Jinting Han people

For the people of Guanzhong, the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Qiming of Han was indeed a year of many disasters.

The Huangbai City battle, which lasted for more than half a year, needs no further explanation; this battle exhausted the people of Guanzhong. Liu Cong refused to engage in a direct decisive battle with the Western Army, and instead adopted measures such as large-scale relocation and plunder of the people, and waged scorched earth and harassment wars against the Western Army. Although the Western Army had the upper hand on the battlefield, it consumed huge amounts of food and fodder, and the treasury gradually became depleted.

It just so happened that there was a severe drought for several years. The drought in the fourth year of Qiming was already very serious, and it became even more worrying in the fifth year of Qiming. From April to July, a full four months, there were only three light rains in the Chang'an area. The situation in the counties and prefectures in Guanzhong was even worse. The water levels of the Jing, Han and Wei rivers dropped sharply, to the point that they were traversable on foot. The loess plateaus were cracked and lacked water. Only bean seedlings could barely survive, and the harvest of millet and wheat was greatly reduced.

It was precisely because of this predicament that Yan Ding and others, realizing they could no longer maintain autonomy, finally abandoned their pride and illusions, choosing to relinquish their status as allies and instead submit to Liu Xian, urging him to ascend the throne in order to gain the support of the Han army. Therefore, after receiving Yan Ding and others' letter of urging him to ascend the throne, Liu Xian ordered Yang Nandi and Liu Kun in June to find ways to raise grain and fodder to be sent to Guanzhong for disaster relief.

Furthermore, to demonstrate the court's importance, Yang Nandi personally escorted the first batch of grain into Guanzhong. However, Guanzhong then faced another disaster: a locust plague.

In fact, signs of a locust plague had already appeared by mid-May. At that time, it mainly occurred in the Weibei region, where locusts emerged from the ground in droves and almost completely devoured the grass and crops in the Beidi and Fengyi areas. The Zhao army and the Western army were busy with their campaigns and had no time to attend to the locust plague. Most of the local people also fled to avoid the disaster, so no preventative measures were taken.

This year's drought was exceptionally long, and by mid-July, many locusts had already emerged from the ground, making the locust plague exceptionally large. Locusts from Longyou and Guanzhong converged and flew directly towards Guandong, densely packed, like a black wind blotting out the sun. When they landed on the ground, it was like a boundless expanse of yellow sand. The farmers of Weinan, watching this overwhelming swarm of locusts, saw their year's hard work turned into food in just a few days. The green grass and trees in the mountains and fields, even the fur of cattle and sheep, were all wiped out by the locust plague. They truly felt it was divine punishment descending upon the world. How could humankind possibly resist such a situation?
At this point, the Guanzhong Plain had essentially yielded no harvest this year. After such a long war, how many people still had any food left? Under such circumstances, many civilians ran out of food on the spot. They wanted to dig for wild vegetables and tree bark in the mountains to survive, but the locusts hadn't even left them these things. If they wanted to save themselves, they probably had no choice but to eat dirt.

A stark reality confronted the people of Guanzhong: the common folk were left with only two choices—either venture deeper into the Qinling Mountains to survive, or even leave Guanzhong altogether, or begin killing each other and resorting to cannibalism. Of course, there was also an option that wasn't a choice at all: to stay put and wait to die.

In an instant, the famine of the Qi Wannian Rebellion reappeared, or more accurately, it was even worse than the famine of the Qi Wannian Rebellion. At that time, Zhang Hua was able to organize some merchants from Guandong to sell grain in Guanxi and allowed people to sell their children. But now, people had no chance to sell even if they wanted to.

The common people fled and died, villages were often reduced to ruins, and no trace of human habitation could be seen as one wandered through them. Everywhere, the corpses of the starving lay piled up along the roadsides. Even the common foxes and wolves had been hunted to extinction by the famine, leaving only their white bones. In the Chang'an area, nine out of ten houses were empty, and everywhere one could see mulberry, willow, and persimmon trees stripped of their bark, withered and dead under the scorching sun.

Of course, it cannot be said that the Western Army had no food reserves at all. After breaking free from Zhang Fang in Guanzhong and formally entering a state of autonomy, there were still two or three years of peace, which gave the powerful clans of Guanzhong and Longxi the opportunity to store some grain for unforeseen circumstances. However, the problem is that we are currently in a time of war, and no one knows when the war will resume. How can the powerful clans and scholars, who intend to use these stored grains for self-preservation, possibly provide any relief in an emergency?

In fact, the first batch of provisions sent by Yang Nandi was also military rations for the Western Army in Chang'an. After all, if the army wasn't well-fed, they couldn't defend Chang'an, and nothing else mattered. But even with Yang Nandi's hard-hearted nature, what he saw along the way greatly shocked him.

Especially when they reached the outskirts of Chang'an, tens of thousands of starving people had gathered outside the city. They were emaciated, their eyes lifeless, with only their bellies bulging high, making them almost inhuman. When Yang Nandi drove the grain carts past, they seemed not to see him at all, as if they had become ghosts, lifeless and terrifying to Yang Nandi.

