While Liu Hong was busy in Gaochang, a newly built city was taking shape in Dayuan, near the border of the Kushan Empire.
Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Xu Chu, Hua Xiong and other generals, along with a group of local officials, are now waiting for the emperor to arrive.
As for the Kushan refugees who came to join them, they had already practiced their Chinese extensively beforehand.
Previously, the refugees from the Kushan Empire would occasionally use Persian when communicating, but now they have all switched to Chinese.
Although these refugees are not very fluent in Mandarin, it is enough to ensure their daily communication.
Since these refugees arrived in Dayuan, the Taoist priests of the Taiping Sect, who were in charge of spreading their teachings in the Western Regions, began to carry out various forms of propaganda and brainwashing against them.
Nowadays, most of these Kushan refugees have abandoned their past faith in Buddhism and have begun to worship the One God instead.
After all, they were a group of people who had been abandoned. It was the people of the Han Dynasty who accepted them and gave them a place to live. It was only natural for them to change their faith.
Therefore, at the beginning of the city's construction, these refugees from the Kushan Empire voluntarily joined in the labor.
When they learned that the Emperor of the Great Han, who was also the son of Taiyi, was going to come and comfort them, these Kushan refugees were all eager to see the Emperor's face.
These Kushan refugees, at this time, had a similar mentality to ordinary people in the country. It seemed that just being able to catch a glimpse of the emperor from afar was a great blessing.
September 15th.
When Liu Hong's carriage appeared near the new city, the hundreds of thousands of Kushan refugees gathered nearby were immediately in an uproar.
All the Kushan refugees who saw the emperor's face shouted slogans in Chinese such as "Long live the emperor!" and "Long live the Han Dynasty!"
The enthusiasm was no less than when Liu Hong visited Hejian.
These refugees, abandoned by the state but later accepted and rescued by the Han Dynasty, cherish this hard-won stability even more, and are filled with gratitude towards the Han Dynasty and Taiyi.
In Dayuan, Liu Hong also personally received a group of refugee representatives and granted them Han citizenship, allowing them to truly recognize the Han Dynasty both psychologically and in terms of identity.
The emperor's reputation for benevolence and magnanimity quickly reached the ears of the Kushan refugees.
During his stay in Dayuan, Liu Hong comforted the Kushan refugees while also visiting Dayuan, Wusun, Kucha, Kangju and other countries.
After being repeatedly ravaged by the Xianbei, Xiongnu, Cao Cao, and others, the population of these countries was drastically reduced, especially the young male population, which was reduced to less than one in ten.
As a strategic location for the empire's future conquest of Central and West Asia, these countries must resume production as soon as possible to provide supplies for the army.
Therefore, a large population is needed to fill these counties.
The refugees of Kushan are a good option. Currently, there are three kings in Kushan, which will surely generate a large number of refugees in the future.
However, Liu Hong was still worried about these areas, where bad people were in the majority.
In Liu Hong's vision, wherever the Han people occupy, no matter where it is, the Han people must be in a dominant position. Only in this way can ethnic integration be promoted more quickly, and the Han people become the truly dominant ethnic group.
Therefore, for these places, the only option is to draw people from the local area to settle there.
After much deliberation, Liu Hong finally set his sights on the Central Plains.
The Central Plains region has always been the heartland of the Han Dynasty, with a population density far exceeding that of other areas.
The reason why Liu Hong was able to successfully implement industrial and commercial reforms after ascending the throne was because he benefited from the demographic dividend.
However, with the development of agriculture and medical industries in recent years, the population of the Central Plains region has increased at an explosive rate.
According to a census conducted two years ago, nearly two million newborns were born in the area surrounding Luoyang alone.
If this situation continues, even bigger problems are bound to arise.
Therefore, transferring people from the Central Plains to the Western Regions became a rather urgent matter.
Subsequently, Liu Hong issued an urgent dispatch, ordering Yang Biao, Xun You, Sima Fang, and others who remained in Luoyang to take charge of the relocation of the people.
After finalizing the population replenishment, Liu Hong and Cao Cao then oversaw the construction of the Xinjiang Camp.
The Xinjiang camp in the future will be the main base for the Han Dynasty's westward advance by land, so it must be done to the best of its ability.
Ultimately, Liu Hong transferred the 40,000 Xiliang cavalry and 5,000 Yulin cavalry he had brought to the Xinjiang camp.
At this point, the Xinjiang camp, together with Cao Cao's original 50,000 troops, had a total strength of 100,000.
Liu Hong also personally appointed Lü Bu as the commander of the Xinjiang camp and Cao Cao as the chief of staff of the Xinjiang camp.
Generals such as Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Xu Chu, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Yu Jin, Xu Huang, and Hua Xiong also stayed here to serve as commanders in the army.
In addition, Liu Hong ordered that generals Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Zhang He, Cao Hong, Cao Ren, Li Dian, and Yue Jin, who were leading troops in other places, also come here to report for duty.
Oh, and several rising stars from the Imperial Guard, such as Pan Feng and Xing Daorong, were also transferred over.
After all, this is aimed at a large country like Kushan, so it's only right to field a more luxurious lineup.
After settling everything in, Liu Hong finally set off to return to the Han Dynasty.
Late October.
Just as Liu Hong led the remaining 5,000 Imperial Guards on their return journey, his urgent order was also sent back to Luoyang.
After receiving the emperor's order, Yang Biao, Xun You, Sima Fang, and others who were in charge of the government gathered together to discuss mobilizing the people to migrate.
The Central Plains today is not like it used to be. With the prosperity of industry and commerce, as long as you are willing to work, you will definitely not starve.
Therefore, it was extremely difficult to mobilize people to leave their homeland and settle in places like Kangju and Dayuan, thousands of miles away.
The imperial court expended a great deal of effort to relocate the first batch of people to Shanshan and other states, and at that time, the standard of living in the Central Plains was not as good as it is now.
In short, it was extremely difficult for Yang Biao, Xun You, and others to mobilize the people to places like Kangju.
But these people were the kind who liked to face difficulties head-on, and they kept discussing various feasible solutions.
This migration to the border regions is a test for them. If they pass it, they will be able to smoothly enter the court in the future.
In this world, the more talented a person is, the more they want to accomplish great things.
And the current emperor, a sage ruler far surpassing all previous emperors, has given them hope of creating an empire that will last for ten thousand generations.
They were not greedy for money or beauty; all they sought was to be remembered for generations.
Therefore, for them, assisting the emperor in building an everlasting dynasty was their lifelong pursuit.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
