Chapter 38: False Alarm

It was the height of summer in the seventh month, and the weather was scorching and oppressive.

The official road through the southeastern outskirts of Luoyang, which should have been bustling with activity, now lay bleak and desolate.

This was not to say there were fewer nobles and officials on the road, but rather that nobles and officials alone could not sustain the word "bustling." One must understand, this was an agricultural society, so even in the outskirts of the capital Luoyang, if there were no farmers working in the fertile fields by the roadside, if there were no plainly dressed peasant women carrying earthen pots to deliver meals, it would certainly make one feel that something was amiss.

And if every peasant within sight could only sit withered beneath bare trees, sighing in despair, then it was no longer merely a question of something being amiss.

"A locust plague!" Not just others, even Lu Fan, who had just gotten engaged, shook his head repeatedly. "Fortunately, it is in Luoyang."

"Brother Ziheng, what do you mean by that?" Liu Bei, beside him, was bewildered. "No matter where it is, a locust plague is bad, isn't it? I still remember a few years ago, Hebei first suffered a great drought, and then a massive locust plague. That scene, though I was young, still makes my heart tremble when I recall it... You don't know, there was a huge mulberry tree in front of our house, an ancient tree of unknown age, and it was gnawed completely clean in a single night..."

"And then?" Lu Fan pressed. "After the mulberry tree was gnawed clean, what happened?"

"Afterwards, naturally, the mulberry tree sprouted new buds and survived!" Liu Bei said with emotion. "Our villagers all said that the mulberry tree growing in front of my house had a divine quality. Not only was it over five zhang tall, but when its branches and leaves were lush, seen from afar it looked just like a carriage canopy..."

"I wasn't asking about the mulberry tree." Lu Fan was utterly speechless. "I was asking whether, after the locust plague, there were bandits? Were there refugees? Did great households seize the property of middling families? Were there peasant uprisings?"

Liu Bei's face showed bewilderment.

"How old was he then?" Gongsun Yue laughed involuntarily. "How could he possibly know about such things?"

"Brother Yue isn't much older than me!" Liu Bei retorted indignantly. "If I don't remember, do you?"

"I naturally remember." Gongsun Yue answered proudly. "You come from a small, humble household, but I come from the Gongsun clan. I also remember that the year before that drought, under my aunt's strong urging, the clan dug irrigation ditches and channeled the Luan River to water the fields around Lingzhi, so that year we still had a considerable harvest. And when the locust plague came the following year, no locusts arose in our own area; instead, a swarm flew over from Youbeiping. Again, it was my aunt who warned the clan, and in the end, the clan organized people into lines to beat and kill them, and even taught people to eat the locusts..."

"Eat locusts?" Liu Bei's face showed horror.

"I remember this too!" Han Dang suddenly interjected. "That day in Lingzhi city, every household was allotted several jin of locusts. Although we only ate them for a few days, that taste was truly unforgettable... Still, eating locusts is better than eating people. It seems it was just while eating locusts that we heard people talk about your Zhuo Commandery, saying that starving people there had already begun eating human flesh. Then, two months later, by autumn, in Yuyang there were returning landless refugees who revolted, and the commandery even sent reinforcements to suppress them."

"This is precisely what I meant by 'fortunately.'" Lu Fan took the opportunity to shake his head. "Lingzhi is the very foundation of the Gongsun clan, where Brother Xun and his family are rooted, so the Gongsun family would never sit idly by and watch Lingzhi suffer disaster. But other places may not be so lucky, and thus arise refugees, bandits, cannibalism, and even armed conflict."

"I understand Brother Ziheng's meaning now." Liu Bei looked at the scene around him and sighed from horseback. "This land south of the Yellow River is, after all, at the feet of the Son of Heaven. Not to mention that the Son of Heaven would not sit by and watch the capital suffer disaster, even the nobles and high officials around Luoyang would absolutely not permit chaos to arise around their own estates. So although these disaster victims have lost one season's harvest, they will not starve to death... This is indeed far more 'fortunate' than other places."

"And there is also the barrier of terrain," Lu Fan continued to explain. "After all, this area is bounded by the Yellow River to the north and Mount Song to the south. Nine out of ten locust swarms will be locked within the territory of Henan Yin. If it had truly erupted from Hebei or the Central Plains, I fear it would be another great catastrophe!"

