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“We don’t need to do anything.” Mi Jin smiled mysteriously, as if he had everything figured out. Meanwhile, Mi Zhen looked puzzled. “Do nothing?” “Correct.” Mi Jin nodded, explaining, “The 1.6 million civilians in Xiling, how much food do they need to survive? The Tang Family, even with all their food, wouldn’t be able to provide for them. Not even to win over Du Sha.”

This is similar to when Chengzhou was hit by a flood, and the two clans went to take in refugees. Ordinary civilians didn’t even qualify to be refugees because they held no value. The biggest difference with this flood is that it will submerge the entirety of Xiling, including all the cultivated lands within its borders. This means for the upcoming years, food will be the most crucial strategic asset in West Longzhou. Whoever has food controls the situation at least until the Lingjiang River stabilises and the powerful families redistribute their territories anew.”

“Red Cloud Mountain is a mine, with a very thin layer of soil. Only a small piece of land, where the Red Cloud Village is located, can be cultivated. However, the Du family only numbers over a thousand people. Even if they had been storing grains for hundreds of years, they wouldn’t be able to support such a large population.” Mi Jin made a slashing motion with his hand, “Even if the population was cut in half and only 800,000 remained, the Du family wouldn’t be able to support them. But do you think our compassionate Hero Du would watch a million civilians starve right in front of him?”

The reason civilians hold so little value in the eyes of the clans is that they lack a clear understanding of their own status. As long as they can scrape by, they reproduce like rabbits. With the increase in the number of children, their life becomes more and more destitute. Forget about practicing martial arts; even having enough to eat and wear becomes a luxury.

Such a tense existence would inevitably lead to mass deaths amongst the civilians in case of a minor natural disaster or a famine. There was no need to deliberately control the population as natural disasters and human-caused disasters automatically kept the population at a reasonable level.

Anyway, after a disaster, within twenty years, a new batch of civilians would appear. Hence, to people like Mi Jin and Tang Zhi, the number of civilians was merely a statistic.

After Mi Jin pointed out the key issue, Mi Zhen had a taste of the seriousness of the situation. So he asked, “So you think Du Sha will fall out with Tang Luo?” “Very likely.” Mi Jin nodded confidently, “Saving 1.6 million civilians only to watch them starve on Red Cloud Mountain is more cruel than letting the flood wash them away. Of course, Du Sha will ask the Tang Family for food and would even stake his own life. However, he needs food for 1.6 million people. No matter how much they want to win over Du Sha, the Tang Family won’t give up that much food, especially since there are more important people in Xiling they have yet to win over.”

“You are talking about the Xiao Family and the nine great clans?” Mi Zhen instantly got it.

If the martial power of Xiling was divided into twelve parts, the Tang and Mi Families would share eight parts, the Xiao Family would have one part, and the rest of the influential families would share the remaining three parts.

Of these three parts, the nine great clans of Cao, Wang, Bie, Pan, Wan, Bai, Pei Wet, and Zhu unquestionably stood at the top in Xiling. And it was their support that the Mi Family should be vying for.

Who could have thought that Mi Shen, who shouldered the important task of managing the hearts of the new town residents, would not only successfully suppress the uprising with limited force but also persuade the four great clans of Pan, Bie, Bai, Wan to decisely commit to the Mi Family. The competition for the control of Xiling s influential families had barely started, and the Mi Family had already won half the battle. Thinking of this, Mi Zhen felt a bit excited and couldn’t help but exclaim, “The young clan leader is farsighted. This move is indeed priceless.”

Mi Jin nodded, a slight smile in his eyes. Mi Shen’s surprising performance might be the only thing worth celebrating for the Mi Family since Mi Chu’s death.

Due north, due south, due west, due east.

With Tang Luo’s voice echoing throughout the city due to his unique broadcasting ability and the surprisingly fast Immortal Wind Cloud Body Technique, he had flown a circle over Xiling in just an hour. His amplified voice reverberated off the white clouds in all directions. With his enhanced vision, he could clearly see the civilians running back to their homes, gathering their ‘ half-grown vegetables and grains and stuffing them into sacks. They even wanted to carry the large pickle jars on their backs.

Of course, there were also scenes of families arguing over their furniture. Each piece of their belongings was hard-earned and cherished. Given three days to prepare, they didn’t want to abandon any of their possessions. Some families even moved everything from inside their house to the courtyard, wanting to take everything with them to Red Cloud Mountain.

After observing so much foolishness, Tang Luo no longer had the energy to be angry. With only three days until the flood arrived, it would have been a wiser choice to use the precious time to search for and stockpile food rather than obsess over their belongings.

Luckily, not all civilians were so foolish. Some smart ones were dismantling their house doors, tying cotton blankets on their bodies, and running towards Red Cloud Mountain with food. Some even smarter ones were running towards the forests outside the city with axes, planning to build rafts from wood and bamboo in the three days. That way, they wouldn’t be trapped when the flood arrived.

But the smartest ones were the small clans. Although they didn’t act with the efficiency of the large clans, their task allocation was orderly.

Some were chopping wood, some were storing food, some were collecting medicine, and some were leading their clan members in retreat. Every clan might have its set of foolish offspring, but all of them also had capable people. In terms of effectiveness, the clans far surpassed ordinary civilian families. Being better than civilians didn’t mean they wouldn’t make mistakes. From his vantage point, Tang Luo noticed that many clans were not heading towards Red Cloud Mountain but running towards the lower hills and mound outside the city.

According to past experience, the highest flood level in the history of Xiling only reached the chest of an adult and lasted no more than three months. So they believed that finding refuge on a small hill was enough. This can’t be considered wrong; it’s just that relying on past experience can be lethal.

Tang Luo wasn’t worried about them, though. Even if they found something wrong later, the martial artists of their families could lead them to safety. The tolerance of clans was high; there was no need to overly worry about them. Having finished his broadcast task, Tang Luo directly descended to the Star Pavilion in the western city. He needed to talk to Hua Ji about a few things. Ying Hongyuan, clad in armor, stood on the platform holding his long knife, his eyes closed in meditation. Hua Ji, meanwhile, was circling around like a headless fly. Seeing Tang Luo, he almost crawled over, his face filled with anguish. “YoungMaster, you’re finally here.”

“What happened?” Tang Luo frowned. As a direct subordinate, why was Hua Ji worried about the flood? He didn’t quite understand where these expressions were coming from.