Chapter 61: The Beginning of Reform, Facing Zhang Jiao

This was destined to be an event that would affect the entire Great Han.

Gu Xi’s prestige was so high that it had already far surpassed that of Emperor Liu Hong.

Liu Hong was destined to be unable to compare to Liu Zhi.

Under Gu Xi’s influence, in the first few years after Liu Zhi ascended the throne, he successively bestowed grace upon the people.

But Liu Hong was different.

The common people’s first impression of Liu Hong was that he did not use Gu Xi.

Moreover, the subsequent Great Han continued to develop in an increasingly worse direction; how could such an emperor possibly compare to Gu Xi?

Everyone was looking forward to Gu Xi leading troops, so that the descendants of their various families could gain prestige from it.

And Gu Xi did not refuse this matter either.

But to everyone’s surprise, just before leading the troops out, Gu Xi suddenly submitted a memorial regarding a certain matter.

He was going to use the "name of punishing rebels" to move the core systems of the Great Han!

—Land and the Filial Piety and Incorrupt system!

Gu Xi actually intended to use the name of punishing rebels to establish a "Special Branch for Quelling Rebellion," allowing commoners to obtain the qualification for Filial Piety and Incorrupt by "punishing rebels" or "donating a thousand shi of grain."

And he wanted to requisition nearly thirty percent of the land belonging to noble families as "Public Land for Quelling Rebellion."

These lands would be re-incorporated into public land, used to implement military colonies to raise troops, in order to quell the rebellion.

Under normal circumstances, this move would obviously be impossible to succeed.

Because both of these measures were shaking the foundations of the noble families.

Gu Xi clearly understood this point.

Therefore, he crowned these arrangements with the name of "wartime," intending to advance by retreating.

This was absolutely a monumental change.

Gu Xi had already completely perceived the core problem of the current situation in the Great Han.

The clans swallowing up land and the various problems in resource allocation had created the undercurrents of the current situation.

The beginning of partisan strife, which in turn led to unclear governance, had completely brought this matter to the surface, contributing to the current situation.

For Gu Xi.

Even if the Yellow Turban Rebellion were resolved, what then?

With the situation of the world as it was, if the core problem could not be thoroughly resolved.

A great chaos would surely erupt again after the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to resolve the fundamental problems of the Great Han, and subsequently stabilize the situation quickly after quelling the rebellion.

This matter instantly set off a monstrous wave in the imperial court!

No one had expected Gu Xi to do this, and even Gu Shizi’s allies began to hesitate.

But the brilliance of Gu Xi was that he grasped an extremely suitable key point.

That was that the Yellow Turbans were currently fierce!

The resentment of the common people had long destined that they would engage in looting when they broke into the prefectures and counties.

The great clans were all deeply secretive about this.

However, even so, the matter was not directly finalized.

This outer layer only caused the matter to fall into debate, avoiding it being directly suppressed, but people from all sides spoke out one after another.

This matter actually ended up in a stalemate under these conditions.

Yet Gu Xi was not anxious; he seemed to have made up his mind that he must complete this matter.

The atmosphere of the entire Luoyangcheng became strangely tense again under these circumstances.

But the situation in various places would not stop because of this.

The news of Gu Xi commanding troops had long since spread, traveling extremely fast throughout the world.

His prestige was too high!

Even before he had set off, it was enough to have a huge impact on the overall morale.

The Yellow Turban armies in various places were all greatly affected for a time.

Of course, facing such a situation, Zhang Jiao would not remain indifferent either.

He seemed to have anticipated this long ago and had already thought of a countermeasure.

Zhang Jiao was indeed much stronger.

Now, on the Jizhou battlefield, he had not been beaten back step by step by Lu Zhi as in the original history; instead, he held the advantage.

Of course, this was not because Lu Zhi had become weaker.

It was just because Zhang Jiao had become stronger.

He perfectly utilized the foundation of the Yellow Turban Army in Jizhou, mobilizing the masses to help him scout for information.

At the same time, he utilized his knowledge of the mountains and terrain of Jizhou to carry out various ambushes.

