Three Kingdoms

  Chapter 385 Declining Pingyang

  Feiqian’s Beiqu Daying Camp is not at the former site of Beiqu County, but in the Xinshui River Basin in the southwest of it, and a distance east and south of the Xinshui River is Pingyang County, which is also the old Pingyang Marquis Kingdom.

  The old Pingyang Hou State was originally the fiefdom of Cao Shen, the hero who was opened by the Han Dynasty. Cao Shen followed Liu Bang to fight against Qin in Peixian County. He had experienced hundreds of battles and made many military exploits, conquering the two countries and 122 counties. After Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor, he rewarded meritorious ministers according to their merits, and Cao Shen ranked second in terms of merit. Therefore, Cao Shen named Pingyang Hou and established Pingyang Hou State with a household of 16,000.

  But in the sixth generation of Pingyanghou, Cao Zong, the fifth grandson of Cao Shen, was expelled from the country because of the prince's rebellion case.

  Later, although Cao Shen’s eighth grandson, Cao, was originally the Marquis of Pingyang, and restored the Marquis of Pingyang, which had been exterminated for 90 years, it had already declined and there were only a thousand households...

  During the Wang Mang period, Pingyang Marquis Cao Benshi died, and his son Cao Hong succeeded him.

  In the second year of Emperor Guangwu Jianwu, Cao Hong sent troops to assist Emperor Guangwu to pacify Hebei. After that, Cao Hong passed away, and his son Cao Kuang was heir.

   But unfortunately, Cao Kuang died without heirs, and the entire so-called Pingyang Cao family was cut off, and Pingyang County once again declined...

  In the second year of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, Cao Zhan was granted the title of Marquis of Rongcheng after Xiazhao restored the title of Cao Shen, and continued to worship Cao Shen.

   Soon, it was cut off again.

  In the third year of Emperor Yongchu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor He ordered Da Honghe to search for Cao Zhan's close relatives and make Shaofeng.

   Fortunately, after this time, the Marquis of Rongcheng granted by the descendants of Cao Shen never ceased in the Han Dynasty.

  However, this is no longer in Pingyang, but in Rongcheng.

  Now, in front of Feiqian, the old Pingyang County is already scattered with yellow sand and ruins...

  The former prosperous kingdom has completely disappeared after more than a hundred years.

  Fei Qian asked Ma Yue to lead his soldiers to set up camp near the original site of Pingyang County, while he walked slowly to the former site of Pingyang County with Huang Cheng.

  Any powerful thing in the world is as small as a fine dust in front of time.

The city wall of Pingyang County may have been a majestic giant many years ago, but now it is completely abandoned, and no one is on duty to guard it. The green bricks on the surface of many places on the city wall have collapsed to the ground, exposing the rammed earth inside. Layers, like a giant died and left the remains buried in the desert, it looks so bleak. Some weeds grew firmly in the gaps between the blue bricks and the soil of the city wall, and they were dyed with a little vitality and greenness in the yellow and black.

In ancient times, grass was not allowed to grow on city walls. Grass roots would destroy the original compact green bricks and soil layer, and then collapse very easily. Therefore, once grass grows, it must be removed immediately, and abandoned cities like Pingyang, Naturally there is no one to manage and clear…

  Fei Qian looked left and right, found a gap where the city wall had collapsed more severely, and climbed up. The original green bricks on the city wall had fallen off a lot, forming a stepping slope. Fei Qianmao stooped, using both hands and feet, and stepped on the rammed earth layer of the city wall without much effort, but was contaminated by fine yellow sand while climbing, and yellow marks were everywhere on his body.

  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

  No matter how prosperous and majestic and glorious it is, it is now a piece of loess under its feet.

   "Shuye, how about we set up a camp here?"

  Huang Cheng stood beside Fei Qian, looked left and right, hesitated, and said: "This place is flat, although there is water, but there is no danger to defend, I'm afraid..."

  The terrain of the old Pingyang county site and the Beiqu camp built by Feiqian is completely different.

