The smell of cheap ink, wet dog hair, and horse manure hung heavy over the registry court of the Cangzhou Military Yamen.
Freezing drizzle fell from a leaden sky, coating the granite paving stones in a slick, dark film. Three hundred martial testers, representing the nine prefectures and thirty-two counties of Azure Province, crowded the courtyard in a dense, murmuring mass.
Yet even in the rain, the social geography of the empire was drawn in razor-sharp lines.
Along the eastern row of stone pillars, sheltered beneath silk wind-curtains, sat the testers of the country capital’s great houses. Retainers tended charcoal fire bowls, heating spiced wine for young noblemen. These youths wore tailored layered-scale coats of lacquered steel, their dueling tunics made of brocade trimmed with otter fur. Their weapons rested on folding racks: Damascus steel dress swords with gold-trimmed wire grips, willow-leaf sabers, and balanced throwing daggers.
Across the courtyard, standing in slush in the open rain, were the examinees from the outer counties. Mountain hunters in deer-hide tunics, sons of border veterans wearing rusted breastplates, and caravan brawlers with broad, calloused knuckles. They huddled against the wind, clutching registration vouchers inside damp blankets.
Pei Jing stood near the center of the court, feet shoulder-width apart, arms hanging naturally at his sides.
