Zhang Chong, who is in charge of Handan, has received good news from southern Julu and northern Zhao in the past few days. The main bandits in the two places have been wiped out, and various ministries are cooperating with local civil officials to handle household registration.
But this joy did not wash away the sorrow in Zhang Chong's heart. It turned out that a huge change had occurred in Guangzong, which caught Zhang Chong off guard.
What happened at Julu that made Zhang Chong, who was still on all sides, so distressed?
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Zhang Jiao, a great virtuous teacher, the eldest of the three Julu Zhang brothers, a doctor who travels all over the world to save lives and heal the wounded. What kind of person is he?
Different people have different answers to this answer.
To ordinary Taiping Taoists, the great virtuous master is Huang Tian's will in the world, a real god and man in the world. To the Han Dynasty, this person is a real traitor and evil person who will never be redeemed.
But to the attendants around Zhang Jue, Zhang Jue was just an ordinary old man, with a rotten old man's air about him.
But now, this decayed old man is thinking about his own aftermath and his next successor.
Although today's Taiping Dao, or more specifically the Yellow Turban Army, is at a low ebb after the Great Uprising, its overall strength is still strong.
Today, the Taiping Dao has its own armed forces in Changshan, Anping, Hejian, Qinghe, and Bohai. In Qingzhou, it occupies most of Qingzhou. As for Bingzhou, there are more than 100,000 Taoist disciples. Then places like Yizhou and Yangzhou also have
They are the people of the Yellow Turban Army.
Therefore, their Yellow Turban Army is still as powerful as a country.
But unfortunately, Zhang Jue felt that he could no longer lead Taiping Dao. He had been living in the palace since last year. Even when the Wei family was purged during the Guangzong Incident, Zhang Jue did not show up.
It's not that Zhang Jiao is pretending to be mysterious for the sake of mystery, but that the arrow he shot at Yecheng last year was much more serious than anyone thought.
Zhang Jue was dragged down by the arrow wound and his vitality was severely damaged. How could he still have the energy to deal with Taiping Dao? Without Zhang Jue's plan, Taiping Dao had been hunkered down in Guangzong in the past two years, missing many opportunities.
So Zhang Jiao is thinking about the heir.
Originally there was nothing to say about this matter. Among their three brothers, the third died on the battlefield and he was no longer able to survive. The position must have been passed on to Zhang Bao, the general of the land.
But in Zhang Jiao's opinion, the second brother has a big flaw, that is, he is too mediocre. In his opinion, the one who has leadership qualities is his third brother, who has a unique personality charm. Unfortunately, it is true after all.
The way of peace makes people cherish death.
But Zhang Jiao finally chose Zhang Bao because of the words of his close attendant Han Gou. Those words were:
"The general is kind and kind."
Yes, the second brother is kind.
It turned out that Zhang Jiao's two favorite concubines, Jia and Pang, were pregnant. This was simply the last hope for Zhang Jiao.
Because of problems in his early years, he has been childless. He thought he was destined to serve Huang Tian alone, but unexpectedly in this Guangzong year, he miraculously had two children.
So Zhang Jiao’s answer was to give Zhang Bao a secret edict:
"My wife, I see two pregnant women. If there is a man among them, I should make him the second wife. If they are all men, choose the one who can make me the second child."
In other words, Zhang Jiao believed that Zhang Bao was honest and kind and would be able to protect his son's peace and pass it on to him when the time came.
Therefore, before Zhang Jiao died, he passed the position of great sage and mentor to his second brother Zhang Bao, and he died in Lutaizhong of Guangzong not long after.
The whole city mourned.
Zhang Chong, who was far away in Handan, received the news that Zhang Jiao had passed away.
For Zhang Jiao, Zhang Chong is complicated. This man, Junlu Lanlu, founded Taipingdao, but he became overbearing and sensitive in the taste of power.
But it is undeniable that Zhang Chong’s success is inseparable from the support of Taiping Dao and Zhang Jiao.
Therefore, due to emotions and reasons, this time Zhang Jiao passed away and he was going to express his condolences. In fact, Guangzong did invite him to attend.
But Zhang Chong refused again. There was no other reason than that he was unhappy about the death of his master Zhang Liang.
But Zhang Jiao's funeral would not be slowed down by Zhang Chong's absence. On May 20, three days after Zhang Jiao's death, his funeral was held as scheduled.
The new Great Master Zhang Bao personally carried the coffin, and Qushuai from all over the country, such as Ma Yuanyi, Zhang Niujiao, Guo Daxian, Zuo Zhuzhangba, etc., carried the coffin and escorted Zhang Jiao's body to be buried in a well-selected auspicious cave.
