It was a bright, peaceful day in the late winter season, and the capital of the newly expanded princedom basked in the quiet hum of prosperity.
In just five years, what had once been a remote and unremarkable town on the edges of relevance had transformed into a burgeoning seat of power, one befitting a realm on the rise.
The population, which only a few winters ago numbered just over 24,000, had now swelled to nearly 32,000, a staggering increase of more than 30%.
This demographic boom was the result of a constellation of policies and developments, that led to various factors each with his contribution to it.
Chief among them was a noticeable drop in the cost of food, spurred by the rapid expansion of cultivated farmland.
This expansion had come through a policy of assimilation and resettlement , whereby newly integrated tribes were swiftly brought to productive use to grow farmland and serve the state in wars.
