In late August, the officialdom of Jingxi was startled by the "Jingxi Purge" operation that was launched out of Fengri City. Especially the local officials of Fengri City—some were dragged into the dungeons in the middle of the night to await death, while others awoke to find that half their colleagues in the Government Office had disappeared.
The official circles have always been a bellwether for any region; any tremor among officials quickly ripples out to the streets, directly affecting prominent merchants.
There were reversals thereafter. After bloody arrests within Fengri City's jurisdiction, a subtle stalemate developed in other parts of Jingxi: the Xuanqing Guard adopted an ambiguous stance, wanting to make arrests but not pushing too forcefully, while the Local Government Offices were fighting desperately to protect their own.
