Chapter 437: A shocking discovery in Guanzhong
Luo Sheng set out for the Western Regions. Traveling there from Chang'an meant passing through the four commanderies of Hexi and the commanderies of Guanzhong west of Chang'an. Having remained East of the Passes for so long, the Luo Clan had gradually lost sight of conditions in Guanzhong. This was a convenient opportunity to investigate.
What Luo Sheng found far exceeded his expectations: he actually discovered quite a few displaced people in Guanzhong.
And clearly, they had been displaced for quite some time. They ranged from the old to the young.
His steward was equally astonished by the sight. Displaced people East of the Passes would have been understandable. After all, powerful gentry were clustered there, and even with the Lingyi System, land annexation remained impossible to control.
But this was Guanzhong, land directly administered by the imperial house, its political base. Not even the fiefs of high-ranking marquises were granted here, yet displaced people had appeared here too?
The steward soon established where these people had come from and said gravely, "Young Master, these commoners lost their homes in the twelfth year of Yuancheng, when Guanzhong suffered flooding. To discharge the floodwaters, the court had no choice but to open the embankment on the northern side, inundating their fertile fields and homes. Then, because the supplies issued by the court were insufficient and no new land was allotted to them, they could only become displaced wanderers."
Yuancheng was Emperor Ding of Han's era name.
Luo Sheng frowned slightly. "In the twelfth year of Yuancheng, the Han Court had yet to suffer its defeat in the southwest. Could it really have lacked the means to provide disaster relief?
"Although Emperor Xiaoding made mistakes in his later years, he was not a brutal ruler.