Chapter 881: I Am Not a God

As the setting sun sank in the west, Old Chong Chen, drenched in sweat, carried his stiff bow and wore his quiver, strolling with an easy, carefree air to the gate of Pingxi Fort, where he lived.

Although Pingxi Fort was called a mere fort, in reality it was quite large in scale, and could just as well be called Pingxi City.

This fort lay in the heart of the He-Huang valley region, in the Datong River valley, and was a key junction point for Qinghai, Dafeichuan, and even the Batang Plateau and Longyou.

Although the altitude was somewhat high, rainfall was abundant and a great river nourished the land, so although the fields were not many—only fifty or sixty thousand mu—they were all high-yield fields.

The pastureland, by contrast, stretched to nearly five hundred thousand mu, and all of it was excellent highland grazing land.

Pingxi Fort had altogether a little over three hundred households. If the pastureland were also converted into mu, the land per household reached as high as fifteen hundred mu or more.

If one further counted the substantial commercial income brought by Pingxi Fort's superior geographical position, it could add at least another two or three hundred mu per household.

This degree of wealth, in this era, was absolutely a condition rarely found anywhere under heaven or on earth.

And indeed it was so. Pingxi Fort's prosperity, like their warhorses and fat sheep, was famed throughout the land; even the Emperor in the eastern capital knew of it.

And those who could reside in Pingxi Fort were, without exception, people with backing.

Among the fort's older generation, the most senior could trace their origins back to the time when Sage Zhang first pacified Liangzhou; even the latest to join had come during the period of suppressing the Tangut Li clan of the Jingnan Army. Any later than that, and one was not qualified to be allotted a place in Pingxi Fort.

But even though no one in the fort was of low status, Old Chong Chen was still very proud, because he had joined even earlier, and moreover because he was a man of Guazhou, of Guiyi Army origin.

His cousin Chen Sanlang had been one of the original one hundred and eight followers, though regrettably, when he followed the Sage on the expedition to India, he had died of illness in Kanyakubja.

Moreover, in this fort, apart from their Chen family, the other three surnames were Zhang, Li, and Liu.

In the present-day He-Long region, the Zhang of Zhang Zhou, the Li of Li Tang, and the Liu of the Two Han dynasties were very typical surnames.

Whenever one encountered people of these three surnames in the He-Long region, if they did not mention who their grandfather or great-grandfather was, and instead spoke at once of the Wei-Jin or even the Two Han periods, there was no doubt about it: their family was certainly of Wenmo origin, or directly of Tibetan, Qiang, Tangut, or Tuyuhun stock, who had changed to Han surnames.

Therefore, Old Chong Chen was always very proud. Their Chen clan of Guazhou and Shazhou were descendants of the Chen dynasty of the Southern Dynasties, a standard, pure Han aristocratic line, and the Sage's great-grandmother had been a daughter of the Chen family.

Thus in Pingxi Fort, although everyone was Han, they all implicitly took the Chen family as their leader.

"Master, you have returned. The sacrificial rites have all been arranged, and we await only you to preside over them."

No sooner had he reached the fort gate than a black-skinned servant in blue clothes, with a strange accent, came running over in a rush.

Old Chong Chen nodded with great dignity, refusing the servant's attempt to help him carry his stiff bow and quiver, and only allowed the servant to take the plump rabbit he had just shot.

Because Old Chong Chen felt that these servants were not worthy of touching the old companions on which his livelihood depended.

The further one walked into Pingxi Fort, the more of these dark-skinned servants there were, though of course there were also some whose skin was not so dark.

These were all Kunlun slaves that the Prince of Xiping Commandery and his sons had brought over from India, and they sold extremely well.

Hmm, Li Cunhui and his sons were now truly formidable. Not only had they carved out a territory of no small size in India, they also led the prefectural troops of the seven prefectures of Batang south every year.

They went to seize captives and bring them up, then sold them to the noble and guard families of the He-Long region.

And the reason they sold so well was that the common people of Great Zhou suddenly discovered that these Kunlun slaves from India, besides being as obedient as the Kunlun slaves from south of Lingnan, were also very industrious.

