Chapter 608: Chapter 282: Patrol and Enthronement_3

As for ten years later, will there be 50,000 households here?

Please.

Now that I have done well in my political career, ten years later, I, Chen Yuanxiu, might have been promoted to the County or even transferred to the Central Government.

When I am no longer here, how Eshan Mansion will be is for my successor to worry about. What does it have to do with me?

Everyone works for the sake of promotion. Are you really working for the people?

Chen Yuanxiu spoke with a clear conscience.

“Very good, Minister Chen has done a great job. I feel relieved now that Eshan Mansion has been stabilized so quickly.”

After listening to Chen Yuanxiu’s detailed explanation of the resettlement of exiled criminals, and after checking the specific records, Lu Yuan nodded with satisfaction, praising him a few times, and then emphasized again: “Those Yi people are proud and ferocious, wild in nature, difficult to tame, they are transformed by Mu Wanghua, unlike our descendants of the Three Emperors.

To tame them, we must destroy their clan, marry their women, enslave their children, and extinguish their culture.

In this way, within twenty years, there will be no more Yi People in Qianzhong County, only our transformed Chu people. This is the national policy for long-term stability and peace.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuanxiu immediately flattered: “Your Majesty’s three strategies for conquering Yi are truly great plans that will last a thousand generations. Even after only a brief trial in Eshan Mansion, it has stabilized. If we persist, there will be no trouble in pacifying the southwestern Yi tribes.

Your Majesty, rest assured, I will make every effort to implement this policy and stabilize the western border of our Great Chu, so that the Yi people will not rebel again.”

Lu Yuan nodded: “I am reassured with you in Eshan Mansion.”

As for Chen Yuanxiu’s exaggerated words, Lu Yuan naturally could tell the truth from the falsehood.

But he didn’t care about those.

It is normal for subordinates to want to show off in front of themselves.

After all, who doesn’t want to be promoted and make progress?

People are driven by desires, and without greater desires, where does motivation come from?

As long as the subordinates can do the tasks he assigned well, he can tolerate a little trick as long as it’s not too excessive.

And Chen Yuanxiu, obviously, did an excellent job.

Like Zhao Xianzhi before, he was a capable official.

As for the current problem of bragging, it is nothing compared to his ability.

…

After patrolling Eshan Mansion for a few days and personally checking on the heavy criminals of those military barracks, confirming that these people were well-behaved under the supervision of the soldiers and didn’t cause any trouble, Lu Yuan then continued to inspect other places with his troops.

In this way, the inspection work in various places continued for more than a month, and it was not until the end of September that it was finally over, and he returned to Stone City.

When he returned to the county town, he rested for just two days at the former Wuman royal palace, which had been converted into a palace, when news of victory came from the east bank of the Lu River.

After recuperating in Qin Cang Chuan for three months, Li Xiong recruited 10,000 troops and launched an attack on the Great Changhe Army, which was stationed in Wen Fu and other places and confronted Li Liang across the river to the south.

The Great Changhe Army in this area had about 20,000 troops. The main force of 10,000 was stationed in Wen Fu City, while the remaining 10,000 were distributed along the ferry crossings of the Lu River, guarding against Li Liang crossing the river.

This number of troops, facing Li Xiong, a First Inborn Grandmaster, were naturally no match.

In addition, Li Liang, who was across the river, had received orders from Lu Yuan to cooperate with Li Xiong and launch an offensive against the Great Changhe Army in this area.

Under the double attack, the Great Changhe Army could only hold on for two months before being annihilated by the combined forces of the two armies. Seven cities and 100,000 Yi people in the area around Wen Fu fell into Li Xiong’s control.

From then on, apart from the Hui Chuan battle zone in the north where Lan Zhaoyun was dealing with, there was no longer a direct border between the Qianzhong County controlled by Lu Yuan and the Great Changhe Country.

The area controlled by Li Xiong was separated in the middle.

After the war, Li Liang withdrew with the remaining 8,000 forbidden troops to the east bank of the Lu River, continuing to set up defenses along the line to guard against the scattered Yi soldiers.

Li Xiong, on the other hand, expanded his army to over 20,000 after incorporating the Yi army and went northward to Chiyang City, where he joined forces with Li Shou’s 30,000 local forces, and continued to fight the Great Changhe Army led by Li River at the Sand Pool area, trying to seize the northern part of Kunhai.

After receiving the good news, Lu Yuan was also considering one thing.

That was to formally confer a title on Li Xiong, so that he could establish a state and rule it.

After all, Li Xiong now officially controls the eastern and southern parts of Kunhai, with an actual control of about a thousand miles and a population of 300,000, and as many as 50,000 troops.

This strength, although still not considered strong, is sufficient to establish a small state and establish a regime.

Moreover, conferring on Li Xiong to establish a state and rule it was also part of Lu Yuan’s original promise.

Now that Li Xiong has made remarkable achievements on the front line, attacking cities and seizing territories directly against the Great Changhe Country, he really should be rewarded for his efforts.

So after thinking about it, on October 1, Lu Yuan sent an envoy to the front line of Chiyang City to officially read the edict, conferring Li Xiong as the Duke of Kunhai and letting him establish the Kunhai Duchy.

Yes, it’s a duchy.

After all, Great Chu is now just a kingdom, and Lu Yuan is only the King of Chu, so he can’t make Li Xiong the King of Kunhai.

Otherwise, both sides would be kings. Who would listen to whom?

If Li Xiong wants to become king, he has to wait for Lu Yuan to become emperor.

For now, don’t even think about it.

After dealing with the rewards for Li Xiong, and granting the title of the first vassal state, the Kunhai State, Lu Yuan, apart from sending another batch of food and fodder to the front line at Chiyang City, did not pay much attention to the battles there.

As agreed before, the territory to the west of Lu River was for Li Xiong to take on his own.

Chu State will not intervene too much and will only provide some financial and military support.

How much territory Li Xiong’s Kunhai State can fight for depends on his own abilities, and Lu Yuan will not help him much.

Otherwise, since Great Chu has to send troops anyway, the territory would be better taken by Great Chu directly, why should they work for nothing and benefit Kunhai State?

Li Xiong knows this too.

So when he was fighting on the west side of the Lu River, he only asked for money and military supplies from Lu Yuan and never asked for support.

Recruiting troops and fighting wars are all up to him.

Especially after gaining territory, even the supply of food and fodder was much less requested, and he began to resolve it within Kunhai State itself.

This buffer vassal state is becoming more and more useful, relieving Chu State of considerable pressure.

Of course.

From a certain point of view, it can also be said that the independence of Kunhai State is growing.

Whether this is good or bad depends on who you ask.

But there is one thing that Lu Yuan is certain of.

That is, as long as the Great Changhe Country, or even the three great Yi countries in the southwest, are not destroyed, and there is strong external survival pressure, Li Xiong’s Kunhai State is basically impossible to betray.

Otherwise, with the three great Yi countries outside and the powerful suzerain Chu State inside, under internal and external troubles, as long as Kunhai State dared to rebel, it would face imminent destruction.

With these assurances, Lu Yuan was not worried about betrayal.

And when those external strong enemies were eliminated, and Chu State was already strong, Li Xiong would not dare to betray any further.

Lu Yuan was not worried at all.