Chapter 1142: Forgetting the Past

"You're building a city here? You never told me any of this. Although I never asked, I am your woman now, after all, and a person of Huaxia. You shouldn't be keeping these things from me; you should tell me everything."

Changle did not mind Ayuduo's nagging, because in his heart, he was troubled for his father. A plan that had been so painstakingly crafted had now turned out like this; as a son, he certainly didn't feel good about it. Furthermore, he held a large stake in Huaxia, and it was completely inseparable from him.

However, he was able to control his emotions and asked Ayuduo back, somewhat casually: "Alright then, just ask me. Whatever you want to know about Huaxia, I will tell you; I won't hide anything from you, okay?"

Ayuduo truly had no ill intentions; she was just genuinely curious. She also wanted to know how big Huaxia really was. What puzzled her even more was that after traveling for so long from Huaxia City, they hadn't seen a single other city besides Lema City.

Although the roads were built exceptionally well—very sturdy and very flat—it didn't seem like enough. It was a bit counterintuitive. Why, over such a long distance, hadn't they seen even one tribe? All they saw were people working and people building roads.

If it were all like this, who would the roads be for? There wasn't a single tribe, yet so much manpower and material resources were spent. Ayuduo had seen the situation on the road with her own eyes; despite the many people and good tools, the work was not easy at all and required a great deal of effort.

That was just one point. The most important thing was: with such a large territory, why were there no tribes living there? Where were the people of Huaxia? Who was maintaining such a large territory? Who was guarding it? Who was developing the resources on this land? If there really was no one, then Huaxia was truly too peculiar.

She asked her questions, and Changle answered earnestly: "Huaxia currently has two cities, Huaxia City and Lema City. As for towns, there are nearly ten, I think. Most of them were just established, and since I haven't been in Huaxia, I'm not entirely sure."

"These are all around Huaxia City. As for places far from Huaxia City, let me think... there is Xiao Town. It is indeed very far, but it's not big either. I haven't been there yet, though the road has long been built. If you want to go see it, I can accompany you."

"Another one is this place we are about to arrive at. It is called the Western Development Group. They sent some officials hoping to gain a foothold here and build the foundation for a city, and then, later on, they would vigorously develop it and turn it into a particularly large city—perhaps even the largest in Huaxia. But, well, look at the situation here; as I said, it might not work out."

But Ayuduo's attention was clearly not on that. After listening to what Changle said, she only had one puzzled question: "Just this? That's all? Does Huaxia have no other tribes, cities, or anything? Who is managing such a large territory in Huaxia?"

Changle said without a second thought: "Yes, that's all. This is already plenty. Do you know how much energy and grain it takes to build a city like Huaxia City? These cities are all piled up with grain, including this one. All of Huaxia's resources are being used to satisfy this place as much as possible, so that the people here can develop this city at the fastest speed."

"But! But! This is still too little! Huaxia is so big, and with so few cities, it's not enough to go around. There is simply no one managing these territories of Huaxia. Look here!"

Ayuduo pointed to a set of footprints: "Look, you can tell at a glance that these are wild beast footprints, and they are very large. Look at how many there are. If these could be caught, how many people could be fed?"

"But look here, there is simply no one managing it, so aren't these wild beasts just a waste? If there were enough cities and tribes, this kind of problem wouldn't happen."

Changle felt that Ayuduo's thinking was completely different from his own. Perhaps it was because Ayuduo had stayed in the Jiuli for too long, and her mindset was already that of the Jiuli, which was completely different from his, so her perspective on things was also different.

Changle could only say simply: "Huaxia doesn't need that many wild beasts. Even if we don't hunt, the people of Huaxia can still be full. These are just some wild beasts here; don't worry about them. Besides, I believe that a single city is more effective than ten tribes. You haven't been in Huaxia long enough, so you haven't noticed or discovered the important role of cities. After you've been here longer, you will understand why. Huaxia would rather let wild beasts run rampant in the wild than live in a place that lacks the conditions to build a city."

Ayuduo felt that what Changle said made a lot of sense, so she didn't argue with him further. Instead, she thought about the point Changle had just made. Perhaps she really had lived in Huaxia for too short a time, hadn't seen the specific situation clearly, and didn't understand it well enough. In the future, she couldn't keep thinking of herself as a Miao father; she had to properly adapt to her identity as a person of Huaxia.

Changle himself didn't know if his reasoning was correct, but just after he finished talking to Ayuduo, he suddenly remembered that Yu had told him what the current drawback of Huaxia was: it lacked people—people who were spread out.

As for tribes, they were impossible in Huaxia, but villages were an inevitable part of Huaxia's development. In the future, more and more villages might appear in Huaxia, serving the role that subsidiary tribes did for other peoples, developing Huaxia's territory while simultaneously managing it.

But since the words were already out, Changle couldn't take them back and explain again. Changle cared about his reputation. Moreover, since Ayuduo asked, it meant she had forgotten the previous matter. When he was talking to Yu, Ayuduo was also by his side; of course, it was also possible that Ayuduo just hadn't understood.

Many, many days had passed, so it was normal to forget. Changle himself had already forgotten, so he wouldn't demand it of Ayuduo, who didn't know that much about Huaxia's affairs and didn't care that much either. After all, she was a very new person of Huaxia.