Chapter 467: The dignitaries of the East of the Passes
In the second year of Yuanfeng, the winds were favorable and the rains timely. Guanzhong reaped a great harvest, yielding millet by the millions and tens of millions of shi.
The Dukes and Ministers petitioned, "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 this past year. Some commoners have yet to return home, others are still hiding in the mountains, and land still lies 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 stand utterly empty, unable to provide supplies for the people to live on. We respectfully implore you to allocate millet so that the people East of the Passes may survive."
More than half the Dukes and Ministers at court came from the East of the Passes, so naturally they cared more about their native lands. The East of the Passes was indeed in a miserable state. Emperor Li Liu Dan had previously tormented the region without restraint, creating refugees by the millions, while Guanzhong had very few.
Then the Jingnan Feudal Lords had raised their armies, draining the last reserves of the East of the Passes dry. After all, one needed only to consider the food, clothing, and supplies required by hundreds of thousands of people to know that the cost must have been astronomical. After such a succession of brutal blows, promises and hope were the reason the East of the Passes could still be pacified.
The Jingnan Feudal Lords had guaranteed that they would press the court to mobilize the resources of the