Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 154 Heavenly Mandate Flame Liu
South of Luoyang City.

On the banks of the Luo River.

There were more than three or four thousand people gathered.

Aristocratic families, powerful clansmen, wandering knights, commoners, and even tenant farmers and slaves who would rise early to vie for water for their masters' land—today, they have all abandoned the so-called distinctions of social status and are all crammed together.

The Kanto region is experiencing a severe drought, with not a drop of rain falling since February.

The once mighty Luo River, which was just a trickle yesterday, has now been reduced to a cracked riverbed and intermittent puddles upon waking today.

From royalty and nobility to the lowest commoners, faced with this ominous sign of divine retribution—the Luo River ceasing to flow—everyone invariably recalled the six-character prophecy that had been causing such a stir in recent months:

When the Luo River dries up, a sage will emerge.

The fruits of Luoyang are now truly as prophesied, withered and depleted.

Where is the sage mentioned in the prophecy?

The banks of the Luo River were bustling with activity, and opinions were divided.

"When the Luo River dried up, the Xia dynasty perished; when the Yellow River dried up, the Shang dynasty perished! Emperor Guangwu of the Later Han dynasty, Liu Xiu, ascended the throne on the Luo River. Today, the Luo River has dried up, which I see as a sign that the Han dynasty's fate is sealed!"

"Nonsense and far-fetched connections! The Han dynasty was founded in Bashu and flourished in Guanzhong. The Wei River in Guanzhong is abundant, but Guandong is suffering from a severe drought, and many rivers have dried up. This is a sign that the Han dynasty is about to rise and the Wei dynasty is about to fall!"

"I think you're the one spouting nonsense and making far-fetched connections! Since Liu Bei's death, the pseudo-Han dynasty has merely occupied a corner of Sichuan and Chongqing, living a life of ignominy and prolonging its existence. What ability do they have to restore the Mandate of Heaven?!"

After he finished speaking, the people around him cast strange, scrutinizing glances at him. Some kept their distance out of respect, while others showed their anger on their faces.

One of the men looked around and, seeing that most were commoners and no wealthy or powerful figures in fine clothes, sneered at the man with disdain:
"Where did you come from, you country bumpkin?"
Three months ago, the Han army split into two routes to launch a northern expedition against Cao Wei, one route entering Longyou and the other entering Guanzhong.

"Wei general Cao Zhen and right general Zhang He entered Guanzhong to quell the rebellion, but the Han emperor personally led the expedition and devised a plan to kill Cao Zhen!"
"Not only that, General Zhang He of the Right was also personally killed by the Emperor of Han!"

"I can tell you also have a Wanluo accent. How come you don't even know about such an important matter?"

The man was startled, his expression clearly showing he had never heard of such news before, but after a moment he stubbornly insisted:
So what?!

"Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. Didn't Xiahou Yuan, who once dominated Guanzhong, die at the hands of Liu Bei? But that didn't stop Emperor Wen from receiving the abdication!"
How do Cao Zhen and Zhang He compare to Xiahou Yuan? How does Liu Shan compare to Liu Bei?
"No matter what, the Great Wei occupies the land of the nine provinces, the center of the world. Even if General Cao Zhen and General Zhang He are both defeated and killed, Liu Shan will not be able to cause any trouble!"
"How dare you criticize the government? Aren't you afraid of being killed? I think you all have a death wish!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the men who had been arguing with him fell silent, their faces showing disgust, and dared not say another word.

Just then, several mud and stones flew out of nowhere from the crowd and hit the person who had just spoken up for Wei Chao.

He had just cried out a few times when suddenly everything went black as someone covered his head with a sack, then trampled and kicked him into the dried-up riverbed of the Luo River.

"You lackeys of Cao Wei! Ever since the Han Dynasty launched its northern expedition, there has been a drought in Guandong. Now even the Luo River near the capital of Cao Wei has dried up. And you still say that the Mandate of Heaven is with Wei!"

"That's right. If the Mandate of Heaven truly favored Wei, then the Guandong region shouldn't have suffered such a severe drought! Haven't you heard? The Guanxi and Bashu regions weren't affected at all!"

"Hmph, I see that Heaven truly despises Wei De! It's using this severe drought to punish the Wei Dynasty!"

"When the Luo River dries up, a sage will appear! Is there any need to say who this sage is?!"

