Chapter 606: Chapter 282: Patrol and Enthronement

After mobilizing 20,000 forbidden army from Qianzhong County and sending them to Xichuan County, Lu Yuan temporarily put aside matters over there.

Now what needed to be done and could be done, he had already done.

As for what Xichuan County would eventually turn into, he could only let fate decide.

Anyway, no matter how bad it became, it was impossible to lose Xichuan County altogether.

At most, the Nanzhao Country would extinguish Xichuan Country.

This was a bit uncomfortable for Lu Yuan because it would mean having a stronger enemy near Xichuan County.

After all, Nanzhao Country extended for tens of thousands of miles and had an army of hundreds of thousands, while Xichuan Country only spanned two thousand miles with a much smaller standing army.

Being neighbors with Nanzhao Country was completely different from being neighbors with Xichuan Country.

However difficult, it would only put more border pressure on Xichuan County.

Although Nanzhao Country was strong, it still couldn’t threaten Chu State because Chu State was even stronger.

So, when it came to the situation in Xichuan, Lu Yuan paid attention to it, but he wouldn’t pay too much attention.

At present, he invested more energy in Qianzhong County.

After sending away 20,000 forbidden army, there were only 21,000 left in Qianzhong Territory.

These people had been stationed in various counties and prefectures after months of adjustment. Lu Yuan only retained a thousand men as his personal guards, without leaving more troops by his side.

However, because many soldiers and horses had been transferred away, nothing more could be done in Qianzhong County now besides maintaining local security.

Therefore, in these days, Lu Yuan did not continue to suppress bandits but led his personal guards in patrolling the local prefectures and counties.

Qianzhong County had been newly incorporated, and a large number of native Yi People had little identification with the conquerors from the east.

Submitting at this time was only out of fear of the powerful military force and the lack of their own resistance.

Thus, to ensure local stability, apart from dispatching the forbidden army and strengthening local armed forces, Lu Yuan, as the monarch, also went on patrolling the local prefectures and counties as a way to deter and consolidate people’s hearts.

Similarly, visiting various places could also help understand the local people’s livelihood and supervise the implementation of local policies.

For example, the current situation of immigration that Lu Yuan was most concerned about.

…

On the third day of the eighth month, Eshan Mansion.

This day, Lu Yuan led his personal guards to inspect the Mansion.

Eshan Mansion was located to the northwest of Qianzhong County. From this Mansion, one could go north to reach Yuzhong Prefecture or west to reach Hui Chuan Country. Further north from Hui Chuan Country, one would arrive at the Panshi Prefecture, which was currently being besieged by tens of thousands of Nanzhao Army.

It could be said that the geographical location of this Mansion was extremely critical as it connected east to west and north to south.

Especially with the 20,000 forbidden army led by Lan Zhaoyun stationed in the Mansion, it was currently one of the largest forces among the expeditionary forces.

After inspecting the vicinity of Stone City in Qianzhong County, Lu Yuan hurried all the way to this place.

Along the way, Lu Yuan paid some attention to the local people’s livelihood.

It had been more than half a year since Qianzhong County was established.

As officials from various prefectures and counties arrived and immigrants were gradually settled, with the arrival of various divisions of the forbidden army, the areas quickly restored peace and began to slowly develop and recover.

At present, although there were still many abandoned villages and houses, large areas of farmland alongside the roads were left uncultivated, and no one was farming them.

However, production had resumed in some stable villages where populations had gathered, particularly near county towns where new immigrants had arrived, and the large areas of farmland around the city walls were being reused.

Fields of lush green rice covered the entire countryside, and the second crop of rice for the year had already been planted after the summer harvest.

When this round of autumn rice was harvested, the Yulin County immigrants who had migrated last year would finally be able to stand firm in Qianzhong County.

And once they were steady, it meant that Chu State had firmly rooted itself in Qianzhong County.

As long as these people continued to multiply, in one hundred or two hundred years, this place would become an inseparable part of Great Chu.

Seeing these situations and feeling the continuous growth of Qi Luck these days, Lu Yuan naturally felt overjoyed.

So when he arrived at the Mansion and met the Prefect of Chen Yuanxiu, his attitude had improved a lot.

However, although his attitude was good, he was here to supervise the administration, so after seeing Chen Yuanxiu and hearing his report on some local work, Lu Yuan asked about the situation with the exiled criminals he was concerned about.

Since determining Qianzhong County as a place for criminals to be exiled at the end of last year, a large number of light and heavy criminals from Chu State had swarmed in.

The first to arrive were more than 3,000 heavy criminals who had been accumulated in various prisons for years.

These people were mostly extremely wicked, involved in robbery, fights, and even homicide.

The danger they posed was enormous.

For these people, even if Lu Yuan wanted to make use of them, he couldn’t afford to be careless.

Otherwise, instead of stabilizing Qianzhong County, they might make things even more chaotic.

Therefore, for these 3,000-plus heavy criminals, the Qianzhong County side adopted military control, that is, gathering them together, setting up military barracks, and assigning soldiers to guard and supervise their production.