Chapter 610: Chapter 283: Initial Governance in Qianzhong_2

It was not just the Dali Kingdom that was affected.

In Xichuan, the protracted battle for Panshi Prefecture, which had lasted for several months, finally came to a conclusion in October.

Faced with the relentless siege of the Nanzhao Kingdom’s force of fifty thousand, and with Zhao Changqing, an Inborn Grandmaster, personally leading the charge, even with the presence of Jihui, the “Monk King,” defending the city, his injuries prevented him from providing adequate support.

After nearly three months of resistance, and once again holding off Zhao Changqing despite his severe injuries, Jihui was eventually overcome, gravely injured on the battlefield once more.

In his final breath, he reluctantly abandoned the city and made a desperate sortie, his whereabouts unknown.

Without him as the Inborn Grandmaster at the helm, the scant thousand remaining soldiers in the city were clearly no match for Zhao Changqing.

The day Jihui fled, Panshi City fell, another city in Xichuan lost to Nanzhao.

Perhaps due to the prolonged siege, the Nanzhao army had built up a great deal of resentment and following the fall of the city, committed a massacre.

After two days of slaughter, all the remaining tens of thousands of military and civilian citizens within the city were killed, none were spared.

The news of this quickly spread, causing panic within Xichuan and even its surrounding regions.

A significant number of citizens from Xichuan began to flee, seeking refuge in nearby Han and Chu.

Among them, Chu’s Xichuan County received many refugees. The number was not small, amounting to about fifty to sixty thousand people.

In fact, given the current trend, with the Nanzhao army’s brutal actions continuing, more citizens from Xichuan will start to flee. This figure could yet rise further, potentially reaching over one hundred thousand.

Consequently, Lu Yuan attached great importance to this situation.

After receiving the report from Xichuan County about receiving refugees, he issued an immediate edict, instructing them to relocate all the refugees they had taken in and to send them straight to Qianzhong County.

At present, Qianzhong County was anxious about not having enough people to populate the area, the arrival of an extra fifty to sixty thousand refugees could not have come at a more opportune time.

Moreover, this was far from a one-time deal.

As long as the Nanzhao army continues to wreak havoc in Xichuan County, countless refugees will continue to flee to Chu. This has become a long-term task of taking in refugees, which will have tremendous benefits.

After recognizing this, Lu Yuan immediately ordered his men in the capital, to incite local citizens within Xichuan to join the fleeing ranks, and make their way to Chu.

Currently, Chu was in dire need of population. Every one person brought in, even one more family, was good.

This task was identified by Lu Yuan as one of the priorities for this and the next year, and he delegated both the Imperial City Department and the local authorities of Xichuan to set up a specialize team for execution.

…

The surrounding situation abroad was in the midst of turbulent changes.

At this crucial juncture, Lu Yuan was also earnestly executing his strategy, the campaign against the southwestern tribes.

Subjugating the southwestern tribes was not an overnight task.

Presently, taking control of Qianzhong County was only the first step. The following step, to stabilize and fortify this county, would be the second one. As for fully integrating the county, and establishing control over it, that would be the third step.

Currently, the first step had been completed, and there was only some land in Hui Chuan country left, Lu Yuan wasn’t sure if he should annex it to make up for the ten counties in Qianzhong County.

But this was not that significant.

Therefore, Chu’s current major strategic goal is the second step, to stabilize Qianzhong and eliminate threats.

In terms of eliminating threats, this task had already been entrusted to Li Xiong, as long as his Kunhai country grew stronger, naturally, they could isolate Da Changhe Country and Nanzhao, keeping these two strong enemies at bay.

This task does not require Lu Yuan’s intervention.

The task of stabilising Qianzhong mainly involved overseeing domestic affairs, and this was where his involvement was needed.

Therefore, after returning to Stone City, Lu Yuan was busy handling various affairs across Qianzhong County.

As Qianzhong County was at the forefront and its internal security situation was complicated, there was a need for military involvement everywhere, hence it remained under military control.

Even though a county magistrate was appointed, many matters couldn’t be handled by local government officials alone.

Many aspects involving military affairs had to be transferred to Lu Yuan’s palace for him, as the King, to decide.

This was not to mention that there were matters from the royal court of Chu that the ministers and Queen Lan Cai’er couldn’t decide on. These, too, were urgently sent to Lu Yuan for resolution.

All these matters combined made him incredibly busy.

Out of the twelve hours in a day, four hours had to be allotted to deal with official matters, two hours for cultivation, and the remaining six hours for eating, drinking, and resting.

His packed schedule made Lu Yuan feel as though he had returned to his days of intense cultivation.

Fortunately, as the situation in Qianzhong County gradually stabilized, his workload began to decrease.

By the end of November, the majority of affairs in Qianzhong County had been taken care of.

Whatever remained could be handled by the local county government and there were fewer issues that required Lu Yuan’s judgement.

The four hours of work Lu Yuan had per day reduced to two, allowing him more time for cultivation.

In the midst of Lu Yuan’s hectic state, at the end of November, the first official population count of Qianzhong county, as determined by county officials, had finally been submitted.

“Your Majesty, after thorough statistics from the various prefectures and counties within the county, the detailed number of households accounted for in all of Qianzhong County has finally been officially calculated.

Currently, across the eight districts of Qianzhong County, there have been recorded a total of ninety-two thousand three hundred households of Chu citizens, with a population of four hundred and fifty-eight thousand people.