Book 12 Chapter 11 – Ancient Capital of Thousand Years

Luoyang was located prominently at the southern bank of the Yellow River. On the north, Mount Mang acted as a screen, to the south it was connected to Luo River. To the east was Hu Lao [tiger prison], west was Han Valley. It was surrounded by range of hills all around, with the Luoyang plains in the middle, and four streams: Yi, Luo, Chan, and Jian, passing through it. It was both strategically situated and easy to defend, and had beautiful scenery. The soil was fertile and the climate moderate, while water transport was convenient.

Since ancient times, eight different dynasties established their capital here: Xia, Shang, Eastern Zhou, Eastern Han, Cao Wei, Western Jin, Northern Wei, and Sui.

The so-called ‘River Yang [positive/male/opposite of Yin] ground to set up the sacred tripods’ [not sure, I simply translated as is] between the Central Plains and the four sides of the wind, Luoyang was a major crossroad linking the land under the heavens, and a military stronghold.

After Yang Guang ascended the throne, from Luoyang he selected another location for his capital and established a new one.

The new imperial city was located between the Zhouwang [king of Zhou?] City and Han Wei old city, across the Chanshui River on the east, spanning toward the Luo River on the south, facing the Jian River on the west, and leaning against the Mount Mang on the north. The city’s circumference was more than fifty li; indeed a grand and magnificent sight.

Again, with Luoyang as the center, Yang Guang cut a canal reaching Hangzhou in the south, Zhuo County on the north, cutting through the Grand Canal spanning from north to south, and connecting the Hai River, Yellow River, Huai River, Yangtze River, and Qiantang River, five major waterways, so that Luoyang became the major hub of the world’s [remember: tianxia, meaning China] center of commerce.

This particular day, the sky has not brightened, the city gates have just been opened, a large number of traveling merchants, intermingling with farmers heading toward the morning market, were already lining up, waiting to enter the city.

Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling, still wearing their masks, mingled among the crowds, were strutting leisurely into the city via the south gate.

Luoyang’s scale naturally could not be compared to average size cities. The south gate itself actually consisted of three gates: the middle one was called Jian Guo Gate [founder of the country], the left one was called Bai Hu Gate [white tiger], and the right one was called Chang Xia Gate [eternal summer]; all three were broad.

This moment the two men no longer wore Wagang Army uniform, but ordinary old peasant clothes just like two farmers coming into the city to do business. Each man carried large bundles of fresh-cut vegetables on shoulder pole. They reported randomly selected names to the city guard, and the soldiers let them in without any trouble.

They had just entered the city, when Xu Ziling, who had never been to a city like this, suddenly had his eyes wide open.

He saw the ‘Heavenly Street’, the main street connecting the north and the south gates, which spanned about two hundred steps, opened up before his eyes in a perfectly straight line, perhaps its length reached around seven or eight li.

On the sidewalk were planted cherry, pomegranate, elm, willow, and all kinds of other trees. The middle of the street was the imperial road, where the Emperor would go on inspection tours. At this time of the year, between the spring and the summer, the flower-pink and the willow-green met together to create picturesque scenery, more beautiful than anybody could imagine.

The main street was lined with unending row of shops, each one opened up to the street or the dozens of smaller streets and alleys linking up all the city gates; everything was clear and in good order.

Ba Fenghan said with a laugh, “Louyang has two major characteristics that everybody should know.”

Highly interested, Xu Ziling asked for guidance.

Ba Fenghan said, “First is this north-south axis, which permits the Luo River to cut across the whole city, dividing Luoyang into two regions: north and south, which are connected by four big bridges, which also connecting the Luo River with the other three streams, Yi, Chan and Jian, inside the city, so that the river course encircle the city, bringing the water from the mountain into the city, making the city and its landscape seem to be made by Heaven and arranged by Earth.”

This moment, suddenly a marvel appeared ahead; a sailboat, previously concealed beneath the buildings, sped over. From their angle of view, only the top of the sail appeared to move, as if the boat was gliding over the dry land.

Xu Ziling delightedly said, “I am accustomed to the patchwork of waterways in Jiangnan, which draw water from the rivers and the lakes into the cities, so this is no surprise. But seldom did I see something like this, the Luo River is wide, deep and perfectly straight, giving Luoyang its unique orderly and harmonious atmosphere. And the size of the city is certainly not comparable to the cities along the patchwork of waterways. So what’s the other characteristic?”

By this time the sky has brightened considerably, there were more people and vehicles on the street. From time to time a team of soldiers or guards in their glittering armor sped by along the imperial road on their way to their morning drill, adding an imposing air to this beautiful imperial city.

Ba Fenghan went on, “The other characteristic is the Wai Guo Cheng [outer city wall] outside the western city wall. Due to its natural setting of the Western Park, to the west it reaches Xin’an, to the north Mount Mang, to the south Yi Que and various hills, the area two hundred li surrounding it is comparable to the Shanglin Yuan [upper forest park] during the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the past. Wai Guo Cheng and the Western Park joined together, it increases the scale of Luoyang.”

The two traveled along the street until they reached the southern bank of the Luo River.

Pointing to the big bridge across the Luo River, connecting the north and the south banks, Ba Fenghan said, “That one is called Xin Zhong [new middle] Bridge. Just by looking at the size of this bridge, we can thus estimate how Yang Guang wasted manpower and resources in the past. Rumor has it that in order to make Luoyang the capital city, that muddleheaded ruler mobilized several tens of thousands wealthy tycoons from every part of the country, also three thousand plus master artisans from Henan and settled them at the twelve-lane area by the Luo River’s south bank at the southeast corner of Wai Guo Cheng. Hence the reason we have such ambience nowadays.”

And then, lowering his voice he said, “This is called ‘good result came out of bad intention’. Whoever obtains the world in the future is going to enjoy the result of Yang Guang’s construction effort. As long as he manages the government properly, he will enjoy period of prosperity.”

Xu Ziling was listening with deep veneration. Athough Ba Fenghan’s aspiration was in the martial art way, he was very insightful toward current political climate; he was definitely standing out from the masses. While the present time was clearly not the time anybody would want to put themselves in Yang Guang’s side, he was able to point out that Yang Guang’s construction establishment would bring great benefit to the future generations.

Ba Fenghan laughed and said, “We ought to find a place to cure our stomach.”

Xu Ziling readily agreed.

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The City of Yanshi was located at the north bank of Luo River, south of the Yellow River, and north of the lofty Mount Song, Shaoshi Peak and other mountains, upstream from Luoyang, about a hundred li downstream was Hulao, and was an auxiliary strategic stronghold protecting Luoyang, also the front