In farming, although they could not match the Han, they were quite clever and could be taught. After a period of adjustment, they could become nearly the equal of the Han.

What! There were Kunlun slaves who were very skilled at farming, hardy and hardworking, and also timid and resigned to their fate?

This delighted the military nobility of Zhang Zhou and He-Long beyond measure—they were precisely short of people to farm the land!

Had Zhang Zhao not been unwilling to let the genes of the Indian brothers take too deep a root in He-Long, and had he not specially ordered the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice to draw up regulations limiting the number of Indian Kunlun slaves entering He-Long, the Great Zhou meritorious officials, led by Li Cunhui and his sons, could have brought several hundred thousand people into the He-Long region.

But once these regulations came out, Li Cunhui and his sons grew even more excited—this was practically the government driving up prices!

So much so that now, a male Kunlun slave from India in the prime of life was more expensive than a damned bullock, and even a female Kunlun slave was priced about the same as a bullock.

Moreover, they now had their own exclusive names. In present-day Zhang Zhou, only the short-statured black people who came from Lingnan and had undergone strict training, used specifically as servants in the households of the powerful and noble, could be called Kunlun slaves.

As for the agricultural slaves that Li Cunhui and his sons and other meritorious officials brought from India and sold to He-Long via the Batang Plateau, the dark-skinned ones were called black slaves, and the lighter-skinned ones were called plain slaves, that is, white slaves.

Time flew like a shuttle. It was now the third year of Qianyuan of Great Zhou, 962 CE.

Do not misunderstand—I, Sage Zhang, have not yet passed away. It was only in the fourteenth year of Shaoming, 959 CE.

That the pioneers who had sailed east in search of the Eastern Videha Continent returned to Great Zhou via the Azure Waves (the North Equatorial Current), and brought back the supreme Buddhist treasures prophesied by the Sage.

This event was an enormous shock to all under heaven.

How to put it about the Chinese—they are in fact also superstitious, only this superstition is expressed not so much in the worship of gods and Buddhas as in the popularity of belief in the Mandate of Heaven and in prophetic and apocryphal sayings.

From the earliest "Great Chu rises, Chen Sheng is king," to the later "no need to calculate, no need to see, Xuantong will not last two and a half years."

Prophetic and apocryphal sayings have always been an extremely popular presence across the land of China. Even common folk, when doing anything, had to seek an auspicious sign.

Therefore, Zhang Zhao's prophecy of the existence of the Eastern Videha Continent and the four Buddhist treasures was seen by people of that time not as prophecy, but as prophetic-apocryphal utterance.

And this sort of thing was, in turn, always bound up with the Mandate of Heaven.

In fact, this was also the important reason why the monk Yanshou and the Dharma Master Cixian developed inner demons merely from a few words of Zhang Zhao.

Because in their view, Zhang Zhao had gambled far too much on this one throw. If he truly lost the bet, not only would the Six Dharma Sect come crashing down, but the Mandate of Heaven of Zhang Zhou itself would be widely questioned.

Why would a hero of Zhang Zhao's caliber dare to make such a wager? Could it be that he was truly omniscient and omnipotent, and truly knew of the existence of the Eastern Videha Continent? Could it be that gods and Buddhas truly existed?

Under this extreme assault on their own faith and learning, the monk Yanshou and the Dharma Master Cixian had staked everything and resolutely set sail in search of the Eastern Videha Continent.

And when the monk Fayan, disciple of the Dharma Master Cixian, after enduring countless hardships, returned by way of the Azure Waves (the North Equatorial Current), all under heaven went mad.

So it was all true after all!

The enormous shock produced by the monk Fayan's return rippled through all the territories that Great Zhou's influence could reach.

Before this great shock that overturned all understanding, the great houses of Jiangnan, the powerful clans of the Two Lakes, the local bosses of the three provinces of Lingnan, the barbarian peoples of the Greater and Lesser Xianbei Mountains, north of the Northern Sea, central Guizhou, and the Chu fiefs.

All abandoned their secret, furtive notions of covert resistance against the court and the newborn Great Zhou. Some even came forward voluntarily to confess and seek leniency.

