Yan Prefecture in wartime was entirely different from Yan Prefecture in peacetime. Of course, any frontier region was different in war than in peace, but Yan Prefecture differed from the rest in quite a few ways.
It was the very end of the spring plowing season.
All of Yan Prefecture resembled a precision war machine. Supply convoys constantly appeared on the official roads, escorting grain, fodder, and military supplies. In the fields, old people and children labored away, while minor clerks bustled about at the edges of the farmland. Constables in light armor rode about on patrol as well. Anyone who committed an offense was punished severely without exception.
The vast numbers of convicts who had once mined no longer did so. After receiving a full meal, they were hauled out to undertake basic construction projects—building roads in Sui Prefecture and Xia Prefecture, assisting with the transport of supplies, and erecting other fortifications.
Meanwhile, the commoners and craftsmen under the merit officers of the prefectural yamen who had originally been responsible for such work, aside from those needed for production, repairs, and maintenance of military equipment, had all taken up swords and spears. They guarded the surrendered Western Xia soldiers in Sui and Xia Prefectures and kept the Western Xia populace in both places under control.
The scholars, distinguished from the officials by the strips of blue cloth hanging from their waists, served as administrators. They could be seen everywhere throughout Yan Prefecture and the newly conquered Sui and Xia Prefectures.
It was the end of the spring plowing season, yet war had broken out. Everyone young enough was mobilized to escort provisions or continue their former construction work. Even the women had joined in. At this time, only the elderly, children, and pregnant women were exempt from labor. The