Han Khan

Chapter 15, Paladin
As a result, the descendants of the Guiyi Army, the remnants of the Jinshan Kingdom, will appear in the center of the Eurasian continent as Jinhan people.

At the same time, along with the Jin and Han people's common appearance in the world is their unwavering belief in the God of Heaven.

This belief will survive in the world with the help of the holy religion founded by Emperor Zhang Sheng.

In the Holy Religion, there are five levels of clergy, from the lowest to the highest priests, chief priests, high priests, cardinal priests, and the emperor, who specialize in serving the God of Heaven. They shoulder the sacred mission of inheriting the faith of the Holy Religion and spreading the culture of the Xia and Han dynasties, and managing the Holy Religion affairs of the future Jinhan tribe.

Yes, the Emperor is the first priest in the Holy Religion and is the dual leader of the Holy Religion and the country.

The Lord of Heaven changed from being the exclusive object of worship for the emperor to the object of worship for everyone.

The future of this new tribe and sect is unknown.

However, it is foreseeable that without the backing of powerful military force, it would be difficult for either sects or tribes to gain a stable foothold in such a turbulent and chaotic world.

"Yin Shanxiong, Koza, Zhang Xibao, Boniek, Hunziji, Hunziying, Zhang Chengming, Liang Xingde, Xue Shantong, Luo Wenda, An Shilang, Kang Xintong, Wang Duoji, Li Pajia, Zhang Langjieri, Zhang Jingchong, Zhang Baoshan, Zhang Congwu, Zhang Liangzhen, Duobo, and Tiemuge."

Still in this tent with so much to do.

When they heard their master, the Lord of the Jinhan tribe, the Son of Heaven of the Holy Religion, Zhang Sheng, calling their names, the twenty-one captains of the personal guards and centurions of the tribesmen, who were wearing iron armor, knelt on the ground and responded, "I am here."

Drawing the sword from his waist, Zhang Sheng patted each person on the shoulder and head under everyone's gaze.

He said: "You are all loyal, brave, upright and humble warriors. You have followed the will of the Lord of Heaven, made great contributions to the Kingdom of Jinshan, and fought bloody battles with the Ganzhou Uighurs. Now that the Kingdom of Jinshan has disappeared, you have not forgotten the sacred teachings and the right path. God has known and I have felt your loyalty.

Haotian in Heaven, as His agent on earth, I now appoint you as holy warriors, that is, the Darahan of Tengri. I hope that you will remain fearless when facing powerful enemies!
Be courageous, loyal, and worthy of the title of a scholar. Be honest and speak your mind. Would rather die than lie! Protect the believers of the Holy Religion, defend the Holy Religion and the truth, and protect the weak! This is your oath, remember it well! "

All the soldiers and staff in the tent, especially a few people who understood theology, were shocked when they saw this novel scene. Such a ceremony had never appeared in the ceremonies of Buddhism and Confucianism.

At the same time, it can also be seen that His Highness attaches great importance to the belief in Haotian God and the Holy Religion.

Seeing that everyone didn't know how to answer, Zhang Sheng guided them one by one, and then these skilled fighters responded to him with firm and pious words.

"God, I thank God and Your Highness for your trust. I swear to God to make my will known.
Do not bully the weak, be humble and live your life in peace; in the battles you fight, do not be afraid of strong enemies; wherever there is evil, I will destroy their flag.

Colleagues share the same ideals and work hard together; treat friends sincerely and treat them as gentlemen, promote the way of propriety, music, benevolence and righteousness, defend the truth of the holy religion, and protect the holy believers. "

"I hope that you and your colleagues will work together sincerely, be loyal to me, have faith in the Lord Haotian, defend the Lord Haotian's holy teachings and believers on earth, be fearless in the face of powerful enemies, lead and teach your tribesmen to recite prayers and worship the Lord Haotian, follow me and obey my orders." Zhang Sheng and others said.

"Yes, Holy Lord, yes." At this moment, the twenty-one people with the title of Holy Knight knelt on the ground and bowed their heads, with solemn expressions on their faces.

"Stand up, my loyal warriors. I treat all under my command equally, whether they are Han or Hu people. From now on, you must preach the sacred teachings bestowed by the God of Heaven and train new pious and warlike holy warriors for me." Zhang Sheng said.

"As you command, my master, Teqin, Tengri Gutu!"

"Zhang Anzuo, I appoint you as the chief priest of the Holy Religion, to preach the will of the Lord of Heaven, to supervise and guide the disbelievers and non-believers in the tribe to convert to the Holy Religion, and to continue to serve as the financial officer of the Jinhan tribe, responsible for the management of expenditure, income and warehousing." Zhang Sheng said to Zhang Anzuo, who was formerly the Duzhi official of Guazhou.

"I obey your command." Zhang Anzuo knelt down and kowtowed to accept the appointment.
Then, Zhang Sheng turned his gaze to Zhang Jinda and said, "Zhang Jinda, I appoint you as the chief priest of the Holy Religion. You will publicize the will of the Lord of Heaven that I have described today, educate the people of Jinhan, and serve as my secretary and manage all the books currently available in the Jinhan tribe."

"I obey your order." Zhang Jinda immediately bowed in response.

Finally, Zhang Sheng looked at everyone and said with great enthusiasm: "Only the chief priests who serve the Lord of Haotian and the holy warriors who fight for the will of God can accompany me and participate in politics.

