Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 299 Liu Biao: I can’t bear it
In the second year of Jian'an, on the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, the weather was sunny and windy, with a gentle breeze blowing. Outside Luoyang City, the grass was lush and the birds were singing, and the air was filled with the scent of spring.

There are twelve gates on the four sides of the city and three gates on the east city wall, which are Upper East Gate, Middle East Gate and Hao Gate from north to south.

There are three gates in the western city wall, namely Guangyang Gate, Yong Gate and Shangxi Gate from south to north. There are two gates in the northern city wall, namely Xia Gate and Gu Gate from west to east.

There are four gates in the southern city wall, namely Kaiyang Gate, Pingcheng Gate, Xiaoyuan Gate and Jin Gate from east to west. Each of the twelve gates has three doorways. The middle doorway is usually closed and the two sides are open.

The South Palace and North Palace in the city occupied the central positions of the south and north halves respectively. The palace walls covered a large area, with walls, halls, and pavilions lined up one after another.

However, at this moment, under Dong Zhuo's burning, they have all become ruins.

The soldiers inside and outside Luoyang who were wearing armor and carrying weapons all had solemn expressions on their faces, standing upright as tall and firm as mountains.

Recently Luoyang seems to have recovered the prosperous scene it had ten years ago, even though only a quarter of it has been rebuilt. The Front Hall, Lecheng Hall, Lingtai Hall, Jiade Hall, Hehuan Hall, Yutang Hall, Xuanshi Hall, Yuntai and many other palace courtyards and pools in the South and North Palaces have not yet been repaired.

Many of the ruined city walls were simply filled and repaired by piling up earth and wooden fences.

The streets of Luoyang were crowded with people and it was a bustling time. In order not to miss the grand ceremony of enthroning Lord Xuande, many nobles and wealthy families, along with their relatives, slaves and servants, as well as some followers, rode in horse-drawn carriages and arrived early from Yingchuan, Chenliu, Henei, Nanyang, and even Shangdang County in Bingzhou, which were close to the capital.

Upon arriving in Luoyang, some wealthy families discovered that the palaces in the city had hardly been repaired, some of the alley walls had been demolished, new ancestral temples, altars, roads had been built, and the people's living quarters had been renovated and expanded.

In addition to building canals from the Luo River to bring water into the city, they also dug nearly 390 wells to solve the water problem for the people in the city. The wells were different from the commonly seen round and square shapes. Instead, they had a cross in the middle, forming a field-shaped wellhead. Whether the people or the soldiers were drawing water in the city, they could use buckets to get water from the four wells, which improved the efficiency.

There is a residential area designated for the common people near the well. There are relatively few people in the city now, so many houses are rented out.

Among them, the largest number of tenants came from traveling merchants from various states in the Central Plains, such as Jingzhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Qingzhou, and even Bingzhou, where merchants sold pack horses, donkeys, mules, cattle and sheep; some sold cloth and fine silk; some merchants sold corn and wheat; and some merchants from Qingzhou bought and sold improved Zuo Bo paper, tea, fine salt and sugar.

Especially the rare wine on display was more eye-catching. At that time, Zhang Rang, one of the Ten Attendants, was powerful in the world. Many people wanted to bribe him but failed. Meng Tuo, a native of Pingling, Fufeng, used a pot of wine to bribe the eunuch Zhang Rang and finally got the post of Governor of Liangzhou.

Ever since Zhang Qian opened up the Western Regions, all kinds of rare things have flowed into the Han area, including Putao (grape) wine, which has been deeply loved by the powerful. Unfortunately, due to the influence of planting and brewing methods, the fruit wine brewed by the Han people themselves either tastes poor or is in small quantities.

Seeing that there was Putao wine in Qingzhou, the scholars from Jingzhou who had come here could not help but stop to watch. Putao was a rare thing in Jingzhou and could not be seen normally. It could only be seen in Luoyang.

"Shizong, I never thought that there would be so many traders coming to Luoyang. I heard that after the capital is repaired, the common people and officials can settle in the city. The damaged city wall outside the city has not been repaired yet, so that it will be easier to demolish the wall and expand Luoyang City in the future."

