Chapter 24: The Yellow Turbans' Teachings

  Cai Wenji's departure has indeed disrupted Zhang Rui's plan. He had originally planned to visit Cai Yan after a while, but now he can only make other plans. He should still take the time to find evidence of the Yellow Turbans' rebellion and then go to Chenliu to look for Wenji's sister.

  Back home, Zhang Rui told Xun Shi's uncle and nephew that he was going to the poor people's camp tonight to investigate the news of the Yellow Turbans. In the letters they had exchanged before, Zhang Rui had mentioned the Yellow Turbans to Xun Shi's uncle and nephew, so they were not unfamiliar with this.

  Xun Shi's uncle and nephew decided to join the plan, found someone to bring three sets of beggar clothes, then the three of them dressed up and went out the door.

  "Wen brother, Gong Da brother, who would have thought that the famous Xun brothers, uncle and nephew, would end up looking like beggars? Haha, this outfit really suits your temperament!" Zhang Rui teased.

  "Zhi Bo, your temperament hasn't improved at all! Is this still the usual self-proclaimed Jade-Faced Little Flying Dragon Zhang Rui? At most, he's just a dead worm on the ground." Xun Yu retorted, while Xun You just smiled and didn't say anything.

  Three people came to the slum, found a vacant lot and sat down. The vacant lot was already crowded with people, at least hundreds of them. This Yellow Turban preacher really had some skills, no wonder so many people participated in the Yellow Turban Rebellion. However, no matter how many ordinary people there were, who would have the ability to participate in this kind of thing if they didn't have anything better to do?

  "The divine envoy has arrived, the divine envoy has arrived." Someone shouted and everyone stood up. The divine envoy was wearing a black robe, his face couldn't be seen clearly, and he walked slowly. Behind him were two attendants, each carrying a large gourd on their back.

  The god walked to a high platform, first knelt down, faced north and bowed, then mumbled a few sentences of unknown incantations, finally said may the gods grant everyone strength, give everyone courage, let everyone be happy, the crowd below was moved to tears.

  After completing the ritual, the divine envoy lifted the black robe covering his face, revealing his own face. It was him, Zhang Rui thought. It turned out that this person was not someone else, but rather Zhang Dage, who had ruined their chances of continuing to follow the clues in Yingchuan City. He used to be just a contact person, and now he must have made some great contribution to the Yellow Turbans, directly promoting him to become a divine envoy.

  "My dear brothers, the great and wise teacher has given me a sacred water according to God's will. It is in this wine gourd. After drinking it, everyone will become strong and full of energy. Come on, line up one by one to drink."

  The big brother only saw himself say something to the two people behind him, and then they began to open the gourd, one bowl at a time, starting to distribute it to the refugees.

  Zhang Rui specially went up to Zhang Da Ge's side, stretched out his hand and took a bowl of noodles from Zhang Da Ge's hands. What the crowd didn't see was that a small mechanical insect crawled along Zhang Rui's hand into Zhang Da Ge's sleeve. Zhang Rui held the bowl and began to merge with Xun Shi Shu and the three others.

  Three people stared at the bowl in front of them, looking at each other in dismay. Zhang Rui picked it up and asked a few questions, but there was no smell or color to be seen. He secretly lowered his head, letting his hair cover his own head. Zhang Rui quietly opened his yin-yang eyes, but just for an instant before he lifted his head again.

  "There's nothing special about it, just a bowl of salty water. Don't arouse other people's suspicion, let's drink it." Zhang Rui said.

  Three men raised their bowls, and as they usually drank, they first touched them together, then drained them in one gulp. The three men's actions attracted the attention of many people, so this group of people started to follow suit, several familiar people began to clink glasses, for these poor people, it was probably a long time since they had drunk wine, everyone treated this plain water as if it were wine, and many people drained their cups.

  A bowl of salty water down the hatch, Zhang Rui felt a bit salty (no kidding, what else could saltwater taste like), nothing special. This Zhang Jiao was indeed clever, most of the Yellow Turbans were made up of poor families who couldn't even afford to eat their fill or wear warm clothes, let alone have salt. Without salt, people would lose energy and easily fall ill, now all he needed to do was hand out some salty water and he'd gain a reputation as an immortal master, what a great deal.

  Zhang Rui finally knew that feudal superstition could harm people, and the people of this old society were really too easy to fool. But if you say that ancient people are easily fooled, then in later generations there are also **, all-powerful gods, etc., who can deceive so many people, it's really hard to imagine.

  That big brother saw that the water had been released, and then he began to preach to everyone. The so-called preaching was nothing special, it was just saying that God had accepted several disciples. They were Zhang Jiao, Zhang Liang, and Zhang Bao, asking them to come down and save the people from the midst of flood and fire, and also boasting about their deeds in developing the Taiping Tao and healing illnesses for the world.

  This big brother's eloquence is indeed good, no wonder he became a godsend from a messenger in just a few years. Before long, these refugees took Zhang Jiao as a divine spirit. Some said they would go home and set up an altar to worship Zhang Jiao, while others said that the great virtuous teacher had great merits and virtues and would surely attain moral perfection.

  Everyone's emotions have been drawn in, Zhang Da Ge began to talk about how bad the Han Ling Emperor was. The court only knew how to have fun and didn't care about people's lives, letting everyone join the Taiping Dao. From then on, they would be one family with Daxian Liang Shi. All brothers would work together when there was work to do, eat together when there was food, and farm together when there were fields to tend.

  Zhang Rui heard this and thought it was a great idea, letting this guy run insurance for the rest of his life, guessing he's going to be rich.

  This Taiping Tao is quite a set, in no time at all, these hundreds of people have all joined the Taiping Tao. Zhang Rui also went up and wrote his name as Zhang Er, Xun Yu wrote Li San, and Xun You became Wang Si.

  Zhang Dage looked at the signatures of the followers, nodded his head in satisfaction. This trip was not in vain, and several hundred more people were added. Judging from the current situation, nationwide, the number of Taiping Dao followers has almost exceeded one million.

  Thinking about getting promoted and raising my salary, marrying a rich beauty, becoming the general manager, taking on the role of CEO, and reaching the pinnacle of life is indeed somewhat exciting. I heard that the emperor has three palaces, six courtyards, and 72 concubines, one day when the yellow scarf breaks into the imperial palace, he will also taste what it's like.

  Put the name list away, put it in your arms. The big brother stood up, put on his black robe again, bowed to everyone, and then knelt down and worshipped towards the north. Zhang Rui thought that it might be because Zhang Jiao was in the north, so this kneeling and worshiping was probably worshipping Zhang Jiao.

  Among the crowd's farewell, Zhang Da Ge led two small followers and started to move slowly. The main reason is that there are too many refugees, they took the most popular route, and everyone's emotions were too high, so the three of them came out completely different from when they went in.

  Only three people saw that the big brother was a little better, and the black robe outside had been torn to an unknown extent. As for the two small followers, it's even more miserable, their clothes were torn into strips, and they didn't know who did it, but someone deliberately targeted the good places, so the two unfortunately became split-pants.

  "It serves you two right. How many times have I told you? You won't even wear a black robe when I ask you to. Let's go, or else those refugees will catch up with us again." Zhang said.