Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 502 The Way of Peace in the Central Plains
Just as news reached Chang'an that Liu Xiu, along with his elder brother, had joined forces with various local bandit groups to rebel against the new dynasty,
The rumor that "the Liu family will be restored" spread even more vigorously.

Many people reminisce about the peaceful days they once had and resent Wang Mang for failing to fulfill his promise that "I will bring a better tomorrow."

Under the tradition of "respect for the dead,"
In contrast to today's brokenness,
The absurdity of the emperors who succeeded the Han dynasty gradually faded from the minds of the people, leaving only the impression of prosperity, strength, and might.

Even when discussing emperors Cheng and Ai, they selectively forgot about their favoritism towards Zhao and Dong, and their allowing their maternal relatives to fight for power. They only sighed and said, "They were just fond of beautiful women, and they were still no match for Wang Mang's incompetence."

Wang Mang became even more insane as a result.

"These guys... didn't say that back then!"

so,

How can a person be considered "human"?

Even a yellow dog knows how to be grateful and will not betray its owner. When faced with danger, it will bark and bite the enemy on behalf of its owner.

The people of Chang'an, who enjoyed his rule and basked in his glory for more than ten years, were not grateful for his kindness at all, but only had a bellyful of complaints.

"Such subjects are utterly unworthy of an emperor like me!"

Wang Mang, who had summoned palace maids to comb his hair and then personally presented a crown to himself, revealed the deep and solemn appearance he had in his youth. He said to the attendant beside him, "Go and gather the ten thousand beauties who have been taken in. I am going to worship at the Yellow Emperor's temple and emulate the Yellow Emperor's ascension to godhood!"

At Wang Mang's insistence,
His harem was filled like never before.

Ten thousand respectable women, either captured or conscripted from the common people, gathered in the palace, becoming a new tool in Wang Mang's path of "imitating the Yellow Emperor."

When Wang Mang reached the pinnacle of imitating the "Duke of Zhou" but received negative feedback, he specifically reflected on his actions.

He thought of his mother, his teacher, and everything he had experienced...

But he was over sixty, his body was aging, and his energy did not allow him to turn back and start a new path like a young man after hitting a wall.

He shed a layer of skin.
Yet, because they could not tolerate the light of the sun and moon, and the gaze of others upon their true appearance,
Therefore, they couldn't wait to choose a new body to wear.

Wang Mang was a man who lived in a cage.
He feared the changes in reality, feared others' dislike and contempt for his true self, and only wanted to bury himself in a shell, using hypocrisy to cover up the truth, and letting seclusion bring him a sense of security.

The outward appearance of "Duke of Zhou" has deteriorated.

Let's use the one from the Yellow Emperor!
After all, this sage,

He was the ancestor of the Chinese people and a great figure who has been revered and praised for generations.

He was even more sacred than the Duke of Zhou. Even at the end of his life, his people were unwilling to accept his death, preferring to believe that "the Yellow Emperor ascended to godhood and became an immortal."

Therefore,
As long as you emulate the Yellow Emperor

Will the praise and support of the past return?

As for why not go straight to the point and imitate "God"?
snort!
That damned Taiping Dao rebelled against him in the name of God.
How could Wang Mang possibly worship the same god as the Way of Great Peace!
Once he elevates the Yellow Emperor to a high position, he will remove the divine throne of "God" to punish the hateful Taiping Dao!

Sitting in a massive carriage built according to ancient rites, with tens of thousands of women following him, Wang Mang, who recreated the scene of "the Yellow Emperor ascending to heaven" recorded in ancient books, was full of expectations for his future.

But those around them, looking at the tightly packed carriages and the countless attendants who, though dignified in appearance, exuded an air of inexplicable weariness and fear, couldn't help but say to their companions:
"This doesn't look like a divine vehicle at all."

"This clearly looks like a coffin!"

His companion tugged at his sleeve, stopping him from saying anything more disrespectful.

Wang Mang therefore did not hear such evaluations.

He sat there in what he saw as a "divine chariot" and what others saw as a "coffin," and happily headed toward the newly built Yellow Emperor Temple.

Can a heavy coffin really stop the decay and erosion?
Can the towering mud and sand brought by the flood bury the struggle of life?
The winter of the third year of the Earthly Emperor's reign...

It will be here soon.

……

When autumn passes
Snowflakes fell.

The Great Teacher Sun En rallied many disaster-stricken people and repelled the attack of the Xin Dynasty army. He returned to his post and visited his ailing elders.

Zhou Jian, who had developed a strong physique from digging up graves and carrying corpses, collapsed in the sudden cold wind.

