Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains

Chapter 344: 183. Zhan Taiqing's Domineering Presence

On the night of the Rakshasa Festival, although the most severe destruction occurred in Tongling City, from the Eastern Gate all the way to Shili Slope, the devastation was not minor.

After all, everything had begun at Shili Slope that day. First, the demon army chased the Mansion Army all the way to the Eastern Gate, and then the aftermath of the battle involving six great experts and several powerful beings caused destruction that extended dozens of miles outside the Eastern Gate, hardly less than that within the city itself.

The Official Road outside the city had been completely destroyed. The ground was covered with craters; small ones a few meters across, large ones up to tens of meters. The pits still contained numerous uncleaned bloodstains. Looking around, there was hardly a single tree that remained intact, all were strewn about in disarray, presenting a devastated scene.

Hou Yuxiao and his group of five, following behind Fan Longhe and Gui Yutang, headed toward Shili Slope while surveying the tragic state of the land around them, repeatedly shaking their heads.

Hou Yuxiao had been aware of the situation outside the city for a while, but constrained by insufficient manpower, he could only prioritize helping the Hou Clan's people assist the townsfolk in restoring conditions within the city. The reconstruction progress over these three days indicated that just the buildings inside Tongling City alone would need at least a month to be restored to pre-war conditions. As for the population, without taking special measures, it would likely take decades.

Given the conditions inside the city, the situation outside was even more dire. Repairing the roads at both ends would have to wait at least two or three months later, as they simply couldn't spare the hands right now.

"Family Head, with the city still in need of revival and the situation outside not needing immediate attention, after the chaos by the Blood Demon, the demons within Tongling's borders should all be gone. Whether the Official Road is repaired or not doesn't really matter. Besides, for a long while, people from surrounding counties likely won't dare to come to Tongling, so this road doesn't really serve a purpose!"

The speaker was Li Sanyun. Hou Yuxiao understood this logic, but he was pleased that Li Sanyun had taken the initiative to come forward and share these thoughts with him.

The integration of the Medicine Dust Sect, Hongdao Gang, Bai Clan, and West Cloud Escort Agency into the Hou Clan was not a simple matter. Initially, each of the four had over two thousand genuine Martial Artists. Apart from these fighters, each power indirectly supported at least a hundred thousand people in their territories, with the Medicine Dust Sect even being the sole third-rate force in Yulin County, originally standing on par with the Hou Clan.

The integration of these four families into the Hou Clan was not something that could be resolved with the simple word 'merger'. However, given the wartime circumstances and with Fifth Brother Hou Yuduan still in a coma, Hou Yuxiao had no one to confer with and had to put this matter aside for the time being.

Although he hadn't decided on the details of the integration yet, he had assigned tasks to Li Sanyun, Bai Yunfan, Nie Xinchuan, and Liu Jianghong. Liu Jianghong and Nie Xinchuan were specifically tasked to cooperate with Hou Yucheng and Hou Yujie in integrating martial artists above the five levels of body refinement from the four families; meanwhile, Li Sanyun and Bai Yunfan, in cooperation with Hou Yuling, were responsible for the reconstruction tasks within Tongling City.

The fact that Li Sanyun had taken the initiative to speak to him was clear proof that he was really taking his tasks seriously.

Suddenly, Hou Yuxiao thought of something and gently asked the two, "By the way, have you discussed with Third Mother about the matters of absorbing residents from the other three counties into Tongling? What exactly do you plan to do?"

The greatest damage to Tongling this time was to its population, which had plummeted from over two million to just four hundred thousand. If they didn't find a way to replenish the population, many of the city's functions could not be restarted, reconstruction work efficiency could not be improved, and most crucially, with the two states already at war, Tongling, being a border city, could suffer military calamities at any moment. Without sufficient manpower, its defensive capabilities would also be significantly weakened.

Waiting for the population to replenish naturally was definitely not viable at this moment, so Hou Yuxiao had set his sights on the other three counties. Zhaoyang was easier to deal with, since it was the Hou Clan's stronghold. The key was Yulin and Baiye counties, which he had instructed Hou Yuling to discuss with Bai Yunfan and Li Sanyun the day before, and now he was eager to know if there were any results.

This time, it was not Li Sanyun who spoke, but Bai Yunfan who answered.

"Family Head, Baiye County among the three counties also suffered a calamity this time. I have already sent people to check, and there are no survivors left in the town. That leaves only Yulin and Zhaoyang counties. The current population of Zhaoyang County is less than four hundred thousand, and Yulin County has three hundred and fifty thousand. We have already sent people to both counties to start persuading people to move to the county towns!"

"Persuading?"

Hou Yuxiao looked puzzled and continued, "What, they don't want to come to the Prefectural City?"

"Zhaoyang County is alright, but mainly the residents of Yulin County and many villages around the Official Road. The chaos three days ago frightened quite a few people, after all, it has been a long time since demons attacked the town. We can only send people down to persuade them!"

Hou Yuxiao nodded; he had considered this possibility. Logically speaking, due to the ongoing battles between the two states, the towns including the nearby three counties were actually no safer than Tongling Prefectural City. It would be best if these town residents moved to the city, but if they didn't want to, there was nothing that could be done.

"Based on the situation over the past few days, we estimate that about seventy percent of Zhaoyang's residents are willing to relocate, a bit less in Yulin, only about thirty percent. They will probably move here intermittently over the next half-month, by then Tongling's population could be restored to eight hundred thousand."