(All rights reserved. Reproduction is prohibited!) First published in Adventurer's Paradise.ezla.com.tw)
The evil flames greedily devoured a small village in the north of Jizhou. Even though the sun was high up in the sky, the tragic wails made the surrounding people feel a chill.
All the creatures in the village were not in a hurry to escape because of the fire, because when the flames devoured their bodies and emitted a stench, there were no signs of life here. The group of people who received the news only realized that something was wrong when they saw the soaring flames from afar. They hurriedly rushed over.
They wanted to extend their hands, but it was useless. They looked at the commoners buried in the evil fire. A middle-aged man with a long beard and a yellow turban quietly shed tears, making people understand his affection and kindness. However, the truth could not save the lives of hundreds of people in the village.
"Virtuous teacher! Just now, our brothers have searched the village several times. All 372 villagers in Zhao Family Village have unfortunately died. We were too late!”
The person who spoke also had a yellow turban on his head. He was more than eight feet long, had a square face, and a full beard. His exposed skin was full of scars. At a glance, one could tell that he was a brave and good fighter. He looked very similar to the long-bearded middle-aged man. They should be related by blood.
The long-bearded middle-aged man acted as if he didn't hear him. He only looked at the flames in front of him that hadn't been extinguished and said in a deep voice,"Who is the murderer?"
"I believe it was Liu who did it…When the brothers were checking, they found that the 'Peaceful Heavenly Dao' that you spread had been torn apart or burned to the ground. They also found this at the scene...”
The long-bearded middle-aged man took the item that the man handed over. It was a wooden arrow. There were three grooves on the sharp tip of the arrow, and the word "Jian" was engraved on the shaft near the end of the arrow.
"Jian Shuo! It was these promiscuous eunuchs of Asaoka again…This was…How many followers of the Path of Peace would these people kill before they would stop? Could it really be…Are they really going to force us to walk the path of rebellion?”
The long-bearded middle-aged man looked up at the sky and sighed, tears flowing down his face.
Jian Shuo? He was one of the Ten Attendants of the Imperial Court. He was the leader of the eunuchs. Together with Zhang Rang and the other nine people, he ran amok in the palace and was favored by Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty. Each of them had peerless martial arts. The ten people even created a joint attack formation based on the nature of their martial arts. It was known as the Ten Attendants of the Imperial Court. The Shi Chang Shi was overbearing and greedy, using their power to collect huge amounts of gold to support their own private army. It was a very powerful force in the imperial court.
In addition, because the Spirit Emperor Liu Hong had been ill for a long time, all matters in the court were jointly managed by the ten people and the Great General He Jin. All matters related to promotion and appointment needed to be handled by him. Therefore, the amount of food and salary required to serve as a small county official was often shocking. Others even privately called it "ten (death) money".
The Taiping Heavenly Axiom was a religion that believed in tranquility and inaction, and the ideal of a pure land in the mortal world. Because the world was in turmoil at that time, the common people believed in the Taiping Heavenly Axiom as their spiritual refuge. The origin of Taiping Heavenly Axiom came from a scholar named Zhang Jiao.
Zhang Jiao, who was responsible for spreading his teachings and establishing the Taiping Road, was originally a scholar. While lamenting the increasingly corrupt scene of the Han Dynasty, he met an extraordinary expert one day and had a good chat with him. The two of them talked about state affairs for several days before bidding farewell to Zhang Jiao because he still had something important to do. Before he left, this extraordinary person thought that this child was a good talent for governing the world, so he gave him three volumes of "Taiping Heavenly Way" to help him realize his ideal of pure land in the mortal world, and earnestly warned him not to use him as an enemy of the Han Dynasty.
Zhang Jiao, who had obtained the Taiping Way of Heaven, was like a tiger with wings. Not only did he integrate the book into his own ideas, but he also conceived the blueprint of the Yellow Heaven Pure Land. Therefore, in a short period of time, a religion of thousands of people became a religion of hundreds of thousands of people.
It was said that a tall tree attracts the wind, and the Ten Attendants of the Eternal, nicknamed Ten Demanding Money, would not let go of this organization with hundreds of thousands of believers. The Shi Chang Shi believed that the profits from this would be uncountable, so they asked Zhang Jiao, the initiator of the Taiping Heavenly Way, for a bonus.
