In the second year of Yuanfeng, the winds were favorable and the rains timely. Guanzhong reaped a great harvest, yielding millet measured in hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of shi.
The Dukes and Ministers reported, "The lands ravaged by Emperor Li were largely those East of the Passes. Guanzhong received your compassion and thus recovered.
"The East of the Passes has yet to recover. Disasters have struck repeatedly over this past year; some people have yet to return home, others still hide in the mountains, and fields still lie fallow.
"Could this be because the officials East of the Passes have not worked hard enough?
"It is because the treasuries of the commanderies and counties are utterly empty, leaving them unable to allocate supplies for the people to live on. We respectfully implore you to grant millet so that the people East of the Passes may survive."
More than half the Dukes and Ministers at court came from East of the Passes, so naturally they cared more about their homeland. The East of the Passes was indeed in a wretched state. Emperor Li Liu Dan had previously tormented the region without restraint, displacing millions, while Guanzhong had very few refugees.
Then the Jingnan Feudal Lords raised their armies, draining the last reserves East of the Passes. After all, merely considering the food, clothing, and supplies needed for hundreds of thousands of mouths made it clear that the cost had to be astronomical. After such repeated, brutal blows, the East of the Passes could still be pacified only because of promises and hope.
The Jingnan Feudal Lords guaranteed that they would press the court to mobilize the strength of the entire country as quickly as possible to restore the dozens of commanderies and states in Qingzhou, Jizhou, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and