Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 136 What is a Celestial Master!

"I have come here only to ask the Great Teacher of Wisdom: if the Azure Heaven dies and the Yellow Heaven rises, will the world truly be blessed?"

Seeing that Zhang Jiao didn't intend to say much, Liu Bei asked directly, "The Great Teacher is now using the art of incantation to attract people, which is quite different from previous years. The fact that I can see the Great Teacher here clearly shows that he is not strictly preventing or controlling it, but rather condoning the spread of the art of incantation."

"But once there are many people, there will inevitably be both good and bad. If this technique becomes widespread, all the thieves in the world will follow suit. As long as someone is even slightly wicked, the path of peace... will become the same as the path of thieves."

"Then peace was reduced to the Yellow Turbans, and the Yellow Turbans were reduced to the Moth Thieves."

"People will regard a peaceful world as a time of thieves and bandits; how can there be true peace?"

Zhang Jiao raised his head and carefully examined Liu Bei, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

As their gazes converged, the once ordinary-looking Confucian scholar seemed to take on a different appearance, as if he contained a hint of compassion, or perhaps a hint of murderous intent.

With Zhang Jiao's mouth and nose covered, Liu Bei could only see his eyes and eyebrows. He felt as if he had seen this look somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.

"I had heard of Chief Clerk Liu's reputation for benevolence, and I thought he had come to rebuke or advise me... but I never expected that he would have such a benevolent heart."

Zhang Jiao closed his eyes slightly, nodded, and spoke slowly: "But nowadays, the world is already rife with bandits... Chief Clerk Liu has also built a huge medical clinic, so he must understand why I am performing incantation therapy. I would also like to ask Chief Clerk, what kind of illnesses are the people of this world suffering from?"

The art of incantation is not witchcraft. It is the "transformation of essence and qi" in the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic. In fact, it is to change the patient's spirit and energy through psychological comfort, enhance the patient's confidence, and help them fight the disease in a better state. This has always been the orthodox medical concept and is also the concept followed by modern medicine.

When faced with diseases that can only be fought off by the human immune system, the placebo effect sometimes far surpasses that of ordinary medicine, something Liu Bei naturally understood.

However, Liu Bei could not answer Zhang Jiao's question.

There is more than one disease that people in the world suffer from.
"Please teach me, great and wise teacher."

Liu Bei clasped his hands in a gesture of respect and asked for guidance.

"There is only one disease among all people in the world...hunger."

Zhang Jiao's tone softened: "Prefect Liu also saved the people from famine, and I respect him... In the past, I traveled the world practicing medicine. Prefect Liu, do you know what the most frequently used medicine was?"

Liu Bei remained silent for a moment, then a bitter smile appeared on his face: "I suppose it's... rice."

"The Chief Secretary is indeed well-versed in the art of governing the country."

Zhang Jiao nodded: "It's rice... All the diseases in the world are caused by the lack of rice."

"I have also treated illnesses, but I have found that while my medical skills can cure diseases, they cannot save lives..."

"Later, I was in charge of people and taught many disciples to gain a reputation for great benevolence, but I was arrested and imprisoned because they said I had treacherous intentions... Fortunately, one of my disciples managed to contact someone in the palace, which led to my pardon and release."

“At that time, I realized that the emperor was not an immoral and wicked person, but that the emperor was even more famine-stricken than the people, and could not even support his own children.”

"The emperor is hungry for succession, the scholars are hungry for power and position, the powerful and wealthy are hungry for family influence, and the clerks are hungry for wealth."

"The common people...are hungry and cowardly!"

"The imperial court taxes one-thirtieth of the taxes, but the prefectures and counties tax one-thirtieth! I was angry and even drew my sword to question them."

"But after treating people, we found that the emperor had his own hunger and hardship, and officials had their own suffering, so we could not simply regard them all as poison."

"But the rice stored in the government's granaries was not sent to the capital, while the grain stored by the wealthy and powerful grew moldy and infested with insects. The common people ate all the grass, trees, and soil, and even resorted to cannibalism... A dou of rice cost ten thousand coins, yet the common people still did not think of changing their ways!"

"The world is sick."

