The follow-up to this matter ended with the Emperor punishing all ranks of officials in Hong Yang Prefecture, including the Magistrate.
Only when they were certain that the Magistrate and several County Magistrates who had oppressed them had all been punished by the Emperor did the common people truly believe that the Emperor really did keep them in his heart, and that he had only been deceived by officials from the aristocratic families before.
Common people are easily bewitched and easily brainwashed, especially when life is very bitter; then they are all the more easily brainwashed.
Because what they trust in when they trust the Emperor is not the Emperor himself, but the hope in their own hearts; people always like to evade reality and to seek benefit and avoid harm.
