Chapter 578 Apologetics
In the second year of Taiwu, on September 6th, the morning light was dim, and the morning bell on Tongbai Mountain was struck violently.
The early warning bell is centered on Tongbai Mountain, reaching Tongshan Mountain in Runan in the north, and Dahong Mountain in Nanyang in the south.
It can be said that all the Yellow Turban Taoist disciples in the Tongbai Mountains were gathered by the morning bell. Some of them were from Nanyang, Guizhou, some were heroes from Green Forest, and some even served Liu Biao.
But when the morning bell rang on Tongbai Mountain, these people were awakened, and then poured into Tongbai Mountain like a tide.
It is said that this alarm clock was carried south by people from the Hebei General Road, but no one is sure of its authenticity. But what is certain is that this clock is an important religious weapon in Nanyang and Runan, and it has supreme majesty.
Whenever this alarm bell rings, it indicates that something big has happened.
And when the assembled Yellow Turban Taoist disciples gathered in Tongbai Mountain, they listened to the current Taoist Master Liu Pi singing loudly:
"As we all know, Yuan Shao of Runan, a shameful traitor, has surrounded our Tongshan Mountain and is killing our fellow religious brothers. They have gone all the way south, and their troops have reached outside Tongbai Mountain. Along the way, they have ravaged our Taiping Paradise, destroying our fields and houses, kidnapping our disciples, and insulting the children of the sect, our Taiping Dao has reached its most dangerous moment. If we allow Yuan Shao to succeed, our Peaceful Paradise will be destroyed. When the time comes, we will all be abandoned by Huang Tian. And yesterday Huang Tianqi told us that the time has come, our time has come, to bring Huang Tian's anger to Yuan Shao and let them know that Huang Tian's will cannot be violated."
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Liu Pi continued to pray:
"I want to tell everyone present, and also tell those believers who are still trekking here, that this is not my will, this is not my request, this is Huang Tian's will, and the anger released by Huang Tian. Those who believe in Huang Tian , Live in the Paradise and die in the Huangtian. Those who believe in Huangtian will live in the Paradise and die in the Huangtian. So go and fight for Huangtian and let Yuan Shao feel the anger."
"Here, I solemnly promise with the authority granted to me by the supreme Taiyi Tianhuang. Anyone who participates in this battle to defend the religion will go to Huangtian's paradise after death, and will not suffer the suffering of the world. Anyone who participates in this battle to defend the religion, All past crimes are forgiven. So fight to make Runan red and Huang Tian's flag red. Huang Tian said that only blood can end this."
So, amidst the singing of praises, the Yellow Turban believers in Runan, Nanyang began to attack Yuan Shao in Runan.
They attacked many counties outside Tongbai Mountain. From Xinxi in the south to Kunyang in the north, there were yellow scarves everywhere, and there was blood and killing everywhere.
Thus began a war started by Yuan Shao but not under his control.
After Yuan Shao learned the news, he was actually shocked. He didn't expect that the remnants of the Yellow Turbans who had become farmers still had such strong energy, let alone that these people could pick up swords and guns to resist him again.
But on the surface, Yuan Shao was calm and confident. He said this to a group of generals:
"Since the Yellow Turbans have rebelled, let them die. All armies, take action and let them understand the consequences of losing their family dogs to barking at people."
So Li Dian, Li Tong and other generals sang loudly and then left in a hurry.
Looking at the group of generals under his command, Yuan Shao murmured towards Tongbai Mountain:
"Why don't you just grab the neck and kill me? Why do you have to let me do it? It's so annoying!"
……
The relationship between the Yellow Turbans in Nanyang and Runan and Yuan Shao was not so bad at the beginning. On the contrary, when Yuan Shao was able to successfully raise his army, he received great support from the Yellow Turbans.
Since the failure of the Great Uprising, the Yellow Turbans in Nanyang and Runan began to truly transform into religious Taoists. They began to learn from the Five Pecks of Rice comrades in Hanzhong, organized in the form of farming and mutual assistance, and relied on the Funiu Mountains , Tongbai Mountain and Dabie Mountain area.
When Yuan Shao was dormant, he was keenly aware of this huge lurking force, and borrowed 60,000 shi of corn from these Yellow Turbans. It can be said that it was Yuan Shao's biggest logistical supplement during his military training.
The Yellow Turbans from Runan and Nanyang agreed without much hesitation.
The first is the historical origin, that is, the relationship between the Yuan family and Taiping Dao is very deep. The rapid development of Taiping Dao in the past is not unrelated to Yuan Shao's funding.
Secondly, the Yuan family has no blood debt to the Yellow Turban Army. Unlike other powerful men, the Yuan family has never had the blood of the Yellow Turban Army on their hands, so the Yellow Turbans have no ill feelings towards Yuan Shao.
The last and most important thing is that they regard Yuan Shao as a sword to avenge the Han Dynasty. Although today's Runan and Nanyang Yellow Turbans have turned their soldiers into civilians and their swords into plowshares, the hatred of the past has never been forgotten.
So when Yuan Shao wanted to ask them for rice on the grounds of launching an army against the Han, they agreed. After all, the left and right sides are nothing more than some corn.
Can their farmers still lack rice?
But they didn’t borrow it for nothing.
They asked Yuan Shao for a privilege, or a promise, that no military service or tax would be paid in any Yellow Turban district.
This is a de facto recognition of the current situation of the Yellow Turbans. Because these Yellow Turbans entrenched in the mountains do not have to pay taxes, and no one dares to collect taxes from them.
So the Yellow Turbans think this is a very simple promise that just makes their existence more legitimate.