And he also constantly sent people to carry out small-scale harassment.

Under these various measures, he could be said to have harassed Lu Zhi until he was annoyed beyond measure.

Keeping the entire Han Army in a state of constant exhaustion.

The impact of this on combat effectiveness was extremely great.

He seemed to have been waiting for this day all along; after hearing the battle reports from various places, he immediately held an even grander sacrificial ceremony in Yecheng.

Night.

Ink-black clouds covered the sky, and the starlight was completely hidden.

A full several thousand torches were piled up inside Yecheng.

The towering firelight seemed to want to pierce through the darkness and illuminate the entire firmament.

Countless believers wearing yellow turbans gathered here; their eyes were filled with fanaticism, and as for the altar in the center of the firelight, everyone’s eyes were full of fanatical color.

"The time has come~," a high-pitched shout pierced the night sky.

Instantly, the crowd made way for a passage.

Zhang Jiao, dressed in yellow Daoist robes and holding the Nine-Section Staff, walked slowly from within with steady steps.

His expression was solemn, as if he had merged with heaven and earth, and under the reflection of this firelight, he appeared full of majesty.

Under the gaze of the masses, Zhang Jiao ascended the altar.

In an instant, the whole world seemed to freeze; everyone held their breath, watching him quietly.

The surrounding atmosphere became increasingly fanatical, and the believers’ bodies began to tremble slightly, showing just how much they were looking forward to it.

Zhang Jiao ignored the crowd and focused on beginning his spellcasting.

He took out a handful of talisman paper, and under the gaze of the crowd, burned it into ashes, then put it into clear water.

"The holy water is ready!", his voice was low and powerful, as if carrying a kind of magic. "The Yellow Heaven will protect us, invulnerable to blades and spears!"

As his words fell, deafening cheers erupted instantly.

Zhang Jiao stood on the altar, scanned the crowd, opened his arms slightly, and said loudly: "The Blue Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall stand!"

"Today we break the rebels, and build our Yellow Heaven!!"

Sound after sound of shouting erupted!

And the very next day, Zhang Jiao suddenly launched an attack on Lu Zhi.

The entire Yellow Turban Army was like a beast ready to pounce, unstoppable.

The frantic attack caught Lu Zhi completely off guard.

—The situation changed in an instant!

On the battlefield, the sounds of slaughter shook the heavens and the earth.

The sound of blades clashing and the wails of the wounded were intertwined, deafening.

Lu Zhi, wearing battle armor, stood at the front of the formation, looking at the tragic battle situation before him, his face becoming unusually grave.

"Mad, they are all mad!", he muttered to himself, "Is this an attempt to drag my army to death?"

He truly could not understand.

The news of Gu Xi acting as commander had arrived; it should have made the Yellow Turban Army feel fear, so why were they so crazy now?

But the current situation did not allow him to think too much.

Lu Zhi quickly made a decision; he knew well that he could not continue to fight hard at this time, so he decisively ordered a retreat, waiting for Gu Xi to come and support.

But since Zhang Jiao had long been preparing for this, how could he let Lu Zhi retreat so easily?

He personally led the army in pursuit.

Several times he forced Lu Zhi into a desperate situation.

Fortunately, the overall combat power of the Yellow Turban Army was not considered strong, and their discipline was not high to begin with, which allowed Lu Zhi to seize the opportunity to retreat.

But he had also paid a heavy price.

The most critical thing was—Handan was lost!

The loss of Yecheng and Handan could be said to have completely severed the imperial court’s control over the entire Jizhou.

The most critical thing was, if Zhang Jiao were a bit bolder and implemented a strategy to slay the dragon.

He could also directly march into Henei.

And subsequently threaten the entire Luoyangcheng!

The situation changed again!

The original crisis was no longer enough to describe the current situation.

This sudden change is enough to threaten Luoyang; the Great Han is clearly in danger of falling!

This battle of Zhang Jiao can be said to have thoroughly ignited the madness of the Yellow Turban Army, as if everyone saw the scene of them breaking into Luoyangcheng.

Under these circumstances, it seems everyone has already caught the scent of a fatal crisis.

