In the spring of the sixth year of Yanyao (231), Lan Yuan's Trap-Breaking Army escorted the way as Liu Bei departed Chang'an in the imperial carriage, passing through Tong Pass and Luoyang on his way to Mount Tai to perform the Fengshan rites.
Whenever they reached the site of a great battle, Liu Bei would stop to offer sacrifices to the fallen soldiers. Hearing that the Son of Heaven was making a tour, the local people stood expectantly along the roadside, holding fruits and melons in their hands, eager to behold the Great Han emperor who had brought the age of chaos to an end.
Now that the realm was at peace and free of war, lush green fields stretched all along the route. The high-yield, pest-resistant grain seeds cultivated by Lan Tian had already been planted across the northern lands.
The Central Plains, which had suffered most grievously from the wars, had seen its population dwindle to less than twenty percent of its peak due to the crushing military service and corvée labor of Cao Wei's later years. Fortunately, once the war ended, great numbers of young officials flooded into local posts. They brought efficient styles of governance, along with those miraculous grain seeds. The people's livelihoods recovered at an unbelievable pace, growing strong beneath the light of hope like millet shoots rising from the fields.
As the imperial procession passed through Hulao Pass, Liu Bei noticed Lan Tian and Lan Yuan whispering to each other. Curious, he asked, "Ziyu, Boyang, what are you father and son secretly talking about?"
"Your Majesty, I was telling Boyang that this was where his grandfather looked down upon all the heroes of the realm, and where Your Majesty and your two brothers first rose to fame." Lan Tian answered with cupped fists.