Xiangkai, a native of Qingzhou Plain County, is a well-known scholar in the world, and he also has research on the Taiping Sutra.

Where the "Taiping Sutra" came from and who wrote it, there is no place to study in history. The book adopts the views of Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi in cosmology, and it tells believers to govern the state by magic and religious creed, rather than by law and morality. In addition to governing the country, the Taiping Sutra can also nourish the individual's body and mind, so that it can reach the state of immortality.

Many of these spells and creeds did not come from Taoism, but from the Five Elements, the Immortals, and the Mohists. The Mohists were a guild-style folk school of craftsmen in the pre-Qin era, and their disciples believed that God was a god with a will and would respond to everyone's good and evil behavior, so they evolved moral cultivation into religious precepts. From the beginning, this school used a method similar to that of the current underworld to organize its members, so they had already disappeared in the Qin Dynasty of the previous dynasty. According to the laws of the Great Qin, the Great Qin State did not allow secret societies, and violators were punished to kill the nine clans, but the followers of the Mo family, with their attainments in physics and chemistry, turned into alchemists who were proficient in making utensils, refining pills, and claiming that they could make people immortal.

Xiangkai and Taiping Taoism advocate that the horn is a friend, although one is a monk, believes in Mohist doctrine, the other is a Taoist, believes in the Yellow Emperor and Lao Tzu, but both study the "Taiping Sutra", both believe that religion is not only people's spiritual destination, but also should be an ideal home, only by using various forces to establish a religious country on the land of the Han Dynasty, the common people in the world can be happy and peaceful, in order to have absolute average and noble morality, in order to achieve a classless, no government, no law, no exploitation, no natural disasters, the ideal state of disease-free.

In the early years, the followers of the Taiping Dao had great confidence in the Han Dynasty, and they pinned their hopes for the realization of a religious state on the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty.

When the former Han Dynasty became the emperor, the state affairs were sluggish, and there was a person named Gan Zhongke in Qidi, who presented a book called "Bao Yuan Taiping Sutra", saying that although the Han Dynasty was at the end of heaven and earth, the heavens did not abandon the Han Dynasty, and sent a fairy called "Red Sperm" to go down to earth to help the Han Dynasty accept the mandate of heaven again. However, the founding doctrine of the Han Dynasty was Confucianism, which hated theists the most, and at the suggestion of Liu Xiang, the great Confucian of the dynasty, Gan Zhongke was imprisoned until death on the charge of "false ghosts and gods to confuse the public".

After a few years, Emperor Xiaowai ascended the throne, the state affairs were unbearable, and the Son of Heaven was ill for a long time, at this time Gan Zhongke's disciple Xia Lianghe and the minister Li Xun and others persuaded the Son of Heaven again with Taiping Dao, this time the Son of Heaven believed them and ordered to change his name to Emperor Chen Shengliu Taiping, hoping to get a new life. Li Xun and others even began to reorganize government agencies in the way of Taiping Taoism, but due to the fierce opposition of Confucian scholars and the fact that the illness of the Son of Heaven did not improve as a result, the heads of several Taiping Taoists fell to the ground again.

When the emperor was filial to the emperor in this dynasty, there was another Taiping Taoist Gong Chongyi Que of Qidi, who presented a secret book called "Taiping Qing Lingshu", and claimed: This book is his teacher Yu Ji obtained the divine book on the Quyang spring water, bound with red and white silk binding, green and Zhu two colors of writing, a total of 170 volumes, which are all said to make the emperor immediately govern the country Taiping spells. The bureaucrats of the scholar clan saw it, thought it was a scripture of delusion, and sealed it in the Dongguan (i.e., the National Library).

Zhang Jiao summed up the experience of the predecessors of the Taiping Dao, and believed that in order to realize the ideal society in the book, it was necessary to transform the society by force, and to rely on the strength of tens of millions of poor people in the Han Dynasty to completely overthrow the rule of the Han Dynasty from the bottom up, and rebuild the new country with blood and violence. Xiang Kai inherited the tradition of his ancestors, and he believed that in order to realize this ideal, it was necessary to rely on the power of the Han monarchs and ministers to carry out peaceful and conservative reforms from the top down. The two had a great disagreement on how to realize this lofty ideal.

