Shao’s suggestion was quite good.

After all, they had spread the news, but for the migrant great households to truly step forward and befriend the new Regional Inspector, there would still be many psychological barriers and hesitations. Many even felt the Regional Inspector was too high and mighty, and they weren’t qualified to approach and curry favor.

If someone among these migrant great households could take the lead, with others simply following suit, things would go much more smoothly. This Zhao Zhixian had been kicked to Xuzhou to take office even earlier than Wang Yu. Regardless of his character, as a medical official from the Imperial Medical Bureau, he was absolutely a highly skilled physician in Xuzhou.

As long as one was human, illness, aging, and death were inevitable. Medical officials had even closer connections with local great households than the lofty Regional Inspector.

Han Qian tapped his fingers on the table, pondering for a moment, then said to Zhao Ting’er: “Giving Lord Zhao a portion of preserved fruit as a return gift is somewhat shabby. Prepare a few more items for Gao Shao to deliver.”

“Go today?” Although the idea was Gao Shao’s, he hadn’t expected Han Qian to be so urgent in having him handle it. He asked, “The situation today is still unsettled. Shouldn’t we wait a couple days?”

“Precisely because it’s unsettled, we must do it at this time,” Han Qian said decisively. “Moreover, this matter must be accomplished today.”

Tian Cheng and Yang Qin couldn’t bring themselves to do this. Seeing Gao Shao’s flexible mind, Han Qian assigned the task to him.

There were too many complicated matters at the provincial prison. Pardoning prisoners with light sentences was one aspect, but reorganizing the jailers was also extremely important to ensure the provincial prison would no longer be an active volcano. Han Qian stayed in the courtyard that afternoon, having Zhao Ting’er help mark the collected key information on the Qianyang City topographical map, so the Left Division scouts could more effectively monitor and defend Qianyang City over the next month or two.

Gao Shao was also efficient in handling matters. Before the sky darkened, he brought Zhao Zhixian to call again.

Zhao Zhixian had by this time contacted over twenty great households living in the city and arranged a banquet at Guanyue Tower, inviting Han Qian to attend.

Han Qian, worried Zhao Ting’er would be bored, had her change into men’s clothes. Accompanied by Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, Yang Qin and others, he gladly went to Guanyue Tower, which was only one street away from Furong Garden, to attend the banquet. Not caring how busy his father was, he sent someone to pull Fan Xicheng from his father’s side as well.

After all, going forward in Xuzhou, it would still be Fan Xicheng who needed to represent his father in maintaining close contact with these migrant great households.

Han Daoxun was an honest official, and Fan Xicheng was deeply influenced by him, even becoming somewhat rigid and inflexible in his conduct.

Even though before entering Xuzhou they had already set the tone of collecting wealth locally to relax the Ma clan’s vigilance, in Fan Xicheng’s view, they still needed to be strategic about it and not make it too ugly. He never imagined that after only one day in Xuzhou—when yesterday’s situation was still so urgent and critical, and even now the danger was far from completely eliminated—Han Qian would today openly and covertly directly encourage Zhao Zhixian to help him organize a gathering to brazenly solicit bribes!

Fan Xicheng discovered he completely couldn’t keep up with the young master Han Qian’s pace. How could he be so impatient, so unsightly in his greed?

The banquet lasted nearly two hours. Fan Xicheng was uncomfortable the entire time. When Han Qian received gifts from others, he found excuses to avoid it. Moreover, not only did Han Qian accept others’ gifts without shame, he even opened the items on the spot to inventory them, forcing several people to secretly remove ornaments from their persons and stuff them into the gift packages.

This was no longer just unbridled—it could even be called shameless.

Fan Xicheng saw quite a few people secretly showing expressions of disgust and disdain. He knew he couldn’t advise the young master at this point and could only sigh inwardly. He forced himself to endure until the bright moon hung high before accompanying the thoroughly intoxicated Han Qian back to Furong Garden.

By this time, Han Daoxun had already returned to Furong Garden and was sitting in the east courtyard talking with Xue Ruogu and others.

Although he hadn’t rested for two days, Han Daoxun’s spirits were vigorous.