He coughed and said to Sun En, "At my age, it will be very difficult for me to get through this winter."

Sun En comforted him, saying, "If Wang Mang could live to this day, a virtuous person like you will surely live even longer."

"I heard that the Great Teacher of the Western Sea lived to be over ninety years old and is still in very good health. You should be like him!"

Although God reduced His communication with the Great Teacher of the Central Plains because Sun En was personally involved in the great cause of rebellion, He did not impose any further restrictions on Sun En.

At least,

This great wise teacher can still use his nine-section staff to find some dead ghosts wandering around the human world and learn about the current state of the world through the "newspaper" established by the underworld officials.

Sun En thus learned about Zhao Shen's affairs and offered his blessings for the future spread of the Way of Peace to the West.

But more often than not, he would devote all his energy to the affairs of the Central Plains, guiding those who had gathered around him.

As the number of battles increased, so did the number of injured.

Zhou Jian's compilation of the "Huangdi Waijing" and the numerous surgeons he taught naturally played an important role.

Sun En and many others were very grateful to Zhou Jian.

After hearing that the elder had fallen ill, people often came to visit him.

"Lifespan is closely related to a person's physical condition and lifestyle."

"How can morality determine this?"

Having engaged in countless sexual transactions and conducted in-depth research with various individuals, Zhou Jian simply chuckled upon hearing the younger man's words.

"I am already very content with my life so far, and even if I were to die suddenly tomorrow, I would not have any additional complaints."

"But I can't let go of Taipingdao and you..."

Zhou Jian said to Sun En, "The foundation of the Way of Peace is growing ever wider, and we are frequently victorious in our wars against foreign powers, but this does not mean that our conquest of the world is a foregone conclusion..."

In times of chaos,

With heroes rising up everywhere, a brutal battle is inevitable before a victor emerges.

The court is now weak, its army is demoralized, its orders cannot be effectively communicated, and the emperor and his ministers are even engrossed in their power struggles...

The new dynasty is no longer the biggest rival.

But what happens after the Xin Dynasty is defeated?
What challenges will other rebel armies pose to the Way of Peace?
"Heroes of the world are as numerous as carp crossing a river; they should never be underestimated."

Zhou Jian was an educated man.

When I was young, I followed my friends around digging up graves and heard them tell me many stories from the past.

He saw and heard a lot, and thus gained more wisdom from reality and the past.

When the Way of Peace was the first to raise the banner of righteous indignation and speak out for the weeping people, Zhou Jian approached Sun En, a man of rather impulsive character, and said:
"Don't be impatient."

"Their courage to rise up for the people is commendable, but we must also be wary of a repeat of the Chen Wang incident."

The uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang was incredibly powerful and progressed rapidly.

As a result, within just a few months, "Zhang Chu" vanished without a trace, and he himself died far from home.

The reason is,

First, Chen Sheng lost his original intention.

Secondly, its foundation was unstable, which is why it was surpassed by the nobles of the six states that later raised their banners.

Therefore,
Zhou Jian advised Sun En to first consolidate the territory he had seized and restore the local economy before making any further plans. Sun En listened to his advice and told Zhou Jian, "My intention is not to rule the world, but to save the lives of the people."

"I will not forget my identity and mission for the sake of temporary ambitions and dominance."

joke,

He was a great and virtuous teacher.
After death, one can follow God and enjoy a wonderful life after death. How could one, like ordinary people, disobey God's rules for wealth and glory?
But precisely because of this,
Sun En inevitably appears somewhat too "naive" in some matters—

He was not afraid of death.

In every battle, he always took the lead and boosted morale.

When people came to him for help, Sun En always took them in, wanting to give them a way to survive.

"But you are the leader of a force, and you don't have the bravery of a tyrant. How can you keep putting yourself in danger?"

If a ruler has no children, his subordinates will feel fear and be unable to unite. How much more so if the ruler likes to charge into battle and could die at any moment?

Zhou Jian therefore complained that Sun En was young and ignorant.

“But I’m over forty years old, Duke Zhou!” Sun En would just laugh whenever he was lectured by an elder.

“If you were truly prudent and strategic, you should also take stock of your own family’s finances!” Zhou Jian said to him again.

After cultivating their territory for several years, the Taiping Dao had consolidated their foundation and thus could be considered "quite wealthy" among the various rebel armies.

However, because Sun En always showed great kindness and took in wave after wave of refugees, and also had to deal with the army sent by the imperial court, the harvested food was never enough to eat.

"Without reserves, and with the frequent natural disasters these past few years, if we encounter difficulties that cannot be resolved in a short time, something terrible will happen!"