Xiangkai's opportunity has finally come. Because Emperor Xiaohuan had no heirs, he heard that Xiangkai's magic was clever, so he issued an order to summon him into the palace and prepare to ask for a little elixir. Xiangkai tried his best to help, and he was very fond of the Son of Heaven. Xiangkai immediately mentioned the "Taiping Sutra" to the Son of Heaven and advised the Son of Heaven to govern the country with the "Taiping Sutra". He still has nothing to do to plead for a few party friends. As a result, he was not only refused, but also sent to prison.

After Xiangkai was rescued from prison by his disciples, he still ran around, using his reputation to accumulate a lot of strength, intending to find an opportunity to transform the Han again. Soon, Zhang Jiao led the Taiping Taoist disciples to rise up, and killed most of them vigorously for half a year, and finally failed and ended miserably. Xiang Kai saw that the two ways to realize his ideals had failed, and after learning from the pain, he decided to start anew and try to make a good plan.

At the beginning of October, he looked at the sky and stargazed, predicting that the number of traitors in the court and the central government had been exhausted, and the fall was imminent. He immediately sent someone to inform his disciples Xu Liang and Wu Tang, and asked them to tell the general He Jin, if you want to punish the eunuch, Qing Jun's side, this is the best time.

At the end of November, Xu Liang and Wu Tang personally rushed to Pingyuan County.

Xiangkai is over 60 years old, tall and thin, with crane hair and a childish face, strong spirits, and quite a fairy wind and bones.

"The general is too cautious, forward-looking, and has no courage." Xiang Kai stroked his long white beard and sighed, "A few years ago, I sent you to be his guest, and he was very happy, not only took you in, but also treated you as guests, but he has always refused to have a deeper contact with us, lest someone find out and tell the truth. This time, because the butcher's knife has been put on the neck, there is no way, so I sent you to Pingyuan County to find me, looking at your sneaky appearance, as if you are begging me for help? ”

Xu Yu is in his thirties, with a broad forehead and a kind complexion. He said with a smiling face: "Master, the power struggle between the court and China is very fierce, and the general can't help himself." In the past few years, Dazhitang's income has doubled, all of which are the result of the general's special care, which the master should know very well. ”

"I know that the sect has prospered in the past few years, thanks to the care of the general, you also have credit." Xiangkai said with a smile.

"Master, this is what we should do." Wu Tang said, "What does the master have to explain about the matter that the general asked?" "Wu Tang is short, with a round face and short beard, and he looks like he is five big and three thick, and he doesn't have the fairy bones of a monk.

Xiangkai pondered for a long time, and said slowly: "You go back and tell the general, after the matter is completed, please make sure that he must fulfill today's promise, the court should govern with Huang Laoxue, govern the country with the Taiping Sutra, imitate Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing of the previous dynasty, implement the strategy of quiet inaction, governing the country according to law, and adopt the method of ruling by inaction, being quiet and law-abiding, lightly dispensing with the meager endowment, and resting with the people to rebuild the Han Dynasty." ”

Xu Liang and Wu Tang nodded repeatedly.

Xiang Kai looked at the two of them, and then continued with an extremely serious expression: "In order to accomplish this, I want to call all my strength, but our strength is far behind the Northern Army in Luoyang, and I think that the hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban Army of the great virtuous and good teacher Zhang Jiao have failed, don't talk about us, so please let Mr. Xi raise troops at the agreed time to contain the Northern Army of Luoyang and give us enough time." ”

"Master, please rest assured, this matter is related to the fate of the country's society, and the general will definitely not be negligent." Xu Liang said.

Xiang Kai bowed slightly, paused, pointed to the two of them and said, "You leave Pingyuan County immediately, and we will no longer contact each other in the future." ”

＝

After the death of Mu Guodian in Jizhou, the main force of the Yellow Turban Army in Jizhou was defeated by Feng Yi and Li Hong, the Taishou of Julu County, in the Battle of Gauntlet, and the remnants fled to Taihang Mountain. The imperial court saw that the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Jizhou was put down, and immediately decided to remove the post of pastor of Jizhou and reset the history of Jizhou Assassin.

