Each refugee encampment could accommodate two hundred to five hundred thousand people, and Li Zhi had established ten such encampments in total.
Every camp was clearly labeled with its population, the earliest intake date, and the latest intake date. Divided by chronological intervals, each camp represented a five-day cohort.
Every encampment was guarded by over a thousand soldiers, with over a hundred officials assigned to oversee administrative matters large and small. Everything within the camps was orderly and systematic, demonstrating formidable governing prowess.
With his ambition set on becoming a Sovereign of Men, Li Zhi naturally placed supreme importance on karmic luck, and thus regarded mortals with exceptional care.
Officials high and low—should any dare embezzle the refugees' daily rations and supplies or bully the commoners—faced flogging and exile for lesser offenses, and summary decapitation for severe ones upon discovery. For decades, everyone across the Zhenshan Fief had known Li Zhi's iron-fisted rule; none dared provoke his wrath.
Thus, when Wei Yuan arrived, he saw that the more than four million refugees across the ten encampments looked reasonably well-nourished and healthy. In each camp, anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands had reached the state where they could contribute karmic luck.
Wei Yuan nodded secretly, recognizing Li Zhi's foresight. Regardless of Li Zhi's true motives, treating the common folk so well ensured he remained constantly blessed by karmic luck, achieving twice the result with half the effort in all his undertakings.
Organizing the refugee camps strictly by time intervals was also meant to facilitate administration. Once the refugees in a camp had stayed long enough to leave behind their karmic luck and causal bonds, Wei Yuan could transport the entire camp away and relocate them to settle in Yizhou.
This was the compromise Wei Yuan and Li Zhi had agreed upon.
Li Zhi stirred up conflict and gathered refugees amidst the chaos, bringing them back to his territory to recuperate for a period. This established the reality of their displacement while enabling him to harvest a wave of karmic luck amidst the turmoil. Finally, Wei Yuan would take charge of these refugees and lead them into truly prosperous lives—a mutually beneficial arrangement that served both ends.
Otherwise, Li Zhi had only recently erected his boundary stone, covering merely a few counties. His lands were far from fully developed, completely incapable of sustaining so many people. Even if Li Zhi occupied the entire commandery of Southern Ji, the ravages of war had depleted all stored grain, making it impossible to support such a population.
Should large numbers of refugees starve to death, Li Zhi would be burdened with immense karmic debt. Although founding ancestors throughout the dynasties had shouldered massive karmic debt without it preventing them from becoming Sovereigns of Men, it was also a fact that founding ancestors frequently died young or violently. Therefore, Wei Yuan's advice had been to avoid incurring karmic debt whenever possible.
The encampment Li Zhi brought Wei Yuan to inspect was the first one established, housing three hundred and ten thousand people who had stayed for nearly two months, meeting the time requirement. Wei Yuan's current vision surpassed what ordinary cultivators could comprehend; sweeping his gaze across the camp, he could tell that roughly twenty-some thousand people had already contributed karmic luck.
This proportion was remarkably high. Under normal circumstances, even if displaced people were settled peacefully in content livelihoods, barely over ten percent could contribute karmic luck. In other words, the majority of the harvestable karmic luck had already been reaped by Li Zhi.
Wei Yuan did not mind. This had always been part of their mutual agreement. While neither had explicitly mentioned karmic luck that day, Wei Yuan had tacitly allowed Li Zhi to harvest as much as he could.
Having inspected the camp, Wei Yuan turned to murmur a few words to Sun Yu behind him. Sun Yu signaled, and a large force of Qingming soldiers marched into the encampment to begin handover procedures with Li Zhi's officials. Subsequently, numerous physicians and nurses entered the camp to triage the refugees, conducting physical examinations group by group.
Once examined, the refugees were directed to gather in designated areas to await relocation.
A moment later, massive shadows swept across the ground as several colossal flying boats and airships glided overhead, slowly descending outside the camp. The refugees had never witnessed such aerial vessels before, their eyes wide with awe.
Under the direction of Qingming troops, crowds of refugees exited the camp and boarded the vessels in batches. Before boarding, there was one final inspection: no refugees were permitted to carry any personal belongings. Everything had to be discarded on the spot before they lined up to board.
Traveling unburdened in this manner allowed each flying boat to carry an extra thousand or two.
One flying boat after another landed and took off, each ferrying away over ten thousand refugees in an orderly operation.
Seeing the smooth handover, Wei Yuan nodded in satisfaction, exchanged farewells with Li Zhi, and then his figure slowly faded before Li Zhi's eyes. Li Zhi could not even perceive how Wei Yuan had departed.