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When Zhang Jiao was buried, those who gathered around him were small envoys such as Chu Feiyan, Zhang Ji, and Han Gou. They were Zhang Jiao's confidants, and they were also grateful for the great sage and mentor's kindness to them.
But now that this God, who was like a father and a king, was gone, they burst into tears.
In this solemn and sad atmosphere, Zhang Bao's eyes were empty and his thoughts were divergent.
He was thinking about many things, including the posthumous children left by his two brothers and the current situation.
Zhang Baobing didn't think much about the two posthumous children. Even if it was a threat, it would be more than ten years later.
The second thing that bothered him was where the Yellow Turban Army should go.
Based on the current situation in Hebei, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Taishan Army has taken the absolute initiative. He invited Zhang Chong to Guangzong several times before, but he was rejected. It can be seen that in the future, if the Hebei Yellow Turbans are still
If we continue to stay in Hebei, we will inevitably have a battle with the Taishan Army.
But this is definitely not what Zhang Bao wants. It's not that he cares about how they were once a family, but that he knows he can't beat him.
Zhang Bao knew that his military and political talents were very mediocre. Such mediocrity would not matter in normal times. But in this age of great strife, mediocrity is the original sin.
So at the beginning, Zhang Bao planned to unite with the remaining Han forces in Hebei. But the opponent obviously hated the Yellow Turban Army. In the past six months, Qinghe, Hejian, Bohai and other places have often harassed the Yellow Turban Army, and there have been several outbreaks.
Quite a conflict.
It’s not that the Hebei Yellow Turbans still have some strength, there are many generals gathered, and the other side has not made up its mind. The two sides have already started fighting.
Because of this, Zhang Bao has planned to move his forces south to Qingzhou. Qingzhou was originally his base camp. His disciple Guan Hai had already occupied the eastern part of Qingzhou. There, Taiping Road would develop stably.
However, at the funeral meeting the day before, Zhang Bao simply said a few words in this regard, but he was met with opposition from the generals.
Zhang Bao didn't understand why most of Guangzong's generals were from Bingzhou and people from Hebei were willing to go south to Qingzhou in disgrace.
More importantly, these arrogant and powerful generals under Zhang Jiao did not think highly of Zhang Bao, and felt that this man's move was too cowardly.
Zhang Bao longed for power, but he was very ignorant about its cruelty and operation. And this ignorance would eventually lead to catastrophe.
Because for any monarch, if you cannot be loved and feared by others, you must at least avoid being despised and hated.
Zhang Bao's weakness and mediocrity were despised by the generals. He was like an ignorant child who wanted to drive a group of unruly domestic dogs to fight against external tigers and wolves. How could he not suffer backlash?
Among the group of domestic dogs that Zhang Jue left to Zhang Bao, the most ferocious and difficult to treat was Qu Shuai, the commander of Guangzong's left-behind cavalry, Zuo Zhangba, who was also derogatorily called the "bearded thief" by the Han army.
Zhang Bao didn't know anything about this, but he didn't know that a whirlwind had already gathered around him.
…
On the day of the funeral, Zuo Zhangba stood at the front of the crowd as one of the coffin bearers.
Behind him are Heishan, the commander of the Zhao Army, and Zuo Xiao, the captain of the Qinghe Army.
Zuo Zhuozhangba, whose real name was Zuo Che, was a powerful man from Qinghe. When Zhang Jiao was preaching on both sides of the river, they, the Zuo family of Qinghe, were in trouble and joined Zhang Jiao's religious order.
Therefore, the Zuo family is also a very powerful and prestigious family in Taiping Dao. He is a brave man, and he was a former personal guard of Zhang Jiao. Later, he handed over his Qinghe descendants to his clan brother Zuo Xiao, and he
He commanded two thousand elite knights under Zhang Jiao.
As a result, the Zuo family became one of the top military leaders in Guangzong.
Zuo Beard Zhangba is indeed a brave general, as swift as the wind on the battlefield and as fierce as a bird of prey. But what matches his bravery is his unruly and violent nature.
One time he was a guest at someone's house. Just because the host was a little late to greet him and the wine prepared for him was not strong enough, he beat the man violently in his house and almost beat him to death.
But because Zuo Zhuzhangba was very fond of Zhang Jiao, the matter was settled. But Zuo Zhangba became more and more arrogant later on, taking possession of good horses for himself when others saw them, and fighting with others over women.
, and also dug the ancestral graves of local rich people.
There were always people who reported the above to Zhang Jiao, but they were all protected by Zhang Jiao. In the end, they were so annoyed that Zhang Jiao even asked:
"Is it possible that Zuo Yanzhangba is the only one doing things? He just stares at him to report."
Zhang Jiao is very familiar with the matter of power. He knows why these people are impeaching Zuo Zhangba. Because with the generals of Zhang Bao's line entering Guangzong, there are not enough positions. And Zuo Zhangba has the two thousand
Jingqi has become a weapon that everyone cares about.
