Traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty: Picking up a princess as my wife

At this time, Li Zhen was unaware that many prefectures and counties in the entire Daming Prefecture had been occupied by refugees gathered by the Zoroastrian sect. They were conquering cities and seizing territories along the way, and as soon as they opened up a county town, they would loot all the grain and valuables inside.

Then, they coerced ordinary people to continue attacking the next target. Gradually, the Zoroastrian army snowballed into a force of fifty to sixty thousand people, constantly harassing cities along the way.

The two cartloads of grain that Su Chi bought from Tangyin City were far from enough to feed so many people. However, Su Chi brought back news that there was a large amount of grain stored in Tangyin City. Because the headquarters of the Sun Family Grain Store was located there, Su Chi personally saw several warehouses piled with huge quantities of grain, and all of it was high-quality grain, while loading the grain.

At this moment, Fang Bucun, the leader of the Zoroastrian Church, looked at Su Chi kneeling on the ground. He knew that all thirty-odd people he had taken with him had been arrested by the government. It would be a lie to say that he wasn't angry. But now was the time when he needed people, and he couldn't let his capable subordinates down.

Fang Bucun smiled and said, "Hall Master Su, you've worked hard. Although you lost some men this time, the information you brought is still very useful to us. You should go and rest now."

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, the Zoroastrian leader Fang La launched a rebellion, causing considerable trouble for the imperial court. Although Fang La was eventually defeated, the Zoroastrian sect continued its missionary work throughout various parts of China.

The Ming Cult's followers were diverse, including peasants, officials, scholars, outlaws, and notorious bandits, all of whom participated in Fang La's rebellion. The Fang La Rebellion occurred during the Song Dynasty, by which time the Ming Cult had changed its name and called itself the Ming Cult, and its followers all wore white clothing. This rebellion demonstrated the Ming Cult's influence in society at that time and the diversity of its followers.

This person, who claimed to be a descendant of Fang La, gathered some Zoroastrian followers and began preaching in the north, which was occupied by the Jurchens. At first, the Jurchens did not take them seriously. Just then, the Jurchens were about to wage war against the newly established Southern Song Dynasty, leaving their rear vulnerable and giving Zoroastrianism a space to grow.

Fang Bucun said to his subordinate leaders, "Tonight we will rest at the Wei River. After dawn, all our troops will attack Tangyin City. Once we take Tangyin, we can feast for a few days."

The subordinate leaders clapped their hands in agreement. They had plundered a lot of good things along the way, and each of them had more than a dozen young women in their tents.

At this time, the vanguard of the Zoroastrian sect outside Tangyin City was more like a group of ragged beggars than an army. These people carried sharpened wooden sticks with red ribbons tied to them as weapons. As for armor and shields, those were out of the question; only the core members of the Zoroastrian sect were qualified to possess such sophisticated weapons.

Magistrate Zhang Cheng stood anxiously on the city wall, looking at the refugees outside. He asked his advisor, "Have the men I sent out to request reinforcements returned?"

The advisor sighed, "Reporting to you, sir, there's still no movement. Should I send out another group of men?"

Zhang Cheng: "Hurry up and go! Our small, dilapidated town with low walls and few soldiers can't possibly withstand the onslaught of these rioters. Contact Chief Li of Li Family Village; he's probably the only one who can save us now."

Li Family Village was surrounded by hundreds of refugees, with the leaders shouting loudly.

“Listen up, you people inside! We are the Zoroastrians. If you know what’s good for you, open the door and take out your food, or we, the Zoroastrians, will wipe out your little mountain stronghold.”

They were met with a hail of arrows, but surprisingly, none of the refugees were injured; they were only forced to retreat a few steps.

"Damn it, you won't listen to reason, so here comes the punishment! Brothers, get them!"

Wang Changdao, holding the Longquan sword given to him by Li Zhen, looked at the approaching group of refugees and sneered, "A bunch of chickens and dogs, brothers, fire off some fireworks and let them taste the flavor of explosions."

After a barrage of fireworks, the refugees fled in terror, their leaders making a final, threatening vow to wipe out the Li family village.

Hearing the commotion, Li Zhen also went up to the stockade wall. Watching the departing refugees, he murmured, "The affairs of the world are bound to be divided and united in the long run. Now we are in a time of chaos, and it is these people who are suffering the most!"

Then he turned to Wang Changdao and said, "Tell the brothers to go down and eat meat. They've been standing here for ages, they must be starving."

Inside the stockade wall, two large pots of braised pork were steaming and bubbling inside. Wang Changdao's men were already craving it.

Not only that, Sister Wang, who was in charge of the canteen, came over with a large group of women carrying steaming hot buns. If it weren't for discipline, these boys would have pounced on them long ago.

Ignoring the flirtatious glances from his wife, Wang Changdao solemnly ordered his soldiers, "Divide into two teams, one for guard duty, the other for eating. After eating, the other team will take over."

After speaking, Wang Changdao walked straight up to a teenage soldier and said, "Xiao Ren, I'll take your place. You go and eat first."

The boy named Xiao Ren stubbornly said, "Team leader, no, I want to stand guard with everyone. It's not too late to eat in the second round."

This child, named Xiao Ren, was found by Wang Changdao during a bandit suppression mission. The villagers said his parents had been killed by bandits in the mountains, leaving only this child. Wang Changdao and Widow Zhang had been childless for a long time, so they adopted Xiao Ren as their son.

"Snapped!"

"Damn it, you're not listening to me anymore? Get down there and eat!"

Seeing this, Li Zhen took the child to the big pot and personally served him a large bowl of braised pork.

Looking at the bowl full of braised pork and the steaming hot bun in his hand, Xiao Ren felt he had never been so happy. Regardless of whether they were his godfather or godmother, even the village chief cared for him. At this moment, he would accept being called the chief's illegitimate son.

The villages surrounding Lijiazhai and Tangyin City suffered greatly. Countless families had their stored grain looted by the refugees, and countless innocent women were violated by the refugee leaders. The ordinary people could only accept this, because that was the way things were in this era.

The refugee caravan mixed the looted grain together and cooked it; it was more like pig swill than porridge. But when people are starving, they will eat anything; many refugees had even eaten human flesh, let alone this pig-swill-like porridge.

The minor leader who attacked Li Family Village has returned. He knelt before the Zoroastrian leader and recounted his ordeal.

The leader kicked the junior leader to the ground: "Didn't you tell him we're Zoroastrians?"

The leader swallowed hard and said, "I told them, but they said they were from the Sanqing Sect and specifically there to suppress our Zoroastrianism."

The sect leader stroked his sparse beard: "The Three Pure Ones Sect? Why does that sound so familiar?"