Chapter 295

Having undergone two hundred years of baptism by time and the washing of rain, the city wall before them looked even more imposing.

The top of the city wall was filled with banners, and crossbow beds were mounted on the protruding horse-faces.

One could vaguely see cavalry patrolling on top of the city wall.

"How many troops would it take to capture Luoyang?"

Amidst his exclamation, Tie Shitou suddenly blurted out a sentence that almost made Duan Yu choke.

"Shut up, are you crazy?" Wang Hunu, who was to the side, quickly glared at Tie Shitou: "Do you think this is Jinyang? How dare you talk nonsense."

Tie Shitou shrank his neck.

Dong Zhuo, to the side, smiled brightly: "Ziyi's subordinates are indeed some strange people."

"This is my first time coming to Luoyang; I was thinking of going up to the city wall to take a look, but I didn't expect Ziyi's subordinate to be thinking about how to capture Luoyang."

"Got ideas, haha."

Dong Zhuo, riding on his horse, laughed loudly.

Duan Yu: "..."

Talk is talk, and jokes are jokes.

But to truly capture the capital of a country has never been that simple.

Throughout history, there has never been a capital that was easily captured, unless it was disintegrated from within.

Generally speaking, not to mention the capital, even a county-level city like a commandery seat is not an easy thing to capture by force.

Sieges are mostly about surrounding without attacking.

This is even more true for cities at the provincial level.

Basically, it's all about surrounding.

Or using the natural environment to break through cleverly.

To want to capture such a city with manpower, one would have to fill it with countless human lives.

From Taiyuan all the way to Luoyang, Duan Yu's party took four days.

It was fortunate that both Dong Yi and Diao Chan were pregnant.

Otherwise, if they had brought the two women and traveled by carriage, it would probably have taken nearly ten days to reach Luoyang.

The party of over a hundred cavalry were all traveling light.

Even the prisoners being escorted, such as Yufuluo, Huchuquan, and some key criminals of the Wang clan, were all riding warhorses.

So the speed was very fast.

"Lord, let's... let's enter the city and go to the post station first. My... my waist really can't take it anymore," Li Ru said with a pale face.

Dong Zhuo immediately nodded: "Good, good, good, let's enter the city now. You've worked hard all the way, Wenyu."

"Ziyi, let's go, enter the city first," Dong Zhuo greeted: "I don't think we can enter the palace to see the Emperor today."

"I don't know exactly how to enter the palace either; I haven't seen the Emperor either."

"First report to the Ministry of Personnel of the Secretariat, then return to the residence to rest."

Duan Yu nodded, and the party dismounted and led their horses, walking toward the Chengping Gate inside the moat opposite them.

The Ministry of Personnel of the Secretariat was in charge of official appointments, removals, and examinations.

For commandery officials, administrators, and inspectors, except for those directly appointed and sent from Luoyang, anyone whose term of office outside had expired and who needed to be reappointed had to enter the capital and go to the Ministry of Personnel of the Secretariat for reappointment.

If they had no residence in Luoyang, they would also be settled by the Ministry of Personnel of the Secretariat, usually staying in the post station.

Dong Zhuo had long since purchased property and a residence in Luoyang, so he didn't need to stay in the post station.

But he still had to go to the Ministry of Personnel of the Secretariat to report and sign in.

And then be processed by the Ministers of the Secretariat and the Three Excellencies.

For someone like Duan Yu, who was entering the capital to prepare for an audience with the Emperor and receive titles, it was even more necessary to report to the Ministry of Personnel of the Secretariat in advance.

Under the feet of the Son of Heaven, the population was numerous; just the area around Luoyang had a population of six or seven hundred thousand.

And that was only those registered in the records.

It didn't count the population hidden by scholar-gentry and magnates, nor the merchants and peddlers traveling to Luoyang, or the corvée laborers and prisoners.

So even though Luoyang had twelve gates, the road into the city was still very congested at this time.

Especially at the Chengping Gate.

Entering the Chengping Gate led to the main street of Luoyang, which went all the way to the Vermilion Bird Gate of the Southern Palace; it was also the most prosperous and congested street in Luoyangcheng.

