After Zhou Nanwang took office in Lihuo Prefecture, he discovered that the situation was complicated and the affairs far more numerous than expected.
Although he had transferred resources, manpower, and an increasingly massive staff of advisers from the capital before taking up his post, once he arrived, he found that every corner needed people and money. Everywhere was stretched thin.
Lihuo Prefecture lay along a vital route, fending off the Ten Southern Demons to the north and bordering the frontier lands to the south.
Thus, this vast land had to provide logistical support for the Hundred Sect Alliance while maintaining exchanges with the Southern Border.
The tens of thousands he had brought with him were like grains of sand scattered into the ocean—a drop in the bucket.
Even Zhou You had been entrusted with a heavy responsibility, becoming Zhou Nanwang's "adviser" in charge of material dispatch.
In the early days of building an enterprise, there were simply too many matters demanding attention. Zhou You devoted part of his energy to helping establish Lihuo Prefecture's entirely new channels.
First of all, although Lihuo Prefecture was not an area ravaged by the Ten Southern Demons, it neighbored the battlefield, and being caught in the spillover was an everyday occurrence.
Countless mines, medicine fields, workshops, and other sites scattered across the region had been destroyed.
The population loss was severe. The Demon Race ate people, treating ordinary folk directly as prey, while looting and slaughtering livestock.
After receiving the roughly compiled report, Zhou Nanwang nearly blacked out. More than half the prefecture was shattered beyond recognition, and the fields had almost entirely been left fallow.
Only the regions near the Southern Border remained relatively peaceful. The demons there feared stirring up Marquis Shen and thus hesitated to act rashly.
His foremost task after