There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 453 Tianli Sect

Chengwu County (Chengwu).

The Heavenly Principle Sect (formerly the Eight Trigrams Sect) has eight major trigrams: Zhang Tingju (leader of the Qian trigram), Qiu Yu (leader of the Kun trigram), Li Wencheng (leader of the Zhen trigram), Cheng Baiyue (leader of the Xun trigram), Guo Sihu (leader of the Gen trigram), Hou Guolong (leader of the Dui trigram), Lin Qing (leader of the Kan trigram), and Feng Keshan (leader of the Li trigram), who gathered here to discuss their cause.

Among the leaders of the Eight Trigrams of Heavenly Principles, Li Wencheng, the leader of the Zhen Trigram, is the most powerful, followed by Lin Qing of the Kan Trigram and Feng Keshan of the Li Trigram.

Historically, it was these three men, with their wildly imaginative ideas, who instigated the Heavenly Principle Sect uprising. This directly shook the Jiaqing Emperor's court, which had just suppressed the White Lotus Rebellion and was then riding high on its success.

Of the three leaders of the Heavenly Principle Sect, Lin Qing is the most powerful.

While others were launching uprisings in Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi provinces, this guy simply led two hundred followers and somehow managed to smuggle weapons into the capital. He then launched an uprising in Beijing, quickly capturing the Jiaqing Emperor's palace and taking several princes and concubines prisoner.

Emperor Jiaqing was very lucky; he happened to be away on an inspection tour at the time, otherwise he would have been captured.

It was this outrageous uprising that made Jiaqing realize just how vulnerable he was in the imperial city of Beijing.

At the same time, the Qing government later established a Caozhou Garrison Commander-in-Chief in Caozhou, Shandong, in order to prevent the resurgence of the White Lotus Religion.

(Fun fact: In the movie "King of Beggars," the villains are the Heavenly Principle Cult...)
On a hillside open space in the county town, the believers arranged nine chairs, with the three chairs being the highest.

Li Wencheng naturally sat in the middle, with Lin Qing and Feng Keshan on either side, followed by the remaining five leaders of the divination sect.

After everyone had taken their seats, there was still an extra chair placed on the side, which was obviously extra and seemed a bit out of place, as it didn't have any special divination characters written on it.

Seeing the confused looks on the faces of the leaders, Li Wencheng cupped his hands and said, "My brothers and comrades from all over, I am Li Wencheng of the Zhen hexagram. You should all know me by now. But today's gathering of heroes in the city is not my idea alone. I am not good at speaking. This extra ninth chair is reserved for the people who are gathering heroes!"

Hey!
Everyone was shocked upon hearing this.

Their Tianli Sect's Eight Trigrams Gathering actually has a ninth person, and judging from the empty chair, he's clearly not a member of the Tianli Sect.

Could they be from the White Lotus Sect in Henan? Or perhaps the White-haired Army brothers from Shanxi?

As for the former, their predecessor, the Bagua Sect, was inherently linked to the White Lotus Sect through a branch. Although they underwent a mitotic split and became quite different, the core doctrine of the White Lotus Sect, "Eternal Mother," was still passed down.

As for the White-Headed Army brothers in Shanxi, although the main force of the White-Headed Army uprising was coal miner slaves, there were also remnants of the Shanxi Bagua Cult among them.

Li Wencheng didn't give them a chance to ask questions and directly announced the answer: "Please welcome Mr. Chen, the imperial envoy from Nanjing, to take a seat!"

Chen Xingye, dressed as a shopkeeper and businessman with a shaved head, slowly walked to the ninth chair and sat down.

He had only come to Shandong more than half a year ago, originally intended as an important spy base for the future northern expedition of the Han Dynasty. But now the Nanjing plan has changed, and the emperor, who is also his brother-in-law, is personally leading the expedition to fight a major battle against the Manchus.

Coincidentally, while Chen Xingye was secretly operating in Shandong as a businessman from outside the province, he was not only cultivating connections and intelligence networks within official circles, but also keeping an eye on all sorts of people in the local area.

This attention actually led him to discover the suspicious activities of the Heavenly Principle Sect.

From the perspective of the local officials of the Qing Dynasty, there were countless private religious sects like the Heavenly Principle Sect. They couldn't possibly manage them all, and if they did, it would easily cause trouble and affect their own political achievements and promotions. It was better to accept some bribes and pretend they didn't see anything.

However, Chen Xingye had been in contact with the White Lotus Sect and knew about its early development characteristics. In addition, the core doctrine of the Heavenly Principle Sect was also "Vacuum Homeland".

This immediately aroused Chen Xingye's suspicion. After constantly throwing money at the problem, he finally made contact with the Tianli Sect in Chengwu County.

Through the other party's introduction, he met Li Wencheng, the de facto leader of the Heavenly Principle Sect.

Then, naturally, things fell into place.

The Heavenly Principle Sect has already gathered tens of thousands of followers, and its expansion speed is even faster than that of the White Lotus Sect in the past.

The situation in the north was too chaotic. In order to support the army's operations, the Qing government intensified its exploitation and oppression of the people, which brought countless potential followers to the White Principle Sect.

Moreover, the followers of the White Principle Sect harbored hatred for the Qing Dynasty. While the sect was expanding rapidly, it was also on the verge of exploding internally. They desperately needed a major uprising to vent their hatred and discontent with the Qing Dynasty.

After Chen Xingye sat down, he followed the custom of the group, cupping his hands and looking around before saying, "Brothers, I am here on the orders of His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty to invite the heroes of the Heavenly Principle Sect to join me in the great cause of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty. Let's not mince words. His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty personally led an army of 500,000 (fabricated) on a northern expedition a month ago, determined to drive the Manchu Tartars out of the Central Plains. As long as the Heavenly Principle Sect can launch its uprising in time, our Great Han army will surely respond in Xuzhou and quickly march north to take over the entire Shandong region!"

