Jianghu Qimen Lu

Chapter 58 A Twist of Fate

These words brought tears to Hongchen's eyes, and her heart remained unsettled for a long time: "Why did Lord Bai sacrifice himself for others like this! My daughter is injured, and so many people risked their lives to come here, and none of them complained. Yet here I am, making sarcastic remarks and obstructing the way. I shouldn't have done that! Have I lost my mind? Or had a stroke? How could I have chosen such a path of no return! What will everyone say about me behind my back?" She dared not say another word and hurriedly followed closely behind Bai Shandian, drawing her sword and cutting through the thorns and brambles, groping her way forward.

After much effort, the group finally arrived at the eighty-first grave. This was a larger cemetery than the average grave, and the only one with a tombstone. In the center stood a stone tombstone inscribed with "Tomb of Liu Zhaoji, Commander-in-Chief of the Ming Dynasty." Behind the tombstone was a mound on a platform, about two meters high.

What tomb door was there? Who was Liu Zhaoji? Bai Shandian and Hongchen exchanged bewildered glances, while a large group of soldiers whispered amongst themselves, all looking completely confused. The captain suggested, "Apart from the tombs of kings and generals, what tomb do ordinary people have? Lord Bai, let's just tap on the mound of earth in front of the tomb; that'll do." Bai Shandian agreed, and quickly did as he was told. A loud thud was heard, and suddenly a large hole appeared in front of the tomb mound, dark and deep inside. A series of steps led down to the bottom!

Should they go down? While everyone was still debating, Bai Shandian had already gathered several thick, dry branches, lit them, and burned some dry grass to make torches! Bai Shandian distributed the torches, and the several hundred men split into two groups. One group of four hundred, led by the captain, maintained a high level of vigilance, guarding the tomb entrance. The remaining one hundred followed Bai Shandian and Hong Chen, forming a single file and entering the cave. The steps were long, and it took quite a while to reach the bottom. Looking ahead, they saw some light to the left. Bai Shandian was excited and quickened his pace. The others followed closely. Reaching the end, they saw a wide-open space to the left—a large cave that could hold a thousand people. A ring of lanterns, embedded in the surrounding stone walls, were now all lit. The light was truly brilliant, illuminating the cave as if it were daytime.

The cave was empty, devoid of anything. Only the walls were covered with drawings—figures, scenes, and symbols—below which were densely packed characters in Chinese. Starting from the entrance and moving left, Bai Shandian and the others read through the drawings one by one, like looking at a long scroll painting. The more they looked, the more horrified they became! Bai Shandian, Hong Chen, and all the soldiers who had come on this mission were Manchus. It turned out that the carvings on the walls detailed the ten-day massacre of Yangzhou by the Qing army after its fall over a hundred years ago, in the first year of the Hongguang reign of the Ming Dynasty, which was the second year of the Shunzhi reign (1645 AD). The content was detailed, citing classical texts, richly illustrated, and easy to understand—even an illiterate person could comprehend it! The pages were filled with accusations and condemnations of the Qing court's barbaric and brutal acts, and the unwavering determination to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming was crystal clear! Wasn't this tantamount to rebellion? In this era of rampant literary inquisition, let alone writing so many openly reactionary words, even uttering a single reactionary statement could get you arrested and imprisoned by the authorities!

"So, in the year the Ming Dynasty fell, Shi Kefa, the Minister of War and Grand Secretary of the Dongge Pavilion, led over four thousand troops in a desperate battle against the Qing soldiers in Yangzhou. Exhausted, they were ultimately defeated, captured, and executed for refusing to surrender. The Yangzhou Prefect, Ren Yumin, refused to yield and was beheaded; his entire family drowned themselves in a well. Commander Liu Zhaoji, leading his remaining four hundred men, fought like cornered beasts, engaging in street fighting with the city's citizens until his entire army was wiped out; not a single man surrendered. These men certainly had some guts!" "So, this tomb..." "It belongs to Commander Liu Zhaoji. Then, where is Shi Kefa's?" "Never mind that, I think something strange is going on today! Think about it, this is the territory of the Ming Dynasty loyalists. We've unintentionally stepped in; aren't we just lambs to the slaughter?" "Yes! Back then, our Qing Dynasty killed nearly 800,000 Han Chinese. They have a blood feud with us, an irreconcilable hatred. It's no wonder they're seeking revenge!" The people were abuzz with discussion, and the soldiers were all filled with panic and a chill ran through them. Bai Shandian slammed his torch to the ground, placed his hand on his sword hilt, and said loudly, "Elder Medicine King, we have arrived. Please come out!" Unexpectedly, there was no movement for a long time. Suddenly, a creaking sound rang out, and everyone felt a sudden darkness before their eyes. The tomb door had automatically closed again! Bai Shandian cried out in alarm and rushed back the way he came. When he found the cave door closed, he angrily punched the iron gate. There was a loud thud, but the gate didn't budge. Instead, he was bounced back more than ten feet away, almost knocking over Hongchen who was following closely behind! Only then did he realize that the iron gate was made of heavy wrought iron and could not be moved by human power!

