Section 4: On "Great Virtuous and Good Teachers"

  Of course, Zhang Kuang believed that if one day the Tianping Army and Chen Deng's army clashed, this guy would not have any idea of giving up. Moreover, due to Chen Deng's understanding of the inside information of the Tianping Army, his danger was even greater than others!

  "It's a pity Yuan Long is unwilling to join. If I had Yuan Long's help, I would be unstoppable."

  "If Wu Zhi were to one day occupy Xuzhou, Chen Deng would come to surrender without needing to be summoned."

  Unless your strength reaches a certain level, otherwise, it's better for us to mind our own business and not interfere with each other.

  "This is nothing but an inevitable outcome of the Han dynasty's misrule."

  Chen Deng looked around and lowered his voice, asking:

  "How could you, with your unparalleled talent, fail to see the outcome of this Yellow Turban Rebellion?"

  Zhang Kuang saw that the guards around him were all a few steps away and lowered his voice, saying:

  "This time, Da Xianliang is bound to lose. However, with me around, the affairs of the Taiping Sect will eventually succeed."

  Chen Deng has been getting along well with Zhang Kuang these days, and asked in a low voice:

  "How can you, unscrupulously, rely on just a few nursery rhymes and prophecies? 'The successor of Han will be named Liu', from the mouth of Emperor Guangwu, has been passed down for over a hundred years, and yet the great Han still stands..."

  He observed Zhang Kuang's behavior over this period of time and knew that Zhang Kuang was not a person who liked to speak nonsense. On the contrary, his style was quite cautious. Since Zhang Kuang was so confident in himself, he should know some secrets.

  Zhang Kuang didn't care if this young noble knew, and directly made a prophecy:

  "I received a hint from 'Nan Hua Lao Xian', and I knew that the Han house had stirred up the remaining aura of the past 400 years, thoroughly suppressing the 'Great Virtuous and Good Master'. Now the 'Great Virtuous and Good Master' is suffering from the backlash of the Han house's aura, and I'm afraid it won't be long before he falls seriously ill and dies."

  However, 'Daxianliangshi' was actually just a vanguard for the king. After Han's fortune was exhausted and 'Daxianliangshi' died in revenge, it lost its power. In a few years, the current Han emperor will surely die, and the Western Army will enter the capital, causing great chaos throughout the country.

  "At that time, I 'Taiping Dao' rose again with the trend. Yuan Long may have expected that this vast world would be my 'Taiping Dao' world?"

  Zhang Kuang's words were light and casual, but this treacherous and unorthodox prophecy-like speech, when heard by Chen Deng, was instead so convincing. Chen Deng's whole body trembled slightly, and it took him a while to squeeze out one sentence:

  "...... Is this really true?"

  "Of course it's fake!"

  Zhang Kuang burst out laughing and thought to himself:

  Even if I say it's fake, you should still be half-believing and half-doubting, right?

  It is said that there is a "butterfly effect" in the evolution of history, which can make things completely different. If I say it's true, but still don't know if there will be any changes in the future...

  And even if Chen Dong said this to others, it's unlikely that they would believe him. This way, the safety factor will be a bit higher, right?

  At this time, Dianwei had already become the first to climb up onto the city wall from the cloud ladder. The Tianping soldiers below saw this and all cheered loudly:

  "Under the banner there is a strong warrior named Jianjun, holding a pair of halberds weighing eighty catties!"

  Chen Deng recovered from the shock of his previous thoughts, gazing afar at Dian Wei, who was wielding a pair of iron halberds and fighting on the city wall, and unconsciously asked:

  "Those iron pikes, were they really eighty catties?"

  Zhang Kuang replied with a proud smile:

  "Is this fake? This pair of iron halberds, I made them especially for Zi Nian back in the day when I was in Danfu City, using refined iron that I collected. The left hand one weighs thirty-nine catties, the right hand one weighs forty-one catties, totaling eighty catties. Although they can't be considered to be extraordinary treasures that can cleave through iron like mud, even if they were to face off against weapons forged from 'fifty-refined steel', they wouldn't fall short."

  At that time, high-quality steel was often obtained by folding and forging the iron repeatedly. So, there were "numerous refinements" and "dozens of refinements" of steel.

