With Bai Mao's troops firmly in place, Pingyang Prefecture finally found something it had lacked for a long time:
Stability.
Two hundred flintlock riflemen garrisoned atop solid city walls were not decoration. When the Eight Great Kings of the Southern Camp launched two probing assaults, they were smashed back by disciplined volleys from the ramparts. Smoke rolled, lead sang, and rebel morale cracked cleanly—twice.
General Li Huai, who had once fled faster than his own shadow, underwent a miraculous transformation.
With the riflemen backing him, courage suddenly bloomed like weeds after rain.
The moment rebel formations wavered under gunfire, Li Huai would fling open the city gates and roar forward, leading a charge as if bravery had been part of his character all along. The Eight Great Kings of the Southern Camp were chased off repeatedly, fleeing in genuine panic.
After several days of holding out, Shanxi Governor Song Tongyin arrived with a massive relief army. He personally directed the campaign and crushed the remaining rebel forces in one decisive stroke.
Pingyang Prefecture was finally at peace.
Unfortunately, peace did not mean harmony.
Almost immediately, Governor Song Tongyin and Prefect Dou Wenda began arguing.
Loudly.
Dou Wenda, though only a prefect, stood his ground with stiff resolve, voice ringing through the hall.
"Your Excellency," he declared, "I ask that you take all Shanxi troops with you. Pingyang Prefecture requires only Captain Wang of Shaanxi for its defense."
Song Tongyin's expression darkened. "Dou Wenda! Pingyang is under Shanxi's jurisdiction. What issue could there be with Shanxi troops guarding it? Why do you insist on keeping Shaanxi soldiers instead?"
Dou Wenda didn't retreat an inch.
"Since taking office, this humble servant has governed diligently. I do not claim prosperity—but despite disasters, the people endured. Yet the moment Your Excellency's army arrived, Pingyang descended into chaos."
He slapped the table.
"In mere days, how many civilians have your soldiers harmed?"
Song Tongyin fell silent.
Truth be told, Song Tongyin was a good official.
A jinshi of the Wanli era, upright and incorruptible. As a prefect, he had rejected bribes outright. During the Tianqi years, he organized flood relief, crushed the White Lotus cult, and earned genuine loyalty from the people. By Chongzhen's second year, his accumulated merit had elevated him to Governor of Shanxi.
But good officials could not magically fix rotten systems.
Bandit uprisings flooded Shanxi. Troops were rushed from battlefield to battlefield. Discipline frayed. Soldiers bullied civilians. Song Tongyin knew it—and it tormented him.
Being confronted so bluntly by Dou Wenda left him humiliated.
After a long pause, he sighed deeply.
"These military ruffians have no discipline," he admitted. "The empire is in chaos. They ignore orders and defy command. I can only wait until the bandits are suppressed, then memorialize the Ministry of War for punishment."
Dou Wenda snapped back, "Later is later! Their crimes are happening now. This prefecture cannot tolerate them. They must leave!"
Song Tongyin frowned. "And the Shaanxi troops—are they any better?"
Dou Wenda straightened proudly.
"Captain Wang's men are exemplary. Look for yourself."
He threw open the window.
From the second floor of the yamen, they saw a Gao Family Village militia soldier helping an elderly man carry a heavy shoulder pole loaded with battered iron pots—likely everything the old man owned. The soldier walked patiently beside him, smiling, adjusting the load when it slipped.
They disappeared down the street.
"This," Dou Wenda said firmly, "is how government soldiers should behave."
Song Tongyin stared.
Impossible.
This had to be an illusion.
After a long silence, he sighed again—this time heavier.
"You once served as a prefect," Dou Wenda added softly. "Surely you understand my position."
Song Tongyin finally relented.
"Very well. I will withdraw all Shanxi troops—and General Li Huai as well. Pingyang Prefecture shall be guarded by these four hundred Shaanxi soldiers."
Dou Wenda's joy was undisguised.
"Many thanks, Your Excellency!"
With that, Song Tongyin departed eastward, resuming the pursuit of Wang Jiayin, whose main force—still over 160,000 strong—had gathered in Qinshui County.
Pingyang Prefecture was left behind.
And with it—
Four hundred Shaanxi troops, now firmly under Wang Er's control.
At Gudu Ferry in Yongji.
Xing Honglang, Gao Chuwu, Zhao Sheng, Zao Ying, Lao Nanfeng, Zhan Seng, and the others stood gathered around a brand-new statue.
A statue of Dao Xuan Tianzun.
The previous co-sensing incident had been… unfortunate. Half the clay face had fallen off, terrifying everyone. After much discussion, they agreed:
This time, the Dao Xuan Tianzun must be durable, flexible, and majestic.
They found their solution in an unexpected place—a puppet master from Xiaoyi, Shanxi.
Xiaoyi puppet theater was renowned. Its puppets had lifelike expressions, ingenious internal mechanisms, and joints so flexible they could dance. A divine craft.
They paid handsomely.
The result was astonishing.
The puppet's face was vivid. Its joints articulated smoothly. The mouth could open and close using fine wires, allowing speech and expression.
After days of work, it was complete.
They surrounded it in awe.
Gao Chuwu frowned. "The face is excellent… but why is the mouth a little square?"
"So it can move," Xing Honglang explained. "Watch—pull this string—"
Before Gao Chuwu even touched it, the puppet's jaw snapped open.
"Hey!" it shouted. "I can play here again!"
Silence.
Then—everyone dropped to their knees.
"Greetings, Dao Xuan Tianzun!"
The puppet stood up with soft clicks and whirs, joints twisting in strange, almost comical ways.
No one laughed.
A puppet moved by humans was funny.
A puppet moved by a god was a miracle.
Li Daoxuan spoke—and the voice that emerged was sharp and rhythmic, altered by the mechanism, almost like a folk rhyme:
"Beware, beware—
Wang Jiayin lies in Qinshui there!
Two hundred li, his banners spread—
Sharpen your blades, prepare ahead!"
The Dao Xuan Tianzun paused.
Satisfied.