The surrounding mountains were inhabited by bandits and smugglers. Imperially appointed bureaucrats still oversaw the administration of the cities, but it was the merchants who dominated the rivers and ports. It wasn't that there was no law in Fujian. He knew who would turn a blind eye and who could be bribed. Yang should have been afraid to return to the city where not long ago he'd tried to have a powerful warlord assassinated, but he had connections. This was a land where a person with determination and a little cleverness could carve his own destiny, regardless of his birth. This was a land set apart from the heart of the empire, away from the eyes and ears of imperial authority. To the east was the ocean fed by a lattice of streams and rivers. It certainly held true in Fujian province where rugged mountains enclosed them to the north, west and south. 'The mountains are high and the Emperor is far away.'īao Yang had always been fond of that particular proverb.
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