Chapter 229: Closing One's Eyes to See

Needless to say, as soon as the Eastern Capital Marquis returned to Upper Valley Pass, he sent someone back to Chang'an to fetch Lao Er; in the fourteenth year of Ningde, peace arrived safely.

The King assigned new houses to the five districts under housing renovation, and rewarded the officials of the Prince's residence with some of the houses they had built themselves in the north, according to their ranks; the whole Youzhou was filled with joy.

The system allocated the five districts after integrated reconstruction; after distributing new houses to the original residents by area, half remained, and the King immediately went to the military camp to draw up plans.

Do you see those large mansions left in the city? I won't sell a single one; I'll keep them to reward those with military merit! The future is yours!

Those splendid, spacious houses didn't make the whole Youzhou stare with envy; when this proclamation came out, it caused quite a stir—what if?! Those houses were built so well that obtaining one could be passed down for three generations!

Taking advantage of the enthusiasm, the King posted a notice for the March conscription to repair the military dock; of course, families signing up for military service this time would get priority.

The topic of last year's military review still hasn't cooled down in Youzhou.

The King considered the military review a great success, achieving multiple gains at once.

Everyone who should have seen the sword demonstration did see it; his recruitment efforts within Youzhou couldn't escape the Eastern Capital Marquis's eyes and ears. Now the two have verbally agreed—anyway, as long as the Eastern Capital Marquis's military reports don't mention Youzhou, it's fine.

This level would satisfy the King; the Eastern Capital Marquis is a fine commander, and from the Marquis of Weiting he also gained a further understanding of the Eastern Capital Marquis's character—he simply likes smart neighbors. If it were someone with deep ties to other powers, he'd have to divide his attention to guard against nearby neighbors, which would be worse.

He was perceptive, so the King returned the favor—when sending gifts to the Eastern Capital Marquis, he also sent ten Black Wind Horses bred at the ranch as a present. The Eastern Capital Marquis remained composed, but Ge Zhong's mouth was practically grinning up to his ears; this gift truly hit the spot.

With the military review and recruitment working in tandem, Zhang Tu's conscription efforts went smoothly.

It's not that patriotic sentiment sprang up overnight; the King's words were correct, all plain truth. Joining the army is indeed a path forward for the men of Youzhou.

Rather than being conscripted as militia when war breaks out, it's better to train in martial arts beforehand, so one can survive on the battlefield—especially when there are many men in the family.

Haven't you seen how good the equipment is that the King gave his troops? Serving the You King is unlike before, when one went to battle in plain hemp clothes; their troops are all equipped with iron armor that glints with a cold light!

There's never a shortage of ambitious people, and there are those like Tie Zhu, with decent build and some foundation, who want to go in and give it a try.

The King strolled to the recruitment site and saw that Zhang Tu's conscription work was booming, which put him at ease. He then began personally leading patrols, reaching as far north as the Branch Yan Mountains; he truly couldn't relax about the Xianbei.

Just as the King had been nervously guarding for several days, thinking the danger was about to pass, Zhu Ti brought him new news: a village in neighboring Wing Prefecture had been slaughtered by refugees or bandits—no one knew which!

The King fell silent for a moment, then asked, 'How big was the village? Who were the perpetrators? What did the local authorities say?'

"A small village under Wu County in the south of Wing Prefecture, a bit distant from other towns and villages, was attacked at night by bandits who killed over a hundred villagers, looted all the grain, money, and valuables, and fled. It was discovered by outsiders visiting relatives; this probably happened three days ago and has been spreading throughout Wing Prefecture. The authorities there have issued no bulletin about the bandits, only Wing Prefecture City has begun strict checks on entry and exit."

The King grew angry, reaching to throw whatever was in his hand, but realized it was his newly bought small cup and calmly set it back down.

"Why aren't they investigating? Over a hundred lives aren't a trivial matter—has it been reported to the court?" The King was deeply worried.

Zhu Ti shook her head; that's all she knew.

"The Governor of Wing Prefecture is useless! If it's mountain bandits, you should quickly organize people to wipe them out—the more chaotic things get, the less we can tolerate their bad habits; once they get a taste of success, after they've looted these places, another village will suffer. If it's refugees, how would we handle such refugees fleeing to us? I certainly don't want that!"

Zhu Ti: ……

The King immediately summoned Colonel Wang, who oversees the Youzhou garrison, and told him to keep a close watch on the refugee village. He had always strictly checked travel permits in Youzhou City; the key is the villages and towns outside.

"Those capable of wiping out a village are surely mainly able-bodied men; furthermore, new refugees reporting to the King should be watched for—beware of refugee groups lacking elderly, women, and children."

The King thought he'd study this matter at tomorrow's morning audience, but in the afternoon he received a warning from the Eastern Capital Marquis. The Eastern Capital Marquis had specially sent someone over to inform him about the situation in Wing Prefecture, urging him to be wary of refugees.

The Eastern Capital Marquis knew a bit more, saying that after the incident the Wing Prefecture Governor had only sent people to bury the corpses in that small mountain village, and that the Wing Prefecture side claimed they lacked manpower to investigate the perpetrators, and had also sent a request for aid to Upper Valley Pass, asking the Eastern Capital Marquis to send troops to help guard Wing Prefecture.

The King laughed upon hearing it, saying, "He's truly useless. Wing Prefecture's population far exceeds that of Youzhou."

The You King's residence immediately issued a notice to the whole domain, reminding the populace to stay alert and be wary of strangers. The notice didn't embellish anything; it merely recounted the tragedy in Wing Prefecture, and for a time even the slightest sound caused alarm.

The next day's court assembly, as expected, broke into an argument.

Everyone disagreed with taking in more refugees; although there was no evidence that refugees were responsible, the bandits within Youzhou had been thoroughly eradicated, so if there were no refugees there should be no trouble—this is the optimistic view.

There were also more radical voices, advocating that the people of the North Red Water Refugee Village be driven out, claiming they were destabilizing factors, and no one could say whether they would imitate such actions.

"Wouldn't it be enough just to keep them out of the city? Red Water actually has hardly any inhabitants..." This was said weakly by someone still hoping for a population boom.

As soon as that was said, those in favor of an all-or-nothing approach were practically jumping to shout at him, "Aren't people outside the city walls people too? Those in mountain villages are the most at risk!"

The two sides argued until their faces flushed, while the King yawned from above.

Chancellor Xue saw this and finally spoke up to call a halt, directly asking the King what he thought.

"After all, it was Your Highness who single-handedly pushed for the construction of the refugee village—what is Your Highness's view on this?"

The King sat upright, saying, "If you wait a moment longer, I'll close my eyes and look—I'm about to fall asleep!"

Chancellor Xue: ……

All officials: ……

The King rose, stretched his arms and legs, and said, "Everything you said is correct, let's calm down—we're all doing this for the good of Youzhou!"

The King's words settled the muddle, and he declared, "That's it—I announce that from now on, no matter how many refugees or displaced persons come to Youzhou, I will accept them all, as many as there are. As long as they haven't committed the heinous crime of massacring a village, the elderly, weak, women, and children will still be sent to the refugee village, while men will be detained—I have use for them. That's all for today; dismissed."

He threw down those words and left, leaving the upstairs crowd still arguing, neither up nor down, hanging in limbo.

They wanted to scold the King for dictatorship but dared not, given that the military review had just ended; the You King differs from other feudal lords—his martial prowess is astonishing. Looking left and right, they still wanted to say something to make up for it, but the Chancellor and Grand Tutor also rose and walked away……

Well, I should have seen it earlier; major affairs in Youzhou are decided solely by the king, while minor matters are where they can voice their opinions.