Liu Hong looked at Xi Zhicai curiously, a smile playing on his lips. "Oh? What's your opinion, Zhicai?"

Xi Zhicai smiled and said, "Juyan has a total population of nearly 400,000. Excluding the elderly, children, women and children, there are still about 80,000 able-bodied men available. If these people are used for the infrastructure construction of our Great Han, they will be of great use!"

There's no need to let them all die at the hands of the Xiongnu. Besides, they'll have a deep-seated hatred for the Xiongnu, stemming from the destruction of their homeland. If they're incorporated into the army, their fighting strength will be considerable!

"Hmm, not bad! I thought Zhongde was cunning enough, but I didn't expect Zhicai to be even more cunning...!"

In the end, Liu Hong couldn't help but tease Xi Zhicai a few times.

"Alas, there's nothing we can do! The people of our Great Han are all busy preparing for spring planting and clearing wasteland, and we are really short of manpower!"

Xi Zhicai smiled, shook his head, and sighed.

Liu Hong nodded. "That's true! We couldn't afford to support so many prisoners and slaves before!"

Now that it's possible, we can't afford to waste it anymore!

Thinking about next year's water conservancy construction, bridge and road building, and canal transport plans, the most important of which is the plan for the new city of Chengde... all of these require a large amount of labor.

Drawing upon civilians is clearly not an option; the costs and losses involved would be astronomical, and it would be extremely detrimental to the recovery of national strength.

Furthermore, the influx of a large number of slave laborers could alleviate the pressure of corvée labor on ordinary people to some extent.

"Your Majesty's words are reasonable. Therefore, I believe that we can send a message to the four governors and Zhongde to begin making arrangements. Once the Xiongnu have breached Juyan City, we can begin to gather the able-bodied men of Juyan!"

"Okay! Let's do it this way!!"

Soon, four squads of Imperial Guards, carrying Liu Hong's orders and four edicts of commendation, headed towards the four northwestern prefectures.

Following closely behind was a fast horse carrying Liu Hong's secret order to Duan Jiong, which was heading towards Jincheng.