107 people are in the environment.

Luan Yi rose, clasped his hands behind his back, and said, “Everyone! The realm is presently in chaos. The Yellow Turban rebels run rampant for thousands of miles, and their crimes are too grave for Heaven to tolerate!”

“Indeed! How could such monstrous criminals be spared? Only their deaths could ease the hatred in my heart!” Zhang Fei declared angrily.

“However…” Luan Yi changed tack. “Is the chaos of the realm the fault of the common soldiers? Of those petty rebel officers? I believe not. The captains, lieutenants, soldiers, and rankers among the Yellow Turbans are all ordinary commoners. Born into a chaotic age, they seek nothing more than a miserable chance to survive. Yet with the times in turmoil, the imperial court benighted, and the great clans and powerful families insatiably greedy—seizing land by force and extorting wealth without limit—the common people have been left unable to live. Even dogs and swine understand the instinct to survive. How, then, could the common people, the spirit of all creation, fail to understand it? With no choice but to stake their lives in the hope of survival, they were incited by the three Zhang brothers to take up arms, foolishly hoping that their own two fists might win them a narrow place to live in this world.

Luan Yi swept his gaze across the assembly before continuing. “I have spoken at such length for only one reason: to tell you that people are products of their surroundings, and that human life exists within an environment. When a person shaped by his circumstances commits a crime, we cannot place all the blame upon him. The environment bears great responsibility as well. And what is this environment? It is the family, the state, and the world. Whether husband and wife live in harmony, whether a clan has provisions in reserve, whether a village is peaceful, whether the magistrate is incorruptible… whether the governance of the realm is clear and just—all these are elements of one’s environment. By this reasoning, the thirty thousand captured Yellow Turban soldiers are not the culprits behind the chaos of the realm. They were driven to this by circumstance and forced into it by their surroundings. They too are victims of this troubled age, and the suffering they have endured may even surpass ours, and that of the people of Jinan. We should not punish them for their crimes. Rather, we should comfort and protect them.”

“This…” Xu Chu was dumbfounded. “According to the Patriarch, are Zhang Jue, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang the true culprits?”

“Precisely!” Luan Yi replied. “Along with the principal leaders of the Yellow Turbans in every region. So long as these villains are executed, the hearts of the people may be settled, and the realm may be pacified. Of course, even as we recognize the wickedness of Zhang Jue and the others, we must also reflect upon ourselves. What drove the common people into desperate straits and forced them to join the ranks of those who raised the standard of revolt? This is connected to the corrupt administration of the present court and the tyranny of the great clans and noble families. In this matter, they too bear responsibility. They are the hidden hands that set the beacons of war ablaze.”

“The Ten Attendants!” Zhao Yun thought of those eunuchs, and his teeth began to ache with hatred.

“The Wei family of Hebei!” Xu Shu, meanwhile, could not forget the great clan that had driven him from place to place.

“But…”

Seeing that Xu Chu was about to offer another protest, Luan Yi raised a hand and interrupted him.

“In ancient times, the Holy Mother created the world in seven days. On the sixth day, she created us—human beings. Why did the Holy Mother create us? Why did she grant us wisdom, making us cleverer than birds, beasts, and livestock, and elevating us above all other living things? Why did she teach us to farm and hunt?”

Luan Yi’s deep eyes passed over the faces of those present. Seeing their bewilderment, he answered his own question.

“Because our goddess, the Mother in Heaven, wished the world she had created with her own hands to become beautiful, for all things to exist in harmony, and for the realm to become one—an earthly paradise like Heaven itself. Thus, in her own image, she created us, so that we might serve as her representatives among mortals, govern all things in her stead, and bring prosperity to the world for her. Yet what have we done? Hmm?”

Everyone in the hall wore a look of shame.

