1204 Farmers
The group continued their journey after a short break.
Since they had already finished their mission, they were more relaxed than when they first departed. The atmosphere was somewhat milder, making Nan Luo felt that they were going on a walk rather than going for war.
Well, it was still technically true.
This time, they were going through another route that was closer to the border with Zhang Xu Kingdom. Based on the map, there were a few villages at the bottom of the mountain.
"The people here should be farmers, right?" Feng Ao Si asked when he saw Nan Luo and Sheng Shan Lang was busy looking at the map. Only Long Qian Xing was busy directing from the front since he was the leader.
"Hmm? Yes." Nan Luo nodded. "There are some farmers here and the food they produced will be sent to Da Yi City."
Da Yi City was the city located at the border between Zhang Xu and Wei Da Kingdom. It was the city where General Duan was staying and still currently under house arrest. But now that Wei Da Kingdom had officially fell, it was more likely that General Duan would be put into use against Zhang Xu Kingdom.
The border of Fei Yang Kingdom had expanded at this point.
"To be placed at the border like this, are they not worried that Zhang Xu Kingdom will raze it?" Sheng Shan Lang asked curiously.
"General Duan should be responsible for this area, so I guess he will come and protect them if there's any trouble." Nan Luo scratched the back of his head. "There are also other commanders in the area, so there shouldn't be any problem?"
"Really?" Sheng Shan Lang was skeptical.
Feng Ao Si blinked his eyes, not understanding what was wrong with having field at this area.
*rustle*
"What's that?"
They heard commotion from the front and some yelling. Looking at the posture of Long Qian Xing, it seemed that they were getting attacked midway. The soldiers from Wei Da Kingdom should all knew that their kingdom had lost, right?
"So, which stubborn fools are still attacking by now?" Feng Ao Si asked and moved forward.
They looked at the forest and saw several people coming forward. However, looking at their weapon… they were all silent.
These people were carrying sickle, broom, or even stick to attack. They were clearly not soldiers but peasants farmers who were living in this area and stepped forward to attack them for some reason.
"Shall I kill them all?"
"Don't kill them!" Long Qian Xing shouted from the front. "Incapacitate them in any way you can without taking their lives."
"Got it." Nan Luo waved his hand and the soldiers stepped forward to block. They raised their shield and then took the weapons from these farmers. As veteran soldiers, it was clear that these peasants were not a match for them.
In the first place, the farmers were not an organized army. It was more like they attacked because they were desperate or something like that.
In any case, Nan Luo didn't think that these people would actually pose a threat to him.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Why can't we kill them?" Feng Ao Si was speechless as he knocked more and more people. These people were weak and in his opinion, they were the enemies.
"We're not here to eliminate everyone from Wei Da Kingdom," Nan Luo replied.
"Huh?"
Swish!
Long Qian Xing came to them and looked at the farmers. "Take them to the others. We'll have a talk with them."
"Yes, Young Commander Long."
After that, Long Qian Xing looked at Feng Ao Si. "Even if we're conquering this territory, the goal is not to plunder but to grow together as one. There's no need to kill the ordinary people because they're important for the land to develop."
Grow and develop.
Hearing that, Feng Ao Si felt that he understood a bit. Because they didn't want to just plunder the resources from the area they conquered, they have to live in harmony with the people here. It would take time for the citizen to accept them, but at the very least, they had to show that they were not there to steal the resources but to grow together as one.
It sounded really interesting.
Nan Hua watched as Long Qian Xing instructed the people and lowered her eyes slightly. In this kind of thing, Long Qian Xing was better than her. She purposely didn't make any move just now because Nan Hua knew that if she were to make a move, there was a high chance that the opponent would die if they were just ordinary people.
Thus, it would be better for her to stay silent and watched from the side.
"So, we're letting the citizen live?" Feng Ao Si turned to look at Nan Luo.
Nan Luo nodded. "You see, war starts either because of territory or resources. While it's true that Fei Yang Kingdom need the resources, we're not going to plunder the resources completely and instead implement the law that Prime Minister Xian had assigned."
This way, the people would not feel that it was not fair.
Feng Ao Si was stupid.
Why did he think that it was still hard to understand?
Only Nan Hua knew that it was the reform that Emperor Yang Zhou did with the help of Prime Minister Xian that allowed them to truly establish law. With the establishment of law, the people's lives would be restricted but it was within this restriction that they could also be organized and live well.
The basis of this law establishment was legalism.
Legalism is a philosophical belief that human beings are more inclined to do wrong than right because they're motivated entirely by self interest. Because of that, it is necessary to implement strict laws to control their impulses.*
In this warring era, the establishment of law was exactly what they needed in order to truly develop. With strict discipline and rules, people would be pushed to follow it if they still wanted to live well.
The current laws were still far from perfect.
But it would be enough to restrain crimes and push Fei Yang Kingdom further.