These words indeed made sense, so everyone nodded in agreement.

And just as the group was discussing this among themselves and unconsciously arrived at the foot of Mount Goushi, at the crossroads, several Gongsun clan servants waiting there swiftly came forward and stopped them.

It turned out that a few days earlier, Lu Zhi had come down from the mountain and moved into the Gongsun brothers' villa at the mountain's base... Specifically, it was the courtyard vacated after Gongsun Zan left, and he had also occasionally moved his lectures there.

The servants waiting here had actually been instructed by Lu Zhi to tell Gongsun Xun and the others to come directly to the villa to find him upon their return!

"Has our teacher actually moved to the foot of the mountain?" Gongsun Xun, who had remained silent until now, frowned slightly. To be honest, in his heart he truly did not wish to be in Lu Zhi's constant company, because this man genuinely made him uneasy.

Lu Fan glanced lightly at Gongsun Xun and quickly, without drawing attention, offered a reminder: "To have a teacher who can offer constant guidance at one's side is a good thing."

Gongsun Xun immediately adopted a serious expression: "Exactly so. Let us hurry and not keep Teacher Lu waiting."

However, when Lu Zhi met his disciples, he did not say much else. He merely inquired in detail about the reactions of the various great Confucians and high officials in Runan. Upon hearing that all who had received letters held firm attitudes, he directly dismissed everyone to rest. As for himself, he formally announced that he would borrow Gongsun Zan's small courtyard suite to bathe, change clothes, fast, and purify himself for three days, and then submit another memorial!

Gongsun Xun actually wanted to ask him about the topic of the locust plague, but ultimately felt somewhat timid and could only withdraw sullenly.

However, this feeling of oppression did not last long. By the evening of the very next day, good news suddenly arrived — Jia Chao had returned!

It must be explained that Jia Chao had been sent home by Gongsun Xun to deliver a letter.

After all, the moment the news of Lu Zhi's return to the capital had arrived last time, Gongsun Xun had learned that he and his two brothers had inadvertently become entangled in the dispute between the New Text and Old Text schools. In his urgency, he could not help but send a plea for help to his mother, who was reputed to know events eighteen hundred years into the future... He had no other intention; he simply wanted to ask her if she still had any impression of this Xiping Stone Classics matter, what the outcome would be, who would ultimately win the struggle between the Old and New Text schools, and how he should respond. Also, between Liu Kuan and Lu Zhi, how should a nobody like him conduct himself?

No matter what, you, esteemed mother, could not just watch your own son "study behind closed doors" in Luoyang... Studying, studying, studying until he became a Erudite — what kind of image would that be?

Of course, transportation in this era was terribly poor, and Lu Zhi had arrived far too quickly and fiercely. Gongsun Xun had only returned here in the afternoon, finished writing the letter, and sent Jia Chao with men to race toward Liaoxi, when by evening, Teacher Lu had directly slammed his wooden bowl onto the table in the charity hostel across the way.

And then, the very next day, he had summoned Liu Kuan and signed an unequal treaty.

Looking at it this way, the question of how to conduct himself between Liu Kuan and Lu Zhi seemed to no longer need an answer. However, his mother, after all, grasped the "truth," and her letter would surely be of value... Besides, having been away from home so long, a letter from one's own mother, even if it only contained a few words of nonsense, would still make one happy!

So, Gongsun Xun, lying in his small courtyard enjoying the breeze, almost impatiently summoned Jia Chao in.

The letter was written on silk and placed inside a brocade pouch lined with lime, said to prevent the ink from bleeding due to dampness... Needless to say, this so-called "brilliant plan in a brocade pouch" was another "invention" of Lady Gongsun; her inventions were always numerous.

However, now that the letter was in hand, Gongsun Xun, who had sat up from his reclining chair, was in no hurry: "Rise. Did Mother have any words to convey to me?"

"The mistress had no particular instructions," Jia Chao answered after straightening up. "She said everything she wanted to say is in this letter..."

"I see." Gongsun Xun nodded. "Did you see or hear anything noteworthy on your journey?"

"There was nothing else in particular, but there is one matter I heard when passing through my hometown of Julu on the way back. I thought the young master might wish to hear it."

