Chapter 3 3. Move the capital

Less than a month after Liu Bang established Luoyang as his capital, someone jumped out and proposed to him to move the capital. This person is Lou Jing, who is famous all over the world for his eloquence. Before the proposal of moving the capital, almost none of the political leaders in Luoyang City knew that there was another person named Lou Jing in the world.Not famous, of course.Because Lou Jing at this time is just a hard-working soldier who was recruited by Qi State and sent to the west to guard the border. It is said that Lou Jing was miserable because he was a soldier pulling a cart to the frontier.At that time, when Lou Jing's army passed by Luoyang City, he suddenly untied the rope around his body and ran away.What is unexpected is that he did not flee back to Qi, but defected to a fellow villager named General Yu at the time.

Lou Jing told General Yu that I want to see the current emperor. General Yu looked Lou Jing from side to side: he looked like a poor man, with a worn sheepskin jacket and a dusty face, he looked like a beggar.This deserter, who is as humble as a speck of dust, wants to meet the emperor, he must have taken the wrong medicine, right? General Yu asked Lou Jing, what exactly do you want to do? Lou Jing: I want to propose to the emperor. General Yu: If you have any comments, please tell me, and I will pass them on to the emperor for you. Lou Jing: No, I want to mention it to the emperor face to face.

General Yu: What suggestion do you want to make to the emperor? Lou Jing: Move the capital. General Yu really couldn't laugh or cry.Move the capital?Where else can I move, the world is so big, apart from heaven, is there any capital in the world that is more suitable to be called emperor than Luoyang City?Brother, when the emperor was on the road, you didn't know which mountain corner you were squatting in, so don't give him those crooked things.The emperor's relocation is not an ordinary family. It doesn't matter where you move, and if you don't move properly, you can move back.If the suggestion is inappropriate and violates taboos, they will cut you in half with one knife without making excuses.

Lou Jing: What I want to say is a serious matter, not the evil words you think. I have seen crazy ones, but I have never seen such crazy and ignorant ones.This stubborn fellow, he just wanted to use this as a sensationalist to make himself familiar with the emperor.Finally, General Yu was helpless, he said: How about this, I will give you a new set of clothes, at least you have to shower and change before going to see him? Lou Jing said again: I can wear whatever I wear, so don't bother you. It really is crazy.Showering and changing clothes is the most basic respect for the emperor. Don't even understand this basic etiquette?Well, since you want to ask for trouble, I will help you.So, this general named General Yu tried to report to Liu Bang.

It's amazing that Liu Bang is willing to summon Lou Jing. In fact, the reason why Lou Jing dared to meet Liu Bang was that he had the same powerful self-defense weapon on his body, that is, the tongue in his mouth. Those who sweep the world with their tongues are called debaters.We know that since Su Qin became famous, almost all political strategists came from poor and humble backgrounds, and they all have one common characteristic: high skill and boldness.In this world, there are too many bold people, but if you want to be successful, you need to be highly skilled.Only with high skill and boldness can one be able to call the wind and call the rain and rule the world.

As the saying goes, misfortune comes from the mouth.If you are timid, don't be a political strategist. If you are a political strategist, you should wash your neck clean, waiting to be chopped off at any time.Lou Jing didn't wash his neck, and he didn't mean to be obsessed with himself, but he was confident enough to be sure that Liu Bang would accept his opinion. As soon as Lou Jing saw Liu Bang, he asked, "May I ask the emperor to set his capital in Luoyang, and he wants to compare with the Zhou Dynasty who has established the country the longest?" Liu Bang replied without hesitation: You are right.

Luoyang was the capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, but it was not called Luoyang in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, but Luoyi.And why did Lou Jing judge that Liu Bang wanted to learn from the Zhou Dynasty, not the Shang Dynasty or the Xia Dynasty?In fact, we made this secret very clear during the Liu Bang Snake Uprising.Didn't Liu Bang claim to be the son of the Red Emperor?Who is the Red Emperor? According to the Five Virtues Theory of Onmyangists, the Zhou Dynasty got the Fire Virtue, the color was still red, and the Fire gave birth to the Earth, and Liu Bang got the Tu Virtue.Huode is Tude's father, Liu Bang learns from his father, who will he learn from?

