My bathroom connects to another world
Chapter 504 - 504 504 The Early Start of the Great Construction

504: Chapter 504: The Early Start of the Great Construction 504: Chapter 504: The Early Start of the Great Construction With the spread of rumors by Zhao Guang’s end, the domain of Marquis Coruas finally began to shake.

More and more people silently fled.

When Marquis Coruas issued an order prohibiting them from leaving, the scale of this exodus became even larger.

There was no helping it, as Coruas was in no mood to attend to this matter at the moment.

All his attention was now on those Undead Mages.

He worried that the Undead Mages had come for him, which was not impossible.

Even if they hadn’t come specifically for him, it wasn’t entirely out of the question that they might take him down opportunistically.

As a result, the order to forbid leaving was issued in name only.

But unfortunately, many soldiers, who were of civilian origin too, were secretly arranging for their families to flee.

Even if they were to die in battle, they couldn’t let any harm come to their families.

They knew about the situation on the front lines, where some of their relatives were forcibly drafted.

Some were discovered and placed in logistics, others went undetected until it was too late, by which time they had already been used up as cannon fodder.

Many soldiers harbored resentment in their hearts; others were extremely anxious and cautious.

And as they sent their own families away, news was bound to leak.

Many acquaintances came asking for help, to which they could hardly say no.

As a result, despite orders to the contrary, the backlines became like a sieve.

Except for main roads manned with sentries, other places were left unguarded.

Many people brazenly bypassed the checks, and the soldiers, seeing this, turned a blind eye.

Some even passed through the main roads openly; those recognized were allowed through, while others with money simply paid a clear price.

This time, quite a number of rear-echelon soldiers made a considerable profit.

Many soldiers also wanted to leave, but seeing the benefits to be had, hesitated and ultimately stayed.

In such circumstances, these actions influenced the surrounding domains as well.

Especially the domains affiliated with Coruas, where subjects began fleeing in droves.

Over sixty percent of them were clearly heading toward Zhao Guang’s territory in the North.

Upon receiving this news, Zhao Guang himself was somewhat caught off guard.

He had prepared for receiving refugees, but he hadn’t expected so many to come all at once.

If this wasn’t handled properly, it could become dangerous.

“Those Undead Mages don’t intend to make a move against us, do they?”

“They shouldn’t, after all, we’ve reached an agreement, and the refugees coming over are just ordinary people.

No matter how many there are, they don’t hold much significance for them,” Xi Fei responded quickly.

Recently, Xi Fei had helped Zhao Guang sort through some information on Undead Magic, gaining some understanding of the other party.

This was also one of Zhao Guang’s excuses; by relying on the other party’s spell knowledge, he could deepen his understanding and prepare to deal with the Undead Mages.

If the fact that he was collecting information on Undead Magic were to be exposed, he would use this excuse.

In any case, Zhao Guang had already thought it through; as long as he provided enough benefits, his superiors would help him cover it up.

If there was no problem with the Undead Mages, then the next concern was his own internal issues.

“So many people are coming, and many of them are bringing diseases.

We need to be prepared to defend against that.”

“But we can’t possibly isolate them all, can we?

Forced isolation might lead to panic.”

Hearing this, Zhao Guang knew he couldn’t be too rigid.

These were border civilians, each prone to volatility.

They were already in a state of panic.

If he were to press the issue, one misstep could provoke a revolt among the populace.

While Zhao Guang wasn’t afraid for himself, such turmoil would disrupt his plans for expansion.

“In that case, you take the construction team later and let Coscola maintain order,” Zhao Guang said.

He quickly pointed out possible locations on the map: “We start the construction ahead of time.

Let them go to these places to build their own homesteads.

We will provide food and materials.”

“Once the rapid construction is complete, the next thing is farming, and by then we can get the Rabbitfolk to help out.”

Xi Fei understood: “Master plans to use different regions to isolate them, right?”

Zhao Guang nodded: “Exactly, this way we can root them in different locations for isolation while also ensuring they don’t gather and cause trouble.

A rotation of the army can have the effect of a hundred times its number.”

This was Zhao Guang’s idea; since they couldn’t impose forced isolation, they would rely on the terrain instead.

As long as he provided enough food and construction materials, along with allowing them to see the hope and advantages of his policy, they would soon settle down.

This was just like the early days when his own slaves had done the same.

“What about afterwards?

We can’t develop all these areas at once.”

Zhao Guang smiled: “Later on, we’ll have the people dispersed to those places already being developed.”

Before Xi Fei could respond, Zhao Guang continued: “By then, those carrying diseases will become a threat to those already there, who will then demand that these new arrivals be isolated.”

Xi Fei looked puzzled: “But isn’t that still isolation?

Aren’t you afraid of their resistance?”

“Of course not.

It’s not us demanding the isolation; it’s the newcomers in each place demanding it of them.

If they follow the rules, there will be no problems.

If they don’t comply, they’ll be in conflict with the original settlers.”

Initially, they were all refugees, part of one group, and could understand each other.

But when conflicts over interests and safety arose, that understanding would collapse completely.

At that point, even if there were disturbances, they would only be minor squabbles among themselves, unlikely to band together in large numbers.

By then, he would simply provide sufficient medicine and act as an arbitrator.

Sometimes, he wouldn’t even need to intervene; they would settle matters on their own.

Who doesn’t want a stable life, who wants to fight all the time?

With enough medicine and the frontier settlers as examples, the resistance among the new arrivals wouldn’t be too strong.

But regarding food and medicine, he would need to start making bulk purchases.

No, he should discuss with Ye Zhi and find out how much stored grain was available nearby.

They should forget about feeding livestock and sell it all to him.

In critical times, having food to eat is what matters.

The world was not short of food, true, but during large-scale migrations, there would ultimately be a shortfall.

The gap was significant.

The number of people arriving was already sizeable, and it would only increase.

After some calculations, Zhao Guang suspected that the number of refugees could exceed one million.

As he pondered this, Qiao Miya entered: “Master, Lord Hawks has arrived,” Qiao Miya said in a low voice.