Chapter 1216: The Rebuilding of Yunzhong

In Jinyang, Emperor Liu stayed a full half month before setting out northward once more, passing through Xin and Dai, through Yanmen, and straight into the territory of Shanyang Circuit. Along the way, he lingered only a single day at Yanmen Pass, appreciating the imposing scenery of this foremost strategic pass under heaven.

Of course, in this era, although Yang Ye had likewise garrisoned the pass for ten years, aside from one great victory at Baicaokou, there had not been much fighting against the Khitan, and so the legendary quality attached to it had diminished somewhat.

But Emperor Liu's attention to Yanmen Pass had never slackened. The Great Han's current northern frontier defense system was also layered. Along the line where Hedong and Hebei Circuits bordered Shanyang, three armies were stationed—Yongning, Dingxiang, and Feihu—and though their strength was not comparable to the main frontier forces, they were key military points guarding the hinterland and linking the border.

Among them, the Dingxiang Army was naturally the most important, precisely because it was stationed at Yanmen Pass, the vital throat leading to Taiyuan. The current Army Commander of Dingxiang was called Bai Ding—named Bai Ding—but his identity was by no means spotless; he was the nephew of Bai Chongzan, Marquis of Duanyang.

Among the Great Han's senior generals, there were some who were little known yet diligent and conscientious, without dazzling military exploits yet fully devoted to their duties. The one who carried this to the utmost was Bai Chongzan—whatever orders or tasks Emperor Liu gave, he executed without reservation and never complained.

Back then, his enfeoffment as a marquis for his achievements in river management was Emperor Liu's way of setting an example. In the more than a decade that followed, his merits were not brilliant, but his toils were many, and so when titles were conferred in the Kaibao era, he was re-enfeoffed as Marquis of Duanyang.

Now, Bai Chongzan was past sixty, his health failing, and he had laid down his armor, resigned his post, and returned to his hometown to retire. Bai Ding, meanwhile, was a scion of the Bai family, having followed Bai Chongzan for nearly twenty years, carefully nurtured, and now able to shoulder responsibility on his own.

Emperor Liu examined him and found that while this man's military strategy might be slightly inferior, he excelled in steadiness and solidity—perhaps learned from his uncle—and entrusting Yanmen Pass and the Dingxiang Army to such a commander could be done with confidence.

In fact, although the Great Han's current military and political affairs were indeed filled with large numbers of sons of meritorious nobles and officials, upon careful examination, there was no abuse of appointments. There might be some unworthy ones among them, but most did possess real talent, and the evaluations of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War showed no obvious favoritism. Such was the case now; what the future would hold depended on the contest between the noble and bureaucratic groups.

After leaving Yanmen Pass, the imperial procession's pace slowed markedly, and by the time it reached the circuit capital, Yunzhong in Datong Prefecture, it was already mid-August. North of Yanmen, every city and town had a greatly enhanced military character, and the local customs and conditions differed markedly from within the passes.

Once in Shanyang, what Emperor Liu cared about most was precisely military affairs. Without a doubt, the primary purpose of this northern inspection tour was to review the military situation on the northern frontier.

A full ten years had passed since the northern expedition had succeeded, and as Emperor Liu set foot on this land once more, he carried a different mood and beheld an entirely new visage.

Back then, when the court established Shanyang Circuit, owing to the impact of the great Han–Liao war, compounded by the Liao army's wholesale plundering and forced relocation of the populace before its withdrawal north, the territory had been left ruined, the people's livelihoods devastated, and all affairs desolate.

At that time, what Emperor Liu left to Song Qi was almost a wasteland. Among the various prefectures and counties, only Shuo and Ying Prefectures had suffered somewhat less damage; elsewhere it was nearly bare ground. East of Yunzhou, vast stretches of uninhabited land had appeared.

Apart from the garrison troops left behind, the common people available for Song Qi to govern and deploy numbered fewer than two hundred thousand—and this figure even included some captives and surrendered soldiers.

Yunzhong city itself had been largely destroyed in the war, and what could fill it afterward was only a little over ten thousand elderly, weak, women, and children. Thanks were due to Yang Ye, who, when pursuing the Liao army, had snatched back several thousand able-bodied Han men, and these people played an important role in the later reconstruction of Yunzhong.

At that time, Shanyang and Yunzhong had been utterly ruined, and the scars of devastation still reappeared vividly in his mind. Yet ten years later, setting foot in Shanyang again and ascending the walls of Yunzhong once more, what he saw was a completely transformed scene.

