Liu Hong: Do you take Imperial We for a fool?

Inside the ornate palace, Liu Hong, wearing the Heaven-Reaching Crown and clad in a dark, mysterious robe with jade ornaments hanging from his waist, wore a ferocious expression.

He walked step by step toward Zuo Feng, who was kneeling on the floor, then suddenly raised his leg and kicked him hard, sending Zuo Feng tumbling to the ground.

Zuo Feng dared not cry out in pain; he scrambled to his feet and scurried on his knees back to Liu Hong, pressing his forehead to the ground. "Your Majesty, every word this slave has spoken is the truth! I would never dare to deceive you!"

Liu Hong laughed in a fit of rage. "God Huang Tian! Sovereign Yellow Absolute! Heh, heh, heh! Do you take Imperial We for a fool?!"

He had read the Great Peace Scripture, the scripture of the Yellow Turban Army.

"The Three Bonds and Six Disciplines are the source of longevity," "Words of loyalty and filial piety do not lose the heart of Heaven and Earth," "The people's duty is to cultivate the fields and manage livelihoods for the state and the nobility," "The ruler's duty is to oversee the fields and manage livelihoods"...

Every single sentence was teaching an emperor how to govern, telling the commoners they must be submissive; it was nothing like a seditious text.

This was why Liu Hong had pardoned Zhang Jiao after he was captured during his first rebellion; he simply did not believe that the esteemed Great Virtuous Teacher would ever launch an uprising for a group of mud-legged peasants.

It was not until the second time—this current instance—that Zhang Jiao raised his troops again, with hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans swarming across the world, that Liu Hong panicked and hurriedly dispatched troops to suppress them.

Even so, he still did not believe the Great Peace Scripture was a seditious book.

Moreover, the book rarely mentioned ghosts or gods; the so-called "Holy Venerable Huang Tian" and "Sovereign Yellow Absolute" were nowhere to be found in it, existing only in the mouths of the Yellow Turban soldiers.

How could Liu Hong believe such ghost stories about the reincarnation of God Huang Tian?

Zuo Feng wept until his tears and snot flowed together. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, do you not know what kind of person this slave is? This slave is the most cowardly of men; how could I ever dare to deceive you!"

Hearing this, Liu Hong suppressed the anger in his heart and gradually calmed down.

Yet, long-term indulgence in wine and women made this supreme ruler of the Han Empire, only in his twenties, look somewhat pale and physically depleted.

He took a deep breath and said slowly, "Did you see God Huang Tian with your own eyes?"

Zuo Feng shook his head. "No. I had just arrived in Lieren when I encountered General Lu and the others fleeing in defeat. I heard about this matter from them. I did not believe it at first, but after questioning them closely, I slowly began to believe it. The terror on the faces of those broken soldiers could not be feigned..."

"In other words, you did not see this so-called god with your own eyes?" Liu Hong repeated.

"No," Zuo Feng said, shrinking his body. "I intended to go to Guangzong myself to gather intelligence, but General Lu and the others desperately stopped me. I thought that if I died in Guangzong, who would be left to report back to Your Majesty? So, I returned to Luoyang immediately."

Liu Hong snorted coldly.

He could clearly tell that Zuo Feng was merely cowardly and afraid of death, which was why he dared not go to Guangzong, but now was not the time to dwell on that.

He pondered for a moment and asked, "Has the army under Lu Zhi truly been completely wiped out?"

Zuo Feng answered honestly, "They are all gone. Only fewer than two hundred cavalry remain."

Liu Hong slapped the desk in hatred. "Twenty thousand troops! Twenty thousand troops!"

Regardless of whether the Yellow Heaven Holy Infant was real or fake, Liu Hong was certain that the twenty thousand elites he had painstakingly gathered had been thrown away in one go by Lu Zhi, which made him furious to the extreme.

"Get out! Get out!" Liu Hong pointed at Zuo Feng and roared.

Zuo Feng kowtowed several times, then rolled out of the palace like a gourd.

Liu Hong returned to his couch and sat down, picking up the several battle reports on the desk.

"Zhu Jun is still attacking Wan City and cannot take it after so long. Useless! Idiot!"