Suddenly, a hearty laugh rang out, like a seductive melody from beyond the heavens: "You lackeys of the Qing Dynasty, you have a path to heaven but choose not to take it, you have no way to escape to hell. This is your own doing, you have only yourself to blame, you have no one else to blame!" Bai Shandian followed the sound and determined that it was coming from across the door! He quickly leaped over to take a look, only to find it was a solid stone wall! It turned out that the entire stone wall was made of large, finely crafted bluestone blocks, with extremely fine seams, so there were no mechanisms or switches.

"Are you the Medicine King, venerable elder?" Bai Shandian wanted to move the other party with words, so his manner of speaking was still very tactful.

"So what if it is?" the man said coldly, somewhat impatiently.

"Ah, you are truly the venerable Medicine King! We've heard so much about you! We've traveled all the way from Hangzhou this morning, hoping you could treat our soldiers! You, a doctor, have the heart of a parent; how could you stand by and watch them die? Besides, this happened over a hundred years ago; we knew nothing about it! Ignorance is bliss, that's the principle here! Your medical skills are superb, your mind must be incredibly sharp, and your reactions quick; you couldn't possibly blame us innocent juniors, could you?" Bai Shandian's eloquent words earned him a silent thumbs-up from Hong Chen and the soldiers, who admired him from the bottom of their hearts. This Lord Bai was truly adept at exaggeration; not only did he completely absolve himself, as if it were none of his business, but he also feigned innocence, making everyone believe he was indeed wronged, utterly wronged, more wronged than Dou E!

"Don't try to sweet-talk me! I won't fall for your lies! I have three rules I will not treat! First, I will not treat Manchus or foreign barbarians of the Qing Dynasty. Second, I will not treat Qing Dynasty lackeys. Third, I will not treat the most wicked and evil people in the world! Ask yourselves honestly, who among you doesn't meet one of these three rules? If you violate my taboos, even if it were the Heavenly King himself, I would rather die than treat you! Not only will I not treat you, but if you fall into my hands, I will send you to hell to appease the countless souls who died unjustly during the Yangzhou Massacre!" As he said this, a mournful laugh rang out, followed by the ground trembling as if an earthquake had struck. A rumbling thunder could be heard, and a sudden gust of wind blew up dust, plunging the world into darkness! Suddenly, everyone felt a darkness before their eyes, and all the lights on the surrounding walls went out! Bai Shandian secretly regretted that he had thought his torch was useless and dropped it. Several Eight Banner soldiers carrying torches also extinguished and threw their torches away one after another. He shouted, "Pick up the torches and relight them!" But before he could finish speaking, a series of whooshing sounds arose, and countless arrow holes suddenly appeared in the four walls. In an instant, thousands of arrows shot out from the holes like locusts, catching everyone off guard. Screams of agony rose and fell, and more than a dozen soldiers were riddled with arrows, their bodies riddled with arrows, and they fell to the ground dead!

Bai Shandian hurriedly drew his imperial sword and deflected Jin Ling's attack. Hong Chen and the remaining soldiers also quickly grabbed their weapons, wielding them swiftly to protect themselves. Suddenly, four more dragon heads appeared on the wall from the four cardinal directions, letting out a long roar and spewing forth bursts of flames. More than a dozen soldiers were immediately struck, their eyebrows, hair, clothes, and armor all ablaze. They could only roll and writhe on the ground, but the fire was too intense to extinguish, and more than a dozen more were burned alive!

Just as the fire subsided, thick smoke billowed out, followed by black smoke, presumably poisonous. The Eight Banner soldiers became dizzy and disoriented, staggered, swayed a few times, and collapsed, unconscious! Bai Shandian and Hongchen hurriedly tore off pieces of their clothing to cover their mouths and noses, but in the shaking environment, they could not hold out for long. Finally, everything went black, and both fell to the ground, unconscious!

"Master, are you really going to kill them all, leaving no one alive? Bai Shandian is my friend!" A voice came from outside the cave; it was the arrogant voice of Zhang Kuang, the Governor-General of Jiangzhe.