Ninety-Two Mighty Generals Assemble

By the time they returned to the border of Jinan, it was the season for spring plowing. After years of ravaging by the Witchcraft Cult, the once-turbulent kingdom of Jinan had been transformed under the rule of the Church of the Holy Mother led by Luan Yi. Order had replaced chaos, and prosperity blossomed everywhere.

In the fields, farmers worked with diligence, singing lovely ballads in praise of the Holy Mother as they bent to the earth. Their faces were still turned to the soil and their backs to the sky, just as they had always been, yet their hearts were utterly changed. One could see that much from the smiles that never seemed to fade from their faces that day.

They smiled because the land, though still technically in the hands of the landlords, now carried a rent far lower than in any year past.

They smiled because every household had grain in reserve and a surplus at year’s end; this New Year, every family had celebrated with fine rice and white flour. With full bellies, they had the strength to work.

They smiled because the women at home had used the leftover money and grain to buy cloth in the county town, making new clothes for everyone in the family. That was the sort of life worth living.

They smiled because, years ago, there had been nothing to break the monotony of farm labor and village life. Now things were different: the priest in the village Bible study group preached every day, sometimes teaching them to read scripture, sometimes telling stories. Life had become rich and varied.

They smiled because when the children reached school age, they could attend the church in town. There they could study and learn to read. For peasants like them, that had once been an unimaginable dream. With knowledge and literacy, perhaps their descendants would no longer have to depend on the heavens for their bread year after year.

There were countless other reasons to smile from the heart, countless more besides. In any case, even those most hostile to the Church of the Holy Mother throughout Jinan had to admit that ever since the church had flourished there, life for the people had truly grown better and better.

Beyond the farmers in the fields, merchant caravans came and went ceaselessly along the imperial road leading to Licheng County.

Rows upon rows of carts and horses stretched into the distance, too many to see the end.

Some carried ore, stone, timber, and other raw materials; others transported golden, silver, and bronze ornaments; still others bore furniture, glassware, decorations, and the products of every craft imaginable.

Commerce there was so prosperous that it even surpassed the thriving lands of Xu Province and Jing Province.

Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Huang Zhong were astonished by the sight. They quietly reckoned that Jinan Kingdom, obscure as it was and tucked deep within the mountains, had once counted as a barren backwater under the Han Empire. Its present wealth and abundance must surely be tied to Luan Yi.

After traveling several more miles, they saw a convoy emerging from around the far side of the mountains: a vast merchant caravan with more than thirty large wagons and over two hundred guards. The wagons were loaded with furniture and the like, and here and there with books wrapped in oiled cloth.

Mounted on the first carriage was a great banner. Unlike the custom of the Han, it bore no writing or painting at all. Instead, against a white field, thick red thread had been used to embroider a horizontal and a vertical line crossing one another into a great cross.

Huang Zhong did not understand and asked Luan Yi about the banner’s origin.

Luan Yi smiled and replied, “This is the sacred banner of the Church of the Holy Mother. To see it is to see the Holy Mother herself. It is the symbol of the church!”

With that, he flicked his whip and rode toward the caravan. From far away he spotted Wu Tian among the merchants. It turned out that this caravan was being personally led by Wu Tian.

When Wu Tian saw Luan Yi return, he was overjoyed. With a broad grin, he waved and shouted, “The Chief is back! The Chief has returned!” He then leaped down from his horse, stood rigidly upright, raised his right arm high at a forty-five-degree angle, and kicked his right heel against his left in a textbook Nazi salute. Of course, this manner of greeting had now been adopted by Luan Yi into the Church of the Holy Mother and renamed the church salute. Wu Tian called out loudly, “Wu Tian pays respects to the Chief!”

The more than two hundred other church guards likewise copied Wu Tian’s salute to greet Luan Yi. Two hundred men striking their heels at once produced a crisp, unified crack, an imposing display indeed.

“Greetings, brothers! No need for ceremony!” Luan Yi answered, likewise lifting his right hand in a perfunctory salute.

