Character Index
Hu Qing/Liang Hongfei: Lord of the Liang clan, formerly Kayla's retainer.
Alizhi: Grandson of Commander Tumidu, Hu Qing's assigned companion/guide.
Commander Tumidu: Grandfather of Princess Mingda, chieftain of the Uyghur. Holds a position equivalent to Military Governor.
Qazar: Mingda's nephew, the hostage promised to Kayla.
Zhou Mingda: The Sixth Princess, her mother is Tumidu's daughter.
Governor Huang: A potential ally recommended to Kayla by Yunqi.
General Yan: A potential ally recommended to Kayla by Kuang.
Zhou Yunqi: The Fifth Prince, supporter of the Third Prince.
Zhou Kuang: The Third Prince, a contender for the throne.
Ke Yongqian: Hu Qing's retainer, formerly Kayla's retainer. The two go pretty far back, and have been at odds with each other as well as been allied.
Captain Jiang: An Imperial Guard captain assigned to protect the delegation northwards.
Tabuyir: A Senior Investigator, Kayla's supporter. He hoped to introduce his niece and nephew into Kayla's household as an expression of goodwill/offering up hostages.
Zhao Chao: Kayla's bodyguard, brought onboard by Hu Qing.
Tao Qian: Kayla's bodyguard, recommended to her as a reliable retainer by Hu Qing in Book 1.
Chuluo Khagan: The Khagan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate and father of Princess Ashina, making him Kayla's soon-to-be father-in-law.
Shegui Khagan: The Khagana of the Western Turkic Khaganate.
Sun Ruhui: Left Secretariat of Justice, Kayla's supporter.
Chen Caichun: Chamberlain of the Court of Judicial Review, Kayla's supporter. Her brother, Chen Jian, is the protege of Li Que, who is also Kayla's supporter.
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Hu Qing adapted to the North like a fish to water. It was the most relaxed he had felt in a long time. There was no need for him to hide his personality, and he was all the more liked for showing his true colors. The locals thought of him as different from the snakes of the capital who had two faces and three blades, and easily accepted his words as truth.
It helped that as Alizhi said, Commander Tumidu really did like him. Tumidu wasted no time in introducing Hu Qing to a slew of beautiful girls from his tribe, hoping that one of them would become either the new Lady Liang, or at least a concubine. He didn’t hide his disappointment when Hu Qing showed no interest, but gaily introduced young Qazar, the teenage boy who would return with Wenyuan as Mingda's promised hostage.
With Commander Tumidu’s support, it didn’t take long for Hu Qing to hurtle through the list of names that Wenyuan had given him. But despite the warm reception, Hu Qing knew full well that even if he had been the shittiest bastard to ever show his face in the North, people would still be eager to make connections with the newly-instated Duke.
Hu Qing earnestly promised everyone he met to pass on their congratulations and arrange a meeting with Wenyuan once the man was here, and they happily accepted his promises without question. Within two days, there were only two names left on the list that hadn’t been crossed out. Governor Huang and General Yan, recommended by the Fifth and Third Prince respectively.
All of his requests for an audience were soundly rejected by the two. Governor Huang coldly but politely cited that such a meeting was not in accordance with official regulations. General Yan was more direct, and flatly stated that he was obliged to meet with Wenyuan and no more than that.
Disgruntled but not discouraged, Hu Qing turned his attention to strengthening the bonds he’d formed while awaiting Wenyuan’s arrival. He didn’t have to wait long.
Hu Qing had just settled in for the night when Alizhi burst into his tent with no warning save for his loud footsteps.
“Alizhi? What is it?” Hu Qing asked, hiding the knife he’d instinctively pulled out of his boot.
“The Duke is arriving!” Alizhi announced.
Hu Qing glanced outside the tent in confusion. “What? Where?”
“The delegation is pulling into Yunzhou, we can meet them at the Chanyu Protectorate Fort by tomorrow afternoon if we hurry,” Alizhi replied.
By afternoon? They should be arriving in the morning. The delegation was a little behind schedule, but Hu Qing was hardly going to harp on about that.
“What about your grandfather?”
“He’ll be there by evening with the other Tiele chieftains,” Alizhi said. “Even General Yan and Governor Huang will have to show their faces. But you wanted to see him without so many people present, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah,” Hu Qing said, a little surprised that Alizhi had sensed as much. There was a lot to report, preferably before Wenyuan met the subjects of the report.
“Then let’s go, come on!” Alizhi urged him.
