Taiping Dao at the end of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 16 The Temple

The tablet of Huang Tian was placed on the altar, without any sculpture, just a wooden plaque inscribed with the two characters "Huang Tian". In the incense burner in front of the altar, the pine and cypress resin had long since burned out, but it was not replenished, leaving only a handful of incense ash.

Inside the temple, the Great Teacher Zhang Jiao and his youngest disciple Zhang Chengfu sat facing each other. Both were dressed in hempen robes and barefoot, without crowns or hats, only wearing yellow turbans. The hall was solemn until Zhang Jiao spoke softly.

“Chengfu, the disaster relief efforts at Tianqi Temple are almost over. Yuanyi will be taking several hundred disciples to Luoyang in Sili in the next couple of days. You and Daonu can go with him to the estate in Julu. Summer planting needs to be expedited; whether it's millet or beans, the planting season cannot be missed…”

"The affairs of the world are like farming in the fields; everything depends on the 'crop season.' When the time comes, what needs to be done must be done. If the time is not right, one can only make do, and may very well reap no harvest. Even after planting seeds, one must consider the right time, the right place, and the right people—whether it rains, whether the soil is fertile, and whether there are pests or birds... before one can finally reap a harvest!"

"Attain utmost emptiness, hold fast to stillness. All things arise together, and I observe their return. Heaven and earth always correspond; this knowledge of the earth is vast, no less than that in the scriptures."

After hearing his master Zhang Jiao's teachings, Zhang Chengfu pondered silently for a moment before answering seriously.

"Teacher, the right time, the right place, and the right people all require waiting, and human effort is indispensable... The Han emperor is tyrannical, and the celestial phenomena frequently warn us, indicating that the direction of the times is clear. The real turning point of the times, the internal strife and bloodshed within the Han court, will occur at the very moment the emperor dies!"

"The emperor is dissolute and indulgent, obsessed with pleasure, and does not know how to maintain tranquility and health. He has brought chaos to the world, his virtue is greatly lacking, and his health is also greatly failing. Although he looks like he is in his prime, he is nothing more than a piece of firewood that is about to burn out. And I am certain that the emperor will not live for more than seven years and will die in his prime!"

"!"

Upon hearing this prophecy, the Great Teacher Zhang Jiao suddenly looked up, his eyes gleaming. He stared intently into his young disciple's honest eyes, his voice unusually urgent.

"Peace and prosperity! The emperor is not even thirty years old, how could he only live for seven more? Chengfu, you are so certain, could it be... that you saw 'celestial phenomena' when you possessed his soul? This matter is of great importance, do you dare to swear an oath to Heaven?"

"As Heaven has seen! Master, I swear on my life, even if the Emperor had not been assassinated, he would not have lived more than seven years!"

Zhang Chengfu raised his finger to the sky and solemnly swore an oath. He knew the weight of this "celestial prophecy" and the meaning behind it.

Emperor Ling, Liu Hong, ascended the throne in the first year of Jianning (168 AD) and has now been emperor for fifteen years. Although he is licentious, he manipulates the power of the eunuchs, suppresses the powerful clans, and firmly holds the imperial power in his hands.

No matter how powerful local families became, how many people were displaced and died, or how many rebellions broke out on the frontier... as long as Emperor Ling was still alive, the imperial power of the Han Dynasty remained, and the military strength of the Han Dynasty remained! Wherever the imperial power pointed, hundreds of thousands of the most elite Han border troops in the world would still obey the imperial edict and advance like tigers, unstoppable! As for border generals like Dong Zhuo, with just one imperial edict from Emperor Ling, they could be imprisoned or executed at will!

"Teacher, the emperor is still in his prime. As long as he lives, the Han army will obey his orders! And with over 100,000 troops from Liangzhou, Bingzhou, Youyan, Jiaozhi, and Sili converging in one place like a torrent, it's probably beyond human power to stop them..."

