The following day, Trinket set off for Peking, with Prefect Wu and the Old Whore and an escort of guards. They made haste on their journey, eager to obey the Emperor's urgent summons. En route they had the latest news of the Satrap's rebellion. The Military Commander of Yunnan Province, Zhang Guogui, and the Governor of Guizhou, Cao Shenji, along with his military counterpart, General Li Benshen, had all of them surrendered to the Satrap's advancing forces. The Governor of Yunnan had committed suicide, as had the Viceroy of the Twin Provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, Gan Wenkun. Things looked very bleak for the Imperial cause. Trinket reached the province of Shandong, and there the local officials read out to him the Emperor's most recent proclamation, which had been published in the Peking Gazette. In it Kang Xi denounced the Satrap's treason and his base ingratitude to an Imperial Throne that had done nothing but shower him with honours all his life. He urged all his true subjects to remain loyal to the Throne. If anyone could capture the Satrap, that man himself would be granted the Satrap's full title, Prince of the West. This idea appealed greatly to Trinket. His Triad friends, while having no desire to strike a blow for the Manchu cause by capturing Satrap Wu, reflected that if their Lodge Master were to be made Prince of the West, they would themselves be in a stronger position to launch a rebellion of their own from the South-West.

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