"Where is your father?"

"He was conscripted to fight the Western Di and died."

"...And your mother?"

"She died of starvation..."

"What about your family's land?"

"After my father died, it became someone else's."

"!!! Who dares to annex land?"

"People from a high official's family."

"..............."

A gaunt child wolfed down a dry pancake. Emperor Your Majesty had been campaigning against the Western Di for many years, and corvée labor was heavy. Coupled with rampant epidemics, such impoverished families were not uncommon. A young Taoist priest, leaning on a wooden staff and wearing a patched robe, looked somber.

Seeing that the child, though starved, still left half of the pancake, he forced a smile and said,

"Why aren't you eating?"

The child carefully tucked the pancake into his chest and said,

"My mother said to save some for the next meal. It's better to be hungry every meal than to be full for one and then starve to death."

He paused, a little confused. But his mother had saved food every meal and still starved to death, so maybe what she said wasn't quite right. But his mother was dead, and he was still alive, so maybe what she said was right after all.

Starved to death, without warmth, unable to speak, hands ice-cold.

The mother who used to carry him everywhere was covered with a thin straw mat when she fell.

As the child spoke, the young Taoist's lips trembled, and a sorrowful expression appeared on his face. The two Taoists beside him were also silent. A tall, middle-aged man beside them slammed his fist into a tree, breaking it in half with a crack.

The child's eyes showed a hint of regret.

It was a willow tree. The bark tasted alright, and the newly grown buds were delicious.

Now that it was broken, he wouldn't be able to eat them anymore.

The young Taoist silently ruffled the child's hair and asked, "What's your name?"

The child replied, "Shui Gouzi." (Water Ditch)

The young Taoist said, "...What kind of name is that?"

The child said, "My mother said that people like us are more likely to survive if our names are lowly."

The young Taoist was silent for a moment. He sighed and exchanged glances with his two younger brothers and the bandit they had subdued. As the child fell asleep, they spoke in hushed tones. He didn't know how to deal with this child. He couldn't just leave him, but he couldn't take him with them either.

The world was plagued by a great epidemic, especially Ji Province. They were planning to go to Ji Province to treat the people there. A child, not very strong, would probably fall seriously ill and die within days in such a place. After discussing it, even though the middle-aged man protested, they left the child with a villager who had once benefited from their kindness.

Then they gave half of the coins they had.

To let that person take care of the child.

Afterward, the group headed to Ji Province. However, they didn't expect to find the child again the next day after resting in the wilderness overnight. He was covered in dirt, chasing after them like a stubborn little beast. This time, the middle-aged man didn't hesitate. He rushed over and picked up the child.

Zhang Jiao looked at the child, opened his mouth, and said, "The place we're going to is very dangerous..."

The child said seriously, "If I follow you, I can get food."

Zhang Jiao was speechless. He wanted to say that even if he stayed, he would have food, but looking at the child's eyes.

He didn't know how to explain it.

The middle-aged man lifted the child up, looked at him, and suddenly shouted, "You little rascal, what happened to all the money we gave you? How come you only have these few pancakes left?!" He stretched out his large hand and only found a few pancakes in the child's arms. The child smiled, holding the pancakes preciously:

"These, can eat, won't starve."

He paused: "Mother said, must not starve to death..."

The middle-aged man opened his mouth but could only sigh, muttering that the Emperor was campaigning against the Western Di, and the court was extravagant, so taxes were terribly high. Zhang Jiao reached out and touched the child's tender hair, saying, "Then you can follow me..."

"Do you remember your surname?"

The child shook his head straightforwardly, making the middle-aged man feel helpless again. All he knew was how to eat, eat, eat. Zhang Jiao smiled and said, "A surname is very important to the people of Divine Province. I can't just give you one, but your given name can be changed."

"A water ditch is a place for storing water. A place that stores water and lasts for thousands of years is called a 'yuan' (abyss)."

"You shall be Yuan, how about it?"

The child didn't know anything and just nodded blankly. The big man laughed instead, placing the young child on his shoulders. While the entire court ignored the epidemic in Ji Province, Zhang Jiao led his brothers and followers into this plague-stricken place.

As the situation shifted, the Taoist named Zhang Jiao used herbs and talismans to treat the epidemic, but officials ridiculed it as witchcraft, which misled the public and was of no benefit. However, in that era when people regarded plagues and typhoid fever as certain death, the court blockaded areas with typhoid fever, but he went against the tide.

Someone asked him what he was doing it for, for fame or for profit.

This young Taoist always said with a smile that he was healing the sick and saving lives.

Indeed...

In the eyes of the aristocratic families, risking their lives for a few commoners was truly foolish. The worries about the Empress Dowager's family and the eunuchs were the major concerns in the minds of the ministers. Famous scholars like Lu Zhi and Wang Yun were worried about the fate of the Great Han Dynasty, expressing their loyalty and sighing deeply.

They were worried that the current Emperor was young and was being deceived by those eunuchs and relatives of the Empress, and they were concerned about how to revitalize the Great Han.