Because for them, all of this was simply too overwhelming. The Mandate of Heaven had for the first time appeared so clearly. With Heaven so favoring Great Zhou, how could mere mortals resist?

At the same time, in the religious world it was even more exaggerated—a complete dimensional strike. A living god!

How terrifying was that? No matter how dazzlingly any sect preached, no matter how exquisite its scriptures, could any of it compare to the existence of a living god?

Fortunately, however, Zhang Zhao's mind remained clear. Although he could now, by virtue of his status as a living god, accomplish great undertakings that no secular emperor could achieve, and could even enslave the entire nation as servants of a god.

But if he did so, even the immediate benefits would not be certain, and for the future, it would certainly bring a hundred harms and not a single gain.

Therefore, when the monk Fayan returned to the Central Plains, bringing back maize, sweet potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, chili peppers, and other species, and the monks of the Six Dharma Sect, high and low, urged with all their might, preparing to truly raise Zhang Zhao onto the divine altar, Zhang Zhao refused with tremendous willpower.

He personally traveled to Mingzhou Harbor in Jiangnan Province, personally boarded the ships to identify the various grains and plants that had been brought back, ordered all those he did not recognize to be cast into the fire and burned, and briefly explained to everyone the dangers of invasive species.

Afterward, Sage Zhang summoned the leaders of all the world's sects and the learned scholars of every region to the Jin'e Chan Temple in Mingzhou, where he personally expounded to them the doctrine that the heavens are round and the earth is square.

He openly admitted that his prophecy concerning the Eastern Shenzhou Continent had its origin in this understanding of the round heavens and square earth.

As for how he knew that the Eastern Shenzhou Continent must possess high-yield crops, Zhang Zhao merely smiled faintly.

"That land is vast and has no connection to the Divine Continent, so it must have grains sufficient to sustain life. I only described their general appearance. The Eastern Shenzhou Continent is so immense that one can always find something close enough — for instance, the peanut, the chili pepper, and the orange gourd, did I not miss the mark on those?"

Finally, Zhang Zhao made a further prophecy: he named this vast sphere upon which he dwelt the Earth, and declared that if one set sail from Mingzhou Harbor and kept going east, one would eventually return to Mingzhou Harbor.

And he made a promise: no matter whether soldier or civilian, scholar, farmer, artisan, or merchant, whoever could verify his hypothesis would be enfeoffed as a marquis and rewarded with a silver mine in Shijian County.

At these words, cheers rang out. The Confucian scholars present immediately praised the Emperor as one born with knowledge, whose learning plumbed the mysteries of heaven and man, worthy to stand beside the ancient sages — some even said the Emperor could rank with the Yan Emperor and Shennong.

The Chan school and other Buddhist sects lauded the Emperor as the guardian and protector of the Buddhist faith, second only to the Buddha himself, saying he had received the Buddha's enlightenment and only thus possessed such vision and learning.

The Daoist schools, for their part, extolled Emperor Zhang as the very source of heaven and earth's spiritual essence, a man of great destiny who had thereby obtained heaven and earth's enlightenment and been granted a glimpse of the great Dao between heaven and earth.

In sum, the message was: Emperor Zhang, you may be whichever deity you wish to be. So long as you do not set yourself up as a living god, that is the greatest mercy you can show them, and they will do anything you ask.

Very quickly, through everyone's concerted efforts, the Emperor — who could have ascended the altar directly — ascended the altar with easy grace at his own insistence, and then descended again with equal grace.

Everyone was satisfied, except for the eminent worthies of the Six Dharma Sect.

Zhang Zhao's current explanation had many flaws and could not fully hold together.

Although he had cited a great many ancient texts, even the Classic of Mountains and Seas, as evidence, there remained many aspects that simply could not be explained — at the very least, the Flora and Fauna Gazetteer of the Eastern Shenzhou Continent that he had transmitted to Zhao Yihu, Zhao Hutou, could not be explained.

The monk Fayan performed the great rite of full prostration before Zhang Zhao on the spot. He naturally believed that the Emperor was the Supreme Heaven itself, a true god and Buddha.

