At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Guo Peng guessed that Zhang Jiao himself knew that it was difficult for his peasant army to fight a protracted war with the regular army of the Han government.

There is still a big difference between the peasant army and the regular army, so Zhang Jiaocai planned to rise first in Luoyang, abolish the central nervous system of the Han government, and make the Han Empire fall into a state of leaderless.

If no one informs, Zhang Jiao's plan is successful, and under the eunuch's inner response, there is a high probability that Emperor Ling will not be able to escape and will be killed.

Zhang Rang, one of Lingdi's most trusted eunuchs at that time, also had contact with Zhang Jiao. It is not clear whether he rebelled or not, but he must have had other thoughts.

The Emperor Ling really might not be able to escape.

The emperor is dead, the center is in chaos, and Zhang Jiao is doing things in the local area. The Han Empire without a unified command is afraid that it will really suffer.

Maybe the troubled times will be ahead of schedule.

The Yellow Turban Army is indeed composed of a group of poor people who cannot afford to eat at the grassroots level, but its leadership is by no means ordinary.

Their components include intellectuals, local tyrants, and even local officials and eunuchs in the palace. They penetrated in all aspects and made full preparations before the uprising.

Is it possible to build a huge faith community without the money?

Is it possible to build a huge rebel group without leadership and a program of action?

Is it possible to lead a rebellion to overthrow an existing ruling group without knowledgeable and literate leadership?

Zhang Jiao himself was literate, and literacy was a difficult thing in that era, so Zhang Jiao himself at least came from a local tyrant and wealthy.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion was by no means a peasant uprising, but a plan, premeditated and organized top-down turmoil.

A disturbance of a very complex nature.

This can be seen in the crowd of participants in this unrest.

Officials, intellectuals, local tyrants, and poor refugees at the bottom who could not afford to eat.

There were officials in the Yellow Turbans.

Before the uprising, the officials who supported the Yellow Turbans would write the word "Jia Zi" in front of their respective official offices to express their position and let the Yellow Turbans in the turmoil not hurt themselves. This is a clear proof.

There were also intellectuals among the Yellow Turbans.

The areas where the Yellow Turbans ravaged the most were Youzhou, Jizhou, Yingchuan, and Nanyang in Hebei.

Let’s not talk about the other three places, let’s say Yingchuan. Yingchuan was one of the most concentrated areas of intellectuals in the late Han Dynasty. Countless aristocratic families lived here, and countless families such as the Xun family, the Chen family, the Han family, and the Guo family established their clans here. Door.

As a result, this place actually became one of the gathering places of the Yellow Turbans, and what was even more surprising was that the aristocratic family was not damaged.

The oppression of imperial power will not stop people from resentment. The scourge of the party is too extensive, and it lasts for too long, which has exceeded the limit of the scholars' tolerance.

And when the resentment accumulated to a certain level, the intellectuals began to feel that the emperor needed to be replaced by another person. Now the emperor can't do it...

They wanted to give the Emperor a little color to see—literally, give the Emperor a little color to see.

The participation of local tyrants may have more to do with competing for local interests.

There are also competitions for interests within the locality. How much land does your family want, how much land does my family want and so on.

Some tyrants become officials and oppress the tyrants who have no one in their family, and conflict arises with each other.

This can probably also prove why most of the Yellow Turbans only fought on one acre and three points of their own homes after the Yellow Turban Uprising, and did not quickly encircle Luoyang, nor did they merge or cooperate with each other.

Its leaders are the three brothers Zhang Jiao on the surface, but in fact, it may be the gentry who have been hurt by the party's misfortune as its driving force, helping Zhang Jiao achieve some difficult things.

Because Zhang Jiao realized a miracle in this era of backward communication, he could remotely control the 36 Yellow Turbans in the eight states to rebel together.

