Before Qianxi Temple at Longmen Mountain, Han Qian stood with hands in sleeves wearing plain mourning garments, gazing out at the Yi River covered in ice and snow.

Guo Rong, Feng Liao, Wen Muqiao, Zhou Dan, Han Donghu, Gu Qian, Zhu Juezhong, Lei Jiuyuan, Chen Youtong, Chen Kun, Shen Peng, Guo Que, Wang Zhe, Wen Rulin, and others stood beside him.

Hundreds of guard cavalry in dark blue-black armor protected the interior and exterior of Qianxi Temple.

Although it was already February and early spring in Jiangnan, the Heluo weather had warmed slightly for three to five days before suddenly turning cold again with northern winds, water freezing instantly, and heavy snow falling continuously—as if heaven and earth were changing color to mourn the passing of the sovereign of his generation, Zhu Yu.

Han Qian had secretly entered Luoyang City ten days ago, but at that time Zhu Yu had already fallen into delirium. It was not until five days ago that he had a final rally of strength and regained consciousness.

Zhu Yu insisted on performing the abdication ceremony before his death, having Lei Jiuyuan, Gu Qian, Zhu Juezhong, Jing Hao, and other generals and officials establish Han Qian as sovereign in Luoyang City, rather than having Han Qian succeed before his coffin after his death. Zhu Yu also specifically demoted himself to Duke Wuwei and demoted Zhu Zhen’s sons to marquis rank.

After quickly completing the abdication ceremony, Zhu Yu and Han Qian traveled by carriage and horse along the Yi River, stopping at Qianxi Temple, where he passed away suddenly at dawn yesterday.

Although according to Zhu Yu’s wishes his coffin would rest at Qianxi Temple without holding a grand funeral, Han Qian still observed the imperial funeral rites and posthumously titled Zhu Yu as Martial Emperor Wu of Great Liang. He and all the generals and officials wore mourning garments for a great funeral.

Their first meeting at the battle beneath Xichuan City, their initial encounter on the banks of the Jianghan, seeing each other again at Chaohu’s shores—all had been hurried. Walking on the ice of the Yi River, they had gathered for three days, yet his heart still felt desolate. At this moment, Han Qian could not help wondering: if he had accepted Zhu Yu’s invitation back then in Turtle Mountain, what would the landscape of these rivers and mountains be like now?

“Your Majesty…”

Gu Qian had followed Zhu Yu for over twenty years, from his ambitious years until gray hair filled his temples. Watching Zhu Yu in his prime years suddenly pass away, no one felt worse than him. But with powerful enemies surrounding them and worries of a break with the Chu court, this was absolutely not the time to indulge in grief. There were too many matters requiring the newly established sovereign to make immediate decisions.

The messenger reporting the death to the demoted Marquis Ningbei Zhu Zhen had departed yesterday, rushing along the Shuanglong Gorge plank road to Huayang and Shangluo. But whether Zhu Zhen would be willing to accept this result, whether he would be willing to follow Zhu Yu’s testament and come to Luoyang to have an audience with the new sovereign, remained unknown.

Human hearts were the most difficult to fathom.

Although Gu Qian had taught Zhu Zhen basic learning and classical texts since childhood, whether Zhu Zhen harbored resentment in his heart about how his father Zhu Yu had arranged things, or even if he harbored resentment whether he could accept this reality—these were things Gu Qian and even his maternal grandfather Chen Youtong could not predict at this time.

Even Zhu Yu’s insistence before death on keeping Zhu Zhen in Shangluo without summoning him back to Luoyang, and his insistence that Han Qian dispatch direct forces to garrison Shangluo before heading north, were precautions against the possibility that his own son Zhu Zhen might become an obstacle to the abdication.

Gu Qian did not doubt Han Qian’s magnanimity or his sincerity in treating the Zhu imperial clan well. But if Zhu Zhen absolutely refused to accept this result, Han Qian would necessarily have to use military force to remove Zhu Zhen’s military authority, ensuring a stable transition along the Shangluo line on Guanzhong’s southern flank without major upheaval.

The Mengwu and Eastern Liang forces would certainly not pass up such an opportunity and would again raise troops to attack Heluo. Whether the Jinling officials would accept this reality, whether they would take advantage of the Mengwu and Eastern Liang’s major attack on Heluo to send troops to recover Hexi—these were also unknown at this time.

Additionally, whether the envoys sent to Liang Province and Shu to meet Li Zhigao and Wang Yong could successfully persuade Li Zhigao and Wang Yong was also a major factor ultimately determining Jinling’s movements, but this was still unknown.

