Taiping Dao at the end of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 19: How can one replace aristocratic families in the countryside?

The blazing heat of July is perfect for stargazing. Zhang Chengfu climbed a seven-zhang-tall old cypress tree, sat cross-legged at the top, and watched the great fire star Antares rise from the east and gradually sink in the west, like a streak of fire across the Milky Way.

On the fragrant cypress trees, cicadas chirped softly and gently. In the dimly lit night sky, many birds lingered. A cool night breeze blew from Youzhou in the north, making the late summer night exceptionally comfortable. A child's voice called from beneath the trees, half curious, half longing.

"Master Zhang, how did you climb so high? What did you see?"

"I am observing the stars at night."

"Master Zhang, did you figure it out?"

"The Milky Way is so bright, like a celestial street. There are countless stars, as numerous as lights. They are much brighter than they would be eighteen hundred years from now..."

"Huh? Master Zhang, 1,800 years, how long is that?"

"It will be a very, very long time. A long, long time from now, before we see each other again..."

The sounds from the treetops subsided for a moment, then resumed with the rustling of leaves. The cicadas finally chirped again from the treetops, and a strong, hair-tied figure appeared below.

The Milky Way receded into the distance at that moment, obscured by the cypress leaves at the treetops. But the faces of the children were close at hand; this was his responsibility in this life, his path for this lifetime.

"July's heat is waning, summer is coming to an end, and autumn is just around the corner."

Zhang Chengfu blinked, patted the heads of several children, and said with a smile.

"We've been planting beans for over a month, and the bean sprouts have all emerged, so we've made some progress. You've also mastered the basic arithmetic for calculating fields. I was thinking... well, I was thinking of doing something more meaningful, and teaching you some more useful arithmetic techniques!..."

"Huh? We need to do academic calculations too?... Professor Zhang, could we plant a little more land? I get a headache whenever I do calculations..."

"That's right, that's right! Me too!"

Zhang Xuanli wore a bitter expression, and Zhang Yuanpo nodded hurriedly. These two boys, both young and strong, ate and worked a lot, and were noticeably more robust than the other children; they were the potential to become military generals.

Of course, compared to "Master Zhang," who was two years older than them, the two children were not particularly strong. However, "Master Zhang" did not like to show off his strength and often dressed like a teacher. Perhaps "Master Zhang" was like the "Master" in his stories, "skilled at winning people over with virtue and also somewhat knowledgeable in martial arts."

"What I teach you is all for the sake of 'peace,' and it's truly useful. Once you've learned it, you can teach it to more people, allowing more people to join the Way of the Yellow Heaven. One person's strength is always weak, like a tiny spark. But the strength of a group is like that spark burning into a prairie fire, igniting a vast prairie and creating peace for future generations!..."

Zhang Chengfu patiently guided them, smiling gently as he picked up a two-pound tree branch as a pointer. Upon seeing this "friendly" pointer, Zhang Xuanli and Zhang Yuanpo immediately shuddered and responded like chicks pecking at rice.

"Teacher Zhang, you teach! We'll learn!..."

"Hmm. You've already learned multiplication and area; now I need to teach you division and volume. And the art of farming, besides the planting itself, has one crucial element... which is 'waiting for rain'..."

At this point, Zhang Chengfu looked up at the stars for a while, trying to figure out when it would rain. Unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to divine; he could only smell a hint of moisture in the wind blowing south from the north. So, he turned his head, put his hands behind his back, looked at the children gathered in a circle, and asked with a slight tilt of his head.

“I observed the stars last night… Next year might be a drought, and the year after might be a drought too. A drought means there’s not enough rain in a year, and the crops don’t have water when they need it most. If there’s no water for just over a month, the crops will die, and the whole year’s harvest will be ruined!… So, is there any way to combat a drought?”

The children around him frowned, deep in thought. Zhang Shengtong thought for a moment and was the first to speak, followed by the quick-witted Zhang Shoucun.

