People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 218 Long Live
"The Great Heavenly Master is coming! The Great Heavenly Master is coming to us!"

When the villagers were working, a villager suddenly came running back from a distance, shouting.

When his excited voice came through, everyone present was stunned for a moment, and then they looked at each other uncertainly, as if they were all doubting the identity of this "Great Heavenly Master".

"Which great Taoist priest? Is it that great Taoist priest?" someone asked uncertainly.

The guy who came back to deliver the message replied as he ran: "Of course it's our Yellow Turbans' Grand Heavenly Master. Apart from him, who else is worthy of being our Grand Heavenly Master!"

He just left these words and ran away, leaving the excited people here.

The Great Heavenly Master is coming, the Great Heavenly Master who saves people from suffering is coming!

The great Taoist priest who will distribute land to the poor people and exempt them from corvée and taxes is coming!

When the people confirmed the news, they became uncontrollably excited. They dropped their hoes and tools and ran in the direction the messenger had come from. They wanted to see the Great Yellow Turban Master with their own eyes!
Before long, the fields that had just been bustling with activity became deserted, with only a few dozen captives left standing in the distance looking out. The common people could leave, but they could not easily put down their work, after all, the Yellow Turbans were still guarding them.

Zhao Yun wiped the sweat from his forehead and couldn't help sighing in his heart.

He was not surprised by the people's excited reaction. If he were these people, his reaction would be even more intense than theirs.

Before the Yellow Turbans came here, most of the people in this small village had a hard time surviving. It can be said that almost everyone had to rely on local small tyrants to survive, and half of them even had to rely directly on the tyrants to survive.

Most of them are concentrated in the strongholds of the rich and powerful, working in the fields for the noble masters, and their food, clothing, housing and transportation all depend on the masters' moods.

Even if there were some self-cultivating farmers, it was difficult for them to survive on those few acres of thin land. They had to borrow money and grain from the rich and powerful in order to survive. The high interest rates completely trapped them. Their lives could only be described as precarious, and they were at risk of bankruptcy at any time.

But after the Yellow Turbans came, everything changed, and everyone's fate changed drastically.

Zhao Yun witnessed with his own eyes the Yellow Turbans leading the people to settle accounts with the powerful and wealthy. All the heinous crimes that had been committed here were uncovered. The injustices and pains that had been buried forever were finally avenged after the Yellow Turbans came.

He saw the nobles being executed one by one. At that time, he finally understood how Xu the Butcher got his name. When dealing with the nobles and powerful people who committed evil, Xu Chen really lived up to the name of the butcher. They would use the most cruel means to redress the grievances of the people.

But after witnessing the whole process personally, Zhao Yun felt that there was nothing wrong with it.

The crimes of these evil men were too numerous to list. Even he felt that they deserved to die. Even death by punishment was not enough to compensate for the suffering of the people.

Given Zhao Yun's humble background, even if he really wanted to empathize with others, he could not empathize with the local tyrants who exploited the people.

Simply redressing the grievances of the people is the most basic thing to do.

Under the orders of the Yellow Turbans, Zhao Yun distributed the wealth confiscated from the homes of the powerful to the people. When he saw the people's sincere joy, he seemed to understand the source of the Yellow Turbans' strength.

The subsequent policies of distributing land, abolishing corvée labor, and exempting miscellaneous taxes left Zhao Yun speechless.

It would be strange if the people did not follow the Yellow Turbans wholeheartedly if they could do this. Even a poor boy like him could not help but be moved by the Yellow Turbans' style. If he had not been unable to get over the hurdle in his heart, he might have really made up his mind to join the Yellow Turbans.

Zhao Yun was not sure about other places, but at least here, the people completely regarded the Yellow Turban Leader as a savior. Zhao Yun was sure that even the Emperor of the Han Dynasty was not even one percent as important as the Yellow Turban Leader in the hearts of the people.

Now that the Yellow Turban leader has come to the countryside, the people who regard him as a god will certainly not want to miss the opportunity to see him with their own eyes.

After shaking his head to get rid of the messy thoughts in his mind, Zhao Yun continued to pick up the hoe and work. Now that he was just a prisoner, it seemed that he didn't need to think too much.

Just do your labor service honestly and wait for the Yellow Turbans to release you and let you go home.

The situation in his hometown should be similar to here, so he doesn't have to worry about anything. He has witnessed with his own eyes how strict the Yellow Turbans' discipline is, so there is no need to worry that anything bad will happen to his fellow townspeople.

Most of the other captives also continued to work hard under the supervision of the Yellow Turbans until they heard movement in the distance and interrupted their actions again.