“On it, on it,” Hu Qing called back. The two of them swung onto their horses and set off into the night, followed by four Uyghur guards and one irritated Ke Yongqian, who had been about to succeed in his flirtations towards a local girl.
The weather was clear and crisp, and they made good time despite taking breaks for power naps throughout the night. An hour or two before noon, they came upon the delegation.
Hu Qing recognized the flags from afar and raised a hand in greeting. The guard detail tensed up at his approaching until seeing that it was Hu Qing, but there was a subtle edge to them that hadn’t been there before.
Something happened, Hu Qing realized. He scanned the delegation for injuries but found none. There were two new faces, a boy and a girl about the same age, riding close to Tabuyir with quietly curious expressions on their faces. Given the resemblance, Hu Qing was willing to bet they were related.
Zhao Chao moved closer to Wenyuan’s carriage as Hu Qing rode towards the delegation, quietly announcing the young man’s arrival. The Duke’s familiar face emerged from the curtains with a few words of instruction for the guards.
“Well met, Lord Liang,” Captain Jiang greeted him as Hu Qing got into hearing distance. Tabuyir nodded as well. Hu Qing returned the gesture, with a small smile for the two Khitan teenagers.
“Captain Jiang, Senior Investigator, it’s good to see you both again. This is Alizhi, grandson of Commander Tumidu of the Uyghur tribe,” Hu Qing replied, gesturing at Alizhi, who bowed his head slightly. “And who are the new faces?”
“My niece and nephew, Hegudian and Yilie,” Tabuyir explained. “The Duke was pleased to meet them and kindly granted permission for them to join us on the journey.”
Hu Qing grinned broadly, tucking away the implications for later. “How wonderful! Well then, Alizhi, good sirs, I’ll let you guys get acquainted.” At Alizhi’s nod to go ahead, Hu Qing headed towards the carriage, exchanging waves with Zhao Chao and Tao Qian.
“There you are,” Wenyuan greeted him as Hu Qing got to the carriage. “How have things been?”
“Everything’s been going well, thanks to Alizhi–the guy over there, the Commander’s grandson.”
Wenyuan gave the man a wave through the window.
“I’ve gotten everyone but Governor Huang and General Yan. They’ll only meet with you, and only because they have to,” Hu Qing went on chirpily. “Anything happen while I was gone?”
Wenyuan gave him a placid smile. “A few hiccups here and there. We’ll talk about it later. I see you’ve met Hegudian and Yilie. They’re Tabuyir’s relatives.”
“Yeah, they're cute. Are those kids coming back to Luoyang with us?” Hu Qing asked, glancing at the two young tokens of goodwill, who were quietly talking to each other a short distance away.
“Yilie will join my household as a secretary-in-training until he takes the civil service exam or the martial service exam. As for Hegudian, she will go to Princess Mingda’s household,” Wenyuan said dryly. “Now’s not a good time for me to be accepting young girls into my care.”
“I’d bet. Speaking of, I’ve met the hostage from the Uyghur, he’s a good kid, just a little shy,” Hu Qing said. “His name’s Qazar. They say he’s fifteen, but he looks a little small for his age.”
Wenyuan let out a soft sigh in exasperation but didn’t rebuke Hu Qing for his choice of words.
“Tell me more,” Wenyuan prompted. Hu Qing took the cue and launched into his report.
It was close to noon when he finished. The delegation stopped for a break, and Wenyuan briefly went to give his greetings to Alizhi before heading away from the rest of the group to continue his conversation with Hu Qing. Zhao Chao and Tao Qian followed them, respectfully stopping just outside of hearing distance and staring down any guard or Investigator who attempted to come closer.
Hu Qing had been extremely thorough in his observations, taking note of who was weak to the pretty girls, who to the pretty boys, who hankered for gold and precious gems, and who had an especially soft spot for fine brocade. He sorted through the gossip, brusquely discarding the ones he knew were engineered for benefit or harm, and saved his complaints about General Yan and Governor Huang for last.
“I can feel Governor Huang looking down his nose at me even though I haven’t even seen the man yet,” Hu Qing groused. “And General Yan isn’t even trying to hide how much disdain he has for you and for the marriage. I truly doubt you’d get anywhere with them, my lord, especially since you barely have two days before the Princess arrives.”
“That’s troublesome,” Wenyuan said mildly, leaning against a tree trunk with arms folded over his stomach. “What I’m more worried about is what you said about the tribes–if they don’t seem to have a strong attachment to this place, to the Wu administration, or to the Han people, we’ll be in a tough spot if war breaks out. Even if the chieftains are eager to build ties with me right now, that could just put us in a position of intense scrutiny if they choose to flee or defect later on.”
