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During the Tai’an era, the ox that drew the carriage of Zhang Cheng, an officer of merit in Jiangxia, suddenly spoke: “The realm is about to fall into chaos. I am utterly exhausted—where are you driving me?” Zhang Cheng and the several attendants with him were all terrified. He tried to soothe it with a false promise: “I shall let you go home. Speak no more.” He then turned back midway through the journey. When they reached his house, before the ox had even been unharnessed, it spoke again: “Why have we come home so early?” Zhang Cheng grew still more anxious and afraid, but kept the matter secret. There was a skilled diviner in Anlu County, and Zhang Cheng went to consult him. The diviner said: “A most ominous sign. This calamity will not be confined to one household: armed rebellion is about to break out in the realm. An entire commandery may be laid waste!” After Zhang Cheng returned home, the ox stood upright like a man and walked, and the people gathered to watch. That autumn, the rebel Zhang Chang rose in revolt. He first overran Jiangxia, beguiling the people with claims that the Han dynasty’s fortunes had revived, that a phoenix had appeared as an auspicious sign, and that a sage had come into the world. All who joined his army bound their heads with crimson cloth to proclaim the auspicious power of Fire. The populace surged to and fro, flocking to the rebellion as though returning home. Zhang Cheng and his brothers all became generals or commandants. Before long, however, they were defeated. The whole commandery was devastated, more than half its people were killed or wounded, and Zhang Cheng’s entire clan was put to death. Jing Fang’s Portents of the Book of Changes says: “When an ox speaks, judge the good or ill fortune to come by what it says.”