Chapter 1

During the Qingming Festival, the rain falls heavily, and the people on the road are almost heartbroken.

The paper money flies like white butterflies, and the cries of people sound like those of cuckoos.

Although the Qingming Festival is still some days away, the Cold Food Festival is approaching. The Cold Food Festival is the first major festival of the Han people, during which no fire is allowed, and only cold food is eaten. There is also a custom of paying respects to ancestors and the deceased. Therefore, every Cold Food Festival, countless people gather at the graves in the countryside to burn paper money, expressing their thoughts for their ancestors and deceased loved ones.

Yesterday, the county office of Xinhui, Guangdong, issued a notice, requiring the people to leave the city for tomb sweeping on the same day. After this day, the city gates would not be opened again to prevent the old bandits from returning.

The so-called old bandits refer to the Southern Ming Li Dingguo's troops. Li's troops attacked Guangdong twice in the tenth and eleventh years of Shunzhi, almost capturing Guangzhou and occupying the entire province. Fortunately, the Qing dynasty was favored by heaven, and Li's troops failed both times, retreating to Guangxi a month ago.

Although Li Dingguo's main force has retreated to Guangxi, some troops remain in Guangdong. Xinhui is the gateway to Guangzhou, with convenient water and land transportation, making it a must-defend location. If Xinhui falls, Guangzhou will be in danger. Therefore, when Li Dingguo attacked Guangdong the second time, his main focus was on capturing Xinhui, which he besieged for eight months. Although the main force of Li's troops has retreated, the Qing army in Xinhui remains vigilant and does not dare to open the city gates lightly.

However, as the Cold Food Festival approaches, the county magistrate, Huang Zhi, considering that the city had been besieged for eight months and many residents had died, specially requested the military commander to open the city gates for one day so that the people could leave the city to pay respects to their loved ones. After careful consideration, the military commander agreed to this request. Upon receiving the commander's approval, Huang Zhi immediately had notices posted and organized some people to maintain order. The Qing army guarding the city also made arrangements to prevent any mishaps, sending a detachment to guard outside the city.

After the city gates were opened, thousands of people began to leave the city for tomb sweeping. From a distance, everyone was dressed in white, their faces filled with sorrow, and their gazes towards the Qing army guarding the city were filled with hatred, though they dared not express it. They hurriedly passed through the city gates. The Qing soldiers, who were usually silent, ignored the hatred in the people's gazes, refraining from harsh words or arbitrary beatings, and even dared not speak loudly, which was quite unusual. The usual tyrants had all become benevolent Buddhas.

After the people left the city, some began to scatter paper money along the way. The paper money, carried by the wind, accompanied by the low murmurs of the crowd, made the scene of the tomb sweeping even more solemn and tragic.

The crowd was mostly made up of men, with very few women, and those few were either elderly women or young girls who had not yet reached adulthood.

County officials maintained order in the procession, and on both sides of the road, Qing soldiers with swords and guns could be seen. Like the Qing soldiers at the city gates, these soldiers mostly avoided looking directly at the people, some even turning their heads to look in other directions. Only when the paper money scattered by the wind landed on them or at their feet did they subtly twitch their faces, showing a slight reaction.

The residents of Xinhui who died were buried in a common grave. The term "buried" was a bit of a stretch, as it was more like haphazardly digging holes and covering the bodies. Most of the bodies were incomplete, and some graves contained only the deceased's clothing. Many of the large mounds clearly contained more than one person, and it was unknown how many were buried beneath. Compared to the graves with known relatives, there were even more unmarked graves, almost taking up half of the common grave area.

As the procession approached the common grave, the suppressed grief could no longer be contained. Someone started crying, and soon the entire area was filled with heart-wrenching sobs, like knives cutting through the heart.

It is said that men do not easily shed tears, but here, thousands of men were in tears, truly a heart-wrenching sight.

The Qing soldiers, hearing the cries from a distance, did not dare to come and look. The constables maintaining order also had relatives who had died, and they were all filled with sorrow, either standing silently in grief or kneeling to cry out. Only a few constables from Magistrate Huang Zhi's hometown did not have the pain of losing relatives, and they stood to one side, speaking in low voices.

"The old bandits besieged the city for several months, and the people of Xinhui are almost all dead. Sigh," a constable named Huang Si sighed, looking at the scene.

Another constable nodded in agreement, "Indeed, I heard the county magistrate say that over 70,000 people were killed and eaten, and several thousand women were taken by the armies of the Pingnan and Jingnan kings. There are only one or two thousand people left in the city. The people of Xinhui are almost all dead!"

Hearing this, a constable named Qi Er could not help but say, "The troops of the two kings are truly like wolves and tigers, not like the army of the court. What a terrible deed..."

"Be quiet, don't say such things lightly," Huang Si, who was more experienced, immediately glared at him and looked around before continuing, "If the old bandits hadn't attacked Xinhui, would the people in the city have suffered so much?"

"Yes, yes, the old bandits are the ones who caused this."

Qi Er, realizing he had said something wrong, quickly nodded in agreement. Just as he was about to curse the old bandits again, he heard someone cry out from the graves, "Mr. Wu has fainted!"

Qi Er was surprised, "Which Mr. Wu?"

Someone nearby said, "The teacher from the east of the city."

"Oh," Qi Er understood, his face showing sympathy, "He must be too grief-stricken over his wife."

Huang Si looked in the direction of the cry and shook his head, "Mrs. Li was truly a good woman. When the soldiers came to take Mr. Wu, she said her husband was fifty and had no children. If he were taken, the Wu family would have no descendants. So she begged the soldiers to take her instead, thus saving Mr. Wu's life. Thinking back, she was truly virtuous!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Then Qi Er thought of something and asked, "If Mrs. Li was eaten, what is buried in the grave?"

Huang Si's face twitched, and he said in a low voice, "Mrs. Li's head, which the soldiers left behind. After the old bandits retreated, Mr. Wu buried it here."

As he spoke, he saw a familiar figure not far away and pointed it out to the others, "That's Mr. Lin. His wife, Mrs. Mo, was also a good woman. When the soldiers came to take her aunt to eat, she said her aunt was old and her meat was not good. She was young, and her flesh was tender, so the soldiers let her aunt go and ate Mrs. Mo instead, not even leaving her head... The grave contains Mrs. Mo's clothing, which Mr. Lin keeps as a memento."

"The most tragic is the daughter of Mr. Liang, who was only eleven years old. At such a young age, she knew to take her father's place, truly admirable."

"I heard the soldier initially thought the girl was too small and had little meat, and did not want to kill her. But the girl said, 'Do you think my body is small and has little meat, not enough to satisfy you?' Then she took the knife and slit her own throat. The soldiers, seeing this, released Mr. Liang and cooked his daughter's body."

"Mr. Wu Shiren's wife, Mrs. Huang, also volunteered to take her husband's place. I heard the soldiers cried as they killed her, shedding tears as they ate her. What a tragic event."

"..."

One by one, these shocking tragedies were told, and even the most heartless person could not bear to hear them. The constables' expressions changed, and they were filled with sighs of sorrow, grateful that such tragedies had not befallen them.

Even the most grief-stricken people could not cry for long. The cries from the graves gradually subsided, and the smoke from burning paper money could be seen everywhere. The mourning sticks standing on the graves were particularly noticeable, one after another, impossible to count.

Huang Si stood for a while, looked up at the sky, and instructed the others, "I estimate we can return to the city in about half an hour. Everyone, pay attention. Later, see if anyone needs help, and lend