The most people also walked through the Chengping Gate.

This caused Duan Yu's party of over a hundred people, men and horses alike, to be stuck in front of the Chengping Gate as soon as they walked onto the drawbridge of the moat.

"Big Brother Duan, there are too many people. I've never seen so many people in my life. Who knew entering a city could be blocked?"

Tie Shitou muttered while standing on tiptoe to look toward the front of the crowd.

Wang Hunu also nodded, looking like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden for the first time: "That's right, Big Brother Duan, there are really a lot of people in Luoyang."

"Such a big city, there must be tens of thousands of people here."

Duan Yu smiled.

It wasn't tens of thousands; Luoyang alone had a population of nearly a million.

Dong Zhuo, stuck in the crowd, had an increasingly manic expression on his face.

Hua Xiong, who was following Dong Zhuo, was also visiting Luoyang for the first time.

Seeing Dong Zhuo's impatient look, he relied on his tall and strong stature to push forward through the people in front: "Move aside, let our Lord pass first."

Hua Xiong shouted while pushing.

However, what Hua Xiong didn't expect was that the people blocked in front of him didn't pay any attention to him at all, let alone have any intention of making way.

They turned their heads and looked up and down at Hua Xiong's attire.

"Lord?"

"Who are you trying to scare?"

"Do you think this is your hometown?"

"Still 'Lord,' what official rank does your Lord have to dare to be so arrogant under the feet of the Son of Heaven?" The middle-aged man blocking in front of Hua Xiong, who looked like an ordinary commoner, said with disdain.

When had Hua Xiong ever received such cold looks?

He was immediately enraged.

"My Lord is the Administrator of Hedong!"

"You commoner, how dare you be so arrogant!" Hua Xiong shouted angrily.

"Heh!" The middle-aged man smiled disdainfully: "Do you believe that if I threw a handful of beans right now, I could hit three or five Administrators and one or two Inspectors?"

"Still Administrator of Hedong, what a big official."

"Administrator?" The middle-aged man said disdainfully: "There are at least eight thousand of them in Luoyangcheng, who are you trying to scare? Do you really think we Luoyang people are as ignorant as you outsiders?"

Duan Yu was not far from Hua Xiong's position.

Naturally, he also heard the middle-aged man's words.

This line, why did Duan Yu always feel like he had heard it somewhere in his later life?

Is this what it means to be under the feet of the Son of Heaven?

Dong Zhuo's old face had already turned completely black.

However, both of them understood that what the commoner said was not wrong at all.

In the two hundred years of the Eastern Han, there were thirteen provinces, each with more than ten commanderies, so there were hundreds of Administrators at any given time.

Luoyang had been the capital for two hundred years; there were too many Nine Ministers, Three Excellencies, various Generals, plus past Administrators and Inspectors.

There were just too many officials with a salary of two thousand *dan*.

Dong Zhuo, this mere Administrator of Hedong, really didn't have much face to speak of.

For the real Luoyang commoners who had lived under the feet of Luoyang their whole lives, they were truly not comparable to the knowledge of commoners from other provinces and commanderies.

Although Hua Xiong was a fierce general, when it came to knowledge, he might not necessarily be as knowledgeable as this ordinary middle-aged commoner in front of him.

But as a fierce general, how could Hua Xiong ever have taken such anger?

He grabbed the middle-aged man's collar and was about to take action.

"Hey, what are you doing? Are you going to hit someone!" The middle-aged man was not afraid at all, stiffening his neck and saying: "Try touching me, my second uncle's niece is a concubine of the Minister of Ceremonies, come on, touch me!"

"General Hua," Duan Yu stepped forward and smiled, blocking Hua Xiong: "It's better to avoid trouble than to cause it; let's just wait a little longer."

After speaking, he turned his head toward Dong Zhuo: "Father-in-law."

Dong Zhuo nodded with a dark face, but his mood was clearly not good.

"Sorry about that, brother," Duan Yu smiled and apologized to the middle-aged man. ===== CHAPTER 297 =====