It is said that Zhang Jiao was born in a wealthy family in Julu County, Jizhou, and was gifted and intelligent since he was a child, and he was diligent and studious, learning medicine and martial arts, no matter how cold or hot he went, the wind and snow did not stop; When he became an adult, he became a well-known local folk doctor, often walking the streets and alleys to treat the people around him. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In order to treat the people, he often went to Taihang Mountain to collect medicine; I met an old man with a childish face in Lingxiao Mountain, and saw that Zhang Jiao was loyal and extraordinary, so he gave Zhang Jiao the three-volume silk book "Taiping Qing Lingshu" that he carried with him, so that he could practice diligently and benefit all the people.

The content of the Taiping Qing Lingshu is huge, involving heaven and earth, yin and yang, five elements, ten branches, disasters, immortals, medical skills, society, thought, self-cultivation, governance, politics, morality, and the art of war.

Zhang Jiao was overjoyed, focusing on studying the contents of medicine, magic, war, ideology, politics, etc., and founded the Taiping Tao according to his thoughts, formulated a complete program, goals, and teachings, and standardized the title, diocesan organization, slogans, religious ceremonies, activity content, and missionary methods.

He was highly skilled in martial arts, skilled in medicine, and upright, and soon won the love of the local people, and had high prestige, so he began to recruit apprentices and propagate teachings.

At that time, natural and man-made disasters were continuous, and the people's lives were miserable, which provided him with a broad mass base for his mission.

Zhang Jiao calls himself a great sage and good teacher, often holding a nine-section scepter, and on the basis of traditional folk medicine, he uses water and mantras to cure people's diseases; And under this cover, he widely disseminated the Taiping religion, opposed exploitation, wealth accumulation, oppression, and advocated equality and mutual love, and won the support of the poor masses.

Later, eight disciples were sent to the Quartet, educating the world with good Taoism, and turning to bewilder.

In the past ten years, hundreds of thousands of disciples have connected the county, and the people of Ziqing, Xu, You, Hebei, Jing, Yang, Yan, Yu and other eight states have not responded; So he set up 36 squares, with more than 10,000 people in the big party and 6 or 7,000 people in the small party, each with a ditch commander.

According to the theory of the five elements of mutual reciprocity and mutual restraint, the great uprising was held on the Jiazi day of the Jiazi year, that is, on March 5 of the first year of Zhongping (184); And put forward the slogan of "the sky is dead, the yellow sky should stand, the age is in Jiazi, and the world is auspicious".

First of all, Zhang Jiao sent his disciple Ma Yuanyi to contact the ten permanent servants in the imperial court (including Feng Zhen and Xu Feng, in fact, Zhang Rang and others also had contact with Zhang Jiao), and there were also a large number of believers in Luoyang, ready to rise both inside and outside.

If the uprising plan succeeds, there will be a coup d'état in the palace, a mutiny in Luoyang City, and at the same time the outside of Luoyang City will be surrounded, the imperial court will not have any preparations, and it will be difficult for the officials and troops to mobilize for a while; Imagine this situation, with three layers of pinching, it is difficult for Luoyang not to lose.

If the plan succeeds, it can capture Luoyang at a very fast speed, depose the emperor, and let all the people of the world live a good life.

Zhang Jiao's plan was perfect, but his younger brother Zhang Bao was worried, and consulted Zhang Jiao: "Eldest brother, Youzhou in the north is close at hand, and the tens of thousands of cavalry recruited by the Captain of Wuhuan's Mansion are stationed in Jixian County, Guangyang County for training, and all the spies we sent have disappeared, they must have noticed it a long time ago; If we get into trouble, there is a change in Luoyang, and the Youzhou cavalry goes south, then we will be in danger. ”

"I have already planned this matter, and at the beginning of the incident, I sent a large army into Youzhou, so that it could take care of itself, how could I take advantage of the situation to go south?"