When the prostration was complete, the monk Fayan said in a low voice to the Vinaya Elder of the Six Dharma Sect beside him:

"The Supreme Heaven's heart is vast and noble. He does not wish to leave in the hearts of us mortals nothing but the seed of prostration and worship.

The Supreme Heaven does not wish to drive the teeming masses as servants, but hopes that they may know true peace and joy. Only a true Buddha could possess such a heart."

The Vinaya Elder slowly nodded. "This is the Supreme Heaven's great compassion. But we mortals must not fail to know ourselves, and must not allow the Supreme Heaven's benevolence to be ignored by the teeming masses."

But the Elder Duxing, who stood not far from the Vinaya Elder, hesitated. He slowly opened his mouth, thought for a moment, and in the end said nothing — though he shook his head very slightly.

He felt that the Vinaya Elder had completely disregarded the Supreme Heaven's repeated efforts to teach the monks of the Six Dharma Sect the fundamental knowledge of the world's origins, and his encouragement of the Six Dharma Sect's monks to explore the world.

How could mere touting of miracles compare with exploring this world and solving riddle after riddle, which was far more important?

Senior Brother has gone astray!

And this year — the very year the monk Fayan returned — happened to be the twelfth month. Zhang Zhao seized the opportunity to announce that in the following year the reign name would be changed, with the era name Qianyuan, making 960 CE the first year of Qianyuan of the Great Zhou.

As for Chen Laochong, however, he had no idea that the place he lived on was called the Earth.

Nor did he know that many people had already begun all sorts of preparations to prove that the Earth was round. What he did know was that the Sage in the imperial palace was the Buddha himself.

This was partly because the Six Dharma Sect's power in the Helong region was so strong that it had virtually shut out all other religions, and partly because of the shock that corn, sweet potatoes, orange gourds, and the like had given Chen Laochong.

In truth, the crop seeds the monk Fayan had brought back were not many. Because many ships had been lost on the voyage, the total brought back amounted to only some ten-odd tons.

That may sound like a lot, but when the task was to establish so many species in a completely unfamiliar place, forming a system and integrating into the local ecology, it was really not much at all.

And although the sea route to the Eastern Shenzhou Continent had now been mapped out, the cost of each expedition remained enormous, and a round trip took the better part of a year.

Therefore, in order to make rational use of these seeds, apart from small-scale planting in Jiangnan Province, the great majority were transported to the Helong region.

Here, there were no powerful local clans making trouble, no officials daring to feign compliance while secretly defying orders or deceiving those above and below. One word from Sage Zhang and everyone would spring into action.

More importantly, thanks to the agricultural doctorate strategy that Zhang Zhao had originally implemented in the Helong region, the standard of farming there was at this time exceptionally advanced — far surpassing that of Zhili, Hebei, Jiangnan, and the other provinces.

"Father, a great harvest! A great harvest!"

Chen Laochong had just reached the temple in Xiping Fort when his three sons — all built like oxen, who had practiced martial arts diligently from the day they were born — came swarming around him, led by the third son.

The third son held an enormous ear of corn in his hand, grinning from ear to ear. "Father, this corn is wonderful! It can be grown on sloping land. This year, that field at Cross River, the highest-yielding one, produced a full seven hundred jin of grain."

"Good, good!" Chen Laochong took the big ear of corn, also grinning from ear to ear.

Although a yield of over seven hundred jin per mu could already be regarded as an auspicious omen and was not common, a yield of over five hundred jin per mu was still guaranteed.

Before this, most fields in the Helong region could produce only two hundred twenty or thirty jin per mu — less than half of the current yield. One had only to think about it to know how much wealth this brought.

"Brother Chen, the offerings and everything have all been laid out. We're just waiting for you to begin." The Liu clan head came up with a respectful expression to remind him.

Do not think this was beneath him. One must understand that the "chong" in Chen Laochong's name was not the "chong" of an insect, but the "chong" of the great striped tiger.

Twenty-five years ago, outside the city of Luoyang, Chen Laochong had been a monstrous figure who could wear three layers of armor and fight fiercely for four full double-hours without tiring.