Gu Qian, Feng Liao, and others had initially considered suggesting postponing the abdication or even concealing the death, thinking they could delay for three or four months. But in fact, Wusu Dashi and Xiao Yiqing were not so easily deceived.

Even when Han Qian issued mobilization orders having Kong Xirong massively expand forces in Deng and Jun provinces, and Zhou Dan, Feng Xuan, and others led Tangyi’s elite forces along the Songnan plank road into Heluo, the Mengwu forces occupying Yong Province and the Eastern Liang forces occupying Ying and Bian mobilized accordingly.

Large quantities of grain and able-bodied men assembled in two directions: one from Taiyuan, Shangdang, and Hezhong to Yong Province, another from Heshuo, Qingzi, Xusi, and other places to Bianying and Meng Province.

Additionally, there was clear intelligence confirming that Xiao Yiqing had previously entered Yong Province City and frequently sent envoys rushing to Qi Province to secretly meet Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian, not ruling out the possibility that these two would first lead forces to attack Shangluo or Hua Province and Tongguan.

Beyond urgent communications and negotiations among southern forces, beyond urgent arrangements for battles on Heluo’s two flanks, beyond the need to pacify the panicked hearts of Liang’s former generals and officials, there was one more matter requiring immediate decision.

After over a hundred thousand troops and civilians withdrew from Bian, Great Liang had lost its capital. With no hope of retaking Bian in the short term, there was an urgent need to determine the location of a new capital.

Over the past several days, Han Qian had discussed past and present extensively with Zhu Yu. Gu Qian, Lei Jiuyuan, and others had discussed this issue many times with Feng Liao, Guo Rong, Wen Muqiao, Zhou Dan, and others who had accompanied Han Qian north to Luoyang.

Aside from being surrounded by enemies on three sides, Zhu Yu before his death had not clearly indicated any intention to establish Luoyang as the capital.

With the Jia-Lu River and Sha-Ying River flooding torrentially, and Yingyang City east of Hulao Pass still under Eastern Liang enemy control, the Heluo region connected with Xu and Ru areas only through the steep, narrow Songnan plank road, making passage extremely inconvenient for large forces and quantities of supplies.

These various limitations determined that Luoyang was not suitable as the location for a new capital.

And even without considering the feelings of Jinling officials, Donghu (Liyang), currently serving as Tangyi’s Administrative Commissioner Office, was somewhat too far south. In fact, after the dramatic changes in Heshuo, Tangyi’s military focus had comprehensively shifted north. Over these two years, Han Qian had spent less than one-third of his time in Liyang.

Considering the integration process of Heluo and Tangyi, considering the possible strong reaction from the Chu court, and considering the need to simultaneously resist the Mengwu and Eastern Liang forces, Gu Qian, Lei Jiuyuan, Guo Rong, Feng Liao, and others had discussed privately for a long time. They all felt that establishing the new capital at Shou Province would better balance north and south.

Han Qian might still need to personally remain in Luoyang to supervise the military for now, but the central administration institutions had to immediately begin operating in the new capital. There was another point: among the troops and civilians who retreated south from Bian, most were families and relatives of generals and officials. Even put harshly, using these families and relatives as hostages and settling them in Shou Province south of the Huai River would at least ensure short-term stability in the hearts of the sixty thousand Liang troops defending Heluo and prevent large-scale defections.

“Establish the capital at Shou Province?”

Hearing Gu Qian mention establishing the capital, Han Qian murmured to himself, standing before Qianxi Temple gazing at the ice and snow on the Yi River to the north.

Their current position was only twelve li from Luoyang City’s south gate. They could even see the river channel—currently covered in ice and snow—that flowed northwest from west of Luoyang City, eventually merging with the Yu River through Yanshi and Gong County territory.

After a long while, Han Qian slowly spoke:

“Luoyang’s strategic superiority lies at the center of the realm: north backing the Yellow River, south facing Mount Song, west exiting Xiao Mountain, east advancing to Hulao Pass, with the Yi and Luo’s clear waves and Mount Mang’s vastness. If I obtain it but do not occupy it, not only would it be a criminal waste, but I would fail Brother Zhu Yu’s high expectations of me—do not persist on this issue any longer. Brother Zhu Yu and I discussed this over these past days. Although establishing the capital in Luoyang will temporarily involve great difficulties to overcome, making it our capital—aside from demonstrating to the world my determination to resist the barbarian invaders and restore Great Liang’s former territory and Han customs in Heshuo—has many advantages we cannot ignore and can maximize reducing Jinling’s hostility…”

Over these years, Han Qian had also studied geography and history extensively. He was thoroughly familiar with the strategic geography of the realm’s formidable strongholds and now explained them to everyone in detail.

