Chapter 240: Dominating Jiangxi Alone

Zhang Yingjing quickly realized what Zhao Han was up to.

A few days later, Zhao Han directly convened a grand Buddhist and Daoist assembly. Besides the Daoists of the Celestial Master Mansion, it also included monks from Qingyuan Temple, Donglin Temple, Xilin Temple, the Immortal's Grotto, Xiandu Abbey, Kongshan Temple, and many more.

Zhao Han himself had not yet appeared, and a crowd of monks and Daoists sat there staring blankly at one another.

They exchanged polite greetings, but the atmosphere only grew more awkward, for the sectarian divisions were simply too tangled.

Qingyuan Temple was the ancestral seat of the Qingyuan lineage, and Donglin Temple the ancestral seat of the Pure Land school — the former was Chan, the latter Pure Land.

Monks of the Chan and Pure Land schools might perhaps manage a civil exchange. But between the Celestial Master Mansion and the Immortal's Grotto, there was truly nothing to talk about. Tradition held that the Immortal's Grotto was where Lü Dongbin cultivated, and Lü Dongbin was the founding patriarch of the Quanzhen sect.

The assembled monks and Daoists waited a long while before Zhao Han finally entered, a Daoist priest walking beside him.

"Reverend Master, please take the seat of honor," Zhao Han said, his manner exceedingly respectful.

The Daoist politely declined: "I thank the Regional Commander for his kindness, but Celestial Master Zhang should occupy the seat of honor. This humble Daoist is unworthy; a side seat will suffice."

Zhao Han's tone suddenly hardened: "Who I say shall take the seat of honor, that man shall take the seat of honor!"

The Daoist looked somewhat embarrassed. He bowed to Zhang Yingjing in apology, and Zhang Yingjing could only yield the Daoist side's seat of honor.

At the same time, monks and Daoists alike were all guessing who this Daoist could be.

Zhao Han swept his gaze toward Zhang Yingjing: "What, are you unhappy about it?"

"I would not dare," Zhang Yingjing hastily replied.

"See for yourself!" Zhao Han hurled a letter, which landed before Zhang Yingjing.

Zhang Yingjing picked it up and read. Instantly he trembled all over in terror. Now he abandoned even the pretense of dignity and dropped straight to his knees, saying, "Regional Commander, forgive my crimes!"

It turned out that Fei Yinggong had taken Zhang Yingjing and his son away and ordered men to continue investigating the Celestial Master Mansion, the Shangqing Palace, and the Zhengyi Abbey. Informants soon came forward: during the Zhang family's earlier self-inspection, many Daoists had hidden in small mountain shrines. Over 1,300 more Daoists were then ferreted out from the hills.

As for landholdings, they were not limited to the tens of thousands of mu around Shangqing Town. Including all manner of concealed fields, the total came to over two hundred thousand mu!

Zhang Yingjing and his son had not personally committed atrocities, but among the Daoists and household slaves of the Celestial Master Mansion, many were outright local tyrants. In just one month of investigation, over thirty murder cases had been uncovered. Commoners driven to sell their sons and daughters were beyond counting.

Zhao Han said coldly: "You, father and son, will remain in Ji'an Prefecture for now. You may return when the investigation is complete — not a moment sooner. From this day forward, the Zhang family may only administer the Celestial Master Mansion. In the Shangqing Palace, the Zhengyi Abbey, and all other temples and shrines subordinate to the Celestial Master Mansion, no member of the Zhang family is permitted to meddle in any affair!"

"This humble Daoist obeys," Zhang Yingjing said, prostrating himself on the ground.

Zhao Han pointed to the Daoist he had brought with him and said: "Allow me to introduce everyone. This is Daoist Master Liu Xianwei of the Chongzhen Abbey on Zao'ge Mountain."

The assembled monks and Daoists immediately offered salutations, none of them thinking much of the man.

Daoism had many branches, but broadly it could be divided into the Zhengyi tradition and the Quanzhen tradition.

And in the Ming dynasty, the Zhengyi tradition was recognized by the court as the orthodox line. The Zhang family's Zhengyi Abbey happened to be the very ancestral seat of the Zhengyi tradition.

Zao'ge Mountain was the ancestral seat of the Lingbao school, ranking alongside Longhu Mountain and Mao Mountain as one of the three great Daoist seats of the Zhengyi tradition. Under court patents, the Perfected One of Longhu Mountain held upper second rank, while the Spirit Officials of Zao'ge Mountain and Sanmao Mountain both held lower eighth rank.