"The government troops have strict military discipline. These government troops have never received the teachings of Heaven and only obey the orders of their generals and officers. And those government generals will show no mercy to the people who rise up in rebellion! Even if there are hundreds of thousands or millions, they will slaughter them all, piling their heads into a mound of heads. They will not provide any food or money for relief, famine relief, or appeasement!..."

At this point, Zhang Chengfu lowered his eyes, as some cruel, bloody memory flashed through his mind. He remained silent for a long time, then sighed softly.

Although the Han Empire was nearing its end, its military strength remained formidable. Emperor Ling, while indulging in debauchery and tyranny, also pursued aggressive military campaigns, conscripting vast numbers of soldiers and waging war after war on the frontier. The wheels of the imperial chariot carry a powerful momentum before they come to a complete stop. Those who first try to stop it are often crushed to pieces by this final inertia.

"Peace and prosperity reign! Teacher, the emperor only has seven years left to live. Crown Prince Liu Bian is only six years old this year, and will only be thirteen in seven years. Such a young new emperor has absolutely no chance of suppressing the conflicts between the eunuchs and the gentry within the court!..."

Zhang Chengfu's eyes were unfocused, as if he were recalling something, as he recounted the course of history to the Great Teacher for the first time.

"Teacher! If we can hold out for seven years until the emperor dies, the contradictions that have accumulated within the Han court for decades will completely erupt! The eunuchs will not surrender easily; they hold the young emperor and military power in their hands. And the gentry will certainly not compromise, allowing the eunuchs to control a new emperor and continue this cycle..."

"In such a fierce, life-or-death struggle, if either side issues an edict ordering foreign troops to enter the capital to defend the emperor... the authority of the Han dynasty will plummet! And the elite imperial troops of the Han will engage in infighting and mutual slaughter over the power struggle between eunuchs and aristocratic families! If the border troops from Liangzhou and Bingzhou enter the capital, the border troops from Youyan and Jiaozhi may not necessarily obey the court's orders..."

"When that time comes, if we launch a Yellow Turban Rebellion across all thirty-six regions of the land, the situation will be vastly different! At the very least, the provinces of Ji, Yu, and Qing, which my Taiping Dao has cultivated for over a decade, will change color in an instant..."

Upon hearing Zhang Chengfu's description of the future, the Great Teacher Zhang Jiao slightly raised his head, looking up at the dark palace ceiling. It seemed as if he could see through the obstruction of the ceiling and through the descending twilight, and witness the true dawn of heaven! He gazed at it for a long time, and after a long while, he sighed softly.

“Chengfu, if the emperor's lifespan is indeed only seven years, then there is still hope for the future! However… the timing is not only about the emperor's lifespan, but also about the weather and wind. Can the millions of people on both sides of this great river really wait another seven years? The great plague the year before last, the floods last year, and this year's plague and drought… the world has lost its virtue, what calamity will come next year?”

Upon hearing this soul-searching question, Zhang Chengfu fell silent. He knew what calamity awaited him next year, and even more so, the year after. The reason the Yellow Turban Rebellion had spread so widely and so massively across multiple prefectures was because of the backdrop of "three years of severe drought, leading to cannibalism," the historical record of "women in Henan eating their husbands, and husbands in Henan eating their wives!"
"Teacher, next year... there will be a severe drought in the north. The year after, it will still be a severe drought. Locusts will swarm..."

Zhang Chengfu spoke these celestial "prophecies" in a hoarse voice. Upon hearing this, the Great Teacher Zhang Jiao tensed up instantly, his entire body stiffening.

"Three years of severe drought?! Three years of severe drought?!"

"Teacher, perhaps what I see in the sky isn't accurate... Yes, the sky can change! Perhaps a distant butterfly can completely alter the celestial phenomena and bring rain..."

"."

The temple was silent. The master and disciple sat stiffly, like two stone statues. Neither of them sat high in the halls, ignoring the weeping of the common people. They both understood that this "three-year drought" meant the deaths of tens of thousands, even millions, along the banks of the Yellow River! To expect the corrupt Han court to provide relief was like expecting a tiger to cut its flesh to feed a sheep—utterly impossible.

