The Luoyang area, including Luoyang City, was occupied by Dong Zhuo for nearly two years, and under the looting of the Qiang soldiers under his command without scruples, the local people fled one after another, either crossing the river and fleeing into Bingzhou and Hedong, or fleeing south into Jingzhou, Yuzhou and even Guanzhong. Now this prosperous and wealthy area in the past seems to be extremely depressed, including Luoyang City, which is extremely deserted, where is there still the appearance of this point?

But compared to Luoyang, which was burned to ashes by a fire in history, it is ten thousand times better, at least the imperial tomb has not been dug up, and although the buildings around Luoyang City are damaged, they are all within the scope of repair, and Ma Chao is also content with this. At this time, it was almost the time of spring ploughing, and in order to ensure that a large area of land would not be wasted, a series of government decrees were hurriedly promulgated.

First of all, people were sent to the counties and counties around Luoyang to vigorously publicize the new policy, and immediately from the three counties of Hongnong, Hedong, and Hanoi to implement the three-point grain system with the same prefecture as the prefecture and Jizhou, and the tax exemption was carried out in that year. Fugitive people are encouraged to return to their hometowns for spring ploughing, and the government can provide necessary loan help.

Secondly, he was appointed as the Luoyang Order, responsible for the government affairs in the Luoyang area, and vigorously accepted the displaced people in the form of service instead of relief. The government paid money and grain to hire the people to repair the city, build water conservancy, and open up the wasteland.

Finally, there is the issue of land distribution, because almost all the Haoqiang families fled in advance, and there is a lot of vacant land. Ma Chao took the opportunity to take it all back, or divide it equally among the local people, or the government organized a collective tuntian.

These decrees quickly paid off. And Ma Chao has an excellent reputation, not only the people of Luoyang, but even the people of other states and counties, who does not envy the preferential policies of Merge Prefecture and Jizhou? Not to mention that the people of origin have returned home, and many displaced people from other places have come to join, like a rain gathering.

At the same time, the strategic significance of Ma Chao's capture of the Luoyang area is also very important. With this "in the middle of the world" Luoyang, Bingzhou and Hedong have a military buffer zone, which can free up a large number of troops, such as Xu Huang's department, the civil recruitment department, and even the Tongguan guard Chen Zhi, who was transferred out by Ma Chao early in the morning. The territory is large, and the defense line has not been extended, not to mention, but shortened. As far as the offensive strategy is concerned, Luoyang can enter Jingzhou and Yuzhou in the south, and Yanzhou in the east, and there are passes and guards, which can be attacked and defended. The most important thing is to occupy Luoyang, which is of great benefit to him and the princes.

However, it is said that while Ma Chao is stabilizing the situation in Luoyang, the areas of Bishui Pass and Rongyang have also become the focus of the world. The Son of Heaven and all the ministers were imprisoned in the small city of Rongyang. This is not a coercion of the Son of Heaven to order the princes, but a naked abduction, Liu Xie, Yang Biao and other ministers have all become prisoners.

Yuan Shao, Liu Dai, Cao Ying, Zhang Miao, Bao Xin, a total of 100,000 troops of the princes of the five roads are stationed here, and they send people to scold in front of the Bishui Pass, but the guards Li Dao, Hua Xiong and others all know the courage of Yan Liang and Wen Chou, but they can't shrink out.

Now Dong Zhuo's remaining troops have been beheaded by Ma Chao more than 10,000 people, and nearly 30,000 have been captured, not counting Nanyang Zhang Xiu's department, Li Dao still has 50,000 elite soldiers available, and it is too easy to defend a small Bishui Pass. What Li Ru was waiting for was that Ma Chao would send troops from Luoyang to attack, and then he could put forward conditions to maximize his benefits.

Of course, Ma Chao knew Li Ru's thoughts, so he was not in a hurry, and it took a month to take Zhao Yun and Pang De to lead an army of 50,000 to Rongyang.

But at this critical moment, a major news quickly spread throughout the thirteen states of Dahan. Ma Chao was immediately dumbfounded when he learned about it, and secretly sighed that the butterfly effect was too powerful, and he never dreamed that Liu Yan in Shu would be the emperor. But after thinking about it carefully, it is relieved, in history, Liu Yan had the heart of being the emperor, but several sons were hostages in the court, and they were jealous.