In May, Wang Fen, a native of the plains, arrived at Gaoyi City, Changshan State, the seat of Jizhou Thorn History, to take up the post of Thorn History. Wang Fen is a famous scholar in the plains, who has served as a speaker and a doctor in Beijing, and he is a protégé of Taifu Chen Fan. Chen Fanzi Zhongju, a public opinion of Runan, was the embodiment of the moral articles of this dynasty and the leader of the scholars. He and the general Dou Wu planned and launched the Beigong Incident, and after the failure, he was beaten to death by a traitor and eunuch in Beisi Prison, and all his family members were executed, only the eldest son Chen Yi, who was an official outside, fled. Soon after Wang Fen arrived in Jizhou, Chen Yi, who had been on the run, quietly rushed to Gaoyi and hid in Wang Fen's house to avoid trouble.

On this day, Xiangkai came to visit. Wang Fen heard that the master was coming and hurriedly went out to greet him. The two are old acquaintances, Wang Fen is devoted to the study of Huang Laozhi, believes that the "Taiping Sutra" can govern the country, has always been a loyal disciple of Taiping Taoism, he and Master Xiangkai are like-minded, have the heart to revitalize the Han Dynasty, and then revive the previous dynasty Wenjing event.

"Wonsan, our great cause is expected to succeed." Xiangkai smiled, "Your and my long-cherished wish is about to become a reality." ”

Wang Fen is in her forties, of medium build, with a dark complexion, and a pair of resolute eyes on her slender face. His face was shocked, and he asked in a low voice, "Has the master seen any amazing celestial phenomena?" ”

"Yes, I watched the stars at night and found that the number of traitors in the court and the middle of the country has been exhausted, and the sky of the Han Dynasty is about to change." Xiangkai said, "Yuanshan, is Boyan still here?" His chance for revenge has come. ”

"Boyan is still with me. Master, let's go to the study and talk about it. Wang Fen warmly invited.

Chen Yi is a middle-aged man in his forties, his temples are gray, his face has many wrinkles, and his thin face has a pair of melancholy and sad eyes. More than ten years of fugitive life made him old and lonely, he was depressed, sitting silently beside Xiangkai, listening to Xiangkai talk endlessly about his plan.

"After we kidnapped the emperor by force, we immediately advocated the world, abolished the Son of Heaven, and set up another emperor to save my dying Han." Xiang Kai excitedly gestured his hands and whispered, "We have been planning this plan for a long time, but we have never had the opportunity to implement it. ”

Wang Fen pondered for a long time and asked, "Master, are you sure that in March next year, the Son of Heaven will definitely return to his hometown in Hejian Country in Jizhou to worship his ancestors?" ”

Xiangkai stroked his beard and smiled, "Yuanshan, it is estimated that you will soon receive the holy decree." ”

Both Wang Fen and Chen Yi looked at Xiang Kai with reverence, thinking that he had superb spells that could do all this.

Xiangkai said: "This matter is your command in front of the stage from beginning to end, you must be cautious and must not make mistakes." ”

Wang Fen nodded again and again, and said with a smile, "Boyan and I immediately gathered a group of friends and carefully planned this matter. Guaranteed to be foolproof. When will the master go to see the king of Hefei? ”

"I waited until the holy decree of the capital was sent to Gaoyi, and after determining the approximate departure time of the Son of Heaven, I immediately went to Hefei. The king of Hefei must have been very happy to get this news, he can finally ascend to the throne of the emperor, give full play to his talents, and realize his ambitions. Xiangkai sighed, "The king of Hefei has studied Huang Lao's learning, and believes in the ancestors' policy of governing the country by being quiet and inactive, and resting with the people. ”

Chen Yi hesitated for a moment and said, "Master, if the eldest prince stays in Luoyang, he can immediately ascend to the throne with the support of the general, and we ......"

"Boyan, don't worry, this time we can not only kill the traitor, but also clear the grievances of Taifu and General Dou, your hard life is coming to an end." Xiang Kai shook his hand and said with confidence: "The eldest prince wants to stay in Luoyang with the general, it is impossible, how can the Son of Heaven rest assured?" I have already arranged the affairs of Luoyang, don't worry about it, just concentrate on catching the Son of Heaven. ”

"Master, ...... over there in Taihang Mountain" Wang Fen just wanted to say something, but was stopped by Xiangkai, "The matter of Taihang Mountain, wait until I come back." ”

In the afternoon of that day, the Son of Heaven's holy decree was sent to the Assassin's Mansion. The Son of Heaven will return to his hometown in Hejian Kingdom in Jizhou in February next year to worship his ancestors, and the Son of Heaven ordered Wang Fen to make preparations for related matters.