“I’d say that the ruling clans are pretty attached, since they’re getting titles and rewards out of it, but their people are a different story. The administration doesn’t do much for them normally, but once there’s even the slightest turbulence at the border, they start harassing the nomads and treating them like criminals. Governor Huang’s actually got a good reputation precisely because he treats everyone like a potential criminal, and not just the Tiele,” Hu Qing replied. “If you build up your presence here, you might be able to meddle with how the administration does things bit by bit.”
He glanced quizzically at Wenyuan, searching the Duke’s face. “But are you expecting war to break out soon?”
“Well, not necessarily with us. I suspect my father-in-law is thinking of war against Shegui Khagan,” Wenyuan replied.
Hu Qing frowned. “So something did happen after all.”
Wenyuan gave him a small smile. “As expected, I can’t hide anything from you.”
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Kayla gave Hu Qing an extremely brief rundown of what happened with the Turkic agents, making full use of the omission skills she’d honed as the child of an overbearing parent. She kept out the details that were more embarrassing for her, such as getting manhandled around like a wet cat. She did keep in the tidbit of how she’d ended up ripping the pants of one horseman, hoping it would lighten the mood.
It did not.
Thank god we chose a secluded spot, Kayla thought uneasily, glancing about the trees as though someone might materialize within hearing distance.
“What the fuck is wrong with the Khagan?” Hu Qing demanded with a scowl. “And seriously, the moment I leave? Just how shitty is your luck?”
“I don’t think luck had much to do with it,” Kayla said.
Hu Qing ignored her statement. “And they stabbed you?”
“Lightly,” Kayla said. “Just a little bit.”
Hu Qing shook his head in disbelief. “Does the Khagan want you to hate your wife? Or is he trying to start a war? I don’t understand what the fuck is going on in his head!”
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Kayla shrugged. “Me neither. I’m guessing that either this mission was sabotaged by a pro-war faction, or the Khagan is desperate to get me under control quickly. Maybe he wants to start a war with the Western Turks, or there’s trouble brewing inside the Khaganate. Can’t say for sure. But it doesn’t make sense for him to maim his future son-in-law when our interests are already tied together–there has to be something we haven’t taken into consideration yet.”
“Unbelievable,” Hu Qing scoffed. “How much more brazen can they get?”
Hu Qing’s gaze flicked over to Zhao Chao and Tao Qian in the distance, his expression darkening.
“And your guards, how can they be so fucking useless? I didn’t expect much from the security detail, but Zhao Chao and Tao Qian just let this happen?”
“There really wasn’t much they could've done,” Kayla pointed out.
“Bullshit. Do you know how much above the market rate you're paying them? Since they had the balls to take the money, they should've done their jobs properly. It’d be another story if they were incapacitated or dead, but if they could move, they should've prevented this,” Hu Qing snapped.
“The good thing about this is that I now have an extra card to use domestically and against the Khaganate,” Kayla said, hastily changing the topic. “Those fuckers are worth more to me dead than they could ever be worth alive.”
Hu Qing evaluated her expression and leaned in closer.
“What’s the plan?”
Kayla relaxed slightly. “The Khagan is betting that I won’t make a big deal out of this in order to save face and avoid scrutiny, the same bet that the Grand Duke made and lost. I’ve got the upper hand here, Hu Qing. I’m going to cast this as the work of extremists seeking to undermine the Khagan’s peace agreement–if I drag it out into the open like this, he will have to go along with my explanation unless he wants war. And if Princess Ashina is already on this side of the border, in the capital, then I doubt he’ll be willing to start a conflict.”
“Yeah, but what good does that do?” Hu Qing asked.
“For one, it gives us leverage in the alliance, because that makes this a fuck-up on their end,” Kayla explained. “More importantly, we get an excuse to poke into their inner affairs every so often, with the excuse of protecting our peace agreement and national security. But the best part of all this is that I can use this to implement the first part of my reforms.”
Hu Qing gave her a quizzical look. “What? I thought you didn’t have a solution yet?”
“I do now,” Kayla replied with a broad smile. “I’m going to spearhead a surveillance and security policy to implement the installation of communication infrastructure throughout the country. To put it simply, that means mandatory use of communication devices at every locality, be they civil or military, and regular checks through an incentivized mandatory reporter system for a start.”