In the land of eight states, it was agreed to rebel together, tens of 10 people rose up at the same time, and even broke into the palace. This kind of organizational strength is completely the standard configuration for overthrowing an empire.

I have to say that Zhang Jiao is a capable person and an ambitious person.

With his religion and ambition, he conformed to a certain trend in this special period of the party's calamity, and thus became the greatest common divisor of all levels and forces dissatisfied with reality, giving everyone a channel to vent their dissatisfaction together.

He also creatively developed the believers into the palace and penetrated into the heartland of the enemy.

He and their preparations were so meticulous and methodical, the energy generated by the friction between all social strata broke out completely in Guanghe seven years, and the fuse was Tang Zhou's whistleblower.

And this matter itself, Guo Peng knows.

Therefore, he developed the intelligence network of Quan Luoyang, and made friends with people from the three religions and nine ranks.

From the mouths of these people, Guo Peng learned that Ma Yuanyi came to Luoyang, but now is not the time to start.

Ma Yuanyi has not yet coordinated Luoyang's Taiping Taoists, has no complete plan, and has not sent Tang Zhou to contact the eunuch.

With a little time left, Guo Peng sent Guo Huo back to his hometown of Qiao County to recall the [-] knights he had started training three years ago.

Using the financial support given by Cao's family and the network of three religions and nine streams he obtained from Yuan Shu, Guo Peng found a reliable way to buy horses.

I started planning to buy horses three years ago, and purchased [-] Bingzhou horses before and after.

Then, Guo Jin and Guo Tu were sent to take the horse back to their hometown of Qiao County, and they called the children of the farmers in Guo's manor to start the drill.

Guo Dan did not understand the purpose of Guo Peng at first. Guo Peng explained that Lu Zhi had the idea of ​​taking him to the battlefield.

The world has not been very peaceful recently. He wants to train a reliable team of personal soldiers as soon as possible to be his personal part, so that he can protect himself when he goes to the battlefield.

Guo Dan did not intervene, and allowed Guo Jin and Guo Tu to use the methods they learned in the army to train these peasant children. Not only that, Guo Jin and Guo Tu were also responsible for teaching them literacy in private, saying that this was what Guo Peng meant.

They selected 30 of them who were the strongest, gave them to horses, and began to practice riding and fighting on horseback, while the rest practiced fighting on foot.

Guo's Manor is not big or small.

It wasn't that big, but including Cao's dowry, there were more than 2000 households in the Guo's manor, and later scattered refugees who fled from other states and counties, about eight or nine hundred households.

Putting it all together now, there are nearly 3000 households in Guo's Manor, and nearly 300 adults. It is still easy to gather a "guard team" of [-] people.

It is common for a family manor to have a private part these days, not to mention that Guo Dan himself is the county magistrate, with the Cao clan covering it. It is very easy to build weapons and train family soldiers. Don't worry about anything else.

In addition to selecting 300 children for careful training, the rest of the males also had to practice, but they focused on agricultural activities and supplemented by drills, while the [-] were mainly trained and supplemented by agricultural production.

Guo Peng asked Guo Jin and Guo Tu to train them carefully, to train them into skilled soldiers, shout slogans every day, shout slogans loyal to the Guo family, run long distances every day to gain strength, and eat better than the rest. should be better.

This part was paid for by Guo Peng himself, and Guo Dan didn't ask. Anyway, he felt that this part of the family property would be passed on to Guo Peng in the future, and it would be fine to let him practice.

Three years ago, Guo Peng wrote to Guo Dan, asking him to pay attention to the missionaries of Taiping Road in Qiaoxian County to see if there were many missionaries in Qiaoxian County, saying that he had heard about Taiping from a reliable network. The missionary purpose of Dao seems to be not simple, and Guo Dan is asked to be more careful.

Guo Dan was very concerned about Guo Peng's words, and he didn't like this Taiping Road very much at first. Hearing Guo Peng's words, he kept an eye on it.

