Ming Dynasty 1627

Chapter 195 The End of Dharma! The Tribulation of the Three Yangs! (Unique Perspective)
Qingcheng, inside an inconspicuous mansion.

A series of hurried footsteps sounded, and a burly man with a dark, weathered face strode in from outside the door, his brows furrowed, as if he had something on his mind.

The visitor was none other than the owner of the mansion, Guo Luan.

"Daddy's back! Daddy's back!"

A little boy with his hair in a topknot shouted happily and rushed over like a small cannonball.

The moment he saw the child, the taut lines on the big man's face melted away. He scooped the child up from the ground, placed him steadily on his shoulder, and then used his rough stubble to poke the child's cheek.

"Giggle..."

The child struggled as he was pricked, his laughter ringing out like silver bells.

"My son, have you missed your father?" The big man's voice was loud and clear, with a smile on his face.

"Yes, I do!" the little boy answered in his childish voice, then pointed curiously outside, "Daddy, were those cavalrymen who entered the city today also Han Chinese? They looked so impressive! Much more impressive than the cavalrymen of those lords in the city!"

The burly man laughed heartily: "Those are Ming troops from the south. I heard they are elite troops drawn from all over the country, so of course they are impressive."

The child's eyes shone brightly: "When I grow up, I want to be a valiant cavalryman like that!"

The big man's smile froze on his face, and he was momentarily at a loss for words.

Beside them, a gentle-looking woman stepped forward at just the right moment and said softly, "Manager, they are already waiting in the back room."

The big man nodded, took the child off his shoulder, and handed him to the woman: "Go play with your mother first. Your father has important matters to discuss. He will come to find you after he is done."

"Then you'd better come over quickly." The little boy held his hand, reluctant to part.

"Good good."

The burly man responded and turned to walk towards the back hall, the warmth from before instantly replaced by a chilling atmosphere.

……

Inside the back room, the light was dim, with only a few candles lit. The flickering candlelight cast long and short shadows on the figures.

As soon as Guo Luan entered, an old man with a sinister face spoke impatiently, his voice hoarse: "What's the matter? Why did those Taijis suddenly summon you over?"

He shook his head, sat down in the main seat, and said in a deep voice, "It's nothing serious, just that I need to help scout out the situation in the south, especially the political climate in the capital."

The other person inside immediately pressed, "Has the attitude of these Mongols changed at all?"

Guo Luan pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I feel like they haven't thought of this place yet, they're just a little anxious. I don't think we need to worry too much for now."

"No need to worry too much?" The sinister old man let out a cold laugh. "Back then, the great Altan Khan used my father's head to make a deal in order to trade with the Ming Dynasty!"

"When profit is exhausted, friendships turn cold; when power declines, people scatter. These opportunistic and treacherous Mongol barbarians are ultimately not of one mind with us, and we must never trust them!"

Upon hearing this, the room fell into a deathly silence.

This old story is the deepest thorn in the hearts of all the White Lotus followers entrenched in Tumet.

During the Jiajing era, in order to escape the pursuit of the government, a large number of White Lotus followers went north beyond the Great Wall and came to the Qingcheng area. They worked for Altan Khan in farming, iron smelting, and city building, and even acted as spies to spy on the Ming Dynasty's borders and lead the way to plunder.

As a result, when Altan Khan decided to establish a tributary relationship and trade with the Ming Dynasty, in order to show his "sincerity," he did not hesitate to bind Zhao Quan and more than ten other leaders of the White Lotus Sect and hand them over to the Ming court, leaving them to be executed by slow slicing and their bodies displayed in the marketplace.

Today, half of the followers in and around Qingcheng are those who came later, while the other half are the descendants of those leaders who were abandoned back then.

The old man in front of us is the father of Zhao Quan, the former leader of the White Lotus Sect.

Learning from the past is crucial for the future. These White Lotus followers were even more afraid of the Ming Dynasty gaining power in the nine border regions than the Mongol princes.

After a long silence, another leader finally broke the silence, his tone tinged with uncertainty:

“But…but the border trade is still open, isn’t it? The Mongol tribes along the nine borders have long since faded into obscurity since the Battle of Huangzhong.”

"Isn't it good to stay as it is? That dog emperor might not necessarily want to go any further, right?"

He glanced at the crowd and continued:

"Besides, that dog emperor talks about 'the struggle between people and land.' If he wants to seize territory, he should go to the richer places in Liaodong or the south. This Mongolian grassland is nothing but grass and sand; what use is it to seize it?"

"What use?" The sinister old man sneered again, his eyes sharp as knives. "To recover the Hetao region and drive out the Tartars—what a great title, what a great prestige! Which young emperor could resist such temptation?!"

"Haven't you all figured it out yet? If he really can work hard to govern well, once he has the time to deal with the Jurchens in Liaodong, the next target will inevitably be the Mongols! How can he allow others to snore beside his bed?"

These words were like a bucket of ice water, chilling everyone's hearts.

Mongolia is a place of extreme cold and barrenness.

But for the White Lotus followers, who were considered a major threat by the Ming Dynasty, it was a rare safe haven.

Therefore, the places where each person preached were either in Shaanxi, Shanxi, or Zhili.

However, in any case, most religious leaders would set aside a portion of their wealth and settling it in the relatively safe city of Qingcheng as a backup plan.

If the Ming army really attacks and Qingcheng changes hands, what will become of them?

Those Mongol nobles had long coveted their wealth, and trying to reason with these barbarians who only cared about their swords and profits was like casting pearls before swine.