The young Taoist treated these seriously ill people and also dispelled the resentment in their hearts, telling them that the dragon vein of the Great Han was still prosperous, and the epidemic was only temporary. When the current Emperor eliminated those treacherous officials and reorganized the government, everything would slowly get better.

"You have to live on. As long as you live on, you can always see hope."

Many people who had lost their parents joined Zhang Jiao's sect, and he treated them equally.

The child, who was named A-Yuan, was very weak. He seemed to have had a serious illness when he was young, and he was born with deficiencies. He often coughed, and Liu Niu, who had been a bandit and joined Zhang Jiao's group, couldn't stand the kid's sickly appearance.

He trained this kid every day to strengthen his body.

He grumbled, but after each training session, he had to find a way to give this kid extra food.

Either he would catch a rabbit or a sparrow. He could always find all kinds of food.

This period of time was the happiest memory in the child named A-Yuan's life. He had many playmates and fellow disciples. Uncle Niu would take him to exercise and would let him sit on his shoulders, taking him everywhere, showing him everything. Although there was an epidemic, many people were still cured by Zhang Jiao's medical skills.

The old man next door also taught Yuan how to find edible flowers and plants.

He told him that malt was actually very sweet.

Yuan was curious. He couldn't even eat wheat, so how could he eat malt?

The old man's eyes would always become very complicated.

A-Yuan looked at Liu Niu next to him and asked, "Uncle Niu, did I say something wrong?"

Liu Niu sighed and said, "You didn't say anything wrong. What's wrong is this world. Those nobles don't care about our lives. I heard that sometimes they throw a banquet, and the meat they throw away can fill a room, and the wine they pour out fills a vat."

The old man quickly stopped Liu Niu and said, "What are you saying?"

Then he smiled and touched Yuan's head, pointing to his small pocket and saying,

"It's nothing. Just like what Mr. Zhang said, our Great Han has gone through so many years. The emperors and nobles must be thinking about how to overcome these difficulties. Everything will be fine then. I'm saving some wheat as seeds now. Hehe, when the time comes, Grandpa will teach you how to eat malt."

A-Yuan's eyes lit up, and he nodded vigorously.

The old man was in a good mood.

Then, after another period of time, Zhang Jiao successfully cured the people nearby and then traveled away to treat the sick and save people along the way. When he left that place, the people sent him a long way. Yuan saw that the Taoist smiled, with shallow dimples on his cheeks.

Zhang Jiao ruffled his hair and said, "As long as we take it slowly, this world of the Great Han will eventually be revitalized."

But in the summer of that year, there was a great drought, and large tracts of land yielded nothing.

Zhang Jiao's reputation as a virtuous man even gave him followers among the aristocratic officials. Zhang Jiao hurriedly went to a family of aristocrats to borrow food with his disciples. The aristocratic young man warmly welcomed Zhang Jiao. All kinds of dishes were available on the table, and there were even the sounds of qin music and other instruments. In such a place, a group of Taoists wearing linen clothes looked extremely ugly and out of place.

Yuan heard faint giggles.

He felt a little inferior and lowered his head. Seeing those dancers wearing gorgeous silk and looking at his own shoes with exposed toes, he felt very embarrassed and uncomfortable. He noticed that his senior brother Tang Zhou was staring at the beautiful dancers with his eyes wide open, not blinking at all.

The Taoists next to him were still calm and composed.

However, when they asked the aristocratic family to help the disaster victims, they were met with shirk.

Those people began to say something again, that an Indian monk had translated the Prajna Samadhi Sutra and had received a large amount of gold and silver as rewards.

They also heard that in Luoyang, the capital of the Great Han, Cai Yong and other great scholars, at the suggestion of several high officials, were collating and inscribing the seven classics, "The Book of Poetry," "The Book of Documents," "The Book of Changes," "The Spring and Autumn Annals," "The Gongyang Commentary," "The Book of Rites," and "The Analects," on stone tablets.

There were a total of forty-six steles, which took a full eight years to engrave. They were erected outside the gate of the Taixue Lecture Hall, from east to west, then south, and then east again, forming a 匚-shape. They were covered with roofs and surrounded by railings. Every day, the children of aristocratic families went to see them, and the number of vehicles was more than a thousand.

Those people wearing silk and satin, who looked pale and made people feel inferior, said that.

This was to create and continue the literary tradition, a great thing that would benefit future generations.

Boundless merit.

At the start of the feast, Yuan curiously ate a piece of meat and was stunned.

At the end of the feast, he tugged at Zhang Jiao's sleeve: "Master, Master."

"This is meat?!"

"We can eat meat?!"

"It's my first time eating it. It's so delicious..."

Faced with many difficulties, but still calm and composed, the Taoist who seemed to be above many so-called big shots suddenly burst into tears, wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve, and pulled Yuan, saying, "We have borrowed food, let's go to Ji Province..."

........................

They returned to the place where they had been before with food.

