That such a crisis could be resolved so effortlessly—and so quickly—by the Jinyang Army was something neither the county commandant nor the magistrate had anticipated.
Looking at the neatly arranged civilians below, all of them obediently cooperating with the Jinyang Army as they registered, the county commandant felt a jumble of emotions. “It seems they don’t need our help after all. The Jinyang Army truly is impressive.”
Qi Pingwei was equally stunned by their efficiency. “You… you seem to have a great deal of experience with disaster relief.”
Xie Nanxiao let out a sigh. “Fengzhou is a poor region. Most of it was occupied by Quzhao, and their forces ravaged us Han people. Back then, most of the people in Fengzhou were worse off than these refugees.”
“Her Highness is benevolent and loves the people as though they were her own children. Whenever she conquers a city, she provides relief to its inhabitants, giving them work to do, wages to earn, and grain to buy.”
“We also lend a helping hand to refugees who flee here from all over the country and provide them with whatever assistance they need. After doing this for so long, of course we’ve gained some experience.”
Qi Pingwei’s expression grew solemn. As he listened to Xie Nanxiao, images seemed to flood his mind.
The Princess Jinyang who was said to possess nothing had shouldered the entire burden of Fengzhou and saved millions upon millions of Yan citizens.
He fell silent. For the first time, he deeply realized how small and laughable the regular Yan army seemed in comparison to the Jinyang Army and Princess Jinyang.
Qi Pingwei could not help giving a self-mocking smile. Everyone in Sizhou looked down on the Sixth Princess because she was a woman.
Yet it was this very woman who had single-handedly reclaimed vast stretches of Han territory from the barbarians.
And it was also this woman who, upon learning of the floods in Sizhou, had sent people carrying enormous quantities of supplies to provide disaster relief.
With one intervention, she had saved the lives of a million refugees in Shankang and Tao Prefectures!
And what were the people of Sizhou doing?
He looked toward the county seat in the distance, silent and still as a dead city. They were simply standing by and watching coldly!
After a long while, he finally sighed. “Princess Jinyang… truly is a wise ruler.”
Xie Nanxiao smiled proudly. “Naturally.”
Seeing his expression, Qi Pingwei shook his head with a laugh. He looked at the row of iron pots beginning to send up wisps of steam, then at the honeycomb coal burning beneath them in the iron stoves. “What is that?”
Xie Nanxiao explained, “It’s honeycomb coal. When we first occupied Gefeng City, there was practically nothing inside—not even firewood to burn.”
“So Her Highness secretly left the city, found coal, and then figured out how to turn it into honeycomb coal.”
Qi Pingwei fell silent once more. He had heard that Princess Jinyang had only a little over a hundred soldiers when she captured Gefeng.
He could not imagine how such a small force had managed to hold an isolated city.
It truly had been an isolated city, surrounded on every side by Quzhao troops!
After a moment, he pointed at the soldiers registering the civilians and asked in puzzlement, “They’re making a registration? Can all of them read?”
Xie Nanxiao nodded. “All our soldiers have to attend literacy classes, so they can all read. For now, we’re only making a simple record—for example, how many people there are in each village and who the village head is. That way, we won’t lose track of the person in charge later.”
The Jinyang Army truly did have extensive experience dealing with refugees. Whenever large numbers of people gathered, they managed them according to military procedures.
Watching the tents go up at astonishing speed, Qiu Dao exclaimed, “You’re incredibly fast.”
Suo Qian waved a hand dismissively. “This is nothing.”
He looked toward the line of civilians waiting to be examined. “Begin. If anyone is found to have an infectious disease, isolate them immediately. Once we’re finished here, we still have to go to the next county.”
While Qiu Dao was still trying to process what was happening, he was ushered into one of the tents and began treating patients.
Wen Zixin watched as the civilians, who had been on the verge of panic, were calmed almost instantly. His emotions were complicated as he slowly walked toward the city gate.
The magistrate stood atop the gate tower and hurriedly called down, “Lord Wen, I’ll have the gates opened for you immediately.”
The refugees had now been pacified, so there was no longer any fear that they would surge into the city once the gates were opened.
