Chapter 1098
The Promise of Thunder
Chapter 1098 The Promise of Thunder
Because of their trust, Pan Jun generously arranged a religious ceremony for them, firstly to pray for the souls of those who died in the incident, and secondly to pray for the grasslands, hoping for favorable weather and abundant harvests this year.
All the Buddhist disciples who came stayed to participate in the religious ceremony.
The short-sighted herders had never seen two faiths get along so well before. The Taoists played music and sang, forming their own circle; the monks and nuns chanted scriptures and struck wooden fish, also having their own circle.
They even have a series of traps. If you walk the Big Dipper Xuan Shu Gang, I will slowly avoid you. The Taoist and monk's robes will flash through the air. If they touch each other, they will lose!
The herders were stunned and became even more devout.
One person knelt down, and countless others knelt down behind him, prostrating themselves on the ground. As Buddhist and Taoist scriptures collided in their ears, they felt purified from their souls to their bodies.
The Eternal Heaven must have forgiven their recklessness.
Sure enough, the ritual ended three days later. Pan Yun, as the national advisor, took the stage to conclude the ceremony, pointing his sword sharply to the sky, which attracted rolling thunder.
A thunderous crack resounded, shaking half the grassland, but the herders were overjoyed, tears streaming down their faces: "Spring thunder! It's spring thunder!"
Spring has finally arrived!
The herdsmen knelt on the ground, only daring to raise their heads to look up at Pan Yun on the high platform. They saw her holding a sword and standing under the rolling thunder, with the wind whipping the banners and her Taoist robes billowing, as if she were about to be carried away by the wind.
Not only ordinary herders, but also the nobles who had been captured but not yet dealt with, their eyes went from numb to shocked, then to fanatical, and finally, when their gazes fell, there was only sincere submission in their eyes.
No one knows how panicked Pan Yun is right now.
This thunder...
She could predict that spring thunder would arrive, temperatures would rise, and spring rain would fall, but she never expected the thunder to be so loud.
Now she stands on high ground, sword in hand, and recklessly raises the sword, making her a sitting duck for lightning.
With her cultivation level, one strike wouldn't kill her, but she looked quite embarrassed in front of everyone.
Pan Jun quickly finished reciting his lines and solemnly told everyone present that the great calamity on the grassland had passed, and that the grassland would have favorable weather and abundant harvests in the coming year.
And tell them that there are two reasons why the grassland was hit by the blizzard.
The first is that the way of heaven is constant; the seasons, like the moon, have their phases of waxing and waning.
"Favorable weather is like a full moon. A full moon is rare, but a waning moon is common. Therefore, there are always imperfections in the weather. In a month, the full moon lasts for two or three days, while the new moon lasts for only one day. We are just unlucky, having encountered a major disaster from last year to this year. But we are also extremely lucky, as the grasslands will enjoy favorable weather for the next three years!"
It wasn't because they submitted to the Central Plains that the Eternal Heaven punished them!
Everyone present instantly believed Pan Yun. Glancing at the eminent Taoist priests, monks, and nuns, they saw their expressions of agreement and slight nods, which convinced them even more.
"That's one, but what about the second?" A nobleman's son who was being held in custody straightened up and stared intently at Pan Yun.
Pan Jun looked up slightly at the thick dark clouds and watched the lightning in the clouds. His voice was low, but it could be clearly heard by everyone: "Secondly, it is a man-made disaster. The Eternal Heaven is not for humankind alone. Heaven and Earth are ruthless and treat all things as straw dogs. In the eyes of the Eternal Heaven, we are the same as the grass, trees, wolves and rabbits on this grassland. There is no distinction between high and low, noble and lowly."
"Therefore, killing beyond the limits of survival will bring misfortune. Heaven sees all this, and when enough killings accumulate, divine punishment will be brought down."
The nobleman murmured, "Could it be because he killed too many people during his southward campaign in the past few years?"
The herders whispered among themselves, "Could it be because our cattle and sheep have damaged the Dawang pasture?"
