In the second month of the Initial year of Heaven-Answering Four, the war in Qing Province came to an end. The two provinces of Qing and Nan had all fallen under the New Nation. Of the twelve provinces under heaven, the New Nation now held two.
After taking Qing Province, Zhao Cheng did not blindly continue expanding his territory. Instead, he shifted from expansion to consolidation, seeking to forge a stable rear base.
In this regard, he had fully absorbed the lessons of Yellow Heaven Daoist's failure.
Had Yellow Heaven Daoist advanced steadily back then rather than blindly expanding, he certainly would not have been defeated so thoroughly.
Even if his army had been defeated, the damage would merely have been skin-deep, rather than bringing down the mountain with the army's fall.
Of course, accomplishing this was no easy matter. Breaking up local powers, establishing new administrative bodies, winning over the people, rooting out spies... all these matters were tangled as a thousand threads, far from something that could be achieved overnight.
At the same time, to accomplish all this, a great army was needed to suppress matters. Otherwise, all manner of chaos was bound to arise.
In troubled times, harsh laws must be applied heavily. Otherwise, those who had once held prestige could not be suppressed.
Of course, with time being limited, Zhao Cheng's methods were even cruder. If the lowest-ranking clerks encountered resistance in carrying out their duties, they could submit a list and report the circumstances, clearly stating who was responsible.
Once they had made it clear, Dao officials would investigate. If the circumstances proved true, troops would be dispatched directly to arrest the people involved.
Those arrested would be tried on the spot according to the severity of their crimes and sent to the mines. As