People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 153: Lord's Blessing
In an unknown small village in Youbeiping, 26-year-old Ma Yan was carrying a hoe and returning home with his wife who had accompanied him to the fields. When he met fellow villagers on the way, he greeted them with a smile.

Ma Yan liked the positive atmosphere in the village very much. He still remembered that two or three years ago, before the Yellow Turbans came, no one could laugh at all, and everyone had a bitter face.

It was bad enough that life was difficult because of not having enough food to eat, but we also had to face the looting of the Wuhuan people. At that time, everyone really felt like the sky was falling.

Whenever Ma Yan thought of this, he felt sad. His old mother and younger brother did not have time to escape and eventually died under the hooves of the Wuhuan people's horses. His wife was also almost abducted.

Fortunately, the leader led the Yellow Turbans back to fight the Wuhuan, and finally brought all those beasts who killed people indiscriminately to justice. Although it was a pity that he could not take revenge personally, at least he got an explanation.

Moreover, Ma Yan was also very clear that in this matter, only the Yellow Turbans could give justice to the people. If it were the Han, they would probably turn around and spend money to appease them, and immediately forget the pain of the past.

As he walked, he discussed this year's harvest with his wife, and calculated how much French currency the family's surplus grain could be exchanged for and what new things he could buy for the family.

There are often new products in the agricultural marketing cooperatives, not to mention the most commonly used iron farm tools.

The novel things include the tables, chairs and benches that have become popular recently. Ma Yan’s family bought a set of them. It is indeed much more comfortable not having to sit on the floor.

There is also something called soap, which is even more popular with everyone. The village chief always says that there are many insects and pathogens in places that human eyes cannot see, so food must be cooked well and hands must be washed before eating, and soap can do a better job of cleaning.

If it were in the past, Ma Yan would not even take a second look at these things. It would be better to eat a few more bites of food than to deal with all this mess.

But life is much more stable now. There has been no fighting in Youbeiping for two years since the Yellow Turbans came. Everyone has confidence in the Yellow Turbans, so life is naturally not so tight. People can even exchange some surplus food for money to purchase things.

Not to mention that now every family has a farm, farm tools have been refurbished, and you can rent iron plows and oxen, so it is easier and more meticulous to tend the fields, and the yield is higher.

Every household has a lot of surplus food, so they have the confidence to do anything. Seeing their family getting better day by day, life naturally has hope.

They returned home chatting and laughing, and Ma Yan saw the village headman standing at the door talking to his father. Curious, he walked closer and heard what was being said.

"Old Ma, our leader doesn't like people to deify him. I've said this many times. So what's the matter with the clay statue in your house?"

The head of the detachment frowned and began to persuade him earnestly: "Listen to me, quickly remove the statue. Let's not talk about whether it can be worshipped or not, at least you should make it look like it. Our leader is in his prime, is it appropriate for you to worship a bearded old man?"

When Lao Ma heard this, his face froze and he almost slapped himself.

When making the statue, people only thought that a deity like the Heavenly Master must have an immortal appearance, but they ignored the age of the leader. This stereotype is deadly.

He could only mutter in his heart, it was a pity that he had no chance to see the Great Heavenly Master in person, otherwise how could he make such a low-level mistake.

However, he rolled his eyes and said, "Of course I know that the Great Heavenly Master doesn't like this, but you said it doesn't look like it, so how can it be true? I just worship a land god."

The captain glanced at him and said unhappily, "When I walked in, I clearly saw you chanting in front of the clay statue, asking our leader to bless the harvest. Do you think I'm deaf?"

Lao Ma immediately coughed: "You heard it wrong, you must have heard it wrong!"

The captain shook his head helplessly, too lazy to argue, and just left after leaving a few words: "Come on, just prepare well for what I have to tell you today."

After saying that, he turned around and saw Ma Yan and his wife. He nodded and greeted them, then went to the next house.

Ma Yan didn't understand what was going on. After entering the house, he washed his hands without caring about being tired and ran into the inner room to tease his child. After a while, he came out holding the baby to inquire about the situation.

"Father, what are you doing here today?"

"What else could it be? There's going to be a war, and the sergeant came to our house to recruit soldiers."

Old Ma sat down and answered Ma Yan calmly, but this news stunned Ma Yan and then he became a little nervous.

His family became military households, a decision he made after discussing with his father and daughter-in-law. After all, the treatment of military households was not bad, and he was also willing to fight alongside the Yellow Turbans.

However, fighting in the battlefield is no joke. It is normal to lose one's life if one is not careful. Other military households in the village have sacrificed their lives in this way. Now that the day has really come, even if Ma Yan is mentally prepared, he can't help but feel nervous.

Seeing this, Old Ma frowned and asked, "Why, are you scared?" Ma Yan became anxious and said, "How is that possible? It's just a war, what's there to be afraid of? Since you have become a military household, there is no reason to regret it!"