The Beiqu camp is located in the hilly area on the edge of the Loess Plateau. Although the water and soil damage of the Loess Plateau in the Han Dynasty was not as obvious as in later generations, the rainfall and water erosion over millions of years have gradually produced some folds on the Loess Plateau. , the terrain is relatively fragmented, with large ups and downs, mountains, hills, plains and wide valleys coexist. If someone who is not familiar with the terrain breaks in, looking at the mountains and running to death is not just an adjective...

  But the old county site of Pingyang is not like this.

This place is located on the west bank of the Fenshui River system, at the intersection of the Fenshui Plain and the folded terrain of the Loess Plateau. The terrain is relatively flat, without so many gullies and hills, and it is suitable for growing crops. When the gate is closed, the place where Wanfu cannot open.

   This is the meaning of the half of what Huang Cheng didn't say.

  The decline of Pingyang County, although there is a factor of Pingyang Marquis's death, it is mostly related to the terrain...

  Fei Qian walked slowly along the rammed earth of the city wall and walked into the old city. Although most of the rammed earth city wall had collapsed, it was not easy to walk. The watchtower on the city gate has collapsed, and the city gate hole is completely blocked, so if you want to enter the city, it should be easier to climb through the gap in the broken city wall than to open the city gate.

   "Pingyang County has been abandoned for nearly twenty years, right?"

   Fei Qian slid down the rammed earth layer of the city wall with a steep slope, carefully avoiding some areas that seemed loose when stepped on, and descended into the city of Pingyang County.

  Huang Cheng and several personal guards were obviously much better than Fei Qian, and they all came down smoothly.

   "I'm not sure about this, but judging from the situation, it should be similar." Huang Cheng broke a wooden beam of a collapsed house and found that the wood was basically rotten, so he said.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the world was determined, so this flat area was suitable for a large number of intensive planting of crops. Without the war, the place quickly prospered. When Cao Shen was here as a marquis, Pingyang County had a population of 10,000 to 20,000 households. It is a huge county.

But when the period of war comes, it will not be easy to defend here. It is not good to defend the city when the enemy comes, and it is even worse not to defend the city. Afterwards, the Huns will plunder. Today the Huns will come, and tomorrow the Qiangs will come again. , no matter how flat the land is, no matter how suitable the soil for planting, without a safe environment, how can harvest be guaranteed?

  Without the harvest of food, they would naturally be unable to live, so slowly, the population migrated away, to Linfen in the southwest, to Xiangling, which has a favorable location, and the city of Pingyang was naturally abandoned...

   But it is undeniable that Pingyang is indeed a good place.

This place is not only good for the surrounding land suitable for farming, abundant water sources, and convenient transportation. More importantly, this county is unowned. As long as Fei Qian has the ability to control this area, it will naturally be here. It will become the property of Fei Qian.

   It's just that the premise is that it must be kept...

   Cheng Yu reminded Cao Cao many times before setting fire to Chibi...

   When Pang Tong offered a series of tricks, he reminded that it would be over if they were tied together and encountered a fire attack. Cao Cao laughed: It’s okay, there is no southeast wind in winter;

   When the southeast wind blows, Cheng Yu comes to remind again, Cao Cao laughed: the winter solstice is a yang, and it is normal for the southeast wind to blow occasionally;

   Huang Gai led the boat to surrender, and Cheng Yu was the first to notice something was wrong. Cao Cao didn't laugh this time, but it was too late to stop after listening to the explanation.

   By the way, when Huarong Road was finally blocked by Guan Yu, Cao Cao's men were either dumbstruck or wanted to fight to the death. Only Cheng Yu persuaded Cao Cao to come forward and show affection, and they were able to escape.

   But what did Cao Cao do after that?

   Beating his chest, stomping his feet and crying to the sky: If Guo Jia is still alive, how can I suffer such a big defeat!

   Cheng Yu's mood...

  (end of this chapter)