Li Gang and Chen Yu are both scholars who were born as Jinshi, and naturally they are also scholars who are familiar with the history of the Great Song Dynasty, the emperor stayed in Xijing and did not return, and built Luoyang City into a prosperous and fortified city like an iron wall, which reminded them of the 'Taizu Relocation Proposal' incident that caused waves in the court two hundred years ago......

In March of the ninth year of Song Kaibao, Taizu Zhao Kuangyin toured Luoyang to the west. Luoyang Jiama Camp is the place where Taizu was born, and it is also the place where he spent his childhood. At this time, the Great Song Dynasty had unified the Central Plains and even the entire south, realizing the situation that the Central Plains Dynasty was closest to the great unification in more than 200 years since the late Tang Dynasty. Although there are still strong neighbors in the north, in the sixteen years since the founding of the country, the Great Song Dynasty has become stronger and stronger, and the national fortune has flourished, so in the eyes of the accompanying civil and military ministers, this holy drive to the west should be a nostalgic trip full of warmth.

However, this tour of the West is not all about feasting and drinking all day long, and the monarchs and ministers are happy. Taizu suddenly proposed to move the capital to Luoyang, in the conversation, Zhao Kuangyin repeatedly called Luoyang a beautiful place, living in the world, revealing the intention of staying in Luoyang, the ministers saw that the emperor was interested, did not dare to sweep his interest, no one opened his mouth at that time. Zhao Kuangyin saw that everyone did not object, thinking that the move of the capital could be carried out as he wished, but he didn't know that although the ministers did not oppose it on the surface, most people were still not happy to move the capital. The strong opposition of the ministers also made Taizu full of displeasure, so he simply lived in Luoyang for two months, refused to return to Kaifeng in the east, and even proposed to move to Luoyang and then to Chang'an.

Since ancient times, rulers have chosen the capital mainly based on three conditions: military, economic, and geographical location: militarily it is required that the location of the capital city can not only control the interior, but also be conducive to the outside of the imperial system; Economically, the area near the capital is required to be economically developed and able to basically solve the material needs of the capital. Only a small amount of leaning is needed to be given at a distance; Geographically, the capital was located in the center of the dynasty's jurisdiction, or had unobstructed water and land transportation routes in all directions. In terms of geography. Since ancient times, most of the rulers chose the capital to choose the dragon and the tiger, the mountains and rivers are surrounded by the four blocks, and there are dangers to defend, and rarely choose the flat terrain and difficult to defend the place.

And Kaifeng is just a flat river, no danger to defend. The reason why it is favored by the rulers. The key is that it is in the "rush of the world" that extends in all directions, with convenient transportation and rich economy, which is conducive to "being in the middle and far away". Kaifeng was the capital of Wei during the Warring States period, and was called Daliang at that time, and later renamed Bianzhou. The canal opened in the Sui Dynasty entered the Jianghuai River through Bianliang, making it a throat to lock and control the north-south waterway traffic. By the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the northern feudal towns were divided, and wars were frequent. The economic center moved to the southern region, and Bianliang became a necessary place for the transportation of grain from the south to the north.

During the period of the Five Dynasties, Bianliang was successively the capital of the Later Liang, Later Jin, Later Han and Later Four Kingdoms, and the scale of the city continued to expand. By the time of Chai Rong of Zhou Shizong, Bianliang already had a triple city wall, the city was high and the pool was deep, the buildings in the city were regular, the roads were wide, and the commerce was prosperous. It has been quite the style of the imperial capital. Taizu Zhao Kuangyin seized the power of the Later Zhou Dynasty through the Chenqiao Mutiny, so it was not a choice to decide Kaifeng at first, but it was just a natural inheritance.

After more than ten years of operation in the Song Dynasty, Bianliang City "is the most important thing in the world." The total number of boats and vehicles, the throat of the control of the river, and the transportation of the Jinghu Lake". The ministers of the DPRK and China have lived here for many years, and at this time they proposed to move the capital. There is indeed a feeling of shaking the very foundation of the country. What's more, Luoyang at this time was seriously damaged due to the continuous wars that began in the late Tang Dynasty. The economy is in shambles, and it has basically lost its condition as a national capital. In fact, Luoyang has never become the capital of any dynasty since the Jin Dynasty moved its capital to Kaifeng.

But Kaifeng is indeed easy to attack and difficult to defend the place of the four wars, before the capital here are short-lived regimes, Taizu is eloquent, after the founding of the country, it began to expand the territory and the south and the north war, strategically to attack, the battlefield is mainly on other people's territory, more than 10 years the country has never been threatened, and Kaifeng's access to convenience has become the advantage of the war. It should be said that the decision to open the capital of Kaifeng at the beginning of the Song Dynasty was the best plan to meet the objective needs of the social, economic, political, and military aspects.

The problem was that when the Great Song Dynasty swept away the southern kingdoms like an autumn wind sweeping away the leaves and turned its attention to the north, the situation began to change radically. The Northern Han regime in Shanxi, united with the Khitan in the north, and successfully stopped the Song army's northward march by virtue of the favorable topography of the capital Taiyuan. Song Taizu attacked the Northern Han Dynasty three times, but all of them were frustrated and returned. When a strategic offensive turns into a confrontation, as an emperor who has experienced a hundred battles and has outstanding military talents, in addition to being disappointed and helpless due to his inability, he will of course also realize the great danger.

