The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 300: The Difficulties of People's Livelihood

Yang Xiu, under the order of the emperor, also rushed to Luoyang in advance to observe the situation in Luoyang.

As soon as he passed his hometown Hongnong, Yang Xiu smelled something bad.

Luoyang, like Nanyang before it, was originally prosperous, but became a wasteland due to the war and became a buffer zone.

The only difference is.

To the south of Nanyang is Jingzhou under the rule of Liu Biao.

If you can't find a job in Nanyang, you can go to Jingzhou to make a living.

But Luoyang.

To the north is Yuan Shao, to the west is the imperial court, and to the east is Cao Cao.

These three forces were actually unstable before.

Not to mention the use of troops every year, we still go to war every year.

This resulted in the fact that the number of people gathered in Luoyang, a lawless area, was actually greater than that in Nanyang.

This does not mean that Luoyang is more prosperous than Nanyang.

But these Luoyang people simply have nowhere to go...

Yang Xiu was running on the path and could see white bones on the roadside from time to time.

He was still smiling a bit at first, but as he got closer to Luoyang, Yang Xiu felt heavier in his heart.

At this moment, when Yang Xiu was fighting with an old farmer, the other party fell straight to the ground.

Yang Xiu's pupils shrank and he quickly reined in his horse.

The old farmer was so skinny that his eyeballs almost popped out and fell to the ground. Yang Xiu saw this and knew that he was so hungry that he quickly took some wheat cakes, soaked them in water, and fed them to the old farmer.

The old farmer smelled the fragrance of wheat and slowly woke up.

When he saw Yang Xiu, he didn't even have the energy to thank him. He just sucked the food hard into his throat instinctively.

Yang Xiu did not urge him, but sat quietly beside him. He waited until the old farmer had finished eating and recovered some strength before he slowly asked him.

"I'm originally from Mianchi County."

……

In order to get close to him, Yang Xiu also echoed, "I know! This is the place where the Qin and Zhao countries held an alliance in the past! During the alliance, the King of Qin bullied the weak and forced the King of Zhao to play the harp and ordered it to be recorded in the Qin history. Lin Xiangru stood up in anger and asked the King of Qin to beat the drum. He was really a brave man!"

The old farmer looked at Yang Xiu weakly...

"Who cares about this king or that king? If the land can't grow crops, it's all a pity."

Seeing that they were not getting anywhere, Yang Xiu could only scratch his head awkwardly: "Can't grow food? That shouldn't be the case, right? I remember Mianchi was quite fertile."

"Young man, when did you go to Mianchi?"

The old farmer looked at Yang Xiu speechlessly.

"The ditches and dams in Mianchi are already in a mess!"

"The fields are flooded and there is no food left. How can we grow food?"

Yang Xiu frowned and said, "Why don't the villagers build dams and manage the people's livelihood?"

"..."

The old farmer was already certain that Yang Xiu must have come from a wealthy family and had not been in Luoyang for a long time, so he actually asked such a stupid question.

He took off his shoes, knocked off the mud, and shook his head at Yang Xiu.

"Even if we built dams and planted crops in the past few years, bandits would soon come and steal the crops."

"It's like this every year. So people just stop growing crops and become bandits, stealing other people's food!"

Speaking of this, the old farmer seemed quite proud.

"My youngest son is a small leader among the bandits in Mangshan. I am going there to join him!"

Yang Xiu instinctively wanted to scold him, how could he be proud of being a thief? But after seeing the old farmer's skinny body, he finally couldn't bear it.

So he could only comfort——

"The emperor will soon send people to rebuild Luoyang. By that time, the lives of the people in Luoyang will be better."

Yang Xiu thought the old farmer would kneel down and shout "Long live the emperor".

Unexpectedly, the old farmer's brows were filled with disgust and disdain: "Since the emperor abandoned us in the first place, why do you want to come back now?"

"And when the emperor and the government officials come back, will they suppress the bandits?"

"When we wanted to be good people, bad people came to bully us; now that we have all become bad people, good people come to bully us again?"

The old farmer spat on the ground, and it was not difficult to hear from his words that he was resentful of the court and the emperor.

Yang Xiu was speechless for a moment.

The imperial court had to move the capital to Chang'an at that time, so it was naturally impossible to take everyone with them.

These ordinary people in Luoyang were originally the richest people under the emperor's feet. But they were suddenly "abandoned" and became inferior people. It was normal for them to feel resentful.

Yang Xiu did not dare to argue with the other party anymore. He just bowed deeply behind him with full of apology and then continued to move towards Luoyang.

On the way, Yang Xiu also found that the situation in Luoyang was almost the same as what the old farmer had said.

There is no order and bandits are rampant.

Almost no people continued to make a living as before. Instead, they fled to the surrounding mountains and became bandits, making a living by robbing the people around them.

Whenever Yang Xiu mentioned the court in a vague way, the people of Luoyang were filled with resentment.

They didn't understand why the coalition of princes was attacking Luoyang.

They didn't understand that the imperial court at that time had already been abandoned by the Kanto families.

All they knew was that the imperial court chose to leave them when they needed protection the most.

And this departure lasted for several years.

Yang Xiu sighed, recorded everything he saw and heard in detail, and asked the Shangshu Lang beside him to return to Chang'an to present it to the emperor.