Two thousand years ago, Western Zhou replaced Shang. To control the eastern territories, they built Royal City and Chengzhou City north of Mount Song on the banks of the Luo River—this was the beginning of Luoyang’s establishment as a city and capital. In the first year of King Ping of Zhou’s eastern migration to Luoyang, the Eastern Zhou era began. In the first year of King Zhuangxiang of Qin, Sanchuan Commandery was established in Luoyang. In the first year of King Han, Xiang Yu enfeoffed Shen Yang as King of Henan, residing in Luoyang. In the fifth year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, he initially made Luoyang his capital before moving to Chang’an, changing Sanchuan Commandery to Henan Commandery. In the first year of Jianwu under Emperor Guangwu of Han, he established his capital in Luoyang, changed Luoyang to Luoyang, and changed Henan Commandery to Henan Yin. By the fifth year of Yonghe, Henan Yin counted two hundred eight thousand four hundred eighty-six households and one million ten thousand eight hundred twenty-seven people.

In the first year of Huangchu, Wei Emperor Cao Pi established his capital in Luoyang, changing Luoyang to Luoyang. In the first year of Taishi, Western Jin replaced Wei, still using Luoyang as capital. In the eighteenth year of Taihe, Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang.

In the first year of Kaihuang of Sui, the Eastern Capital Ministry of Personnel was established in Luoyang. In the first year of Daye, Emperor Yang of Sui moved the capital to Luoyang.

In the previous dynasty, from Emperor Gaozong onward, Luoyang remained the capital, called Eastern Capital. During the Tianbao period, Eastern Capital was changed to Eastern Capital. In the first year of Guangzhai under Empress Wu Zetian, Eastern Capital became Divine Capital.

At the end of the previous dynasty, Luoyang was destroyed by war, with barely one in ten people surviving. When Zhu Yu was first enfeoffed in Luoyang, after ten years of management, Liang re-established Henan Prefecture, administering Henan, Luoyang, Yanshi, Lushi, Taolin, Xiong’er, Mianchi, Xin’an, Gong, Yichuan, Songnan, Yangcheng—thirteen counties total. At its most prosperous, it once again held nearly one million registered inhabitants.

After enduring these years of wartime devastation, but including Hua Province, Tongguan, and other areas, the Heluo region still had seven hundred thousand people aside from garrison troops.

Beyond its prosperous population, the Heluo Basin located in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and situated between the Xiao, Song, Mang, Xiong’er, and Funiu mountain ranges had cultivatable and habitable area exceeding four thousand square li.

Within the basin, north and south were high with the middle low, roughly forming a trough shape. The north consisted of Mang Mountain loess hills, the middle was Yi and Luo River alluvial plains, the south was Wan’an Mountain low hills and piedmont alluvial slopes. The land was fertile, climate warm, products abundant, ensuring sufficient grain output and nurturing such a dense population.

The relatively enclosed surrounding terrain not only favored military defense but also featured three-level terrain descending from highlands to low mountains to plains in gradual descent, with streams and rivers crisscrossing throughout and abundant water with uniform elevation differences.

Before more advanced power sources became available, developing a basic industrial system could not proceed without large-scale exploitable water resources.

In early years, Han Qian developed Donghu as Tangyi’s focus. Even after recovering Huaixi, he had not moved the Administrative Commissioner Office to Chao Province City, which had flatter terrain and more surrounding agricultural grain fields.

This was because, aside from Donghu’s ability to reclaim large amounts of grain fields and urban development land by building dikes to enclose the lake, more importantly Donghu bordered Mount Xuru to the south and Mount Qingcang to the north. Building dams along the slopes could develop abundant water resources for basic industry.

This was an advantage that pure flatland areas did not possess before new power sources were widely promoted.

This was also one advantage that could not be ignored in establishing the capital at Luoyang compared to establishing it at Shou Province.

The Xiao, Song, Mang, Xiong’er, and Funiu mountains also had extremely abundant coal and iron deposits.

Although years of warfare had severely damaged Heluo’s agriculture and artisan production—even large numbers of artisans had been abducted by Liang Shixiong—the foundations of various workshops remained. Han Qian only needed to transfer several thousand experienced master craftsmen and artisans from Huaixi, Xu Province, and other places to quickly restore the manufacturing system that had initially taken shape in Heluo during Zhu Yu’s tenure.

