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Fei Qian's Beiqu camp was not on the original site of the old Beiqu county town but located southwest in the Xinshui River basin. Further east and slightly south along the Xinshui River lay Pingyang County, also the former Marquisate of Pingyang.
The old Marquisate of Pingyang was originally the fief of Cao Can, a founding hero of the Great Han. Cao Can followed Liu Bang in rebelling against the Qin from Pei County, experienced countless battles, repeatedly distinguished himself, and conquered two kingdoms and one hundred and twenty-two counties. After Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor, he rewarded the meritorious officials, with Cao Can ranked second in merit. Therefore, Cao Can was enfeoffed as Marquis of Pingyang, establishing the Marquisate of Pingyang with ten thousand six hundred households.
However, during the time of the sixth-generation Marquis of Pingyang, Cao Can's fifth-generation descendant Cao Zong was implicated in the crown prince's rebellion plot, and the marquisate was abolished. At the time of abolition, the marquisate had twenty-three thousand households.
Later, although Cao Ben, Cao Can's eighth-generation descendant, was made Marquis of Pingyang, re-establishing the Marquisate of Pingyang which had been abolished for ninety years, it had already declined beyond recognition, with only a thousand households…
During Wang Mang's period, Marquis of Pingyang Cao Ben died, and his son Cao Hong succeeded.
In the second year of Emperor Guangwu's reign, Cao Hong raised troops to assist Emperor Guangwu in pacifying Hebei, and thus after Emperor Guangwu ascended the throne, he inherited the marquisate as before. Later, Cao Hong died, and his son Cao Kuang succeeded.
But unfortunately, Cao Kuang died without an heir, cutting off the entire so-called Pingyang Cao lineage. Pingyang County declined once again…
In the second year of Emperor Zhang's Jianchu era, an edict was issued to re-enfeoff Cao Zhan, a descendant of Cao Can, as Marquis of Rongcheng to continue Cao Can's line.
Soon after, it was cut off again.
In the third year of Emperor He's Yongchu era, Emperor He issued an edict ordering the Minister of the Imperial Clan to seek Cao Zhan's close relatives for inheritance.
Fortunately, after this, the Marquis of Rongcheng title held by Cao Can's descendants was never again extinguished during the Han Dynasty.
But this was no longer in Pingyang; it was in Rongcheng.
And now, the old Pingyang county town before Fei Qian's eyes was a scene of scattered yellow sand and crumbling walls…
The former flourishing marquisate had completely vanished after over a hundred years.
Fei Qian had Ma Yue lead the soldiers to set up camp near the original site of Pingyang county town, while he himself slowly walked towards the old Pingyang site with Huang Cheng.
All mighty beings of the world are as insignificant as specks of dust before the passage of time.
The walls of Pingyang county town might have been a majestic, imposing structure many years ago, but now they were completely abandoned, with no one to guard or maintain them. In many places, the surface bricks had crumbled to the ground, revealing the rammed earth layers inside, like the bones of a giant buried in the desert, appearing desolate and bleak. Some wild grasses grew tenaciously from cracks between the bricks and earth, adding specks of vitality and green amidst the yellow and black landscape.
In ancient times, walls couldn't be allowed to grow grass. Grass roots would damage the originally compact bricks and soil layers, making them prone to collapse. Therefore, if grass grew, it had to be cleared immediately. But for an abandoned city like Pingyang, naturally no one managed or cleared it…
Fei Qian looked around, found a severely collapsed gap in the wall, and climbed up. Many bricks on the wall had already fallen off, forming a convenient sloping foothold. Fei Qian hunched over, using both hands and feet, and with little effort stepped onto the rammed earth layer of the wall, though he got yellowish stains all over from the fine yellow sand while climbing.
Dust to dust, earth to earth.
No matter how prosperous and grand, how glorious and dazzling, now it was merely yellow earth beneath his feet.
"Shuye, what do you think about us establishing a camp here?"
Huang Cheng stood beside Fei Qian, looking left and right, hesitated a moment, and said: "This place is flat. Although there's water, there's no natural defensible position. I'm afraid…"
The terrain of the old Pingyang county town site and the Beiqu camp Fei Qian built were completely different.
The Beiqu camp was in the hilly region at the edge of the Loess Plateau. Although soil erosion on the Loess Plateau during the Han Dynasty wasn't as severe as in later eras, millions of years of rainfall and water flow had gradually created some folded terrain. The terrain was relatively fragmented, with significant undulations, coexisting mountains, hills, plains, and broad valleys. For someone unfamiliar with the terrain, entering could mean "gazing at mountains, exhausting the horse"—not just a figure of speech…
But the old Pingyang county town site wasn't like that.
This place was located on the western bank of the Fen River system, at the confluence of the Fen River plain and the folded terrain of the Loess Plateau. The terrain was relatively flat, without so many ravines and hills, suitable for farming. But precisely because of this, it wasn't a place where one man could hold off ten thousand.
Huang Cheng's unspoken half-sentence meant exactly that.
The decline of Pingyang County had factors like the Marquis of Pingyang's line ending, but also likely related to the local topography…
Fei Qian slowly walked along the rammed earth wall into the old city. Although the rammed earth wall had mostly collapsed, walking wasn't easy either. The watchtower above the city gate had collapsed, and the gate tunnel was completely blocked. So, entering the city through a broken gap in the wall was probably easier than opening the city gate.
"Pingyang County has been abandoned for nearly twenty years, right?"
Fei Qian slid down the steeply inclined rammed earth wall, carefully avoiding areas that seemed loose underfoot, and descended into Pingyang County's interior.
Huang Cheng and a few personal guards were clearly more agile than Fei Qian and descended smoothly.
"I'm not too sure about that, but judging by the state, it should be about right." Huang Cheng tested a collapsed house beam, found the wood mostly rotten, and said.
In the early Han Dynasty, the world desired stability, so this flat area was suitable for large-scale concentrated farming. Without war, prosperity quickly followed. When Cao Can was enfeoffed here, Pingyang County had ten to twenty thousand households, truly a massive county.
But when times of war came, this place was hard to defend. Enemy troops arrived; defending the city was difficult, not defending was worse. Later, with Hu people's raids—today a wave of Xiongnu, tomorrow a wave of Qiang—even with the flattest land and most suitable soil, without a safe environment, how could harvests be guaranteed?
Without food harvests, naturally people couldn't stay. So gradually, the population migrated away—to Linfen southwest, to Xiangling with its geographical advantages—and Pingyang city was naturally abandoned…
But it was undeniable that Pingyang was indeed a good place.
This place was good not only for having suitable surrounding farmland, abundant water sources, and convenient transportation but, more importantly, this county town was ownerless. If Fei Qian had the capability to control this area, it would naturally become his territory.
Only the prerequisite was being able to defend it…