And Yuan Shao, who had nothing to begin with, naturally agreed. After that, Yuan Shao raised his troops and really defeated the Han army in Runan, and captured Runan in ten months.
Once Runan is owned by Yuan Shao, his promise will take effect.
The Yellow Turbans in the mountainous areas naturally stopped paying taxes, but some ports and cities on the Huaihe River also began to convert to the Yellow Turbans and blatantly stopped paying taxes.
In this era of dependence in life, everyone has to choose a force to join, and there are no real free people. But freedom is relative. Compared with the clan members in the interior, the business travel on the Huaihe River is developed and supports a large number of trackers and craftsmen. These people have no masters. But they also need the protection of forces, among which Taipingdao is the best choice.
Firstly, most of the poor people are in the religion, secondly, they are close to him, and finally, if you join the religion, you can get tax exemption and avoid the oppression of the government.
It comes naturally like a stream, and thousands of people follow it.
Yuan Shao was naturally aware of this process. He did not expect that a promise in the past would become a blunt knife that continued to bleed him. But at that time, he could not care about the Yellow Turban Army because he wanted to break the siege of other counties in Yuzhou first.
At that time, Kong Niao, the prefect of Yingchuan, and Luo Junzheng, the prime minister of Chen State, besieged Yuan Shao. Naturally, he did not dare to attack Taiping Dao. What's more, he even borrowed a large amount of money and food from Taiping Dao.
This time there was more than last time, a full 100,000 stones.
In view of the good cooperation last time, Taipingdao agreed. Soon, 100,000 stones of grain and grain were gathered and sent to Yuan Shao's frontline positions, helping him withstand the initial difficulties.
With the support of the Yellow Turbans, Yuan Shao fought successively and captured Yingchuan, Chen, Pei, and Liang, and swept across Yuzhou.
In this process, Yuan Shao ruthlessly integrated internal forces.
Among the four newly occupied counties, there were many Yellow Turbans in the past. When they learned that Yuan Shao was coming and the Yellow Turbans would not pay for their food, they really refused to pay taxes.
But this time Yuan Shao did not hold back at all and killed all the leaders. He told the four counties with iron blood that no one could escape his corn.
Of course, the Runan and Nanyang Yellow Turbans knew about these things that happened in other places in Yuzhou. The agreement they had with Yuan Shao back then was not clear, and they only acquiesced to Runan.
So they just let the Yellow Turbans from other places in Yuzhou go south to Runan, and then there was no other reaction.
In fact, the reason why the Nanyang and Runan Yellow Turbans settled the matter was that they did not want to break with Yuan Shao and avoid becoming hostile to him. As for the interests of fellow practitioners, they are naturally not worth exchanging what they have.
But the Yellow Turbans of Nan and Ru thought they had given great convenience to their fellow Taoists, but in fact most of the Yellow Turbans in the four counties did not appreciate it, and even the Yellow Turbans in the Pei Kingdom continued to migrate towards Mount Tai.
As for the Yellow Turbans of Liang and Chen, they thought of something at first and asked Hei Fu from Heji to respond together. But at that time, the Taishan Army's main energy was spent on conquering Liao, and it could not mobilize too many troops to support it.
After that, the Yellow Turbans of Liang and Chen could not stay in the local area due to Yuan Shao's hostility, and finally went to Heji area to defect to the Taishan Army.
Obviously, they trust the Taishan Army more.
And this further deepened the conflict between Nannan, Ruhuangjin and Taishan Army.
Within Nan and Ruhuangjin, they regarded the Taishan Army as cult traitors and heretics. Since the death of San Zhang, Nan and Ruhuang Jin regarded themselves as orthodox according to Zhang Mancheng's legal system, so they went on their own in the south.
Outsiders also call the followers of the Taishan Army North Taiping, and the Yellow Turbans in Nan, Ru, and Jingyang are called South Taiping.
As a result, the division between north and south deepened.
Ordinarily, the Runan Yellow Turbans should not have such a deep estrangement with the Taishan Army, because to put it bluntly, during the Yingyang War, if Zhang Chong had not appeared on the Yingyang battlefield with his assault cavalry from Fengqiu thousands of miles away, the Runan Yellow Turbans would have been there long ago. He was jointly strangled by Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun.
But people are short-sighted. They cannot see the future direction, they only see what is happening in front of them.
In their eyes, they fought with the main force of the Han army for so long, and then were picked off by the Taishan army. In the end, half of the spoils were given to others.
What's even more hateful is that these Taishan troops also split the Runan Yellow Turbans and took away He Yi's troops. Even soon came the news that He Yi's entire army was annihilated under Xingyang City, and his people died inexplicably.
How does this make the Runan Yellow Turbans view the Taishan Army? They are just teaching thieves. They are more hateful than the Han soldiers who are killed with real swords and real spears.
But Nan and Ru Huangjin thought that they could live in peace with Yuan Shao after abandoning the four counties of Yuzhou, but they didn't know that this made Yuan Shao look down on them even more.
Therefore, in order to raise more military expenses and food, Yuan Shao began to gradually put pressure on the Runan Yellow Turban Party, forcing them to serve and pay taxes, and also arrested many recalcitrants.
The reason Yuan Shao gave Liu Pi and the others was that he wanted to join forces with Cao Cao to attack Guan Yu in Mount Tai. These people were all hidden agents.
Although Liu Pi and Gong Du wrote to Yuan Shao several times, stating that they would not help Guan Yu, they did not have any alliance with the Taishan Army.
But it was useless, Yuan Shao had decided to attack them.
(End of chapter)