Chapter 266: South of the Wei, North of the Wei

On the ninth day of the sixth month, after purging the Chang'an fools like Zhao Hong who had been duped by the war-deception faction, Diwu Lun still did not trust Shi Chen and kept him directly at his side. Chang'an was left under the guard of Diwu Ba, Ren Guang, Diba Jiao, and the clan troops. He would personally lead the campaign against Tian Kuang, taking with him Diwu Biao and the others recalled from Lantian.

It was at the meeting just before his departure that Diwu Lun disclosed his strategy for the coming months to his core confidants for the first time:

Strategically abandon Chang'an and relocate the main force to Weibei!

Diwu Biao, still fixated on Diwu Lun becoming Emperor and picking an auspicious day to first declare himself king in Chang'an, could not grasp it for a moment. He was the first to raise a hand in confusion: "My lord, we have already entered and settled the capital — why must we abandon it?"

How could one spit out meat already in the mouth? This was something Diwu Biao would never understand.

Diba Jiao was also somewhat surprised. From Diwu Lun's initial deployments, he had assumed the plan was to contend for the realm from Guanzhong.

When Diwu Lun first took Chang'an, that had indeed been his intention, which was why he dispatched several units to seize the passes. But human calculations cannot match Heaven's designs. While he was driving out Wang Mang, others had not been idle. Strategic passes are not flat ground; unless they submit upon receiving a proclamation, there is no guarantee of capturing them quickly in a short time. And with powers rising on all sides, just yesterday they heard the Greenwood had also won at Kunyang, their strength swelling. Even the Xin Dynasty remnants in Hongnong, frightened by Diwu Lun, had surrendered to the Gengshi regime. As the "Han," returning to the old capital was inevitably their political imperative.

At the earliest, within a month; at the latest, by the end of autumn — the Greenwood would certainly send troops westward.

The surrendered soldiers and officers of the Northern Army could not be counted on to resist fiercely. They would surely be like Zhao Hong, plotting to switch banners and surrender before the enemy even arrived. Since ancient times, great cities have always been the hardest to defend.

Rather than repeat Wang Mang's mistakes, it was better to contract his forces and concentrate his strength to control the Liewei and Jingwei commanderies north of the Wei River, where his ruling foundation was more solid.

Diba Jiao voiced a concern: "My lord, if we do this, won't we become like the Three Qin Kings of the Chu-Han era? Guanzhong is naturally a land of strategic advantage, yet men like Zhang Han and the others each held a corner — Yong, Sai, Zhai — and failed to unite. Thus Liu Bang picked them off one by one, and the Three Qin were destroyed."

Ren Guang, however, had long anticipated Diwu Lun's decision: otherwise, why the massive opening of granaries to distribute grain, giving away all the aged grain that was difficult to transport to the people of Chang'an? But he was not a Guanzhong native; he knew the broad strategy but not the details, and could not articulate the advantages clearly.

On this subject, Diwu Lun was an expert. Five years ago, when he served as a Revenue Clerk in Liewei, he had traveled through every county of Weibei, conducting deep, on-site investigations. Later, with his frequent trips to the capital, traveling between Hongmen and Chang'an, he had also become quite familiar with Weinan. Discussing the merits and flaws of the two regions, he was like an old farmwife sizing up which of her two chickens was fatter, which thinner, which laid more eggs and which fewer.

The Wei River cuts horizontally across Guanzhong. Weinan was the Jingzhao Yin of Han times, the Guangwei and Yiwei commanderies of the Xin Dynasty.

Diwu Lun told the assembly: "Weinan was originally uniquely blessed. The Ba, Hu, Lao, Feng, and Jue rivers flowing down from the Zhongnan Mountains, combined with the Wei River — truly it can be said eight rivers encircle it, making it easy to draw irrigation channels. Hence its ten thousand qing of fertile fields, opened up over a thousand years by the Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties. The land is narrow and the people dense; an acre of land is worth a jin of gold!"

In Han times, land lacking irrigation conditions generally sold for under a thousand cash per mu, with the lowest at three or four hundred cash. Yet land in Weinan near Chang'an reached the astonishing price of one jin of gold per mu!

During the Qin Dynasty and early Han, Weinan was still a typical agricultural region. But by the time of Emperor Wu of Han, a major event occurred: returning farmland to forest... which was actually the expansion of the Shanglin Park.

