“Chen, what brought you here in the first place? You must have already been headed here when you captured.
The old man was puzzled, not knowing what he meant. He was about to ask the magistrate when something seemed to have occurred to him.
“Mr. Chen, why did you come here in such turmoil?”
“I was so sad about the death of your wife and her servant girl and so overwhelmed by everything that has happened since I got here that I nearly forgot what I came here for. I needed to tell you that your daughter’s grave was robbed, and her body taken.”
“What! My daughter’s grave was robbed! My poor daughter! For three years, who could have any desire to … do such a terrible thing?”
“Some time after you left a young scholar arrived at the nunnery. He was quite ill at the time and so we told him to stay there until he regained his health. He had never shown any signs of interest, but then a few weeks ago when I found that the grave was dug up and robbed, the remain of your daughter was gone and the young guy, too. It must be him who committed this crime at the sight of money by excavating the grave at night and ran away. Now the grave was robbed and even the remains disappeared. I would guess that the young guy threw the skeleton into the pond. What a sinful thing he did!”
“My family was haunted by misfortunes,” the magistrate sighed. "First, my daughter’s grave was robbed and then my wife was killed. As the old saying goes, "One can barely live for 100 years and after he dies his grave can barely be kept intact for 100 years." No dead resurrects. What’s done is done. There’s nothing we can do about it. Let’s submit it to the will of Heaven. I truly appreciate your traveling so far to give me this message, Chen.”
“Thank you for your trust. This is part of my job. Please let me know if anything else I could do for you,” he paused. “I’ve grown hopeless in the last few years, there are things I want but I have no way of achieving them.”
“I do have something you could do for me. I left in such a hurry that there are things left unfinished. I have written two letters for Li and his wife in which I ask him to dissolve his army and pledge allegiance to Song—I want you to deliver the letters to him. If you can persuade and make him surrender it will not go unnoticed. I will inform the emperor and you will be given an official post.”
“I am ready to offer this ser vice.” At that Chen took the letters from Du and set off towards Li’s camp.
Although Jin emperor named Li one of his seigniors, he only took him as a dog and never completely trusted him. The emperor would send emissaries to check him out. Those emissaries were insolent and rude to Li and they would only extort wealth. Some of them even took liberty of Li’s wife. Li was not happy and sometimes mad about all these, but he never thought about breaking away from Jin Dynasty. His wife however had long had the idea of leaving Jin. Now, Li stationed his troops outside Huaian city. There was no way for him to break the defense so he had nothing to report to emperor about his mission. The emperor repeatedly urged him to attack. Li was in a dilemma. Du, his adversary, knew this every well, so he decided to take this opportunity to drive a wedge between Li and the dynasty he worked for. Du wanted to make him surrender and give allegiance to Song Dynasty.
When Chen returned, Li invited him into his tent desperate for some good news that Du would gave him the city.
“So is Du handing his city over to me?”
“A city doesn’t mean much. I am here to offer you the position of a king.”
“But I am already a king,” replied Li.
“Then think of this offer as a promotion. Du asked me to give you this letter,” he handed over the letters to Li and his wife. The letter reads:
The Jin people are cruel and backstabbing. They cannot be trusted to maintain a long-term relationship with. If you would consider joining me and pledge allegiance to Song, I can guarantee a higher position for you as well as great wealth. I will personally ask the Emperor to let you keep your current title and give you wife on as well.
The letter hit a nerve with Li. He and his wife began discussing the new option immediately. Li agreed with his wife to leave Jin Dynasty and raise siege of Huaian city. This offer seemed to be very attractive to Li. Mesmerized by the letters, he really wanted to pledge allegiance to Song after he withdrew his troops, thinking he would be given a higher rank. However, his wife was smarter and more skeptical.
“The titles conferred upon by the emperor are unreal. I’d bet that once you surrender he’d have you killed before the day ends. I don’t think we should work for either emperor. Why don’t we just leave all of this and become pirates. That way we’ll live under no one’s rule but our own.”
Li thought it over, but before long decided that his wife had a point. He disbanded his army and left the city by boat.
