The deserters turned bandits are dealt with and several are then captured by Prefect Guo Si's men. Their leader is beheaded as a rebel as an example to all who would act outside the law. Or, as it seems to Baozi, those who cross the county line when acting outside the law. The others are whipped and then set free to surely attempt lives of piety and repentance...
Things continue on and by the first frost the Temple of the Northern Emperor is rebuilt and its gong sounds out across the valley. People come from as far as neighboring commanderies to see what has been done in such a short time, and many remark on how sweet the turtle soup in the village is. The fisherman have been catching bounty crops of turtles and eels as well as grass serpents who often slumber beneath the overturned boats to escape the rains.
Such is the prosperity that cookware is dragged out to the river banks and passing barges are waved down to enjoy roasted eel and steaming bowls of soup as they ply their trade along the aqueous highway. With some investment in the piers a true wharf could be constructed, and with it the fortunes of the people can only improve.
Winter then comes and goes. Its winds are fierce and the temperatures low, but spring comes early and with it rich waters and once again rich harvests of river and marsh critters, as well as more travellers eager to see the temple and try the turtle soup.
One such traveler says he is a clerk in Hedong to the south and has been sent by the Prefect to go to the capital and request aid. The man, Xu Huang Gongming, is an imposing, but humble man. He wears a jian like any courtier but it is clear to all onlookers that his knows its use. Even his horse is a warrior's mount and he travels only with two soldiers.
He stays only a day, but he has ears like a wolf and eyes sharp as a falcon. He hears much of what the people say so when he returns to Hu Qu two weeks later he makes his way to the magistrate's office. He is accompanied again, only by his two guards.