Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 501 New Chaos
As the turmoil in the world intensifies,
The practice of witchcraft and superstition spread widely among the people.

Even with the propaganda of the Way of Peace,
But the Central Plains are so vast, and the population so numerous, how could the Way of Peace possibly pacify them all?

Guanzhong has always been a central and important location, under the strictest control of the imperial court, and therefore less susceptible to the influence of the Taiping Dao.

From a certain perspective,
Wang Mang would rather let the people of Guanzhong be immersed in the propaganda of witchcraft than let them open their eyes to the world!

The more the common people know and the more principles they understand, the more they will think and worry, which will lead to more complaints and rebellious thoughts.

Therefore,
When someone presented the dying Wang Mang with a supposed talisman containing "auspicious omens," proclaiming the story of the Yellow Emperor ascending to heaven with a woman, and pleading with Wang Mang to endure hardship and establish a new queen for the country and its people, Wang Mang could only agree with tears in his eyes.

He dispatched 45 officials and 45 attendants to tour the country, widely selecting families with virtuous daughters who were admired by their neighbors and sending them a list.

This caused panic among families who doted on their daughters.

Either hurry up and arrange a marriage for your daughter,
Or they would claim that their daughter admired Buddhism and practiced it while still keeping her hair...

all in all,
These people were unwilling to sacrifice their beloved daughters and send them to the palace to serve an old man nearing seventy, in exchange for a life of wealth and honor that might not last long.

When the news reached Wang Mang's ears, he became even angrier.

"This matter must be handled properly!"

He sternly instructed the Grand Master of the Palace, "How can a country be without an empress!"

Some people, harboring the mindset of loyal ministers, still wanted to advise Wang Mang.

"The country has many problems, why waste resources on this kind of thing?"

So many women were brought into the palace.

Are you still capable?
Are you still of any use to me?
While "beauty is pleasing to the eye" is appealing, you can't eat it every day!

As a result, Wang Mang did not understand his good intentions, severely punished him, and firmly implemented the order.

"I can't get old!"

"I want to tell the world that I can continue to do this, and I still have a lot of energy and time to govern this country!"

How dare he get old!

Wang Mang stood alone in the palace where his mother, Lady Qu, had lived, muttering to himself about everything inside, which, despite its careful preservation, inevitably exuded an air of decay.

"If they knew I was old, infirm, and frail..."

"They'll pounce on me like a pack of wild dogs and kill me!"

Wang Mang's eyes widened, his wrinkled face revealing deep resentment and fear.

He reached out, wanting to touch the Buddha statue that his mother had faced and prayed for for many years, but due to excessive emotion, his old body lost control and he knocked the wooden Buddha statue over.

It fell to the ground.

The neck was broken open, revealing the inside that had been eaten away by insects.

The Buddha's head rolled on the ground and finally came to rest at Wang Mang's feet, its face facing upwards.

He looked at it with a sense of dread, as if the prophecy had come true.

It looked at him, its slender, slightly drooping eyebrows filled with compassion for humanity, as if mocking the incompetent monarch before it.

"roll!"

"Get out of here!"

Wang Mang was both shocked and furious, and kicked the Buddha head away.

The latter rolled into a corner and disappeared from Wang Mang's sight.

Only the new emperor remained, his chest heaving, emitting inexplicable gasps.

He hurried away from the decaying palace.

But as he stepped out the door, Wang Mang couldn't help but turn back to look at the prayer mat his mother had been kneeling on for years.

The headless Buddha statue still lay there quietly.

Just like the clay and wood sculptures of Gong Xianjun.

"Mother."

"Even you don't wish me well anymore, is that it?"

Wang Mang softly uttered these words.

A gust of wind blew by, and the sound vanished without a trace.

Then he turned around, stubbornly pushing forward his reforms with unwavering determination.

How could he fail?

How could he fail!

The great new era he establishes will surely usher in a brand new world for all people!

It will surely continue for thousands of years, existing alongside these mountains, rivers, and the nation!
……

"It is easy to make the people stupid, but it is very difficult to restore their wisdom."

Guanzhong

He Bo, who had taken a large group of dead men out to Liu Laosan Temple to watch a group of strong men having a party, soon announced that he was giving up the team building activity because of eye discomfort.

The dead were free to roam.
God also strolled along the banks of the Jing River.

He pointed to a group of emaciated people performing a lewd ritual in the wilderness, and spoke to the few remaining dead ghosts beside him who had not yet finished running away.

Ximen Bao recalled his past and shook his head, saying, "The reason why witchcraft was so prevalent among the people was because of their unrest."

Since there is nothing in the human world that can make people feel safe and hopeful, and they are unwilling to die directly, they will subconsciously seek the help of ghosts and gods.