"Could it be the emperor of the Wei Dynasty? It must be the emperor of the Han Dynasty without a doubt! Or perhaps it's Prime Minister Zhuge Liang of the Han Dynasty!"

"..."

The prophecy, "When the Luo River dries up, a sage will emerge," has spread like wildfire through the streets, fueled by months of severe drought.

Although forbidden by the Wei court, the Luo River indeed stopped flowing today as predicted, and those who came to watch after hearing the news disregarded the prohibition.

Could the imperial court possibly kill everyone here?
At this point, the best course of action for the Wei ruler would be to follow the example of the Former and Later Han dynasties by granting a general amnesty and demoting the three highest officials, or simply issue an edict of self-reproach, confessing to Heaven his sins of failing to implement benevolent governance.

Further killings will only incite public resentment and further anger Heaven, leading to even greater divine punishment.

Suddenly, a young swordsman speaking with a Nanyang accent stepped forward from the crowd, brandishing his sword and shouting:
"You may not know this, but I just rushed here from Wuguan in Nanyang the day before yesterday!"

"Wei Dynasty soldiers fled from Wuguan Pass, all saying that the Emperor of Han had personally donned armor a few days earlier, commanded the troops, and led his horse to kill the enemy, inflicting a great defeat on the Wei Dynasty's General of the Cavalry, Sima Yi, and his Jingyu army at Xinfeng!"

"Now, the Han Dynasty has recovered all of Guanzhong and restored its capital to Chang'an!"

The wandering swordsman's words were like a thunderclap exploding in a cold pool, stirring up a thousand waves.

After a brief silence, the surrounding area suddenly erupted into an even more turbulent roar.

"Is this true?"

"Even General Sima Yi has been defeated?!"

"To take over Guanzhong and restore the capital to Chang'an? If that's the case, wouldn't all that's left between the Han Dynasty and Luoyang be Tongguan Pass?!"

"This is outrageous! Ten years ago, General Guan flooded the seven armies in Xiangfan, which shook the Central Plains. Cao Wei then proposed to move the capital!"
"Now the Emperor of the Great Han has personally led the expedition and won one victory after another, recovering the old lands where the Great Han rose to power and the former capital of Chang'an. Once the news spreads throughout the world, its power will probably be no less than that of General Guan Yu when he flooded the seven armies and shook the Central Plains."

"But Cao Rui was far inferior to Cao Cao in his prime."

"Do you think the Wei court will bring up the idea of ​​moving the capital again?"

"Move the capital? Or perhaps it's better not to move the capital!"

"I was forcibly moved here from Ye City by Cao Pi back then!"
"Of the more than seventy members of the clan, only about forty survived to reach Luoyang!"
"We've only had a few years of peace. If the capital is really moved, Cao Wei will definitely not keep us in Luoyang, and we will probably suffer again."

"Suffering? Does that mean you won't suffer if you don't move the capital? This year's drought has lasted for more than three months; this is simply divine punishment sent upon Cao Wei!"

The swordsman, brandishing his sword, shouted again:

"Back then, Wang Mang used the pretext of abdication to usurp the Han throne, but in reality, he usurped the throne. When Emperor Guangwu raised an army to punish the traitor, a great drought followed!"
"Now Cao Wei is repeating Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han throne, and the Han emperor has raised an army to punish Cao, and a severe drought has struck again!"

"In truth, the Han dynasty belonged to the element of fire, and the mandate of heaven was for the Liu family, hence the severe drought and divine punishment that descended!"

These words, coupled with the wandering knight's earlier statement that the Han emperor had recovered Guanzhong and returned the capital to Chang'an, immediately caused a great uproar among the people who already believed in the Mandate of Heaven and prophecies.

How similar were Cao Wei and Wang Mang?
The Luo River, which has just stopped flowing, is surely the best proof that the Mandate of Heaven has returned to the Han Dynasty and that the Fire Virtue has punished the Cao Wei Dynasty!
Then a man who looked like a wealthy merchant shouted:
"When the Han and Wei dynasties were in abdication, a yellow dragon appeared in the Qiaopei Well. Wei then named its dynasty Huangchu, which is a result of the mutual generation of the five elements, with fire generating earth."

"Wei belongs to the Earth element, and Earth generates Metal."

"Isn't the one named Jin (金) precisely Liu, the one with the Mao Jin Dao (卯金刀)?!"

Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly realized what was happening.

The swordsman, brandishing his sword, shouted again:

"The Great Han Dynasty is associated with the element of fire, which generates earth, and metal inherits the destiny of earth!"

"Isn't this precisely the intention of Yan Liu to reclaim the Mandate of Heaven from Cao Wei?!"

For a moment, those who knew each other looked at each other in bewilderment.

I dare not make any rash statements.

But the sight of the Luo River drying up was right before their eyes, and they had heard that the Han Dynasty had recovered Guanzhong and established its capital in Chang'an. The saying that "Heaven has ordained the Liu family to bring drought and punish Wei" had already taken root in everyone's hearts.

At the outermost edge of the crowd, a child with his hair combed into two ram's horns raised his head.

Looking at a young woman of about thirty years old beside him, he asked in a childish voice:

“Aunt, the other day when Hu’er was reading history, he read about how Emperor Taizu of the Former Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, led his troops from Hanzhong, secretly crossed Chencang, and pacified the Three Qin regions.”

"Now the Han emperor is just like Liu Bang, who led his troops from Hanzhong, seized Guanzhong, and restored the capital to Chang'an. He truly has the momentum of his ancestor Liu Bang in pacifying the Three Qin regions."

The young boy's aunt was deep in thought and didn't immediately realize what her nephew had said. When she did, she turned pale.

But then they saw that Huiyu, the niece dressed as a teenager, had already covered the mouth of the young boy to prevent him from talking nonsense.

The woman with the thorn hairpin then whispered her reproach:
"Stop talking nonsense."

"Don't you know that trouble comes from the mouth?"

“If you keep talking nonsense like this, I will stop letting you study history and send you back to Mount Tai.”

Yang Hu nodded reluctantly.

Dressed as a teenager, his sister, who was seven years older than him, finally let go of his hand.

The siblings' grandfather was Yang Xu, the governor of Nanyang during the Han Dynasty. He was an honest and upright official, and the story of "Yang Xu hanging fish" became famous in his time.

Their father, Yang Dao, was the Prefect of Shangdang, a position with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain). Their mother was Cai Zhenji, the second daughter of the great Confucian scholar Cai Yong, and the younger sister of the talented Cai Zhaoji.

His uncle was Yang Dan, the Grand Master of Ceremonies of the court.

My aunt was the daughter of Xin Pi, the Commandant of the Guards.

Their family background is extremely distinguished, one could say it is extremely rare.

Yang Hu touched the two ram horns on his head:
"Auntie, that person just said that when Emperor Wen abdicated, a yellow dragon appeared in the Qiaopei Well... Is that true or false?"

Xin Xianying, fearing that Yang Hu would speak carelessly, said:

"Of course it's true."

Yang Hu paused for a moment upon hearing this, imagining what Huanglong looked like in his mind, and then asked:
How many people saw it?
Just how big is that well?

Is it as big as our well?
"Even if it's bigger than our well, Huanglong is still too small, isn't it?"
"And... sob sob sob."

The handsome young man standing behind Yang Hu remained silent, but his small hand reached out from behind him again and covered his younger brother's mouth tightly.

The young child was suffocated and struggled to breathe, using his hands and feet to move.

He was released after a moment, his face flushed, and he gasped for air, looking puzzled: "What are you doing, sister? What did I say wrong again?"

Behind him, a fourteen-year-old girl who looked like a teenager almost couldn't help but roll her eyes, but her good manners stopped her.

Xin Xianying said softly, "The fact that the yellow dragon was seen in the Qiaopei Well proves that it is a real dragon."

Upon hearing this and seeing this, Yang Hu and Yang Huiyu, the siblings, were both stunned, and both cast questioning glances at their aunt.

Xin Xianying smiled gently and said:
"Dragons can be large or small, can rise or hide."

"When it is large, it will stir up clouds and mist."

"When small, one should conceal one's form."

"Up it, and you will soar through the universe."

"Hidden, they lurk within the waves."

"Therefore, the appearance of the yellow dragon in the well proves that it is a real dragon."

Yang Hu's eyes lit up when he heard this:
“I understand what Auntie is saying!”
"This was written in the Records of Heroes by Wang Can and Wang Zhongxuan during the Jian'an period."

"Emperor Wu of Wei and Emperor Liu Bei of Shu Han once discussed heroes over wine in Xuchang."