He thought of a way to bribe the street ruffians, but whenever he noticed that there were preachers who had Taiping Dao, he would try to make troubles and fight, and then he sent his subordinates to arrest the preachers who were fighting, beat the boards, and then expelled them. in Qiao County.

Over the past three years, fewer and fewer missionaries have come to Qiao County, and in recent months they have even disappeared.

Guo Peng was very relieved after learning about it.

Thirty well-trained knights were recruited this time in order to make a contribution to the capture of Ma Yuanyi. If he succeeded, Guo Peng would have the foundation of his life, and then he would follow Lu Zhi to the battlefield and carry out the battle of the battlefield. experience.

However, Guo Peng did not expect that in November, not only thirty knights, but also Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren came.

Chapter 57 Tang Zhou delivered to the door

Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan both performed the crown ceremony and got married, but their education level was not high, and they could not find regular jobs in their hometown.

As soon as the Cao family came together, Guo Peng was serving as a lieutenant in the northern part of Luoyang, so he would simply throw them in Luoyang and follow Guo Peng by his side. Guo Peng's future is very promising. of.

Guo Peng is a high-ranking official, so it's not like he doesn't give his family something to do, right?

As a result, Cao Ren learned of this matter, and he insisted that he would also go to Luoyang to find Guo Peng.

He said that he could not continue to study at home, so he had to find Guo Peng, and the Cao family had no choice but to let Cao Ren come to Luoyang with Xiahouyuan and Xiahou Dun.

Originally, Xiahou Dun was embarrassed to work under Guo Peng, so he went to Cao Cao.

As a result, Cao Cao spread his hands and said that he was an official in Luoyang, but he was an idle official, and he had nothing to do. How could he help Xiahou Dun find something to do?

"Zifeng is not that kind of person. We all know what Zifeng is like. If you go to Zifeng, Zifeng will definitely arrange errands for you."

Cao Cao persuaded Xiahou Dun in this way, so Xiahou Dun had to come to Guo Peng again, looking embarrassed.

It doesn't make any difference whether two come or three, so Guo Peng arranged for three of them to become ordinary "law enforcement officers" in his northern Weifu.

If you look at it now, these three people can be regarded as oil bottles from their hometown to rely on developed relatives.

However, Guo Peng didn't think so at all, and even had the idea of ​​directly bringing the three of them to the battlefield to experience it with himself.

The mission is about to be carried out. Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren are all people with high martial arts skills. If nothing else, they are good at fighting. They can ride horses.

After such a tossing, coupled with the efforts to collect information, time has gone to Guanghe for seven years.

At the beginning of the seventh year of Guanghe, Guo Peng first sent people back to Qiao County to tell Guo Jin and Guo Tu, who were training soldiers, to expand the guard team from 300 to 500, give them iron weapons, practice shooting and archery, and add manors Patrols and more.

Then he wrote a secret letter to Guo Dan, asking Guo Dan to be careful about the movement of Taiping Road in the surrounding area. He found that the movement of Taiping Road was not right, and he should be careful whether the word "Jiazi" was written on the gate of the government in Qiaoxian County. If so, be more careful.

"When the age is in Jiazi, the world is prosperous", Guo Peng told Guo Dan these eight words.

He told Guo Dan to keep quiet, and transferred some of the family's soldiers to Qiao County, and then asked Cao and Xiahou to prepare their own soldiers, weapons, food and other materials in case they were needed.

Guo Dan was shocked when he received Guo Peng's secret letter. He felt that Guo Peng was vaguely telling him that Taiping Dao would rebel, but he couldn't understand why.

He hated Taiping Road because it had eunuch followers, and he never thought that Taiping Road would rebel.

Guo Peng is in Luoyang. If he hears some rumors, it's not difficult to understand. If it is true, wouldn't it be a big problem?

All in all, Guo Dan started to act.