Finally, this matter was settled!

Gu Yi has been silently observing all of this.

The development of the current situation has far exceeded the original history.

Zhang Jiao is too strong.

Although he never followed Gu Xi, he learned too much from the Gu family private school and the various rumors about Gu Xi.

He is even better at mythologizing himself to boost morale.

And in terms of commanding the overall war situation, he is far superior to the original history.

This is indeed a major variable!

However, Gu Yi still believes that the Yellow Turban Rebellion cannot destroy the Great Han.

There is a key factor here that Zhang Jiao cannot solve.

That is, the Yellow Turban Army lacks high-end talent.

Whether it is the religious nature of the Way of Peace or their core demands, both have fundamental contradictions with the clans that currently possess high-end talent in this era.

This is a problem that is completely unsolvable.

As long as this problem exists, the fate of the Yellow Turban Uprising is doomed.

What Gu Yi truly cares about is Gu Xi's actions.

Clearly, his gaze is not just on suppressing the rebellion; he wants to take this opportunity to thoroughly redistribute everything in the Great Han and let the Great Han regain its vitality.

What kind of major change this will trigger, Gu Yi does not yet know.

But clearly,

the history to come will have completely different changes!

——Jianning Year 6, February.

Gu Xi leaves Luoyang again.

On the day of the expedition, the whole city was in an uproar.

Perhaps because the situation in the world is truly too tense, or perhaps because their own descendants are among them,

the great clans also value this highly; they had long since publicized the matter and used various means to build momentum for it.

And Liu Hong also seems to have finally remembered his mission as Emperor.

He personally saw Gu Xi off outside the city gate, and in front of everyone in Luoyang, he put on the appearance of an enlightened ruler and a virtuous minister.

He once again entrusted the heavy burden of the entire Great Han to Gu Xi's shoulders.

This kind of scene can indeed deceive quite a few people.

Compared to the common people in the four directions, because Gu Xi is in Luoyang, the people within Luoyang are actually the least harmed.

For the people of Luoyang,

the dispute between the eunuchs and the scholars does not actually directly affect their lives.

This is the capital city, and Gu Xi is still in the capital.

How could any official be bold enough to commit crimes in Luoyang?

People have always been like this.

Before they truly feel despair, they are extremely easily deceived by various appearances.

At the very least, what Liu Hong did today has deceived quite a few people, and the feeling that the Great Han will surely turn from danger to safety has once again arisen in their hearts.

Gu Xi, however, had no change in expression regarding this.

He merely performed the rites of a subject to a ruler to Liu Hong as usual, and then immediately led his men away without a shred of attachment.

In the current situation, the Yellow Turban rebels are spread across all provinces of the world.

Gu Xi naturally will not rush to every place in person; for him, he has only one goal.

——That is Zhang Jiao, who is in Hebei.

But he also will not let the generals of other provinces act on their own; he sends the descendants of various clans to all places to shake the morale of the Han Army in his name.

And in the name of the Grand Tutor, he issued the "Proclamation to Suppress the Yellow Turbans" to the world!

He had long since analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the Yellow Turbans.

Morale is a crucial factor for the Yellow Turban Army.

He allowed the noble families to stuff their descendants into it for this very reason.

The joint momentum-building of the noble families has an effect far exceeding the power of one person; this is Gu Xi's first strike against the Yellow Turban Army in terms of human hearts.

As for the second, it is naturally to restrict the killing intent of the generals suppressing the rebels in various places.

——Demanding that those who surrender must not be killed.

And declaring to the world that anyone who can surrender will not be punished for their crimes.

And those with merit will be rewarded with land and exempted from taxes for two years.

As for those who resist stubbornly, besides being killed, their families will also be implicated and sent to the border to reclaim farmland.

This is the killing blow.

Morale is something that is drummed up once, wanes the second time, and is exhausted the third.

Zhang Jiao's great victory did indeed boost the morale of the Yellow Turban Army in various places, but how could he compare to Gu Xi's prestige?

This is the prestige cultivated by several generations of Gu Shizi, finally added to Gu Xi alone!