After entering the city, the situation improved slightly. Although the soldiers of Chang'an were also demoralized, they could at least maintain basic food. However, they were now eating only bean rice every day, which made everyone speak weakly, as if they had lost half their lives. The warhorses were in even worse condition. Autumn is the season for warhorses to fatten up, but all Yang Nandi could see were skinny horses that had lost all their fat, with their bones protruding, looking extremely uncomfortable.

When Yang Nandi met Yan Ding in late August, it was their first encounter. Yang Nandi had heard that Yan Ding was about the same age as the emperor, but to his surprise, the leader of the Guanzhong scholars was emaciated, with white hair, and looked to be about fifty years old. Clearly, the pressure of the famine was overwhelming for him.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries and introductions, Yan Ding cut to the chase and recounted the current situation in Guanzhong to Yang Nandi: The Chang'an treasury had less than 50,000 hu of grain remaining, and the combined treasury reserves of all Guanzhong prefectures held only 130,000 hu. With the current 160,000-strong Western Army in Guanzhong and Longxi, they feared it wouldn't last even a month if war broke out. Everyone was starving, and apart from a very few scholars, most soldiers were subsisting on vegetable porridge to alleviate the food shortage crisis as much as possible.

Upon hearing that Yang Nandi's shipment of grain consisted of only 60,000 bushels, he couldn't help but show disappointment and immediately asked, "Is that all? I'm afraid it won't even last half a month; it's just a drop in the ocean!"

Yang Nandi witnessed the current tragic situation firsthand and knew that this was no exaggeration. However, he was also very helpless and explained to Yan Ding, "Brother Yan, this grain and fodder was urgently transferred from Hanzhong. As you know, there has been a severe drought this year, and the canal transport is difficult. This was all brought over by oxen and horses, which caused great losses. This is already the best we can do."

How could Yan Ding not know? But the disaster was spreading like wildfire, so he had no choice but to ask Yang Nandi, "When will the next batch of grain arrive? How much will it be?"

Yang Nandi shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Brother Yan, the grain reserves in Hanzhong are really not much. If we have to transfer grain from Bashu, the losses will be even greater. I estimate that we will have to wait another half month. If we can transport 150,000 hu of grain to Chang'an, we can have about 100,000 hu left."

Hearing this, Yan Ding knew that Yang Nandi had done his best. He could only console himself, "If we could have 100,000 bushels, and save every penny, and plant some bean sprouts on the spot, we could at least get through the year."

But he couldn't fool himself after all, and said, "But what if the barbarians raise an army again?"

Yang Nandi then comforted him, saying, "The locust plague doesn't only affect Chang'an and not Pingyang. They all fly eastward. In Chang'an, a dou of rice sells for two taels of gold. Pingyang is a little better, but at least a dou of rice sells for one tael of gold. Liu Cong isn't a god. Unless he can conjure up food out of thin air, how can he continue the fight?"

"I hope so!" Yan Ding paused here, then bowed deeply to Yang Nandi and said, "Brother Yang, you are His Majesty's brother-in-law and the Crown Prince's uncle. You are not as insignificant as I am. I would be grateful if you could petition His Majesty to ask the court to provide as much assistance as possible to Guanzhong and to consider the plight of its people." Yang Nandi, of course, understood this sentiment. Guanzhong was in dire straits, and there was no other way but to seek aid from the court. However, the court itself was also facing significant difficulties. This year, the Emperor had just announced tax reductions and was busy settling soldiers everywhere, leaving very little surplus grain. The fact that Bashu could provide 200,000 hu of grain was already a considerable effort.

Moreover, given the old grudges between Yan Ding and others and the imperial court, the loyalty of the powerful clans in Guanzhong remained questionable. Even if they were slightly better than the powerful clans in Jiangdong, the difference wouldn't be significant. Any further investment from the court would likely be a waste of resources. Who knew if they might suddenly turn against them and launch a sneak attack? Therefore, Yang Nandi decided to stall for time and simply let the matter drop.

Unexpectedly, Yan Ding then said, "Furthermore, given the current situation in Guanzhong, we are afraid we cannot guarantee the safety of the Emperor Emeritus. The Emperor Emeritus has long desired to return to his hometown. We request that you escort the Emperor Emeritus back to Chengdu, which would fulfill one of his wishes!"

This was truly big news. Upon hearing this, Yang Nandi was momentarily shocked, then fell silent, pondering Yan Ding's intentions.

Yan Ding continued, "Furthermore, we have a favor to ask of Brother Yang."

"Brother Yan, please speak freely."

"Humans are not plants or trees; how can they be without feelings? Even crows yearn to return to their nests, and foxes, upon death, remember their dens. How much more so should humans? But now, war rages on, Guanzhong is in ruins, and the people of Yong and Qin live in constant fear. If this continues, even the most powerful and noble families will not escape unscathed under such perilous circumstances. Now that Jiangnan is pacified and the capital is at peace, we wish to send our wives and children to Yi'an. What do you think, Brother Yang?"