So in a word, the left beard and the foot are blocking the way of humanity.
There is another thing, that is, he is too good to die. His left beard and eight feet have offended Zhang Bao.
During the Guangzong Incident in the past, when Wei Shou and other party members were at the front line of Julu, Zhang Bao ordered Zuo Beard Zhangba to lead two thousand of his elite cavalry to rush to the Julu battlefield to aid Wei Shou, making sure to capture Wei Shou.
But when the envoy anxiously rushed to Zuo Zhangba's military camp, he was rejected.
First, no one answered the call at the camp gate, and he was not allowed in until he took out Zhang Bao's military letter. After entering, the man with the left beard dared to turn his back and play with the falcon while the order was being issued.
He simply didn't take him as an envoy seriously, no, he didn't take the general of the land seriously. So this man reprimanded Zuo Huizhang for his unruly behavior in court.
This directly angered Zuo Beard Zhangba, who directly killed the falcon in his hand and cursed:
"I only listen to the orders of great sages and good teachers, and others do not follow orders."
The falcon's blood all over the ground and the half-parted wings frightened the messenger so much that he did not dare to say anything more.
After this incident, Zuo Beard Zhangba and Zhang Bao became in conflict with each other.
In fact, Zuo Beard Zhangba was also quite regretful. In fact, he couldn't stand it that day because Zhang Bao took his brother on the spot. Although Wei Tong was a member of Wei's party, he was an old man of Taiping Road after all.
He had done wrong and shed blood, so he was killed on the spot like a pig or a dog?
This is inappropriate.
So Zuo Zhangba has murderous intent. After all, which of these old people has no connection with the Wei family? You, Zhang Bao, can't treat the old people so harshly.
If I had met a clever person about this matter, I would have given Zuo Beard Zhang Ba's advice in a few words. But who knew that the messenger would be so ignorant and scolded him instead.
Do you think any pig or dog can poop and pee on his head?
Hence, the scene of killing the falcon happened.
But no matter how much Zuo Beard Zhangba regretted, he knew that his relationship with Zhang Bao was over.
But now, with Zhang Jue's death, no one can protect Zuo Zhangba. The two thousand elite knights under him will also face dismemberment.
So Zuo Beard Zhang wanted to depose Zhang Bao when he got angry. After he learned that the great virtuous master had posthumous children, he wanted to wait for them to be born, and then kill Zhang Bao and support Zhang Jiao's youngest son.
But time can't wait now. People from Zhang Bao's group have become more and more aggressive recently, and they won't give Zuo Yanzhangba and others such a long time at all.
So Zuo Beard Zhangba, his clan brothers and their ally Heishan conspired to cause rebellion.
Zuo Beard Zhangba just has a hot temper, but he is not stupid. He knows that in order to rebel, he must at least have a banner that can stir people's hearts, and he must have the right time.
So on the day they learned of the death of the great master, Zuo Zhuzhang and his eight brothers began to discuss it. In the past three days, they really came up with the banner and opportunity for rebellion.
In today's Guangzong, the biggest conflict is the conflict between the original Tiangong line and the Digong line.
With the transfer of power to the Lord Zhang Bao, the generals under his command became direct descendants. All resources were given to these generals first, including soldiers, armor, and weapons. They were picked first by this group of people. After the selection, the rest were left.
Pick again.
Under this situation, the Di Gong clan was naturally smiling, but the Tiangong clan was full of complaints. And not long after, Zhang Niujiao, who had always been a powerful figure in the army, was promoted openly and secretly, and took away the military power.
Therefore, the generals of the Tiangong line were actually very uneasy, and Zuo Beard Zhangba planned to use this incident to act against the emperor. They all thought of the slogan:
"The soldiers of God are also soldiers of Taiping Road, and we also have to eat millet."
As for the time, they have also decided.
Today, May 20th, is the day when the great virtuous master is buried.
But it can't be now, otherwise they will also learn from Wuming.
If these close followers of the great virtuous master captured and killed Zhang Bao at the funeral of the great virtuous master, they would really cause an uproar in the army.
So at this moment, Zuo Zhuzhangba, Zuo Xiao, Heishan and others just endured it and kept looking at the man with his back turned to them.
Let you live for a while first.
Naturally, Zhang Bao, who was wandering in his mind at this moment, didn't know that there were six pairs of green lights behind him looking at him with hatred. At this grand funeral, Zhang Bao didn't need to do anything. He just had to stand there and perform well as a new great virtuous teacher.
Just a little bit of it is fine.
Also in endless reverie, this bizarre funeral ended like this.
And Zhang Jiao, this influential figure in the world, also officially came to an end on this day.