For the recovery and development of Shanyang Circuit over these ten years, a brand-new Yunzhong city was the most direct answer. Although it was only built upon the foundation of the old city, reinforced and tamped down, seeing the tall walls and thick ramparts, Emperor Liu could not resist reaching out to touch them himself, feeling the painstaking effort of Yunzhong's officials and people condensed within.

In Shanyang's defense system, Yunzhong city played the role of the main pillar—it was the defensive center—and so its reconstruction had always been given top priority. It was both a political task and a military one, and Song Qi had invested tremendous effort into it.

However, although Shanyang had made considerable progress in recovery and development, constrained by its weak foundation, compared with the other circuits and prefectures of the Great Han, it was still more than a notch behind.

Ten years to gather strength, ten years to learn lessons—now, only half of that had passed. But with the achievements of these ten years, Emperor Liu could not have been more satisfied. At the very least, starting from the past three years, Shanyang Circuit no longer required the court to pour in large amounts of financial support every year.

Of course, this was also on the premise that the training and upkeep of the armies to the north were all borne by the court. Otherwise, even frontier defense alone would be enough to crush Shanyang—along the line of the Great Wall beyond the northern frontier, the border forces the Great Han had established and the troops deployed were by no means few.

"One still has to see it with one's own eyes! What the memorials describe is gratifying, but not direct enough!" Stroking a section of the earthen battlements, Emperor Liu's tone carried seemingly boundless emotion: "Yunzhong was rebuilt upon ruins; the officials and people of Shanyang have merits that cannot be overlooked!"

"This is all the result of Chancellor Song's tenure, rising early and retiring late, leading the officials and people in their toil!" said Administration Commissioner Li Chuyun, who was attending at his side. Having arrived at his post not long ago, he naturally dared not claim credit.

Emperor Liu naturally understood this, and he had long since rewarded Song Qi for it. The rank was not high—a second-class Baron Changyuan. After all, those ennobled for administrative achievements were truly rare in the Great Han, and even if the rank was low, his status had already been greatly elevated. For civil officials, apart from the founding meritorious figures, the difficulty of later generations obtaining titles was too great; by comparison, wielding the power of the age and holding the government of the dynasty to realize one's ambitions was actually more worth pursuing.

"How many people does Shanyang Circuit have now?" Emperor Liu asked Li Chuyun.

Li Chuyun was not very old, but signs of age were already showing. Upon being asked, he still roused himself and answered crisply: "Your servant has examined the registers. By the sixth year of Kaibao, Shanyang Circuit administers one prefecture and five sub-prefectures, with a registered population of 60,259 households, 365,841 persons! Of these, Datong Prefecture accounts for roughly one-third, totaling 19,793 households!"

"Still somewhat few!" Emperor Liu could not help sighing.

"Your Majesty, Shanyang is after all frontier land; to have reached the current number is already considerable!" Li Chuyun replied. "This also benefits from the court's policy of settling the frontiers. If one were to add the itinerant merchants and the northern barbarian peoples residing and sojourning here, the population could be counted even higher!"

Emperor Liu was naturally well aware of this—the natural population growth rate of Shanyang Circuit was in fact very small, and a very large portion of the current numbers was the result of earlier immigration to settle the frontier.

As Li Chuyun said, it was after all frontier land, and moreover frontier land that had suffered severe destruction, where the hidden dangers and crises had not truly been resolved. Apart from compulsory enforcement, relying on policy guidance alone held little attraction for ordinary people.

In the Great Han, those who dared to venture into Shanyang were all bold and spirited people, mostly merchants, travelers, and peddlers. It must be said that in these ten years of peaceful coexistence between Han and Liao, under the court's relaxed commercial environment, the atmosphere of trade and commerce in Datong was extremely rich.

The vast majority of Datong's floating population consisted of merchants coming from south and north. Yunzhong city was the largest trade and exchange center between Han and Liao, far surpassing even Youzhou in the Yan Mountains Circuit. And a considerable portion of Shanyang Circuit's annual tax revenue came from commercial trade taxes.

Thus, in Yunzhong city, one could see with one's own eyes merchants from all directions and all peoples bustling about, the market scene thriving. Of course, across the whole of Shanyang Circuit, there was only this one Yunzhong city—the essence of the entire circuit was concentrated here.

Were one to visit the other cities and towns, the contrast would be stark indeed. The wounds brought by that war could not be healed in a mere ten years. Construction is never easy.