Chapter 1357 Heluo Xingzhi
During the previous confrontation between the East and the West, the Heluo region, as the main battlefield for repeated battles between the two sides, was inevitably devastated by the long-term war. It was not until the Western Wei Dynasty completely occupied Heluo at that time that the war was far away from this area, giving the Heluo region a precious opportunity to recuperate.
In the blink of an eye, several years have passed. Although there are still some traces of past wars on the Yiluo Plain, such as beacon towers and fortresses with military functions, the people's livelihood order has also been restored and developed to a great extent, and it is a thriving scene.
Li Tai rushed from Chang'an to Luoyang after the New Year. Although the scenery along the road was mostly cold and barren, it was mainly due to the season. In fact, the atmosphere was much better than the war years. Even on the most rugged Xiaoshan Mountain Road, there were many more pedestrians and cargo teams, and many post stations and pavilions were added along the way.
Among them, there were both government-built inns and private inns built by the people. It can be seen that with the end of the war and the recovery of the people's livelihood in Heluo, the phenomenon of people and goods exchanges has increased, and the demand for obtaining supplies and rest on the way has also increased greatly.
When the carriage team left Hanguan from Xin'an, the vision suddenly opened up, and the scenery of the fields was even more pleasant. Although it was still the winter idle season, the land that had been fully cultivated and plowed could be seen everywhere in the wilderness. As long as the weather warmed up after the spring, it could be directly plowed and cultivated.
Those beacon forts that were set up for military purposes in the past have now been allocated to rural people for living. But probably because of their disgust for war, those people would rather choose other places to rebuild houses and villages than live in those beacon forts that buried countless lives.
Without the nourishment and maintenance of human popularity, the originally solid beacon forts soon began to break and collapse. Some were left with only some earth-rammed wall foundations and short walls, and some even had their ruins covered by weeds. In the past, many brave soldiers had to fight to capture the fortresses, but now they were abandoned by the people.
Going further east, Luoshui appeared in the field of vision. The river channel as a whole has been widened and repaired, including the construction of supporting weir facilities that are currently being carried out during the dry season to ensure that Luoshui can meet the needs of navigation and transportation in the new year, while supporting larger-scale reclamation and farming production.
In the early years, the residents of the Heluo area were either forcibly relocated to the vicinity of Yecheng in Hebei, or fled to the surrounding mountains and wild areas to avoid war. The entire Heluo Plain was in dire straits. Except for some military garrisons on both sides to carry out reclamation and grazing production, ordinary civilian producers were almost extinct.
Now the haze of war has finally left this sky. As the saying goes, great order will come after great chaos. In particular, the geographical location and farming and weaving foundation of the Heluo region itself are very superior. After the necessary life and property safety are guaranteed, there is no need for the government to encourage farming and reward farmers. A large number of people have begun to spontaneously organize production.
At least on the way from Xin'an Hanguan to Luoyang City, Li Tai did not see a large area of land abandoned. The barren land in the past has been reclaimed into fertile fields, and has long entered the normal cycle of fertile fields and harvests. Large and small villages are distributed on both sides of the Luo River. Every time it is time for dinner, the smoke from cooking rises. The scene is much more peaceful than the beacon fires in the past.
A magnificent city is an important symbol of whether the human resources in the region can be centrally dispatched and used. The original Luoyang City has long been damaged in the war, and only a few military bases such as Jinyong City remain.
As the vitality of the Heluo region recovered, the reconstruction of Luoyang City became one of the important means to strengthen the rule of the Heluo region and promote regional development. However, unlike the previous overall planning and centralized construction of Chang'an City, which was put into use in just a few years, the court's construction rhythm for Luoyang was slower.
As early as after the Western Wei Dynasty regained Heluo, the reconstruction of Luoyang was put on the agenda. After all, as the ancient capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Luoyang, although it has been abandoned for many years, still has a strong symbol of legal inheritance for the times. This meaning has not weakened much even after the Tang Dynasty replaced the Western Wei Dynasty.
However, the East-West War had not yet ended completely, so the Hegemony only proposed a framework concept, and did not concentrate manpower and material resources for construction. After building a framework and establishing relevant regulations, it allowed the people to participate in the construction.
During the Han and Wei dynasties, Luoyang City was mainly located between the foot of the northern Mang Mountain and the northern bank of the Luo River. The layout of being close to the mountains and the water was certainly quite livable, but the mountains and the water also imposed objective restrictions on the continued development of the city. Therefore, when replanning this time, the layout of Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties was chosen. The main body of the city spanned the Luo River, the north was reserved for palaces and government offices, and the south was used as residential neighborhoods.