Luan Yi answered for them. “We have rebelled. We have rebelled against the one and only goddess of the Chinese people, the Divine Mother who created countless ancestors of our nation… Slaughter. Endless slaughter. The great Mother of the Gods, the merciful Holy Mother, the all-embracing Holy Mother, yearns for beauty! No—she is beauty itself. She created truth, goodness, and beauty with her own hands, and nothing does she hate more than killing. She longs for all living things to coexist in peace and live and work in contentment. To make such a life possible for us, she even expended her divine power to mend our faults and repair the breach in Heaven. Yet what have we done? Let us count the history of our people: slaughter, slaughter, slaughter. The dead have piled up like mountains.

“The Holy Mother could not bear to see the people of this world continue to suffer the agony of slaughter. Therefore, she manifested herself before me and entrusted me with the divine way, so that I might spread its principles, proclaim her gospel, and drive slaughter from the human world forever. As her faithful servant and the Patriarch of the Holy Mother Church, how could I betray the solemn trust she has placed in me? If we are to proclaim beauty and banish slaughter, how could we cruelly butcher these unarmed Yellow Turban soldiers who have surrendered?”

When he finished, Zhao Yun’s eyes were red with emotion. He clasped his fists and said, “The Holy Mother is merciful and benevolent! The Patriarch is a man of profound righteousness. Yun is filled with admiration.”

Luan Yi threw back his head and laughed. “The Holy Mother’s benevolence is indeed real. As for me, I merely act according to the Holy Mother’s principles. I am hardly a man of profound righteousness. Besides…” He looked Zhao Yun up and down. “Zilong is now a commander in the church’s army. Since you are a member of the church, you should observe the church’s rites.”

Zhao Yun suddenly understood and said apologetically, “I nearly forgot!”

With that, he stood rigidly upright, struck his right heel against his left, raised his right hand at a forty-five-degree angle, lifted his head, and cried, “The Holy Mother is benevolent!”

“That is better. Sit down.” Luan Yi lowered himself into his chair first. “Now, I assume none of our elder brothers has any objection to sparing the surrendered soldiers?”

Zhang Fei hesitated. “Throughout Yan, Qing, and Ji Provinces, those Yellow Turban rebels slaughtered our Holy Mother believers whenever they encountered them. They spared neither the elderly nor women and children. But now our Holy Mother army has captured these wicked Yellow Turbans, and instead of avenging the dead, we are treating them well and allowing them to live. Old Zhang truly cannot accept this.”

“I understand your feelings, Zhongkang.” Luan Yi nodded sympathetically. “Seven hundred years ago, our church’s prophet and holy disciple, Confucius, received divine favor and was enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Thus he founded a school of learning that has endured through the ages—the Confucian school. In the Confucian classic known as the Analects, it is said, ‘Do not impose upon others what you yourself do not desire,’ and also, ‘Repay resentment with virtue.’ We would not wish others to kill our wives and children; how then could we do such a thing to surrendered Yellow Turban soldiers?

“Furthermore, Scripture says that all people were created by the Holy Mother. In other words, we all share the same origin; we all came from the Holy Mother. To a certain extent, this means that all people are bound by deep ties of blood. We are one another’s uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters. If we are kin, how can we wage war upon one another?

“Of course, it is true that the Yellow Turban army attacked and killed the Holy Mother’s disciples. They did so because they had never listened to the divine gospel, did not believe in the existence of God, and did not know that all people sprang from the same root and shared the same blood. Some among them were also bewitched by demons, turning their backs on human nature and plunging into the abyss of sin. Thus did people come to slaughter one another.”

Luan Yi glanced at the thoughtful faces before him and said solemnly, “This is precisely why I traveled all the way from Yingchuan to Jinan to establish the Holy Mother Church: to spread the divine gospel. I will become a lampstand, using my feeble light to kindle the lamps within the hearts of the people. I will make those who do not know of God know Him, and those who do not believe in God believe in Him, until the final moment when my wick is consumed.

“I will become a sword in the Holy Mother’s hand upon this earth—the Sword of Judgment. With my own hot blood, I will cast forth a cold gleam, drive away the demons and the wicked men seduced by them, expel them from the human world, and send them back to Hell. This is my mission, and the mission of every believer in the Holy Church.”

