Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 558 Chang'an New City
Li Gou, the prefect of Chang'an, was Hou Jing's father-in-law and a descendant of the Longxi Li family.

His deputy was Su Daye, a master craftsman in the Ministry of Works, and the two were jointly responsible for building the new city of Chang'an.

The old city of Chang'an is the former capital of the Western Han Dynasty. Due to long-term use, the surrounding rivers have been polluted and the sewage has been silted up. Once it rains, the roads are smelly and unbearable. Therefore, after Li Gou's inspection, at the suggestion of Su Daye, it was decided to build a new city of Chang'an.

However, the construction of Chang'an New City encountered many twists and turns. When the war was at its most intense last year, the construction of Chang'an New City was stopped. It can be said that Li Gou, the Chang'an Order, had neither money nor people.

However, even during wartime, when the Government Affairs Council stopped allocating funds, the construction of Chang'an never stopped.

The reason is very simple: the people of Chang'an want to make progress too much.

Chang'an, as the old capital of the Western Han Dynasty, was also the capital of many regimes during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and had the potential to compete for the capital of the new dynasty.

The only cities that could compete with Chang'an for the status of capital were Luoyang, Yecheng and a few others.

Originally, Luoyang was the strongest competitor, and even from a geographical point of view, Luoyang was a more suitable place to be the capital than Chang'an.

Luoyang is close to the Yellow River and can transport supplies from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. At the same time, orders from the central government can be transmitted to the whole country through a well-developed network of post stations.

Guanzhong is not the same.

It is very costly to transport supplies from Henan to Guanzhong, which is also a disadvantage of Guanzhong as the capital.

In the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time, the biggest problem after the Sui Dynasty established its capital in Chang'an was the transportation problem from Chang'an to Luoyang.

Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty dug a waterway to connect Chang'an and Luoyang, but the waterway soon became silted up and could not be navigated.

During the Tang Dynasty, efforts were made to dredge the canal between Chang'an and Luoyang many times, but each attempt cost a huge amount of money and ended up being blocked within a few years.

This led to the situation that when the harvest in Guanzhong was poor, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty would always bring civil and military officials to Luoyang to "eat". In fact, he took the court to Luoyang to eat, reducing the pressure on grain transportation in Guanzhong.

But Chang'an also has its advantages as the capital.

The biggest advantage is the Western Region.

As a pioneering dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty opened up the Silk Road and its capital Chang'an controlled the Western Regions, which made it a country that attracted all nations to pay tribute.

The Eastern Han Dynasty established its capital in Luoyang, which was tantamount to giving up the management of the Western Regions politically. After the death of Emperor Guangwu of Han, many emperors discussed giving up the Western Regions. Finally, the Eastern Han Dynasty also perished in the Northwest Rebellion.

Of course, these reasons are all utilitarian, but when it comes to deciding a country's capital, in addition to the pros and cons, human relations are also very important.

Guanzhong, as the base where Su Ze started his career, is also the largest political faction under Su Ze's command, except for the former members of the imperial guards and the generals of the six garrisons.

The Su brothers, who were the heads of the civil servants, were from Guanzhong. A large number of Guanzhong gentry served under Su Ze and occupied a dominant position in the civil service system.

Therefore, when deciding on the country, Su Ze must also consider the thoughts of these people.

Everyone knows that Su Ze despised Luoyang and refused to capture it when he had the chance.

Coupled with Erzhu Rong's Heyin Rebellion and the subsequent destruction of Luoyang by Chen Qianzhi's Northern Expedition, this made Chang'an's chances of becoming the capital even greater.

Therefore, after Li Gou decided to build the new city of Chang'an, the people living near Chang'an, and even the gentry and people in the entire Guanzhong area, all showed great enthusiasm.

Even at the height of the war, when the government had stopped allocating funds for the construction of the new city, Li Gou did not stop the construction of the new city of Chang'an. The people near Chang'an naturally participated in the corvée and took part in the construction of the new city of Chang'an.

The Longxi Li family, to which Li Gou belonged, took the lead in moving the family residence to Chang'an, bringing in a large number of craftsmen to participate in the construction of the new city of Chang'an.

Not only the Longxi Li family, the Wugong Su family, the Liangzhou Jia family, and even the Taiyuan Wang family, the Hejian Yang family, and the Taishan Yang family who went to Guanzhong, all these families moved their bases to Chang'an City. They also brought a large number of laborers and craftsmen, and even provided their own building materials to participate in the construction of the new city of Chang'an.

Under such circumstances, the palace part of the new city of Chang'an has been basically completed, and the city wall part has also been built.

The neighborhoods near the palace have already been planned. It is naturally impossible for these houses to be built privately. They will be allocated to royal family members, meritorious officials and important officials in the future. These places only need to be planned, and they will naturally prosper in the future.

Next are the functional buildings, such as the Chang'an Ling's office, the East and West Market areas, and the water and drainage facilities in the Chang'an New City. These have also been completed under the leadership of Su Daye.

What has not been completed are the planned neighborhoods where the people of Chang'an will live. Now these places are just being planned, and construction of residential houses has not yet begun.

In fact, according to the standards of the new capital, Chang'an is already livable.

When Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, he simply surrounded the ordinary neighborhoods with walls. At that time, there were hardly many civilians in Luoyang city.

In a place like the capital, you don't need to worry about anything and it will naturally prosper.

So when the news of Bingzhou's stability reached Guanzhong, Chang'an Ling Li Gou immediately wrote to the Zhengwu Hall, requesting to move the capital to Chang'an.

Li Gou's political gamble turned out to be a success. For such a major event as moving the capital, the Government Affairs Hall would naturally send it to Jinyang. After receiving the letter, Su Ze agreed to Li Gou's request with a stroke of his pen and ordered all government offices in Yongle City to prepare to move to Chang'an.

When the news reached Guanzhong, Guanzhong was once again in an uproar.

When Chang'an became the new capital, Guanzhong officially became the birthplace of the new dynasty. After receiving the news, the families in Guanzhong sent their capable family members to the new city of Chang'an to buy land and build new houses in the new capital.

It was not just Guanzhong. Even Hebei noble families such as the Wang family of Taiyuan sent people to the new city of Chang'an with the remaining family money.

Especially those aristocratic families who made the wrong bet in the old era, they need to speed up their pace to move closer to the new dynasty in order to avoid being liquidated after the establishment of the new dynasty.

Some people are happy, and naturally some people are worried.

Luoyang.

In fact, Yuan Ziyou's life was already very difficult.

A few days ago, Hou Jing occupied Jiangling and soon captured the city of Xiangyang.

Going north from Xiangyang, you can enter the Henan area. After Hou Jing captured Xiangyang, many officials and scholars in Henan fled to Xiangyang.

In fact, these people had wanted to "jump ship" for a long time, but Hedong County was at war before, and if they fled rashly, they might be caught as spies.

It is much safer to flee to Xiangyang now. Hou Jing accepted all these people. After all, they are all "refugees" fleeing for their lives. We do not have the power to grant them official positions. However, there is plenty of land in Jingzhou now, so we can register the people and grant them land.

When the news of Su Ze's victory over Erzhu Rong in Bingzhou reached Luoyang, Yuan Ziyou felt like the sky was falling.

(End of this chapter)