"The vastness of Shanglin: south to Yichun, Dinghu, Yusu, and Kunwu; skirting the South Mountains westward to Changyang and Wuzuo; north encircling Huangshan; skirting the Wei eastward. Its circumference stretches several hundred li."

Emperor Wu abolished several counties' lands to enclose Shanglin, turning it into imperial private property with a perimeter of three to four hundred li. This admittedly ensured Chang'an's firewood supply and, by a fortuitous accident, protected Guanzhong's increasingly endangered ecological balance. Yet vast swathes of rich, fertile land were enclosed, instantly carving a huge chunk out of Weinan's "Land-Sea." To borrow Dongfang Shuo's rebuke of Emperor Wu: "It cuts off the benefits of ponds and marshes, seizes the people's fertile lands, depletes the state's resources above, robs the farming and sericulture industries below, abandons success to pursue failure, and wastes the Five Grains."

But no one could stop Emperor Wu's resolve. From that point on, the economic structure of the already narrow Weinan plain began to change. With many people and little land, and insufficient arable acreage, many turned to other livelihoods. As a hub where all quarters converged, a metropolis of limited land and dense population, its people grew ever more crafty and pursued secondary trades — that is, they went into industry, commerce, and even the tertiary sector.

"Though Wang Mang opened Shanglin for civilian farming, it has only been a little over ten years — not enough to alter the overall situation."

Apart from the "Wei Canal" near Xinfeng, which newly opened five thousand qing of fields, agricultural development in Weinan had basically stagnated. Where, then, did the grain come from for the capital's several hundred thousand non-agricultural population? After entering the capital, Diwu Lun had Ren Guang consult the agricultural minister's ledgers at the Nayan Office and also verified with Song Hong. It was roughly as he had thought: aside from a portion coming from canal transport east of the passes, the bulk came from the Weibei plain just across the river — the present-day commanderies of Jingwei, Liewei, and Shiwei.

Diwu Lun said: "Weibei, especially the land between the Jing and Luo rivers, was originally mostly saline-alkaline dry land, beyond the reach of rivers and difficult to irrigate — vast in territory but sparse in people. Yet as early as the Qin Dynasty, there was the Zhengguo Canal, irrigating forty thousand qing of fields, and through it the state grew rich and strong. Later, the Han opened the Bai Canal, irrigating another four thousand five hundred qing or so."

He nodded toward Diba Jiao: "Jizheng, tell us what other canals and ditches Weibei has."

Diba Jiao was of course well aware: "West of the Jing River in Weibei, there are three canals including the Chengguo."

Their own Linqu Township was named for its location beside the Chengguo Canal, so Diba Jiao could hardly be unfamiliar with his homeland's affairs: "The Chengguo Canal is two hundred li long, irrigating over ten counties across the Jingwei and Liewei commanderies — roughly twenty thousand qing."

"And east of the Jing River, there is the Liufu Canal, which additionally irrigates the high, dry fields beside the Zhengguo Canal — about six thousand qing."

"In Shiwei Commandery, east of the Luo River, there is also the Longshou Canal, irrigating over ten thousand qing of fields."

The terrifying thing was that these canals and ditches were basically all built during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. Although he enclosed the Shanglin lands in Weinan, during his reign he created fertile fields and rich acres several times greater than Weinan's. The agricultural center of gravity in Guanzhong shifted from that point on, with the majority of good farmland concentrated in Weibei.

The harvest of dryland agriculture depends heavily on the amount and timing of annual rainfall. But the construction of waterworks ensures that the farmland within their coverage area can guarantee a certain yield regardless of drought or flood. The silt-laden river water irrigates and enriches the soil, increasing fertility and output. Thus, per-mu yields in Weibei were quite high.

Diwu Lun nodded: "Indeed. And so, a hundred years later, Weibei's fertile soil stretches a thousand li. The rich abundance of Guanzhong truly lies here! It clothes and feeds the capital — its millions of mouths!"

With this, the situation of Weinan and Weibei became clear. The south was a great metropolis and handicraft center; the north, aside from the Five Tombs plateau, was fundamentally an agricultural zone. In times of peace under Heaven, the economies of north and south complemented each other, regulated by the Minister of Agriculture and the Price Adjustment Officials — no problem. But in times of chaos...

"Canal transport from east of the passes is cut off. Weinan cannot be self-sufficient. Therefore, without Weibei, there is no Weinan!"

Diwu Lun looked at the assembly with a smile: "Do you all understand now?"

Diba Jiao nodded. This was the difference, two hundred years later, between the Three Qin Kings' situation and the present circumstances.