She gestured broadly at the trees around them.
“Once we have that in place, we can install public communication devices for the civilian population to increase their reporting power, and we can keep going from there. The court has more than enough mages employed to do this without racking up a ridiculous bill, especially if we requisition the mages working at provincial capitals. They might charge a lot on their own terms, but that’s off the table. Officially, their salaries aren’t that high, and that’s the rate we’ll be paying. They can’t refuse, since they passed the civil exams and are listed as public servants. And with Wei Guang’s help, we can even frame it in a way where the nobles are pressured into donating communication devices as a show of patriotism. It’s the most cost-effective policy we can carry out at this point.”
A malicious grin of realization spread over Hu Qing’s face. “You’re gonna make them donate devices to surveil themselves? I like it. But they’re going to push back against this, won’t they?”
“Not if we frame it as a matter of national security and anti-extremism!” Kayla laughed confidently. “A small extremist faction from the Khaganate was able to completely gain control over a locality and carry out an abduction despite the presence of local military and government officials, Imperial Investigators, and even the Imperial Guard–and yet they would dare to disagree with a measure that could prevent this? That could protect the country against those seeking to undermine the safety of our borders?”
“Well, when you say it like that,” Hu Qing admitted.
“Exactly. If we hold the moral high ground, you have no idea how much we can get away with by using the excuse of countering extremism. I never thought I would use this type of rhetoric, but if it works, it works. It comes with its fair share of problems, of course. We’d need to set up bilateral trade agreements and gift-giving with a lot of pomp and fanfare. And I’d have to spread a lot of rumors about my loving marriage with Princess Ashina and talk the Emperor into publicly demonstrating his favor towards our union. Hopefully, that would help with managing anti-Turkic sentiment, or at least influence public opinion away from becoming too pointed,” Kayla said.
“I mean, there's that, but I’d worry more about how people counter the surveillance measures,” Hu Qing noted. “Illicit activity won’t just disappear, it’d go underground. We’d be seeing all kinds of new manifestations of the old problems pop up like mushrooms after the rain.”
Kayla nodded. “I know. And that’s where I was hoping you would step in. You’re well-versed in how people sidestep surveillance and such, you’d be much better equipped to handle countermeasures. I’ll recommend you for the task if you’re willing to do it.”
“I am,” Hu Qing said without hesitation.
“Wonderful. There’s still a bunch of logistics I need to think about. Just because we have a surveillance network doesn’t mean we’re equipped to handle that much information. And honestly, a surveillance state is a huge problem in and of itself. We need it right now because we’re heading into a time of extended and extreme crisis, but what about after? The crisis would be over, but the infrastructure would remain. Will we really be able to ensure it’s not used for the wrong purposes?” Kayla said, her voice softening into a mutter as she drifted into thought.
Hu Qing let out a soft huff. “Whether or not it’s short-sighted depends on the course you choose to take. I’m sure that the Left Secretariat and Chamberlain Chen will have ideas on how to proceed.”
Fair enough. What happened back in my world had its specific set of contexts as well. But strict surveillance measures are almost never a good thing in the long term.
It wasn’t as though she could expect Hu Qing to materialize a solution for that. That was a task for Sun Ruhui and Chen Caichun.
“You’re right, that’s settled then. Do you want to eat here or with the others?” Kayla asked.
“Whichever is fine. But just a moment, there’s something I need to take care of before that,” Hu Qing said.
“Yeah, sure, take your time,” Kayla waved him off. Hu Qing moved into Tao Qian’s line of vision and waved the man over, pointing at Zhao Chao as well.
Tao Qian grabbed Zhao Chao, and the two plodded over warily. Kayla smiled at them in greeting, and both of them relaxed a little.
“So what did you need to do?” Kayla asked, watching him curiously.
“Just a moment,” Hu Qing said pleasantly.
Hu Qing turned and slapped Tao Qian in the face. Kayla and Zhao Chao both jolted in surprise.
“Hu Qing, what the fuck?!” Kayla said in disbelief. Hu Qing ignored her and backhanded Zhao Chao.
“Dude!” Kayla took a half-step forward in alarm.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Hu Qing said.
"How about you take it easy for a moment?" Kayla demanded.
"We do things differently in this trade," Hu Qing replied. "You can just sit this out."
Kayla opened her mouth to object, but Hu Qing turned back to Zhao Chao and Tao Qian before she could get a word in.
“Well?” Hu Qing asked menacingly.
Zhao Chao sucked in a deep breath. “Fair enough,” he admitted. Tao Qian avoided Hu Qing’s eyes.