"Huangfu Song is battling the Moth Bandit Bu Si in Dong Commandery. He has won several engagements, beheading over ten thousand enemy troops, and claims he will eliminate Bu Si within ten days..."

"Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao have just defeated a small unit of Yellow Turbans, and they happen to be in the vicinity of Ji Province..."

Liu Hong pondered for a moment and began to write an imperial edict.

He ordered the units of Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao to head to Lieren to link up with Lu Zhi, and ordered Huangfu Song to execute Bu Si. Once Yan Province and Dong Commandery were pacified, he was to immediately lead his troops to Ji Province to consolidate forces with Lu Zhi, Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao.

Writing this far, he hesitated. His original thought had been to have Lu Zhi escorted back to Luoyang for trial, but after much consideration, he decided not to move against Lu Zhi for the time being.

There was no other reason; Lu Zhi was currently the person most familiar with the situation regarding Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turbans. If he were sent back to Luoyang, Huangfu Song and the others would be completely blind regarding the situation at Guangzong.

However, even if Lu Zhi were not sent back to Luoyang, he still had to be punished. He ordered that Lu Zhi be stripped of his rank of General and serve in the army as a "commoner," with Huangfu Song taking over as the commander-in-chief in Ji Province.

Compared to a defeated general like Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song was more to Liu Hong's liking.

Ruthless, cruel, and fiercely loyal—truly a vicious hound of his court!

After the edict was issued, Liu Hong paced the palace hall, muttering, "God Huang Tian, Sovereign Yellow Absolute..."

The Han Dynasty was rife with prophetic and apocryphal beliefs; both the court and the common people were half-believing in ghosts and gods. Liu Hong could not help but be influenced. While he did not quite believe that spirits walked the earth, Lu Zhi, Zong Yuan, and Zuo Feng were all so adamant.

Especially Lu Zhi; for a figure as world-renowned as him to claim that the Yellow Turban Army had divine assistance made it impossible for Liu Hong not to believe.

"Could it be that gods truly exist in this world, and that the Grand Progenitor High Emperor was truly the reincarnation of the Son of the Red Emperor?"

He fell into a deep reverie.

Having arrived in the Late Han Dynasty World for nearly a month, Huang Tian had not only reverted to a handsome and elegant young man at the pace of aging one year every day, but he had also cultivated to the third layer of Qi Refining!

He had even grazed the fourth layer of Qi Refining; perhaps he would break through at any moment.

During this month, under his command, the Yellow Turban Army had used the surrendered Han soldiers as instructors to conduct a massive training exercise.

They could not be called elite yet, but they were at least far stronger than before, barely reaching the training standard of Commandery Soldiers.

With the addition of armor and spears seized from the Han Army camp, the Yellow Turban Army could truly be described as reborn.

On this day, Zhang Jiao arrived at the place where Huang Tian practiced, bowing respectfully:

"Master, after a month of drilling, the tens of thousands of soldiers have taken on a brand-new look. They are eager for battle and wish to request your leave to sweep across Ji Province and forge the prosperous era of Huang Tian!"

As the leader of the Yellow Turban Army across the world, Zhang Jiao had been taken in as a nominal disciple by Huang Tian. Although he had yet to be taught any "immortal arts," his body had been tempered by spiritual energy, leaving him brimming with vigor.

Huang Tian focused solely on his cultivation, while Zhang Jiao took charge of all matters in Guangzong City, managing the army of over fifty thousand and the sixty-odd thousand elderly and weak with impeccable order.

However, the small city of Guangzong struggled to accommodate one hundred and twenty thousand people, especially with food supplies running low; at most, they had one month left, making it necessary to wage war abroad to secure provisions.

Huang Tian was dressed in a Cloud Pattern Daoist Robe, his hair unadorned by a crown and held back only by a Green Jade Hairpin. His eyes were clear and serene as he looked at his first disciple, "What is your opinion?"

Having spent this time together, Zhang Jiao had come to understand Huang Tian's temperament and knew that he had no desire to hear empty platitudes like "I obey the Master's every command." After pondering for a few moments, he voiced his thoughts.

"This disciple believes we could send a flanking force of fifteen thousand to capture the counties of Quzhou, Guangping, and Pingxiang, then push north to link up with the forces at Xiaquyang, allowing them to support one another."