Zhao Han had no interest in debating with these monks and Daoists. He announced directly: "The Ji'an Regional Command is establishing a Bureau of Religious Affairs. Daoist Master Liu of the Chongzhen Abbey is appointed Director of the Zhengyi Section. Dharma Master Huiyin of Donglin Temple is appointed Director of the Buddhist Rectification Section. All other temples and Daoist abbeys shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Religious Affairs!"

Zhang Yingjing, though terrified in his heart, could not stop himself: "Regional Commander, the Zhengyi Abbey is the ancestral seat of the Zhengyi tradition."

Zhao Han's face darkened: "I just said — the Zhang family will henceforth only manage the Celestial Master Mansion. The abbot and overseer of the Zhengyi Abbey will be chosen from other eminent Daoists. Furthermore, the Celestial Master Mansion must donate eighty thousand taels of silver for the reconstruction of the Chongzhen Abbey and the rebuilding of the Ziyang Academy!"

At these words, Zhang Yingjing nearly fainted.

What logic was this — making his Zhang family pay to rebuild houses on Zao'ge Mountain?

Zao'ge Mountain lay right beside Zhangshu Town. That Zhangshu Town had become the southern capital of medicine was thanks to the Daoists of Zao'ge Mountain, who laid its foundation. Ge Xuan and Ge Hong had grown medicinal herbs and practiced medicine on Zao'ge Mountain. The mountain held not only a wealth of Daoist scriptures but also a great many medical texts; the Daoists there practiced the "Way of Medicine."

Regrettably, during the Xuande reign of the Great Ming, the Daoist temples of Zao'ge Mountain had been burned to the ground in a single blaze.

The Daoist Liu Kaihua had attempted a restoration, but lacking the funds, he had only managed to rebuild a very small portion. This Liu Xianwei before them was Liu Kaihua's nephew. Year after year, he had led Daoists down the mountain to practice medicine, and every coin they earned went toward rebuilding the temples.

As for the Ziyang Academy — that was the Daode Palace on Zao'ge Mountain, the very place where Zhu Xi had once lectured.

Zhao Han intended not only to rebuild the Chongzhen Abbey on Zao'ge Mountain, but also to rebuild the Ziyang Academy. To be precise, it would be the "Ziyang Medical College," where renowned physicians would be hired to lecture, where Daoists would study, and where any layperson aspiring to practice medicine could also go to learn.

Zhao Han then produced a new edition of The Great Unity Collection, which contained two more essays than the old version. He addressed the monks and Daoists: "Monks and Daoists of every temple and abbey, henceforth, in your spare time from Buddhist and Daoist cultivation, you shall also study the Datong ideology. If you are so inclined, you may also integrate Datong thought with the Buddhist and Daoist canons, and exhort your disciples to succor the world and save the people."

Guards immediately entered and distributed a copy of The Great Unity Collection to each of these monks and Daoists gathered from across Jiangxi.

The assembled monks and Daoists at once intoned the names of Buddha and the Celestial Venerables.

"All of you, follow me," Zhao Han said, rising.

The monks and Daoists followed Zhao Han out of the city to the army drill grounds, and then the scene before them left them utterly dumbstruck.

There on the drill grounds were several hundred monks and Daoists — not only monks and Daoist priests, but also Buddhist nuns and Daoist nuns. They were all illicit monastics who had been purged. The younger and more intelligent among them had been selected and retrained as battlefield medics, primarily studying emergency treatment and wound care.

Liu Xianwei stroked his beard and smiled. These people had been taught by him, trained over the course of a full year, and had even been taken out among the common folk to practice medicine for three months.

Though not yet qualified to be full physicians, they were certainly more than capable of treating wounds and handling emergency casualties.

These illicit monastics still wore their monastic robes, but each bore a gourd emblem embroidered on the chest. They also each carried a medicine box on their back, the boxes likewise marked with the gourd emblem.

Zhao Han said to the monks and Daoists with a smile: "Those who renounce the world are compassionate. To heal the sick and save lives is also compassion. The Ziyang Academy on Zao'ge Mountain opens its gates to all monastics — even Buddhist nuns may go there to study medicine. I hope that, beyond chanting sutras and pursuing your cultivation, you can also do something of real substance. Even for the Chan school, entering the world to save others is a gate to cultivation. Master Jingyan, is this not the truth?"

"Amitabha. All things in this world are cultivation. The Regional Commander's words are profoundly imbued with Buddhist principle. Qingyuan Temple will select ten monks to study medicine at the Ziyang Academy on Zao'ge Mountain." Master Jingyan was the new abbot of Qingyuan Temple. Qingyuan Temple sat right under Zhao Han's nose and had already been brought to heel, meek and compliant.