But because of Ma Chao's arrival, Liu Xie's court was far more chaotic than the court in Chang'an in history, and the only remaining residual power was also wiped out. The Son of Heaven and the ministers have become sincere and benevolent, and the majesty of the imperial court can be imagined. And just when Dong Zhuo was killed, the eldest son Liu Fan, the second son Liu Dan and the fourth son Liu Zhang, who were hostages in Luoyang, fled together.

And Dong Zhuo wantonly plundered Luoyang, Jingzhou and other places, causing a large number of people to flee to Shuzhong for refuge, which undoubtedly enhanced Liu Yan's strength. Coupled with the majesty of the imperial court, it is not uncommon for Liu Yan to be called emperor as a relative of the Han family.

Historically, after Liu Yan gained a firm foothold in Yizhou, he immediately sent Zhang Lu, the leader of the folk "Five Buckets of Rice Dao", and Sima Zhang Xiu of other departments to Hanzhong to attack Hanzhong Taishou Sugu. After Zhang Lu gained power in Hanzhong, he killed Zhang Xiu, cut off the traffic, and beheaded the Han envoy, and the Liu and Zhang families had a grudge.

Liu Yan cut off communication with the central court on the grounds that rice thieves were blocking traffic. He further attacked the local tyrants internally and consolidated his own power, so Yizhou was in a state of half-reading. When the princes of the world crusaded against Dong Zhuo, Liu Yan also refused to send troops, and Baozhou defended itself, and the heart of the emperor was clearly revealed.

Ma Chao was overjoyed after being surprised, in his opinion, all the princes in the world should be called emperors! Liu Yan's claim to be emperor is different from Yuan Shu's claim to be emperor in history, and Yuan Shu is a blatant challenge to the Han court. At that time, the imperial court was controlled by Cao Ying, and in order to maintain this effective imperial court, Cao Ying must go all out to destroy Yuan Shu, and all the princes in the world will naturally respond.

But Liu Yan is a relative of the Han family, and when the Son of Heaven was kidnapped and there was no court in the world, he chose the right time to call the emperor. Yizhou has natural dangers to defend, the road is rugged and difficult to walk, and it is not easy to send troops to fight.

However, Ma Chao did not mean to crusade against Liu Yan, the Shu Road was difficult to travel, and the logistics supply was extremely inconvenient. There are only two ways to defeat Liu Yan, the first is to enter Shu from Jingzhou, and the second is to enter Hanzhong from the Dasan Pass in Guanzhong. Guanzhong has just been recovered, and its vitality has not recovered, so it can't support the materials used in the crusade against Liu Yan at all. What's more important is that once Liu Yan is defeated, the Kwantung princes will definitely take the opportunity to become bigger, which is really more than worth the loss.

On the contrary, if the Central Plains is calm, why should there be any fear? In history, Zhuge Liang's several Qishan expeditions to Wei were purely reckless, and he lost countless financial and material resources.

The princes from all walks of life were silent when they heard that Liu Yan said, and no one took actual military action. In the sour jujube camp, Yuan Shao still put on a posture of the leader of the alliance, and asked: "Everyone, now that the imperial court no longer exists, the Son of Heaven has been hijacked by Li Ru and others, Ma Chao only cares about developing the territory, and Liu Yan of Xishu claims to be the emperor in vain, how should we wait for the loyal ministers of the Han family!" ”

Cao Ying said worriedly: "Not only does Liu Yan have the heart to be the emperor, why don't Ma Chao want to?" Xishu has Shu Dao natural danger, easy to defend and difficult to attack, Ma Chao sits on the merger, Hebei two states plus the entire Sili region, the strength has become the crown of the world, if we and other princes do not unite, sooner or later will be destroyed by Ma Chao! ”

Liu Dai nodded and said: "What Meng De said is very true, Li Ru, Li Dao, Guo Yan and others have been avoiding and not fighting, and they have long had the intention of surrendering to Ma Chao. I heard that Ma Chao developed a stone throwing machine again, and it only took half an hour to break through the Tiger Prison Pass, if he let him take over the rest of the Dong thief, it would be difficult for us to have a foothold in the Kwantung princes! (To be continued.) )