The Three Kingdoms: The Oath of the Peach Garden, the Rise of the Han Dynasty

Liu Bei was taken aback: "Fourth brother, you fainted twice..."

"It is precisely because he exhausted his last bit of strength yesterday that he dares not go on stage today."

Li Chang interrupted him, a thin blush rising on his pale face, a look of excitement on his face!

"Strike while the iron is hot. If I take the stage and he doesn't, the Yellow Turban soldiers will start to doubt whether their Heavenly General is about to collapse!"

"As long as I climb up, they'll compare: why can our Taoist priest stand up, while their Heavenly General can't even get onto the platform?"

Guan Yu strode over, his phoenix eyes wide with fury: "Fourth brother! You've fainted twice; to step onto the stage again today is to gamble with your life!"

"Exactly!" Zhang Fei stamped his feet in frustration. "If you want to start a verbal battle, I'll go! I have a loud voice; if I can't verbally kill that old bastard, I'll at least verbally kill his apprentice!"

Li Chang shook his head: "Third Brother, this isn't a verbal battle. They believe in a set of beliefs."

The blue sky is dead; the yellow sky shall rise.

You can't kill a belief system by verbally attacking it. What can shatter it is only another, more oppressive set of rituals.

Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun rushed over upon hearing the news and repeatedly tried to dissuade him.

Huangfu Song clasped his hands and said:

"Master Li, you mustn't! Zhang Jiao is already at his last gasp. We only need to besiege Guangzong, and he will surely perish within a month."

"The siege is too slow," Li Chang said calmly.

"The longer the siege lasts, the more days of food and fodder will be consumed, and the more days the people will suffer!"

There are still over 100,000 civilians in Guangzong City who have been taken hostage by Zhang Jiao. When their food supplies run out, they will be the first to die, not Zhang Jiao and his Yellow Turban rebels!

He pushed aside everyone's hands and walked straight out of the camp. At that moment, his figure, illuminated by the morning light, looked like a great and wise teacher of the Han Dynasty!

"Order that the altar be raised three feet higher."

Li Chang was a little anxious, fearing that if he was any slower, Zhang Jiao would die on his own!

The newly erected altar was quickly completed, and it was even higher than yesterday's. Standing on it, one could see over the Guangzong city wall and vaguely make out the roof tiles of the inner city.

After making some preliminary preparations.

Li Chang then had two enormous bolts of cloth brought in. One was as blue as the sky, covering the entire tabletop, with stones weighing down its four corners.

Another bright yellow horse was trampled underfoot, with only its edge showing.

He took out a paper packet from his pocket and evenly sprinkled the powder mixed with phosphorus powder, sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter onto the corners of the yellow cloth. Then he waved to the figure standing below the stage.

"Wang Jiang, come up here."

Wang Jiang was taken aback, pointing to his own nose: "Strategist...me?"

"This is an order." Li Chang looked at him. "When I shout 'Slay the Yellow Heaven,' you will swing your sword and cut off the corner of this yellow cloth, then forcefully throw it towards Guangzong. Do you dare?"

Wang Jiang's Adam's apple bobbed. He glanced at the bright yellow cloth on the platform, then at the yellow flag atop Guangzong City.

Although he was illiterate, he knew what the colors represented.

Throughout Youzhou, every household was so frightened by that yellow flag that they couldn't sleep at night!

"I dare." He gripped the Xuan Sword that Li Chang had given him and stepped onto the steps of the altar.

Everything is ready.

Li Chang stood atop the high platform, a peach wood sword in hand. The rising sun cast a pale gold glow on his blue robe. Tens of thousands of Han soldiers below looked up, holding their breath.

"May Heaven stand forever!"

His voice, amplified by his homemade loudspeaker, was clearly transmitted to everyone's ears.

"Huang Tian is dead!"

He raised his peach wood sword and pointed it at the top of Guangzong City.

"May the Han Dynasty live ten thousand years!"

