Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 733 Revitalizing Guanzhong
April, Chang'an.

In the old palace of Chang'an, Huo Jun was sorting out the maps of the Guanzhong canals that he had collected from various places, and he was gradually making some progress.

Since the Qin and Han dynasties, Guanzhong has formed a dense water conservancy network. If we study it carefully, we can see that it can be roughly divided into four areas: north and south of the Wei River, east and west of Guanzhong, due to climate and geography.

The rivers in the north of the Wei River originate from the Loess Plateau, so the tributaries often carry a lot of sediment into the Wei River, which often clogs the river and requires manual dredging. For example, since the Zhengguo Canal was dug, sediment has continued to accumulate, eventually leading to a reduction in the irrigated area.

As Weinan's rivers originate from the Qinling Mountains, there are many short and fast-flowing rivers, which easily lead to summer flooding. Therefore, there are not many artificial canals in Weinan, and the only thing to pay attention to is flooding.

The eastern part of Guanzhong has less rainfall than the western part. In addition, the capital is in Guandong, so there are more canals in the east than in the west. The area in Guanzhong that is prone to drought is also in the eastern part of Guanzhong.

Therefore, the Guanzhong water conservancy network is more in the northeast than in the southwest, preventing siltation in the north and river floods in the south.

When Huo Jun learned about the distribution of water resources in Guanzhong, he realized that the focus of Guanzhong's governance was not Jingzhao Yin where Chang'an was located, but Zuo Fengyi in Weibei.

At the same time, the household registration data of the Western Han Dynasty presented to the Secretariat also verified Huo Jun's idea. Among the three prefectures in Guanzhong, Zuo Fengyi had the largest population of nearly one million, followed by You Fufeng, and Jingzhao was the last.

The reason why Zuofengyi had the largest population can be understood by looking at the water conservancy facilities under its jurisdiction, because there was not only the Zhengguo Canal built by the Qin State, but also the Bai and Longshou Canals built during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

At its peak, Zhengguo Canal irrigated 40,000 hectares, Bai Canal irrigated more than 4,000 hectares, and Longshou Canal irrigated more than 7,000 hectares. If the fields irrigated by other rivers and canals are added, Zuo Fengyi’s jurisdiction would have no less than 50,000 hectares of good farmland, and even more than 60,000 hectares of good farmland.

Therefore, Huo Jun can say with certainty that the key to the Southern Han Dynasty's establishment of its capital in Chang'an lies in whether Zuo Fengyi can be revitalized and agricultural production can be quickly restored.

When it was clear that Guanzhong would be recovered and Zuo Fengyi would be revived, Huo Jun asked everyone to recommend an official with experience in farming to govern Fengyi.

With the recommendation of Jiang Wan, Nanjun Prefect Lu Yi came into Huo Jun's attention.

Lü Yi, courtesy name Jiyang, was from Nanyang. His father, Lü Chang, followed Liu Yan into the pass, but due to the chaos in the country and the blocked roads, Lü Yi followed his father to stay in Yizhou.

After Liu Bei conquered Shu, he placed Wang Lian, a native of Nanyang, in important positions because of his economic talent. Wang Lian then recommended Lü Yi, Du Qi, Liu Gan and others, who were also from Nanyang, to the Southern Han court.

Lu Yi initially served as the magistrate of Xindu County. Because he was compassionate to the people and governed them in a moderate manner, he was promoted to the magistrate of Zhu County. Later, he served as the magistrate of Jiangling County and was transferred to the prefect of Nanjun.

While serving as the prefect of Nanjun, he also served as the agricultural supervisor, responsible for supplying military rations to Zhuge Liang's army, and his political achievements were outstanding.

After browsing Lü Yi's promotion files over the years and listening to the comments of Xu Shu and Gu Yong, Huo Jun invited Lü Yi to Chang'an.

"Is this the Southern Commander, Lü Jiyang?"

Huo Jun put down the water conservancy map in his hand, looked at Lu Yi who had traveled day and night from Jiangling, and asked.

Lu Yi was dressed simply, and he bowed and said, "I am honored to be summoned by the Prime Minister. I have come to Chang'an to pay you a visit."

"sit!"

Huo Jun pointed to the seat beside him and said with a smile, "Do you know why I traveled thousands of miles to urgently invite Ji Yang to Guanzhong?"

Lu Yi pondered for a moment and said, "Due to frequent wars, Guanzhong and the three prefectures have become destitute, and the people are hiding from the wars. Without great governance, it is not worthy of being the capital. The prime minister invited Yi to the capital to manage the people of the three prefectures."