  Every time the steel is folded and forged, it is called one refining. "Fifty-refining steel" refers to high-quality steel that has been repeatedly folded and forged fifty times. If the steel is repeatedly forged a hundred times, such steel is the famous "hundred-refining steel".

  When Dianwei saw that the strongmen had been scattered and killed by the city gate, he opened the big gate of the fort, Zhang Kan smiled at Chen Deng and said:

  "Yuán Lóng, it's a relief that we don't have to sleep in the tent tonight..."

  The cries of killing in the fort slowly subsided. Counting the casualties, the Tianping army had fewer than a dozen deaths and injuries, with more than thirty heads taken. Of course, Dian Wei alone took more than ten heads. The remaining captured able-bodied men numbered over a hundred, while the elderly, weak, women, and children exceeded five hundred. Such results could be called a complete victory.

  For these captives, especially the old, weak women and children, Zhang's treatment can be called "benevolence to women". Except for a small number of identified leaders who were strictly guarded, the rest of the captives received good treatment.

  Some captives even felt that being captured by the Heavenly Army was not a bad thing after all. There was no beating or starving, and although the food was not very good, there were no heavy labor duties either. Such days were more comfortable than being an "attached servant" in the gate of a powerful clan.

  Even some of the Tianping Army soldiers privately expressed their incomprehension towards such "preferential treatment" for these captives. However, most of the Tianping Army soldiers were pleased with this matter. After all, following a benevolent leader is more reassuring than following a brutal one.

  Many warriors privately commented on this matter, saying:

  "He is so kind even to prisoners of war. How can he be any less to us, his old comrades who have followed him for so long?"

  Due to the human-wave defense of Yanzhou and Xuzhou, the Tianping Army had not attacked a fortress for a long time. This time, after more than half a month, they finally took down the first fortress. Zhang Kuang was in high spirits and announced to his troops:

  "Today, we will reward the three armies!"

  "Long live!"

  Upon hearing such good news, all the soldiers of the Heavenly Army let out a cheer.

  After all, for nearly half a month now, although the food supply has been sufficient, everyone hasn't had a taste of wine and meat for a long time. Now, being able to eat and drink well is undoubtedly great news for these soldiers who have been on the battlefield and know what it means to "not be sure of tomorrow".

  Although the fort was not large in scale, it had a rich supply of materials. The Tianping Army not only captured more than 10,000 dan of grain in the fort, but also obtained more than 20 cows, more than 100 sheep, more than 60 pigs, and more than 800,000 wuqian coins.

  What surprised everyone most was that in one warehouse, more than 300 "dan" of high-quality edible salt were unexpectedly found!

  What is referred to as top-grade salt is not the kind that ordinary people eat at home, which contains a large amount of impurities and has a low purity rate. Rather, it is snow-white and translucent, with extremely high-quality refined salt.

  Such things, because of the high production difficulty and high labor costs, naturally have a higher price. To say that even some financially weaker warlords would not dare to eat such expensive salt, usually it is specially supplied for the food use of high-ranking aristocratic families.

  Seeing these good food and salt, Zhang Kuang's heart couldn't help but have a doubt. However, after interrogating several captives, he still couldn't understand.

  When the fort was breached, the owner of the fort saw that things were not going well and quietly slipped away with his trusted subordinates from another direction. Zhang Kuang did not want to kill them all, so he let them go under the pretext of "not pursuing exhausted bandits".

  PS: The translator should be highly paid.

  During the Eastern Han period, prophecies were prevalent. From emperors and high-ranking officials to refugees and young children, many people deeply believed in them without a doubt. Among them, "The one who will replace the Han is someone with the surname Liu," was spoken by Emperor Guangwu of Han, Liu Xiu, and was widely known.

  The meaning of this sentence is that the Han Dynasty's fate has been exhausted and it is destined to be replaced by a new one. And what replaces it is "When the Tang rises high". With this in mind, the author feels that Emperor Guangwu of Han's superstition about prophecies has reached an absurd level. Can an emperor say such things about his own country?

  Due to the fame of this sentence, anyone who tried to overthrow the Han Dynasty made their own interpretation of this prophecy. For example, Yuan Shu and Cao Pi did so. And until today, more than a thousand years after the fall of the Han Dynasty, many scholars still have not found the most suitable explanation for this prophecy.

  This example fully illustrates the unreliability of divination.