After Chen Zuiliang , the old pedant, discovered the excavation of the grave, he took it as a serious matter and thought he must report to his former master immediately. He rushed to Yangzhou where the Lord once stayed only to find that he had been reassigned to guard Huaian city. In spite of the tiredness from his trip, he was on his way to Huaian again. However, something that he never dreamt of happened. He was caught by the enemy soldier at Huaian before he went into the city.
Li and Du had been fighting over Huaian for over a month at this point, though neither one seemed to be gaining much ground. The city was defended so securely that Li was not able to break it. Li was a man of quick temper and he didn’t know what to do next when his people caught Chen. He was ecstatic to learn that the old man used to be a hanger-on of Du’s family. He wanted to use this leverage the best he could but he was unsure of how to best go about doing so. Like before, his wife had a plan.
“You have killed many people since this war began, including old women and children. We could get two heads and say that they are of Du’s wife and her servant girl. Let the old pedant bring the news to Du in the city. Du will be so distraught and his people so panic that they won’t be able to defend the city. Then, we can attack.”
As they discussed, Li had the old man untied just as one of his men entered the room carrying with him two human heads.
“Our soldiers have killed Magistrate Du’s family on their way to Yangzhou and chopped off their heads for reward.”
“How do I know that they are real? Can’t our soldiers mistake them? Can’t those heads be fakes,” Li questioned.
“They are absolutely real. This head belongs to the magistrate’s wife. That one belongs to her servant girl.”
The old man moved closer. He started to fluster at the soldier’s words. He was dim-sighted from old age and scared to death at the sight of these two bloody human heads. He truly believed that he was looking at Mrs. Du and her servant girl’s heads. He could not help but cried.
“Oh my god it’s true! How could this have happened? What am I going to do?”
“You are a stupid old man. What are you howling for? It’s nothing that Du’s wife and her servant girl have been killed! I am going to sweep into the city and kill Du himself.”
“Please have a heart and spare my Lord.” The old man was so scared he shivered convulsively as he pleaded for his boss’ life.
“Spare him? It’s not that easy. The only way I could allow him to live is for him to hand over the city. Otherwise, he will end up just like his wife.”
“Please. Let me go into the city and talk to my lord. I promise to report back to you once I have any news.”
Li, happy that every thing was going according to plan, released the old man who ran off in search of Du. After a short period of frantic searching he finally located the magistrate who was surprised that he would meet the old man in here. With no time for pleasantries he launched directly into his story, tears in eyes.
“My Lord, your wife was killed by the enemy soldiers on their way to seek asylum.”
“How could it be? How did you know?”
The Old Chen told Du what he saw and heard at the enemy camp and asserted emphatically that the heads were that of Mrs. Du and her servant girl. His sobbing grew uncontrollably making it nearly impossible for the old man to speak. Du was so heartbroken he wailed loudly. The officials beside their chief couldn’t help but shed tears. As the official appointed by the court, Du quickly collected his faculties and calmed down, aware that this was no time to show weakness. He wiped his tears away and reprimanded the local officials. “What did you cry for? My wife was appointed by the court and she died a glorious death. I will never lose my head over this. The soldiers’ morale is more important.” Du then asked the old pedant, “This culprit will not leave the matter at that. What else did they say to you?”
“They also wanted to kill you,” the old pedant stuttered. He moved closer and whispered to the magistrate’s ear and said, “But it’s not you that Li really wanted. It’s the city. It’s detrimental to everyone if this war stays at a stalemate. I think you should let them take the city and stop killing one another’s troops off.”
“What! It’s ridiculous! I am shocked to hear that as a learned scholar you would even have the gall to suggest such a thing. Only because of your connection to my daughter will I not punish you for that,” he shook his head angrily.
“How many seats were there in the tent when you were there, one or two,” Du asked Chen.
“Two. Li and his wife sat side by side.”
Du shook his head, obviously worried about something, but Chen couldn’t figure out what. He was about to ask when Du turned back to him.