Because the court had not yet invested too much in Luoyang City, the construction speed of the city in the north was far behind that of the south. The neighborhoods in the city in the south have gradually taken shape, but when Li Tai came to inspect Luoyang this time, he still had to live in Jinyong City, which was indeed a bit shabby.
"If we knew that the carriage would arrive at the beginning of the year, we would have made thorough preparations before the New Year!"
After Han Xiong made merit and entered the court, the veteran Chen Xin replaced him to sit in Heluo.
These people have been at the forefront of the war with the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi in the past. They have made great contributions and have deep feelings and ideas for the Heluo region. Now that the war is over, they are rewarded according to their merits and allowed to stay in the Heluo region to carry out various construction projects from chaos to order. This is also a kind of praise for them.
However, the sudden visit of the emperor still caught these Heluo civil and military officials off guard. They were uneasy because they were not fully prepared to welcome the emperor.
Li Tai didn't care much about this. After hearing this, he smiled and said, "I have been in and out of Heluo many times in the past, and this time is the most peaceful and orderly. I am deeply pleased with your achievements in governance and prosperity. There is no need to worry about the lack of welcoming etiquette."
He did not change his pragmatic style because of the change of his status. If the people's livelihood in Heluo area cannot be restored and developed in the long run, even if these people prepare a grand welcome ceremony, Li Tai will not allow these incompetent people to stay in such an important position and waste the precious opportunity to go from chaos to order.
Jinyong City is certainly not as grand and livable as the imperial palace, but as a well-preserved and repeatedly expanded city in Luoyang, it is more than enough to accommodate the emperor's entourage. Li Tai did not bring his concubines and family members with him on this tour, and he was not picky about the living environment, so he was much more comfortable than in the past military expeditions.
After arriving in Luoyang, he first learned about the current situation of people's livelihood recovery in the Heluo area. The most representative of the people's livelihood is the household registration. Since the recovery of Heluo a few years ago, the Luozhou General Administration has taken the lead in recreating household registrations. Now, there are more than 300,000 households in Luozhou that can be counted, covering nearly 2 million people.
Of course, this refers to the entire Heluo area, not Luoyang alone. Specifically, in the current Luoyang City, there are nearly 80,000 registered households. This data is certainly far less than Chang'an City, but Chang'an is the core of Guanzhong that has been operating for many years, while Luoyang has not been restored for long, and has achieved such gratifying results, which is indeed remarkable.
If we look at the geographical area, the Heluo area is slightly inferior to Guanzhong in terms of scale and potential. After the full development of the 800-li Qinchuan, it should not be underestimated.
But if we put it in the overall situation of the world, the importance and development prospects of the Heluo region far exceed those of Guanzhong, especially in the flow of personnel and materials across regions. The convenience of connecting the most important regional blocks in the world with Heluo far exceeds that of Guanzhong.
Li Tai is also optimistic about the future of the Heluo region. However, the current Tang Dynasty has already taken Chang'an as its capital and has established a stable governance structure. If it rashly moves to Luoyang, it will inevitably cause disorder and imbalance at the decision-making level, which is very unfavorable for the governance and management of the newly added territory.
After all, although the current Chang'an court has certain inconveniences, it also has its advantages and does not need to be completely denied and overthrown. Moreover, Li Tai does not have any heavy historical burdens and urgently needs to get rid of the so-called Guanzhong-based position, so everything should be based on actual needs, and things should be done slowly and gradually to complete the transfer of the political center.
Therefore, when he came to Luoyang this time, he did not continue to issue any large-scale construction plans in the Heluo area. The main purpose was to facilitate communication with Huainan and other places, cooperate with the Jiangdong expedition, and personally be responsible for transporting the money and grain materials gathered in Luoyang to the front line to ensure that the front-line soldiers were well-supplied and the war to conquer Jiangdong progressed more smoothly.
After understanding the political situation in the Heluo area, Li Tai began to concentrate on the development of the war in Jiangdong. Although he was a little regretful that he could not go to the front line of the Yangtze River in person and complete this epic achievement by himself, with his current status and position, if he really chose to go to Jiangdong in person, many things might not go as smoothly as they do now.
After all, as the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he had too much political symbolism, even exceeding his strategic planning ability as a commander. So now he needs more ability to know people and use them well, rather than doing everything himself.
Now the war in Jiangdong is progressing smoothly. In addition to the sufficient preparations for various personnel before, it is also because the people sent are more conscientious and responsible. However, it is a bit impossible to completely eliminate personnel accidents in such a large-scale military operation.
Just when the good news of the pacification of the Three Wus was sent to Luoyang, news of another unexpected incident also came at the same time. That is, Wang Ban, the son of Wang Sengbian who was a general of Quan Jingxuan and went east, suddenly landed in Jiankang City and set fire to Jiankang Taicheng!