“I’ve broken Ke Yongqian’s arm for less,” Hu Qing hissed at them. “How long have you been in this line of work, huh? I can’t believe I thought I could leave things to you two, I should never have left the delegation to you fools!”
Zhao Chao and Tao Qian nodded grimly at the rebuke.
“You’re lucky the Duke is forgiving. You two did an absolute shit job–and you’d better not forget it!” Hu Qing snapped. “Any other employer would have skinned you alive for this!”
Tao Qian winced and lowered his head. Hu Qing gave him a murderous look.
"Especially you, Tao Qian, after I took the trouble of specially recommending you as a bodyguard!"
“Ok, let’s all calm down for a moment here!” Kayla hastily cut in before Hu Qing could deal any more blows, stepping in between them. “Hu Qing, I’m grateful for your concern, but let’s leave it at that for now. Sure, there are things all of us could’ve done better, and each of us knows what they are. So let’s just focus on our next steps instead.”
“If you insist,” Hu Qing said flatly, still glaring disapprovingly at Tao Qian. Flustered at the sudden turn things had taken without any prior warning signs, Kayla settled for patting him on the shoulder.
“Thank you for your magnanimity, my lord, but Lord Liang is right. Our performances on this journey were not up to task, and it came back to bite us,” Tao Qian said resignedly. “If you wish to remove us from your service or rescind our pay, we wouldn’t have anything to complain about.”
“You wouldn’t complain if I stiffed you on your pay after dragging you all the way here?” Kayla asked incredulously.
Tao Qian lowered his head. “That’s just how we do things in this trade.”
Kayla paused for a moment, a heavy silence settling over them.
“You guys, all of you, are people I rely on,” Kayla finally said, lightly squeezing Hu Qing’s shoulder. “You haven’t known me for that long, but you’ve all stuck to me through thick and thin, even when I was arrested by the Bureau. So I won’t be docking your pay or firing you, not after all this. I’d much rather someone who has learned from a mistake rather than someone who is confident they will never slip up. Is that understood?”
Tao Qian and Zhao Chao nodded sheepishly, looking equal parts embarrassed and relieved.
“Good. Then let’s consider this matter over with, but I expect all of you to back up my testimony when I return to the capital,” Kayla said, eager to wrap things up as quickly as possible. “Now fix up your faces, and let’s go eat. We’ve got a busy few days ahead of us.”
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Cultural Notes
道德制高点/Moral High Ground: Similar to almost everywhere else, holding the moral high ground in China gives you an advantage over your opponents. But this goes doubly so for Ancient China. Almost all successful or semi-successful revolts, rebellions, coups, and other forms of usurpation in Ancient China did well because they occupied the moral high ground, partly because it would be easier for the population to accept your "cause", and also because it gives talented people and enemy commanders an excuse to surrender/defect/join your side without sullying their own reputation. The most common example is "清君侧/Cleaning the surroundings of the Emperor", in which the Emperor's "faulty advisors" and "wicked subjects" are blamed for whatever goes wrong in the country, and the rebellion is framed as an act of patriotism instead.
Another commonly seen method is grabbing the "rightful successor" to a dynasty, movement, etc., and then establishing yourself as that successor's protector and champion, and frame everything you do as for the restoration/protection of that dynasty/movement. Once you've successfully rid yourself of your opponents, you can then have the successor "willingly abdicate" to you, and either shuffle them off to a remote fief or kill them off afterwards.
Moral high ground was also extremely important in politics, and people skilled in rhetoric could easily gain the upper ground (at least temporarily) for something obviously skewed and inappropriate if they frame it right. For example, insisting that a highly inappropriate court appointment for the Emperor's Uncle-in-law is to express the boundless virtue and filial piety of the Son of Heaven, and if you go against this, you're trying to make the Emperor seem like an un-filial scumbag and thus sully the ruler's reputation and cause him to lose the Mandate of Heaven, and thus you're a traitor and should have your nine clans exterminated. This would work even better if the Emperor is very young, in support of the appointment, or in bad health. Of course, people would still recognize it as wildly inappropriate, but the vast majority of opponents wouldn't have the guts to keep going at this point.
如鱼得水/Like a fish entering water: An Ancient Chinese proverb to mean either entering an environment in which you flourish from an environment to which you are less suited, or to gain your freedom/break free of restrictions, or that a desperate and long-term need of yours has finally been met. This is often used in the context of a lord who finally gains the service of a competent advisor, or a downtrodden official who is finally recognized for his talents.