Xiangkai left Gaoyi that night and hurried south to Hefei.

Wang Fen immediately wrote to the Son of Heaven, saying that the Yellow Turban Army wandering in the area of Montenegro at the southern foot of Taihang Mountain often haunts Jizhou, harassing counties and counties, and the territory is not safe, and he hopes to get the approval of the Son of Heaven to recruit troops and form an army in Jizhou nearby, clear the Yellow Turbans in Montenegro, and clear the way for the Son of Heaven to return to his hometown next year. He asked the Son of Heaven for a 20,000-strong county army, and said that all the expenses of this army were raised by Jizhou itself, and there was no need for the imperial court to pay for it.

＝

After Li Hong received the edict from the Son of Heaven, he was even more hesitant, and he hesitated between going and not going, and it was difficult to make up his mind.

At this time, the reorganization of the army had been completed, and the training of various units began immediately.

The third decree urging Li Hong to return to Beijing was sent to Daying.

The Son of Heaven promised Li Hong in the holy decree that he would strive to requisition grain and forage from Jizhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou next month to help Xiliang. The Son of Heaven also agreed to Li Hong's request for an army of 70,000, but he expressed concern about the future of the Qiang soldiers, and he hoped that Li Hong would end the counterinsurgency in Xiliang as soon as possible and drive these Qiang soldiers back to their place of belonging.

The Son of Heaven ordered Li Hong not to delay after receiving the decree, and to return to Beijing immediately, and specially allowed him to take thirty cavalry and one hundred personal guards to accompany him. (Ti, refers to the yellow color of Padan.) Ti Cai is a high-ranking soldier, although there is no rank, but in the army, he takes two hundred stones, which is equivalent to the tun chief. ）

When the generals of all the departments heard the news, they almost unanimously did not want Li Hong to go to Beijing, but Sima Li Wei of the Zuojun advised him to leave as soon as possible. Wen Chou was anxious, and scolded Li Wei for being ill-intentioned and plotting against him, suspecting that he was a traitorous colleague. Li Wei was angry, drew his sword, cut off the case with a sword, and shouted wildly: "If you have different intentions, you should be like this." ”

Li Hong decided to wait. He wrote back to the Son of Heaven, saying that the Qiang army had just been recruited and needed a period of adaptation and observation in case of accidents, and he begged the Son of Heaven to delay him for a few more days.

＝

In the court, Tai Lieutenant Zhang Wen reported the latest border war to the Son of Heaven.

At the beginning of this month, more than 2,000 cavalry of the Xianbei Tuoba Division in the north attacked Bingzhou, and the Xianbei people in the central part of the country and the Karasuma people in Liaoxi and Youbeiping attacked the border with small groups of cavalry, burning, killing and looting, and doing all kinds of evil.

The Son of Heaven was very angry and shouted: "Which minister is willing to go north to the border and kill the barbarians?" ”

There was silence in the lobby, and no one answered.

The Son of Heaven scolded a few words hatefully, because the distance was far away, and no minister heard what he was scolding.

"Your Majesty, Wang Fen, the assassin of Jizhou, has written for three consecutive days, asking for recruiting troops to suppress thieves and eradicate hidden dangers for His Majesty to return to his hometown." The general He Jin and Ran said: "The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and I ask Your Majesty to make a decision as soon as possible." ”

The Son of Heaven said unhappily: "There are 50,000 people in the Northern Army of Luoyang, and the Northern Army does not go to Jizhou to suppress thieves, but let Jizhou Assassin Mansion temporarily recruit troops to suppress thieves, isn't this an extra move?" However, since he pays for it himself, let him go. Quasi-play. ”

Sikong Xu Xiang immediately came out of the ranks, praised Guangluxun Liu Yu and Wei Wei Liu Ting for their outstanding performance in the fight against corruption, and proposed to the Son of Heaven to promote the officials of two people. The Son of Heaven considered that he would return to his hometown in two months, so he moved Liu Yu to Zongzheng and helped Taichang Liu Yan and others deal with the specific matters of returning home. Liu Ting served as the Taishou of Hanoi County and helped Wang Fen exterminate the Yellow Turban ant thieves.