They cannot determine whether ghosts and spirits exist.

I wonder what those beings think of me.
But they are very clear about the true colors of the powerful and wealthy.

Since the known stench is so unbearable,

So what's wrong with pursuing the unknown?

"As long as the old rulers are replaced, the dark clouds over the people are cleared away, and their desire for life is rekindled, life will naturally find its own way out."

"But I think the traffic jam is pretty bad!"

He Bo then pointed to another place.

That was the course of the Jing River, where the murmuring water should have flowed.

However, an earthquake that occurred in the third year of the Yuanfeng era caused mud and rocks to roll into the area, blocking it, and it has not been cleared to this day.

Because Wang Mang used the money meant for dredging the waterways to attack the Xiongnu and the Western Regions.

After his defeat, he became so enraged that none of his ministers dared to mention the matter again.

Wang Yanshi, who often traveled along the Yellow River, would sigh and groan every time he passed the Jing River, a tributary of the great river.

"I spent my life worrying about how to stop the rushing river."

"I never imagined that I would have to worry about how to clear the obstructed water flow after I died."

"I imagine that it will be even more difficult for future generations to govern the rivers of the world!"

"Shang Yang, tell me, if it's been blocked for a long time, can it be restored to normal?" He Bo turned his head and asked Shang Yang on the other side.

Shang Yang immediately glared at him. "Do you think I don't know? Are you trying to take this opportunity to mock me again?"

He put his hands behind his back and snorted heavily, "My purpose in burning books and books was to clarify the authority of the law and to unite the hearts of the people... unlike that shameless scoundrel Wang Mang!"

Moreover, even if there were people from the Qin dynasty who constantly spoke of the Qin state's harsh policies, disrespect for Confucian scholars, and lack of regard for classical poetry and literature, etc.

However, we cannot overlook the numerous schools established throughout the country during Shang Yang's reforms, which were used to promote and teach the laws.

To some extent,

In order to encourage people to better "abide by the law," such measures also promoted the improvement of literacy rates among the Qin people.

At the same time, because the schools taught mostly practical knowledge such as law, farming, craftsmanship, and arithmetic, many people in Qin at that time could recite the Nine-Nine Song.

Considering that before this,
Most knowledge is monopolized by influential people; those without a surname cannot even touch it.
Shang Yang merely restricted the ideas that common people were exposed to, making them only learn what he wanted them to learn, which can already be described as "tolerant and magnanimous".

The Western Qin, which was later re-established, inherited this policy. This made Western Qin's mathematical and manufacturing technologies relatively advanced among the various Xia states.

The "street lamp" that Yacob used to hang the despicable oil priest is one such example.

But He Bo said that he really wasn't being sarcastic this time.

"I was just thinking about how we met by the river back then!"

God wiped his eyes in grievance and began to wail.

Have you forgotten the wonderful times when we first met?

Shang Yang, standing nearby, completely ignored him.
Zhuang Zhou and the others nearby took out a few pieces of seaweed and offered them to the weeping God, asking, "Want some?"

God took the food and ate it all, even taking a moment to ask them, "Where did this come from?"

"These are local products I brought back from Japan."

After He Bo subdued the Yangtze River

Even the dead, through God's power, can leave the mountains and rivers of the land and drift to faraway places.

While Zhuang Zhou was idly passing his time in the underworld, he approached his old friend Hui Shi and asked, "I want to travel the world without relying on ghosts or gods. Would you like to come with me?"

Hui Shi immediately slammed her hand on the table and stood up, exclaiming, "Is there even a question to ask?!"

Let's get going!

So the two hit it off immediately, and carrying the large gourd provided by Zhuangzi, they began to drift along the rivers in Hebo's territory.

They traveled all the way to the northern desert and even went to Langjuxu Mountain to admire the "Expelling the Barbarians and Offering Sacrifices" painting personally drawn by God. In the end, they unanimously agreed that His painting was very ugly and would bring serious trouble to future generations.

"If we follow what those pre-Qin historians once told Sima Qian... I think that God, who randomly adds figures to paintings, can receive the same treatment as the latter."

Hui Shi said this with utmost sincerity.

Then they were driven away by the Wolf-Dwelling Mountain God who heard such comments, and their bodies flowed back into the Yellow River.

After that,
After leaving the Yellow River and flowing into the East China Sea, the two dead ghosts carrying the gourd drifted all the way to Japan and visited what is now the State of Qi.

Therefore,
When God's eyes are as dry as dried seaweed, yet he persists in howling, Zhuangzi can take something out to shut him up.

Like a blocked stream.

And He Bo, who had enjoyed the good times, did indeed stop causing trouble.

He smacked his lips, savoring the lingering salty taste, and suddenly said, "Would Wang Mang have witnessed the collapse of the tall building before his death?"

