After questioning and screening, 10,000 soldiers who were willing to stay in the area were selected from the army to serve as the backbone of the military.
Now, Goguryeo and Buyeo have become the territory of the Han Dynasty. The generals in the army also know that the next target of the Han Dynasty is the Northern Wuhuan and the Eastern Xianbei.
As for the Three Hans in the east, that's such a tiny place. The troops of Lelang County are enough. There's no need for them to bother with it.
After discussions between Liu Hong and his generals, it was decided to establish the Liaodong Grand Camp in Changchun County, and to set up two military towns in the southwest and northwest of Changchun County.
The two military towns were named Tongliao and Daqing respectively. Twenty military fortresses were built between the three cities to form a curved defense, echoing the Yuyang Camp and completely blocking the eastward and southward advance of the Northern Wuhuan.
Soon, as news of the formation of the Liaodong Camp spread, countless young men from Goguryeo came to sign up, hoping to join the ranks.
The prisoners, in particular, who had lived in the Han army camp for a long time, were especially proactive.
After being educated by the instructors from the Military and Political Affairs Department, the Goguryeo prisoners clearly realized that the only way to change their fate was to join the Han army, kill the enemy, and make meritorious contributions. This was undoubtedly very attractive to them.
After careful screening and selection by the Military and Political Affairs Department, 10,000 capable and disciplined young men skilled in horsemanship and of sound mind were selected from nearly 200,000 prisoners and 300,000 civilians and incorporated into the auxiliary battalion.
As for Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Jian, Yuan Shao, and others, they went to You, Bing, Ji, Qing and other places to recruit soldiers.
On March 1st, the weather warmed up, and the army had been stationed here for six days.
Under the leadership of the engineering team, nearly 500,000 Goguryeo laborers successfully built the road to Siping.
After some coordination, the laborers were divided into four groups and began building roads to Jilin, Xuantu, Liaodong, and Lelang counties.
Officials in Youzhou also received Liu Hong's edict. While preparing for spring plowing, they coordinated with local wealthy merchants to recruit manpower to build roads leading to Buyeo and Goguryeo.
Meanwhile, the imperial court was also actively preparing for this year's assessment.
Chen Fan, Hu Guang, Li Ying, and others also knew that the emperor's personal expedition was for the land of the Northeast, and that the entire Northeast would definitely need a large number of officials.
Therefore, after careful deliberation among the court officials, the number of candidates to be admitted in this examination was set at ten thousand, and the examination date was set for March 5th.
In order to select a group of talented people as soon as possible to go to the Northeast to take up positions and develop the Northeast.
As soon as the news of the assessment spread, the students who remained in the three colleges cheered.
At the same time, wealthy merchants from western and eastern Liaoning also arrived in Changchun with large quantities of goods and grain, using their money and supplies to exchange for large quantities of mountain delicacies, furs, gems, and medicinal herbs from the Han army and the Fuyu people.
Seeing the goods that could multiply their wealth several times over only strengthened the resolve of those merchants and wealthy households to continue trading.
With the financial and material support of these wealthy merchants, the engineering teams that remained in Buyeo began to organize more Buyeo people to build waterwheels, bridges, roads, dig ditches, and construct various infrastructure projects in the area.
At this time, four and a half months had passed since Liu Hong left Luoyang. If the return journey is also taken into account, it would be at least mid-April.
The basic framework of Liaodong Camp has now been completed, and infrastructure construction in various locations is proceeding in an orderly manner.
Looking towards Luoyang, Liu Hong's face showed a look of longing. Thinking that he would be establishing an empress when he returned, Liu Hong couldn't help but feel a little expectant.
A day later, Zhu Yao, who had been ordered to gather the various tribes of Goguryeo, also led 10,000 soldiers back to Ji'an, bringing back local officials, tribal leaders, as well as maps and population registers of the cities and tribes.
Inside the former Goguryeo royal palace, Zhu Yao respectfully presented the maps and account books he had brought back to Liu Hong.
"Your Majesty, on this imperial tour, officials and leaders from all over the land surrendered without a second thought and begged to join the Han Dynasty!"
"Well done!"
Looking at the maps and account books on the table, Liu Hong nodded in satisfaction.
Zhu Yao then asked, "Your Majesty, what should be done with those officials and leaders?"
Liu Hong said solemnly, "I'll leave this matter to you. Carefully distinguish between those who genuinely surrender to the Han Dynasty. Their wives, children, and property can be preserved. Those who are only pretending to surrender should all be beheaded and their heads displayed to the public!"
"promise!!"
Zhu Yao respectfully acknowledged the order and then quickly withdrew.
After Zhu Yao left, Liu Hong looked at Zhang Rang beside him.
“Summon Tian Feng, Ju Shou, Zhou Yi, Zhang Zhao, and Zhang Zhen to an audience.”
"promise!!"
Soon, Zhang Rang found Tian Feng and his group busy at a government office.
In the past few days, Tian Feng and his group have been busy organizing people to survey the various mountains, plains and minerals in the area, while also compiling statistics on the population structure of Goguryeo and Buyeo. At the same time, they have been redrawing the map of Liaozhou by combining the Goguryeo map with the map sent by the intelligence agency.
Fortunately, Liu Hong reformed the digital algorithm and created new statistical reports. In addition, these people were all rare talents. After several days of working non-stop, they finally managed to get a rough draft done.
"Gentlemen, His Majesty summons you!!"
Zhang Rang's voice interrupted everyone's busy work. Tian Feng and the others stopped what they were doing, and carrying maps and various data, they followed Zhang Rang to Liu Hong.
After exchanging greetings, Liu Hong looked at the group of people who looked tired and said in a gentle voice, "You have all worked hard these past few days!"
"This is our duty, and we dare not complain," they said in unison.
"Alright, gentlemen, please tell me about the situation in Liaozhou."
After exchanging pleasantries, Liu Hong got down to business.
Tian Feng began by saying, “Your Majesty, after several days of surveying and statistics, Liaozhou is mostly plains with a dense network of waterways. If fully developed, it will add 120 million mu of fertile land to our Great Han.”
After deducting the land awarded to the soldiers, there are still 100 million mu remaining. If distributed at 50 mu per household, it can be cultivated by 2 million households and can support a population of 10 million.
Moreover, Liaozhou is mostly mountainous and forested, making it suitable for developing industries such as medicinal herb gathering, mining, fishing, hunting, and animal husbandry, with a total capacity to support 15 million people.
"So little?"
Upon hearing the figures reported by Tian Feng, Liu Hong frowned and then asked, "Has the map of Liaozhou been drawn?"
Zhang Zhen, who was standing nearby, said, "Your Majesty, the drawing is complete!"
As she spoke, Zhang Zhen took out a folded map and handed it to Liu Hong.
Upon unfolding the map, Liu Hong suddenly realized that the map drawn by Tian Feng and others only included the areas of Goguryeo and Buyeo, excluding Heilongjiang further north, as well as Northeast China and Vladivostok.
Then Liu Hong picked up a brush and circled the blank area in the northern part of the map.
"These are also the territories of the Han Dynasty; let's restore them!"
Seeing that the emperor had just said one sentence and included a piece of land no less than the size of Liaozhou, Tian Feng and his companions were taken aback.
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