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Emperor Ling of Han often amused himself in the Western Garden. He had the palace women act as innkeepers, while he dressed as a merchant and went from inn to inn, asking them to serve him food and wine. He would then eat and drink with them for sport. This was an omen that the Son of Heaven was about to lose his throne and be reduced to the station of a menial. Afterward, the realm fell into great turmoil. An ancient record says: “The Red shall meet calamity at three sevens.” These “three sevens” meant that after two hundred and ten years, a relative of an empress would usurp the throne. Then would come the portent of the red brows; the usurper’s stolen reign would be brief, lasting no more than three sixes, after which an outstanding figure, a dragon in flight, would arise to restore the ancestral line. After another three sevens, the portent of the yellow heads would appear, and the realm would fall into great turmoil. From Emperor Gaozu’s founding of the dynasty to the end of Emperor Ping’s reign was two hundred and ten years, whereupon Wang Mang usurped the throne, owing his rise to his kinship with the empress dowager. Eighteen years later, Fan Zidu and other rebels east of the mountains rose in revolt. They dyed their eyebrows red, and so became known throughout the realm as the “Red Eyebrows.” Then Emperor Guangwu arose to restore the dynasty; his personal name was Xiu, meaning “outstanding.” By the reign of Emperor Ling, Zhang Jue had risen in revolt, organizing thirty-six divisions with several hundred thousand followers. All wore yellow turbans, and so they became known throughout the realm as the “Yellow Turban Rebels.” The religious garb still worn today originated with them. They first arose at Ye and assembled at Zhending, deluding the common people with the proclamation: “The Azure Heaven is dead; the Yellow Heaven shall rise. In the year named Jiazi, great good fortune shall come to all under Heaven.” Their rising at Ye signified the beginning of a new undertaking for the realm; their gathering at Zhending, its true establishment. The common people knelt and bowed to one another, hastening to embrace the faith. This was especially prevalent in Jing and Yang. They abandoned their property and wandered the roads in ruin, dying in countless numbers. Zhang Jue and his followers first took up arms in the second month; by the twelfth month that winter, they had all been defeated. From Guangwu’s restoration to the Yellow Turban uprising, not quite two hundred and ten years had passed, yet the realm was plunged into great turmoil. The Han’s imperial line was overthrown and extinguished, truly fulfilling the cycle of the three sevens.