Holding the Emperor Hostage : Chapter 45: Moving the Capital

The Son of Heaven had decided to move the capital, and he even intended to take the common people along with him. As the disbanded soldiers of the Northern Army gradually returned to their hometowns, this news spread across the land as if it had grown wings.

The Yan Kingdom was located in the northern part of the Yin Dynasty, and the region around You Province was especially bitter and cold. In contrast, Guanzhong and Henan Yin were vital capital regions that had been heavily developed by successive emperors throughout the six hundred year history of the Yin Dynasty. Under the bias and support of various imperial policies, it was no exaggeration to say that the living conditions of the people in Guanzhong and Henan Yin were far better than those of the people in the Yan region.

Taking all these factors into account, Yin Shuhuai originally assumed that not many citizens in Guanzhong and Henan would willingly relocate. To his surprise, the moment the imperial policy was issued, the citizens inside Luoyang and its neighboring villages began packing their belongings overnight. By the following morning, before the main imperial entourage could even set out—and before the personnel from the Imperial Treasury and the imperial estates had even made a move the anxious citizens had already gathered at the city gates with their families, carrying large bundles and small bags.

Seeing the continuous streams of crowds still gathering toward the city gates along both sides of the main road, the Northern Army soldiers guarding the gates made a prompt decision and reported the matter to the imperial court.

Shentu Yang had also not expected the citizens of Luoyang to act with such incredible efficiency. However, he quickly recalled how the citizens around Guanzhong and Luoyang had automatically and spontaneously guarded the city gates when the eighteen regional lords arrived to rescue the Emperor. They were willing to forfeit their very lives just to protect the Son of Heaven, so accompanying him to move the capital was an even easier choice.

As for Yin Shuhuai himself, he did not seem to realize his own astounding appeal among the common people yet. He asked with immense surprise, Could it be that the officials below delivered the message incorrectly? The court is asking the citizens to move voluntarily, not forcing them to relocate to You Province.

Ever since the founding of the Yin Dynasty, there had always been a custom of forcibly relocating powerful local clans and wealthy households to populate the capital region or the imperial tombs. The common people had long grown accustomed to this practice. Yin Shuhuai was worried that the citizens had misunderstood, thinking the court was going to force the people of Guanzhong and Henan Yin to move to You Province. He did not want this matter to cause widespread public resentment.

After all, the craftsmen and hired laborers under the Imperial Treasury, along with the tenant farmers on the imperial estates, added up to at least hundreds of thousands of people. Yin Shuhuai had already calculated that bringing this group to You Province would be more than enough to develop the local economy and technology.

The palace guards looking after the city gates questioned them thoroughly, and those citizens all rushed here automatically and spontaneously; no one forced them, said Zhou Tai, who had come to report the matter. Those citizens kept insisting that the people of Guanzhong and Henan Yin have bathed in imperial favor for a long time, and they are all willing to follow Your Majesty. Wherever Your Majesty goes, they will go.

Yin Shuhuai and Shentu Yang looked at each other. Shentu Yang said with a beaming smile, Your Majesty truly is a kind and wise ruler. The citizens simply cannot bear to leave you behind.

Shentu Yang was naturally delighted to see the citizens of Guanzhong and Luoyang willing to move along with the court. Their Yan Kingdom had always been vast but sparsely populated. Even though Shentu Yang had captured many slaves from the Xiongnu nomads, it was a mere drop in the bucket and did not help much. If the citizens of Guanzhong and Henan were willing to go to You Province, the population of the Yan Kingdom would skyrocket by millions overnight.

A larger population meant that there would be more arable land and grain. Their Yan Kingdom currently did not lack cattle, sheep, horses, or money; what they lacked was people and grain.

Population was a resource more vital than anything else!

As an ambitious and powerful minister, Shentu Yang understood this point perfectly clearly. Since the citizens are willing to follow Your Majesty to You Province, let the main Yan army escort the first batch of them ahead. This will ensure they do not run into bandits along the way.

