Infinite Terror: This Middle Continent is Rebellious

Chapter 309 Zhang Zhezhai Starts

Zhang Zhezhai sneered, "Gathering people, supporting them, building cities, preaching, training soldiers—we've done it all, and you still want to quibble? What you're trying to do was already done by the White Lotus and the Ming Cult decades ago. Who can you fool?"

Facing the tip of Zhang Zhezhai's sword, Wang Xia retorted somewhat dissatisfiedly, "Gathering people, supporting them, building cities, and training soldiers are nothing more than giving some food to the people who can't survive, so that they have a place to live, clothes to wear, the power to protect themselves, and jobs to support themselves. Preaching? If Brother Zhang thinks we are preaching, you can go and see what idols are there in Jiangdi Manor? What sects are there? What doctrines are there?"

Upon hearing this, a look of hesitation flashed across Zhang Zhezhai's face.

This person is so self-righteous, could it be that I really have misunderstood?

The hesitation only flashed by, and Zhang Zhezhai decided to trust his own judgment.

The words and actions of these people clearly show that they are preparing for rebellion.

"Brother Zhang, you can talk and make a fuss, but don't take out your weapons. It's not good to hurt the flowers and plants, and it would be even worse if you hurt yourself."

At this moment, a frivolous voice sounded from the left.

An arm stretched out and grabbed Zhang Zhezhai's right hand holding the sword.

"Out of control."

Zhang Zhezhai smiled coldly, raised his left hand, and smashed the scabbard at the arm that stretched out in front of him.

However, before the scabbard fell, a finger force hit Zhang Zhezhai's pulse, and Zhang Zhezhai's arm froze and his muscles became soft and weak.

"what?"

Zhang Zhezhai was shocked, and in a flash, the palm grabbed his right hand, and the fingers brushed across his wrist. Zhang Zhezhai suddenly felt a powerful finger force penetrating into the meridians of his arm, cutting off his meridians.

The scabbard and the sword slipped from Zhang Zhezhai's hands and were easily taken away by the person who attacked.

Such understatement shocked Zhang Zhezhai.

He had been learning literature and martial arts since he was young, and had made some achievements in internal strength. He was also a top master in Zhejiang. However, who would have thought that he was completely unable to fight back against this man.

"Who are you, Your Excellency?"

Zhang Zhezhai took several steps back and looked warily at the young man who suddenly appeared.

"I'm Cheng Xiao. I hope you haven't heard of my name, otherwise there will be troublesome prejudice."

Cheng Xiao inserted the sword into the scabbard and threw it towards Zhang Zhezhai.

Zhang Zhezhai took the sword and looked at Cheng Xiao hesitantly.

The most famous, or notorious, member of the Zhongzhou team is Wen Lie. Others also have a bad reputation, but none of them are as famous as Wen Lie. Zhang Zhezhai couldn't think of where he had heard of Cheng Xiao's name.

Zhang Zhezhai said in a deep voice, "Your Excellency is very capable, and I am far inferior to you. However, Zhezhai has studied the sages' books for more than ten years and knows the way of a gentleman. If Your Excellency wants to use force to intimidate me, Zhezhai will die to prove the way of a gentleman."

"What's with all the talk about life and death? You're talking as if we've done anything to you. We've always treated you as a guest, but you insist on being the bad guest."

Cheng Xiao rolled his eyes and waved his hand, signaling the surrounding militia to go back and continue training.

"This..." Zhang Zhezhai was speechless, his face turning green and red. "Zhezhai was rude, but you were the ones who overstepped your bounds first."

"Usurpation? Yes, we are usurping it, because we are helping these helpless people, giving them a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear, and weapons to protect themselves. These are supposed to be the work of the court, but for people without official positions to do this is called usurpation and violates the court's laws. But why doesn't the court do it?"

Cheng Xiao shook his head, scratched his scalp, a sneer appeared on his face, and asked Zhang Zhezhai in a sarcastic tone.

"It's not our responsibility to ensure that the displaced people live a stable life. If the imperial court could allow these people to survive, you wouldn't see us here. The imperial court won't do it, and won't allow us to do it. Does that mean they're just going to die?"

The loud voice echoed in the square and the surrounding roads, and also fiercely broke into Zhang Zhezhai's heart. The hint of ridicule made Zhang Zhezhai blush and unable to utter a word of rebuttal.

His ambition is to become an official. Although he failed the imperial examination last year, he will take it again in two years.

However, even so, he could not refute Cheng Xiao with righteous words.

Today, treacherous ministers are in power and have deceived the emperor, causing the court to be incompetent and unable to govern the country, making the people of the Song Dynasty live in misery.

