Liang Province.
Hanzhong.
Officials gathered on both sides of the road, looking anxiously into the distance.
Today, the new commandery governor would arrive.
The administrative system in the Shu lands had not yet been fully established. The appointments of inspectors had only just been announced, and those of commandery governors had not even been made public.
The many areas within Jiange were better off. Local officials who had been willing to surrender along with Liu Shan had essentially all retained their former posts, continuing to govern their localities for the emperor.
But in places such as Hanzhong, the earlier fighting and their failure to surrender had left officials dead or wounded in great numbers. Many places had virtually no one left to govern them.
Chen Tai, who had temporarily handled the aftermath, had promoted respected local figures and officials, pardoned a group of officials exiled here for offending Huang Hao, and finally summoned capable men from Yongliang, barely managing to establish a basic framework.
By now, Chen Tai had already left.
But the framework he had temporarily established remained.
A new commandery governor had been appointed and would soon arrive to begin regular administration.
As for who this new commandery governor was, the officials here did not know.
To restore production as quickly as possible, the imperial court had moved very swiftly in all its arrangements.
The imperial court also feared that a famine might arise in the Shu lands.
If some disaster struck the newly subdued Shu lands and drove the local people to rebellion, the repercussions would be enormous.
Just as in history, when the fall of the Shu Kingdom was immediately followed by the Chengdu rebellion, throwing the Shu lands into chaos and giving Eastern Wu plenty to laugh about.
But whoever came, he would henceforth be