Chapter 663: Chapter 300: Jin Guan Palace City_3

Since there was already a well-established system of prefectures and counties, after the swift recovery of the five prefectures of Xichuan, the Chu State could quickly establish effective rule in the current Xichuan County, which had expanded to eight prefectures.

As for the lack of officials in the five western prefectures, Lu Yuan had already instructed people to commence another Enke, to recruit a thousand juren and jinshi in order to supplement the vacancies for officials in the five western prefectures of Xichuan County, as well as the newly established Jianchang and Jianchuan prefectures in Qianzhong County.

Now, the Enke had ended early in the fourth month, and over a thousand newly graduated juren and jinshi in Baling City were eagerly waiting for their appointments and assignments.

Now that the two battles in the beginning of the year had been won, and the territories of two counties and seven prefectures had been successfully expanded, it was time to let these newcomers take office and help restore stability in the Chu State.

Therefore, after annihilating the main force of Nanzhao in Nanchong Prefecture, Lu Yuan had already issued an edict to recruit officials from the country and head to the various places in Xichuan and Qianzhong to take up their posts.

By now, most of the officials had already arrived and begun to set up the government structure in the various prefectures and counties of Xichuan, reorganizing the localities.

So, Lu Yuan did not need to worry about these miscellaneous things; he called upon the Governor of Xichuan County for different instructions.

“Now that Xichuan County has been recovered, the five newly captured prefectures are all in ruins, with dilapidated households and no people in sight for thousands of miles.

This is not acceptable; we must restore the vitality of this county.”

Lu Yuan looked at the hastily arriving Governor of Xichuan County, his face solemn and stern: “Previously, the more than 100,000 refugees stationed in Yuzhong Prefecture can now be sent back to their original places by the county government here and be resettled.

Moreover, in the eastern three prefectures of Xichuan, there are too many people and countless poor households due to a lack of land. The local government here must also find a way to recruit those without land and relocate them back to the five western prefectures of Xichuan County, for proper resettlement.

I will also have the court order the governments of the two prefectures of Xiangyang and Dongting to recruit people and relocate them to Xichuan.

Additionally, I will relocate some of the Yi people from Qianzhong County and the southwestern Yi area; there may be as many as 200,000, so you must be prepared to receive them as well.”

To relocate people from the eastern three prefectures of Xichuan and from the prefectures of Dongting and Xiangyang was a plan long established by Lu Yuan.

Preparations by the imperial court had been made even before the start of the war this year.

Now, it was just to communicate the plan with the local authorities in Xichuan County.

As for relocating the Yi people from Qianzhong County and the southwestern Yi region, Lu Yuan considered that the newly established Jianchang and Hui Chuan prefectures in Qianzhong County had too many Yi people, close to 200,000.

Given the current situation where large-scale immigration is necessary in both Xichuan and Qianzhong, there simply aren’t enough native people to assimilate the Yi people in these areas.

In addition, Huang Xuan had already defeated the Jianchuan nation on the central front, occupied their capital city, and was now looting the local wealth and population, capturing more than 100,000 Yi people from Jianchuan nation.

With the combined population of more than 300,000 Yi people, Qianzhong County simply could not bear the burden.

Therefore, Lu Yuan decided to relocate 200,000 people to Xichuan.

After all, there was a lack of a large population here, and they were also in the process of migrating from the native land; eventually, there were expected to be about a million Chu people in these five prefectures.

With a huge base, it wouldn’t take much effort to assimilate 200,000 Yi people.

Also, separated from the southwestern region and dispersed among the various prefectures and counties, these Yi people would be like rootless duckweed, unable to make any waves.

As long as there were local county soldiers and militia, they wouldn’t have to worry about these people causing trouble.

However, after Huang Xuan defeated the main force of Jianchuan nation, there was not much resistance left among the Yi people there.

Jianchuan nation was a big country, with an area the size of five prefectures, including its vassal states, and a population close to one million.

Furthermore, as the native land of Nanzhao country was being attacked by Chilih and Kunhai, and many territories had already fallen to them, in the face of the invasion of 100,000 troops and two Inborn Grandmasters from these two countries, Nanzhao country dared not be careless.

At this point, more than 100,000 troops were being gathered to wage a war against the United Army of the two countries, and there was no spare force to manage Jianchuan country.

So theoretically, Jianchuan country was now effectively occupied by the Chu State.

If Lu Yuan was willing, he could establish prefectures and counties here at any time, and further expand the territory of the Chu State by 3,000 miles.

However, Lu Yuan had lost interest in those mountains and hills in Jianchuan.

To capture that land would bring few benefits, and precious resources would have to be spent on administration.

Moreover, there were not enough Inborn Grandmasters in the Chu State to go and sit in that area.

So, Lu Yuan’s approach to that area was to scavenge for money and food, loot the Yi people, and plan to relocate them back to the Chu State, to supplement the local population that had been reduced due to large-scale migration.

Based on this concept, he had already used soul communication to order Huang Xuan to loot more women and children in Jianchuan, and then relocate them back to the Chu State, to be distributed among the meritorious soldiers and landless men.

As for the male Yi people, they could be left in Jianchuan. Let them be.

They were not Chu people, so Lu Yuan did not care about them.

“Yes, your servant obeys.”

The current Governor of Xichuan County, Shen Xin, also belonged to Lu Yuan’s old people, who had risen from the ranks since Lu Yuan’s time in Shaoyang Prefecture.

As Lu Yuan’s power expanded, Shen Xin was successively promoted to important positions in local government, and ultimately, he became a capable official.

Having been tested for his abilities, Lu Yuan now trusted Shen Xin, and seeing that he understood the focus of his work, he waved his hand to let him leave.

After the man left, he called for the next person.

This person was not like Shen Xin, not a Chu State confidant, but his position was far more important.

For no other reason than the fact that his name was Jihui, he was an Inborn Grandmaster and the former ruler of Xichuan country, now the leader of White Phoenix Temple.

Now that the entire territory of Xichuan had been recovered, Lu Yuan finally found time to settle the surrendered national master Grandmaster properly.