The general He Jin immediately went out of the class to play, and recommended Tiao Hou Dong Zhong as the guard lieutenant, and Shang Shu Ding Gong as Guangluxun. Dong Zhong is a relative of the emperor, Ding Gong is a native of Peiguo, and he was a close confidant of the emperor when he was in Shangshutai, so the emperor felt that these two candidates were very satisfactory to him, so he played them on the spot.

The expenses of the Son of Heaven to go home to worship the ancestors, whether it should go to the Great Sinong or the Shaofu, the ministers in the court quarreled again.

＝

When the general He Jin returned to the mansion, he heard that the military Sima Wu Kuang and the thief Cao He Feng, the subordinate of the general's mansion, had returned, and hurriedly summoned him.

"What did Mr. Xi Da say?" He Jin asked, "Did he agree?" ”

Wu Kuang nodded and did not make a sound. He Feng glanced at He Jin timidly, and whispered: "Xi Da and Bo Er said that since the general wants them to die, they have no complaints, but I hope the general can give more money." In addition, they were seriously short of weapons, and Xi Da said that the general would provide him with at least 10,000 weapons and equipment. ”

He Jin smiled coldly and said, "Does Xi Da want to rebel?" ”

A few days later, Xu Liang and Wu Tang also returned to the General's Mansion.

"Govern the world with Huang Lao's learning?" He Jin said with a smile, "Huang Laoxue has been abandoned for more than two hundred years, and if you want to pick it up again, it will be difficult to reach the sky." In my opinion, Master Xiangkai is just an idiot. ”

Xu Liang arched his hand and said, "The general is bad." In the more than 70 years since Gaozu to Emperor Hui, Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, the country has been rich, and the people have plenty of food and clothing, creating a glorious and prosperous era. At that time, the granaries in urban and rural areas were full of grain, and the grain in the national granaries was too much to pile up, so they had to be put outside the warehouses and allowed to be damaged by mildew. There was surplus money in the government offices at all levels, and the money in the treasury of the capital division had accumulated to a huge amount, and the ribbons of the copper coins were rotten. At that time, people were very simple and self-loving, they didn't dare to break the law at all, everyone put righteousness first, few people did bad things, the road was not forgotten, and there were many places where the door was not closed at night. ”

"After the reunification of the country, the tax collection checkpoints in various places were abolished, and the ban on the development of natural resources in the mountains was also lifted, so at that time, the rich merchants were all over the world, and there was no obstacle to the exchange of goods, and everyone got what they wanted. The imperial court was fully open in the fields of boiling salt and smelting iron, and stipulated that ordinary people could also operate freely. The imperial court even opened up to the common people in the field of currency issuance, such as copper smelting and coinage, and allowed the common people to engage in the business of minting coins. Due to the arbitrariness and freedom of policies in all aspects, the country became rich in a very short time. ”

All of this was due to the fact that the imperial court was governing the country with Huang Lao's learning at that time, and adopted a policy of quiet inaction, light taxation, and governing the country according to law. In today's world, Confucianism governs the world, governs the country with virtue, and the main punishment is supplemented by virtue, and the consequence is that the Han Dynasty wars and chaos are frequent, and the disasters are endless. It is clear at a glance which of the two ways of governing the country is superior and which is inferior. Is the general going to break his promise? ”

He Jin thought for a long time and said: "What I promised Master Xiangkai was to let him preach the scriptures and preach in Dahanzhou County, not to promise him to govern the country with Huang Laoxue. Let's wait until the master succeeds. ”

Xu Liang and Wu Tang secretly sighed, a little disappointed in their hearts. How did they know that Master Xiangkai was on his way to Hefei City at this time.

He Jin immediately urged Henan Yin He Miao to return to Luoyang, the administrative office of Henan County, and did not allow him to stay in Luoyang. He Miao was unwilling, so she soaked in Luoyang every day and ate, drank, prostituted and gambled with a group of fox friends and dog friends, and did not return all night. He Jin was furious and beat He Miao. He Miao was angry and afraid, and hid in his in-laws' father-in-law's regular servant Zhang Rang's mansion. Zhang Rang said, the Chinese New Year, of course, I want to stay in Luoyang to have a good time, what are you doing at this time to go to Luoyang to guard an empty mansion? Your brother is unreasonable. He Miao said, how unreasonable is he, he is also ungrateful to kill you.

Zhang Rang was taken aback, and a trace of murderous aura suddenly flashed in his eyes.

＝＝＝＝＝＝