Old Ma nodded in satisfaction, but immediately he showed some worry.

After all, it was his own son going to the battlefield, and it would be a lie for him as a father to say that he was not worried. Fortunately, the Yellow Turbans did not recruit soldiers without heirs and brothers, which gave the Ma family time to preserve their offspring.

"Your youngest brother died at the hands of the Wuhuan people, and your second brother has not yet started a family, so our military household can only let you go to the battlefield. When you really go to the war, you must train well and fight well. Of course, you must come back alive from the battlefield, but you can't be afraid of death.

The Yellow Turbans are kind and righteous to us common people. Without the Yellow Turbans, we wouldn't have such a peaceful life now. I won't tell you any great principles of defending the family and religion. You fight in the war for money from the Yellow Turbans, so you have to fight well. If you are afraid of death and become a deserter, I will beat you to death even if the Yellow Turbans don't punish you!"

When Ma Yan heard his father's words and saw his father's serious eyes, he couldn't help but shudder. He knew that his father would definitely do what he said.

However, as for being afraid of death and becoming a deserter, he believed that he would not do such a thing.

Old Ma gave him one last look and said, "Gather at the entrance of the village at noon tomorrow. The squad leader will lead all the soldiers in the village to join the Yellow Turban army. Fighting is life-threatening, but we Yellow Turbans have not suffered any losses in the past two years. As long as you train hard, there is nothing to worry about."

Ma Yan nodded quickly and felt much more at ease. What his father said was indeed right. In terms of fighting power, the people had great confidence in the Yellow Turbans.

Many battles, big and small, have been fought in the past two years. No matter whether the opponent is the Wuhuan or the government soldiers, the Yellow Turbans always win, and at worst the result is a draw.

That night, Ma Yan said goodbye to his wife in bed. Old Ma listened to his wife's suppressed crying at the wall, shook his head and went to the main hall. He looked up at the clay statue. The mustache on the statue's chin disappeared at some point.

Although the statue looks weird, at least Lao Ma knows who he is worshipping.

"Great Heavenly Master who saves the suffering, you must bless my little boy to return safely. My grandson is still young, and he can't lose his father before he can even remember anything!"

The Great Heavenly Master did not like people deifying him, but there was no way to stop such things.

For ordinary people like Lao Ma, the favors brought to them by the Great Heavenly Master are real, visible and tangible, and far more touching than any illusory ghosts and gods.

They are willing to view the Great Heavenly Master in this way, and even the Great Heavenly Master himself cannot control it.

In fact, Lao Ma was not the only villager who worshipped the Great Heavenly Master. Most of the people under the rule of the Yellow Turbans were followers of the Naturalism Sect. Since these followers were not well educated, they could only use concrete things like clay sculptures to express their beliefs.

After a night, Ma Yan carried his bag and reluctantly said goodbye to his wife and children. Finally, he kowtowed in front of Old Ma, and asked his second brother to help his father with work at home. Then he turned around and walked towards the village without hesitation.

The sergeant had been waiting here early. Although Ma Yan arrived early, other soldiers and civilians soon arrived one after another. The sergeant signed up and counted the number of people, then waved his hand and led them to Yuyang County.

The group traveled lightly, heading towards Yuyang. On the way, they constantly joined forces with teams from other villages. The original team of dozens of people eventually grew into hundreds and then thousands.

The team became larger, but the overall order was still maintained very well. This was due to the regular monthly drills of all military households, which enabled them to have some basic qualities of a soldier, making marching and formation easy.

The journey took four or five days, and the officers above them would do ideological work for them every day along the way.

"We are fighting this time because the Han Dynasty has sent new high-ranking officials to fight us. The battles we will face in the future will become bigger and bigger. If we fail to hold on, the soldiers will come back to Yuyang, Youbeiping and Liaoxi. At that time, we will have to live the hard life before, and our land will be taken away by the court!"

During the night rest period, the squad leader would lead his squad to have a night gathering under the campfire with the rest of the troops. There would be one such campfire for every several hundred people, and the soldiers would sit around it and listen to the loud speech of the supervisory guard.

These words were simple and straightforward, allowing every soldier to clearly understand the current situation and what they would face.

Some of the veterans were fine, as they had experienced a lot and had become more aware of this. However, many new recruits like Ma Yan were quickly frightened by the words of the guard supervisor.

When they thought about their hard-earned good life being destroyed by the officers and soldiers, they clenched their fists unconsciously.

It was also at this time that Ma Yan came to understand his father's words "protect the family and defend the religion."

He suddenly realized that every small family under the rule of the Yellow Turbans was actually linked to the fate of the Yellow Turbans themselves. On a larger level, this battle was actually a fight for himself.

No matter what, you must not be timid. Once you are on the battlefield, you must fight well and drive away the officers and soldiers. Only then can you continue to live a peaceful life!
(End of this chapter)