Han Qian had Zhao Wuji, Gao Shao, and the others wait outside the west courtyard. He and Fan Xicheng went over to pay respects to his father, asking: “Have all the provincial prison matters been arranged? The old soldiers we sent yesterday to see the Four Surnames’ chieftains should have returned by now. No one had an ear or nose cut off or anything?”

“No one returned missing a nose or eyes, but those sent to Jingyun Stockade and Lianshan Stockade weren’t even allowed into the stockades and were driven back,” Han Daoxun said. “And the Four Surnames’ descendants in the provincial garrison all suddenly left the city before evening.”

Besides the three cities of Qianyang and others in Xuzhou, the Feng, Xi, Xiang, and Yang four surnames all had large stockades at the eastern foot of Wu Mountain, occupying the critical passes leading into the depths of Wu Mountain, Wu Waters, and the upper reaches of Yuan River—all险要 positions where one man could guard a pass against ten thousand.

The indigenous tribal people living concentrated in the four families’ city stockades and nearby areas accounted for roughly forty percent of Xuzhou’s total population.

The three cities of Qianyang, Langxi, and Tanyang were built in the low riverbank areas along Yuan River, with relatively gentle and open terrain. Although they controlled the core waterway of Yuan River, the passages extending into the depths of Wu Waters and Wu Mountains were blocked by stockades like Jingyun and Lianshan.

The people living near the three cities of Qianyang, Langxi, and Tanyang were mainly migrants who had gradually relocated over hundreds of years, also called the migrant households.

The current pattern in Xuzhou had formed over three hundred years since cities were formally established in the early previous dynasty.

Besides the principal households or indigenous households and migrant households or migrant households registered in the prefecture rolls, Xuzhou also had large numbers of mountain Yue tribal people surviving deep in the mountains and distant waters. Not only were they beyond the reach of prefecture and county government offices, even the Four Surnames great clans couldn’t effectively manage them despite their long reach. Therefore they were also called raw tribal people. The previous dynasty had never conducted a specific census of their exact numbers.

“What are they trying to do? They don’t dare raise the banner of rebellion. Are they planning to defend their stockades from now on and cease all contact with Great Chu?” Han Qian asked. “Then if we take over the other two cities, we’ll have over four thousand households of migrant people in hand. The result wouldn’t be too bad.”

Although last night’s scene had already shown Xue Ruogu and the others this Regional Inspector’s son’s ruthless decisiveness, hearing tonight that this Regional Inspector’s son was so impatient that he had Zhao Zhixian arrange for migrant great households in the city to host a banquet so he could brazenly receive monetary gifts at Guanyue Tower was also quite astounding.

Now seeing Han Qian describe the current situation so lightly, Xue Ruogu was slightly stunned and couldn’t help but argue: “The situation is probably not as optimistic as Young Master Han thinks.”

Han Qian smiled slightly. He naturally knew the situation wasn’t as simple as he made it sound. He said this only to lighten the atmosphere. He hadn’t expected Xue Ruogu to be so humorless.

Fan Xicheng said worriedly: “Although all those who could testify that they colluded with prisoners to attack the prison and riot have died, it’s very normal for the Four Surnames to worry this is all a trap we’ve set. However, if the situation remains deadlocked like this and news spreads, before long, the court will probably hold us accountable.”

The court sent Han Daoxun to take office in Xuzhou not to have him control a fragmented Xuzhou that could erupt in civil unrest at any time, especially since they had already bloodily “suppressed” all the witnesses. The Four Surnames might even turn around and bite them back.

At this moment, Fan Xicheng felt that Han Qian’s suggestion last night to directly silence Zhang Xiaochuan, Liu Bin, and the others was somewhat hasty. Otherwise, if they had held onto these witnesses, when the court held them accountable, they would still have the opportunity to defend themselves.

“If I’m not mistaken, Yang Zaili, Xiang Jianlong, Xi Zhen, Feng Changyu, and the others should all be at Jingyun Stockade observing the situation,” Han Qian stretched lazily and said. “Then I’ll personally make a trip to Jingyun Stockade.”

Xue Ruogu and the others were all shocked. They hadn’t expected this Regional Inspector’s son, whom they thought was ruthlessly decisive and greedily fond of wealth, to actually have the courage to venture alone into the enemy camp.