"Master Zhang, we can dig a well!"

"Yes! Digging a well will yield water!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chengfu first nodded, then shook his head.

“Digging a well is one option. But the wells in the village are only 6.93 meters deep. Nobody will dig a well deeper than 6.93 meters, and even if they did, there's no guarantee of finding water… And during a severe drought, these shallow wells will easily dry up. Furthermore, for irrigating these thousands of acres of land, a few wells or a dozen wells are just a drop in the ocean… Think again, what other options are there!”

"Teacher Zhang! I've got an idea...we can store water!"

Zhang Chengfu was somewhat surprised. He looked over at the sound and saw Zhang Zhiming, who had a simple and honest expression, gesturing with his fingers as he spoke.

"We can build a big pond to store lots and lots of water!"

“That’s what I thought too! Dig a big marshland… just like the Julu Marshland next to my house! This year when there was a drought, my parents walked more than ten miles to the Julu Marshland to fetch water and bring it back to irrigate the wheat fields… but the road was too far, and in the end there wasn’t enough water, so the wheat all died, and my parents also contracted the disease…”

Zhang Yuanpu's eyes widened, but he stopped mid-sentence. Zhang Chengfu remained silent for a moment, then patted his head, looked around at everyone, and spoke.

"Zhiming and Yuanpu, though seemingly clumsy, are actually quite insightful. They have revealed the only solution. There are no shortcuts to combat the drought, nor can we rely on the gods... The only way is to gather enough people and expend great effort to build large reservoirs... to build ponds!..."

"Only by building reservoirs and ponds to collect as much rainwater as possible during rainy seasons and as much river water as possible when there is plenty of water... can we draw water to irrigate the millet when it needs it most!"

"This is the way of Heaven: to take from the surplus and give to the deficiency. In everything, preparation is the key to success, and lack of preparation leads to failure. As for farming, there is no shortcut and no room for luck."

"So, if we're preparing for a year's drought in advance, to ensure that these thousand acres of soybean fields have enough irrigation to last until harvest... how exactly should we dig the water storage ponds? Leaving aside where and how to build them, I only have one mathematical question: what should their dimensions be?"

This question was clearly beyond their level. The children racked their brains, but they had absolutely no relevant numerical experience and couldn't even guess a single number.

Zhang Cheng stood with his hands behind his back, a smile playing on his lips. He thoroughly enjoyed watching the children ponder. In that moment, he experienced the joy of teaching. He posed these questions not so much to elicit precise answers, but simply to stimulate his "disciples'" thinking.

"Great! Don't rush, keep the goal in mind, and keep the problems in mind too. Then, we'll wait for the rain..."

As summer fades into autumn, the rainy season is fast approaching. The cold air moving south from Youzhou meets the warm air moving north from Qingzhou, finally bringing a long-awaited downpour to Jizhou.

"It's raining heavily! It's finally raining heavily!"

"This rain is good! There's plenty of rain, much more than those few drops of tears before!"

"It's all thanks to the protection of Heaven!"

“Yes! Heaven above, it is the Great Teacher who has bestowed his blessings!…” The joyful shouts of the farmers echoed throughout the village. Many devout believers knelt in the rain and prayed to “Heaven.”

Zhang Chengfu did not pray. Instead, he had the boys place several empty earthenware jars in the rain-soaked fields. Then, he led the boys to squat at the entrance of the shack and thatched hut, quietly watching the bean sprouts in the rain.

"After a long drought, thunder rumbles and rain is imminent; bean seedlings wait anxiously, gazing at the heavens. Tender roots sprout from cracked soil, and with a single drop of sweet rain, they are brought back to life."

Heaven has taken pity on its people, and peace is not far off in the fields. A single meal, earned through countless hardships, will eventually be rewarded; the farmer bows in gratitude to Heaven…

Zhang Chengfu stroked the downy hair on his chin and recited an untitled seven-character poem. But upon rereading it, he felt the poem was unsatisfactory. Looking towards the "Heavenly Court"? How could the Heavenly Court be relied upon? For irrigation, one must look to "humanity," to the farmers themselves, and to the water conservancy projects being built!