Although Zhang Zhezhai disdained the evil cult's misleading words and was loyal to the court, he could not say that Cheng Xiao's words were wrong.

Unconsciously, the villagers stopped what they were doing and looked at Zhang Zhezhai.

There was anger, resentment and hatred in everyone's eyes. Cheng Xiao's words stirred up the negative emotions in their hearts. If Cheng Xiao and Wang Xia had not stood here, the villagers would have rushed over and beaten Zhang Zhezhai out of Jiangdi Village with sticks.

"Zhezhai made a slip of the tongue."

Feeling the villagers' anger, Zhang Zhezhai covered his face with his hands in shame and bowed his head to Cheng Xiao to admit his mistake.

"Although what you have done may be a bit presumptuous, it is a great act of kindness. As children of the Jianghu, we are not particular about trivial matters, so it is okay to overstep our bounds."

"You should have said it earlier. Guests are welcome. It's almost noon now. Let's eat and talk at the same time."

Cheng Xiao smiled, walked up to Zhang Zhezhai, took his arm, and pulled him towards the cafeteria.

Lunch was already prepared in the cafeteria.

Dozens of large iron buckets were filled with a variety of dishes, including meat, vegetables, fish, meat, fruit, soup, porridge, dry rice, steamed dumplings and steamed buns.

Wooden trays stacked more than one meter high were placed at the entrance. Every villager who entered the canteen first took the wooden tray, chopsticks and spoon, and then went to get rice and dishes.

When Zhang Zhezhai and Cheng Xiao walked into the cafeteria, dozens of villagers were already eating there.

Zhang Zhezhai asked in astonishment: "Why...why are there villagers eating here?"

Cheng Xiao said with a forced smile, "What's wrong? Do you think eating with these villagers doesn't suit your status?"

"How could Zhe Zhai have such an idea? Ordinary people only eat lunch twice a day. Especially in the past few years, there have been natural disasters and man-made disasters, which have led to famine. I never thought that the villagers here would actually have lunch..."

As Zhang Zhezhai spoke, he followed the example of the villagers in front of him, picked up a wooden tray at the entrance, and walked towards the place where the food was served.

The buckets of meat and vegetables almost made Zhang Zhezhai's eyes widen. He used a spoon to poke deep into the bucket, trying to see if there was only a surface layer.

However, the reality before him made him lose his mind.

"You said you weren't using the names of gods and Buddhas to deceive the people and plot rebellion, and I believed you."

Zhang Zhezhai muttered to himself.

People take food as their heaven!
In the dead of winter, even the imperial court did not have the financial resources to provide so much meat, vegetables, rice and snacks for the common people, let alone the White Lotus Sect and the Ming Sect.

Even when he was at home, he couldn't eat so well every day.

He had only been at Jiangdi Manor for a short time, and it was impossible for the owner of Jiangdi Manor to prepare so many dishes and rice in just one stick of incense.

Is it possible to let the common people eat meat to their heart's content, but is this done in the name of gods and Buddhas? This is clearly a true god in the eyes of the common people!
"Huh? You believe it?"

But, I did lie to you.

Cheng Xiao grumbled inwardly. If it wasn't for rebellion, why would they go to such great lengths?
Zhang Zhezhai prepared the meal, found a place to sit down, picked up a piece of braised pork, and put it into his mouth with a final doubt.

"...How can there be such delicious food?"

In an instant, Zhang Zhezhai suddenly zoomed in.

The taste of this piece of braised pork surpassed any other meat he had ever eaten.

Yes, it is pork, and not spoiled and smelly meat, but why does it taste so good?

"Emotion, we added emotion, compassion for all living things in the world."

Cheng Xiao was joking, but Zhang Zhezhai took it seriously.

After chewing the braised pork and swallowing it, he put down his chopsticks and asked Cheng Xiao seriously, "Brother Cheng, how long can the food in your village last? How many people can it feed?"

"follow me."

Cheng Xiao smiled mysteriously and walked out of the cafeteria.

Zhang Zhezhai turned his head and looked around, quickly picked up a piece of braised pork and put it into his mouth, wiped the oil off his mouth with the sleeve of his cotton robe, and quickly followed.

Cheng Xiao walked around the cafeteria and walked forward along the flat dirt road. Zhang Zhezhai quickly swallowed the piece of braised pork in his mouth before catching up and walking with Cheng Xiao.

After walking forward for more than a hundred meters, the front suddenly became empty. There was only a house standing in the middle of the open space. The house was as big as an ordinary landlord's house. There were four enclosed pavilions built around it. The pavilions had no windows. You could see a strong man wearing armor and holding a long sword staying inside.

In front of the door of the house, two militiamen were standing on either side of the door. When they saw Cheng Xiao approaching, their eyes lit up and they immediately straightened their backs, raised their arms, placed their palms across the right side of their heads, and shouted, "Hello, angel!"