The rivers in Guanzhong have not been managed.

Not to mention the already disaster-stricken Kanto region.

And before that,

Wang Mang also conscripted grain from various counties in Guandong and transported it to the north, intending to use the war with the Xiongnu to divert attention from internal conflicts and enhance his own prestige.

The result was yet another crushing defeat.

"Without food and without resolving the disaster, there will surely be even more people rising up in rebellion next year because of despair!"

Ximen Bao said, "The Way of Peace will also flourish."

He asked God, "If Sun En of the Way of Peace were to conquer the world, how would he govern the country?"

"Severing the connection between heaven and earth"
Can this continue?

To know,
Although Emperor Taizu of Sui also came from the Way of Great Peace, before he joined the army and fought in battles, he was just a believer who was quite influential and respected. He was not like Sun En, who had already become the leader of the Way of Great Peace in the Central Plains and a great teacher who could communicate with ghosts and gods.

Moreover, after the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the Taiping Dao of the new Xia Dynasty was still led by wise and sensible elders.

Through relatively friendly exchanges, the two sides did not engage in a violent conflict due to the relationship between Emperor Taizu of Sui and the Taiping Dao, thus avoiding the situation that resembled that of those barbarian countries outside the region, where priests and monks seriously interfered in politics and the monarch's authority was weak.

But the situation in the Central Plains is extremely different. How will things develop from here?
The former "Son of Heaven",
But never before has anyone been able to get so close to God as Sun En.

Ximen Bao began to worry about this.

Even having witnessed many things in the world,

However, despite having released many witches and sorcerers and thus accumulating a great deal of merit for himself, Doctor Ximen was still not ready to welcome a "divine kingdom on earth".

For this,

He Bo simply looked at the clear blue sky and said, "I don't know."

What was Sun En thinking?

"I do not know."

"..."

Ximen Bao glanced at him, and finally sighed helplessly.

He Bo said with his arms crossed, "After he led the uprising, I haven't really responded to him."

"After all, I'm too lazy to get involved in such a big matter."

"As for your concerns..."

God's gaze fell to the south, watching Liu Xiu return home to discuss important matters with his elder brother, and then he smacked his lips again.

"Let's see who has the stronger 'destiny'!"

After all, He Bo couldn't unleash a forbidden spell like "Meteor Shower"!

"Ah!"

Liu Xiu, who was halfway through his conversation with his brother, seemed to sense God's gaze and suddenly sneezed loudly.

His elder brother, Liu Yan, was very worried about him, saying, "Maybe he caught a cold."

Now that a major event is at hand...

This is not a good time to get sick.

He was waiting for his brother, who was known for his literary talent and good interpersonal skills, to offer advice and help him build his business empire!

Fortunately, Liu Xiu did not feel any physical discomfort.

He smiled at his elder brother and said, "I have been healthy since childhood, and I am not likely to have any problems at such a critical moment."

Liu Yan breathed a sigh of relief and continued to tell his brother about his plans.

Speaking of excitement,

He rubbed his hands together and patted his brother's shoulder, saying, "If I can achieve the great feats of Emperor Taizu and revive the Liu family's dynasty, I will definitely make you the King of Chu!"

Liu Yan always enjoyed associating with chivalrous people and often boasted that he had the "style of Emperor Gaozu".

As a young man, Liu Xiu was somewhat shy and devoted himself to farming and managing the family business with his uncle. Liu Yan likened him to Emperor Taizu's brother, Liu Zhong, who was equally honest and stayed by his elders' side to safeguard the family business.

but,

After Liu Xiu read more books, he gained more wisdom, and his speech and actions became more organized.

When his studies were recognized by his uncle, who was willing to smash his own piggy bank where he kept his secret stash of money to help him go to Chang'an to study,
Liu Yan then changed his address, referring to him as Liu Jiao, the King of Chu.

For this,

Liu Xiu just smiled and occasionally replied to his brother, "If we become rich and powerful, let's not forget each other!"

"We are brothers, how can we not help and support each other!"

"You just wait!"

"Once you've achieved fame and become a king or noble, why envy the Imperial Guard who wields halberds and swords for the king or noble?"

Liu Yan recalled the bold words his brother had uttered when he was studying in Chang'an, and patted Liu Xiu on the shoulder with a smile, saying to him, "Whether Yin Lihua will be worthy to be your wife is still up in the air!"

Liu Xiu didn't speak, but responded to his bold and uninhibited elder brother with a shy smile, just like when he was a boy.

Subsequently,

In the tenth month of the third year of the Earthly Emperor's reign,

Liu Xiu followed his elder brother Liu Yan in launching an uprising in Wancheng, Nanyang Commandery, and plunged into the turbulent times.

(End of this chapter)