Chapter 186 Checks and Balances
The loss of Guanzhong had some impact on the people of Luoyang. For example, the dancing girls in the wine shops they frequented had not changed for a long time.

In the past, new faces would enter the various taverns and dance halls in Luoyang City almost every month.

In addition, there are various goods from the Western Regions, such as gold and silver decorations of unique shapes, spices, etc.

In Luoyang, many businesses were not doing as well as before because of the lack of large-scale purchases from Western Hu merchants.

Moreover, because of the military campaigns in various places, the specialties of many places could not be transported to Luoyang, such as Shu brocade from Yizhou, lychees from Lingnan, and silk from Jiangdong.

This resulted in the situation where even if the rich had money they could not buy some things.

On the other hand, due to the road isolation and hostile situation, Luoyang has now lost the actual control over Bashu, Longyou and other places.

Now we only know that Li Yuan sent troops to Longyou, but the specific situation is not clear.

In this situation, the Luoyang court had very limited options for intervention. As it was out of reach, all it could do was wait for the outcome of the war over there.

Tuoba Yuqing led his army back to Jinyang, while Yewang left thousands of people to garrison and confront the Eastern Yan army in Huai County.

The imperial court had just completed the autumn harvest, and there was some controversy over whether to continue using military force.

Among the court officials, Shangshu Ling Gao Shi advocated pursuing the victory, launching an immediate offensive, and retaking Guanzhong in one go.

Zuo Pushe Xue Chu and Liu He advocated recovering Hedong first.

Some generals supported the recovery of Guanzhong, some supported the use of troops in Hedong, and some believed that the situation should be delayed for the time being, because Hebei had not yet recovered, and Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou and other areas were not peaceful. As for Yangzhou, it was also necessary to guard against the Eastern Wei in Jiangdong.

The entire Jingzhou has been captured by the Western Wei.

Calculating it this way, it seems that it is indeed not suitable to send troops during this period of time.

The two old ministers who served as the main force did not participate in the specific dispute, nor did they express any opinions.

The emperor saw that everyone below was talking about different things, and he became hesitant and didn't know how to deal with it.

"I have no special talents. The late emperor passed the throne to me only because I was older. Now the world is in chaos. There are remnants of the former Wei in the south, Turkic barbarians in the north, Liang rebels in the west, and Wagang in the east. I really don't know how to explain to the late emperor."

Murong Chao stood at the entrance of the hall and looked outside, with several attendants and old officials of the Eastern Palace behind him.

As the chief eunuch in the palace who had been highly favored by the previous emperor, Feng Jin remained calm and stood behind the emperor without expressing any opinions.

Several eunuchs who had always followed Murong Chao, although now had considerable power in the palace, had not changed from their previously developed cautious nature and remained silent.

As for the few old ministers of the Eastern Palace, they actually didn't have a very deep friendship with the emperor. After all, Murong Chao had only been the crown prince for a few months.

That is the current Secretary of the Central Secretariat Xue Changye, who was originally the Chief Clerk of the Royal Palace. He was considered a sincere Confucian scholar and was very famous.

He is very good at academic research, but his other aspects are not very impressive.

These are actually understandable. After all, Murong Chao was not trained as an heir and lacked a foundation.

Whether he has a strong maternal family and in-laws' family, now that he is the emperor, he will have a headache facing all the powerful ministers in the court.

Thinking of this, he was pondering the question that Murong Zan had once pondered: How did the late emperor make the ministers fear him and ensure that his government orders were carried out smoothly?

He actually asked this question to Zuo Pushe Xue Chu. After all, Xue Chu was once the Prince's tutor, and was considered his half-uncle.

Xue Chu did not give him a perfunctory answer and told him many old stories about the late emperor Murong Ying.

This shows that the late emperor was loved by Emperor Wu, the founding emperor, and was cultivated as a crown prince by Emperor Wen since childhood. He was also very talented.

"Wisdom is enough to stop criticism, and words are enough to cover up mistakes."