Shentu Yang made a swift decision, wanting to send the people off immediately. It was as if he feared that if he acted a step too late, the citizens might change their minds.

However, what Shentu Yang and his Yan soldiers never expected was that as the news of moving the capital spread further and further, the number of citizens arriving with their families grew larger and larger.

At the same time, the spies from the Earthly Branches Twelve Divisions scattered across various regions sent back timely reports: it turned out that the citizens around Guanzhong and Henan had made up their minds to move with the Emperor the moment they heard the imperial decree. The citizens inside Luoyang and its outskirts had the advantage of proximity, packing their bags overnight to wait at the city gates.

Meanwhile, the citizens in other counties who were further away and had either not received the news yet or had received the decree but had not had time to travel were trying every possible means to rush toward Luoyang. Yet limited by the travel speeds of this era, it was impossible for them to reach the outskirts of Luoyang overnight no matter what.

Once the news spread, even many citizens from Jing Province and Yu Province rushed over upon hearing the word.

Some citizens worried that the court would ignore them after relocating, even gathering outside local government offices to beg the local officials to request a few days of grace from the court, promising they would work hard to catch up with the main relocation entourage.

Consequently, early the next morning, urgent reports were sent to the capital from various regions via express courier, all pleading with the court to delay the relocation.

With the public will being so unanimous, even Yin Shuhuai was completely at a loss to explain it.

What Yin Shuhuai did not know was that the reason the citizens of Guanzhong and Henan Yin were absolutely determined to follow the Emperor was entirely because they had seen the fate of the citizens in Qing, Xu, Yan, and Ji provinces.

From last year’s drought to this year’s floods, natural disasters had been continuous across the central plains. Yet Guanzhong and Luoyang had been able to mitigate the disasters to the greatest extent, even achieving consecutive bountiful harvests. Meanwhile, other regions not only reaped absolutely no harvest but countless citizens were ruined with their families destroyed. Why was this?

The citizens knew very well in their hearts that this was all because Guanzhong and Henan had the protection of the Emperor, while the regional lords and powerful local clans elsewhere extorted heavy taxes and never treated the common people as human beings.

Confucius once said, An oppressive government is fiercer than a tiger. Given the stark contrast between the natural and manmade disasters across the central plains over the past two years, now that the citizens of Guanzhong and Luoyang knew the Emperor had decided to move the capital and even take the people along, how could they not follow him, even if it meant going to the bitter and cold land of You Province?

If they did not follow an emperor who loved his people like his own children, were they supposed to stay behind and wait for some unknown tycoon to arrive and ruin their homes and families too? Carrying such anxious minds about an uncertain future, petitions flew into Luoyang from all directions like snowflakes. The Emperor of Yin, who empathized with his people and took pity on their hardships, could only issue a decree to postpone the departure to You Province. He also ordered the Imperial Treasury and the imperial estates to quickly manufacture ten thousand wheelbarrows and ten thousand two-wheeled handcarts to help the citizens relocate.

Shentu Yang raised no objections to Yin Shuhuai’s decision. However, he slyly ordered one hundred thousand Yan troops to first escort the family members and assets of the major noble families toward You Province.

The court officials who were imprisoned in the palace by Shentu Yang had originally planned to deploy troops during the journey to cut off the Yan army’s grain supplies, hoping to rescue their families amidst the chaos. They never expected that Shentu Yang had already commanded the Yan army to transfer the families and properties of the major clans overnight.

By the time the officials were released from the palace by Shentu Yang, the Yan army had already escorted the families and wealth of the major clans into the Bing Province region. At this point, the noble clans and titled gentry who had dominated the Yin Dynasty for over six hundred years had completely become meat on Shentu Yang’s chopping board.

Upon receiving the news, the noble clans and gentry ground their teeth in pure hatred, yet there was nothing they could do. They could only join the main relocation entourage in low spirits, setting out toward You Province alongside the continuously arriving citizens from various regions.