Split Jungnam Province

The only thing that brought Gao Yuan some comfort was that the time limit for this mission was quite long—a full two years.

Gao Yuan was terrified that the system would require him to finish it in a month or two; in that case, he would rather let the event fail.

Once this expedition ended, Gao Yuan planned to return. As for what came next, he would leave it to Liu Rengui, Wu Xu, and Zishan to handle.

Surely, with their superior abilities, they would only do better than he could.

The most important matter at hand right now was how to arrange the personnel for these territories.

Originally, the Zhongnan Circuit only had a dozen or so prefectures under its jurisdiction, with a population of around two million.

In just two or three short years, it had expanded several times over through conquests, and now it possessed thirty to forty prefectures.

According to rough estimates, the population exceeded one million households, totaling nearly six million people.

And this was even after losing nearly a million people due to constant warfare.

Most crucially, the demographic situation was complex; less than thirty percent of these five million-plus people were Han.

The rest consisted of people from several different countries, including the original Lan Xang people, Dongjing people, Khmer, and toungoo people.

Although their ethnicities were similar and there were no significant religious or cultural differences, they had been enemy nations in the past, so some animosity was inevitable.

Finally, because of the years of continuous warfare, many people had fled into the mountains and forests, gradually turning into bandits who banded together to control local areas.

Therefore, suppressing bandits would be a long-term task he needed to undertake after taking control of this land.

This caused the difficulty of governing this region to increase exponentially—it was truly immense pressure.

Originally, Gao Yuan's preferred candidate was Liu Rengui, but unfortunately, the war would continue for a long time.

Since Liu Rengui would be unable to spare any time, the only remaining candidates were Wu Xu and Zishan.

Wu Xu and he had already confessed their feelings to each other, so he certainly couldn't bear to have her too far away from him.

That left Zishan as the only candidate to become the first chief clerk of the Annan Circuit.

Gao Yuan separated the original territories of the Khmer and Ayutthaya from the Zhongnan Circuit to establish the Annan Circuit.

Zishan was appointed as chief clerk, in charge of all administrative affairs, ensuring the supply of provisions for the army, and so on.

Liao Hua was appointed as Grand Commander, in charge of all military affairs, with an authorized establishment of twenty-five thousand Xuanjia Army troops under his command.

Regarding this establishment, Gao Yuan only gave him fifteen thousand troops, leaving him to handle the rest himself.

As for those compliant toungoo people, Gao Yuan allocated over twenty thousand to the two of them, which could be considered support for their work.

In addition, the 8th Division of the Beiwei Army would be stationed in the Annan Circuit for a period of time.

The two clearly hadn't expected this official position to fall into their laps, and they still seemed a bit dazed.

It wasn't until they actually received the appointment letter issued by the Grand Princesss Residence that they were convinced it was real.

Zishan caressed the appointment letter in his hand, feeling deeply moved.

"Brother Yuanjian, I never expected it to be the two of us!"

Liao Hua was also filled with emotion; he looked up at the departing troops in the distance.

"I will certainly devote myself entirely to repaying the Lord's kindness in recognizing my talent."

The two exchanged a glance, both seeing determination and confidence in each other's eyes.

Since the tasks now had specific executors, there was no need for Gao Yuan to stay any longer.

Having been away from home for so long, he was truly homesick and could now be said to be eager to return.

However, when passing through Vientiane, he still stopped for two days, nominally to rest.

In reality, his purpose was simple: to spend time with Wu Xu. Although they were still only at the stage of hugging and cuddling, as innocent as male and female students on a campus.

Yet, such rare intimacy still turned this strong woman into a tender, gentle little woman.

Leaning in her Husband's arms and feeling his masculine scent, Wu Xu felt her whole body go limp, as if she had no bones.

"Brother Yuan, if I miss you, can I come to see you?"

"If you miss me, just send a letter, and I will grow wings and fly over to see you."

Gao Yuan brought out the cheesy pickup lines he had seen before transmigrating, pouring them onto the young lady as if they cost nothing.

Unexpectedly, the young lady actually enjoyed them, listening to Gao Yuan's cheesy pickup lines while snuggling in his arms and whimpering softly.