As for Yang Xiu himself, he wrote a private letter to his father Yang Biao, requesting Yang Biao to open the treasury of the Yang family in Hongnong and temporarily transport some grain from Hongnong to help the people in Luoyang.

Chang'an, Weiyang Palace.

The imperial court was already preparing for the grand court meeting in the third year of Jian'an.

Compared with the promulgation of laws and the implementation of the imperial examination in the first year of Jian'an, the curved plow, pedal spinning wheel, stirrup...

The third year of Jian'an was undoubtedly much calmer.

The emperor didn't seem to be planning on doing anything new this year, which made the court officials feel relieved.

But as soon as the emperor received Yang Xiu's letter, he immediately went to the Secretariat in person.

Now, everyone knows that this year will not be a good year for everyone...

Liu Xie handed the results of Yang Xiu's investigation to the officials of the Secretariat and asked them to circulate them among themselves.

After Jia Xu and Xun Yu looked at Yang Xiu's documents, they both looked unhappy.

They were actually mentally prepared for the destruction of Luoyang.

But the current situation still caught them off guard.

If the situation in Luoyang really gets this bad, I'm afraid the so-called "managing Luoyang" will become a distant dream.

"Your Majesty, we are guilty!"

Jia Xu, Xun Yu and other officials from the Secretariat went to Liu Xie to plead guilty, but Liu Xie waved his hand to signal that there was no need to do so.

"I'm not here to ask for punishment."

"You should all know clearly what the situation was like in Luoyang at that time and what situation the court was facing."

"If the Grand Master had really defended Luoyang, the Han Dynasty would have perished long ago."

At that time, the princes from Guandong were coming with great force. If the Han Dynasty had not burned Luoyang and retreated to Guanzhong, how could it have survived?
Although Dong Zhuo's actions were a bit too rough back then, his strategy of retreating to Guanzhong was always correct.

"I came to the Shangshutai in person today to discuss something with you."

When Jia Xu saw the emperor's expression, he immediately knew that what the emperor was going to do was definitely not a trivial matter.

Otherwise, with the emperor's current prestige... he would have already acted arbitrarily and dictatorially. Why would he need to make a special trip to the Secretariat?
"I intend to move the grand court meeting of the third year of Jian'an to Luoyang."

……

After seeing Yang Xiu's research results, Liu Xie realized how much the people of Luoyang hated the Han Dynasty and the emperor.

Even if the court at that time had ten thousand legitimate reasons, but...

If the court cannot protect the people, is it still the court? Is the emperor still the emperor?
The mistakes of the past and the grievances endured by the people of Luoyang over the years are not things that can be easily written off.

at the moment.

Only he, the emperor, was qualified to represent the court, go to Luoyang, and reconcile with the people of Luoyang.

"His Majesty……"

Although Jia Xu expected that the emperor would definitely do something big, he did not expect that the emperor would go to Luoyang in person and hold a grand court meeting in Luoyang.

To be honest, Jia Xu felt that the emperor was a little willful.

but.

When Jia Xu looked at the document sent by Yang Xiu, he was unable to say this.

The people of Luoyang.

The people of the former imperial capital.

From the first year of Chuping to the third year of Jian'an, a full eight years had passed.

Eight years!

Jia Xu couldn't even imagine how the people of Luoyang had lived for the past eight years.

Ultimately, it is necessary for the Emperor of the Han Dynasty to go to Luoyang in person to win back the hearts of the people of Luoyang.

In addition, Luoyang is crucial to the future eastward expansion of the imperial court.

If Luoyang cannot be pacified and the people of Luoyang are allowed to turn into bandits and hide in the mountains, it will be extremely detrimental to the court's future battles.

"I have to go."

Public and private.

Based on emotion and reason.

Sooner or later the emperor has to go to Luoyang.

This is the Han Dynasty court, and it is what the Han emperor owes to the people of Luoyang.

Jia Xu and Xun Yu heard the determination in the emperor's tone. At the same time, they both understood the importance of Luoyang to the future layout of the court. They looked at each other and decided to let the emperor be willful for once.

"I will draw up an itinerary as soon as possible."

Xun Yu assured the emperor.

“Keep everything simple.”

Liu Xie also settled down with Xun Yu.

“It’s actually most convenient for a large army to travel.”

"As for the grand court meeting, there is no need to bring all the bamboo slips and documents to Luoyang. Only the heads of various prefectures can accompany them."

When Xun Yu heard Liu Xie's request, he immediately felt that much of the pressure was relieved.

"besides."

Liu Xie's trip to Luoyang this time was also to strengthen his determination to build Luoyang.

Since we are building Luoyang, there must be a leader in charge.

"Call Gongda back. He has been the governor of Hanzhong for too long. This time, he will be appointed as the governor of Henan and responsible for the construction of Luoyang."

Xun You.

In order to stabilize Shu, Xun You was specially sent to Hanzhong to take charge.

Nowadays, both Hanzhong and Shu have become hinterland, so there is naturally no need for a great talent like Xun You to take charge.

"Prepare as soon as possible and rush to Luoyang."

Liu Xie took the document sent by Yang Xiu in his hands and read it, and couldn't help but sigh.

"I must pacify the world as soon as possible and never let what happened in Luoyang happen again!"

(End of this chapter)