Chapter 9: Li Yunzhong Pretends to be a God and Wins People's Hearts
Li Yunzhong simultaneously baptized so many people for the first time, if there was a slight mistake, it would be embarrassing. He took a deep breath and didn't dare to think wildly, saying a sentence in a routine manner, letting the common people below follow suit.
And so, the baptism ceremony was completed in an orderly manner.
As for those ten commandments, they simply had people recite them once and planned to have some people learn them first and then have them teach the rest.
"Please ask the person whose name I am about to mention to come forward. Just now, God has given me a message that these people are all devout believers." Li Yunzhong said with a mysterious tone.
"Li De Sheng, Zhao Lao Qi, Wang Gang, Wang Xin, Qian Duo, you five come up." Li Yun Zhong recalled the information Lin Da Ji told him.
Li Desheng was a servant of the wealthy Wang family in this town. He gathered all thirty or so servants from the Wang family, plus their families, totaling over 100 people.
Zhao Laoqi was 22 years old, his parents and wife had all died of starvation in the famine two years ago, leaving only him and his young daughter to rely on each other. For these two years, he worked hard to store more food, often helping other poor families, earning him great respect among them. Hearing that there was a place where one could eat their fill and wear warm clothes, he brought all the people he knew with him, fearing another disaster would strike again. Over 200 people followed him.
Wang Gang and Wang Xin both have some kinship with the wealthy Wang family in town, but Master Wang is stingy by nature and wouldn't even spend money on himself, let alone help his relatives. Instead, he calculates and schemes against them. The Wang family has already isolated Master Wang, who is thirty years old, while Wang Xin is twenty-two. The two of them have brought almost all the people with the surname Wang, totaling over three hundred men, women, and children.
As for Qian Duo, 58 years old, he is a beggar. Due to the drought two years ago and poor harvest last year, many Hakka people sold their land cheaply to wealthy households in order to get something to eat. They then wandered around with their children to find food, gradually becoming beggars. There are many such people in Guangxi. Qian Duo led all the beggars from Siwang Town to join the God Worshipping Society.
The remaining people were in twos and threes, without any momentum.
The five men stood nervously in front of Li Yunzhong. "From now on, you will... call him Lian Zhang." After thinking for half a day, Li Yunzhong gave them a name that none of them could understand.
It doesn't matter even if the government hears about it.
"You can each choose ten more people to be your assistants." Li Yunzhong said to them.
Before long, another fifty people arrived in front, all of whom were men of different ages.
"You each choose five households, and from now on those five households will be under your management. You can call yourselves class leaders," Li Yunzhong said to them.
After selecting, there were still a dozen or so households left, and Zhang Suimou, who maintained order, let them join familiar teams.
Li Yunzhong took the company commander and platoon leader aside to win them over.
Hu Yihuang, Zhang Suimou and Zhang Weikun, Lin Daji stayed behind to comfort the remaining people.
"I'll tell you about the essentials of the Lord's Prayer, the rules are as follows: First, the squad leader must remember to gather all of your subordinates at their home every evening on time. Second, every three days, everyone will gather at a place arranged by the platoon leader. What do we need to say at the gathering? I'll tell you later." Li Yunzhong interrupted a small beggar's question with an unhappy tone and also saw Qian Duo slap the beggar on the head.
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"Now let's talk about what you care most about: the problem of eating. Our Lord God sect will never starve a believer to death, remember that no matter when! You all need to mobilize believers to hand over the grain at home to a unified storage place called 'Holy Warehouse'. The Holy Warehouse will distribute grain to believers every day, and grain is not allowed to be wasted. Of course, when there is not enough grain, we will transport it from other branches of the Lord God sect."
"Now, there are many landlords who like to cause trouble for our Lord's Resistance Army, in short, they capture people and demand ransom. So we also need to gather together frequently for training. All those between 18 and 50 years old must participate. Those who perform exceptionally well will be sent to another place for further training. These people not only can eat their fill but also receive food supplies to support their families. Now, do you have any questions?"
"Who is God, can we really go to heaven and enjoy happiness after death?" Qian Duo asked himself the thing he cared most about. He was about to turn sixty and often worried that he wouldn't wake up again tomorrow. Having heard that believing in God could bring him to heaven and enjoy happiness, he wasn't as afraid of death as before.
Since crossing over to this place, Li Yunzhong felt like he was in hell. He wore hemp clothes, ate thin porridge with steamed buns, had no computer, no mobile phone... not even a light bulb. It's only now that he recalls the 21st century, and thinking about it, that really was paradise.
"God created man, and he lives in heaven. God said 'believe in him to have eternal life', that is, after death, live forever in heaven, far away from suffering. If according to your thinking: eating meat until full, wearing clothes warm enough, having money to spend... is heaven, then I am the one who came from such a heaven to here." Li Yun described 21st-century life once more, adding silently to himself: "You can be reborn in the 21st century, that's 'ascending to heaven'."
"There really is a heaven where I can live and never have to suffer from hunger or cold again." Qian Du murmured wistfully.
