CHAPTER 1457: CHAPTER 1374: THIS IS A LIBERATION

In the terrified eyes of the villagers, the battalion commander of the Tang Army impatiently waved his hand, and the desperate atmosphere immediately frightened several children who had gathered around the Tang Army soldiers for candy yesterday, causing them to cry.

The women who thought these people were doomed hadn’t even managed to cry out before the Tang Army lieutenant ordered these men squatting on the ground with their heads in their hands to scram.

The atmosphere had been built up to this point, and the sorrow was suddenly stuck, lodged in the throat, neither moving up nor down, making people uncomfortable yet unable to stop themselves from breaking into tears and smiling.

"Hurry home! Be honest! Don’t break the law!" The lieutenant from Tang Country picked up the severely worn Mauser 98K Rifle from the ground and handed it to the soldier beside him: "We have confiscated the weapons!"

It wasn’t until the afternoon that the villagers, now certain that the Tang Army wasn’t acting, finally realized that their suffering seemed... to be over.

The Qin people would not be coming back; they were driven away by the Tang Army! The matches they had occasionally been able to use in the past were made and sold by these Tang people, who were wealthy and... generous!

Soon, more Tang troops passed through, and before long, a young man appeared who was willing to care about everything happening here.

He brought food and seeds: this young man made an agreement with the local farmers that he would provide them with a year’s food supply, but the village must plant the seed according to his instructions.

Despite everyone feeling apprehensive, when they actually received the food, they all settled down: in the past, even in a bountiful harvest, only this much grain was produced. Now that someone was providing it in full, and even more in advance, they’d just plant whatever they were told to plant.

Soon, the local villagers discovered the young man who arrived was really different. As soon as he arrived, he required all villagers to learn to read and write at night and distributed books to the children. He was like a teacher, with endless work every day.

The arrival of the Tang Army was truly different; after their military passed through, as long as logistical supplies were ensured, everything else followed.

Things like books and paper, food and grain, and even soon the villagers realized that job opportunities began to appear.

The engineers of the Great Tang Empire would employ locals to do some physical labor: they would build bridges, pave roads, construct some houses, and even start building toilets for the village.

At first, the villagers thought the other side was covertly conscripting laborers, but after receiving wages and distributed rice, canned food, and instant noodles, they immediately realized... this was a job, a good job!

Thus, the women began to get busy, selling local snacks to the passing Tang troops. The men also became busy; some farming and planting grain, others began wandering around military camps, seeking some money-making jobs.

People are always smart; they adapted to this life and prayed that it could continue indefinitely.

For these people, perhaps a month’s time wasn’t much, but for the Tang Army, a month’s time was enough for them to occupy many places.

The Tang Army didn’t rush to penetrate the entire Shu Mountain defense line because those mountainous defenses were still strong, and the Tang Army found it unnecessary to take risks.

So they kept advancing westward along the Shu Mountain defense line, moving forward more than 100 kilometers before temporarily halting.

Qin Country was almost cut in half by this attacking Tang Army, and with difficulty, Qin Army general Ying Xu barely managed to stabilize the situation, causing the Tang Army to pause their attack.

But he knew the reason the Tang Army stopped was mostly because their logistics couldn’t keep up, and had little to do with his troops’ limited blocking strategy.

Using this brief time, the Qin Army reinforced the defense line, piecing together tens of thousands of troops to establish a new defense line.

Then Sun Guang was forced to accept reality once again: the Qin Army troops stationed along the coast still needed strengthening, but now reinforcements were impossible to arrive.

Not only were reinforcements unable to arrive, but Sun Guang also had to redeploy troops north to support Ying Xu. Ten thousand battle-ready troops left their established coastal defense line and rushed north.

This was all of Sun Guang’s main forces, and now the coastal area’s defense was virtually non-existent, as those second-line troops couldn’t stop any Tang Army attack.

In this situation, the Tang Army didn’t rush to attack. Tang Mo’s orders to Luo Xiao were: advance steadily, proceed gradually!

So after the attack paused, Luo Xiao focused on consolidating the rear, rectifying law and order, and restoring production.

Tang Country sent thousands of cadres to the newly occupied territories to stabilize local livelihoods, organizing production to resume and launching a round of basic construction.

This approach not only stabilized the populace, ensuring no concerns remained at the Tang Army’s rear but also optimized logistical supply lines by improving infrastructure for better transportation.

Local economies that had collapsed started to recover due to Tang Country’s policies, and local living standards rose with the Tang Army’s arrival.

Despite the significant "losses" the Tang Army faced in transporting "non-combat materials" and "losing equipment and food," and the slowed advance as a result, what they gained seemed to be more.

According to Tang Army’s own statistics, after entering Shu Territory, the interference with their transport and supply lines dwindled as the Shu people began welcoming the Tang Army.

Multiple areas began cooperating by using Tang Country’s identification documents, and even some of the original Shu inhabitants started to identify as Tang people. The overall law and order improved, and management costs were decreasing rapidly.

For the Tang Army, capturing a place wasn’t difficult; the real challenge for Tang Country was managing, absorbing, and assimilating these occupied territories.

Thanks to the comparisons, Tang Country increasingly appeared angelic in the eyes of the local populace: whether the former rulers from Shu Country or the later occupiers from Qin Country, they all seemed tyrannical, whereas Tang Country’s impression was exactly the opposite.

The Tang Army entering Shu gradually gained a warm reception, as the Shu people blended in with the Tang Army. The Great Tang Empire’s televisions were eagerly reporting shouts of joy from the people of Shu as they welcomed the royal army.

This was not staged; the locals genuinely regarded the arrival of the Tang Army as a liberation. The Tang Army helped them drive away the landlords, eliminated the oppressive bureaucracy and aristocracy, allowing them to rise and become masters of their own fate.

They actively reciprocated towards Tang Country: through their actions, they proved they were not a group of troublemakers, they adhered to law and order, resuming production, leaving the Tang Army with no worries at the rear.

On the other hand, within the Qin-occupied areas, because of the Tang Army’s proximity, everyone was on high alert, and everything was alarming. Qin Country had to exploit the indigenous people of Shu Territory to support Qin Country’s increasingly strained front-line combat needs.