“I can neither cure people nor save them… Even if I continue to cure them, it will only cause them more suffering.”

"Therefore, I had a delusional thought: I wanted to cure the diseases of the world."

"But this is the only disease in the world..."

"This humble Taoist priest is foolish and ignorant, unaware of the future, but he knows that if he uses rice soup with incantations, he can save countless lives!"

"But where is the rice now?" "This poor Taoist priest, with the strength of one person and one family, cannot cure the diseases of the world, so greed has arisen in my heart again."

"We covet the emperor's example, we covet virtuous men like Chief Clerk Liu's example, we covet that everyone in the world should follow suit! We use rice... to save lives!"

"What difference does it make whether one is an official or a thief? What if they all practice incantation? What if all thieves in the world are branded with yellow turbans? What if I am regarded as a moth-like thief?!"

"You call yourself the Big-Eared Thief... yet you still save countless lives, don't you?"

"The Tao follows the way of nature, and so do people..."

"He who can save lives is the Yellow Heaven!!"

……

Liu Bei understood.

The Way of Peace was not just about rebellion; Zhang Jiao's ideals were even more rebellious than actual rebellion, and the world underestimated him!

The old heavens are dead, the new heavens shall rise. This is not a proverb, this is faith…

The Way of Peace is essentially the Way of Rice!

Zhang Jiao didn't care about rebellion at all. He didn't look like a Taoist, but he was a true cultivator who had entered the world.

Zhang Jiao originally lacked nothing. He already had hundreds of thousands of disciples. He had no shortage of money, food, or fame. Officials dared not offend him, and natural disasters and famines did not affect him. He could have lived a life more luxurious than all the powerful clans in the world!
Many people don't ask why he entered the world, but only say that he gathered a crowd to cause trouble. He insists on talking about loyalty and righteousness from the perspective of aristocratic families and powerful clans, but forgets his own position... Are you a commoner or a member of a powerful family?
Zhang Jiao was already the greatest religious leader in the land! He was even more powerful than the local magnates! He could live a much more comfortable life than the emperor!
He had absolutely no reason to rebel!

He is already part of the ruling class. If he so desires, he can become a powerful family or a clan. He can sit at home and call himself a hero to observe the changes in the world, and he can pass on his traditions for thousands of years!
But Zhang Jiao chose to dedicate himself to the Dao.

He wants to incite people to resist taxes, to seize rice, he wants to incite people to cause chaos... he wants the world to follow his example!
Chaos is necessary for the rice to be properly processed; without chaos, where would the rice come from?
Traitor?

In fact, Zhang Jiao had already been a rebel eight years ago. He didn't care who added more charges against him, because no charge was as serious as the one he wanted to commit.

He was not rebelling against the emperor, nor against the court.

He's rebelling against Heaven!!
That's why... Zhang Jiao didn't care whether the world would descend into chaos—he wanted the world to be in chaos, he wanted everyone to raise their swords to the sky!

Therefore, he neither rebelled nor did he rebel all along; it's just that now that the world is seriously ill, his rebellion has become even more prominent.

As he said, he was greedy...

If Zhang Jiao succeeds, he will become the Yellow Emperor.

He knew he might not succeed, but the way of nature is that someone will eventually succeed.

The thieves want to call themselves Yellow Turbans? The thieves want to learn their incantations? They want to learn the Way of Rice to plot rebellion? Let them learn, and they will become disciples of the Yellow Heaven.

Whoever can accomplish things through the Way of the Yellow Heaven, is the Yellow Heaven.

What Zhang Jiao coveted was Heaven.

This ambition far surpasses that of all the heroes in the world!
Everyone wants to be the emperor, but Zhang Jiao—he wants to be the teacher of heaven!
This is what a Celestial Master should be like!
but……

but.

“The Great Teacher of Virtue wanted to heal the world and prescribed such a strong medicine... but the disease of the human heart is even worse than that of the heavens.”

"The evil in human nature far surpasses that of Heaven."

Liu Bei sighed: "The great and virtuous teacher's ambition to seize power will likely eventually be buried in the hearts of the people..."

The next chapter will be a little late; these chapters have been written extremely slowly.

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(End of this chapter)