Fatty Shi

Civilian administrator turned column-master. Built a seven-station relay along the seven-hundred-eighty-li route from Vanandes to Kobo and shuttled the refugees through it like a well-oiled supply line.

Cunning, resourceful, with a merchant's instinct and a boundless love of profit. The moment he enters a wealthy city his eyes light up: under the pretext of military requisition he tries to sweep up the goods of every merchant in town.

Yet he is unbendingly firm in business: when the Second Prince wanted to borrow grain from the convoy, Fatty dug in and demanded collateral — and made the prince respect the condition, though the prince was poorer than the convoy itself.

A civilian administrator who became Lorist's right hand in all economic and logistical matters. One of the family's most trusted men — in time Lorist hands him all administration and coordination across the family lands.

He won fame with a feat of logistics: in twenty-nine days he moved the convoy and a hundred thousand refugees from Vanandes to Kobo (chs 158-159). He split the seven-hundred-eighty-li route into seven temporary camps and ran the people through them like a well-oiled supply line.

In the later arcs he heads the family's entire administrative and economic life: drawing up economic plans (chs 522-523), wearing down negotiators and bargaining out favourable terms. When Steward Hansek raises his rebellion, Fatty stays loyal and unharmed; after Lorist's return it is his men, not the old-guard conspirators, who are entrusted with administration.

A logistical and administrative genius: he can shift tens of thousands of people in the shortest time, organise an army's supply and build the economy of a whole province. A master of bargaining and financial sleight of hand.

For his administrative talent Lorist raised him to territory viscount — on a par with such masters of coordination as Camora and Hid.