He could not be called some peerless fiend, but when angered, killing a man or two was still an everyday matter for him.

The one to be honored with sacrifices today was Chen Laochong's elder cousin — none other than Chen Sanlang, who ranked seventy-ninth among Sage Zhang's one hundred and eight founding followers.

Chen Sanlang's statue stood in the left hall of the temple, depicted as a vajra guardian deity. Gazing at his cousin's statue, Chen Laochong's tears fell like rain, and he knelt before the image of his cousin, murmuring on and on.

Every year on his cousin's death day, Chen Laochong wept, for without the sacrifice of his cousin Chen Sanlang, there would be no Chen Laochong of today.

Weeping, murmuring.

The leading figures of the Zhang, Li, and Liu families, along with Chen Laochong's sons, all came to console him. After a long while, Chen Laochong wiped away his tears and stood up.

Then he personally took the plump gray hare he had hunted, skinned it with his own hands, removed the entrails, rubbed it with sauce, and began roasting it directly.

Er — killing a living creature and roasting it right inside the temple.

No problem at all! Our Six Dharma Sect is just that wild.

Under ordinary circumstances this certainly could not be done, but on occasions such as offering sacrifices to ancestors or executing mortal enemies, if performed according to ritual, it could be done within the temple.

That is to say, in a small temple one had built with the Six Dharma Sect's approval, one could personally prepare sacrificial offerings for one's ancestors, and could also drag an irreconcilable enemy there to be disemboweled and have his heart cut out. Truly ferocious beyond measure.

Before long, a rabbit roasted to a golden brown was ready. Chen Laochong held the roasted rabbit and gazed majestically at the people of the fort, then invited the County Lieutenant whom the court had sent to Xiping Fort to come forward.

The County Lieutenant, before the eyes of all, cut the roasted rabbit into several dozen pieces. Each time he read out a person's name, that person could step forward and receive a piece of the rabbit meat.

Although what was being divided was only a single rabbit, the ceremony was extremely solemn. Those who received a share were flushed as if drunk on fine wine, and walked with a floating gait.

As for those who received no rabbit meat — apart from a few who had simply given up after being completely outcompeted — every one of them was deathly pale, as though they had lost their parents.

When the County Lieutenant had finished distributing the meat, he suddenly swept his hand through the air, and a roll of silk — yellow at the edges and white in the center — appeared in his hand.

It turned out that the County Lieutenant had returned today not merely to preside over this ceremony honoring Chen Sanlang, but because the Emperor had issued a conscription order.

"The Great Emperor who bears Heaven's favor and mandate — here is an edict!"

Boom—! At the words "the Emperor has an edict," everyone dropped to one knee, and the entire scene fell utterly silent.

"The minister of the Black-Robed Dashi usurper, Adud al-Dawla, has for years occupied the territory of our vassal state, the Samanid realm, and now has incited the mutinous people of Anxi, Kangju, Merv, Mi City, and other places to murder court-appointed officials and plunder court funds and goods.

This cannot be endured!

I hereby command my second son, the Great King of Anguo, Xianyu; my fifth son, the Great King of Song, Xianxi; and my tenth son, the Great King of Shu, Xiantai, to assemble troops and punish them. The four families of Chen, Zhang, Liu, and Li of Xiping Fort shall send forth forty elite cavalry and go with them."

"At last this day has come. All your diligent study and hard training, my sons, will finally be put to use."

Old Chong Chen threw back his head and gave a long howl, then looked at his three sons with a face full of excitement. "Go offer a stick of incense to your uncle, and let him protect you as you win merit and build your names in Transoxiana."

The three sons were likewise beside themselves with excitement, and the fourth son even laughed loudly and said, "Father, you have Eldest Brother and Second Brother to care for you in your old age, so we younger brothers need not worry. When I go, I will surely fight bravely and kill the enemy, and never disgrace our Chen family's martial glory.

If anything should happen to me, Father, then beside Uncle, set up a statue of me holding a sword, so that we uncle and nephew may meet again in the Pure Land."

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