Some people even said, "Is it because we killed too many wolves last winter that the Eternal Heaven is angry?" Everyone came up with many reasons, even bringing up the past, such as "Is it because I took a litter of rabbits and became greedy, and didn't let the pregnant rabbits go?"
In any case, it has nothing to do with their submission to the Ming Dynasty.
Pan Yun implied to them that Heaven cherishes life, and that the peaceful unification of the grasslands and the Central Plains is something the Eternal Heaven would be pleased to see, which is why it has granted them three consecutive years of good fortune.
In short, by combining science and superstition, the masses were won over, hating cults to the core, submitting to the Central Plains, and filled with admiration for the imperial advisor. Finally, they knelt down in the direction of the capital and shouted "May the emperor have boundless virtue!"
The border general who led the troops was thrilled and said to his subordinates, "The Imperial Preceptor has almost reached the realm of the divine."
Before they arrived, they received intelligence confirming that someone had colluded with the tribes to plot a rebellion. The grasslands had only been pacified for a year, and it seemed that war was about to break out again.
Just as Governor Kuang was about to muster troops to quell the rebellion, the Imperial Advisor suddenly appeared and said that the grasslands had only submitted to the government for a year, and it was not advisable to have a major war at this time. It would be best to quell the rebellion without fighting, but if that was not possible, the rebellion should be quelled quickly with minimal losses.
Therefore, the Imperial Advisor only selected two thousand soldiers, and they rode two horses each, traveling day and night to get there.
He knew that most of the forces were still hiding in the tribes, except for those present. But it didn't matter. As long as these people were captured, they would submit to the court, and the scattered rebellious forces would be insignificant.
The Imperial Advisor is indeed a genius.
Pan Yun also felt like a god. She had just sheathed her sword and stepped down from the platform when a bolt of lightning struck down, instantly shattering the platform she had just been standing on.
The crowd was shaken and remained in shock for a long time. The Taoist priests kneeling in the crowd immediately shouted: "Heaven has granted the Imperial Preceptor a promise of three years of great fortune, may the Imperial Preceptor be revered, and may His Majesty be blessed with ten thousand blessings!"
Everyone immediately agreed with this statement, which showed that the Eternal Heaven was agreeing with the Grand Preceptor's words.
Thunderous Promise!
The grasslands have their own unique way of spreading information. Thunder's Promise spreads across the grasslands with the wind, and even crosses the desert to reach more distant places.
Thus, the nascent flame of rebellion was extinguished instantly.
That evening, it rained on the grassland, and a strong wind blew up from the east.
The east wind brought more moisture and also blew the dark clouds to the west.
The spring rain fell steadily from east to west. Because of the east wind, the weather grew warmer and warmer. As the spring rain fell, the dry riverbeds slowly gathered water, the ice and snow on the mountain peaks melted, and the water flowed gently down the mountains. Along the way, green grass sprouted...
The blizzard that had just occurred melted after the weather warmed up and seeped into the soil. After the weather warmed up, overnight, green shoots covered the bare plain. Looking down, the grass shoots were only as long as fingertips, but after three days, the tender green turned into a bluish-green, and the grass shoots were already half a finger long.
Grass is so tenacious, and the herdsmen on the grassland are just like grass. As long as they are given a glimmer of hope, they can live as tenaciously as grass.
As Pan Yun left the grassland, he told the herdsmen and Kuang Ye, "Be careful of the spring floods."
As a result, the herders began to take precautions against the spring floods on their own initiative, and Kuangye also began to make preparations, sending out a large number of soldiers to prepare in advance.
In Pan Jun's words, soldiers on the grasslands have little land to cultivate, so in their spare time they might as well do something for the herders.
This will not only make the herders on the grasslands trust our Ming soldiers more, but also allow them to learn about Ming culture and increase exchanges between the two sides.
Happy Lunar New Year's Eve! Wishing everyone a prosperous and auspicious Year of the Horse, smooth sailing, success in all endeavors, and all your wishes fulfilled!
(End of this chapter)