There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 298 Longhu Mountain

Guangxin Prefecture, Shangqing Town.

Longhu Mountain.

Zhang Yu, the 59th Celestial Master of Zhengyi Temple, had only just taken over the position from his deceased father, Zhang Qilong, last year, barely having had time to warm up to it. This year, the Han army captured Nanchang City and even killed the Governor-General of Liangjiang (rumored) in battle, inflicting a major defeat on 200,000 government troops in Liangjiang.

"Master." Zhang Peiyuan, dressed in a Taoist robe, came to Zhang Yu's meditation room to pay his respects.

Zhang Peiyuan was Zhang Yu's eldest son and also the successor to the next Celestial Master.

Because of the taboos within the Taoist community, the father-son succession usually involves a nominal apprenticeship, and the father and son do not refer to each other as father and son, but rather as master and disciple.

"Okay, sit down!" Zhang Yu opened her eyes and nodded in acknowledgment.

Zhang Peiyuan sat down on a futon, then took out a letter from his pocket: "This is a private letter from the magistrate of Guixi County to my master. Guixi County has decided to send an envoy to surrender to the Han Dynasty. He is asking my master about our Longhu Mountain's intentions."

"So what are your intentions?" Zhang Yu didn't answer directly, but instead asked Zhang Peiyuan.

Without a moment's hesitation, Zhang Peiyuan decisively replied: "The Qing Dynasty's Governor-General of Liangjiang died in battle, and 200,000 government troops in Liangjiang were wiped out. The rise of the Han Dynasty is now unstoppable. As for Longhu Mountain, it is located in Jiangxi and is the leading Taoist sect in the world. If the new emperor wants to regulate the Taoist traditions and religions of the world, he should not be too harsh on Longhu Mountain."

Zhang Yu neither confirmed nor denied his son Zhang Peiyuan's answer, though it's fair to say he shared similar thoughts.

Previously, the Governor-General of Liangjiang personally led an army of 200,000 southwards, and the sight of that army was quite intimidating.

Coincidentally, the Han army was unable to capture Nanchang Prefecture because they had divided their forces to fight. Since they were in Guangxin Prefecture and unaware of the actual situation, they naturally wanted to observe the changing situation before deciding whether to take sides.

Then, the situation changed faster than they had anticipated; 200,000 Qing troops were wiped out, and the Viceroy of Liangjiang died in battle at Hukou.

Although the Han army has not yet reached Guangxin Prefecture, the officials, gentry, and common people of Guangxin Prefecture, except for the prefect who is still hesitant, have already prepared to welcome the royal army with food and drink.

Zhang Yu pondered for a long time, then sighed: "When fortune smiles, heaven and earth lend their strength; when luck turns, even heroes are powerless."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Peiyuan understood his father's decision and immediately replied, "Although the Manchu Qing dynasty claims to be the legitimate dynasty, it is ultimately a barbarian dynasty. It was only by chance that it seized the Central Plains for a hundred years. Barbarian dynasties do not have a hundred-year reign. The Manchu Qing dynasty enjoyed fifty more years, which has already diminished the fortune of its descendants. In the future, it will inevitably leave a calamity for future generations, and there may even be the calamity of extinction. Now that the Han King has risen, it is in accordance with the will of Heaven. Our Zhengyi Temple of Longhu Mountain is merely following the will of Heaven and assisting the true dragon of the Han people in rebuilding the society!"

Zhang Peiyuan spoke in a grand and dignified manner, portraying the Prince of Han as a traitor propagated by the Qing court, who had transformed himself into the true Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty.

Although Longhu Mountain's influence has diminished considerably, the title of Celestial Master still remains. Zhang Tianshi publicly endorsed the Han Dynasty, claiming that the Han King was the true Son of Heaven, which dealt a significant blow to the Qing Dynasty in terms of political and public opinion.

Zhang Peiyuan's decisive choice of sides was so decisive that even his father, Zhang Yu, the contemporary Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain, did not object, only offering a symbolic sigh.

Ultimately, it was because the Qing court disliked Taoism and was always wary of Taoist leaders like those at Longhu Mountain.

Let's not even talk about Emperor Yongzheng. He was an anomaly among the Manchu emperors, a Han Chinese emperor in Manchu clothing.

In order to be a good emperor, one must boldly appoint Han officials as local governors and viceroys, and even those from the Eight Banners must be judged based on their political achievements and demerits.

They also adopted a conciliatory attitude towards the Zhengyi Temple on Longhu Mountain, advocating for equal distribution among the three religions and that Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism should not be the only ones to dominate.

His simple-minded son, Emperor Qianlong, was different. The first thing he did after ascending the throne was to expel the Taoist priests worshipped by Emperor Yongzheng from the palace, making no attempt to hide his aversion to Taoism.

Then, the rank of the Celestial Master of Zhengyi Temple was lowered from the second rank to the fifth rank, and the number of times the Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain could go to the capital for pilgrimage was restricted. The original free pilgrimage was changed to once every five years, and he was not allowed to go to the capital unless necessary.

There's also a rather outrageous anecdote here: it's said that Emperor Qianlong once summoned a Taoist priest surnamed Qiao to pray for rain.

When the other party successfully prayed for rain, Emperor Qianlong was overjoyed upon hearing the news and immediately issued an edict to reward the Taoist priest with a beheading.

Yes, the reward for successfully praying for rain is beheading, which sounds outrageous, but upon closer inspection, it's not so strange.