After a long silence, the Great Teacher Zhang Jiao lowered his head and sighed. His voice was weary and weak, yet it held a resolute quality. "Bear the consequences, the people of the world cannot wait seven more years. My million followers of the Way of Great Peace will not live for seven more years either. If there truly is a three-year drought, we will have no choice but to rise up in rebellion. This is the Way, and within the Way lies destiny; destiny must be followed… Whether we succeed or fail, it will all come down to death!"

"."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Cheng remained silent for a long time before slowly nodding. He closed his eyes and then opened them again, his gaze sparkling, before speaking once more.

"Teacher! The timing has been set... but the terrain can still be won over! The most formidable aspects of the government army are its armor, weapons, and battle formations, and the armored cavalry of the border troops! While these two are difficult to defeat on the plains, once they enter the treacherous mountains, nine-tenths of their power is lost, and they can no longer be fully utilized!"

"Two hundred li west of my Jizhou lies the Taihang Mountains! The Taihang Mountains extend south to Hedong in Sili and north to Zhuojun in Youzhou. In between, there are not only mountains that block the way, but also the Shangdang Basin, Jinyang Basin, Linfen Basin, Yanmen Basin... extending all the way to Bingzhou!"

"Bingzhou is strategically located, bordered by the Taihang Mountains to the east and the Yellow River to the west. It possesses the natural defenses of mountains and rivers on the outside and the advantages of plains on the inside! Among the Taihang Mountains, the Black Mountain Clan and the White Wave Clan all revere you as their teacher, having received the blessings of the Way of Great Peace. Many of them wear yellow turbans and worship the Yellow Heaven God Tablet. If one could establish a pre-emptive foundation for spreading the Way, widely recruiting Yellow Turban disciples and propagating the righteous path of the Yellow Heaven in Taiyuan, Shangdang, Yanmen, and Xihe counties of Bingzhou…"

"If all thirty-six factions rise up simultaneously, and flames of war rage across the land, Bingzhou might also be able to coordinate from within and without, raising the banner of the Yellow Heaven! If 100,000 Yellow Turbans enter Bingzhou and seize the four commanderies of Shangdang, Taiyuan, Xihe, and Yanmen, they could use their geographical advantage to resist the punitive expedition of 100,000 elite government troops! Even in the worst-case scenario, if their plot to seize the three commanderies fails and they only manage to capture Shangdang, where the Black Mountain bandits reside, it would still be enough to preserve tens of thousands of embers of revolution in the Taihang Mountains!..."

"As long as we hold out until the emperor dies, the world will change drastically, and the Han army will split and fight amongst itself... Then we can march east from Bingzhou and take You and Ji provinces. That will be the foundation of Emperor Guangwu's hegemony, and there will be much to be done in the world! The Way of Heaven will shine brightly!"

"Ten thousand Yellow Turban rebels entered Bingzhou, trying to preserve as much of the revolution as possible?..."

Upon hearing this comprehensive strategic plan, the Great Teacher Zhang Jiao closed his eyes and remained silent, a rare change appearing on his usually calm face. A full quarter of an hour later, he looked at Zhang Chengfu with a deep gaze and complex expression. His voice was soft, but he still asked.

"Inheritance, in the 'celestial phenomena' you saw through your possessed soul... did all thirty-six Yellow Turban uprisings fail?...?"

"…teacher…"

Upon hearing this question, Zhang Chengfu bit his lip and slowly lowered his head. The mounds of hundreds of thousands, even millions of Yellow Turban heads, piled up in Changshe, Nanyang, Dongjun, Guangzong, Cangting, and Xiaquyang, are all recorded in historical texts. And millions more starved to death in the fields and in desolate villages, their numbers unknown and unrecorded.

