Chapter 1 Stone Railings Neighborhood

Although Stone Railings Neighborhood was dilapidated, it looked cleaner under the management of the street urchins than some places in the city. Sun Bo and his entourage of subordinates and local gentry were quite surprised to see this.

Hong Liang explained, "The children have nothing better to do anyway. Usually, there aren't many people here. During the battles for Wangchuan, quite a few soldiers died here from severe injuries. I led the children to clean it up carefully; otherwise... the other soldiers in the city usually don't come to Stone Railings Neighborhood at all. If we didn't clean it, the children would easily get sick because they're already weak, have little food, and although the water is passable, it's still not ideal. Cleaning it up like this makes everyone feel more at home. The better houses on both sides have been cleaned up for living. Some old and dilapidated houses are left empty, and the children are forbidden to enter them. Moreover... recently, food has been especially scarce, so we try to keep the children from moving around too much, so they don't get hungry so easily..."

Sun Bo sighed and asked, "Are you able to manage everything here all by yourself?"

"The children are quite sensible, and a few of the older ones help out. It's not too difficult to manage. Hehe, I'm usually out trying to find food and medicine, so I don't really have much time to seriously manage them," Hong Liang said.

A boy of about fourteen or fifteen ran out from the side, but when he saw such a large group of people, including many Blood Kirin Army soldiers, he stopped abruptly, hesitant about whether to come over.

"Xiao Qi, go get a few people, there's food," Hong Liang called out. The boy called Xiao Qi nodded vigorously and immediately turned and ran off. Soon after, he could be heard shouting loudly from several houses away.

"General, I know this request is a bit excessive, but... in addition to the food, could you allocate a little bit of money?" Hong Liang asked.

Hong Liang's request startled the local gentry; it was indeed a rather excessive request, and it might make Sun Bo think he was greedy.

"Oh?" Sun Bo asked with a smile, "What do you plan to do with it?"

"Buy books, hire a teacher... usually, I use sandboxes and branches to teach them to read. They're diligent and eager to learn, but I only know a few characters myself, and I'm an orphan, so knowing how to read is about the most I can do. If I want them to learn more, it seems impossible. Just finding them food isn't a long-term solution; it would be best if they could find jobs in the future," Hong Liang said.

Sun Bo sighed and said, "Master Hong, it's not that I'm unwilling to help, but as a military-controlled area, I don't have the authority to allocate any funds other than military expenses, public security, and basic official expenses. But I do have one solution. I will appoint you as the Deputy Director of the Wangchuan City Affairs Office. You can have three subordinates, and I'll give you the authority to appoint them. Pick a few sensible children to work with you. With the basic official salary, if you save a little, it should be enough. Also, I'll personally sponsor you a sum of money... By the way, can you use Yunzhou Bank's silver coins and banknotes here?"

Hong Liang said with delight, "Yes, yes... In recent years, Yunzhou silver coins have been the most reliable currency in the world."

The local gentry around them looked at Hong Liang with envy, especially at his bewildered expression. Sun Bo had already explained to everyone that the City Affairs Office was a temporary administrative body during the military control period, responsible for handling all basic local affairs except for city defense. It had considerable authority until the formal City Lord's Office was established. The salary for this Deputy Director plus three subordinates was secondary; since the Director would definitely be an Dongping official brought over after the garrison camp arrived, Hong Liang would essentially be the highest-ranking local official. Hong Liang was indeed a local snake and of good character. If he could perform well in this position and help maintain public security and taxes, he would almost certainly receive a formal appointment and become one of Wangchuan's high-ranking local officials. The local gentry knew Hong Liang's character and weren't worried that he would abuse his power. Furthermore, Dongping's strict officialdom wouldn't allow such a situation to occur, especially here, where Dongping wanted to truly integrate these lands and people, originally belonging to Northern Liao, into their own territory in a short period. An incorruptible government was absolutely crucial. However, the thought of Hong Liang, a previously insignificant figure, suddenly rising above them left a sour taste in their mouths. But during the military control period, none of them dared to say anything, and they could only offer congratulations.

