Thief Emperor

Chapter 940: Old Imperial Capital

At the beginning of October in the first year of Zhangwu, the emperor left Luoyang, entered Tongguan, and headed for the old Zhou imperial capital.

Although it is called the imperial carriage, in fact, the emperor did not have too many ceremonial guards following him on this trip. It did not seem like a parade of the emperor, but more like the emperor personally leading the army to fight.

Accompanying him were Prime Minister Du Qian, Dali Temple Minister Xue Song, Chenliu Prince Wu Yuanyou, and Yulin Army Commander Yang Xi.

None of the princes, empress, imperial concubines, etc. accompanied the emperor.

The emperor's ceremonial guards were basically not taken with him and were all left in Luoyang.

Moreover, this time the emperor moved extremely quickly. He left Luoyang in early October and entered Guanzhong by mid-October, with the capital of Guanzhong already in sight.

When the emperor was still about a hundred miles away from the capital of Guanzhong, General Chen Dachen, who was stationed in the capital of Guanzhong, came to greet him with a group of generals.

Chen Da knelt in front of the left side of the emperor, and the other generals knelt on both sides. They all knelt on one knee, bowed their heads, saluted, and called him "Your Majesty".

Emperor Li was looking at the scenery along the way to Guanzhong at this moment. After hearing Chen Da's voice, he opened the carriage curtain, waved to Chen Da in front of him, and said, "Come on, get in the carriage, get in the carriage."

After Chen Da stood up, he was a little stunned, but he still turned around and ordered his subordinates to spread out on both wings of the imperial carriage to protect him. He himself patted the dust off his body and carefully patted the dust on his boots before getting on Li Yun's carriage.

After getting on the car, he looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head, and then couldn't help but look up at Li Yun again.

Li Yun was also looking at him, and seeing this, he smiled and said, "Why, you don't recognize me?"

Chen Da scratched his head and said, "The position... seems to be the same as before, nothing has changed."

Mr. Li smiled dumbly: "What changes can there be?"

Chen Da then smiled and said, "It's a pity that I didn't make it to the coronation ceremony of the emperor, and didn't see the elegance of the emperor."

Li Yun glanced at him and didn't say anything. He just said with a straight face: "You were in Jiannan Road and lent your soldiers to Huang Chao."

"Do you know that he has already killed tens of thousands of natives with the four battalions you lent him and his own troops?"

"Tens of thousands?"

Chen Da was also startled. He looked up at Li Yun and swallowed.

"Master, when I was in Jiannan Road, he only killed less than 10,000 natives. I have been away from Jiannan for only a month. This, this..."

He said with a bitter face: "I don't know..."

Seeing him like this, Li Yun finally couldn't help but smile: "Look at what you have accomplished."

"It is true that he killed tens of thousands of natives, but there are at least hundreds of thousands of natives in Jiannan. It is also beneficial to be ruthless."

Li Yun reached out and knocked on the handrail of the chariot, and said slowly: "At least the local natives have fled when they saw him. Many places that originally refused to obey the king have now restored the king's rule."

"Let Huang Chao work in Jiannan for three to five years, maybe he can really complete the transformation of the natives into commoners."

Chen Da took a deep breath, lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "Shangri-La, that man is too murderous. He is a civilian official, but he kills people more decisively than a general in the army. I don't think he can stay in a place like Jiannan Road for too long. If he stays there for too long, he might want to carve out a territory and claim to be the king himself."

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "Not for now. He's not that stupid."

"If he does something stupid, I have my own way to deal with him."

Li Yun let Huang Chao handle Jiannan Road. After all, only such a ruthless person could suppress the local affairs in Jiannan Road. However, several important places in Jiannan Road, such as Jianzhou and Hanzhong, were firmly in Li Yun's own hands.

In other words, Jiannan Road is no longer closed.

In the future, when the administration is divided, these important places will also be separated from Jiannan Road by Li Yun.

In this way, even if Huang Chao really had any ulterior motives, nothing could be accomplished. And in Li Yun's opinion, he would not have any ulterior motives either.

The two chatted about Jiannan Road for a while. Li Yun looked at Chen Da and said with a smile, "After Guanzhong is pacified, maybe you will be the defense envoy of Guanzhong Road for me and work hard in Guanzhong for a few more years."

Chen Da had no objection when he heard this. He just lowered his head slightly and said, "I will do whatever the superior tells me to do."

After a pause, he continued, "My Lord, the general is currently in the northern part of Guanzhong Road, fighting a fierce battle with the Shuofang Army. I cannot just stand back and watch. I also want to lead the troops north to assist General Su."

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "What's the matter? Are those people under you unable to hold back?"

Chen Da lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "It's all my credit to be able to see it. The other brothers are eating meat with big mouthfuls. We can't just stand back and watch, right?"

