Rise of a Lonely City: From Exiled Prince to Ruler of the Nine Provinces

Han Lie clapped his hands and praised, "Brilliant! Your Highness's strategy is truly a wise and prudent approach to governing the country!"

In this way, these two thousand young men are not a burden, but rather become our labor force and potential source of soldiers for developing new lands and consolidating border defenses.

By binding them with military law, enticing them with land, and guiding them with education, given time, they will surely do their utmost to survive, acquire land, and reunite with their families.

This would both absorb the surrendered soldiers and strengthen the border defenses—killing two birds with one stone!

Wang Dashan nodded in agreement: "By incorporating our Hanyuan soldiers into the organization and subjecting them to strict training and education, we can prevent them from colluding and causing trouble. A three-year observation period is sufficient to distinguish the good from the bad. However... this matter is complex and multifaceted. Screening, organization, placement, education, and supervision all require capable personnel, and we must also be wary of Northern Yan spies infiltrating and inciting trouble."

"This matter will be entirely entrusted to you."

Xiao Chen looked at Wang Dashan, Zhao Tie, Liu Yidao, and Han Lie. "Wang Dashan, take charge and coordinate with all parties, paying particular attention to cooperating with Night Owl to verify the details of the surrendered soldiers."

Zhao Tie and Liu Yidao were responsible for identifying and recruiting technical personnel in the military, as well as for the military training and armed guard duties of the reclamation camps.

Han Lie, you are in charge of the civil affairs department. You will be responsible for the overall coordination of all material allocation, including site selection for reclamation sites, land allocation, distribution of agricultural tools and seeds, grain storage, and the selection and allocation of all materials.

Each person shall perform their duties, and all matters shall be discussed in consultation. If any dispute arises, it shall be reported to me for a ruling.

"This humble general obeys!" The four men solemnly accepted the order.

With the policy set, the massive reorganization machine began to operate efficiently.

Several screening camps were temporarily set up inside and outside Dingbei Pass.

The Night Owl's spies transformed into indifferent clerks and interrogators, holding preliminary lists, and interrogating the surrendered soldiers one by one, verifying their identities, units, past experiences, and especially their actions after heading south.

Surrendered soldiers were also encouraged to denounce each other in order to verify testimonies. The atmosphere was tense and deadly.

Soon, the first batch of people were selected.

Approximately three hundred people were identified as having committed serious crimes such as murder, rape, and abuse of prisoners. Among them, more than one hundred officers, leaders, and vicious bandits whose crimes were particularly heinous and whose evidence was conclusive were brought to an open space in front of Dingbei Pass and publicly sentenced, serving as a model of justice.

The sight of bloody heads falling to the ground shocked all the surrendered soldiers and also slightly calmed the pent-up grief and indignation in the hearts of the soldiers and civilians in Hanyuan, both inside and outside the pass.

The remaining two hundred-plus accomplices were branded, shackled, and escorted by fully armed soldiers to newly discovered iron and limestone mines hundreds of miles away, where they would face a life of endless hard labor.

Following that, the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled were also screened out.

Approximately 500 surrendered soldiers, who were too old, too young, or in poor health, were "politely escorted" out of Dingbei Pass and driven towards the Northern Yan after receiving a meager travel allowance and dry rations.

They were bewildered, fearful, and yet filled with a sense of relief at surviving a catastrophe, as they staggered and disappeared into the northern horizon.

One can imagine how they will describe the strength of the Hanyuan Army, the terror of its weapons, and its "strange" balance of leniency and severity when they return to Northern Yan.

Next comes the selection of talent.

Zhao Tie and Liu Yidao set up an examination hall among the surrendered soldiers to test their blacksmithing skills, horse judging abilities, battlefield first aid, wilderness tracking, and so on.

A group of skilled craftsmen, veterinarians, and experienced scouts were selected, numbering about a hundred.

Faced with the generous treatment promised by the officers of Hanyuan, the possibility of family resettlement, and the "examples" of their comrades who were executed or sentenced to hard labor, most people chose to comply, and some even felt a little fortunate.

They were placed separately, given better treatment, and quickly integrated into the relevant departments of the Han Yuan Army, where they began to play their roles.