"I know the downsides of doing this."

Faced with his elder's worries during his illness, Sun En could only sigh and say, "But I have the Taiping Jing in my hands, how can I do anything against it?"

He is a great and wise teacher recognized by God, unlike those people on earth who hold scriptures and sing dissent.

The latter, relying on the fact that the sages who wrote the scriptures had long since passed away and that those who made and upheld the rules were all on their side, were not afraid at all to use the scriptures to oppose them, and to set rules that only restricted ordinary people while indulging themselves.

But on the path of peace, there is an eternal sun that shines its light and heat upon them.

How could Sun En dare to "mingle with the world" with the latter?

of course,

These constraints only have a clear effect on highly accomplished figures of the Way of Peace, such as the Wise Teacher and the Great Wise Teacher.

"Negative assets" like the New Xia Taiping Army and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which split and broke away before they even had a chance to offer incense and consult the gods, neither knew about the extraordinary connections of the Way of Peace, nor would they be valued by the gods.

God didn't even bother to strike the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's "Heavenly" generation twice with lightning.

"Besides, I was reborn from among those people, how can I ignore their suffering just because I have risen to a high position?"

Sun En was born in Sichuan. When he was four years old, his village was hit by an epidemic. Not only did the people around him die one after another, but the government and neighboring villages also ordered the lockdown of his hometown for fear of being infected by the epidemic.

quickly,

That small village became a "hell" that everyone avoided.

Little Sun En listened to his mother's painful cough and looked at his father and grandfather who had just died of illness, his heart filled with fear.

At last,
His mother took him to the back of the mountain, where he heard her say:
"We might encounter wild beasts."

"But if you stay in the village, you'll surely die!"

then,

Sun En was released by his mother and luckily walked a distance in the mountains and forests, where he met Sun Chong, who was leading a group of disciples to gather herbs.

He was thus taken in.
The epidemic in his hometown was also cured.

However, Taipingdao arrived too late and could not save Sun En's mother.

"But I am still very grateful to my teacher and the other Taoist priests."

Sun En said, "I had been running around in the mountains all day. I hadn't eaten anything at home, so I was very hungry and my feet hurt. I also forgot that I had fallen a few times in the mountains..."

"Looking back now, I wonder if my teacher felt the same way I do now when I see those disaster victims."

They were all pitiful people who had nowhere else to turn.

Only one side is trapped in a desperate situation.

One side was forced to leave their hometown, like a headless fly, not knowing where to beg for a living.

How can I bring myself to do this?

When he saw those dusty, emaciated disaster victims, it was as if he were seeing himself when he was fleeing for his life.

If he were to refuse to lend a helping hand today, given that there is some grain in the granary,

Why did Sun Chong take him in in the first place?

How could a child who grew up in a remote mountain village and was not given a formal name by his parents inherit his teacher's surname and have the name "En"?

“Even if I don’t believe in God, I can never repay the kindness of the Taiping Dao.”

"I only wish to do my best to help this suffering world."

Zhou Jian couldn't help but sigh as he recalled what happened back then.

He stopped talking about Sun En's "overly kind intentions" and instead mentioned to him, "When there are more people, there will be more thoughts."

"How many people can truly remain true to their original aspirations?"

"As a respected elder, I occasionally hear people complaining..."

They believed that now that they had a well-managed territory and several years of reserves, they should be able to live a better life.

At the beginning of the uprising, it was understandable that they ate chaff and drank thin gruel.

Why should people who now have the power to carve out their own territories and call themselves kings and nobles still wear coarse clothes and live and eat with ordinary people?
They are the heroes who started the business, so how could they not receive preferential treatment and more privileges!

“If this continues, we will lose the support of some people,” Zhou Jian said.

Sun En retorted, "Aren't the people who received disaster relief human beings too?"

Zhou Jian smiled wryly, "But people are ultimately different."

There are always people above people.
There will be people below people.
This is a problem that is bound to arise after "humanity" has been practiced for a long time.

The heroes who rose up to slay the evil dragon and calamity beast for the sake of the people will one day become the evil dragon and calamity beast themselves!

Besides, our ancestors risked their lives; didn't they hope to earn wealth and pass it on to their descendants?
"so!"

"I must firmly act in accordance with the Taiping Jing!"

Sun En said, "The joy of fighting with others is endless!"

"These are the words of God himself!"

Zhou Jian couldn't argue with him, so he could only sigh and send him away.

"I'm about to die anyway, what's the point of worrying about you anymore?"

"As long as we don't immediately meet in the underworld after I die, this old man will be content!"

(End of this chapter)