He didn't know where Guo Peng got the news, but he thought it made sense. Because Luo Yang had many talented people, he was very worried that what Guo Peng told him was true. Keep the county seat of Qiao County.

After repeatedly admonishing Guo Dan, Guo Peng focused his energy on Luoyang City. Using the convenience of his position, he set up extensive intelligence points and asked those heroes who were familiar with him to tell him the trend of Taiping Road.

From this, he learned that Taiping Taoists began to prepare yellow cloth towels, collect some sticks and the like, and even some iron weapons.

There are more than 1000 followers of Taiping Dao in Luoyang Shaoshou. I don’t know how many have not been discovered, but Guo Peng has almost mastered the settlements of those people that have been discovered so far.

Including where Ma Yuanyi might be, Guo Peng also basically determined the whereabouts of Zhao Jiu.

They walked the streets and alleys, secretly spreading the words "The age is in Jiazi, the world is prosperous", and they used the arrogance and laziness of the rulers of the Han Empire to spread the destructive mood of overthrowing everything.

This sentiment is growing rapidly.

Guo Peng had imagined countless times that he would be involved in this massive Yellow Turban uprising, and that he would also play a more important role and be the first to arrest Ma Yuanyi.

But he never imagined that the opportunity would come to him.

On the [-]th day of the first lunar month, Guo Peng took a break and played with Cao Lan and his son at home. It was very enjoyable. Suddenly, Guo Mu came to report that Zhao Jiu came to visit him.

Guo Peng frowned and told Cao Lan to take the child away and deal with Zhao Ji by herself.

Zhao Jiu did not come alone, but brought another young man.

Jinan people, Tang Zhou.

Guo Peng never thought that this person would take the initiative to appear in front of him, he was stunned for a while, then quickly regained his composure, and chatted with the two with a smile.

It turned out that Zhao Jiu and Tang Zhou were friends, and Tang Zhou was Zhang Jiao's disciple.

This time when I came to Luoyang, after Zhao Jiu and Tang Zhou reunited, they talked about the famous scholars in Luoyang City, and Guo Peng. Tang Zhou proposed to see Guo Peng and asked Zhao Jiu to represent him. Referral.

Guo Peng resisted the ecstasy in his heart, chatted with Tang Zhou, asked Guo Mu and Guo Shui to prepare a banquet, and then invited him to drink and eat.

After three rounds of drinking, Tang Zhou and Zhao Jiu were both slightly drunk. Instead of talking about the different local customs like before, they talked about his teacher Zhang Jiao.

Guo Peng probably learned about Zhang Jiao's behavior and the teachings of Taiping Dao from Tang Zhou's mouth.

"The people's livelihood is suffering. Ordinary people can't even eat a single bite of food. It is more difficult to get a full stomach than to climb to the sky. There is no book to read, illiterate, and can't distinguish between right and wrong. If you are full, don’t wear warm clothes, lose your property and get killed at every turn, is there anyone more miserable than the common people?”

Tang Zhou let go a little in front of Guo Peng with a little drunkenness.

"Those officials and tyrants don't care about the life and death of the common people at all, they only know that they can eat, drink and have fun. It's good to eat and play comfortably. What does the life and life of the common people have to do with them? They eat meat and drink, but the common people eat even the worst grains. I can't get enough to eat, this world is really...really..."

Tang Zhou fell on the table while talking, while on the other side, Zhao Jiu had already fallen on the table.

Guo Peng silently drank a few glasses of wine and ate a few mouthfuls of food. He clapped his hands three times, and then Guo Mu and Guo Shui came in with six Guo family knights.

"Put this person in a horse bag, transport it to the northern Wei's mansion by car, and then tie it up. When I go to interrogate him, this person, tie it up, control it, and take it with you. He is still useful."

Guo Peng first pointed at Tang Zhou, and then at Zhao Jiu.

"Yes."

Everyone around Guo Peng knows that when Guo Peng makes a decision, there is no doubt about it.