It was February of the third year of the first peace, and the northern land, which had been dry for more than a year, finally saw hope and dawn because of a belated snowstorm.

According to the Astronomical Institute of Yenching University, the cause of the heavy snow was that the cold air formed on the very distant northern ice sheet moved southward with the wind and collided head-on with the warm and humid air flow over the southeastern ocean in the north, thus causing the ice and snow weather that lasted for half a month.

Regardless of whether the Celestial Temple's statement is true or not, such a blizzard would have been a disaster if it had been left on hold in previous years, but many places in the north that have been dry for a long time have long been deprived of grass, so with the water brought by this rare blizzard, when the weather warms up, the barren fields of the year can be cultivated, and millions of hungry victims have hope of survival.

On the third day after the heavy snow fell, Liu He received a letter from Liu Yu from Luoyang, and he couldn't help frowning after reading it carefully.

"Liu Bei, this guy, really turned on the lucky mode! I just wanted to take advantage of the fact that everyone was busy to divide some strength to clean him up, but Zhu Jun died, Yuan Shao in Chang'an also had more air in and less gas, and Li Wei, Ma Teng, and Han Sui in Liangzhou were all eyeing him, but at this time, God had fallen this heavy snow, so that the north saw the hope of recovery after the disaster. In the past year, I have been busy pacifying the four northern states, where is there time to deal with Liu Bei. ”

Liu He sat behind the desk and muttered to himself, but it made several staff members in the study think about it.

Dong Cao Peng Cheng Bingjian said: "Youzhou, Jizhou and Liaozhou are the foundation of the general, last year a rare famine in a hundred years exhausted our reserves, such as today's heavy snowfall, but it is a good omen of revitalization, and also ask the general to focus on the people's livelihood and social welfare, temporarily suspend the army, mobilize the army and the people to vigorously reclaim the famine and grain, and wait for two years to recuperate." Then lead the army to the west or south, the way to victory. ”

Xi Cao Peng and Yuan Lian also echoed and said: "Yuan Shao's time in Chang'an is running out, his three sons are only concerned with competing for family property, and the state is now rotten, Gao Gan and Liyi and others are entrenched in the Jinyang area, Yuan Shao has actually lost control of the state. The general may wish to wait for a while, and after Yuan Shao's death, the three sons of the Yuan family will inevitably have infighting, and Gao Gan and Lu Yi and others, who support Yuan Tan, will definitely lead the army to Chang'an, and Yan Liang and Xu You, who are far away in Hanzhong, may be the retreat that Yuan Shao left to his third son Yuan Shang. As long as the Yuan family's infighting begins. The general can take all the states without much effort, but the states are in tatters, and even if they are recovered, they need to be carefully cultivated. ”

Cheng Bing and Yuan Lian are now senior staff members in charge of internal affairs in the General's Mansion, and they may not be as clever as Guo Jia and Jia Xu in military planning, but they have good ability in grasping the overall situation and managing internal affairs.

Liu He raised the letterhead in his hand. explained to the two: "I understand what the two Cao Peng said that it is indeed not appropriate to send troops this year, but some people always like to be opportunistic, I can't sit back and watch them mess around, right?" ”

Tian Chou was in direct contact with the information reported from all sides. Therefore, he had a more timely and comprehensive grasp of the situation in Bingzhou, Guanzhong and Liangzhou, and he knew where Liu He's worries were, so he said: "Gongzi has always planned to re-demarcate the territory of the Han states, and the establishment of Liaozhou also proves that this practice has many advantages in strengthening the jurisdiction of the central government. Since Li Dao in Longxi and Ma Teng and Han Sui in Liangzhou both have the intention of annexing each other, it is better to take this opportunity to redefine the administrative divisions of Bingzhou, Sili and Liangzhou, so that it will not cost a single soldier. It can also be effective. ”

Tian Chou has followed Liu He for many years, and usually does not open his mouth, but once he speaks, he will not be untargeted, and there are always some mentions that make Liu He's eyes shine.

"Zitai, you tell me what you think. If the re-demarcation of the northwestern states of Dahan can be completed at such a time, it will be a clever move. Liu He set his expectant eyes on Tian Chou.

Tian Chou did not avoid suspicion, and walked directly to the huge territory map hanging behind Liu He, and then pointed to the north of Bingzhou with a wooden stick, and said: "Everyone, please see, now the northern part of Bingzhou is under our control, and the radius of hundreds of miles in the north of Bingzhou was originally entrenched by the Xianbei people, and now it is also controlled by the Xiao Cavalry Guard and the Jining Governor's Mansion. I think that if the south is bounded by Yanmen Pass and the Yellow River, and the north is bounded by Yinshan Mountain, then this vast area is enough to establish a state, and it is also a border state that is half cultivated and half is pastoral. ”

"Let's look further down, if the Yellow River's 'several' shaped river channel is the boundary, and the south is bounded by the Qinling Mountains, then this area just encompasses most of Shuofang County, half of Xihe County and Shangjun in Bingzhou, and to the south, Zuo Fengyi, Youfufeng and Jingzhaoyin in the Sili region are all included, and to the west, Beidi County, Anding County and Hanyang County of Liangzhou are included. If this area is set as a state, then the western capital Chang'an will be in the heart of the hinterland, and it will be more convenient in terms of security and defense. ”

"If according to this division, most of the merger states will be swept away, and the remaining merger states are not too small?" Guo Jia interjected and asked.

