To be fair, Qinghe County is already very large. Judging from its sphere of influence, if Qitian Village is included, it would be a bit unfair to call it Qinghe Prefecture. Of course, in the documents of the Imperial Ministry of Revenue, Qinghe is just an "insignificant little place" that wrote a petition hoping to obtain a prepared county.

But as caravans from all over the world continued to pour into Qinghe, Lin Hai knew that Qinghe could not remain in an information black hole forever. Even if the courts of various countries reacted slowly, they should have noticed Qinghe. Even the most arrogant bureaucrats could not turn a blind eye to a place that could produce pig iron continuously. What's more, according to the news from the intelligence department and the caravans, the smell of gunpowder between countries had almost materialized. Lin Hai could not smell such a smell of gunpowder in Qinghe simply because this ghost world could not make gunpowder.

In order to deal with such threats, Lin Hai has been suffering from insomnia recently.

It is true that Qinghe's strength on paper looks quite powerful. On the surface, Qinghe's sphere of influence covers all of Xichuan south of Qinghe. If we count the Xiangyun Province territory that is being cleared by Qitian Village, it would be an exaggeration to say that the territory under Qinghe's control is more than one province. The Qinghe armed forces, with 5,000 combat soldiers and nearly 10,000 militiamen, are quite powerful after being equipped with new armor and light crossbows that can be fired quickly. It is naturally far from enough to rush out of the southwest to seize the world, but with the fortresses and fortifications being built with cement and steel bars, they can at least challenge the Khmer in a corner of the southwest.

But Lin Hai knew that the biggest danger he faced was not the above two.

In the final analysis, Lin Hai, or rather Qinghe, which was built by Lin Hai and his sworn brothers, had an extremely fragile foundation for ruling the southwest. To put it bluntly, the basis of their rule was actually just a piece of paper, a piece of paper with the seal of the Ministry of Revenue, allowing them to open up wasteland and establish Qinghe Village.

“How can we make the people think we are their own people?”

"How can we get the people to let go of their identities as remnants of the Chen Dynasty, as citizens of the empire, or even as people from a certain prefecture or county before the war, and instead identify themselves as Qinghe people?"

"This sense of identity needs to be established. If one day the Empire orders us to join the war, and we choose to remain neutral at all costs, our people need to support us wholeheartedly, and not think of us as traitors."

At a closed-door meeting at the highest level of the county government, Lin Hai posed these three questions to his sworn brothers. Yes, this was a meeting attended only by Lin Hai and his sworn brothers. Shi Zhen'er tried several times to get in to refill everyone's tea, but was always shooed away by Lin Hai. Given Lin Hai's terribly gloomy expression, Shi Zhen'er finally gave up the idea of ​​causing a scene and rushed in. She stood alone at the door of the meeting room, holding a teapot, and blocked anyone who wanted to enter.

Although the meeting was serious, it didn't last long. Wang Liang and his sworn brothers immediately came up with a solution after hearing Lin Hai's question. After everyone's explanations, Lin Hai realized he needed a sacrifice.

In Lin Hai's view, even if sacrifices weren't feudal superstitions that wasted resources, they were still tedious, boring, and ultimately fruitless rituals. From what he could recall, he didn't believe sacrifices could solve any substantial problems. They couldn't increase grain production, nor could they break through bottlenecks in the development of alloys or high-purity sulfuric acid. So, he didn't even consider them.

This was his mistake.

Ancient books say that "the most important affairs of a country are sacrifices and wars." Lin Hai used to think that sacrifices were placed here simply because they required a large amount of supplies.

But here, as his sworn brothers explained, Lin Hai gradually understood that when people offer sacrifices to heaven and ancestors, they are simply celebrating a shared sense of belonging. When we offer sacrifices to the same heaven and earth with the same rituals, when we remember our departed loved ones together and burn incense for all those who died in the last chaotic world, then we become a true "us," and we can unite to keep each other warm and hope to survive the next chaotic world.

Lin Hai had forgotten that not all of the nearly 200,000 people under his rule were originally from Shangba County. In fact, there were only a few thousand remnants of Shangba County, and the current population came from all over. A significant number even hailed from provinces outside the southwest, having simply migrated to the southwest to escape the war's devastation.

People actually also need recognition. By offering sacrifices to the common heaven, earth and ancestors, they can achieve inner and others' recognition of their existence on this land.

Lin Hai followed the etiquette, which was rare. He found a Taoist priest who was trying his best to remove impurities from the sulfuric acid and said he had the strongest magical power. He showed him an auspicious day.

November 12th, the fourth year of Tianxian in the Daliang era, was auspicious for offering sacrifices, breaking ground, burials, hanging plaques, dismantling, embalming, and breaking ground. Among the several options given by the Taoist priest, Lin Hai chose this day. The county government then announced to all quarters that a grand sacrifice would be held on November 12th. During the sacrifice, people from all over the country could go to Jianshanying to watch the ceremony.

Out of respect for Daliang rituals, Lin Hai naturally didn't dare to overstep his bounds. He simply repaired a small mound in Jianshanying to serve as an altar, clearing a large flat area around it for the spectators. The county magistrate's notice clearly stated that the county magistrate (self-appointed, though unknown) Lord Lin hoped to offer sacrifices to the dragon gods of heaven and earth in this area, praying for good weather and good harvests in Qinghe. He would also pay tribute to the locals who died in the previous war, hoping that they would protect the living from the afterlife and pray for continued vitality and blessings.

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