两面三刀/Two faces and three blades: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning that someone is a two-faced bastard with ill intent (simply put).
云州/Yunzhou: A Tang Dynasty administrative region around modern day Inner Mongolia.
单于都护府/Chanyu Protectorate Fort: A Tang Dynasty administrative region around modern-day Helinger in Inner Mongolia, encompassing much of central and Northern Inner Mongolia, China, and a small part of Southern Mongolia (the country). It was established to settle those who had surrendered/defected from the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. On another note, Chanyu is the term for rulers of the 匈奴/Xiongnu/Huns, but remained in use for nomadic rulers even after the Xiongnu had largely become incorporated into other nomadic groups.
Tiele: Refers to twelve/thirteen/fifteen (depending on the source) Ancient Turkic tribes, including the Uyghur and the Pugu, which was formerly ruled by the Gokturks but later surrendered to Tang Dynasty subjugation. However, as the Tang dynasty began to lose its military might and conflicts with the Gokturks intensified, many of the Tiele defected, and later came under the rule of the Uyghur Khaganate.
Khitan: An ancient nomadic people in Northern Asia that was often caught between the Turks and the Tang. In the power vacuum following the fall of the Tang Dynasty, they established the Liao dynasty but were later conquered by the Mongolian Empire. Hegudian and Yilie are Khitan names, as is Tabuyir.
科举/Civil Service Exam: A tradition that began in the Han/Sui/Tang dynasty (scholars are still arguing about exactly which dynasty it originated in) and continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Civil Service Exam was the primary method through which aspiring young students entered civil service or became civil officials in court. One typically had to pass exams at the local, regional, and national levels to be considered for high-ranking positions/important positions, though passing just the local or regional exams were enough to be employed as lower-level civil servants, secretaries, or other administrative/teaching positions at the local or regional level. Starting from the Tang dynasty, the civil service exam was opened up to people of all backgrounds, regardless of whether they were commoners or nobles, and served as the primary form of upwards mobility for the educated.
武举/Martial Service Exam: A tradition started by the first and only female Empress, Wu Zetian. It started out as only testing for hand-to-hand and horseback combat ability, but later evolved to also test military theory, strategy, logistics, etc., in addition to fighting. It was hosted far more infrequently than the civil service exam.
面子/Face: Similar to the Western concept of pride/dignity (think dignitas of the Roman Republic). Since one's reputation and prestige bore great weight in Ancient Chinese politics, similar to Medieval politics in Europe, a lot of plotting revolved around damaging someone's face, or trapping them into compromising/backing down/etc in order to save face and avoid humiliation. An in-story example would be how the Grand Duke never feared that Wenyuan would blab about how he was treated by the Grand Duke or Liu Hongyu because it would cause Wenyuan to lose too much face to admit to such weakness and face the victim-blaming he would be subjected to.
江湖/Jianghu: Though Hu Qing and the guards don't directly use this term, they are in fact operating as part of the Jianghu system and not part of Kayla's official court system. The Jianghu is a familiar concept to many thanks to wuxia novels and movies, but to summarize it briefly, Jianghu refers to societies outside of the court's influence/direct regulation. In its broadest definitions, it refers to everything that operates outside of, under, or above the law, including social relationships that are regulated by socio-cultural norms/rules instead of official regulations and laws. Hu Qing, Tao Qian, and Zhao Chao all operate or operated outside the boundaries of the law, doing gruntwork and spying that was at least semi-illicit, and thus are/were part of the Jianghu.
Though the Jianghu is not controlled by the law, it has its own sets of unspoken rules and social contracts. For example, the most important concept is 义/Righteousness and Justice, which also overlaps with loyalty unto death towards friends/allies, as well as to one's higher-up/master. This essentially means that the Jianghu self-regulates to get rid of/cull the worst of its members, and favors are expected to be repaid with goodwill. In later dynasties, this evolved into 劫富济贫/robbing the rich and distributing wealth to the poor (with the advent of growing wealth inequalities), and 杀狗官/the vigilante killings of corrupt nobles or officials (in response to power inequalities). Punishments in the Jianghu also tend to be much more straightforward, since they operate outside a court of law, and tend to take the form of physical violence, murder, or forcing someone out of a region, and tend to have far fewer restrictions on who can dole it out, unlike official courts where there are state-mandated actors. That's also why Hu Qing felt he had a right to punish a job badly done even when Kayla herself hadn't planned on doing anything.