Only then did the crowd lower their hands.

“Brother Wu Tian, where are you delivering goods?” Luan Yi asked.

“Reporting to the Chief,” Wu Tian said. “A while ago, the Mi family of Xu Province sent people to place an order with us, and I’m taking the goods to them now.”

“Oh? Xu Province? The Mi family?” Luan Yi mused. Xu Province was not far from Jinan; a round trip would take three months at most. “The southern border of Jinan has been less than peaceful lately. You should hurry there and back.”

“Yes, sir!” Wu Tian cupped his fists. “Rest assured, Chief. I will return as soon as I can.”

He cast a glance at the burly men standing behind Luan Yi and asked, “Chief, and these gentlemen are...”

“These?” Luan Yi said with a smile. “These are my sworn brothers. The second brother is Guan Yu, styled Yunchang. The third is Zhang Fei, styled Yide. That one is Huang Zhong, styled Hansheng. They have all answered the call of the Holy Mother and now serve as knights of the church. As for this one...” He pointed at Shan Fu, who was using the name Xu Shu, and laughed. “This is my former classmate, surnamed Shan, given name Fu. He now goes by Xu Shu, styled Yuanzhi, and serves temporarily as the Cardinal of Discipline.”

“Oh? So this is the gifted savior, Mr. Shan Fu in person?” Wu Tian exclaimed, both startled and delighted. “Wu Tian is honored, honored indeed! Please accept this humble one’s bow!” He first returned a scholarly bow to the ground, then suddenly remembered that since Shan Fu was now also a man of the church, such a gesture violated church propriety. He straightened at once, raised his right arm high, and shouted, “Wu Tian, Archbishop of the Jinan Diocese, pays respects to the Cardinal of Discipline!”

The two hundred church guards nearby, hearing Wu Tian address him as cardinal, immediately understood that this seemingly frail scholar before them was in fact one of the church’s twelve cardinals, second only to the Chief in authority, and responsible for the church’s armed protection and punitive campaigns abroad. They promptly composed their expressions and bowed with great respect.

“Greetings to the Cardinal of Discipline!”

Wu Tian and the two hundred others saluting together startled Xu Shu badly. Faced with their synchronized gesture, he was utterly at a loss, unable to tell whether he should bow in return or simply lift his hand and touch his heel as they had done. Embarrassed beyond measure, he could only grin foolishly.

Luan Yi stepped in to relieve Xu Shu of his awkwardness and asked Wu Tian, “By the way, before I left, I asked you and Li Zhuang to find some people for me. Have you found them?”

“Would the Chief still doubt Wu Tian’s work?” Wu Tian said proudly. “You mean Changshan’s Zhao Zilong, Xu Zhongkang from Qiao County in Qiao Commandery, and the divine physician Hua Tuo, don’t you? Found them. All of them found!”

At Wu Tian’s words, Luan Yi was overjoyed. He asked impatiently, “Oh? How did you persuade them to come to Jinan? Tell me everything.”

Wu Tian told the story in detail.

It turned out that Qiao County in Qiao Commandery was not far from Jinan at all, and the Church of the Holy Mother even maintained an unofficial Bible study group there. By unofficial Bible study group, it was meant that the person responsible for spreading the faith was not a cleric sent by the church, but a devout believer who had willingly founded and run it on his own.

For that reason, the Church of the Holy Mother was hardly unfamiliar to the people of Qiao County, and it had many followers there. The tiger-like brute Xu Chu was one of them.

So when Wu Tian personally went to Qiao County and told Xu Chu that the Holy Mother had called him to join the church as a knight of the faith, Xu Chu agreed without hesitation. Not only did he swear to devote all his strength to defending the glory of the Holy Mother, he also declared that he would move his entire clan to the sacred land of Jinan and weld more than three hundred men of his lineage into an iron wall guarding the holy church.

And so Xu Chu and his people were easily brought to Jinan by Wu Tian.

