Chapter Ten became Hong Xiuquan's teacher

  Li Yunzhong heard that Hong Xiuquan had arrived, so he stood up and came outside to see Hu Yizhao and a refined-looking scholar waiting there. The scholar had his hands behind his back and a smile on his face. He looked just like the Hong Xiuquan Li Yunzhong remembered, so without further ado, he bowed to Hong Xiuquan and said "Yunzhong pays respects to Mr. Hong".

  Hong Xiuquan hastily stepped forward to support Li Yunzhong, excitedly saying "I didn't expect that you, Yunzhong, would create such a situation in such a short time. You have made great contributions to the God Worshipping Society, I will certainly report to God and reward you handsomely."

  Li Yunzhong dryly laughed, didn't know what to say, only: "Where did you come from to compete with Tang?" In his heart, he couldn't help but think, "I'm not working for God, am I using His reward?"

  Li Yunzhong hinted at Hu Yihuang and summoned the backbone of the Pingnan County Bai Shangdi Teaching to Shanren Village.

  Embarrassed, they invited Hong Xiuquan into the house.

  Hong Xiuquan, however, didn't seem to notice and held onto Li Yunzhong's hand tightly, saying some irrelevant things. Li Yunzhong hastily changed the subject, feeling like he wanted to go wash his hands thoroughly as soon as possible.

  "Mr. Hong, have you met Mr. Feng in Guangdong? Is he in good health? He rushed to Guangdong as soon as he was released from prison." Li Yunzhong still had a grudge against Feng Yunshan for not notifying him before returning to Guangdong.

  "Feng Yunshan is out of prison! I was worried about this matter, I...I have been praying to God recently, hoping that God will save him." Hong Xiuquan heard the news of Feng Yunshan's release from prison and stood up excitedly, speaking incoherently.

  After calming down for a while, Hong Xiuquan continued, "I've been in Guangzhou for several months, trying every means to find a way into the Governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi. After waiting for a long time, I was finally granted an audience, but unfortunately, the officials just passed the buck and refused to help. Then I went to Hong Kong Island and found some British people, but they couldn't even understand what I was saying. I rushed back to Guangxi without even returning to my hometown, and Yunshan must be waiting for me in the countryside. No, I have to go back again and bring Yunshan back."

  Li Yunzhong told Hong Xiuquan about the process of rescuing Feng Yunshan, greatly highlighting his own merits and tarnishing Yang Xiuqing's image. He also revealed that Yang Xiuqing was "Heavenly Father descended to earth". As for Xiao Chaogui's "Heavenly Brother descended to earth", he didn't tell him, and he would naturally find out when he arrived at Zijin Mountain.

  Hong Xiuquan fell silent, and it's true that no one would be happy if someone suddenly appeared out of nowhere claiming to be their father, especially a poor father or a subordinate father.

  After a while, Hong Xiuquan broke the silence and asked, "Before I came, I heard some new teachings of the God Worshipping Society near Pingnan County. Are these your ideas?"

  Afraid Hong Xiuquan this 'bumpkin' does not know goods.

  Li Yunzhong said cautiously, "These are all in my dreams. Another me told me that he is the teacher of the Son of God and taught me a lot of knowledge, such as astronomy and geography, the Six Strategies... Let me teach and assist someone named San Ba Er Shi Yi."

  "I get it, Hong isn't just made up of 3, 8, and 21! Isn't that person Mr. Hong? Mr. Hong is the son of God descended to earth, so isn't he...?" Li Yunzhong said tentatively.

  "He is my teacher! Is it he who taught you these doctrines?" Hong Xiuquan asked excitedly. Hong Xiuquan had always believed that there was a God in the world, and he was the son of God. This was what God personally told him in his dreams.

  Li Yunzhong blew the doctrine of later generations, combining the contents of the Bible to Hong Xiuquan. Hong Xiuquan was blown away and thought it was better than what the foreigners in Guangzhou said. Until now, Hong Xiuquan has not read the Bible, his understanding of Christianity is limited to the book "Good Words to Advise the World", he wrote many poems to spread the worship of God.

  Hong Xiuquan had complete faith in what Li Yunzhong said. He knew what kind of person Li Yunzhong used to be, and if it weren't for the enlightenment of God, he wouldn't have come up with so many new teachings. From his entry into Pingnan County, he could see believers of the God Worshipping Society everywhere, which was unimaginable to Hong Xiuquan in the past. When he heard Li Yunzhong's words about being entrusted with a dream, he didn't have any doubts at all. He had also experienced such things several times before.

  The pressure to rescue Feng Yunshan has disappeared from Hong Xiuquan's heart, and he also encountered the pleasant situation of Pingnan County. Moreover, the one who had a dream about Li Yunzhong was his teacher, and he couldn't help but feel overjoyed. He hurriedly whispered to himself "God hasn't abandoned me, God hasn't abandoned me..."

  Li Yunzhong saw that he seemed to have entered a trance, and hastily interrupted his monologue, saying "Yes, God has not forgotten His son, and sent me down to assist you."

  Hong Xiuquan gazed at Li Yunzhong with affectionate eyes, thinking to himself: He is my teacher, a heavenly teacher. I seem to recall having a teacher in heaven; it must be him.

  Li Yunzhong felt very uneasy and didn't want to talk nonsense anymore. He thought: If Hong Xiuquan were sent to a mental hospital in the 21st century, he would think that every day someone would hint at him, and he could associate with it, taking it as if it had really happened.