Finally, about 2,100 able-bodied soldiers who had surrendered were left.

Most of them were ordinary soldiers with no major misdeeds or special skills, from different units and tribes. Now they were gathered together, their eyes filled with confusion and unease about their future fate, as well as a complex emotion of gratitude for Han Yuan's "mercy in sparing their lives".

According to Xiao Chen's strategy, they were completely dispersed, with ten people forming a "fire" and one hundred people forming a "team". They were mixed with more than a thousand new recruits or garrison soldiers from Zhenbei City, Panshi Fort, and other places who had undergone preliminary screening, and formed twenty "garrison battalions".

Each battalion consists of approximately 150 men, with one battalion commander (a veteran from Hanyuan), one instructor (selected from literate and reliable non-commissioned officers or clerks in the army), and several deputies.

In the chilly spring air, these twenty reclamation camps set off in batches to their designated reclamation sites.

Some went to the lush grasslands near the Blackwater River, which had been ceded by the former Helian tribe, where the Helian people had already moved away as required; others went to the river valleys south of Dingbei Pass, which had been desolate due to war.

Their mission was to build simple fortifications, dig irrigation canals, and reclaim wasteland under the leadership and supervision of Han Yuan officers, while also conducting rigorous military training.

They worked during the day and gathered around the campfire at night to listen to the teachings. The teachings used simple language to explain the laws of Hanyuan, contrasting how the nobles of Northern Yan oppressed their people and how Murong Chui's aggressive military campaigns led to his disastrous defeat. They proclaimed that in Hanyuan, as long as you were willing to work hard, you could eat your fill, farm the land and get land, perform meritorious deeds and be rewarded, and even have the opportunity to become a true "Hanyuan person".

Initially, the surrendered soldiers remained silent, numb, and passively accepted everything.

But gradually, when they saw that the officers of Hanyuan were actually eating and living with them, when the reclaimed land was assigned to their future names, when the first surrendered soldier received extra meat as a reward for his hard work and diligent training, and when the "bright future" described in the "teachings" did not seem to be entirely unreal... the ice in the hearts of some people began to slowly melt.

Especially when they saw the recruited technical soldiers and their generous treatment; when they thought of the fate of their comrades who were executed or forced into hard labor; and when they compared the famine, discrimination, and the possibility of being sent back to the battlefield as cannon fodder when they returned to Northern Yan... the instinct for survival and the desire for a stable life began to overwhelm their loyalty to their former master and tribe, which had already faded due to defeat.

Of course, not everyone is willing to accept this.

Small-scale actions such as secretly plotting, attempting to escape, or even rioting occasionally occur.

However, under the pervasive surveillance of the Night Owl, the strict organization and management of the reclamation camp, and the decisive suppression by the officers of the Cold Abyss, these signs were quickly extinguished.

The ringleader was publicly punished, and the followers were subjected to heavier labor. By combining iron fist with leniency, and using both harsh measures and strict discipline, order was gradually established.

When the first seed of spring planting was sown on the newly reclaimed land, when the first simple but sturdy settlement was erected on the border, when these former Northern Yan soldiers began to get used to lining up and training under the orders of Han Yuan officers, and began to communicate simply in broken Chinese... Xiao Chen's strategy of "eliminating the weak and keeping the strong, differentiating and digesting" has begun to show results.

The nearly five thousand surrendered soldiers were like a piece of stubborn iron. After being burned by fire, forged by heavy hammers, and quenched by cold water, impurities and dregs were removed. Some were discarded, some were reshaped, and some were integrated into new bodies.

Han Yuan not only did not bear the burden of absorbing prisoners, but also eliminated hidden dangers, absorbed talents, obtained valuable labor force and potential soldiers, and drove armored "nails" into the newly acquired border land.

Victory in war is not only about defeating the enemy on the battlefield, but also about how to transform the fruits of victory into real power after the war.

After this battle, Han Yuan's military strength, population base, controlled territory, and influence over the northern border have all quietly reached a new level.

That black royal banner was not only planted on the city wall of Dingbei Pass, but also began to take root in this vast and complex land in a more profound and resilient way.