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Chapter 936: Chapter 392: Barbarians Requesting Allegiance Chapter 936: Chapter 392: Barbarians Requesting Allegiance “`

Time flies, in the blink of an eye, thirteen years have passed.

Chu Capital, Baling.

On the spacious imperial road outside the city, a procession slowly made its way towards Baling.

Passersby on both sides of the road, seeing this, promptly made way and paused to watch.

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As inhabitants living beneath the imperial city, these passersby were naturally not without discernment, ordinary processions would not easily catch their attention, but this one was indeed different.

Based merely on appearance, the members of this procession, each with hair hanging loose or braided, donned in exquisite furs, resembled nomadic barbarians—or perhaps those of noble status—though it was unclear whether they were from the Snowy Wilderness or the northern steppes.

In the midst of the procession, there were also dozens of Chu soldiers clad in fine armor, escorting on both sides, led by an official in a red robe at the forefront, marching the barbarians towards Baling.

This evidently illustrious barbarian procession naturally drew the attention of nearby passersby, all speculating with curiosity.

However, to the roadside discussions, neither the barbarians nor the soldiers of Chu within the procession paid any mind, focused solely on heading towards the city entrance.

“Crown Prince, Baling City is just ahead,”

As they were nearing the city gates, in the center of the procession, a middle-aged barbarian approached the exterior of a large carriage drawn by four horses and spoke to a young man inside, who wore a white Wolf Skin robe with a slightly youthful visage and an air of nobility.

Hu Yan Bi looked at the middle-aged barbarian and smiled with a nod, “Uncle Hai, I know.”

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This middle-aged barbarian was named Hu Yan Hai, his paternal uncle, also a pillar of the Hu Yan clan, and the second Inborn Grandmaster in the tribe after his father.

As for Hu Yan Bi himself, he was the crown prince of the Hu Yan tribe, the future heir of the clan.

For two such distinguished individuals to come together to the Chu Capital, they were certainly not there for leisure but bore a great responsibility.

After Hu Yan Bi exchanged greetings with his uncle, he walked to the carriage door, opened the little window, and peered ahead.

Before his eyes stood a towering and magnificent city, rising from the plains.

Beneath the grand city gates, people and merchants from all corners of the earth merged into a dense stream, lining up, inspected by soldiers and clerks, moving in and out of the city.

Just looking at this one city gate, the crowd waiting to enter and exit numbered in the thousands.

And the Chu Capital Baling, having expanded over the years, now had twenty-four gates; it was hard to imagine how many people could come and go from this mighty city in a single day.

Perhaps no less than tens of thousands, or even a hundred thousand?

With such thoughts, Hu Yan Bi couldn’t help but exclaim, “Truly a prosperous and formidable city.

No wonder Chu State could establish itself over a province and become the Supreme Dominator of the world.

As he said this, a hint of sorrow tinged Hu Yan Bi’s heart.

If their tribes of the Snowy Wilderness still possessed the two Helong counties at this time and settled down there properly, perhaps they too could have erected a mighty city in that northwestern land, right?

Regrettably, although they had driven away the people of Western Liang with the aid of the Chu people eight years ago, even occupying three counties of Western Liang that were abandoned after their relocation,

they didn’t enjoy many days of peace before the various northern steppe barbarians descended upon them.

Just as the barbarians had invaded Zhou Country’s Helong in bygone years, these steppe herders too formed vast, unending hordes of cavalry that repeatedly invaded the five counties occupied by the barbarians of the Snowy Wilderness.

After continuous warfare, how could the Snow Plains Nomads with a mere population of just over three million withstand these steppe barbarians, driven south by the cold snap and red-eyed from the struggle for survival?

In under three years, the three counties of the former Western Liang they’d occupied were lost.

And after two more years of fierce fighting and the loss of over two hundred thousand lives, they were also forced to relinquish Hexi county.

Now, they couldn’t even hold on to the last county of Longxi.

The various tribes of the Snowy Wilderness were utterly exhausted by incessant warfare, their last of vigor drained away.

For survival, they even had to send messengers to Baling, to submit to the King of Chu, who ruled over the entire land of Jiangnan, seeking his shelter for their tribe and welcoming the allegiance of all tribes of the snowy wilderness.

The descendants of the ancient and august Great Dharma God, with roots stretching tens of thousands of years into the past, have also reached their end under the twilight of the Nine Provinces.

“Ever since King Chu Lu Yuan swept across Jiangdong, unified the warlords, and proclaimed himself Emperor in Yangzhou, gathering the essence of a whole province, the Imperial Capital of Baling has grown increasingly prosperous,”

Hearing his nephew’s reflections, Hu Yan Hai, too, forgot about the world outside the window.

At this moment, their caravan had reached the city gates, where the Chu official accompanying them went forward to communicate with the gatekeeper military officer, arranging for their envoy procession to be given immediate passage.

A side gate of the great entrance was now opening up—it seemed that was their special passage.

“Eight years ago, when Chu State defeated Western Liang and accepted the surrender of its people, I accompanied True Person Huang Xin as we led troops back to Chu, escorting the Western Liang captives to Baling.

At that time, Baling was indeed a formidable city among the greatest in the world, with a permanent population of over five hundred thousand, but it was not as bustling as it is now.

I have heard that over these years, Emperor Chu has relocated the wealthy elites of Jiangdong, settling them in Baling’s Yueyang Prefecture, bringing in over a million people in one go.

Moreover, the six million people relocated from Lingnan were settled in Dongting County, where Baling is located, as well as nearby counties such as Xiangyang, Yuzhang, and Hanzhong.

These people have also settled down in recent years, with many starting to converge in Baling, coming to the Imperial Capital to engage in commerce or to earn a living.

Not to mention scholars from all over the country coming here for education and exams.”

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