Below the stage, eight generals and one hundred burly men simultaneously erupted in shouts:

"May the Azure Heaven stand forever! The Yellow Heaven is dead! May the Great Han Dynasty last ten thousand years!"

Tens of thousands of Han soldiers shouted in unison, their roars so powerful that they shook the earth and debris off the walls of Guangzong.

"Slay the Yellow Heaven!"

Wang Jiang drew his sword in response.

His hands were trembling, but his sword was steady.

The Xuan Sword flashed with cold light and severed a corner of Huang Tianbu.

With a forceful flick of the sword, the entire piece of yellow cloth flew towards the top of Guangzong City like a bird with broken wings.

The piece of cloth drew an arc in the air, before it even reached the mid-air between the two armies.

With a loud "boom," it spontaneously combusted!

Bright yellow flames burst open in mid-air, like a spark that suddenly blooms.

The cloth was consumed by the flames, turning into black ash, which drifted in the wind over the walls of Guangzong City.

Wang Jiang looked down at the sword in his hand, then looked up at the fading flame in mid-air, and froze.

He just cut a piece of cloth with his own hands, and a ball of fire appeared!

"Heavens! The sky is ablaze!"

"Huang Tianzhen is dead!"

A deafening cheer erupted from the Han army ranks.

The soldiers waved their weapons, jumping and leaping with excitement; some even knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly.

The Yellow Turban soldiers on the walls of Guangzong City were all ashen-faced.

They saw with their own eyes the bright yellow cloth, the same color as their flags, headscarves, and robes!

It burst into flames in mid-air!

There were no arrows, no fire arrows, and no one touched it. It burned itself!

"Huang Tian...is Huang Tian really dead?"

Someone whispered something, and it instantly spread throughout the city walls.

Zhang Liang rushed over and, leaning against the battlements, glanced outside.

He just happened to see the last wisp of ashes dissipate in the wind.

"Quick! Go and report to our eldest brother!"

Inside the city.

Zhang Jiao was still dreaming when he was forcibly woken up.

He was then helped up from the bed by his disciple.

Upon hearing his disciple's report, he suddenly opened his eyes, his cloudy pupils flashing with extreme shock and anger!

"He...he trampled Huang Tianbu underfoot?"

"Yes, Master! He even burned the Yellow Heavenly Cloth in mid-air! The brothers all saw it!"

Zhang Jiao remained silent for a long time.

He closed his eyes, his chest heaving violently, and his chapped lips moved a few times, as if he were talking to himself.

They quickly ate a couple of bites to tide them over, then immediately prepared to go on stage with their entourage.

But when they looked at the Han army's platform, they were surprised to find that it had actually become higher!

Zhang Jiao gritted his teeth:

"Raise the table!"

"It's even higher than his!"

Before long, the altar was raised.

Zhang Jiao: "Quick, help me up."

"Master! Your body can't hold on any longer!" The disciple cried and knelt down.

Zhang Jiao didn't look at them.

He looked at the Han army and the young Taoist priest on the platform.

They also noticed the low morale among the Yellow Turbans.

"If I do not ascend, then Heaven will truly be dead. And the hundreds of thousands of brothers will truly be without hope."

Half an hour later, Zhang Jiao, supported by two disciples, shakily climbed onto the high platform atop Guangzong City.

After finally climbing up, Zhang Jiao was completely out of breath!

It's such a terrible thing to make an old, sick, and weak person climb several meters high!

Zhang Jiao's platform was a foot higher than Li Chang's, and he was wearing that Yellow Heaven Taoist robe.

Leaning on his nine-section wooden staff, he stood on the platform for a full hour, until the Yellow Turban soldiers below the city quieted down again.

He prepared himself, and with a wave of his hand, the Yellow Heaven Taoist robe seemed to be drawn from above, and amidst the expectant gazes of all the Yellow Turban rebels, it flew to the roof of the altar.

Simultaneously.

boom!

One sound!