Happy times are always short-lived; a brief stay means parting, and a brief parting is for a better reunion.

Standing on the city wall and watching the departing troops, the young lady under the veil was filled with reluctance in her eyes.

Not until the troops could no longer be seen did the young lady press her hand against her chest, feeling the warmth brought by that thin piece of paper.

That was a poem Gao Yuan had written for her last night.

"Thin clouds weave intricate patterns, shooting stars convey sorrows, as they cross the distant Milky Way. Meeting amidst the golden wind and jade dew, it surpasses countless encounters in the mortal world. Tender feelings like flowing water, a beautiful rendezvous like a dream, how can one bear to look back at the return path on the Magpie Bridge? If the love between two hearts is enduring, why must they be together day and night?"

Hmm, Gao Yuan didn't know how to write poetry; he had just plagiarized a poem to please the young lady.

However, the effect seemed quite good. It seemed he could do this often in the future, provided that Yang Xin didn't find out.

Gao Yuan could imagine that if that girl knew he was plagiarizing poetry to woo women, she would definitely laugh him to death.

"Husband, I will surely assist you in achieving an unparalleled foundation!"

Looking at the direction where only dust remained, Wu Xu secretly made up her mind.

The young lady carefully folded the paper filled with feelings and tucked it away closest to her heart. When she turned around, she had already transformed back into that iron-fisted Lady Wu, chief clerk Wu.

In the Jiangnan West Circuit, the decisive battle between Feng Pu and Mao Biao in Hengzhou had lasted for several months, with both sides suffering casualties, but neither could do anything to the other.

In terms of numbers, Feng Pu held an absolute advantage, but the Qian Army under Mao Biao was more elite, and this protracted war seemed unlikely to be decided in the short term.

In Hengyang City, at Mao Biao's headquarters, the arrival of a secret letter broke the silence of the early morning.

The moment he opened the secret letter, Mao Biao felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He dismissed everyone and looked toward the north.

"Your Majesty, if we lose the imperial capital, Luoyang, what will the people of the world think of the imperial court!"

It turned out that the secret letter was sent by The Emperor, Zhao Ji. Now that war was raging everywhere and the imperial army was ineffective at suppressing the rebellion, it looked like Luoyang was about to be surrounded on all sides by rebel forces.

Therefore, after consulting with a group of ministers, Zhao Ji decided to abandon Luoyang and move the population and the army south to the Yangzhou and Yuhang areas.

The content of the secret letter was simple: it ordered Mao Biao to cooperate with the troops about to head south from Hebei and Shandong to quickly suppress the rebellions in The two Jiangnan Circuits.

To be honest, if Gao Yuan were handling this, he would do the same.

The reason was simple: the imperial court, now beset by enemies on all sides, had lost the ability to strike in all directions. It was better to concentrate forces to secure one area first, then develop cautiously in hopes of a comeback.

However, Gao Yuan would not choose to run to the south; instead, he would abandon the south, withdraw all troops to head north, and secure the entire northern region.

In the history of China, the only person to succeed in fighting from the south to the north was Zhu Ba, which showed that fighting from the south to the north was too difficult.

The most important reason for this was the Cavalry.

In the age of cold weapons, the Cavalry was a force that could decide the outcome of a battle, and only in the north could one train large numbers of Cavalry.

Didn't you see that despite Gao Yuan's painstaking efforts, he could only raise five hundred Cavalry? And these five hundred Cavalry were often enough to defeat the enemy and win.

Although Mao Biao was ten thousand times unwilling, he had to execute The Emperor's order. At least for now, the southward movement of the Southern Palace Imperial Guard could change his current awkward situation in Hengzhou.

In Luoyang City, the situation was chaotic everywhere; those Powerful Families families, princes, and ministers were all busy packing their luggage.

They couldn't take the land with them, but they had to take the people, gold, silver, treasures, and land deeds.

Once they reached the south, these would be the capital for them to continue their extravagant lives.

In the secret chamber of the Zheng family's backyard, the four of them—father and son Zheng Ji and Zheng Ting, and father and son Song Jinglian and Song Yehong—were holding a secret meeting.