In fact, among the first forces moving north with Han Qian was a master craftsman battalion of two thousand men, encompassing master craftsmen and artisans in all current Tangyi manufacturing categories, as well as some students from Liyang Academy who had graduated early—all ready to be deployed at any time…

Establishing the new capital in Luoyang was also Zhu Yu’s dying wish. Unfortunately, with Liang’s forces previously shattered and Heluo’s cities newly fallen, he had fallen gravely ill before having the opportunity to arrange many matters.

As for how to stabilize people’s hearts and military morale amid imminent warfare, Han Qian had also discussed this with Zhu Yu during these final days.

He did not believe that further relocating the over one hundred thousand civilians who had retreated south from Bian to Shou Province as hostages would truly stabilize hearts.

For Heluo and Tangyi to comprehensively integrate, the new systems Han Qian had comprehensively and deeply implemented in Tangyi over these years were utterly different from Liang’s old systems—this was a fact no one could ignore.

With Zhu Yu alive to have the masses establish Han Qian as the new sovereign, legal principles became unimportant.

Liang’s founding emperor Zhu Wen had early on been a refugee army general, and he and his subordinate generals initially were extremely hostile toward the pure scholarly gentry. Back then at Baima Post, aside from greatly executing the previous dynasty’s imperial clan descendants, previous dynasty gentry also had heads rolling—which was why Xiao Yiqing and other aristocratic gentry fled north to submit to the barbarians.

Gu Qian, Chen Youtong, Jing Hao, Jing Zhen, Chen Kun, Han Yuanqi, and others were not of high birth and had not formed extremely rigid old legal concepts. This point differed greatly from Jianghuai, especially Jiangdong’s local powers.

Abolishing slave and servant base status while allowing hired servants, and abolishing the legitimate-versus-common heir system, would not directly impact Great Liang generals and ministers’ current interests.

With Heluo currently in precarious turmoil, local powers were unwilling to even have their sons enter office. Therefore, abolishing the hereditary privilege system and the new selection and promotion systems for officials and generals did not concern them much.

However, matters involving land could not be avoided.

This was not only the foundation of Heluo’s local powers but also the fundamental difference between Tangyi’s new systems and Liang’s old systems.

Gu Qian, Chen Youtong, Jing Hao, Jing Zhen, Chen Kun, and a large group of people, including fierce officials from the Chengtian Bureau like Shen Peng, Wen Rulin, and Zhao Ci, as well as military officers who had early on been organized into the Black Armored Corps and later spread throughout Great Liang’s forbidden army—as direct forces, most had primarily followed Zhu Yu during his management of Heluo.

Even though many of them had later relocated their entire families to Bian, their families were still rooted in Heluo. They could be said to represent Heluo’s local powers.

As Liang’s new nobility, though not of high birth, influenced by ideas rooted deep in people’s hearts for millennia, seeking land and asking about estates had become instinctive. Liang’s founding emperor Zhu Wen, when alive, had more often rewarded meritorious generals and officials with land and estates.

After Zhu Yu ascended the throne, even recognizing Tangyi’s new system advantages, busy with southern campaigns and northern wars, he had not been able to fundamentally change this point for a time.

Aside from Gu Qian, Chen Youtong, Jing Hao, Chen Kun, and their families occupying large amounts of land and estates in Heluo as the new land nobility, the Cai Province forces led by Han Yuanqi were deeply entangled with new local nobility powers in Cai, Ru, Ying, and Chen provinces.

Land surveying and consolidating poll taxes into land taxes were actually easier to implement.

Over these two years, to raise military funds and grain for disaster relief, Zhu Yu had imposed extremely high land and poll taxes on Heluo, Ying, Cai, and other areas. Land accounting was extremely strict. Implementing Tangyi’s related new policies would actually reduce the tax burden borne by local new nobility powers.

The biggest problem was Tangyi’s land limitation decree and military land allocation.

Currently in Tangyi’s provinces and counties, old local powers had almost all been destroyed. Major Xu Province clans like Xi Xiang and Yang had early on been completely dismantled by Han Qian after thorough military defeat. Xi Xunqiao, Feng Zhang, and others had naturally accepted the new policies. In Tangyi’s military, whether lower-level military clerks or mid-to-high-level generals and ministers, land limitation standards were the same as ordinary soldiers—household land ownership could not exceed thirty mu.

By this standard, probably most squad-level lower military officers in Liang’s forces would exceed the limit.

Early on, Liang’s military rewarded land based on enemy heads taken. This determined that lower military officers promoted through military merit directly became small and medium landlords just from military merit land grants, not to mention later annexation that had become almost instinctive, much less Liang’s mid-to-high-level generals and officials.