Tian Chou seemed to have thought about this, nodded and said: "Feng Xiao is right, after the northern and western regions of Bingzhou have been divided, only part of Yanmen County, Taiyuan County, Shangdang County and Xihe County remains. In order to make up for the lack of annexed states, Hedong County and Hanoi County could be assigned to the merged prefectures, and in the future, the garrison of the merged prefectures would undertake the task of defending the northern part of Luoyang, the eastern capital. ”

"Zitai, I just listened carefully to your plan and found a problem, that is, if the state boundaries are redivided according to your plan, then the territory of the Sili region will only be Jingzhao Mansion, Hongnong County and Henan Yin, how to solve this problem?" Jia Xu frowned and asked.

Without waiting for Tian Chou to explain, Liu He said: "Zitai remembers what I said before, a few years ago, when I took it from Luoyang to Bingzhou and returned to Youzhou, I once said to Zitai to abolish the Sili region, and then take the eastern capital Luoyang and the western capital Chang'an as the center, respectively, in the east of Hangu Pass and the west of Tongguan to set up two central government directly under the central government, I think Zitai's plan must be to divide Hongnong County into two, the west to Jingzhao Mansion, the east to Henan Yin, Then set up Luoyang City and Chang'an City in these two places, right? ”

Tian Chou nodded and said with a smile: "I was also inspired by Gongzi's original idea, and I feel that the establishment of Luoyang City and Chang'an City, two administrative divisions that are alongside or even higher than the prefectures in terms of administrative level, is more conducive to the management of the central government than only one subordinate region at the beginning. ”

"Childe, if you set up a state-level municipality, I think it is better to set up a few more, such as taking Jicheng as the center and setting up the northern capital in Youzhou; With Tancheng as the center, the eastern capital was set up in Xuzhou; With Jiangling as the center, the southern capital was set up in Jingzhou, so that the entire Han Dynasty would have five municipalities directly under the central government in the east, south, west, north, and central, and the central capital would be located in Luoyang, and the permanent institutions of the central court would also be located in Luoyang, while the Son of Heaven and the crown prince could be stationed in the eastern, southern, western, and northern four accompanying capitals according to actual needs, and conduct pre-examination inspections and direct guidance on military and political affairs in several states in a certain direction. ”

Cheng Bing put forward a bolder idea, which made Liu He can't help but praise it.

Jicheng is the birthplace of Liu He and his son, and the strategic location there is very important, just located in the throat of the Central Plains to the northeast, Jicheng is not only the northern capital has obvious political significance, but also has important military value. If Jicheng can be set as the accompanying capital, then in the future, Liu He's descendants will not have to be locked up in Luoyang and raised like two-legged sheep, but can branch out a branch to stay in the north for a long time.

In the Ming Dynasty in later generations, although there was an uncle who robbed his nephew, throughout the history of thousands of years in China, the usurpation within the family was successful, and Zhu Di's ability was only stronger than his nephew. Liu He has never considered the competition between his descendants, as long as this great river and mountain does not fall into the hands of other peoples, the healthy competition within the old Liu family will not only not cut off the inheritance of Han civilization, but can actually play a role in promoting development.

Tancheng is the burial place of Liu Hezu, and it is also the fief of Liu Qiang, the first prince of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the location of Tancheng is located just south of the Yellow River, north of the Yangtze River and west of the East China Sea.

Jiangling is close to the Yangtze River, from the map it is located in the middle of Yizhou and Yangzhou, and it is also a hub city that divides the north and south of the Han Dynasty.

Liu He asked people to bring a pair of large two-legged gauges for plotting, and then pressed a nail foot on the Luoyang position of the wall-hung map, and then drew a circle on the map with the straight-line distance from Jicheng to Luoyang as the radius.

"Do you see what's coming?" Liu He asked everyone with a smile.

"It can be seen that if Luoyang is the center, then Jicheng, Tancheng, Jiangling and Chang'an are all within this arc." Yuan Jian hurriedly replied.

Liu He said with some excitement: "The straight-line distance from Jicheng to Luoyang is 1,200 miles, and if the two places are connected by a wide stucco avenue in the future, then it will not even take a month to travel by carriage." In the same way, we can also build official roads from Luoyang to Tancheng and to Jiangling, which greatly shortens the time spent traveling between the two places. In my opinion, the advantages of making these places municipalities under the direct jurisdiction of the central government are obvious. ”

"Childe, I'm afraid that the establishment of a municipality directly under the central government will not be realized for the time being, so it is better to take advantage of the chaos in Merging Prefecture, Guanzhong and Liangzhou to redefine the division of the northwest first, so that the resistance will be much smaller." Tian Chou implicitly reminded Liu He and said. (To be continued......)