"Thank you for your hard work," Cheng Xiao nodded and said, "Another group of people have arrived today. Please open the door so that I can get some food so that we don't run out of food when we cook."

"Angel? Change?"

Zhang Zhezhai showed a confused expression.

The so-called angels generally refer to the messengers of the Emperor of Heaven and the Emperor. I heard that these people claim to be the messengers of the Great Lord Arahant, which is normal.

But, change?

Are you pretending to be a ghost?
Zhang Zhezhai couldn't help but frown.

Confucius does not talk about strange things. As a scholar, he can't stand the evil people who pretend to be gods.

Although he knew that these people really had food, he could not accept the behavior of fooling the people by pretending to be supernatural.

Zhang Zhezhai looked at the ground in front of him.

In his opinion, the so-called change should be that there is some mechanism here that can use sleight of hand to deceive the common people who have no martial arts skills.

However, until the two guards opened the iron lock of the warehouse and pulled open the heavy iron door, Zhang Zhezhai did not see any traces of tunnels or mechanisms.

Cheng Xiao walked into the warehouse, and Zhang Zhezhai followed closely beside him. After entering, what came into view were mountains of rice, flour, meat and vegetables. The mountains of rice, flour, meat and vegetables were more than three meters high, full of visual impact, which made Zhang Zhezhai dizzy.

"many!"

Even in the county granary, there is not so much food!

Cheng Xiao walked to an empty container, stretched out his right hand, and with a thought, bags of rice, flour, meat and vegetables appeared out of thin air in front of his palm.

The bag fell to the ground with a dull sound.

Zhang Zhezhai calmed himself down, focused his attention, and looked at Cheng Xiao.

His eyes gradually widened, staring at Cheng Xiao's palm, watching bag after bag of food appear from nothing in mid-air, and then freely fall into those huge wooden-framed containers.

"Oh my God!"

Gradually, Zhang Zhezhai opened his mouth wide and shouted out his feelings of being uneducated.

It really did transform! It appeared out of thin air!

"Thank you, Lord Arahant, for giving us food."

"Namo the Great Sage, the Living Buddha, the Buddha Yishuhe!"

The two guards who followed in also watched intently and uttered words of sincere admiration.

Zhang Zhezhai listened and gradually came to his senses.

He understood one thing.

Why is it that the owner of Jiangdi Manor claims that he does not preach, set up statues, establish doctrines, or build a sect, but so many ordinary people believe from the bottom of their hearts that there is a great sage who is alive, including the Buddha Yishu, the Great Arhat, the Mysterious Jiangdi, and the Unconscious Emperor.

The reason why gods and Buddhas need doctrines, sects, and idols is because they need people to believe in their existence.

However, the people of Jiangdi Manor are truly able to create miracles that no gods or Buddhas can perform.

In the face of true and genuine miracles, doctrines, idols, and sects are meaningless.

There is no need for those things to prove that there is such a great God in the world.

That’s right, at this moment, Zhang Zhezhai also believed that there was indeed a great Arahant in the world who had sent his messenger to the world to save all living beings.

Zhang Zhezhai murmured, "Praise be to the Great Lord Arahant."

Half an hour later, after having lunch at Jiangdi Zhuang, Zhang Zhezhai hurriedly rode his horse and galloped out of the city gate. His face was filled with a red glow of excitement, and his eyes were extremely bright, containing the light of firm ambition.

"Another one has been acquired."

On the city wall, Cheng Xiao, Wang Xia and Zhang Jie watched Zhang Zhezhai go away.

The three of them looked at each other and smiled.

Zhang Zhezhai was not the first celebrity of the Southern Song Dynasty who believed in A Luohe Great Heavenly Venerable. The folk hero Wu Longqi of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Chen and Li Jia, mother and son, also came to Jiangdi Zhuang two months ago. With the addition of Zhang Zhezhai, Jiangdi Zhuang now had three reserve generals.

Although there may be people with military talents among ordinary people, rescuing these historical celebrities makes people feel more at ease and has a greater sense of accomplishment.

Zhang Jie asked, "Why did you come back so suddenly? Where's Zhu Wen? Didn't Chu Xuan ask you to protect Zhu Wen closely?"

"I came back to ask Chu Xuan about his plans. Zhu Wen's fame is growing."

Cheng Xiao smiled bitterly, thinking of his experience in the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, he felt a little overwhelmed for a moment.

"You all know Zhu Wen's abilities. Since she's in the Southern Song capital, it's easy for her to meet dignitaries. Zhu Wen is now a famous Taoist nun. It's said that even the emperor has heard of her name."

(End of this chapter)