"good!"

Huo Jun nodded in approval and said, "Zuo Fengyi is the granary of the three prefectures, but its agriculture is not prosperous. The officials in the capital are old officials from Wei, who are just sitting there doing nothing and have not made any major progress in Fengyi. Now the canals are blocked, the roads are blocked and difficult to travel, and education is not available. There are only more than 50,000 registered citizens in the county, and only capable officials can take charge of it."

As he was talking, Huo Jun asked his attendant to hand over the Zuo Fengyi Water Conservancy Map to Lu Yi, saying, "Ji Yang can take a look at this map first."

Lu Yi stared at the water conservancy map and said thoughtfully, "I heard that the Yellow River has a lot of silt, I wonder what the Jing and Luo rivers are like?"

"The Jing and Luo rivers originate from the old land of Shangjun. Shangjun has high mountains and steep cliffs, and there are many plateaus within the jurisdiction. The reason why the Yellow River contains a lot of silt is not because the river is naturally there, but because Shangjun has lost the silt. The two rivers originate from the plateau, and the river water flows into the Wei River, so there is naturally a lot of silt in the water." Huo Jun said.

Lu Yi thought for a long time and said, "The Zhengguo Canal diverts the Jing River to the east and flows into the Luo River. Now the canal is blocked, mostly because of siltation. The Zhengbai Canal is the lifeline of Guanzhong. Now when governing Zuo Fengyi, we should first dredge the silt in the Zhengbai Canal and divert water to irrigate the fields. This is the fundamental way to revitalize Fengyi."

After a pause, Lu Yi added, "In the past, when Prime Minister Ge entered Bashu in the west, he built the Dujiangyan Weir and conscripted 1,500 men to guard it, and appointed weir officials to manage it. Now, when building the Zhengbaihe Canal, we can follow Prime Minister Ge's old policy, appoint canal officials, and conscript men to guard it."

"The canals are unblocked, the taxes are light, and refugees are accepted. After several years, food is provided to the capital, and Fengyi can be revived. However, the specific matters of dredging the canals are not something I can talk about casually. I still need to personally inspect Zheng Baiqu and ask those who are good at water conservancy."

Huo Jun nodded in satisfaction and asked, "I want to make Ji Yang the Zuo Fengyi. Do you agree?"

Without giving it much thought, Lü Yi replied, "I am not talented, but I am willing to serve as the governor of Zuo Fengyi, serve the Han Dynasty, and revitalize the prefectures and counties."

Although the rank of Zuo Fengyi was the same as that of an ordinary prefect, he had a silver seal and a blue ribbon, and his position was the same as that of the Nine Ministers. Obviously, if he could do well in the position of Zuo Fengyi, because it was close to the capital, his achievements would allow him to enter the court, and Lü Yi's future prospects would be limitless.

After speaking, Lu Yi hesitated for a moment and said, "There are few people in Fengyi. If we want to open the canal now, we may not have enough manpower."

"I have ordered the Sili Xiaowei, Yan Fufeng, to send the people under his jurisdiction to help him."

Huo Jun said: "I have already asked Your Majesty to order the people of Guanzhong to return home to fill the population of Guanzhong. After destroying Wei, Ge Xiang will move the great families of Guandong to Guanzhong to enrich the household registration of Guanzhong." "The Prime Minister has taken good care of it!"

The Han Dynasty’s top leaders have three plans on how to quickly restore the population of Guanzhong.

First, if any Wu and Chu nobles or soldiers were willing to go to Guanzhong, the court would reward them with unowned land and change their household registration to the capital.

Second, those who fled to the south and returned to their hometowns from Guanzhong would be exempted from taxes for three years, in order to encourage people from Guanzhong to return as much as possible.

Third, all high-ranking officials and prominent families of Cao Wei were relocated westward and were not allowed to stay in Guandong.

The three policies can bring at least 100,000 to 200,000 people to Guanzhong. Once the population of Guanzhong increases and the water conservancy facilities are restored, Guanzhong's vitality will recover quickly.

Huo Jun talked with Lu Yi for a long time about how to govern Zuo Fengyi. It was not until near noon that Huo Jun let Lu Yi leave.

In the afternoon, Huo Jun took a half-hour nap, and Sima Zhi was ordered to meet Huo Jun.

After tidying up his clothes a little, Huo Jun invited Sima Zhi into the hall.

"Zhi pays homage to the Prime Minister!"