Once Wei Yuan vanished, an ordinary-looking scholar behind Li Zhi suddenly flashed a terrifying gleam in his eyes. Looking toward the direction where Wei Yuan had disappeared, he said slowly, "The young fellow has some skill."
Another military officer's demeanor shifted abruptly, turning gloomy and ponderous like a black stone unexposed to sunlight for ten thousand years. He said in a deep voice, "Everyone claims Wei Yuan is adept in matters of karmic luck, but it seems to me he is nothing special. Stimulated by our grand formation, these refugees have yielded their karmic luck ahead of schedule. While the camp may seem populous, the remaining karmic luck likely amounts to a mere three to five thousand, and they will need to be nurtured for a long time to produce more. Hmph, he thinks he has scored a bargain, entirely unaware that what he takes back are merely burnt-out cinders."
Li Zhi frowned slightly and said, "Granduncle-Master, my relationship with Wei Yuan runs deep. He has aided me immensely and requires a vast amount of mortal karmic luck himself. Perhaps we shouldn't squeeze them completely dry. How about we leave half for him?"
The gloomy general snapped, "Womanly sentiment! A ruler cannot be hindered by petty details. How can there be room for useless notions of benevolence and righteousness? If you wish to achieve great things, no amount of mortal karmic luck is ever enough—how can you possibly share it away?"
Li Zhi said, "Yet if I am to succeed, Wei Yuan's assistance is crucial. Even when rewarding merit, shouldn't he be granted some share?"
The scholar said slowly, "Rewarding merit is something done only after the grand endeavor is accomplished. Furthermore, throughout history, rewards bestowed upon meritorious ministers have been nothing more than useless money, grain, and land. If he remains obedient, he may be allowed to live out his days in peace. Should he harbor disloyalty, whatever was granted to him is merely held in his keeping temporarily. Mortal karmic luck is of paramount importance; how could it ever be bestowed as a reward?"
With both in opposition, Li Zhi could only sigh inwardly. His gaze swept slowly across the remaining camps. Unseen by others, possessed of the aura of a Sovereign of Men, he could perceive the grand formations turning sluggishly beneath each refugee camp, stimulating the karmic luck from the common folk. Thread after thread of mortal karmic luck continuously surfaced, only to be captured and gathered by the formation.
Every refugee at this moment was like a laying hen, forced by various means to produce eggs without even realizing it.
In Wei Yuan's eyes, this war felt somewhat strange.
Previously, Wei Yuan had mobilized hundreds of flying boats and airships to transport three hundred thousand Zhenshan Fief troops to the south of the State of Ji in a single deployment. Then, he delivered enough weapons and equipment to arm three hundred thousand men, arming Li Zhi's newly incorporated former Ji soldiers to the teeth, while also reserving quotas for an additional one hundred thousand men in the future.
Most of the Zhenshan Fief's military supplies were manufactured by Qingming, so Wei Yuan was well aware of the standard equipment specifications for the Zhenshan army, manufacturing a batch and delivering it directly.
The Zhenshan Army's current configuration consisted of cuirassier infantry equipped with pikes, cleavers, and fire guns, while the cavalry was additionally armed with lances and fire blunderbusses. By the standards of the Nine States, the Zhenshan Army could practically be called an all-armored force—boasting ferocious firepower and formidable close combat prowess, making it a premier elite army.
Yet Qingming's own forces now relied primarily on artillery for offense, while defense depended on Daoist arts cast by Dharma Idol and Dao Foundation cultivators. The role of ordinary soldiers had steadily diminished; most of the time, they had been relegated to occupation infantry, maintaining order after securing territory.
In terms of individual gear, the core main force of Qingming generally started at the second stage of Body Casting, allowing them to be equipped with full suits of nether crystal heavy armor weighing over a hundred jin, which offered some defense against Daoist arts. By the standards of the Nine States, Qingming's main force was a fully heavy-armored army; even the core elites of the Nine Armies of Great Tang were merely on par with this standard.
Furthermore, every Qingming unit was equipped with numerous armored trucks for regular motorized transport. In terms of long-distance mobility, Qingming infantry was actually superior to the cavalry of the Nine States.
A generational gap had essentially opened between Qingming's army and the Zhenshan Fief's forces, though the Zhenshan generals remained oblivious, still believing their equipment level was comparable to Qingming's main force.
Wei Yuan handled the transport for Li Zhi's troops, the arming of his new forces, and the provision of his military supplies; only the frontline clashes remained outside Wei Yuan's responsibility. Wei Yuan was fully involved in the entire war, yet observed it with detached indifference.
Chapter 1096