"The dragon is comparable to the heroes of the world."

"A hero is one who has lofty ambitions, brilliant strategies, the capacity to encompass the universe, and the will to swallow the heavens and earth."

Yang Huiyu was so engrossed in listening that she forgot to cover her younger brother's mouth again.

Xin Xianying was also somewhat dazed as she listened, and a lot of things came to mind.

However, after walking for a short while, Yang Hu said again:

“But Aunt, I still think, why is Huanglong not seen in the fields, in the wilderness, or in the great rivers, but instead seen in a well? For a dragon, hiding in a dark well is too stifling.”

Yes, for a rare and precious dragon to be found in a well, this dragon is truly not magnificent at all.

Fortunately, by this time, Xin Xianying had already taken the young child, who was full of curiosity, a desire to explore, and a desire to express himself, away from the crowd.

Yang Huiyu was too lazy to cover her stinky younger brother's mouth anymore, and just wiped the drool on her hands onto her brother's clothes with some disgust.

In a daze, I suddenly remembered the poem that the great Confucian scholar Zhao Qi inscribed in his preface to Mencius:
He was killed by Cang Ji, and Liu Yan was not yet in power.

Cang corresponds to the Wood element in the Five Elements theory.

Cang Ji refers to Nuwa from ancient times.

In fact, it refers to the Zhou royal family with the surname Ji.

The poem means that the Zhou royal family's fate had run out and their destiny had ended, while the Han dynasty of Liu Yan had not yet risen.

That was the first time she had ever seen the name Yan Liu.

However, at that time, unlike the "Yan Liu" in the poem, the Yan Liu dynasty was nearing its end, and the mandate of heaven was being passed to Cao Wei.

The Taishan clan were Han officials for generations, receiving Han stipends and accumulating a total salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain).

By the time of her father, Yang Dao, eight generations had passed.

Suddenly, Yang became an official in Wei.

The belief that "one who receives a salary should die for his cause" shattered before her eyes.

She felt a sense of value collapse.

She wasn't the only one who felt this way.

When the news of Emperor Xian's abdication reached Mount Tai, many elders in the clan wept bitterly.

Even more so, those who were sent into the mountains, wearing clothes with the left side overlapping the right, cursed:

"These high-ranking officials, these mediocre Han ministers, are nothing but withered trees and decaying grass, devoid of any backbone!"

But these people are ultimately a minority.

She went to ask her father and mother.

Her father was talking to her about family interests, but she didn't quite understand at the time.

Her mother then told her that the mandate of heaven had changed, and that the sage kings Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang would rise to power.

She knew a thing or two about this from the book.

Regardless, the family tradition, coupled with the dramatic changes of the Han-Wei transition, left a deep imprint on her mind with the name "Yan Liu".

The wandering swordsman who had just brandished his sword and shouted again mentioned "Heavenly Mandate Flame Liu," which instantly brought many things to her mind.

Has the destiny of Yan Liu truly come to an end?
Will the abdication of the Cao Wei dynasty lead to a second Wang Mang?
Living in the home of her uncle, Yang Dan, the Grand Master of Ceremonies, she naturally had a better understanding of the war in Guanzhong than the people living along the Luo River.

She also keenly sensed that some of the elders in the family were having some unspoken disagreements behind the scenes.

Although I didn't see it with my own eyes or hear it with my own ears.

But she could guess that it was the elders in Luozhong who secretly instructed the main branch of the clan who remained in Mount Tai to send the Yang family members from the side branches to Guanzhong and Shuzhong to see how the situation of the Yan Liu Han Dynasty was.

She understands the importance of family interests now.

The Han emperor lay low for five years, cultivating an image of incompetence and tyranny in front of the people.

When he personally led the Northern Expedition, he displayed a thunderous and lightning-like force to the world.

If it doesn't make a sound, it's a blockbuster.

The dragon is said to be able to grow large or small, to rise or to hide.

On a grand scale, it can stir up clouds and mist; on a small scale, it can conceal itself and hide its form.

Ascending means soaring through the universe.

Hidden, they lurk within the waves.

The dragon, as a creature, can also be compared to the heroes of the world.

A hero is one who has lofty ambitions and brilliant strategies.

He possesses the potential to encompass the universe and the ambition to swallow the heavens and earth.

Where is the dragon?
Who is the hero?

(End of this chapter)