"Julu..." Gongsun Xun's eyelid twitched. "Don't tell me Zhao Zhong's clan nephew has returned from the dead?"

"It is not that matter." Jia Chao shook his head repeatedly, then answered with a serious expression. "It is that the Taiping Dao has suddenly revolted!"

Gongsun Xun was dumbstruck, and when he came to his senses, he felt his heart pounding wildly in his chest, while his temples throbbed with heat. Finally, losing his balance, he toppled directly backward into the rocking chair behind him.

The Three Han maidservant fanning him nearby, the retainers standing far off at the courtyard gate, and Jia Chao before him all scrambled in a flurry to help him up... but were scolded away by Gongsun Xun:

"It's nothing! Just the heat, a touch of summer heat, that's all. All of you, stay back and let me lie here and get some air!"

Everyone hastily returned to their places.

"This... this Taiping Dao..." Gongsun Xun lay in the chair staring at the sky, clutching his mother's brocade pouch, feeling his head drenched in sweat and his mouth parched. "How could this Taiping Dao have revolted?"

"That is precisely what makes this matter so astonishing and suspicious," Jia Chao answered cautiously. "This Taiping Dao ordinarily enjoys very high prestige in Jizhou. Not only do the common people believe in it, but the sect leader, Zhang Jiao..."

"Cough... cough cough... Continue, speak carefully!"

"This sect leader Zhang Jiao is also a famous scholar of our Julu," Jia Chao stole a glance at the other party, and only after seeing that he was truly alright did he dare to continue. "He has always been considered a man of great virtue, and he has wide-ranging social connections. It is said he has dealings with high officials of the court and renowned Confucians throughout the land... Therefore, his sudden revolt this time truly left all of Hebei feeling baffled."

Lying there, Gongsun Xun nodded... This much he believed, because throughout the Great Han dynasty, Daoism was actually orthodox scholarship, even considered a form of classical studies. And if one had to speak of matters concerning spirits and the supernatural, it was rather in the current official learning of the court — that is, the New Text Confucian classics — where the theories of divination and apocrypha were particularly rampant!

So, in the eyes of the world, this Zhang Jiao was not so much a mystic as a heterodox classicist. For such a person to suddenly revolt was indeed somewhat strange.

"Why have you stopped?" Gongsun Xun was pondering this when he realized Jia Chao had already fallen silent.

"What else is there to say?" Jia Chao was bewildered. "It is simply that this Zhang Jiao led the Taiping Dao in revolt, everyone found it strange, and I also felt I should tell the young master about it..."

"And after the revolt?" Gongsun Xun turned his head speechlessly and demanded. "How many men did he incite? How many cities did he capture? How many responded? You are a local of Julu, and on this journey you happened to pass through Julu. Surely you must know something?"

"I beg the young master's forgiveness," Jia Chao said with a troubled expression. "I truly do not know this, because this Taiping Dao revolt happened back in the fourth month, and it is said that within three days it was suppressed by the commandery governor. And now, Zhang Jiao has already returned to Julu due to a general amnesty and resumed his preaching. I... it's just... I merely could not resist stopping by my home on the way and heard my elder brother mention it. And according to my elder brother, the Taiping Dao has now changed its method of preaching, wanting to establish something called 'Fang,' and has even dispatched eight of its most prized disciples to establish 'Fang' and preach simultaneously across the entire country, aiming to establish thirty in total?"

Gongsun Xun was dumbstruck once again, and then immediately speechless... So, they were actually accumulating experience! Or perhaps the reason they could later achieve great things was precisely because of the lessons learned this time. What was he getting so worked up about here?!

With this thought, he suddenly, with a whoosh, sat up again, feeling refreshed and clear-headed.

"The way of the general lies first in governing the heart. When Mount Tai crumbles before him, his expression does not change; when a deer springs up beside him, his eyes do not flicker. Only then can he weigh advantage and harm, and await the enemy." — The Yan Wu Art of War, Chapter on the Heart of Strategy

PS: Thanks to Tian Ma Xing Kong Ma Xing Kong for the red donation... This must be an old friend... What's your name in the group?

Incidentally, Zhang Jiao did indeed rebel once during the Xiping era — the kind that didn't even raise a ripple — and was simply pardoned.

There's also a new book group; interested students can join: 684558115.

(End of Chapter)