"I heard that they wanted to turn Luoyang into a capital city that could accommodate hundreds of thousands of people. Many of the deserted gardens, such as Lingyou, Fanglinyuan, Xiyuan, Hongdeyuan, Lingkunyuan, and Tuyuan, were expanded into the city to become the homes of the alleys."

"If Luoyang is renovated, it will surely be far better than before!" Han Song, who was then a Zhonglang official in Jingzhou, said to his companion Liu Xian with deep emotion.

Han Song, a native of Nanyang, did not know that the various ethnic groups in Nanyang had decided to follow the example of Yingchuan County and submit a letter to Liu Shijun. Before being promoted to King of Han, he also served as the prefect of Nanyang and invited Lord Xuande to lead his troops to garrison in Wan County.

Just because Han Song was close to Liu Biao, he was first appointed as the deputy governor of Jingzhou and later changed to a staff member. In order to prevent the news from leaking out, he took refuge with the Nanyang nobles of Lord Xuande, and deliberately excluded him to prevent Wen Pin, who was highly valued by Liu Jingsheng, from noticing anything unusual.

Liu Xian, the deputy governor of Jingzhou, who was traveling with him, was also sent by Liu Biao to the capital Luoyang to see how the people of the world would react to Liu Xuande's use of Emperor Gaozu's oath to secure the merits of the ancestral temple and to advance to the position of King of Han. Would the princes rise up to fight against the rebellious emperor, or would they curry favor with the powerful, attach themselves to the emperor and take advantage of the situation.

This will also determine Jingzhou's attitude towards Liu Bei.

When the governor of Zhangling, Kuai Yue, heard that Liu Xuande had defeated Yuan Shao, causing chaos in Hebei, and that he was going to offer sacrifices to the ancestral temple in Luoyang and be crowned king for his merits, he was shocked and immediately wrote a letter to advise him: "Once Yuan Shao is defeated, Hebei will be decisively victorious. Lord Liu is a man of great courage and talent. He has assisted the Han Dynasty, upheld justice, encouraged the wise and the brave, waved flags and beat drums, swept away the evil, and is the hero of the world."

"From ancient times to the present, those who follow the will of heaven and the times have been able to accomplish great things in the world, those who do not care about honor or disgrace have been able to establish a great reputation in the world, those who receive rewards without giving, and those who achieve success without working have never existed before."

"Duke Jingsheng is a Han minister, so he should not be hostile to Lord Liu, nor should he wait for the right time or the right price. He should welcome him as soon as possible to show the loyalty of the royal family."

"Don't forget the intention of Tao Gongzu, the governor of Xuzhou, to appoint Liu Gong as governor. If you don't make a decision when you should, you will suffer the consequences."

Kuai Yue's heartfelt words moved and frightened Liu Biao. What moved him was that Kuai still remembered the friendship between them as his benefactor over many years and gave him frank advice when there was something wrong.

What is horrifying is that if Liu Bei occupies the Hebei provinces after defeating Yuan Shao, given his current prestige, when he leads his troops south, even if Liu Bei wants to resist for the sake of power, he will be forced to surrender by the gentry and wealthy families in Jingxiang, with his body bare and his face tied up, with a sheep in his left hand and a straw in his right hand.

By then, even if there were any merits, they would all be attributed to the clan leaders and their children, and would have nothing to do with him.

Liu Biao thought for a long time, thinking about all the deeds that led to Liu Bei's rise, and couldn't help but sigh: "Is Liu Xuande really carrying on the legacy of Taizu and Shizu?!"

It was not that Liu Jingsheng wanted to covet the power of the governor, but he rode into Jingzhou with only an imperial edict, defeated the bandit leader, pacified the various clans, and defeated Yuan Gonglu, who was a third-generation official for four generations. It was only after such hardships that he consolidated Jingzhou.

How could he be willing to hand over Jingzhou now? After all, Tao Qian was nearly seriously ill when he handed over Xuzhou to Liu Bei.

If Jingzhou was controlled by Liu Xuande at this moment, he could sleep soundly, but he would no longer be able to do what he wanted.

It’s so difficult!
It’s better to wait and see. One more year of work will be better than another.

(End of this chapter)