Seeing the atmosphere become so somber in just a few words, Guo Luan quickly changed the subject. He turned to a capable-looking follower and asked, "Master Wei, how are things going in the capital?"

Master Wei shook his head:
"I sought out Manager Zhou Yingyuan's connections and spent several months honing my skills in ink painting. I was about to get through to him."

"Who knew that the emperor would suddenly change, and not long after that, a magistrate named Wang came to Shuntian Prefecture. He directly joined forces with the Eastern Depot and began to carry out some kind of rectification of the clerks. Manager Zhou's connections were all cut off at once."

He then sighed and continued:
"This is really nothing, it's just a matter of spending money again."

"But the key point is that last month the emperor raised the issue of 'the struggle between people and land,' and Manager Zhou thought it was a good opportunity, so he posted many tabloids in the capital."

At this point, Master Wei began to doubt his life, after all, everything was going wrong and the coincidences were too great.

"Following this, the Prefect Zhang of Shuntian Prefecture began to promote the Baojia system, and the village headmen of each neighborhood were given strict orders to conduct investigations one by one."

"I was a newcomer after all, and I was afraid that the neighbors would report me, so I had to leave first, leaving Manager Zhou there to continue to think of a solution."

He paused, his voice turning somber: "But now, with the autumn execution approaching... Master Miaoxian is probably in dire straits."

Master Miaoxian was a member of the White Lotus sect in Shanxi. He usually traveled around under the cover of being a monk.

This spring and summer, he was ordered to sneak into the capital to find an opportunity to burn down the gunpowder factory again in order to support the war in Ningyuan. However, he failed and was caught red-handed by the government.

At the time, he could only try his best to cover it up, saying that he was going to burn the grassland, but he was still sentenced to be executed in the autumn.

The discussion Guo Luan and the others had just been about was precisely how to rescue this person.

Upon hearing this news, Guo Luan sighed deeply, clasped her hands together, and whispered:
"May the Eternal Mother return to the Pure Land of Emptiness soon."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall became solemn, put their palms together, and chanted in unison, "May the Master return to his homeland of emptiness soon."

The solemn atmosphere swept away the slight sense of dejection that had just passed.

Seeing that the atmosphere had changed, Guo Luan continued:
"Regardless of the circumstances, the master ultimately died for the sake of our sect. The Jurchens must give us an explanation."

He pointed to the follower who had just spoken: "Master Li, I'll have to trouble you to make another trip and tell the Jurchens about the matters in the capital and Master Miaoxian."

The incense master, Li, stood up and solemnly accepted the order: "Yes, sir."

Having arranged this matter, Guo Luan looked at everyone again, her words full of mockery.

"Gentlemen, have you all seen the 'battle between humans and land' proposed by that dog emperor?"

Everyone nodded.

Guo Luan scoffed, "That sounds impressive, all talk about how there are too many people and too little land, and that the country will surely collapse if things continue like this. How laughable, utterly laughable!"

"When there are too many people, death will naturally follow; this is the way of nature! There is no such thing as a struggle between people and land!"

"The number of rabbits on the grassland increases every year, so when have we ever seen rabbits become an infestation?"

Guo Luan's voice suddenly rose, carrying a hint of fanatical inflammatory rhetoric:
"This young emperor, bewitched by the three tribulations, lost his mind and only glimpsed a tiny fraction of the great calamity of heaven and earth, yet he thought he had comprehended the Dao of Heaven. Little did he know that this was not a 'battle between man and land' at all, but a sign that the end of the Dharma era had arrived and the Three Yang Tribulations were about to begin!"

"However..." Guo Luan changed the subject, a calculating glint in her eyes, "This dog emperor's ignorance is exactly what we need. As the Son of Heaven, he personally admitted that there will be great chaos in the world. Isn't that the best endorsement for the doctrines of our sect?"

"Even the government itself is clamoring for the end times, so what do we have to fear? This is the perfect opportunity to spread the Dharma, preach the faith, and gather a large following!"

"Gentlemen, now that chaos has broken out in the world, it is the perfect time for our White Lotus Holy Sect to flourish!"

Guo Luan stood up, opened her arms, as if embracing a new world that was about to begin.

"From this day forward, when preaching, each person should proclaim to the world that his perverse actions are clear evidence of the impending 'calamity'!"

"Tell them that a great calamity is imminent, and even the emperor is helpless. Only by entering my White Lotus can they avert disaster and enter their true home! Do you understand?"

As soon as Guo Luan finished speaking, the secret room was deathly silent for a moment, and then, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured into boiling oil, it exploded instantly!

"In the Dharma-ending Age, when the Three Yangs Transform, Maitreya will descend to earth, to the Pure Land of Emptiness!"

The shouts were initially somewhat chaotic, but soon they became orderly and frantic.

Some people were so excited that their faces turned red, veins bulged on their necks, and they pounded their chests with great force, making dull thuds.

Some people looked like madmen, their eyes wide open, arms raised as if they wanted to embrace that ethereal "vacuum homeland".

"The Age of Dharma's End! The Three Yang Calamities! Maitreya Descends! The True Emptiness Homeland!"

The frenzied roars merged into a terrifying sound wave that crashed through the small, secret room, almost extinguishing the candlelight on the table.

The shadows on the wall stretched, overlapped, and danced wildly in the shifting light, like countless demonic figures crawling out of the depths of hell, holding a grand carnival.

……

The words are divided into two parts.

The future of the White Lotus Sect looks very promising.

But in Mizhi County, 600 li away, at Ma Yi in Yinchuan, the future of the groom Li Hongji was somewhat uncertain.

(End of this chapter)