Because the Taoist priests actually know how to pray for rain and have magic powers, this is terrible. What if the Taoist priests incite Han peasants to rebel against our Great Qing?
This is not impossible. After all, everyone in my Great Qing Dynasty had a copy of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" to conquer the world. Wasn't the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period when the Taiping Dao first incited the people to launch the Yellow Turban Rebellion and then overthrew the Han Dynasty?

Zhang Jiao, the Great Master of the Way of Peace, was also the founder of the Zhengyi Temple, and had a deep connection with the Zhang Tianshi lineage.

Therefore, suppression must be severe!
Emperor Qianlong was relatively lenient, but during the Daoguang era, Emperor Daoguang directly issued an edict forbidding Zhang Tianshi from coming to the capital for pilgrimage, effectively reducing Zhengyi Temple to an ordinary Taoist temple in political terms.

Zhang Yu is over fifty years old this year, so he can certainly understand the Qing court's vigilance and precautions against Zhengyi Temple and Longhu Mountain.

Zhengyi Temple was the leader of the Taoist sect, and Taoists were people outside the secular world who did not need to shave their heads or change their clothes. They also maintained close ties with officials, gentry, and common people, which was extremely dangerous. Zhang Yu could understand this, but that didn't mean he was willing to sit idly by and wait for his death.

The Celestial Master was not a saint without desires, and besides, he had only just taken over as Celestial Master and did not want the Zhengyi Temple to decline under his leadership.

After listening to his son's indirect persuasion and pondering for a long time, Zhang Yu finally made up his mind: "Peiyuan, tomorrow you should take my handwritten letter and go to Nanchang with the messenger from Guixi County!"

“Yes, Master.” Zhang Peiyuan nodded.

The next morning, Zhang Peiyuan, accompanied by several uncles and elders from Zhengyi Temple, descended the mountain carrying a handwritten letter from Zhang Yu.

First, they went to Guixi County and briefly explained their purpose. The magistrate of Guixi County was overjoyed and immediately arranged for his own messenger to accompany them.

More than two hundred brave men were dispatched, all of whom were wealthy believers of the Zhengyi Temple and donated by them to serve as their escorts and protectors on the road.

After all, we are now in a chaotic world. They may not be able to feel it while they are on Longhu Mountain, but once they come down the mountain, any small hill may be hiding bandits.

The round trip from Guixi to Nanchang is not short.

Zhang Peiyuan didn't pay much attention at first, treating it as just enjoying the scenery along the way.

But as he saw more and more scenery, Zhang Peiyuan gradually noticed something was amiss.

When we first left Guixi County, it was not exactly a place teeming with refugees, but there were refugees, beggars, and vagrants running around everywhere, which was as normal as it could be.

As Zhang Peiyuan's messenger team traveled closer to Nanchang, the most noticeable change he observed was a significant decrease in the number of beggars and refugees.

Upon arriving in Dongxiang County, although it belonged to Fuzhou, it had already been controlled by the Han army.

After Zhang Peiyuan and his party identified themselves and explained their purpose, the other party quickly made arrangements for their reception and promptly notified the city of Nanchang.

Zhang Peiyuan made a special trip around Dongxiang County and found that there were no beggars left in the county, and the thugs had also disappeared.

Zhang Peiyuan spent one coin to learn from several street vendors that the Han army did not allow beggars or hooligans to exist under its rule, and all able-bodied beggars and hooligans had to earn their own living.

Those who are truly unemployed should go and farm the land they are allocated. Those whose household registration is in the city can voluntarily move to the countryside. In any case, they cannot be idle.

Zhang Peiyuan found this hard to understand and asked, "What if a disabled, widowed, orphaned elderly person is forced to beg?"

“Send them to the nursing home!” one of the vendors replied.

According to the vendor, he knew an old widower who was forced to beg because he was old and had no children to support him. Then, a scholar came over and kindly sent him to a nursing home to live out his old age.

Zhang Peiyuan's expression was somewhat strange: "This big man even has a charitable institution?"

He certainly knew about the charitable institutions, but they shouldn't all be just a way to fool the people. In fact, the Qing government did set them up, but the actual function of these institutions was such that many people didn't even know they existed.

But now, the Han Dynasty actually wants to send useless widows, widowers, and beggars to charitable institutions to live out their days and die?

Could it be that they're looking for an excuse to gather together and kill each other?

Zhang Peiyuan's expression suddenly changed. Before he could speak, the vendor continued, "I know you probably won't believe me, but I go to check on that old man every two days. There are quite a few people living in the nursing home now, and they all seem to be old men without relatives or families. They're not completely free from work. It seems that the nursing home arranges for them to sew and wash military uniforms on a regular basis. It's not hard or tiring work, but they still have to do some work."

Hearing that the nursing home would also have to do work, everyone felt that it wasn't so strange after all.

However, Zhang Peiyuan was still amazed. This King of Han truly had the ambition to conquer the world, and he did not even ignore beggars and commoners.

Given his benevolence towards the people, he had to retract his earlier statement. When Zhang Peiyuan had advised his father Zhang Yu, he had flattered the Prince of Han as the true Son of Heaven, but at that time it was merely flattery and not genuine.

But now, he genuinely believes that the other party has the potential to become a true dragon, and is destined to conquer the world.

Zhang Peiyuan returned to the guest room temporarily assigned to him in Dongxiang County and began writing a book – "Travels in the Great Han Dynasty".

(End of this chapter)