Indeed, he wasn't exaggerating; it was just that one exaggerated claim of an army of 500,000 that gave the leader of the Heavenly Principle Sect's Eight Trigrams Sect a huge fright.

Even Li Wencheng, Lin Qing, and Feng Keshan, who had been prepared beforehand, were shocked. They had accumulated less than 100,000 followers over two or three years, and that was only because of the Qing Dynasty's exorbitant taxes and levies. Most of their followers were the elderly, women, and children, and at least half of them could actually join the rebellion.

Yet the Han Dynasty was able to send out an army of 500,000 to launch a northern expedition. The Han emperor in Nanjing was more like a true Son of Heaven than the Tartar emperor in Beijing!
Although they were all from the north, it was already the sixth year of the Jiaqing Emperor's reign, and news from the south could no longer be blocked.

Many officials and common people in the north knew that a great Han emperor had emerged in the south, who in fact controlled half of the Qing dynasty's territory.

This is incredible!

Even Li Wencheng, Lin Qing, and Feng Keshan, these few uneducated cult leaders, had heard those scholars ramble on about the impending doom of the Qing Dynasty.

Otherwise, Li Wencheng would never have dared to hold an anti-Qing rally in Shandong at this time.

Chen Xingye looked at the leaders of the cult, including Li Wencheng, whom he had persuaded to join the righteous cause, and then said, “Under the rule of our Great Han, there are no slaves. You don’t need to be a slave to any Tartars or landlords. If anyone forces you to be a slave, you can report it to the authorities and let them punish those landlords and gentry.”

No need to be a slave?
That's impossible!
Feng Keshan, a rough and uncouth man sitting on the right, couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Chen, it's not that we don't believe you, but you said we won't have to be slaves anymore. Where in the world can we not be slaves? And what if the officials also want us to be slaves? Who should we report to then?"

Without hesitation, Chen Xingye said, "Then we'll go to the capital to file a complaint with the Emperor. His Majesty will stand up for you. As long as the facts are true, His Majesty will definitely not let corrupt officials off lightly. You don't need to worry." After saying that, he thought for a moment and added, "Because His Majesty's Noble Consort was born a slave maid."

Originally, Feng Keshan wanted to argue, but what if the emperor also refused to make a decision?
But then Chen Xingye said that the emperor's concubines were all born from servants and maids, which immediately shut Feng Keshan up. Even the five leaders of the divination sect below were whispering among themselves.

This kind of gossip about the emperor's inner circle is most likely to interest those of commoner origin. Especially since the emperor didn't look down on them, who were just lowly servants, and even bestowed the title of Imperial Concubine upon a maid.

They don't know how old the Imperial Concubine is, but in operas, the emperor's most frequently appearing women are either the empress or the Imperial Concubine.

Chen Xingye continued, "It's not just that we no longer have to be slaves. As long as we are citizens of the Great Han, we will all be allocated land and settled down. The land will not be allocated according to household registration, but will be allocated according to individual status. Each person will be allocated 4 mu of land, and women and children will also be allocated land."

"After the land is distributed, all previous tax arrears and loans owed to the government and landlords will be cancelled. From now on, all taxes will be reformed according to the new tax law of our Great Han, and we will no longer have to bear the heavy taxes of the Tartars."

"In the first year after the land was distributed, all land, regardless of its condition, was exempt from tax. In the second year, the tax was reduced by half, and in the third year, the tax was reduced by a fraction."

"Furthermore, under the rule of our Great Han, schools and academies will be established in every county and village. Families with children can come to these schools to study for free for three years."

Good heavens, the fact that men, women, and children could all receive land was already making these leaders of the Heavenly Principle Sect, who came from humble backgrounds, drool with envy, and then they came up with a big surprise at the end.

Families with children can all attend school, and the tuition is free for three years.

In this agrarian era, land and education were the lifelong obsessions of ordinary people.

Let alone becoming an official, the prerequisite for becoming an official is to study. Studying is for the purpose of becoming an official, and the two are not contradictory.

Anyway, after Chen Xingye finished speaking, Zhang Tingju, the leader of the Qian Gua, immediately stood up, cupped his hands and asked, "Mr. Chen, we are not very knowledgeable, but we just want to ask, is what you said true? Can you really give us land, and can our children really go to school for free?"

Chen Xingye said, “Brother, firstly, I’m not old at all, there’s no need to say I’m old. Secondly, the land redistribution and education are real, but the education is only free for three years, and it’s only for primary school. After all, education is too expensive. Although His Majesty loves his people like his own children and wants everyone to have enough to eat, wear, and study, just having enough to eat and wear has already exhausted His Majesty. Three years of free education is the limit.”

This statement sounds rather helpless, but the more helpless it sounds, the more these guys believe it.

Zhang Tingju said, "Alright, we believe you, we believe the Emperor of Nanjing! As long as he can really distribute land to us and let our children go to school, then he is our Emperor... no, he is the Emperor of Shandong! That damned Tartar court, let him get out of Shandong!"

“Brother Zhang is right. Those damned Tartar courts, get them out of Shandong!” Cheng Baiyue, the leader of the Xun hexagram, immediately chimed in.

Hou Guolong, the leader of the Dui trigram, also said, "Drive all the Tartars out... no, kill all these damned Tartars."

"Kill all the Tartars! Kill them all!"

"..."

The remaining leaders, caught up in the sentiment, rose and echoed it.

In less than half an hour, these people hastily decided on their goal for the gathering.

It may have been hasty, but the destructiveness and scope of the uprising were by no means small.

(End of this chapter)