242: Fifth Incarnation: Heavenly Physician (Thirty-Four)

Similar scenes were quickly replicated at several of the largest refugee gathering points outside Hejian Prefecture City.

The 'Talisman Water' of the Way of Great Peace was like a desert spring, spreading frantically along the edge of death. Every distribution was a silent sermon.

The refugees who drank the 'Talisman Water' not only remembered the taste of the food but also deeply ingrained the words 'Way of Great Peace', 'Grand Teacher of Great Peace', and 'Heaven does not help those who do not help themselves,' as well as the cold reality of the government forcing them into a dead end.

The news grew wings, flying back to the Capital and in all directions.

The deeds of the Way of Great Peace providing relief to the disaster victims in Hejian using 'Talisman Water' caused an unprecedented sensation and longing among the common people at the bottom of society.

More and more desperate people began to inquire about the Way of Great Peace, attempting to join. The Way of Great Peace organizations in the Capital and other provinces were also greatly encouraged; various forms of 'mutual aid' and 'self-rescue,' inspired by the 'Talisman Water' experience, became more flexible and bold.

Liu Dehai, the Prefect of Hejian, soon caught wind of this and was flying into a rage.

"Demonic Daoists! How dare they use Talisman Water to bewitch the refugees and gather crowds to defy the law!"

He mobilized bailiffs and soldiers, aggressively charging toward the refugee gathering sites, intending to destroy the porridge sheds and arrest the 'demonic Daoists.'

However, when they arrived, what they often saw were only the dying embers of cooking fires and, amidst the mess on the ground, Zhao Tiezhu and others being shielded by the refugees, who glared back at them.

Though the refugees were emaciated, they were numerous, and their eyes burned with a flame ignited by the 'Talisman Water'—a mixture of gratitude and resentment.

"The government is coming to steal our life-saving food again!"

"The Way of Great Peace saves us, yet you come to arrest them! Is there no justice left in heaven!"

"Fight them to the death! We'll starve to death anyway!"

"..."

Public indignation boiled over, and the bailiffs and soldiers were surrounded, caught in a dilemma.

Arrest them by force?

It would likely trigger a large-scale civil uprising immediately.

Liu Dehai, hesitant to act for fear of collateral damage, could only roar with blustering bravado in the end, smashing a few empty pots before retreating dejectedly.

Every such confrontation caused the prestige of the Way of Great Peace to climb another notch in the hearts of the refugees, while the government's authority vanished completely.

In the Capital, Xu Yuan received report after report from Zhao Tiezhu, calmly recording them in his intelligence ledger:

"Hejian's Talisman Water saves lives and wins hearts. Hungry bellies are the paper, despair is the ink; what is written is no talisman, but a map of the people's loyalty. Government bans have become a joke; I now hold the banner of benevolence and righteousness. Though grass is soft, gathered together it becomes a plain; where the sparks fall, a prairie fire may start."

Xu Yuan looked toward Hejian, as if he could see the countless lives sustained by the 'Talisman Water' and the faint but stubborn light rekindled in their eyes.

The sparks of the 'Talisman Water' in Hejian Prefecture, carried by the mouths of traveling refugees and peddlers, wrapped in resentment toward the government and gratitude for the 'Way of Great Peace,' blew back to the Capital like an invisible wind. It reached the ears of countless poor people struggling on the poverty line and, more importantly, into the hearts of those with intentions.

Xu Yuan sat in the Capital, as steady as a rock.

Through Xiao Qi's already more finely woven intelligence network, he keenly captured the subtle fluctuations in the Capital's grain market caused by the situation in Hejian, border pressures, and internal court infighting.

Several major grain merchants with deep backgrounds seemed to scent danger and began to withhold stock and hoard; meanwhile, the pressure on the government to procure grain to ensure the stability of the Capital and potential military needs increased sharply.

"It is time to make these waters even muddier."

Xu Yuan gave his orders to A Niu and Xiao Qi.

Soon, some inconspicuous changes appeared in several key grain distribution centers and small towns around the Capital.

Those among the Way of Great Peace believers who were originally engaged in small-scale grain transport or had close ties with laborers and docks began to act 'spontaneously.'

They did not confront the authorities openly but used their familiarity with local conditions and the grassroots mutual aid network to perform subtle disruptions.

A batch of waterborne grain scheduled for a certain government warehouse was delayed by three days due to an 'accidental' dispute among boatmen and unloading delays—and these three days happened to coincide with a sensitive period for grain prices.

At another government-designated procurement point, the cheap grain circulating in the market suddenly became 'scarce,' having been bought up in small lots by 'uncooperative' peddlers who claimed it was for 'village mutual aid, hoarding a bit of life-saving grain.'

Furthermore, rumors that 'a certain government warehouse is actually already empty' and 'procurement officials are pocketing money and substituting quality with inferior goods' spread like wildfire among the porters and laborers, accompanied by stories of the 'government stealing grain' in Hejian Prefecture.

These seemingly isolated and accidental small events, when gathered together, produced an unexpected amplification effect.

Government procurement became less smooth, and costs quietly rose; grain prices in the market, already high, showed even more unsettling subtle tremors. Although it was far from shaking the Foundations, that feeling that 'nothing is going right' and 'even eating is becoming difficult' eroded the last bit of trust the ordinary people of the Capital had in the imperial court like a slow poison, highlighting the government's incompetence.

Meanwhile, another net was quietly tightening—the net of public opinion.

Xu Yuan personally drafted several nursery rhymes and prophecies and gave them to Xiao Qi to spread through the networks of peddlers, beggars, street performers, and teahouse storytellers. These verses were more obscure, yet they struck directly at the heart:

"The Capital's Earth Qi shifts, the plague travels west; if you ask when it will end, the carriage of Great Peace rings."

"Rice in the East Market, firewood in the West, tears of blood in the South City, and sorrow in the North; suddenly a blue bird arrives with a letter, only then knowing from whence spring comes."

"In the Golden Throne Hall, the candle shadows are red, but they cannot see the frozen bones in the ditches; better a bowl of porridge in a thatched hut, warming the tears of the poor like pearls."

These rhyming, easy-to-sing verses, mixed with anecdotes of miraculous cures and government scandals, replicated and spread rapidly through the lower classes like a virus.

They did not directly call for rebellion, but bit by bit, they peeled away the legitimacy of the old order, silently binding 'Great Peace' with 'hope,' and the 'government' with 'suffering.'

Just as these undercurrents surged and Xu Yuan was methodically advancing his strategy of 'cutting flesh with a blunt knife,' an uninvited guest delivered a visiting card through an unexpected channel.

The card was extremely simple, with no signature, only a line of text: 'Having heard of your great righteousness, I wish to plan great matters. Tonight at midnight, at the abandoned brick kiln west of the city, I shall boil tea and wait to discuss the rise and fall together.'

The person who delivered the card was actually a trusted believer sent back from Hejian by Zhao Tiezhu, who claimed that while active in Hejian, he had been stopped by a 'gentleman' of extraordinary bearing.

Xu Yuan looked at the visiting card, his gaze deep.

In his heart, he already had a faint suspicion.

The other participants... have finally come to the door directly.

Moreover, looking at this posture, the one coming is likely not someone like 'Young Master Wang' who relies on the system, but rather a figure who has also chosen the route of 'overthrowing the old dynasty' and has already established a certain Foundation.

The fact that the opponent could find the trail of the Way of Great Peace in Hejian and accurately deliver a message clearly showed they had also established a certain intelligence network.