The moment the silver doors of The Dry-Well Express #1 slid open at the Eastern Frontier Terminus, three hundred elaborately dressed mayors, grand dukes, and guild presidents dropped straight to their knees on the station platform.
At the very front knelt Grand Duke Bai, the ruler of the White-jade River Republic—the last rich merchant state on the eastern edge of the Central Continent that had previously stayed neutral during the war between Dry-Well Kingdom and the Four Great Sects.
Above his head, Grand Duke Bai held a heavy golden box containing the land deeds, tax ledgers, and city seals of forty-two eastern cities.
“Lord Pei! Auditor Su! Don’t leave our forty-two eastern cities off the map!” Grand Duke Bai cried out at the top of his lungs, terrified that the train might turn around and leave without him. “Yesterday morning, we pulled down all our old ducal flags, abolished every private noble toll booth, and painted the walls for forty-two Free Public Cultivation Schools ourselves! If you don’t accept our annexation application today, my three million citizens are going to throw me into the boundary river and move across the border without me!”
Behind Grand Duke Bai, a fat merchant mayor from the Cloud-Harbor Free City shoved his way forward, waving a thick stack of red census scrolls.
