Late Han Dynasty: Did the Yellow Emperor truly descend?

Chapter 11 Fear and Anger

Li Sheng sighed inwardly, thinking that the Eastern Han government was really too exploitative; before the Yellow Turbans even arrived, they had already plundered the people.

"The worst thing is not paying money or grain."

Li Shi's voice became hoarse, as if something was stuck in his throat.

"The most detestable thing is corvée labor."

Upon hearing this, the expressions on the faces of the people in the room became even more unpleasant.

"One out of three men, two out of five. They'll take us to repair the city walls, dig trenches, and transport supplies. Brother Sheng, think about it, what time of year is this? Spring plowing! The fields are waiting for people to work. If we take people away now, who will farm the land?"

The villagers had doubts.

Liu Lu continued.

"They asked the clerk if they could wait until after the spring planting was finished. The clerk glared at them and said something like, 'The Yellow Turban rebels don't wait for anyone. If the city defenses aren't repaired, the rebels will break in, and all your planting will be for nothing.' Planting will be for nothing... Listen to that! Is that something a human being would say?"

Zhao Hu spat angrily onto the ground.

"Even if the bandits don't come, with all this trouble, we won't survive! If we miss the spring planting, what will we eat during the autumn harvest? Starve? Not to mention we still have to pay the summer taxes! We'll probably have to borrow our last resort from the powerful and wealthy again!"

Zhao Hu's tone was filled with resentment, which everyone could clearly sense.

His family borrowed money and grain from a powerful family, but couldn't repay it in the end. Their land was taken away, and they became tenant farmers.

Li Feng looked at Li Sheng with intense gaze.

"Brother Sheng, it's not that the villagers don't want to live, it's that they don't know how to live. The government is so oppressive, the local tyrants are so exploitative, life is getting harder every day. Everyone believes in the Taiping Dao, but no one dares to be the first to step forward. They're afraid, truly afraid."

The room fell silent, with only the whistling wind outside and the faint rumble of thunder in the distance.

Li Sheng leaned against the wall, his gaze slowly sweeping across the faces of the group.

Finally, his gaze gradually vacated. He seemed to see the fear in the hearts of people everywhere, but he also saw the anger hidden beneath that fear, their resentment, and the suffocating feeling of being driven to the brink of despair.

Li Sheng knew that just one spark was needed to ignite a prairie fire in the hearts of the people!

Given the current situation, Li Sheng astutely found the entry point to enter the game, which is precisely the word "human".

In this world, powerful figures have their own powerful people, government officials have their own government officials, and even the Thirty-Six Divisions of the Way of Peace have their own people. And what does Li Sheng have? All told, including himself, he has no more than seven people.

What can seven people do? Attacking the county town would be suicide, and seeking refuge in Dafang would be beneath them. The only thing they could do was to gradually win over the hearts of the people on this land.

And right now, there is an opportunity that couldn't be better.

Spring plowing.

The government conscripted laborers, one out of every three able-bodied men, two out of every five. In any village with two able-bodied men, one would inevitably be sent to repair the city walls and dig the moats. The remaining elderly, women, and children, looking at the dozens of acres of land waiting to be cultivated, were filled with sorrow and tears streamed down their faces.

Seeing this, Li Sheng opened up to his brothers and told them the truth.

"There are just a few of us, and we can manage to farm our own land. But I was thinking that we should also help out with the land of our fellow villagers."

Li Shi was taken aback for a moment: "Brother Sheng, we need to make a living too..."

"There's no rush to make a living."

These brothers were the type of people who only needed one person to feed themselves, which is probably why the government didn't conscript them when it came to corvée labor.

Li Sheng waved his hand: "I'm asking you, how much do we get paid per acre for farming for others?"

Liu Lu counted on his fingers: "Spring plowing and sowing costs about thirty coins per mu. If you include summer weeding and autumn harvest, it can cost up to eighty coins per mu."

"Then from today onwards..."

Li Sheng looked at the group and said, "We won't take any money."

"No charge?"

Zhao Hu's eyes widened.

"No, we won't accept it."

Li Sheng said calmly, "Where would the villagers have any money right now? If they did, it would have been plundered by the government and the village elders long ago. We'll help them with the farming, and then give them some money and grain during the autumn harvest. It doesn't matter how much; give them what they have, and we won't force them if they don't."

Li Feng was the first to react, his eyes lighting up: "Brother Sheng means...building relationships?"

"good."

Li Sheng nodded, "We can't just rely on words to establish ourselves in this village. Even if we proclaim myself a reincarnation of a god, it won't help. Doing one good deed is more effective than saying a hundred words."

Everyone had originally intended to talk about how they could spread the word about Brother Sheng's miracles, but when he pointed this out, they all scratched their heads in embarrassment.

After convincing his brothers, the next day, Li Sheng led six of them, carrying hoes, straight to the fields.

Instead of cultivating their own land first, they went door to door asking.

"Uncle Zhang, your eldest son has been conscripted to repair the city? The land hasn't been turned yet? It's alright, a few of us will help you."

"Aunt Liu, are you the only able-bodied person in your family? Don't worry, it's just something we can do for you."

At first, the villagers couldn't believe it. Although people were simple and honest at the time, they still understood the saying, "If someone offers help for no reason, they're either up to no good or a thief." In those days, who would do work for free?

But Li Sheng and his men really did it.

They worked from dawn till dusk, turning the soil, breaking up clods, ridging, and sowing seeds, leaving no stone unturned.

After finishing at one house, he would pick up his hoe and head to the next.

Li Shi, drenched in sweat, couldn't help but mutter, "Brother Sheng, are we being too honest? We haven't even had a sip of water..."

Li Feng wiped his sweat and grinned, "What do you know? Brother Sheng said that if you drink someone's water, they'll feel indebted to you..."

Li Shi pondered these words for a moment, found them reasonable, and continued working in silence.

The news spread quickly through the village.

With about a hundred households and four or five hundred people, the news about each family and their situation could be spread throughout the village in half an hour by sitting under the locust tree at the entrance.

"Have you heard? That kid Li Sheng, along with his brothers, is tilling the land for free!"

"Really? It's free?"

"No! They said they'll just give us some food rations at harvest time, and they won't force us to accept anything else."

"Oh my, this is truly... a living Buddha."

Buddhism had already been introduced to the Central Plains for many years by this time, and had many believers in the Jianghuai region.

King Liu Ying of Chu had already built the "Buddha's Benevolence Shrine" in Pengcheng, where Buddha was worshipped alongside Huang-Lao (a Daoist and Taoist master). Later, Ze Rong, the chancellor of Xiapi, built the Futu Temple in Xiapi, with bronze Buddha statues and a nine-story pagoda. For a time, believers flocked to the temple, and "every time the Buddha was bathed, many meals and drinks were served, and mats were set up along the road, often attracting more than five thousand people." Therefore, the term "Bodhisattva" is sometimes used in folk parlance to describe a kind-hearted person.

However, at this time, Buddhist missionary work was still focused on the upper class and was still a step away from the livelihoods of ordinary people in the countryside.

"What living bodhisattva?" the man said in a low voice after looking around. "He's from the Taiping Dao..."

"I know, I know. The talisman masters of the Way of Peace are all good people. Their talisman water really works. My son drank it and his fever went down..."

Amid the discussions, Li Sheng's reputation gradually spread.