Zhang Jiao's eyes lit up slightly. He traveled non-stop, and as for Yuan, who was physically weak, Liu Niu carried him on his back. They rushed back without stopping, but they didn't see familiar people. The villages and towns that had been cured had turned into deserted places.

Zhang Jiao hurriedly stopped a man and pointed to the place where he used to know people, saying:

"Excuse me, where is this family?"

The man said numbly: "Ah, old man Zhou, he's dead, starved to death."

Zhang Jiao opened his mouth: "This, all these people..."

The man said: "Yes, starved to death."

"There was no harvest this year, and the court's taxes have increased again. It seems that His Majesty the Emperor wants to build a garden and build a stone tablet, all of which require money, so he naturally has to collect money. The food was taken away, and there was nothing to eat, so they had to starve to death. It's good to starve to death, so the land can be taken away..."

The young Taoist stumbled back, suddenly feeling dizzy.

The people he had saved from serious illnesses died of starvation, but how much wine and meat was thrown away every day by the wealthy? How much was given to the foreign monks, and to the great scholars who were compiling the documents?

Each word of the prosperous literary tradition was a person who had starved to death or died in battle on the Western Di battlefield.

A-Yuan found the old man's house, empty.

He took out a piece of meat that had gone bad from under his sleeve and gently placed it in front of the threshold.

He squatted in front of this house.

"Grandpa..."

"Actually, it's not just malt."

"Meat is also sweet."

"And, actually, we can eat meat too, and noodles..."

........................

After a long drought, it finally rained a little.

The Taoist, wearing a plain linen robe, stood silently in the rain. He raised his head and looked at the sky, confused and hesitant about what he was doing, and what he was struggling for after saving those people, was it to live like livestock, and then die after struggling?

This world is seriously ill.

Yuan would never forget it.

The Taoist stood in the rain, and slowly, one by one, people in linen clothes appeared. A glimmer of hope appeared on their numb faces. They found broken umbrellas and things that could shield them from the wind and rain, and surrounded the Taoist.

Sheltering him from the wind and rain.

One, ten, a hundred.

Until countless people.

The gathered fabrics of various colors and broken umbrellas were like a vast sky.

If you have not seen the eyes of countless people begging, then you will never understand what is called sorrow. People who are mired in darkness will flock to even a little light to guide them, and when that Taoist turned his head and saw the people standing silently behind him, he saw those longing eyes.

He thought of the Taoist precepts.

Cannot, cannot.

Zhang Jiao was silent, he reached out to those people -

How could he refuse...

Moths will fly into the flame.

The fire will eventually burn everything.

A person who can illuminate others in the dark cannot make a second choice at this time. If he does not do so, he will no longer be the light.

........................

"No!!"

"My Taoist disciples, coming into contact with fortune will damage their Taoist cultivation, let alone someone like you... You..."

Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, who had always believed in their elder brother, were furious this time.

"Brother, do you know what you're doing?!"

Zhang Jiao reached out and put his hand on his brother's shoulder and said, "I know."

The Taoist who had once gone deep into the typhoid fever area replied-

"Heal the sick, save people."

Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were suddenly speechless.

So he walked to the forefront of this era, dividing into thirty-six commanders, Liu Niu was one of them, but this man scratched his head and smiled: "Great Virtuous Teacher, I am just a rough man, and I am not qualified to convince the public. I am good at charging and fighting, so I will not be this commander. This unit, it would be better to let A-Yuan lead it."

The boy named A-Yuan was stunned, and then his face turned red.

Liu Niu waved his hand, glared his bull eyes, and said: "Boy, shut up!"

A-Yuan honestly quieted down.

Liu Niu looked at Zhang Jiao, grinned, and said: "Great Virtuous Teacher, I watched this child grow up. I fight on one side, he is still young, I hope he can see a better future, and besides, it is a good thing to be remembered by the world, please give a title to the Great Virtuous Teacher..."

He patted A-Yuan's head kindly.

Zhang Jiao nodded slowly, he was a true cultivator of his generation, he casually broke a piece of thatch, and let A-Yuan pick one to use as divination, when he saw the result, Zhang Jiao was stunned, and the others were also stunned for a moment, and then they laughed, because the name calculated by the divination actually had the name of a Han official.

Moreover, it was like this several times in a row.

Zhang Jiao simply no longer hesitated.

Then, he gave A-Yuan the title of commander-

Sili.

The young Taoist who was once full of hope for the Great Han made an agreement for the uprising - the Azure Sky is Dead!

ps: Thank you to the leader of Zeen Different Wind Rises

Second update, 4,600 words~

After all, I don't know enough about this period of history, so I can only roughly write it. If there are any mistakes in the details, please forgive me~

But Emperor Ling of Han is really that something, tsk tsk, so trashy...

There are seventy generals whose names are left in history by the Yellow Turban Army, some of whom are only recorded by name, but do not have their detailed experiences or follow-up stories. They are generals of the Yellow Turban Army in Ji Province, there are thirteen in total, one of them is the Sili Colonel of Sili.