His words set everyone’s blood ablaze. They shouted in unison, “May we become Swords of Judgment and drive out the demons!”

Joy shone across Luan Yi’s face. He rose and lifted his wine bowl. “Come. Let us drink deeply to our shared ideal.”

“Excellent!”

After draining their bowls, Luan Yi discussed at length with Xu Shu and Mao Jie how the thirty thousand surrendered soldiers should be settled. In the end, they decided to keep them temporarily in Jinan. Under the Holy Field system, church-owned farmland would be leased to them for cultivation, while those with useful skills could work in the Luan family’s furniture workshops, stoneworks, and other enterprises.

Naturally, they would not be permitted to enter the church’s own workshops. Their backgrounds remained unclear, after all, and if they happened to leak technical secrets, Luan Yi’s losses would be immense.

At the same time, Luan Yi ordered Mao Jie to send more servants of the gods deep among the surrendered soldiers. He also dispatched an urgent message to Zheng Hun, master craftsman of the church workshops, instructing the printing house to work through the night and urgently print a batch of introductory copies of the Holy Mother Scripture. Each surrendered soldier was to receive a copy, allowing the gospel to be preached among them on a broad scale. The aim was to bring them into the church as soon as possible, draw them into the embrace of the Holy Mother, and make them members beneath the great banner of the Crimson Cross.

Once all matters had been settled, the sky had begun to darken, and it was time for the gathering to disperse.

As everyone exchanged farewells, a mounted scout arrived with a report: thirteen miles away, signs had been found that a merchant caravan had been attacked and plundered.

Luan Yi immediately guessed that the raiders could be none other than Zhu Ying, and he was overjoyed. Beneath that secret delight, however, his anger surged as well. In the eyes of the world, Jinan was his territory. If he could not even protect merchants passing through his own lands, what face would he have to open his gates to trade as the host?

He ground his teeth and asked, “Do we know which caravan was attacked?”

The guard raised his hand in salute, bowed, and replied, “Reporting to the Patriarch! The caravan appears to have come from Hebei. The character ‘Zhen’ was written on the flags atop the wagons.”

“Hebei? Zhen?”

“Precisely!”

“Could it truly be them?”

Only then did Luan Yi remember that, the previous year, when he had gone to Zhuo Commandery in You Province in search of Zhang Fei, he had encountered an old man named Zhen Po. The old man had claimed to be the steward of the Zhen family and expressed a desire to establish trade relations with Luan Yi and purchase a quantity of glassware.

At the time, Luan Yi had been in the midst of traveling and had no time to discuss matters with him in detail, so he had asked the man to come to Jinan after spring began. Yet unexpectedly, spring plowing had already passed, and the other party had still not arrived. Something must have delayed him, forcing him to postpone his journey until late spring, when the realm was in turmoil.

As fortune would have it, the Yellow Turban rebels had invaded Jinan, Zhu Ying had suffered a crushing defeat and fled, and, short of money and provisions, had resorted to evil. He had ruthlessly attacked and plundered the caravan.

“Were there any survivors?” Luan Yi asked.

“Reporting to the Patriarch: more than twenty corpses were left at the scene, most of them caravan guards. However, judging from the footprints we examined, the caravan should have numbered nearly a hundred people, making it quite substantial. The raiders also numbered more than a hundred. After the attack began, the caravan fought its way out of the encirclement and fled eastward toward the great river. After gathering the plunder, the bandits also headed east in pursuit. It is likely that the caravan had a vessel moored by the river, and the raiders intend to kill them, seize the boat, and escape to Hebei.”

“Very good! Reward him with one hundred taels of silver and two bolts of silk.”

“Thank you, Patriarch!”

Luan Yi knew that the Zhen family was one of the wealthiest households in Ji Province, as well as the Luan family’s greatest client there, both in the past and in the future. Since the Zhen family’s caravan had met disaster in Jinan, he, Luan Yi, had to do everything in his power to rescue them.