The secret document announcing the uprising lay beneath the desk, written in cinnabar:
"In the Year of the Wood Rat, on the Day of the Wood Rat, the fifth day of the third month, rise up within and without."
The rebel leaders of the eight provinces waited for him to raise the banner.
The court in Luoyang waited for him to deliver his head to their door.
He stared at those words for a long time, then reached out and covered them.
"Put away the blades. Once they're planted in the ground, they're called plows."
Everyone thought the Way of Great Peace had lost its nerve.
No one knew he was waiting for the year that would leave the Han Dynasty beyond all hope of recovery.
Zhang Jiao Does Not Die, the Yellow Heaven Shall Rise