  It seems he was hit too hard and had no one to confide in, so the emotions were bottled up inside him for a long time, exceeding his mental endurance.

  Actually, Li Yunzhong was right. Hong Xiuquan was born into a farming and reading family and started studying at the village school from the age of 7, where he became familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics as well as other ancient texts. The villagers thought highly of Hong Xiuquan and believed he could obtain honors and bring glory to his ancestors, often boasting about him to others. However, he failed three times in the imperial examinations, and after the third failure in Guangzhou at the age of 25, he returned home severely ill and fell into a coma. During his illness, he had a hallucination in which an old man told him that he was entrusted with a divine mission to come to the world and slay demons and evil spirits. From then on, Hong Xiuquan became taciturn and eccentric. At this time, he re-read the book "Good Words to Admonish the Age" given to him by Christians during his previous trip to Guangzhou for the examination. He compared the content of the book with his own hallucination during his illness and believed that he was entrusted by God to come to the world and slay demons, so he abandoned the books of Confucius and Mencius and converted to Christianity. He even replaced the tablet of Confucius in his home with a tablet of God. Although he had never read the Bible, Hong Xiuquan began to spread what he understood as Christian teachings to everyone he met, calling it "Worshiping God Teachings". Unfortunately, this was met with strong opposition from the villagers, who did not recognize Christianity and even stripped him of his position as a teacher. Hong Xiuquan had no choice but to leave and avoid trouble, taking Feng Yunshan to stay with relatives in Guangxi for a while.

  Li Yunzhong looked at Hong Xiuquan, who was resting in bed, with a sympathetic gaze: He reminded him of a classmate from his previous life, who had become addicted to online gaming and his studies had fallen sharply. The teacher had criticized him many times for affecting others' studies, and his classmates had intentionally kept their distance from him. Once, in the dormitory, he had gotten into an argument with a classmate who was good at studying, and when the head teacher walked by, he beat him up. From then on, he became silent and eccentric, and within a few weeks, he went crazy. Li Yunzhong personally saw him chasing his parents with a knife in his home, cursing as he ran. The scene left a deep impression on Li Yunzhong, reminding himself more than once to pay attention to stress relief during his studies.

  Without a psychiatrist to treat him, Hong Xiuquan could only go further and further down the road of mental illness, and his eventual outcome also proved this point.

  Hong Xiuquan was probably too tired from traveling for days, so he slept for a whole day and night, and only woke up the next afternoon. After having lunch with him, Li Yunzhong introduced Hong Xiuquan to the core members of the God Worshipping Society in Pingnan County.

  Apart from Lian Ershiba in Guangdong, all the leaders above the rank of Lianzhang had arrived. Li Yunzhong introduced each one to Hong Xiuquan by name and the merits they had earned for the God Worshipping Society.

  Hong Xiuquan just stood by with a smile, occasionally nodding his head, looking very approachable.

  It's really wonderful when you don't speak, but once you start talking, everything is nonsense.

  Hong Xiuquan said: "The hearts of men are too wicked, politics is corrupt, and the world will have great disasters and difficulties. Only those who believe in God and enter the faith can avoid these difficulties. Those who enter the faith, regardless of whether they are male or female, noble or humble, are all equal. Men are called brothers, women are called sisters, you must remember this firmly."

  Everyone replied, "Yes, we will remember."

  Hong Xiuquan also said: "Yesterday, God sent a dream to me and told him that he had sent my teacher down to assist me in saving the world." After a pause, pointing at Li Yunzhong, he said: "He is my teacher, you should respect him as much as you respect me."

  The crowd again replied "yes" and excitedly looked at Li Yunzhong, thinking of the miracles that had appeared on Li Yunzhong's body, they deeply believed without doubt.

  Hong Xiuquan took out several books from his body and said to the crowd, "People think that God is the God of Western foreigners. These are all wrong. China also has a God, such as the one mentioned in the Book of History: I fear God, dare not be unrighteous... Many ancient classics have mentioned God. Our belief in God is not to worship foreign things, but to restore the ancient ways. It's all written in this book, you should often look at it."

  Li Yunzhong listened to the side, stunned, Hong Xiuquan was really bold, even dared to fabricate the birth of God, and said it was quite reasonable. If placed in a hundred years later, among university students with strong national self-esteem, it should be very marketable.

  Hong Xiuquan handed out the booklet, and Li Yunzhong also received a copy. He flipped through it, finding that it was all in traditional characters, which he couldn't fully recognize, but he pretended to be very interested and continued flipping through it.

  Hong Xiuquan dispersed the crowd and said to Li Yunzhong, who was reading intently, "I still have to make a trip to Zijing Mountain. After that, I will return to Guangdong to find Yunnan and then bring my family to live in Guangxi permanently."

  Li Yunzhong feared that Hong Xiuquan would also send him to the Zijing Mountain, and Yang Xiuqing would easily dispose of him, which would be a great loss. He hastily declined and spoke evasively.

  Hong Xiuquan didn't say anything either, packed up his things and headed in the direction of Zijing Mountain.

  Li Yun thought: In Hong Xiuquan's heart, Zijing Mountain was more important than that place.

  Li Yunzhong negated the idea of abandoning Hong Xiuquan and going solo, for three simple reasons: Firstly, his own name was not legitimate and his words were not in order. Secondly, during the process of rebelling against the Qing dynasty, as a rebel leader who had proclaimed himself king, he would definitely be the main target of attack by government troops, so it was better to delay proclaiming himself king and accumulate more resources instead. Thirdly, Hong Xiuquan was a good puppet.