The food Sun Bo brought to the children was mostly from local spoils, but there was also a batch of rations from the Blood Kirin Army. The Blood Kirin Army's dining standards were quite high; one standard meal was enough to feed two or three children. Later, military doctors were sent to examine the orphans and treat their illnesses. From the next day, these military doctors provided treatment for the poor at four distribution points in the city. Although these military doctors were better at treating trauma, they could handle basic ailments. The more sensible local residents quickly discovered the benefits of these military doctors: they would never pretend to know what they didn't. It was common to see a military doctor frown, ask the patient to wait, and then go to call a more skilled military doctor officer. Even the military doctor officers would admit they didn't understand something, give the patient a note, and ask them to wait for the Dongping official team that would arrive later, accompanied by an entire medical team and an entire team of geographers, climatologists, mapmakers, and exploration researchers.

Although the Blood Kirin Army always seemed indifferent to the residents of Wangchuan, as if they were just performing their duties seriously rather than trying to please them, these actions reassured the people of Wangchuan, and they began to cooperate with the Blood Kirin Army. They knew that the Blood Kirin Army might not like them, but they would definitely not harm them for no reason.

Starting the next day, the newly appointed Hong Liang immediately demonstrated his ability to handle various miscellaneous affairs. His first responsibility was distribution. The street urchins were naturally included in the distribution, so he didn't have to worry about that. He handled the distribution work very conscientiously and carefully. For those on the list of recipients, he personally visited each household to understand their situation. Then, he revoked the distribution qualifications of those who were trying to take advantage of the situation but increased special distributions of things like fish, meat, eggs, and medicine for certain households based on their specific circumstances. Families with children, the elderly, or the sick generally received more or less special care, and those who were cautious and reported a distribution amount that was insufficient to maintain basic household expenses were compensated. This quickly earned him a good reputation.

Not only that, but he also persuaded Sun Bo to release a small number of local prisoners of war to form a public security squad. Their main task was to deal with those who were jealous of their neighbors for receiving better rations and then started making trouble for no reason. These prisoners of war either handled such matters impartially or went back to jail. Unless they were brain-damaged, these people naturally knew what to do.

And those who received rations, if their families had strong men, Hong Liang organized them. Some went to cultivate farmland outside the city, and some cleaned up inside the city. In less than five days, the operation of Wangchuan City became orderly under the hands of Hong Liang, a vagrant who had never been an official before. This puzzled many people. Sun Bo, however, was quite proud of this. In his opinion, Hong Liang was hardworking and thoughtful. Because he had always had to ask wealthy households for food, his attitude towards people might be a bit soft, but after working in this position for a while, he should be able to turn this soft interpersonal style into a very approachable communication style without losing his decisiveness. If they needed to establish a model of Liao people governing Liao, they could even let Hong Liang become the City Lord of Wangchuan in the future.

A few days later, the garrison camp from Yunzhou arrived with a batch of officials. Among them, of course, were various geographical and cultural research teams and medical teams. Wangchuan, a city in a relatively important location, was intended to be used as an important transit base for communication between Yunzhou and Northern Liao in the initial decision. Facing such a large emerging market in Northern Liao, which had been in a state of underdevelopment in terms of various materials and production for many years, many merchants in Dongping had long smelled the scent of money. Accompanying the garrison camp this time were representatives of the Seven Seas Chamber of Commerce and the Jiuzhou Chamber of Commerce, a small group of researchers from Yunzhou Bank preparing to establish branches in the Northern Liao region, officials from the Yunzhou Communications Bureau, representatives from Federal Express and DHL, and even branches of Fengyu Shengjian and Ajisen Ramen were preparing to open quickly... They immediately brought vitality to this city, which had previously seemed a bit too desolate.

But at this time, Sun Bo led his troops away from Wangchuan. This city of Wangchuan, which would no longer be threatened by enemies, could naturally undergo various commercial developments, but the fighting was still ongoing. The rapid recovery of development and production in Wangchuan was also to provide more powerful support for the front lines. Compared to Wangchuan, although no one dared to threaten the Xiangning and Qingya lines, the city and town displayed completely different temperaments. Xiangning City was now the place where the Dongping Lord Tan Xiao Pei and the Northern Frontier Pacification Office Pacification Commissioner Ye Tao were stationed, and the defense was extremely strict. After only a few days of leaving, Sun Bo discovered upon his return that Xiangning and its surroundings had concentrated more than 120,000 troops, and airships were constantly transporting outstanding local officials selected from various places. Sun Bo, at his level, and working in a well-informed place like the Blood Kirin Army, had heard of many of these officials, and many of them were the elite among Dongping's young officials... Sun Bo quickly understood. The Lord and Marshal Ye were preparing to consolidate the occupied territories first to prepare human resources for the full occupation of Northern Liao...