Chapter 737: Current Situation in Guanzhong
As soon as they left Tongguan, the Sizhou army discovered the difference between Guanzhong and Sizhou. Now it was the beginning of April, and Sizhou was full of busy people, because the first season of crops had just been planted, and people were taking care of crops in the fields.
However, in various parts of Guanzhong, many seemingly fertile fields had become wastelands, and there were a large number of refugees and hungry people in various counties. Moreover, this phenomenon became more and more obvious the closer to Chang'an.
Along the way, with Zhao Rui's deliberate friendship, his relationship with Hu Jian became better and better. From Hu Jian, Zhao Rui also learned a lot of news about Chang'an and Dong Zhuo's army.
After entering Guanzhong, Hu Jian did not deliberately conceal the news that Dong Zhuo had died from Zhao Rui, and also told Zhao Rui the news that Guo and Li were fighting for power. The reason why he knew so much was that he was originally a member of Hu Feng's clan, and had followed Hu Feng in battle for a long time. He was promoted to a lieutenant because of his merits, so he was also a confidant of Hu Feng, and he could get a lot of news from Hu Feng.
Another thing is that Zhao Rui also heard about Xu Rong from Hu Jian.
After Xu Rong returned from Hedong, he was defeated by Huangfu Chaobo twice. Under the influence of the slanderous words of Xiliang generals such as Guo Li, he had completely lost his power. Finally, he was arranged by Dong Zhuo to garrison Chencang and Sanguan to defend Zhang Lu in the direction of Hanzhong.
In fact, everyone knows that Zhang Lu has no courage to send troops to the north. The purpose of the Xiliang generals is to drive Xu Rong away.
In order to let Xu Rong leave Chang'an, the Xiliang generals also equipped him with 20,000 troops and enough food and grass for the army to eat for half a year. As for the future, who knows what will happen in the future.
Fortunately, there are a lot of fields on both sides of the Wei River between Sanguan and Chencang. If they can be used well, it is more than enough to support his 20,000 troops. So Xu Rong did not care about this and happily led 20,000 troops to take up his post.
After hearing Hu Jian's news, Zhao Rui knew that he could only find an opportunity to contact Xu Rong again in the future. As for the news about Cai Yong, military commanders like Hu Jian were not very clear, so they could only wait until Zhao Rui arrived in Chang'an to inquire about it.
On April 16, Zhao Rui and his party finally arrived at the city of Chang'an, the western capital of the Han Dynasty.
The Han Chang'an City is located on Longshouyuan, facing south and north, with Longshouyuan on its back and only a few miles away from the Wei River in the north.
As the former capital of the Han Dynasty, the circumference of Chang'an City is about 60 miles (Hanli), and the city walls are all rammed with loess. The city is 35 feet high and about 40 feet wide. There are three gates on each side, and there are canal water or river water on all sides. There is a trench outside the wall, which is three feet wide and about ten feet deep.
From east to west, the southern side of Chang'an City is: Fu'ang Gate (Du Gate), An Gate, Xi'an Gate; from south to north, the western side is: Zhang Gate, Zhi Gate, Yong Gate; from west to east, the northern side is: Heng Gate, Luo Gate, Li Gate; from north to south, the eastern side is: Xuanping Gate (Dongdu Gate), Qingming Gate, Ba Gate.
Because the palaces and residences were built first and then the city walls were built, there were restrictions on buildings inside, and there were restrictions on the western side of the outside. The Weihe River during the Qin and Han Dynasties was much more to the south than it is now, pressing against the urban area of Han Chang'an City, and also restricting the construction of the city wall on the north side. Therefore, the city wall of Han Chang'an City is convex, concave and tortuous on the other three sides except for the straight east side.
The area occupied by the palaces in the city is less than half of the area of Chang'an City, and there is a considerable part of residential houses. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, a large-scale construction project was carried out. The North Palace, which was built during the reign of Emperor Gaozu, was built to the north of the Weiyang Palace. New palaces such as the Gui Palace and the Minguang Palace were built, occupying most of the space in the city, leaving only a small part of the residential area for ordinary residents.
Because the city wall was built after the Changle Palace and the Weiyang Palace were built, in order to accommodate the location of the two palaces and the flow of the Wei River in the north of the city, the city wall was built into an irregular square, with the northwest corner missing, and the southern part of the west wall and the western part of the south wall bending outward. In the past, Chang'an City was called "Southern Dipper Shape in the South and Northern Dipper Shape in the North", or "Doucheng".
The main building complexes in the city include the Changle Palace, Weiyang Palace, the North Palace, the Gui Palace, and the Arsenal. The Weiyang Palace consists of more than 40 palaces such as the Front Hall and the Pepper House Hall.
The street layout in the Han Chang'an City was said by the ancients to be "eight streets and nine lanes".
The general residential area was divided into 160 li. There are nine markets for trading on the east and west sides of Hengmen in the north of Chang'an City; there is also a market outside Fuangmen, and there is a "Huai City" specializing in trading books in the south of the city.
Zhao Rui and his party had just arrived outside Chang'an City when they saw someone welcoming them outside Qingming City. It turned out that after the caravan entered Tongguan, Hu Feng sent someone to report to his uncle Li Jue in Chang'an City, so when the caravan arrived at Baling County, Li Jue already knew that they were about to arrive in Chang'an, so he arranged for someone to wait outside Qingming Gate.
Although his fight with Guo Si has temporarily stopped, it is only temporary, because the power in the hands of the two is almost equal, and neither can do anything to the other, so they temporarily stopped fighting at the suggestion of the ministers in the court.
Now that he heard that the audience team of General Pingdong had arrived in Chang'an, Li Jue knew that he could seize the opportunity to win an aid for himself, so he sent people to greet him outside Qingming Gate.
It was Li Jue's younger brother Li Ying who went out of the city to welcome Zhao Rui and his party. Through him, Zhao Rui learned that the fight in Chang'an had actually subsided.
A few days ago, the emperor issued an edict to confer Li Jue the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry, the title of Chief of the Imperial Household, the title of Lieutenant of the Imperial Guards, the title of Marquis of Chiyang, Guo Si the title of General of the Rear Army, the title of Marquis of Meiyang, and Fan Chou the title of General of the Right Army, the title of Marquis of Wannian. Zhang Ji was conferred the title of General of the East Guard, the title of Marquis of Pingyang, and stationed in Hongnong.
After Dong Zhuo's death, the Xiliang army split into several groups: Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu, Li Ru and the rest of the army supported Dong Zhuo's nephew Dong Huang as the leader, and occupied the four counties of Liangzhou Anding, Wudu, Hanyang and Beidi.
Because many Xiliang generals were dissatisfied with the second generation ancestor Dong Huang, although Niu Fu and Li Ru had supported Dong Huang, they spent more energy on appeasing the generals under their command and the four counties. After Li Ru was taken out of Chang'an City, his condition once worsened and he was unable to manage the affairs. Although Niu Fu was Dong Zhuo's son-in-law, his ability was limited, so he had no time to take care of the two Guo and Li fighting in Chang'an City.
In the end, Yongzhou was finally divided equally between Li Jue and Guo Si. Li Jue led his troops to occupy Zuo Fengyi and part of Jingzhao Yin, while Guo Si occupied You Fufeng and part of Jingzhao Yin. Even Chang'an City was occupied by half by each of them. As for Zhang Ji's troops who were already in Nanyang, they clearly expressed neutrality in the face of the fight between Guo and Li.
As a result, Dong Zhuo's army, once the world's number one force, was divided into four parts. If the Lu Bu army that had already left was included, it could be said that it was torn apart.