We also know that the Eastern Zhou Dynasty is divided into two periods, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Throughout the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the country was extremely turbulent.Looking back on the Zhou Dynasty, the most prosperous one was in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the capital of the country was Haojing, which is today's west of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province.Now, Lou Jing is preparing to mobilize Liu Bang to move his capital to the vicinity of Haojing, and the name of that place is Chang'an.Chang'an is the northwest of today's Xi'an. Please note that although political strategists and debaters have some beliefs in Yin-Yang, they mainly rely on analyzing the current situation of the world. Therefore, Lou Jing does not use Yin-Yang to persuade Liu Bang, but analyzes interests from the geographical key points of the world.However, the analysis of Lou Jing’s report on the feasibility of relocating the capital is a bit lengthy to read. In order to facilitate reading and comprehension, I can only summarize his main points:

First: Luoyang City used to be an important place in the world's geography. However, with the expansion of the feudal land and power around Luoyang, Luoyang City, which lacked a buffer zone, gradually lost its geographical advantage of overlooking the world. Second: In the land of Guanzhong, there is a high mountain on the left as a barrier, and the Yellow River is on the right as a natural moat.From the geographical point of view, the hometown of Qin seems to be squatting behind the world, taking advantage of the world's geographical advantages, and firmly strangling the world's throat.Such a land of kings, who else is better?

Not only did Liu Bang admire Lou Jing's words, he praised them again and again, and even thought that Lou Jing's words were very good.Therefore, Liu Bang immediately held an enlarged meeting to discuss the matter of moving the capital to Guanzhong. However, almost no one in the Han Dynasty agreed to move the capital.There is only one reason for them: it is true that the Zhou Dynasty established its capital at Haojing for hundreds of years, but didn’t the Qin Dynasty also establish its capital at Guanzhong? Why were they defeated by the world after two generations?Luoyang has Chenggao granary in the east, Xiaoshan Mountain in the west as a barrier, the Yellow River in the north, and Yishui and Luoshui in the south. Looking at it this way, there are no natural protections on all sides. It is as strong as steel. What are we afraid of? ah.

What you all said seems to be very reasonable, and now it is Liu Bang's turn to be embarrassed.Both places are a good place, should we move or not? Liu Bang had no choice but to turn around and ask Zhang Liang what he thought. It happened that Zhang Liang had the same opinion as Lou Jing, and he said to Liu Bang: The generals are right, Luoyang City has the above advantages.However, the territory of Luoyang City is too small, the land is not fertile, and the crop yield is low.At the same time, the enemies in all directions of Luoyang City can attack it at the same time, which is not a place for force.Guanzhong is not the case. There are mountains in the north and south, forming a natural barrier. As long as you control the east, you can control the world. This is the real impregnable.So, what Lou Jing said was not wrong at all. Zhang Liang's kind words really inspired Liu Bang.Lou Jing is a talent from heaven, needless to say, let's follow his proposal.Therefore, Liu Bang immediately ordered to move the capital and set off immediately. Liu Bang is fierce enough, he just wants to attack decisively, and prevent the generals from haggling and dragging their feet.At the same time, the reason why Liu Bang acted so quickly was also because he had already seen the psychological barriers of the generals. Because all the generals are from Shandong (east of Xiaoshan Mountain), which one doesn’t want to stay close to his hometown, and which one is willing to spend his whole life in a foreign land with unfamiliar mountains and water? Now, the generals have no chance to argue, because Liu Bang has already set out on his own initiative, and no one dares not to learn from it.Therefore, Liu Bang successfully moved his capital to Guanzhong and made his capital Chang'an. Therefore, Lou Jing was named a doctor because of his meritorious service in the memorial, and at the same time, he was given the surname Liu.Since then, Lou Jing has another name——Liu Jing.He, following Li Shiqi, created another myth of a poor man flying to the sky with only a soft tongue and a wise head.