Li Yunzhong continued to preach the teachings of Jesus to them, which was much more orthodox than what Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan had said, all of which were directly transplanted from 21st-century China.
In the following days, Li Yunzhong stayed at Wang Gang's house, which was the richest one, and made a lot of miracles.
Li Yunzhong was studying physics and chemistry before crossing over, so he was quite familiar with these phenomena. There were rumors circulating in the area about things like a rainbow appearing in the sky, hearing a dragon's roar at midnight, seeing a dragon flying out of Wang Gang's house at dawn and disappearing into thin air, a purple mist suddenly appearing above Wang Gang's house when Li Yunzhong came out, and then disappearing again... Even Li Yunzhong's brothers were skeptical about these rumors.
The wealthy families in the town came to bother Li Yunzhong, saying that the Lord's Chosen sect was deceiving people's minds, and the servants at home were not as obedient as before, often gathering together to refuse work and threaten them.
Li Yunzhong, in the name of God, intimidated and subdued the wealthy households. It seems that they were also frightened by those miracles. From then on, there were still many wealthy households joining the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement.
After witnessing the miracles of these few days, Hu Yihuang, Zhang Suimou, Zhang Weikun and Lin Daji all hoped to return home to preach. The several men were very confident about their future prospects, believing that they could pacify the world in a few years like Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, and before that, they would establish some merits. In the future, they could be enfeoffed with wives and sons.
Li Yunzhong had long been waiting for this sentence, letting them select a few people from the local area as attendants, and then instructing them to return.
In the following days, various temples in Pingnan County were unlucky, some were smashed and others were burned. Li Yunzhong still had a bit of awe for Confucius Temple, which was revered by scholars, and warned them not to take action, while all the others were gradually destroyed by the developing God Worshipping Society.
Lian County government heard the news, under Hu Yihuang's silver bullet campaign, quickly made a directive: Worship God to eliminate superstition, teach people to do good and accumulate virtue, educate the people.
Li Yunzhong didn't idle around either, and visited each branch of the God Worshipping Society one after another. As usual, he conjured up all sorts of miracles, which were passed on from ten to a hundred people, and the reputation of the God Worshipping Society quickly spread out, with many followers coming over from Tongzhou.
Although Guangxi originally had a tradition of Hakka people fighting against local landlords, and every village had a tradition of practicing martial arts together, in order to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities, the God Worshipping Society organized its militia in Pingnan County.
Li Yunzhong instructed: The selection of those robust men must go to the depths of the mountains for training, which is located in the mountainous area eighty miles north of the county town. The nineteen giant peaks in this place are winding and undulating, like a dragon flying in the clouds. Few people enter this place except for those who live inside.
In November 1948, also the eleventh month of Daoguang's twenty-eighth year. The Pai Shang-ti Hui in Pingnan County finally became a raging fire, developing over ten thousand followers. Li Yunzhong organized branches of the Pai Shang-ti Hui with several sworn brothers as the core.
Li Yunzhong appointed each of his brothers as battalion commanders.
The former vanguard was promoted to the rank of camp commander, and together with the followers from Siwang Town, there were 2,200 men, women, old and young. There were seven company commanders and thirty-five platoon leaders.
The central camp led by Hu Yihuang, Lin Dajin's followers also joined the central camp, with a total of 3,400 followers, 10 company commanders and 50 platoon leaders.
Zhang Weikun was the captain of the right battalion, with a total of 2,800 followers, eight company commanders and forty platoon leaders.
Zhang Sui plotted in the Left Camp of the General's camp, with a total of 2,400 followers, 7 company commanders and 35 platoon leaders.
According to the messenger sent by Ling Shipo, the followers of Xinyi's teachings have already exceeded 1,200 people. Last month, they had a conflict with the government and one of his cousins was taken away by the authorities. Later, he imitated Li Yunzhong and ransomed him back.
Lin Dajiy was in charge of the entire Pingnan County Tiandihui's sacred treasury.
And the number of people in each camp is growing steadily.
Of course, the elite troops extracted from each battalion were personally trained and controlled by Li Yunzhong.
At the time when Li Yunzhong was busy, Meng Shangsheng arranged for someone from Zijing Mountain to send a message: Xiao Chaogui was possessed by Jesus Christ and conveyed Jesus' will, quickly becoming the core leader of the Bai Shangdi teaching in the Zijing Mountain area.
Li Yunzhong was in a dilemma after receiving the news. In his heart, he looked down on Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui's approach. However, he had to admit that this method of "descending from heaven" was effective. The power he had established with great difficulty was easily taken away by them using the "Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother descending from heaven". He himself had no place to argue. Li Yunzhong still remembered that Yang Xiuqing, who was initially not well-known in the God Worshipping Society, relied on "Heavenly Father descending from heaven" to be titled "Eastern King Jiuxian", and even dared to flog Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, with boundless power.
The messenger reported that Hu Yihuang was leading a man named Hong Xiuquan on his way into the mountains.
Li Yunzhong fell into a long silence, and the key to success or failure lay in this person's hands.