Zhang Bao was not at ease about this, and said: "We wait for the army, take advantage of the situation, take advantage of the unpreparedness of the government, can easily plunder the counties, but in the face of a strong border army, it does not have an advantage, and they are all cavalry, can be used as ten, that is, send 100,000 troops, I think it is also vulnerable; What can I do? ”

"We lack cavalry, and in the face of the Youzhou Iron Cavalry, they really do not have an advantage in the field, and your concerns are not unreasonable; However, I had already planned, and at the beginning of the incident, I sent a large army to disturb the situation in Youzhou; At the same time, they raised troops to occupy the county seat of Julu County, Taocheng, Xiaquyang City and Guangzong City, as our leadership center, the three cities formed horns with each other, even if they had tens of thousands of iron horsemen, they could not fly up our city walls. ”

Zhang Bao felt that it would be much safer in this way, the cavalry was strong in field combat, but they were not good at attacking the city, and if they defended the city, the Youzhou Iron Cavalry would lose its effect.

Zhang Jiao continued: "When the time comes, the elder brother will sit in Xiatao City, the second brother will sit in Xiaquyang City, and the third brother will sit in Guangzong City, and the enemy will attack one city, and the other two cities will echo each other from afar; As long as we can't wait, the troops in Nanyang, Runan, Yingchuan, and Dongjun can attack Luoyang City with confidence. ”

Zhang Liang said: "Big brother, I suggest that at the beginning of the incident, we should first arrest a few kings of the kingdom and let them throw rat traps, and dare not attack the city, so as to buy time for us." ”

Zhang Jiao said: "The court will not care about the life and death of those kings, if we kill them, it will only cause the resentment of the court and the scholars, and for the sake of face, they will attack us more fiercely." It is better to take advantage of this period of peace to buy more food and plan for a long-term war. ”

Zhang Baodao: "Big brother, the high-quality corn in Zhuo County is only 280 yuan a stone, and I arrange for someone to buy 300 stone every day." ”

"It's too little, we have to increase the purchase efforts, exchange all the money in our hands for food, and then secretly transport it to the Lingxiao Mountain base, in case things don't go well, let's stick to Lingxiao Mountain."

"Yes, big brother! However, the food buyer came back and said that Zhuojun had recruited 2,000 infantry, and it seemed that they had noticed that we were about to start an incident. ”

Zhang Jiao said disapprerovingly: "What are the worries of just 2,000 people? ”

Just when the Zhang Jiao brothers were dreaming, something big happened in Luoyang City.

Tang Zhou, a disciple he sent to contact the eunuchs, arrived in Luoyang City and directly reported Zhang Jiao, who would start on March 5, first preparing to launch a coup and mutiny, and then besieging the Beijing division and destroying the Han court.

In fact, this Tang Zhou is one of the many secret agents planted by Emperor Liu Hong all over the country, and the emperor knows everything about Taiping Dao well, and his heart is like a mirror; Of course, the secret agents are not only Tang Zhouren, but also many heroes, officials, eunuchs, and poor families.

The emperor and Taiping Dao were originally in a mutually beneficial relationship, who thought that the horn ate the bear's heart and leopard gall, and actually wanted to attack the Jingshi; If Taipingdao raided the prefectures and counties in various places and attacked the scholars, he would not be in a hurry to suppress them, and would only send troops to regain territory and restore order after Taipingdao.

Now Zhang Jiao's ambition is inflated, it is beyond his control, he must be suppressed and given a lesson, even if the Han Dynasty declines, it is also a hundred-legged insect, dead but not stiff, not something that he can shake with a small Taiping Dao.

It is not difficult to understand when you think about it, how could the emperor turn a blind eye to such a large religious organization as Taiping Dao, with a missionary area covering 8 states and many disciples and believers? Let it grow without control?

Besides, the dangers of the Taiping Dao have been pointed out many times by important ministers of the imperial court, but they don't know the thoughts of Emperor Liu Hong.

Liu Hong began to receive reports that all prefectures and counties revolted at the same time, and the Taoists concentrated in Jizhou, plundering and killing the Shi family and wealthy landlords wherever they passed, which was what the emperor Liu Hong was most happy to see, after all, the emperor's biggest enemy was the Shi clan, so he suppressed all the similar songs.

According to the emperor's idea, even if Taiping Dao could not eliminate all the scholars, it could also severely weaken the strength of the scholars.

But now that things have changed, Liu Hong was very annoyed in his heart, and said viciously: "Heaven is evil, it is forgivable, self-inflicted, you can't live!" Zhang Jiao, this is all self-inflicted, don't blame me. ”