I saw that the people who had just fled had now gathered together and returned, and behind them was an even larger crowd. They were running excitedly around the center, and their excited and joyful shouts could be heard from afar.

When Zhao Yun saw this scene, he couldn't help but be amazed, and he was afraid that all the villagers nearby would come here.

For the local people, this was their first time seeing the Great Heavenly Master in person, and perhaps the only time in their lives. The same was true for Zhao Yun, who couldn't help but want to see the true face of the Yellow Turban leader. What kind of person was he to lead such a peculiar Yellow Turban.

Although the crowd was dense, Zhao Yun could still vaguely see a young man in black uniform through the gaps. He was surrounded by the crowd, constantly waving and smiling at the people, and had a natural leadership temperament that could infect people's hearts.

Although the people surrounding him were all dirty peasants who smelled of sweat and were covered in mud, there was not a trace of displeasure or disgust on his face.

That was not a pretentious show, because Zhao Yun saw him taking the hoe from the people around him, chatting and laughing in the fields, as if they were exchanging experiences and techniques in farming. At this moment, he seemed to have become a genuine young farmer.

Zhao Yun had a feeling that as long as this young leader walked among the people, he would be able to blend in immediately and there would not be any awkwardness or discomfort at all.

He didn't know how to describe this feeling until the peasants gradually quieted down and the young leader's voice came, then he suddenly realized.

"Fellow villagers, in Xuanxia, ​​there is no emperor. No one is superior to anyone else. The Yellow Turbans represent the common people. The Yellow Turbans also came from the masses. In other words, each of you is the master of Xuanxia."

Looking at the smiling Yellow Turban Heavenly Master, the common people present fell silent. When these words were spoken, they were all moved.

In fact, until today, most of them do not have a clear understanding of the Yellow Turbans and Xuan Xia. They only know that the Yellow Turbans were kind to them and gave them land. As for what Xuan Xia was like and what the Yellow Turbans’ ideas were, they knew nothing at all.

Even most of them only now realized that they were the people of Xuanxia and that Xuanxia had no emperor.

The statement that the common people are the masters of Xuanxia gave the common people a huge shock. They were used to being treated like cattle and horses, so their first feeling was panic and discomfort.

How can a peasant like me be the master of the world?
"Just now someone shouted long live me, someone said I was a god, and someone even knelt down before me."

The young great Taoist priest looked around at the people around him, and finally shook his head and said to the crowd: "I tell you, the people of Xuanxia have stood up, so don't kneel down again. I am not a god, and the people are the real long live!"

Long live the people!

This sentence was like a thunderclap, shaking everyone's heart and completely overturning their inherent worldview.

This sentence itself may not be so special, but when it comes from the mouth of the Yellow Turban Great Master, it is extremely shocking.

There is no doubt that in the eyes of the people, Xu Chen is a ruler as high as the emperor of the Han Dynasty. But now such a ruler is praising the people highly, even higher than himself. The people dare not even think about such a thing.

If the emperor of the Han Dynasty shouted "Long live the people", the people would have a strong sense of unreality, and that is how they feel now.

But then the people couldn't help but have tears in their eyes. The Emperor of Han's actions would only seem absurd, but now after the initial surprise and shock, the people were moved.

After all, the Yellow Turban Heavenly Master in front of him was not the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. The Emperor of the Han Dynasty was high above, while the Heavenly Master was right beside him.

"Zilong, is this really going to happen?" Xiahou Lan stood beside Zhao Yun at some point and asked blankly.

"This... maybe." Zhao Yun looked at the moved people, then looked at the smiling young leader, and couldn't help but sigh: "At least Xuanxia really has no emperor."

Xiahou Lan asked, "Do you think Dahan is better, or is Xuan Xia better?"

Zhao Yun had a complicated expression: "It depends on whether you consider yourself a scholar or a commoner."

Xiahou Lan was silent for a while after hearing this. After a long while, he said something in a very low voice. It was unclear whether he was talking to himself or to Zhao Yun: "I think Xuan Xia is better than Da Han."

Zhao Yun was startled and when he turned around, he saw Xiahou Lan had quietly gone back to continue cultivating the fields.

He seemed to want to say something, but in the end he just sighed and picked up the hoe to work again like Xiahou Lan, but there was a bit more confusion and struggle in his eyes.

Are these Yellow Turbans really our enemies?
Can you really realize the moral principles in your heart by joining the so-called great heroes?
Zhao Yun still had no answers to these questions in his mind; he could only wait for time to slowly clarify them.

Just when they were confused, the young Yellow Turban Heavenly Master, surrounded by the people, slowly walked away and disappeared from their sight.

Peace returned here, but Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan's hearts could never be at peace again.

(End of this chapter)