This kind of prestige can turn the situation around!

Now he is thoroughly opening this breach, fundamentally reversing the fighting spirit of the Yellow Turban Army.

Sure enough, when this news spread,

the Yellow Turban Army in various places was shaken.

In provinces where the war situation was advantageous, it was fine; although morale was damaged, it was not enough to affect the war situation.

But in every province that was gradually declining, it was as if a breach had been opened.

——The situation changed in an instant!

Although Gu Xi had not yet arrived at the battlefield, these various strategies regarding human hearts had already dealt a blow to the Yellow Turban Army.

He seemed to have already thought of everything.

Subsequently, he successively sent people to the four directions.

In Yuzhou, he abandoned the rescue of the struggling Huangfu Song.

Adopting the strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao," he ordered Gu Tao, Cao Cao, and others to lead light cavalry to strike directly at the Yellow Turban Army's grain transport hub, Yangzhai, forcing Bo Cai to consolidate his defensive lines.

Thereby relieving the danger to Huangfu Song.

And along the way, he spread rumors that the government troops had already conquered the Yellow Turban stronghold of "Wancheng."

Once again stirring up chaos in people's hearts.

At the same time, there were various arrangements in each province.

He had long since thought of everything, ordering people to charge directly into the weak points of the Yellow Turban Army, completely severing their mutual connections.

Utilizing his own heaven-defying prestige.

In terms of the war situation and human hearts, he continuously compressed the survival space of the Yellow Turban Army.

Although he did not personally arrive at the battlefields of each province, he already had the momentum of planning in the command tent and deciding victory a thousand miles away.

A series of arrangements quickly stabilized this crumbling situation and stabilized the precarious Great Han.

And he himself headed straight for Henei to replace Lu Zhi and face Zhang Jiao directly.

Henei Commandery.

When Gu Xi arrived here, it was like a beam of light, finally giving the morale-depleted Han Army a slight improvement.

"This sinful subject pays respects to the Grand Tutor." Lu Zhi's state at this time was indeed quite poor.

Zhang Jiao's arrangements in Jizhou could be said to have caused him to suffer a Waterloo.

With such a great defeat, if the Yellow Turban Army were truly to carry out the act of slaying the dragon, then he would truly become a sinner of the Great Han.

This was something Lu Zhi found difficult to accept.

"Zigan, there is no need for this." Gu Xi waved his hand, his expression indifferent, "Zhang Jiao has high prestige in Jizhou; it is indeed difficult for you to contend with him. This matter is not your fault."

Lu Zhi still kept his head lowered, unwilling to stand up.

At this moment, a youth with a rather peculiar appearance behind him quickly stood up and helped him up.

This youth had thick earlobes and long arms.

In this era, possessing features different from ordinary people is often considered extraordinary.

"Who are you?" Gu Xi looked at the youth with interest and asked.

The youth seemed not to have expected Gu Xi to ask him suddenly; after being stunned for a moment, he hurriedly bowed and replied: "Reporting to the Grand Tutor, this humble one is named Liu Bei, courtesy name Xuande."

"I am a descendant of the Prince of Zhongshan Jing."

"I study under Master Lu."

Lu Zhi hurriedly followed up, pointing to several people in the tent: "Grand Tutor, these are all my students."

"They all have hearts to serve the country, so they came to assist this humble official."

Gu Xi nodded slightly, looked at the few youths in the tent, and finally let his gaze fall once more on the calm and composed Liu Bei, saying softly: "Indeed, there is something extraordinary about you."

This sentence instantly caused the atmosphere in the tent to freeze.

No one expected that Gu Xi would actually comment on the disciple of Lu Zhi.

Given Gu Xi's status, a single word from him was enough to make a person famous throughout the world and provide immense help to their future official career.

Liu Bei was even more pleasantly surprised; an expression of disbelief appeared on his face as he hurriedly bowed to express his gratitude.

But Gu Xi simply waved his hand.

Gu Xi waved his hand; he had only spoken casually, and although Liu Bei was indeed extraordinary, it was not enough to warrant his special attention.

