Inside the resplendent palace chambers, Liu Hong—wearing the towering Heaven-Reaching Crown, dressed in deep black imperial robes, and adorned with jade at his waist—wore a ferocious expression.
He strode step by step before the kneeling Zuo Feng, then lashed out with a vicious kick, sending the eunuch sprawling across the floor.
Not daring to cry out in pain, Zuo Feng scrambled to his feet and crawled on his knees back before Liu Hong, pressing his forehead against the floor. "Your Majesty, every single word this servant spoke is the truth! I dared not deceive you in the slightest!"
Liu Hong let out a laugh born of fury. "Yellow Sky God! Zhonghuang Taiyi! Hehehe! Do you take Us for a fool?!"
He had read the Yellow Turban rebels' scripture, the *Classic of Great Peace*.
"The Three Fundamental Bonds and Six Disciplines bring lasting fortune"; "Words of loyalty and filial piety stray not from the heart of Heaven and Earth"; "The common folk's duty is to cultivate a livelihood for the state, kings, and nobles"; "For rulers, let them prioritize agriculture and the livelihood of the realm"...
Every line taught emperors how to govern the realm and instructed the populace to be submissive and obedient. It read nothing like a rebel text.
That was precisely why Liu Hong had pardoned Zhang Jiao after his first abortive rebellion had been foiled and he was caught. He simply had not believed that the renowned Great Virtuous Teacher would truly raise a revolt on behalf of a bunch of mud-stained peasants.
It was only when Zhang Jiao raised troops a second time—this current uprising, where hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans swarmed across the realm—that Liu Hong panicked and hastily dispatched armies to suppress them.
Even so, he still did not consider the *Classic of Great Peace* to be a subversive rebel tract.
What was more, the book scarcely mentioned ghosts or gods at all. Such titles as "Yellow Sky Sacred Venerable" or "Zhonghuang Taiyi" were utterly absent from its pages, circulating only by word of mouth among the Yellow Turban rabble.
How could Liu Hong possibly swallow some nonsense about the reincarnation of a Yellow Sky God?
Zuo Feng wept so hard his tears and snot ran together. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, do you not know what kind of man this servant is? I am the most timid of all. How could I ever dare deceive you?!"
Hearing this, Liu Hong managed to suppress the rage in his chest and gradually calmed down.
Yet years of indulging in wine and women had left this supreme ruler of the Han Empire, in his twenties, looking pale and depleted.
He drew a deep breath and said slowly, "Did you see this Yellow Sky God with your own eyes?"
Zuo Feng shook his head. "No. Just as this servant arrived in Lieren, I ran into General of the Household Lu and the others who had fled in defeat. I heard about this from their own mouths.
"At first, this servant did not believe it either. But after closely interrogating them, I slowly came to believe it. The terror etched on the faces of those battered officers and men could not be faked..."
"Which means you didn't see this so-called god with your own eyes?" Liu Hong repeated.
"I did not." Zuo Feng shrank inward. "This servant originally intended to go to Guangzong in person to scout for information, but General of the Household Lu and the others desperately held me back. Then I thought, if I died in Guangzong, who would return to report to Your Majesty? So I rushed straight back to Luoyang."
Liu Hong gave a cold snort.
How could he fail to hear that Zuo Feng had simply been terrified of dying and lacked the courage to go to Guangzong? Still, now was not the time to fuss over that.
He pondered in deep thought for a moment before asking, "Is the army under Lu Zhi truly wiped out completely?"
Zuo Feng answered honestly, "All gone. Less than two hundred cavalrymen remain."
Liu Hong slammed his palm onto the low table in fury. "Twenty thousand men! Twenty thousand imperial soldiers!"
Regardless of whether that Yellow Sky Holy Infant was real or fake, Liu Hong was certain of one thing: the twenty thousand elite troops he had painstakingly scraped together had been thrown away by Lu Zhi in a single stroke. The thought enraged him to no end.
"Get out! Get out!" Liu Hong pointed at Zuo Feng and roared.
Zuo Feng kowtowed several times, then literally rolled out of the palace hall like a gourd along the floor.
Liu Hong returned to sit upon his folding chair and picked up several battle reports from the table.
"Zhu Jun is still attacking Wancheng, unable to breach it after so long. Incompetent fool!"
"Huangfu Song is clashing with the moth-thief Bu Si in Dong Commandery. He has won several engagements, beheading over ten thousand enemy troops, and claims he will destroy Bu Si within ten days..."
"Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao have just routed a small contingent of Yellow Turbans, and they happen to be in the vicinity of Ji Province..."
Liu Hong fell into contemplation for a moment, then began writing out imperial decrees.
He ordered Dong Zhuo's and Cao Cao's units to march toward Lieren and link up with Lu Zhi. He also commanded Huangfu Song to march on Ji Province the moment he executed Bu Si and pacified Dong Commandery in Yan Province, joining forces with Lu Zhi, Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao.
Reaching this point, he hesitated. His original inclination was to have Lu Zhi escorted back to Luoyang in chains for trial, but after weighing it over and over, he decided to leave Lu Zhi in place for now.
For no other reason than that Lu Zhi was currently the most familiar with the situation of Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turbans. If he were hauled back to the capital, Huangfu Song and the others would be completely blind to what was happening in Guangzong.
Yet even if Lu Zhi was spared an escort to Luoyang, due punishment could not be avoided. Liu Hong decreed that Lu Zhi be stripped of his post as General of the Household, serving in the army as a commoner, while supreme command of the Ji Province campaign was reassigned to Huangfu Song.
Compared to a defeated general like Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song suited Liu Hong's tastes far better.
He slaughtered without batting an eye, employed ruthless methods, and was utterly loyal—truly a ferocious hound at the sovereign's feet!
After dispatching the imperial decrees, Liu Hong paced back and forth across the palace hall, muttering under his breath, "The Yellow Sky God, Zhonghuang Taiyi..."
Belief in prophecies and apocrypha was rampant during the Han dynasty; both court and commoners were half-believing and half-doubting when it came to spirits and deities. Liu Hong was inevitably influenced by this milieu. Though he was disinclined to believe that a god had truly stepped into the mortal dust, Lu Zhi, Zong Yuan, and Zuo Feng had all sworn to it with utmost conviction.
Especially Lu Zhi. When a figure of such nationwide renown claimed that the Yellow Turbans had a deity aiding them, it was difficult for Liu Hong not to believe it.
"Could there truly be gods in this world? Was Founding Emperor Gaozu truly the reincarnation of the Son of the Red Emperor?"
He sank into deep reverie.
* * *
Nearly a month had passed since Huang Tian's arrival in this late Han world. Not only had he aged at the rate of one year per day, returning to his former appearance as a handsome, ethereal young man, but he had also cultivated to the third level of Qi Refinement!
He was even brushing against the threshold of the fourth level, likely on the verge of breaking through at any moment.
During this month, under his command, the Yellow Turban Army had used the captured, surrendered Han soldiers as instructors to conduct an extensive military drill.
While they could hardly be called an elite force just yet, they were vastly superior to their former selves, having roughly reached the training standard of commandery and principality troops.
Combined with the armor, spears, and halberds seized from the Han camp, the Yellow Turbans could truly be said to have undergone a complete metamorphosis.
On this day, Zhang Jiao arrived outside Huang Tian's cultivation quarters and bowed respectfully:
"Master, after a month of drilling, the tens of thousands of troops have taken on an entirely new look. Eager for battle, they wish to request your leave to sweep across Ji Province and forge the glorious reign of the Yellow Sky!"
As the leader of the Yellow Turbans throughout the realm, Zhang Jiao had been accepted by Huang Tian as a nominal disciple. Though he had yet to receive true immortal arts, his body had been tempered by spiritual qi, revitalizing him with abundant vigor.
While Huang Tian devoted himself to cultivation, Zhang Jiao took charge of overseeing all administrative matters in Guangzong. Under his steady hand, an army of over fifty thousand along with just over sixty thousand elderly and weak were managed in an orderly fashion.
Even so, cramming over a hundred and twenty thousand people into the modest city of Guangzong put a severe strain on resources. Most critically, their provisions were running out. At most, they had enough grain for another month, making it an absolute necessity to campaign outward and secure food supplies.
Huang Tian wore a Daoist robe patterned with cloud motifs. He wore no formal crown, his hair gathered behind his head with only a simple hairpin of green jade. His eyes were clear and serene as he looked upon his first disciple. "What are your thoughts?"
After spending this time together, Zhang Jiao had gained an understanding of Huang Tian's temperament. He knew his master had no interest in empty platitudes like "I obey your every command, Master." Pondering for a few breaths, he voiced what he truly had in mind.
"This disciple believes we can dispatch a detachment of fifteen thousand men to advance upon the counties of Quzhou, Guangping, and Pingxiang, pushing northward to link up with our forces in Xiaquyang so we may support one another."
Chapter 16