The five great sects was the highest form of authority within a hundred miles, the noble families a distant second and other small sects a close third.
This power distribution had existed for several years and was as solid as iron. Shrugging, Jiang Shiqin absentmindedly looked around the teahouse, when he was suddenly attracted by two lines in the poem hanging behind the counter.
"Green moss covers the earth, unending spring rain
White-tipped waves touch the sky, day by day" (*)
*Extracted from 風雨晚泊 by Bai Juyi (772 - 846), which sort of means In Wind And Rain Grounds Boat.
He froze for a few seconds, then laughed in amusement. The reach of the five great sects indeed should not be underestimated.
Feeling strangely jovial, Jiang Shiqin went back to the Autumn Pavillion's manor with a rare genuinely relaxed expression. A few leaves fluttered in the air, akin to the skirts of youthful maidens strolling around the city. The beautiful scenery moved one's mind, waves of emotions transforming into inspiration for penning down prose and poetry. Jiang Shiqin placed his brush on a piece of paper, the familiar scent of freshly grinded ink mixing with the faint scent of blossoms, letters pouring out like droplets of rain falling from layered clouds. When he finally put the brush down, sunset had already descended, shades of gold within a scarlet ring slowly disappearing behind the imposing range of mountains and hills. Jiang Shiqin then took another piece of paper and wrote a short letter, before sealing it along with the poems he had just arbitrarily written down.
After completing all of these, only then did he took a deep breath and opened the new stack of intelligence reports. It had already been arranged in accordance to priority, and the first one, as usual, relayed the situation in the capital and the surrounding areas.
"Chu has invaded the Hanjing region, but was stopped before crossing the Yellow River. Prince Qing requested to personally take command of the border garrison, rejected by the Emperor. General Du to repulse these attacks by himself, twenty men under fifty years of age and above sixteen from each town to undergo military training, ready to be drafted should the need arises. Vice Minister Lan to be responsible for the supply routes between the capital and the Hanjing region.
Official Huang has petitioned the Emperor to take away Marquis Xi's title. The main accusations are: 1, Being corrupted and immoral, harming thousands of citizens and the entire nation; 2, Taking bribes equivalent to the country's yearly budget, disregarding the law; 3, Falsifying examination results leading to a waste of talents, filling the government with the incapable and the unprincipled. The majority of court officials, half being Prince Qing's supporters, agree with his petition.
The Merchants' Alliance is requesting for a loosening of the restrictions regarding salt trade..."
This overview report had, surprisingly, not been Jiang Shiqin's idea. It had been Xia Jingming instead who had insisted on him being updated about the current affairs. More specifically, to cite his words, "Knowledge is a woman. If you abandon her for a long time, the next time you visit her you'll see her scorning you and kissing some other bastards. You have to constantly sharpen your mind and keep up with the current affairs, or someone will happily take the opportunity to push you down a pitfall."
At these words, Jiang Shiqin had not been able to do anything but burst out laughing. "In your mind, everything is a woman."
The prince had actually nodded. "Now you see what miraculous creatures women are."
Jiang Shiqin suspected that identical copies of this report were sent to the prince's subordinates undergoing long-distance missions, firstly to ensure that they could react in time to any abrupt situation, be it a local or nearby problems, and secondly to counter the effects of potential fake news or enemies' plots to disseminate false information. This was rather similar to the newspaper, except that it was limited within the prince's forces and there was no democratization of knowledge here.
He also strongly suspected that this kind of enormous intelligence web had been inherited and perfected throughout the generations, which meant the prince's maternal family held far more power than anyone could imagine.
He flipped to the next report, which was on what happened during the year Yu Wentian disappeared from Blazing Hawthorne Sect.
"...The only major event that happened after that was one month later when Fifth Yellow Battle occurred, which ended in General Du's absolute victory. Prince Qing did not make any suspicious action..."
Jiang Shiqin narrowed his eyes and lightly tapped his fingers on the desk. If he recalled correctly, General Du had been granted the noble title of 'Viscount' and promoted two ranks after that victory, becoming the General Who Pacifies Hanjing Region. By blood relations, the Du family was related to the prince's maternal family as General Du's second aunt was married into one of the branch families. Moreover, the Du family had once supported the former Crown Prince, who had been born of the same mother as Xia Jingming.
On the topic of Blazing Hawthorne disciples advancing to the Xiantian realm en masse, Jiang Shiqin thought it probable that either Prince Qing or the Heart Devil Sect, who in all purposes should be counted as being on the same front, had gifted them some treasures that could facilitate breakthroughs. That aggressive sect's aim remained a question, but Jiang Shiqin cared more about what Prince Qing had gained from this transaction. The most likely favor that a cultivation sect could return was manpower, which would make perfect sense had Prince Qing borrowed their experts to fight in the Fifth Yellow Battle. However, General Du, who had gained the most from the victory, was still assumed to be one of Xia Jingming's people, unless there were some undisclosed matters behind the two families' relationship. After the Fifth Yellow Battle, Prince Qing had not seemed to benefit as well.
After reading through the rest of the reports, Jiang Shiqin concluded that Blazing Hawthorne Sect definitely had a connection to Prince Qing, but it appeared that it was more of a cooperation, unlike the Heart Devil Sect which wholeheartedly support Prince Qing. What was necessary now was to find out the extent of this cooperation and whether any other great sect was of the same position.