The Northern Han Dynasty is north of the Yellow River, only one river away from Bianliang. And the powerful Khitan may also swing south at any time, with the flat and open terrain of Bianliang, how to resist the Liao army's iron cavalry? In order to ensure the safety of the land of the four wars, the only way to risk it was to use soldiers, so the number of forbidden troops stationed in Kaifeng swelled dramatically. In addition, Kaifeng's proximity to the Yellow River was also a fatal disadvantage militarily. During the Warring States period, the Qin State attacked the capital of the Wei State four times, and finally the Qin army decided to irrigate the Liang with the water of the Yellow River, and the city was destroyed and Wei died.

Those ministers who had become accustomed to enjoying a comfortable life might feel at ease when they saw that there were heavy troops stationed in Beijing, but Taizu had clearly realized that the huge army was a huge drain on the national strength. The geographical environment of Kaifeng extends in all directions, and the water and land transportation is convenient, and there is no problem at all as an economic center in the Song Dynasty, but the conditions for being a political and military center are not fully available. He proposed to move the capital to Luoyang in order to 'go redundant according to the danger of mountains and rivers'!

It's a pity that Taizu's foresight and sagacity were not understood by the ministers, and such a stalemate for two months was undoubtedly a kind of torture for the ministers, and Luoyang's days were spent in anxiety. In the end, under the persuasion of Zhao Guangyi's "those who are safe in the world are not in danger in morality", they had to make a compromise. Although Taizu was still unwilling, he was finally willing to drive back to Beijing. Five months later, a generation of holy lords who created the Great Song Dynasty died suddenly in the imperial palace in Kaifeng, which was the so-called "proposal to move the capital" in the early Song Dynasty......

Send Li Gang and others to the post house in the palace city, and arrange everything for Xu Hong to say goodbye. Li Gang ordered people to go to the palace to report and ask for an audience, but they heard that the emperor had left the palace with his family to hunt in Dongdu Yuan a few days ago, and it would take two days to return, so they could only temporarily stay in the post house and wait for the emperor to summon them.

"Li Xiang, does Your Majesty have another meaning for staying in Xijing for a long time this time?" Now it is early winter, the fire in the post house has not yet been lit, and it makes people feel cold at night, the post official is very considerate and sent the brazier, Chen Yu and Li Gang hugged the brazier and drank, and he asked after three glasses of wine.

"Chen Xiangxiang also saw that something was wrong, Your Majesty spent ten years and spent a lot of money to rebuild Xijing will never be a whim, and it will not be just a place to make Your Majesty willing to spend such a capital just to make it a lucky place!" Li Gang took a sip of wine and smiled meaningfully.

"Yes, there are not many things that can make His Majesty do such a big deal, but it is not surprising in terms of his temperament!" Chen Yu nodded and said, the emperor is famous for his 'frugality', and he has always allocated funds for Xijing in the name of repair, and now he is almost paying out of his own pocket to rebuild Luoyang City, which must be of great significance in the future. As for borrowing money from the bank, it can be said to be a joke, almost everyone in the Great Song Dynasty knew that it was the emperor's own business, his money bag, and borrowing money was just left hand in and right hand out.

"Well, it seems that it costs a lot to rebuild Luoyang City, but Your Majesty did not use the country, and the need for Bianjing to maintain Caoyun is even more expensive, and cleaning up the Bianhe River in just one year is a lot of money, and ten Luoyang cities have been built over time." Li Gang said with a smile.

Since the Later Liang built the capital of Kaifeng, several generations of rulers have continued to dig canals to facilitate transportation. In particular, Chai Rong of the Later Zhou Dynasty repeatedly issued edicts to dig canals. After the founding of Taizu, the first thing was to dig the canal, and since then, the excavation and maintenance of the canal has become a major national event in the Song Dynasty. As Zhang Fangping said: "The country stands by the soldiers, the soldiers take food as their life, the food is based on the transportation of water, and the transportation is mainly based on rivers and canals." "If the river is not enough, we must continue to excavate, and the river must be continuously desilted, and the endless excavation and dredging will not only mobilize countless people's power and make the people tired, but also the cost will be astronomical and become a burden on the country.

What Li Xiang said is very true, Bianjing's dependence on the canal has exhausted the people's power. And Kaifeng has no danger to defend, so it can only garrison hundreds of thousands of troops around the capital, and set up camps outside the city to replace the danger of mountains and rivers. A large number of redundant troops gathered in Beijing, which greatly increased Kaifeng's dependence on the canal, and over time it caused a heavy burden of expenses on the imperial court, and the people were trapped in forced labor. Even after His Majesty reformed the military system, he had to arrange for five generals to garrison the forbidden army in the Gyeonggi area, and Taizu may have anticipated today's situation before proposing to move the capital! After Chen Yu raised his glass and invited the two to have a drink, he sighed and said that after he became the right minister, he realized that even if the emperor could grab money so much, he could not stop the bigger and bigger holes, and it could be said that the whole country was impoverished because of one place.

"The cost of people's and financial resources is only one of them, Kaifeng is close to the Yellow River with frequent floods, disaster relief, and the money invested is also huge. And if the Yellow River breach occurred before or during the outbreak of war, it would have had a huge impact on the supply of the army. When the Khitan went south, it also happened when the Yellow River broke in September, and the first emperor Zhenzong may have been worried that if the famine caused civil strife, I would be trapped in the situation of being attacked on my back and back. Li Gang thought of the past and said.

"Well, with Your Majesty's ability, you won't be able to think of this, it seems that your Majesty has already begun to consider moving the capital when he succeeded to the throne, and the construction of Luoyang City over the years is also preparing for this!" Chen Yu said, and he also understood in his heart that the emperor had not returned to Beijing for a long time, and he thought that it was also part of his plan, and he was testing the courtiers' views on moving the capital...... (To be continued......)