Most things of value within the city had been looted clean.
Except for the common folk.
The eleven cities had effectively become ghost towns. Of course, the reason Gu Changqing left the common people untouched was not out of kindness, but because he understood that the populace could not be easily moved. If he were to commit a massacre, his reputation for tyranny would spread, leaving the people in his own territories in a state of panic, which would be detrimental to his governance. Furthermore, when attacking other cities, he would inevitably be met with desperate, fight-to-the-death resistance.
Chapter 179