"When it comes to farming, the first thing is farming itself, followed by irrigation. Farming must be stable and absolutely cannot go wrong. If you lose even a little water at a critical moment, ten times the harvest will be lost! Irrigation projects are that last bit of protection, the only way to salvage the situation when things go wrong! And being able to save the grain is what truly wins the hearts of the people!"

Zhang Chengfu said this to his "disciples." After a heavy rain had passed, he sent out the team leaders of the boys to measure the depth of the rainfall in the pottery jars.

He couldn't possibly teach so many children by himself. He could only select the fastest learners from the ten-child teams to act as team leaders. Then, these team leaders would go back and teach the other children in their teams. This was the initial organizational hierarchy, dividing the team into team leaders and members.

"Teacher Zhang, the depth of this rainfall is 2 inches (46 millimeters)!"

"Master Zhang, our measurement shows it's 2.1 inches!"

"This is 1.9 inches!..."

"Very good! First, write down the depth of each jar. Then, add all the depths together and divide by the number of jars. This is called finding the average, done through division..."

Even the brightest of the children, the team leaders, spent the better part of the day following Zhang Chengfu, learning to calculate the simplest one-digit division. Afterward, they arrived at a rainfall figure of 2 inches. At this point, Zhang Chengfu patiently guided them, offering new, thought-provoking questions.

"Alright! Now you know how deep the rainfall was this time! So, how deep of rainfall do the beans we planted need to grow without human irrigation? How many rainfalls like today's are needed for the beans to mature?..."

“You certainly don’t have enough experience with this problem, and you can’t figure it out out of thin air. But you can ask the farmers in the village! Ask those old farmers who have been farming for twenty or thirty years! I’ll give you two days, each group, to find the answer. Then, calculate the depth of rainfall needed for a season of beans to mature!”

"And once we estimate this data, we can immediately calculate exactly how large and deep the reservoir needs to be to meet the water needs of a thousand acres of soybean fields during a two-year drought... This is the initial problem we need to solve!"

Looking at the children, who were somewhat nervous, bewildered, yet eager to try, Zhang Chengfu's face broke into a genuine smile. He already had an answer in his mind regarding the depth of the precipitation.

But what he hoped for even more was to hear the results of the children's calculations. He hoped to see these groups of children interact with the farmers, ask them questions, and then solve a problem on their own!
"After all, Master is right... If you want to replace the aristocratic families, the classics and historical texts are no match for you. You can only rely on farming! Farming, building water conservancy, improving agricultural production, and putting real food in front of you... that is the most simple and difficult, yet most upright and just path to organizing the common people and uniting the hearts of the people in the counties!"

Zhang Cheng sat beneath a tree, a smile on his face, his thoughts drifting into the distance. On the eve of chaos in the world, he did not chase after heroes and generals, nor after those legendary figures. He simply and steadily led a group of children he had personally taught, planting beans in the fields and planning the construction of dikes and ponds. At this moment, he finally touched upon the essence of the world, comprehending the words of his master Zhang Jiao, and the teachings of later generations.

"Of all things under heaven, the most difficult is farming! Only by farming can people be fed... If one lacks the ability to sustain life and instead recklessly engages in the natural order of killing and conquest, one's virtue will be compromised, and the Way cannot endure for long! Go and farm properly!..."

Heaven and earth are the inn for all things, and time is the passing traveler from ancient times to the present. This "passing traveler" has been turning over and over in Zhang Chengfu's heart for 1,800 years. And in the "inn" of heaven and earth, the sun has only risen and set twice, slowly and leisurely.

Two days later, the captains of the various children's teams finally came to him with the answers. Some were anxious, some were looking at the answers, some were scratching their heads, and some were still thinking with pursed lips.