You are all the pillars of our Jinhan tribe. In the future, I will lead you to fight for the will of Lord Haotian and the sacred teachings, and to establish the earthly kingdom of Haotian and the Holy Religion.

Dear warriors, do not worry about the future. We just need to act devoutly according to God's will, and victory will surely belong to us.

Don't be afraid of death, death is not the end. Haotian God will be in the ultimate paradise - heaven, waiting for every believer who believes in Him and makes contributions to Him. Warriors, tell your tribesmen about God's will! Haotian God is with you! "

Everyone stood up, waved their fists and shouted loudly and enthusiastically: "Long live God! Long live the Holy Lord!"

Then he bowed and left Zhang Sheng's ordo tent. He turned around and stared at the holy flag symbolizing the God of Heaven.

He thought in his heart, “Now, I have brought the holy teachings, established the rituals and systems, and also given us, the homeless people, an identity – the golden Hans of the holy believers.

The purpose is to preserve the cultural and Taoist traditions of the Xia and Han dynasties during the migration.

I hope the journey to the north desert will be smooth. This ever-changing world is so unfair to us, the Zhang family.

May the God of Heaven protect me and my fellow Jinhan people, even though I don’t know if you really exist.”

Then he bowed his head reverently towards the holy flag.

How he wished that this holy religion was true, how he wished that Haotian God really existed, and how he wished that He would bless him, a time traveler, and the people of Jinhan to live.

He secretly comforted himself in his heart: Yes, it will be fine. Temujin can rely on the small Borjigin clan to rise up and unify the desert, become the Mongolian king, and establish the huge Mongolian Empire.

My conditions are better than his. As a man of the future, I know more. The environment I face now is very similar to his: the declining and divided Central Plains and grasslands, the corrupt Persia, the Arabs, and the Byzantines. They conquered various places with monotheism and consolidated and defended their own cultural customs.

The Khitans in the eastern prairie were rising under the leadership of Abaoji. The reason I avoided their edge was that the Western Turks in the central prairie were destroyed, and the various Tiele tribes split up and lived scattered as nomads.

The Karakhanids roamed the Seven Rivers Basin and had not yet converted to Islam. The Gaochang Uighurs controlled the areas north and south of the Tianshan Mountains and converted to Buddhism.

Today, there is no unified and powerful force in the north and south of the desert and the Central Asian grasslands.

The Khazars in the western part of the steppe gradually fell into decline, facing harassment from nomads migrating westward and sieges from Vikings and Byzantines.

What a wonderful time! If you miss it, you will never get it again.

Now, we, the Jinhan people, have a unified holy religion and powerful armed forces. We will definitely survive in this chaotic world.

Zhang Zhongxian and others who left Zhang Sheng's tent continued to spread the message to their followers that Zhang Sheng was divinely inspired by the God of Heaven.

The Jin Han people, who had already witnessed the miraculous deeds of Zhang Sheng's resurrection and his tent shining with golden light, followed the guidance of Zhang Zhongxian, Zhang Jinda and Zhang Anzuo and swore to convert to the Lord of Heaven and the Holy Religion under the hastily made holy flag.

"Your Majesty, the Supreme Lord of Heaven! I swear that you are the only supreme god. I swear that from now on, I will respect you, convert to you, convert to the holy religion, be your believer, obey the Holy Lord, and be a subject of the Son of Heaven. If I betray you, I will suffer disasters in my life and my soul will not be at peace in my death."

At this point, all the members of the Jinhan tribe, led by their captain, centurion and cardinal Zhang Zhongxian, and their two chief priests Zhang Jinda and Zhang Anzuo, converted to the Holy Religion under the holy flag.

Whether voluntary or forced, swords and scriptures, culture and force are equally available.

The migration path was tortuous and difficult. Without an organized religion with traditional Han customs and rituals, Zhang Sheng and the newly born Jin Han people and their descendants would have been assimilated by the Western monotheism, forgotten the teachings established by their great ancestors, and fallen into barbarism.

Therefore, Zhang Sheng called himself the Son of Heaven, the shadow of Lord Haotian on earth, the messenger and the leader of the Holy Religion.

He based his teachings on Dong Zhongshu's Confucianism and Zhang Daoling's experience in organizing the Zhengyi Dao, and took the thoughts and classics of sages such as Zhou Gong and Confucius, as well as the moral customs of the Han people for thousands of years as the core.

Based on the tradition of worship and sacrifice to ancestors and heaven, the emperor and the supreme god of the various Chinese and Hu peoples, and based on the rituals and ceremonies of heaven worship that have been passed down for thousands of years, they established a religion that borrowed the name of "holy religion" from Confucianism.

The purpose of establishing a holy religion is to educate the barbarians, pass on the thoughts, systems, language and literature of the Han people, and prevent them from being assimilated by foreign cultures and ideas.

(Confucianism is also known as "Confucianism" and "Holy Religion". It was called Taoism before the Qin Dynasty, with "Confucianism" as the highest belief. Confucianism is the representative of ritual and music civilization and the direct successor of ancient religion. All dynasties of the Han Dynasty took Confucianism as the state religion, with Confucius as the leader (this was something Confucius did not expect during his lifetime, just as Laozi was not expected to be worshipped as the leader of Taoism). Confucianism became the state religion with the advantage of combining politics and religion. The divine power of Confucianism and the imperial power are integrated and inseparable.)
(End of this chapter)