After that, Wu Tian used the same method to visit Donglai and invite Taishi Ci. Taishi Ci had long heard Luan Yi’s name, and with a letter of earnest invitation from Kong Rong, the Prefect of Beihai, he agreed on the spot and returned to Jinan with his aged mother in tow.

Compared with Wu Tian’s ease, Mao Jie had to expend far more effort on his journey to invite Zhao Yun from Changshan in Ji Province. At first, Mao Jie also tried to use the lie of the Holy Mother’s call to bring Zhao Yun over.

But Zhao Yun refused to believe any of it. He invoked the saying of Master Kong that one should “respect spirits and gods, but keep them at a distance,” and said plainly that he did not believe in any Holy Mother and had no intention of going west. His tone was icy and unyielding. Had Mao Jie not been a man of some renown, he might already have been thrown out the door.

When that stratagem failed, Mao Jie had no choice but to use Plan B. He produced an imperial order from the kingdom of Jinan, written plainly on white paper and sealed with the Jinan royal seal, conscripting Zhao Yun to serve as an official in Jinan.

Brandishing this move, Mao Jie had initially been full of confidence, thinking that this time Zhao Zilong would have no choice but to return to Jinan with him. Yet Zhao Yun did not even think twice before tearing the summons to pieces and making his position clear: he would not answer the order.

That left Mao Jie thoroughly stumped. He could hardly seize Zhao Yun by force and drag him back; Zhao Yun was a formidable warrior, and even if he tried, he would not be Zhao Yun’s match. In short, there was nothing he could do.

Before leaving, Luan Yi had specifically instructed him that Zhao Zilong of Changshan must be brought over. Now that both A and B had failed, what was he to do?

With nowhere else to turn, Mao Jie could only deploy his final weapon: offering his charms.

Of course, the target of his charms was certainly not Zhao Yun. Though Mao Jie was carefree, he was not so carefree as to turn his attentions to a man. The person in his heart was someone else entirely: Zhao Yun’s only younger sister, Zhao Yu.

As for Zhao Yu, Mao Jie had once caught a glimpse of her when meeting Zhao Yun. Her appearance need hardly be mentioned; one glance at Zhao Yun’s handsome face was enough to imagine the beauty of his sister. More importantly, at the moment their eyes met, Mao Jie felt deeply that Zhao Yu admired him.

Later, as Mao Jie deliberately sought contact with Zhao Yu, that impression proved true: she had indeed long admired his talent. In her boudoir were hidden many beautiful pictures painted by Mao Jie, along with numerous poems he had written, painstakingly copied in her delicate hand. The pictures, though all forgeries, spoke for her feelings more clearly than words could.

Knowing this, Mao Jie had a plan in mind. He launched a furious pursuit. With line after line of love poetry and picture after picture of beauty, he swiftly conquered Zhao Yu’s heart. And in the course of their meetings, Mao Jie gradually fell in love with this devoted admirer as well, and the two sank into a deep web of affection.

Within only a few days, Mao Jie took the initiative and came to propose marriage to Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun knew Mao Jie to be upright and exceptionally talented, a man praised by the world as a prodigy sent to save all under heaven. If his sister could find such a match, he was naturally more than willing, and agreed at once.

From then on, the Zhao family and the Mao family were tied together like grasshoppers on the same rope. In the days that followed, Mao Jie and Zhao Yu took turns telling Zhao Yun how wonderful Jinan was and how the Church of the Holy Mother helped people turn toward goodness, until his ears were practically calloused from hearing it. In the end, he had no choice but to cross the Yellow River with them.

At first, Zhao Yun had thought Mao Jie had been exaggerating the wonders of Jinan all along. But after arriving there and seeing how the people of Jinan actually lived, he came to feel from the bottom of his heart that the lives of Jinan’s common folk were even happier than Mao Jie had claimed.

He could not help but quietly hope that if all the people of the Han Empire could live as those in Jinan did, each tilling his own land, each worker having work, every household with surplus grain and every year with savings, how wonderful that would be.