At this moment, the chaos of the last century at the end of the Han Dynasty surged forth, from the end of the Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms, then to the Jin Dynasty, and finally to the Five Barbarian Invasions, wiping out seven or eight tenths of the population. Zhang Chengfu didn't know how to answer. But his expression had already answered everything.

"The Azure Heaven is dead! If the Yellow Heaven also dies... then what will be left of this world, and where will it go? How many of the people will survive?..."

Zhang Jiao raised his head and sighed softly. His voice was slightly hoarse and aged, as if it came from an ancient wilderness, or like that of the oldest farmer. He did not ask any more questions about the "celestial phenomena," for those who seek the Dao must know when to stop. He remained calm and focused, lowering his eyes for a long time before speaking again.

“Chengfu, you just said, ‘100,000 Yellow Turbans entered Bingzhou’… I only have one question for you: where did the food come from?”

"Teacher, although Bingzhou is barren, the basins can still be cultivated with mountain rainfall, and hardy millet and beans can be grown! As long as the people can survive the first three years of land reclamation, without the exploitation and taxes of the government, they can be self-sufficient..."

Upon hearing this answer, Zhang Jiao shook his head and simply said...

“Chengfu, you have no experience in clearing land and farming. The most difficult part of farming is clearing land. Clearing land for three years sounds easy, but the amount of grain consumed by the busy young men and women is substantial! Clearing land in Jizhou is not easy, let alone the barren mountainous areas of Bingzhou…”

"If we don't prepare enough grain for two years, or at least a whole year, then those so-called 100,000 Yellow Turbans who entered Bingzhou and Taihang will only starve to death. But where will the grain come from in years of drought? The gentry of Bingzhou probably won't provide us with grain like they have in Jizhou..."

“Teacher! The gentry of Jizhou have never supported us! What is the little bit of grain that those powerful families gave us? To the hundreds of thousands of disaster victims in Jizhou, to the moldy grain they have stored away?”

"Moreover, the factions and clans currently appear to be opposing the court and standing with us... but as soon as the emperor issues an edict to lift the party ban that has lasted for thirty years... then these factions and clans will instantly change their stance, join the court's army, and suppress us, this bunch of traitors!"

At this point, Zhang Chengfu straightened his back, clenched his teeth, and stood like a taut bow. His words were like the sharpest iron arrows, containing the coldest killing intent.

"Party members cannot be trusted, and aristocratic families are not to be relied upon. Powerful clans are like weather vanes, always looking for an opportunity to climb the social ladder. The only ones who truly believe in the Way of Heaven and desire peace are the countless ordinary people who cannot survive!..."

"In this year of famine, the people are starving, their bodies strewn everywhere, without even a bowl of rice. Who has any grain stored up? Only the powerful and wealthy, especially the noble families! Why can these noble families hoard grain and force the people to their deaths, while the people cannot rise up and kill these noble families?..."

"In Chengfu's view, there is only one way to demand a year's worth of grain from 100,000 Yellow Turbans! Destroy the manors of powerful clans! The Geng clan of Julu, the Cui clan of Qinghe, the Cui clan of Boling, the Zhen clan of Zhongshan, and the Tian clan of Bohai—if just one of these prominent clans is destroyed, it's enough to feed tens of thousands of people for a year! And further down the line, the prominent clans of each county also have enough grain stored up for thousands or even tens of thousands of people for a year..."

"Peace and prosperity! As long as we destroy all the powerful clans in Ji Province, forcing the local tyrants to also get their hands stained with blood, with the blood of the powerful clans... we can support not just 100,000 Yellow Turbans, but even 200,000 or hundreds of thousands!!"

"And it's the same once we enter Bingzhou! After destroying the Wang family of Taiyuan and distributing their land to the people, we can support another twenty or thirty thousand people!..."

"!!..."

Upon hearing these murderous and shocking words, the Great Teacher Zhang Jiao was startled and his eyes widened abruptly. With his aged eyes, he stared intently at Zhang Chengfu's unwavering expression, as if he were seeing this disciple for the first time.

(End of this chapter)