However, Taiping Heavenly Dao was only a religious organization and did not have much money. Zhang Jiao humbly rejected this request. Hearing this, the Shi Chang Shi was furious. He had written Zhang Jiao off, saying that he wanted to rebel with the words " heresy is a scourge to the masses, and it is not credible " and " the heavens are dead, and the year is in its sixties." The Spirit Emperor Liu Hong was furious when he heard that. He ordered the entire country to ban the people from worshipping the peaceful Heavenly Axiom and put a bounty of 1,000 taels of gold on Zhang Jiao's head. By the time Zhao Family Village was massacred, a total of 5,814 people had died.
"Great teacher!" These kind people were slaughtered just because they believed in the Taiping Heavenly Axiom. Do you still expect such an emperor to improve the lives of the people in the world? Moreover, if we don't have the strength, how can we protect these people who love you…"
"Sigh... But…"
"Third brother is right, great teacher! It's time. Now that the imperial court is so corrupt and the emperor doesn't know the sufferings of the human world, can you bear to see countless people die endlessly because of the 'Yellow Heaven Pure Land' that you advocate?”Another man wearing a yellow scarf came with a group of believers in yellow clothes. He was dressed in a yellow scholar's robe, and there was a world of difference between him and the man called Third Brother.
"Second brother! Even you... Aren't you trying to make me a sinner for all eternity? Don't you know the warning of the expert who taught me the Taiping Heavenly Axiom?”
"To hell with the expert! Those who did not know the sufferings of the human world and were always hidden in the mountains and forests, how could they know the current situation? Big brother! Do you still remember the idea you had when you were preaching in Chang 'an? Do you still remember why everyone is wearing this yellow cloth? Don't you also hope that the people on the yellow soil will live a life of ample food and clothing without the need to fight…What happened to your dream back then? Look at these scattered corpses. Are you letting these people down?”
This person no longer cared about calling him a great teacher and had already directly expressed their blood relationship. He looked around and then looked at the long-bearded man, as if he wanted him to make a decision.
"Third Brother, don't be rude! but... Great Master, please forgive Zhang Liang for being blunt, but should we just watch as our brothers who believe in and follow you are slaughtered by the despicable Ten Attendants one after another? Sigh... If the great teacher was determined to do so, then Zhang Liang had nothing to say!”
The long-bearded man lowered his head and remained silent. Everyone's gaze was focused on him, and the atmosphere was unusually solemn. Suddenly, a faint sobbing sound entered everyone's ears. Everyone looked up and saw a man nicknamed Daze running over with a three-year-old boy in his arms.
"Great teacher, I found this boy under the corpse of a man who was about forty years old. If he wasn't sobbing, I really wouldn't have found him!”
The long-bearded man took the boy from Da Dai's hands and used his sleeve to wipe his black face and tears clean.
"Little brother, don't cry. What's your name?”
“... I... His parents were dead…I... Revenge!"
The little boy ignored everyone and started sobbing. When everyone saw that a child of such a young age had lost both his parents, they could not help but feel depressed.
The long-bearded middle-aged man's heart sank when he saw this. Sigh... What should he do? Senior, if you were here, would you be able to understand Zhang Jiao's suffering? How can I bear to see more and more solitons like this? But... If I agree with Second Brother and Third Brother so much, wouldn't I be violating my agreement with you? but...
After being silent for a long time, as if he had made an extremely painful choice, the long-bearded middle-aged man's eyes revealed a difficult expression as he slowly shouted,“... Good! Since Chao Gang doesn't care about the people of the world and treats them like pigs, then let the people who believe in the 'Heavenly Axiom of Taiping' follow me to overthrow this dynasty that even the heavens hate!... From now on, I, Zhang Jiao, swear to realize the dream of the Yellow Heaven Pure Land.”
Zhang Jiao said loudly. Everyone was delighted to hear him. The noise shook the world.
"Little brother, what's your name?”
Zhang Jiao asked the little boy in his hand again.
"I don't know. Father and Mother always call me Little Huzi!”
In the third year of Emperor Huangling of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Huangtian Pure Land was officially established. Zhang Jiao called himself the Great Virtuous Teacher. His second brother, Zhang Liang, was the Heaven Duke General, and his third brother, Zhang Bao, was the Earth Duke General. The capital was Zhao Family Village. They wore yellow turbans and yellow cloths. In less than three months, hundreds of thousands of soldiers were gathered, which was known as the Yellow Turban Rebellion. At that time, Zhao Xiaohu, whose name was unknown, was three years old. The Three Kingdoms Era, which was the most commented upon by later generations in the past five thousand years of the Celestial Dynasty, began.
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