At this point, Yang Nandi finally understood Yan Ding's thoughts, and was filled with mixed joy and surprise. It seemed that under the continuous high-intensity warfare, the Westerners, realizing they were nearing their limits, had finally decided to abandon their illusions of autonomy and compromise with the court. The so-called "hostage situation" was essentially an exchange of hostages with the court. Combined with their previous condition of sending back the retired emperor, it was tantamount to saying that Guanzhong was now completely prepared to submit to Yi'an. And in exchange, they hoped the court would provide full support to Guanzhong.

Having been persuaded to this point, how could Yang Nandi refuse? He readily agreed and assured Yan Ding that he would convince the Emperor to send reinforcements. After speaking, he then asked Yan Ding, "Besides Brother Yan, how many others are to be taken away?"

Yan Ding shook his head and said, "There are only a few dozen people. Their morale is low. Please keep this a secret, Brother Yang."

Yang Nandi then realized that there was a great deal of internal division among the Westerners, likely splitting them into two factions. One faction, represented by Yan Ding, intended to completely abandon autonomy and directly side with the Southern Han, while the other remained hesitant. Therefore, Yan Ding planned to secretly surrender first, allowing the court to send troops to take over Chang'an. Once the Han army arrived, Yan Ding would open the city gates and hand over Chang'an to them, making the situation irreversible. Even if others harbored resentment, they would be powerless to object.

This was indeed a good idea, but Yang Nandi found it troublesome. He simply said to Yan Ding, "Who are the dissent? At worst, you can host a banquet in the name of the imperial court, Brother Yan, and try to persuade them. If you can convince them, that would be best. If not..."

Yang Nandi chuckled coldly twice, patted the hilt of his sword, and his intention was self-evident.

Yan Ding rejected the idea, saying, "Such a scheme can only be used once, not twice. I used this method to bring down the King of Hejian back then, and the others are already on guard against me. Unless they have guards with them or are in the army, they will not easily attend the banquet. If I propose to hold a banquet now, it will be easy to alert them. Brother Yang, it would be better to bring your troops here as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Yang Nandi felt somewhat helpless and had no choice but to compromise, saying, "Alright then, I will mobilize troops as soon as possible. But Brother Yan, I must tell you the truth: the imperial court has no plans to send troops to Guanzhong this year. Even if I start working on this matter immediately after returning to Hanzhong, mobilizing 30,000 troops and collecting provisions will take at least two months to get back to Guanzhong."

"Two months?" Yan Ding frowned upon hearing this. He paced back and forth for a moment before stopping and saying, "He should be fine. Then I would appreciate it if Brother Yang would take good care of him for the sake of the people of Guanzhong."

The two reached an agreement, and then Yan Ding sent Yang Nandi to Weiyang Palace to meet Liu Xun. Under the pretext of escorting the retired Emperor Liu Xun, Yan Ding took his wife and children, along with the wives and children of more than ten Western officials such as Jia Kan, Qu Yun, and Zhang Chun, as well as the party of Sima Fan, the former Prince of Xiangyang of the Jin Dynasty, and all of them, back to Hanzhong with Yang Nandi.

The journey was quite grand, with palace attendants, knights as guards, and a retinue of hundreds of people, departing Chang'an in a magnificent procession. This initially caused discontent among the remaining Westerners in Chang'an. Yan Ding persuaded them, saying that this was all to gain the support of the Yi'an Emperor; continuing to detain Liu Xun was pointless and a waste of food. It was better to use this to win the favor of the Yi'an Emperor, thus suppressing their discontent. However, Yan Ding concealed the fact that hostages were being transported, because he understood that internal conflicts were always the greatest crisis.

Half a month after Yang Nandi left, in mid-September, the locust plague in Guanzhong had disappeared, but the famine had not yet reached its peak. News spread everywhere of refugees and bandits robbing and fighting each other for food, and cannibalism was no longer a strange occurrence. Even a rough estimate suggests that the death toll from this locust plague had exceeded 100,000.

At this very moment, the situation that Yan Ding least wanted to see occurred.

Jia Pi sent a letter from Tongguan, claiming that Zhao Han on the other side of the Yellow River had begun to mobilize troops and conscript civilians again. Interrogation of prisoners revealed that Zhao's ruler, Liu Cong, was taking advantage of this great disaster to abandon his defenses. Having just stabilized domestic order, he was already gathering 130,000 troops from Hedong, Shuofang, and Hebei for a full-scale war, with the emperor personally leading the campaign. A bridge had been rebuilt across the river at Puban Ferry, indicating their determination to annex Guanzhong and Longxi in one fell swoop.

Upon receiving the news, Yan Ding immediately issued orders to all units, mobilizing troops at Huangbai City to prepare for another battle. However, he also suggested that this battle should primarily be a stalemate, avoiding a decisive engagement with the Zhao army. Clearly, Yan Ding did not want to create unnecessary complications at this time, but rather hoped that Yang Nandi could bring reinforcements, forcing the Zhao army to retreat. He did not wish to consider what to do afterward. (End of Chapter)