By the time Wen Zixin entered the city, the soldiers’ registration figures had already reached Xie Nanxiao. There were more than twenty-one thousand refugees here alone.
Xie Nanxiao looked at Qi Pingwei. “How many people are there in total in Tao Prefecture and Shankang Prefecture?”
Qi Pingwei had already looked into the situation in both prefectures before coming. “About 1.2 million. But after these floods, I’m afraid the actual population is far lower than that.”
Xie Nanxiao stared at him in shock. The entire Fengzhou now had only around eight hundred thousand inhabitants.
Together, Tao and Shankang Prefectures were about the same size as the smallest prefecture in Fengzhou, yet they had a population of 1.2 million!
At last, he understood why Sizhou did not regard its people as human beings.
With such a dense population, the other prefectures were probably much the same—or perhaps even more crowded. If the people of these two prefectures died, Sizhou could easily transfer people from other prefectures to replace them.
From a purely practical standpoint, abandoning these people was indeed far more profitable than providing disaster relief.
Seeing the strange look on his face, Qi Pingwei asked in confusion, “What is it? Is something wrong?”
Xie Nanxiao replied, “…Nothing. I’m just feeling a little envious.”
Meanwhile, in Wenxia City, Jiang Jin was looking over the population registration forms for Pu’nan and Shangjing Prefectures.
As she had expected, only around 170,000 people remained. Even after adding the 40,000 residents of Wenxia City, the total came to barely 210,000.
That figure included more than ten thousand surrendered Ji troops. In other words, fewer than 200,000 people could truly become her subjects.
Qiu Liao tried to reassure her. “There are still some bandits who haven’t heard the news and may come down from the mountains.”
Jiang Jin shook her head. “There won’t be many of them. Probably around ten thousand at most.”
Chu Qing nodded. “That’s right. There won’t be many.”
Jiang Jin thought for a moment before saying, “Send missions to all the contact stations. Have them spread the news in Fuping, Xigan, and Shouci Prefectures that Pu’nan and Shangjing have returned. We need to attract more Han people to our territory.”
The Han civilians under the Ji army’s control might not be able to escape, but the bandits who knew the terrain well certainly could.
Bailu nodded. “Understood!”
Jiang Jin turned to the military commanders, including Yao Ji. “Make sure the borders are carefully screened. We cannot allow Han traitors serving the Ji army to infiltrate us.”
“If there are disputes or clashes with the Ji army at the border, be firm. We have nothing to fear from a fight.”
Yao Ji and the others were overjoyed and hurriedly bowed. “Understood!”
They liked orders given with that kind of confidence.
Jiang Jin then looked at Qiu Liao. “Have you found the clay and limestone?”
Qiu Liao pointed to more than a dozen locations on the map. “We’ve found deposits at all these sites. Are you planning to build industrial zones in these two prefectures as well, my lord?”
Jiang Jin studied the map. “Yes. Glass in particular is difficult to transport, yet it’s used so often. I hope the people of Chongzhou will all be able to afford glass windows.”
She made the final decision. “Build a large industrial zone in Qinglian County, focused mainly on producing everyday necessities.”
“Brick kilns and cement plants must also be established as soon as possible. We’ll need large quantities of both materials for the construction to come.”
She traced an imaginary line across the map. “We must get the main roads built. Otherwise, transporting everything that follows will be difficult. Use the same standards as in Fengzhou.”
“Open shops in all the prefectures and counties as soon as possible, so the people have places to spend their money and buy necessities such as grain and cooking oil. Establish medical clinics as well, so they can receive treatment and return to a normal life.”
Xia Chanyi asked, “My lord, do all the houses in these two prefectures need to be rebuilt?”
Jiang Jin shook her head. “Most of the houses are in relatively good condition. If anyone wants to build a kang, we can give them the necessary techniques.”
“If the houses in the villages have been destroyed and are no longer habitable, we can offer the residents loans to rebuild…”
The discussion lasted for half an hour. Once they had finished discussing basic construction, they moved on to military deployments.
“Have Zhou Sui and the others returned to Daqing?” she asked, turning to Yao Ji.