Even without mentioning merit from establishing the founder, if Han Qian wanted to rely on Gu Qian, Jing Hao, and their descendants, clansmen, and military officers at all levels to defend Heluo and resist barbarian invaders, rely on them to promote integration of the two armies, even to have new systems take root in Heluo, he could not directly and brutally strip them of land and estates they already possessed and had managed for one or two generations.

However, when Han Qian early on organized the Chishan Army, he had proclaimed he would make all under heaven’s tillers possess their land and all dwellers possess their homes. This was also the foundation of Han Qian’s promotion of new systems in Xu Province and Huaixi over these years and the guarantee of Tangyi’s combat effectiveness.

Among Liang’s current eighty thousand weak troops, some were slaves and landless poor conscripted by local powers to fill military and corvee service as local militia, while others were former Great Liang forbidden army soldiers whose families had fled south from Bian and lost their footing.

It could be said that among Liang’s current eighty thousand weak soldiers, the vast majority of their families had no foothold in Heluo and other areas.

After years of bitter warfare and the current dire situation, these weak soldiers had low morale.

Han Qian could temporarily not concern himself with Heluo’s lower-class poor, even the unification of new and old systems could temporarily make some compromises. But to raise the combat effectiveness and morale of Liang’s current soldiers under such complex and dangerous circumstances, he necessarily had to take out large amounts of land in Heluo, Cai, Ru, and other areas to distribute to Liang soldiers’ families for cultivation.

Facing such contradictions, after repeated consideration, Han Qian concluded that only a redemption policy could work—and starting with redemption from Liang’s high-ranking generals and officials.

Of course, Han Qian could not now produce millions or even tens of millions of strings of cash to redeem these lands and estates. What he could offer was part of his personal share holdings in the Manufacturing Bureau, Xu Province Official Money Bureau, and Chishan Association.

Additionally, mountain and marsh profits and salt, iron, tea, and liquor monopoly sales traditionally belonged to the inner court’s private property. This meant the mines Zhu Yu had previously developed in Heluo and other areas and the workshops he had established all belonged to official operations.

Han Qian also planned to convert these, along with the mines and workshops planned for construction over these two years, into share holdings to redeem cultivated land from Liang’s high-ranking generals, officials, and their families, first distributing it to Liang’s lowest-level landless soldiers.

Establishing the capital in Luoyang and redeeming cultivated land from high-ranking generals, officials, and their families to distribute to Liang’s lower-level soldiers, and having Liang’s lower-level soldiers take root in Heluo—this would not only stabilize soldiers’ hearts but also prevent Heluo and even Cai and Xu provinces’ local powers from having uncertain minds and wavering allegiances, and thus resolve Liang generals’ and officials’ suspicions about new and old system integration.

Hearing Han Qian speak of these matters, Gu Qian, Zhu Juezhong, Chen Youtong, Jing Hao, Chen Kun, and others all expressed deep agreement. They had to admit that Han Qian’s considerations were deeper than theirs.

Tangyi had seized nearly half of Jianghuai’s accumulated wealth through industrial and mining profits. Over these years, Qiao, Chen, and other Xuanshe gentry with marital ties to the Han family had mainly integrated into Tangyi by purchasing shares in official money bureaus—they all clearly understood this.

Gu Qian and others were very clear about how urgent the current situation was. They also knew that once land was lost and people perished, everything would turn to bubbles and nothing. How could people of their caliber dwell too much on these matters?

They even knew that when Zhu Yu was alive, he had considered directly confiscating one to two million mu of land and estates to settle soldiers and their families. Zhu Yu would not have considered redemption—he had no conditions to arrange any redemption. He would only use his prestige in the military to directly suppress opposing voices and implement this policy. They had even supported it.

Surviving the current crisis was most important.

Of course, that these several men had such understanding did not mean all of Heluo’s Liang new nobility powers and the entire mid-to-lower-level officer corps had such awareness, much less that Heluo’s other local powers with uncertain minds would be willing to make such sacrifices.

Among Liang soldiers and Heluo’s local powers, Han Qian clearly lacked the prestige and authority Zhu Yu had possessed. They believed that Han Qian’s current proposals for redemption, establishing the capital, and land allocation could better solve many problems.

They believed this could better persuade family and clan members, better pacify subordinates and local powers’ worried and restless minds, avoiding greater chaos.

Of course, over a hundred thousand troops and civilians, including Gu Qian and others’ family and clan members, had successfully withdrawn from Bian just three months ago. However callous and unfeeling people might be, few could completely forget in such a short time Tangyi’s unstinting assistance and grace, could they?