Huo Jun asked Sima Zhi to sit down for a while, and asked the attendant to serve tea. He then asked, "Zihua and the other ministers have visited Chang'an recently. Did you gain anything?"

Sima Zhi submitted a memorial and said, "I have made some progress. I think the old city of Chang'an is now abandoned. It would be better to choose a place to rebuild Chang'an."

Flipping through the memorial, Huo Jun frowned and said, "Rebuilding Chang'an City will cost a lot. If we can rebuild the palace wall of Chang'an, we can save a lot of money."

Sima Zhi was in a dilemma and said, "Since the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Guanzhong has been in chaos for many years. Half of the city gates have collapsed, and the neighborhoods have disappeared. The well water is bitter and difficult to draw. According to Kan Ze, there may be no wells to use in the northeast of Chang'an in the future."

"It would cost a lot of money to repair Chang'an City. And because of the water problem, the population has increased dramatically, the well water is definitely insufficient, and the sewage is difficult to drain. For the long-term, Zhi and the other ministers think it is better to rebuild a new city."

The Qin Dynasty's Xianyang City spanned the north and south banks of the Wei River, while the Western Han Dynasty's Chang'an City was built in Weinan. The two cities are located in different locations.

Historically, the reason why the Sui Dynasty rebuilt Chang'an City was not only because the palaces in Chang'an were decaying and the city was in ruins, but also because there were drainage problems in Chang'an City, which resulted in salty drinking water. Moreover, after hundreds of years of use, the groundwater level in Chang'an City dropped, and there were also problems with water supply.

Therefore, due to various reasons, the Sui and Tang dynasties had no choice but to build the new capital Daxing City in Longshouyuan.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the water supply and water quality of Chang'an City were not as bad as those in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, but they were getting worse. For long-term considerations, Sima Zhi, Kan Ze and others hoped to rebuild Chang'an City.

Sima Zhi was worried that it would cost a lot for Huo Jun to rebuild the palace, so he said, "Prime Minister, Wei had its capital in Luoyang, and its palace was grand. Now that we are rebuilding the palace, we can use the building materials of Luoyang Palace in the new city. And rebuilding a new city is a huge project, so there is no need to rush it, it can be built over many years."

Hearing this, Huo Jun thought for a while and asked, "If we rebuild a new city, is there a new site available?"

"Have!"

Sima Zhi bowed and said, "According to Kan Ze's visit to the rivers in Guanzhong and his deduction of the direction of the water flow, he thought it would be better to build a city south of the old city. There is a plateau called Longshou, with beautiful mountains and rivers, and it is close to the river. Even if the Wei River floods, it will hardly flood the palace city."

When the Qin Dynasty built its capital at the north and south of the Wei River, Xianyang City benefited from the Wei River, but the flood problem could not be solved. The Western Han Dynasty rebuilt Chang'an City in the south of Wei River because of the flood problem of the Wei River.

"After some time, please follow me to Longshou to see the site of the new city." Huo Jun said, "If the address is correct, the new city will be rebuilt in May."

"promise!"

Sima Zhi bowed and asked, "Now Prime Minister Ge is resisting and not fighting. I wonder when Your Majesty and Prime Minister Ge will return to the army?"

Huo Jun sipped his tea and said with a smile, "Kong Ming refused to fight, which was the key to defeating the enemy. As expected, in autumn, Kong Ming will defeat the bandits. As for returning to the capital~"

After thinking for a long time, Huo Jun said: "There are many counties in Hebei. Kong Ming will defeat the enemy in autumn, and will be able to pacify Hebei in winter. He will be able to return in the spring of next year."

Sima Zhi calculated the date and said, "We should send 100,000 people to build the new palace. It will probably take July or August to complete. If Your Majesty arrives in Guanzhong early, you can temporarily live in the Weiyang Palace; if the new palace is already completed, you can go to the new palace to manage the affairs. The rest of the new palaces can be built slowly."

The new city of the Han Dynasty cannot have just one new palace. There must be three to five palaces in the future.

When the Western Han Dynasty was founded, the new city of Chang'an was built, and the Changle and Weiyang Palaces were completed in phases. Then the city outside the palaces was built. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the Bei Palace, Gui Palace, Minguang Palace and Jianzhang Palace were built, and the Shanglin Garden and Jianzhang Palace were expanded.

“Don’t worry!”

Huo Jun was worried about over-employing the people, so he said, "The country is at peace now, so we shouldn't over-employ the people. We can postpone the date for one year. Your Majesty and the ministers can temporarily stay in the Weiyang Palace to manage the affairs when you arrive in Beijing."

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)