Chapter 92

(ps: The humble author is online begging for updates and comments, wuwuwu~)

Wang Zong's order was like a huge stone thrown into a calm lake, stirring up great waves within the Wang Family.

Accept refugees?

This decision, in the view of almost all core members of the Wang Family, is a crazy and foolish move.

That evening, the Wang Family's council hall was filled with people.

The atmosphere was even more solemn than when Wang Zong ordered war preparations three years ago.

"Uncle! Please reconsider!" Head of the Family Wang Jing was the first to stand up, his face full of anxiety: "We finally managed to build the fort, with supplies and weapons ready. As long as we keep the gates closed, we can simply watch the world's changes. Why, at this time, would we invite trouble by accepting refugees?"

"Yes, elder brother!" a clan uncle in charge of logistics also said with a bitter face: "Inside our fort, we already have nearly five thousand clansmen and servants. If we accept refugees, even just ten or twenty thousand, our food supplies won't last two years! This is practically digging our own graves!"

"People's hearts are unpredictable! Among the refugees, there are many ruffians and scoundrels, even spies of rebel bandits. If we let them in, should they cause internal chaos and collude with external enemies, what good is our fort, no matter how strong?"

Voices of opposition rose and fell.

This time, even the usually silent Wang Yi furrowed his brow.

He may not understand military affairs, but he understands arithmetic.

He clearly saw that feeding tens of thousands, or even more, non‑productive refugees with the Wang Family's current supplies would be an enormous burden.

Wang Zong (Wang Xiu) sat silently in the chief seat, listening to the crowd's argument, saying nothing.

He knew that his decision was indeed beyond everyone's comprehension.

In their view, in these chaotic times, the most precious things were grain, weapons, and sturdy city walls.

To preserve oneself and one's strength is the wisest choice.

But Wang Zong (Wang Xiu)'s vision saw farther than theirs.

He knew that the Huang Chao Rebellion was not an ordinary peasant uprising.

It was a catastrophe lasting nearly ten years, sweeping across half of China, apocalyptic in scale.

In this catastrophe, the old social order would be completely destroyed.

The population would plummet by seventy or eighty percent.

"No rooster's cry for a thousand li, white bones exposed in the fields" would no longer be a poem but a bloody reality.

In such an era, what is most precious?

Not gold and silver, not grain.

It is people!

It is living, breathing people!

Whoever has more population holds the foundation for rebuilding civilization and the right to speak of the future.

What he wants to do is not merely to let the Wang Family survive this catastrophe.

He wants the Wang Family, upon this ruin, to establish a new order and also accumulate capital for founding a future dynasty!

"Have you all finished speaking?"

After everyone had spoken until their mouths were dry and the hall gradually grew quiet, Wang Zong then slowly spoke.

His voice was not loud, yet it made everyone shut up.

"What you say makes sense." He said calmly, "Taking in refugees indeed carries risk and burden."

"But," he shifted his tone, his eyes turning sharp, "you only see the risk, yet you fail to see the enormous opportunity behind it!"

"Do you think that with our mere few thousand people, guarding this isolated city, we can rest easy?"

"I tell you, it's impossible!"

"The future rebel armies will number hundreds of thousands, even millions! Where they pass, not a blade of grass grows! When all of Jiangnan becomes scorched earth, when around us there is not a grain of food nor a living person, how long can this isolated city hold out?"

"We will be trapped and starved to death!"

Wang Zong's words made everyone's faces turn pale.

"Our only way to survive is not to shut the doors and defend passively, but to take the initiative!"

"Of course, by 'taking the initiative' I don't mean you go head‑to‑head with the rebels. I mean we seize the most precious resource in this chaos—people!"

"Taking in ten thousand refugees now seems a burden, but if we feed them, clothe them, and give them a stable home, they will be grateful and regard this place as their own homeland."

"We can select the able‑bodied among them to reinforce our troops, have them reclaim the land around the fort to produce more grain for us, and put them in workshops to forge more weapons for us."

"They will no longer be refugees, but subjects of the Wang Family!"

"When our fort holds a hundred thousand, even two hundred thousand soldiers and civilians united in heart and virtue, though the world is vast, who would dare provoke us lightly?"

"By then, what we need will no longer be a fort that can only defend passively."

"But a Wang Family that can radiate across all of Jiangnan, establish a new order, a Wang Family that possesses culture when it needs culture and military strength when it needs military strength!"

Wang Zong (Wang Xiu)'s words, like a great bell, thunderously exploded in the ears of every Wang Family descendant.

Their eyes no longer held confusion and worry; they were stunned by Wang Zong's words, and a flame called "ambition" ignited in their hearts.

"If we only had an army, the Wang Family would be no different from those military governors; but if we establish order... then the Wang Family would be a state within a state!"

"This is something they never dared to imagine before, yet now Wang Zong speaks it directly, and it feels so real, so within reach."

"Uncle..." Wang Jing, his voice trembling with excitement, "Child... child understands!"

"We, respectfully obey the order of Uncle (Grand Uncle)!"

All the Wang Family descendants knelt down in unison.

Their thoughts were completely overturned by Wang Zong (Wang Xiu).

……

The next day, at the Yangzhou Wang Family Fort, the massive drawbridge that had been shut tight for three years slowly lowered.

Rank after rank of the Wang Family's guards, riding tall horses, filed out of the fort in single file.

They did not go elsewhere, but directly headed to the various porridge sheds and ruined temples inside and outside Yangzhou City.

There, tens of thousands of refugees who had fled the northern war had gathered.

The Wang Family opened the granary and distributed grain! Everyone gets free meals!

The Wang Family is hiring! Anyone who can move is accepted! Food and lodging provided!

As the news spread, all the refugees went crazy.

They brought their families and swarmed toward the legendary Wang Family Fort.

At the fort's gate, the Wang Family set up a temporary registration office and quarantine zone.

All refugees wishing to enter the fort must undergo strict identity registration and physical examination.

The sick are immediately sent to the quarantine area for treatment.

Young and able-bodied individuals are assigned to one place, preparing to receive militarized training and management.

The elderly, weak, women, and children are settled elsewhere, with the Wang Family's female relatives responsible for their care.

The whole process, though cumbersome, is orderly.

In just over ten days, more than thirty thousand refugees were settled into the Wang Family Fort.

Overnight, the Wang Family Fort transformed from a stern military stronghold into a densely populated, vibrant metropolis teeming with life.

The Wang Family, too, began to shift from a mere aristocratic clan into an independent political entity.

This news naturally reached the officials' ears.

The Yangzhou Inspector was shocked and dismayed.

The Wang Family openly recruited tens of thousands of refugees to build an army—this is outright rebellion!

He immediately mustered troops to go and 'suppress the bandits'.

But his advisor firmly held him back.

Sir! Absolutely not!

Although the Wang Family's move amounts to separatism, their banner reads 'sheltering refugees, aiding disaster victims'—a good deed! If you send troops, you will be opposing the people and provoke unrest!

Moreover, the Wang Family's fort is impregnable, with strong troops and ample provisions. Attacking them with your meager forces would be like striking a stone with an egg!

What... what should we do?" the Inspector exclaimed, sweating profusely.

The advisor leaned close to his ear and whispered, 'Sir, perhaps... we should truthfully report this to the Court. Let the Court worry about it. We can simply wait and see.'

The Inspector thought it over and could only nod helplessly.

An urgent memorial regarding 'the Yangzhou Wang clan, gathering tens of thousands under the guise of disaster relief but actually seeking separatism' was immediately rushed via the eight-hundred-li express to the Capital Long Peace.