Yang Province

Biodata

Geography and Position

• Yang Province is the largest and militarily strongest of the Southern Eight Provinces, which also include Chu, Tai, Wu, Xiang, Jiao, Wei, and Qiong Provinces. 350
• Wu Commandery, its administrative seat, is a waterway hub and the province's largest and most prosperous commandery. 195
• The Yan River on the northern border is a crucial defensive barrier against outside enemies. 263
• The southeastern frontier includes Eastern Continent Prefecture, a territory once known as the Eastern Continent Kingdom. Its former Divine Mansion ruler was executed by Great Zhou, after which the area was incorporated into the dynasty and repeatedly raided by the Eastern Ridge Barbarians. 282
• Eastern Continent Prefecture is comparable in area to three Ascending Dragon Prefectures and had lost five or six prefects to continual warfare over several centuries. 282
• Yang Province borders Chu Province; armies from both sides later assembled along their shared frontier. 720

Governance

Li Xinge's Administration

• Li Xinge reorganized provincial offices after assuming the governorship, promoting allies including Wang Tianming as Sima and Zheng Cangfeng as Administrator. 373
• He abolished the wartime Governor-General position after consolidating the Governor's authority. 373
• The temporary “bandit suppression tax” imposed by the River Transport Department was abolished under his order. 372
• In negotiations with Prince Cheng, Li Xinge secured a ten-year grace period before Yang Province would resume regular imperial tax payments; the Court waived its centuries of arrears. 372
• Chief Clerk Fu Yu continued to report on Yang Province's farmland, taxes, population, and trade routes under Li Xinge. Zheng Cangfeng was later transferred to serve as Chief Administrator of the newly established Desolation Province. 629 789

History

Blood Demon Sacred Cult Invasion

The Blood Demon Sacred Cult infiltrated Yang Province to scout its defenses before launching an invasion from Tai Province. Captured scouts revealed the planned attack to the provincial authorities. 195

The invasion quickly overwhelmed key strongholds. Wuyue City fell after its protective formation collapsed, while Wuzi Pass and Xunxing City also fell in surprise assaults. Within two days, five strongholds had been breached and thirteen Innate cultivators killed. 245

Yang Province's major families, sects, and officials responded by contributing more than thirty Innate cultivators and over two thousand Qi and Blood cultivators to the defense. 245 The decisive confrontation was ordered at the Yan River, where forces from across the province assembled against the Blood Demon Sacred Cult. 263 264

During the battle, Prince Jingjiang betrayed Governor Ouyang Jing and revealed that he had allied with the Blood Demon Sacred Cult in an attempt to restore direct Imperial Court control over Yang Province. 271 Ouyang Fengchai's intervention forced the cult to retreat, ending the battle. After her departure for the Upper Realm, the Imperial Court appointed Venerable Jingkong as Yang Province's next governor. 273 280

Li Clan Consolidation

Following Venerable Jingkong's decline, the Fu Family's attempt to align with the Wei Family of Wu Province threatened Yang Province's political order. 320 Li Xinge responded by eliminating the Fu Family and dismissing or executing officials tied to it, leaving the Li Family-led bloc in control of provincial affairs. 331

The death of Wei Yiren further elevated the Li Family's standing. Li Xinge's authority became greater than that of Governor Jingkong in practice, and his decisions became the effective will of Yang Province. 335

After Jingkong's death was announced, Yang Province's clans and sects jointly petitioned for Li Xinge's formal appointment. When the Emperor withheld the petition, Li Xinge circulated it publicly, imposed a temporary river-transport tax, and rallied other southern clans to pressure the court. The Emperor ultimately issued the appointment. 369 370 371

The Fu family of Fu Yu and Fu Qingyun remained loyal to Li Xinge. Fu Qingyun later entered the Divine Mansion Realm, making his family another Divine Mansion Immortal Clan in Yang Province; he intended to visit Li Xinge and declare his loyalty after the breakthrough. 652 The Yang Province Li Clan's prominence also attracted rogue cultivators seeking refuge or service. 609

Eastern Ridge Campaign

Li Xinge declared his intention to conquer the Eastern Ridge, arguing that its control of Yang Province's eastern passage, persistent border raids, and Divine Mansion-level rulers made it a strategic threat despite its barren land. 454 455

Yang Province gathered cultivators, clan forces, sect disciples, rogue cultivators, and Demon Beast contingents in Eastern Continent Prefecture for the campaign. 465 After the Eastern Ridge Kingdom was destroyed, Yang Province claimed two-thirds of its territory, while Xu Province seized the remaining third. 492

The conquered territory was reorganized under a new prefecture-and-county system, replacing the former tribal structure. 506

Later Campaigns and the Northern–Southern War

As Marquis of Chu, Li Xinge ordered the mobilization of Yang Province's and Eastern Prefecture's armies against Qiong Province, presenting the campaign as vengeance for his maternal clan and declaring his intention to conquer Qiong. 643 He later announced a campaign against the Southern Wasteland. After its surrender, he incorporated the conquered lands into the Chu Kingdom as Desolation Province. 752 789

During the subsequent conflict with Chu Province, Chu Province's cultivators and armies gathered at the border with Yang Province, where Li Xinge arrived with forces of his own. 720 By the Northern–Southern War, Li Xinge had proclaimed himself King of Chu. Xu Province's governor, Lü Fengxian, concluded that Great Zhou would lose and ordered his province to change allegiance to Li Xinge. 752 947

Relationships

• Great Zhou Dynasty — Yang Province was formally subject to Great Zhou, though local aristocratic powers exercised autonomous control for centuries before Li Xinge's official appointment. Li Xinge later proclaimed himself King of Chu in opposition to the dynasty. 219 371 752
• Tai Province — The Blood Demon Sacred Cult invaded Yang Province from Tai Province, causing the province's most severe recent military crisis. 195 245
• Wu Province — The Wei Family of Wu Province sought to install Wei Yiren as Yang Province's governor after Venerable Jingkong's death. 319 320
• Eastern Ridge — A longstanding hostile frontier whose barbarians repeatedly raided Eastern Continent Prefecture before Li Xinge's campaign destroyed their kingdom. 282 455 492
• Xu Province — A rival in the partition of the former Eastern Ridge Kingdom; Xu Province took one-third of the conquered territory. Its governor later declared that Xu Province would welcome Li Xinge, the King of Chu, during the Northern–Southern War. 488 492 947
• Lingxu Sect — Its patriarch, Venerable Jingkong, governed Yang Province before entrusting the Governor's Seal and his sect's future to Li Xinge. 325 369
• Qiong Province — Li Xinge mobilized Yang Province's armies for a campaign against it after a dispute with Hundred Flowers Valley. 643
• Chu Province — Its forces assembled opposite Yang Province's army along their shared border during Li Xinge's expansion. 720