fluence of the Eastern Palace within the military.As the first rays of dawn in the east pierced through the clouds, illuminating the Golden Water Bridge in front of Taihe Palace with a dazzling glow,...Chapter 1742: Only Force Will Do

According to common sense, with Li Chen's status, these yamen servants in charge of the city gate inspection were not qualified to speak to him at all. Even if there was something, it would be Xu Wei and his subordinates who would come forward to deal with it.

But this time, Li Chen stopped Xu Wei, who was about to speak and negotiate.

"Identity What kind of identity is required to enter the city" Li Chen asked.

"It's probably because of Li Chen's aura that the officer felt a little scared, or perhaps he truly is someone who does his job diligently. Despite some impatience in his tone, he still answered Li Chen's question: 'Right now, there are many refugees gathered. Our magistrate has ordered that unless there is a special need and a pass for entry, no one is allowed into the city.'"

After finishing his words, he added, “This is also for everyone’s good. In the beginning, there were no restrictions, and everyone rushed into the city, causing quite a stir.”

Li Chen raised an eyebrow slightly. He had instructed the city government offices at the designated concentration points to not make things difficult for these migrating people in any way, but it seemed that there was always a countermeasure to every policy.

Moreover, Li Chen had never referred to these forcibly migrated people as refugees in any circumstance or form. However, this Yulin Prefecture's magistrate seems to have a unique set of ideas.

Seeing Li Chen say nothing more, Xu Wei stepped forward and presented his identification.

"This is a military document, proof enough that we have entered the city for military purposes. Please allow us passage," Xu Wei said.

The yamen officer was surprisingly thorough. He carefully checked everything and compared the seals on the documents to ensure they were genuine. After confirming that there was no forgery, he didn't give Li Chen and his party any trouble and let them pass directly.

Entering the city, Li Chen said nothing, walking down the street.

Yulin Prefecture benefited from the magistrate's diversion management, and the scene in the city was still passable.

Although many shops along the street had closed, some essential stores were still open. Each storefront had a guard maintaining order, and long queues of customers snaked outside, waiting to enter and buy necessities.

These customers, for the most part, were well-dressed and clean, a world apart from the ragged townsfolk outside the city.

The streets were not crowded, but from the houses on either side of the road, one could hear that there were still quite a few people inside. They just weren't venturing out onto the streets unless absolutely necessary.

"Xu Wei."

Li Chen called Xu Wei to his side, "You've traveled far and wide. Are things the same at other gathering points"

Xu Wei answered honestly, "Your Highness, I've visited all the gathering points. Among them, Yulin Prefecture is probably the best."

“The other gathering points mostly act strictly according to the Lord's orders. They didn't relocate the migrated people outside the city either. However, because of this, the entire city is filled with smoke and haze, with extremely high crime rates. This has caused the people living in the gathering points great suffering. As for supplies, they entirely depend on court deliveries. No matter what is sent, it gets emptied immediately upon arrival. In short…it's a mess!”

Li Chen nodded and said, "If the Yulin Prefecture manages things like this, the situation inside the city will improve a lot. But the resentment of those people outside the city will grow even stronger. If there's a peasant uprising, what do you think we should do"

Xu Wei was taken aback. This question was clearly beyond his capabilities.

But Li Chen asked, he had to give an answer.

After some thought, Xu Wei said: "We can only suppress it by force."in less than three or five years.This is still based on the premise that both Dongchang and Donggong continue to support him. Otherwise, he could also achieve it, but it would take longer.However, thi...