The abbot of Donglin Temple also said: "This temple will select and send fifteen monks to study medicine at the Ziyang Academy on Zao'ge Mountain."

The remaining monks and Daoists all voiced their commitments. Even the Celestial Master Mansion would send candidates. And so the first cohort of medical students for the Ziyang Academy was secured. As for monks and Daoists descending the mountain to offer free clinics and the like, that could be arranged gradually later. The point, in any case, was not to let these monastics remain idle.

Among these "medics" before them, there were also many women who had volunteered — roughly a hundred or so. For now, they mainly served as battlefield nurses.

Moreover, all medics could take up arms and join the fight at critical moments. They too were required to undergo military training.

Zhang Yingjing returned to his temporary lodgings, sighing in despair, and recounted everything to his son.

Zhang Hongren said: "An arm cannot twist a thigh. The only course now is to do whatever he says. Tomorrow, I will go and begin studying that Mathematics and Geometry. When I have free time, I will go to Zao'ge Mountain to study medicine."

"That is all we can do," Zhang Yingjing said, his heart like dead ashes. He no longer wished to struggle; his only desire was to return to the Celestial Master Mansion as soon as possible and live out his remaining years.

…

Nanchang Prefecture.

"Master, the Governor summons you for a council," a household servant announced, knocking at the door.

"Prepare the sedan chair," Zhang Bingwen said.

In three months' time, Zhang Bingwen had already progressed to Analytic Geometry. Apart from this novelty, the rest of the mathematics was largely what he had studied before.

It was simply a matter of replacing words and counting rods with numerals and mathematical symbols.

What's so hard about it?

Zhang Bingwen simply could not understand why, when Zhao Han expanded the curriculum, so many scholars opposed it openly or in secret. It was perfectly straightforward — only analytic geometry was a little difficult, and one could finish studying it in whatever spare time one had.

Riding in his sedan chair to the Governor's yamen, Zhang Bingwen was still working out problems halfway there.

Entering the main hall, he found the other officials had already arrived — not only the three Jiangxi provincial offices, but even officials from the prefectural yamen had come.

Governor Zhu Zhichen said helplessly, "Commander Zhao has already seized Jiangxi. Only the prefectural seat of Nanchang remains untaken, and he will likely arrive in a few days. I have resolved to surrender. May I ask what you gentlemen intend?"

Wu Shiliang sighed, "I am past eighty. How could I bring ruin upon my sons and grandsons? You go and surrender; I shall return to Zhejiang."

This year Zhejiang was at last free of severe drought — there had been two rains since the start of spring — so Wu Shiliang could perfectly well go home and live out his retirement. He would feign illness and resign his seal before the rebels took the prefectural seat; if the court investigated, he would simply await death.

Incidentally, compared to the previous year, the drought this year had eased somewhat.

All the northern provinces continued to suffer severe drought, while in the south, drought appeared only in western Huguang. The prefectures of Jiangnan had finally caught their breath.

Specifically in Jiangxi, only Jiujiang Prefecture and Nankang Prefecture had no rain — and these two prefectures happened to lie right beside the Yangtze and Lake Poyang.

Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Li Shiguang said, "I shall return home as well."

One after another, the assembled officials made their choices — either join the rebels or go home. None dared go to Beijing. The other Jiangxi officials were not present; if one went to Beijing alone, what if the Emperor grew enraged and decided to kill him?

As if by prior agreement, once the officials who meant to flee had departed, the Great Unity Army finally entered Nanchang Prefecture several days later.

Huang Yao led his troops ashore. The common folk lined the roads to welcome them. The city's merchants, household slaves, and drifters in particular had long been waiting for this day; they truly had no wish to live under Ming rule.

"We greet the General!"

Zhu Zhichen led the officials out of the city to receive them. Xu Ying and Wang Tingshi mingled among the crowd as well.

Huang Yao raised his head and gazed at the gate tower, his heart filled with an indescribable exhilaration.

As the army drew near, Wang Tingshi shook out his sleeves and strode over, head high and chest out. He was, after all, a man of merit. For the past several months, he had been helping to make connections and pacify the various factions in Nanchang.

Xu Ying smiled and said nothing. He had a new assignment — to go to Nanjing and develop an intelligence network throughout the prefectures of Jiangnan.

Zhang Bingwen did not show himself either at this time. Once he had thoroughly mastered analytic geometry, he was to go to Ji'an Prefecture to sit the examinations and take up an official post.

In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, during the Lantern Festival, Zhao Han seized the entire territory of Jiangxi.

(End of chapter)