Ren Guang also understood. Though he often managed grain supplies, when it came to intimate knowledge of Guanzhong, he could not match a native like Diwu Lun. And Ren Guang was clever — even if he had guessed the reasoning, the spotlight should be yielded to his lord. He immediately bowed in admiration.

Even Diwu Biao was beginning to grasp it. Scratching his head, he said: "So what this means is..."

"Weibei is Weinan's father!"

This remark drew a great laugh from Diwu Lun, and the others could not suppress their grins. Brother Biao had summed it up well. This was precisely Diwu Lun's ruthless strategy.

Strategically abandon Chang'an, which could not be held without seizing the passes. Transport away the gold ingots, documents, silks, and ledgers from the palace, and take a batch of artisans across the river. Firmly occupy the grain-producing region of Weibei, using local ties and a military force of tens of thousands to maintain control. This autumn and winter, they would live extremely comfortably.

In any case, all three Wei bridges had been burned by Wang Mang; they were now making do with pontoon bridges, which also served as a natural barrier. He could not gain a firm foothold in Weinan for the time being, but in the future, no matter which power — whether from Longyou or the Greenwood — once they rashly rushed into Weinan, without Weibei's grain, they would never gain a firm foothold either!

Diwu Lun had entered the capital in haste, overwhelmed by how to manage the sprawling Chang'an and forced to adopt a hands-off approach. Anyone else would be equally flummoxed. Diwu Gong distributes grain — are you going to levy it? And if you want to buy grain and trade nearby, you'll have to call Diwu Lun "Daddy"!

What's more, if Diwu Lun could prod Longyou into enthroning the child Liu Ying as Emperor, then Guanzhong would at the very least become a Three Kingdoms saga, with the eastern and western Han heresies locked in mutual combat. His neutral power could then reap the benefits, buying time to develop.

Only Diwu Biao still felt somewhat reluctant to part with Chang'an's flourishing splendor. He was not alone in this sentiment, which was precisely why Diwu Lun had not rushed to disclose the plan, instead gradually pulling the troops out bit by bit. By the time they realized, there would be nothing they could do.

Diwu Lun merely said to Diwu Biao, Diba Jiao, Ren Guang, and the others: "No need to regret. Given time, we will enter this capital again sooner or later."

Entering the capital to sit the exam was true enough, but who said this exam had to be the single-shot, life-determining imperial exam, and not just a...

"Mock exam?"

As Diwu Lun led the army out of the capital, Ren Guang saw him off and said in a low voice: "My lord, although Weibei can grip Weinan by the throat, we currently control only a mere two commanderies. I fear that may be slightly insufficient."

Diwu Lun nodded. This was also the objective of this campaign. Abandoning Weinan to control Weibei could indeed buy their side a great deal of time. And not a single second of this precious time could be wasted — it must be exchanged for space!

They needed depth, and therefore had to seize Shiwei Commandery to the east!

"Only by capturing Shiwei Commandery can this 'Hexi' land of the Warring States era link up with Shang Commandery into one contiguous area."

Ma Yuan, the Zengshan Commandery Governor of the Xin Dynasty, was currently the only power in Guanzhong to openly and unequivocally respond to Diwu Lun. After all, he was a maternal relative — helping kin over reason. And the people of Shang Commandery were fierce and tough, no less than the Six Commanderies; they might also provide him with a urgently needed contingent of cavalry.

Eastward from Shiwei lay the Puban Pass. Diwu Lun's original plan had been to break through to Hedong, so as to link up with Henei and the Wei lands. Although the east and west were far apart and troops could not easily be shifted between them, it would at least allow his old subordinates to send a batch of officials to support this side. What Diwu Lun lacked most now was not soldiers, but trustworthy bureaucrats!

As if a pillow arrived just as he grew drowsy, after Diwu Lun crossed the Wei River pontoon bridge and approached Yueyang City — a major Weibei county that Wan Xiu had seized days earlier — he encountered someone here he had never expected!

"Diwu Gong, parted for several years — I did not think we would meet here today."

Diwu Lun had been atop his war chariot. Hearing this familiar, magnetic baritone voice, he got straight down, walked toward him with a booming laugh, and directly embraced Jing Dan, clapping him heavily on the back.

"Sunqing, ah, Sunqing, you and I are the closest of friends. What's this 'Diwu Gong'? Call me Boyu!"

PS: A bit short; next chapter will be longer.

(Chapter 3 at 18:00.)