"Some of the captains and even the captains under me have lost their patience. During this period, many people came to my place to complain."

Li Yun was speechless and said, "Occupying the old Zhou imperial capital, isn't that a great achievement?"

"If I don't let you go to the battlefield, you won't be willing to do it."

Chen Da shook his head and said, "This old Zhou imperial capital was opened by others on their own initiative, without a single sword or gun being fired. Even if the higher-ups wanted to give us credit, we would not have the face to ask for it."

Li Yun looked at Chen Da, thought for a moment, and said with a smile: "Boy, there seems to be something else behind your words."

Chen Da shook his head and said nothing more.

Li Yun thought for a while, then lifted the curtain of the carriage, looked at both sides of the official road, and sighed: "Since entering Guanzhong, I have seen that at least 60% to 70% of the land in 10 miles has been abandoned. It's really a pity. The father and son of the Wei family really don't know how to manage it at all."

He looked at Chen Da again and asked, "How is the situation in the capital you occupied?" Chen Da also came back to his senses. He looked up at Li Yun and shook his head slightly: "Not very good."

"The current population of Guanzhong Capital is probably only about 200,000 to 300,000 people, but these 200,000 people have more than 150,000 households."

Hearing this, Li Yun also understood what he meant.

In this era, a household normally should have four or five people, and sometimes even six or seven.

However, in this Guanzhong capital city, the average number of people per household may be less than two people.

Moreover, when the Guanzhong capital was at its peak, it was a huge city with a population of over one million. At its peak, the population was even close to two million.

Now, even compared with the Xian De Dynasty back then, only 20% is left.

In the past ten years, the war has been like a huge iron plow, plowing back and forth over and over again in the 800-li Qinchuan Plain.

This land has been devastated.

Emperor Li narrowed his eyes slightly and remained silent.

Chen Da thought for a moment, then looked up at Li Yun and continued, "Master, please open the gates of Zhongjing City and surrender those people. I think that they..."

"Not a good person."

Li Yun came back to his senses, looked at Chen Da, and smiled dumbly: "You have already become a general and a marquis, why are you still saying such stupid things?"

Chen Da was a little stubborn, his eyes were firm: "I just said whatever was on my mind, I don't care whether you are stupid or not."

Li Yun patted his shoulder and said, "There are too many bad guys in the world. It's impossible to catch and kill them all."

"And these bad guys sometimes have their own uses. For example, in Guanzhong right now, many places need these bad guys."

"If a bad thing is used well, it may become a good thing."

Emperor Li looked at Chen Da and said with a smile: "Before, when Wei Quanzhong was here, they didn't have the opportunity to make good things. Now that we are here, we must give them a chance."

"But, in the future, they will still be bad guys."

Li Yun knocked on the armrest with his knuckles and said slowly: "You don't have to tell me that I won't forgive them either."

Chen Da then breathed a sigh of relief and stopped talking.

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "It's okay for you to tell me what you said. Don't tell others, otherwise you will get yourself into trouble."

Chen Da nodded and responded, "I know, I will only tell these words to my superiors."

"I won't mention anyone else."

"That's good."

Emperor Li patted Chen Da on the shoulder and said with a smile: "The new dynasty has just been established. We brothers still have a long way to go and there are still many things to do. When you encounter something, the first thing you think of is to protect yourself."

"In the future, I still have a lot of things for you old brothers to do."

Li Yun said seriously, "I don't feel comfortable letting others do it."

Chen Da immediately lowered his head and replied yes.

He hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "Sir, I still want to go north to support General Su."

Li Yun thought about it, then said, "When I arrive at the old Zhou imperial capital and settle down, you will leave 10,000 people to garrison, and you will take the rest of the troops north."

"Of course."

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "Whether you can get the credit depends on your own ability. I don't have any backdoor for you."

Chen Dada was overjoyed and bowed his head quickly: "Thank you very much!"

…………

That night, the group camped less than fifty miles away from the old Zhou imperial capital. When the generals under Chen Dahe met Yang Xi and others, they were all cheering and sitting together, wishing they could have a big drink.

The next day, everyone continued their journey and finally arrived outside the old Zhou imperial capital in the afternoon.

Wu Yuanyou, King of Chenliu, got off his carriage, looked up at the city in front of him, and couldn't help but burst into tears.

Du Qian, dressed in a purple robe, also got off the carriage. He put his hands behind his back and looked at the capital city in front of him. Although he did not cry, his eyes were a little moist.

Emperor Li had already gotten off the carriage at this time. He looked up at the old Zhou imperial city with a smile in his eyes. He turned around and looked at Chen Da.

"We have been rebelling for so many years."

Emperor Li said with a smile.

"I finally saw the capital."

(End of this chapter)