Taking this opportunity, the Great Xia government expressed its willingness to take responsibility for "civilizing" the Northern people. The goal was to integrate them into a normal society and allow them to lead harmonious lives. In the days to come, they would no longer have to endure freezing cold or starvation, but could instead live in warmth and with plenty to eat.
Given such initiatives, and the fact that Great Xia already held significant influence on the world stage, the voices of dissent gradually faded away. People generally felt that the government had done a great service, enabling the Northern people to live in peace, no longer subject to exploitation by warlords or forced conscription. Under these circumstances, international opposition dwindled, eventually disappearing altogether.
Within Great Xia, this news came as a complete shock. No one had expected that, quietly and without fanfare, the country had accomplished something so monumental. The people had long feared and despised the Northerners, who frequently crossed the border to harass the frontier. Many citizens had suffered losses at their hands, fueling deep-seated resentment. While there had always been efforts to suppress the Northern people, they had rarely been effective. Some had privately wondered if simply wiping them out would solve the problem once and for all, but such ideas were mere fantasies that could never influence the decisions of the leadership.
Chapter 312