Afterward, he began to set about arranging the subsequent strategy.

Gu Xi seemed to have already thought everything through, and then he began to arrange the following strategy in detail.

Although Zhang Jiao's methods had indeed exceeded his expectations.

But for Gu Xi.

Before the Yellow Turban Army could thoroughly resolve their fundamental internal problems, they were not worth worrying about.

His attainments regarding the human heart were far beyond what others could reach.

As for Zhang Jiao's methods, he had already used them back when he was providing relief for natural disasters.

He quickly made a series of arrangements.

First, he had people spread the news in Jizhou that he had already arrived.

Zhang Jiao's reputation in Jizhou was indeed hard for others to match!

But how could it compare to Gu Xi?

Who is Gu Xi?

——A descendant of the Gu family!

The Gu family had not spent so many years operating in the Hebei region for nothing.

Especially during the generation of Gu Kang.

If one were to ask which commandery in the world today held the most grand sacrifices for Gu Kang, it would undoubtedly be Jizhou!

It can truly be said that Gu Kang lifted the entire Jizhou to another height.

Whether it was fertilizing fields or controlling floods, everything started from Jizhou.

And Gu Xi had long been regarded as the human incarnation of Gu Kang.

This kind of reputation could not be thoroughly surpassed by Zhang Jiao's ten-plus years of operation.

This move instantly affected the morale of the Yellow Turban Army.

Even Zhang Jiao could not completely block it.

And subsequently, Gu Xi even performed sacrificial rites, leading the three armies to sacrifice to the successive emperors of the Great Han and Gu Kang, and publicly listed the crimes of the Yellow Turbans!

This move can be said to have thoroughly boosted the morale of the Han Army!

At the same time, Gu Xi also successively created artificial miracles, fundamentally affecting the morale of the Yellow Turban Army once again.

And afterward, Gu Xi prepared the three armies.

——To return to Jizhou.

He wanted to project an extremely proactive feeling.

In terms of momentum, to suppress Zhang Jiao's momentum!

Gu Xi's name was indeed a bit too resounding.

The Way of Peace, an organization based on religious nature, did indeed greatly enhance its spread.

But what followed was that these followers believed even more in prophecy and superstition!

When it comes to prophecy and superstition, although Zhang Jiao had already raised himself very high.

How could he compare to the Gu family?

From the time of Gu Kang, the Gu family had already been surrounded by various legends.

Not to mention that Gu Xi had later overcome natural disasters and had never known defeat in his life.

The legends surrounding him far exceeded those of Zhang Jiao, which had a huge impact on the morale of the entire Yellow Turban Army.

And the most critical point was that Gu Xi had already opened a breach.

As long as those who surrendered could not only be pardoned.

They also had the opportunity to obtain land.

But as long as they resisted stubbornly, not only were their own lives in danger, but their families also faced the risk of collective punishment.

Under these various factors, how could the Yellow Turban Army keep their morale stable?

The advantage Zhang Jiao had when facing Lu Zhi.

Was now completely gone.

And under these circumstances, the Yellow Turban Army, which clearly had more troops, actually began to decline in momentum.

First, people from the Yellow Turbans in Linzhang County came to surrender one after another.

Gu Xi seized the opportunity to send troops to take Linzhang directly, and on the twentieth of the third month, he crossed the Zhanghe to take Chizhang County and Ye County.

Completely cutting off Yecheng from Handan.

During this period, Zhang Jiao naturally would not let it be.

He sent troops one after another.

But without exception, in situations where he was not leading them personally, when facing the army personally led by Gu Xi, these Yellow Turban troops would often fall into internal chaos, thereby affecting the entire war situation.

It was simply impossible to stop Gu Xi.

This is the downside of a reputation reversal!

Facing others.

Zhang Jiao's followers were mostly fanatical about Zhang Jiao.

But now, facing Gu Xi, they ultimately could not achieve absolute fanaticism.

——People are ultimately influenced by their environment.

When Zhang Jiao's reputation was not enough to overshadow Gu Xi's, this backlash would become particularly obvious.

(End of chapter)