"Master Zhang! From planting to maturity, these beans need about 2 feet (461 mm) of rainfall, I think?"

"Huh? Why did we get a result of 1 foot (231 mm)?"

"The old farmer said that seven or eight rainfalls like this would be enough, which should amount to 1 feet (346 mm)!"

The various answers were debated endlessly, and finally all eyes turned to Zhang Chengfu. He lowered his eyes, compared the rainfall with his estimated 350mm, and glanced at Zhang Shengtong and Zhang Shoucun, whose answers were closest.

These two children, at present, do indeed excel in arithmetic and are potential candidates for civil service positions.

"I don't know the answer either, because I haven't calculated it myself."

However, when Zhang Chengfu spoke, he smiled and replied that he didn't know either. Then, his expression turned serious as he looked at the faces of the children and said earnestly.

"Peace and tranquility! To get a truly reliable answer, we must plant beans for a season and measure the total amount of rainfall each time! This is a task you will be doing in the future, and it is also a number that you must know and remember when leading teams to farm: the water requirements of beans!"

"Besides beans, we also need to measure the water requirements of wheat, millet, sorghum, and rice in the south. Rainfall also needs to be recorded..."

"As for the present situation, we will make the most prudent preparations based on the highest possible figure of 2 feet of rainfall! A thousand acres of soybean fields need 2 feet of rainfall during their four or five months of growth. In the worst-case scenario, there will be no rainfall at all during these four or five months, and the entire supply will depend on the reservoirs!"

"Based on this calculation, for an area of ​​1,000 mu and a rainfall of 2 chi, the required water... we need to build a reservoir that is 2 zhang (4.62 meters) deep, and the area of ​​this reservoir is 100 mu!"

At this point, Zhang Chengfu took a deep breath, leaped two steps, and climbed to the top of the tallest rock. Standing there, he looked around at the faces of each child. Then, in a deep voice, he began to speak, word by word, recounting the true "path of development" for the Taiping Dao after much deliberation!
Whether these children can understand it or not, this is the true "Great Way of the Yellow Heaven," spanning countless ages.

“Remember what I said: ‘For every thousand acres of farmland, there must be a hundred acres of weeds, and a depth of two zhang is best!’ Remember this ratio of 10 fields to 1 weed, and also remember this depth of 2 zhang! This depth of 2 zhang does not require high construction technology, and the surrounding dikes are relatively easy to build and will not easily collapse… This is the scale of small ponds and small water conservancy projects that the county, township, village and hamlet urgently need!”

"Whether it's Jizhou, Bingzhou, or Youzhou... all the rural villages need such small ponds to cope with droughts and floods! As long as such a pond is built, even in times of severe drought or disaster, the villagers can still grow beans and survive! And as long as we, the Way of Peace, can mobilize the people and believers in a village to build such a small pond and manage the distribution of water resources properly!..."

"Then, peace and prosperity will reign! From this day forward, the hearts of hundreds, even thousands, of people in this rural village will completely turn to us... They will transform from tenant farmers oppressed by the gentry and ants under the rule of the imperial court into believers in the Way of Peace who willingly don the yellow turbans! This is the Way of the Way of Peace, the Way of the people!..."

As the fiery heat of July rose in the east, the call of the Yellow Heaven echoed through the villages of Julu. On a large rock, Zhang Chengfu's eyes gleamed with brilliance as he donned a yellow turban before all the children. Then, his gaze sharp, he smiled confidently.

"Come on! Next, let's thoroughly survey the terrain of the village... Together with the farmers and believers in the village, let's build the first reservoir to ward off next year's drought!..."

"May there be peace!..."

"May there be peace!!"

Note: The Han dynasty foot was relatively small, with one foot being 23.1 centimeters. The Han dynasty zhang and cun were the same size. The Han dynasty mu was only about 460 square meters.

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(End of this chapter)