And Murong Chao also heard the hidden meaning of Xue Chu's words.

That is, the current chaos in the world actually has nothing to do with him. Most of them are the troubles left by the previous emperor. Before they were cleared up, the previous emperor went to meet the ancestors of Dayan. It seems that the previous emperor was a wise ruler in his last year, and he successively eliminated several vassal kings who had disloyal intentions.

But in fact, these are just to fill in the gaps for what he did in the past ten years.

But these words can only be mentioned implicitly and cannot be said openly.

"Li Qing, follow me."

"promise."

Murong Chao was in front, and the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Li Xiaoyan followed half a body length behind him.

"Mr. Li, has General Zhennan sent you any letters recently?"

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoyan said truthfully, "I wrote back a letter a few days ago about General Liu's transfer to Youzhou. Sanlang said that he would let General Liu come to Luoyang as soon as the war was over."

Murong Chao nodded when he heard this. "General Li is loyal to his country, which is rare. I have also read the military report on the war in Jianghuai. General Li did a good job. Prince Wei Aweng once said that General Li is steady and has the talent of a great general. It's a pity that Jianghuai is in an emergency and he can't always be at the center to give me advice."

In Murong Chao's heart, he would occasionally think of the warning letter that Murong Jiayin wrote to him on the day of Murong Ying's death.

If I had listened to your advice earlier, why would it have come to this?
"Mr. Li, the officials in the court have recently been arguing over the use of troops. I wonder how you think we should decide?"

Li Xiaoyan was silent for a moment, then said: "I dare not make the decision for Your Majesty, but I think that after half a year of fighting, the army is old and the soldiers are tired. Besides, the autumn harvest is over and it is cold in winter. It is not suitable to use troops. It is better to wait for the results of the Longyou war before making any plans."

After hearing this, Murong Chao nodded, but did not comment.

In fact, he was somewhat inclined to Gao Shizhe's suggestion to settle Guanzhong as soon as possible.

Because of the special nature of Guanzhong, it is the land of the king. It is also the nominal capital. Although it is not as prosperous as Luoyang now, it is indeed the place where the mausoleums of Emperor Wu and Emperor Wen are located.

Of course, it is not easy to attack Guanzhong. Now that Tongguan is not in our hands, we cannot enter Guanzhong without gathering heavy troops.

In addition to manpower, it also requires a long period of time.

Now that Jiangdong has been occupied by the Eastern Wei and after the loss of the four counties, the annual grain transport from the south will be reduced by more than half.

In addition, Jianghuai also had to deal with the Eastern Wei, and expanding the army also required a large amount of food consumption.

As for other states and counties, they are still in chaos. The remaining Jizhou and Youzhou have just experienced a great war, so it is good enough that they do not have to ask the court for food.

If there had not been a mountain of grain piled up in the Luokou granary, enough for the army to use, the food problem would have put the Dayan army into a desperate situation of food shortage.

So it depends on the food issue. It is really not suitable to carry out large-scale military activities now.

After all, once the army is blocked at the gates of Tongguan, based on past experience, it is not uncommon for it to take a year or two.

This requires preparing enough food and supplies. The longer the army goes on an expedition, the more food it consumes.

This is common sense.

And this is not just two years ago. There are warehouses everywhere to prepare for emergencies.

In recent years, refugees have been everywhere and causing chaos. Only one in ten granaries in various places has survived the war, and the damage caused by the war to agricultural production is obvious to all.

Thinking of this, Murong Chao couldn't help but sigh. It was really difficult to take a step forward.

But the next moment, he immediately caused trouble for Li Xiaoyan behind him.

"Mr. Li, yesterday Lord Gao told me that the post of Governor of Yangzhou has been vacant for half a year and we should appoint a new one as soon as possible. What do you think, Mr. Li?"

After hearing this, although Li Xiaoyan hated Gao's meddling in his affairs, he still said, "Yangzhou needs an important official to take charge of the civil affairs, so that my brother can focus on dealing with the Eastern Wei."

(End of this chapter)