It is said that during the Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, there was a small businessman on the outskirts of the capital, whose surname was He Mingfu. One day, because he was anxious to discuss a business, he got up early in the morning and went to Chongwen Gate, hoping to enter the city from there.
The Chongwen Gate was built tall and majestic, and from a distance, the city wall was as majestic as a cliff on the edge of the abyss, steep and solemn. Above the city walls, a tower stands like a goshawk soaring into the sky, proud of everything in the world. He Fu looked at the city gate and couldn't help but let out a few heartfelt sighs of admiration.
Not long after, he came to the city gate. The city gate was open, and inside the gate stood a group of gatekeepers on each side, and the officers and men were expressionless, motionless as if they were poured with copper cast iron, each holding a long halberd in his hand.
"The imperial city of Kyoto, it should be so majestic!" He Fu secretly praised himself again and stepped into the city gate. Before and after him, there were several people who also rushed into the city early.
"Hey, you, come here!"
Suddenly, a voice sounded, not very high, but short and powerful, showing an uncontradable arrogance. He Fu and all the pedestrians were taken aback, and they hurriedly braked their feet and stood where they were.
The pedestrians followed the prestige in confusion, only to see an officer standing in front of the door of the Tibetan soldier cave next to him, with a fierce look and a long whip in his hand.
When He Fu saw his gaze piercing at himself, he couldn't help but panic and said, "Yes, yes, call, call me, me?" ”
"Isn't that who you are?" The officer's voice was still cold and hard. The other pedestrians saw that they had nothing to do with themselves and quickly walked away. He Fu rubbed for a moment, only to walk towards the door of the cave with a hard scalp.
Only when he approached the officer did he suddenly hear a "whoosh" sound, and the officer's hand whipped down, "snapping" a crisp sound, and hit He Fu's neck. He Fu only felt that the blood in his whole body was gushing to his neck, and it hurt fiercely. He touched it with his hand, and a pain drilled through his heart, and when he pushed his hand away, he saw that it was a handful of bright red blood.
"Why did you, you, you hit someone?" He Fu was shocked and angry, and his voice was hoarse.
"Hit someone? How about hitting you, eh? The officer's eyes flashed a beast-like fierce light, sneered, grabbed He Fu's collar, and with a strong force, he pulled He Fu into the Cave of the Tibetan Soldiers, and with a "pass" sound, he fell to the ground and slammed the cave door with a "whoosh" sound.
He Fu's eyes were full of golden flowers, and his ears were "buzzing". After a while, he calmed down a little, looked up, and saw an oil lamp hanging in the cave, and the dim yellow light illuminated a group of fierce-looking soldiers, all of whom were looking at him like wolves. Their fierce and vicious appearance made He Fu shudder.
"What's on you?" Hand it all over! At this moment, the officer took a step forward and ordered He Fu indisputably.
"What are you, what are you going to do?" He Fu was terrified, and retreated step by step until his back was against the cold wall, and there was nowhere to retreat.
"Don't pay?" The officer waved his hand and shouted, "Then search for me!" ”
The soldiers, who had long been impatient, rushed up, and after a punch and kick, they snatched the money and belongings from He Fu's body and put them all on a small table in front of the officer.
"Six or two pieces of silver," the officer received, with a happy brow, "and so much Western snus, one, two, three... There are twenty-eight pieces in total! ”
It turned out that He Fu was fond of smoking snuff and always carried a lot with him when he went out. The officer finished counting with joy, "Hey hey" smiled, suddenly turned around, raised his foot and kicked at He Fu's ass fiercely, screaming: "Don't roll yet!" ”
He Fu stumbled and escaped from the cave door, angry and hateful, shocked and angry, who had the heart to talk about business again? He braced himself and went home in a trance, planting his head on the bed. When he returned home, he was feverish and talked nonsense day and night, saying that a ghost had come to dig out his heart and dig up his liver.
When his friend Zhou Zhao learned of his experience, he indignantly said: "These soldiers do not dare to extort the rich and nobles, and they feel that the poor and poor people have no oil and water, but they only allow me and other small merchants and small rich people to blackmail fiercely, and even punch, kick and whip!" The evil is so great that I will make them taste it!" ”
One morning a few days later, Zhou Zhao was wearing a brand-new long coat, a soft leather hat, and a long braid behind him, which was shiny and shiny, so that people would know at a glance that this was a rich and wealthy child.
Zhou Zhao swung to the Chongwen Gate and walked into the city, but was stopped by a soldier and taken to the Cave of hidden soldiers. As soon as he entered the cave, the door behind him was closed, and a dozen soldiers and soldiers surrounded him with a tiger's eye, led by an officer in uniform, holding a leather whip in his hand, and the dim oil lamp illuminated his two front teeth protruding from his lips, reminiscent of a ferocious wild boar.
Zhou Zhao did not panic, he made a smile on his face, and said humbly and politely: "Dear military masters, because of business dealings, I often take the guimen. There's Grandpa Lau! There's Grandpa Lau! I would like to present all the money and goods I have brought, so that I am grateful, and I hope that the military master will be more convenient and more convenient from now on! With that, he took out a dozen pieces of silver and dozens of pieces of snuff from his pocket and respectfully placed them on the table.
"Haha! Ha ha! The officer was overjoyed to see the silver glittering on the table and the pile of snuff, "You know this man very well!" He waved his hand again and said, "You can go." ”
"Thank you So much Grandpa!" Zhou Zhaohan smiled and gave a salute, retreated toward the cave door, pulled open the door, and said again when he was leaving: "There will be a period later!" ”
But the officer could no longer pay attention to him, and first grabbed the ten pieces of silver and stuffed them in his arms, and then with both hands together, grabbed two large handfuls of snus and put them in his pockets, and the remaining snuff was distributed to the soldiers, three or four pieces for each person.
Two days later, the officer woke up early in the morning and felt an itchy nose. Rubbing it with your hand, I felt itchy and painful. He didn't care much, guessing that it was because he had smoked too much snuff from Bai in the past few days, and if he smoked less, he would naturally be fine.
Unexpectedly, after a day, the itchy sores actually grew sores, red rot out of the pulp, and the pain and itching were unbearable. What is more serious is that where the pus pulp flows, the sore grows to where it is, and within a few days, the rotten sore will spread, extending from the tip of the nose to the lips, and rotting in all directions of the face.
At the same time, several more soldiers suffered the same rotten sores. In less than ten days, all the guards of Chongwen Gate were "unrecognizable". No matter how they washed and wiped, they couldn't use it, and the rotten sores were like crazy demons constantly growing on their faces, stirring them up and making them restless and restless.
They were busy asking Langzhong for diagnosis and treatment, and Langzhong shook his head and spread his hands, saying that it was "a strange and evil sore, which had never been seen before, and could not do anything."
The guards of Chongwen Gate seemed to be all suffering from smallpox, their faces were knotted, ugly and dirty. Pedestrians passing by here, all bowing their heads, covering their noses, holding their breath, and trotting in a hurry.
Those soldiers who were suffering believed that the "culprit" was their leader, and it was he who passed on this poisonous sore to them, and he thought that he was bullying others in his daily life, and the benefits were mostly taken up by him alone, so they all disregarded military discipline and military rules, added up one evil word after another, and scolded him with one word after another.
The boss also had to admit that he was unlucky: who called himself the first to have a poisonous sore? Occasionally in a hurry, he also angrily protested: "Then who did I infect?" This stopped the soldiers: Yes, who infected him?
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed, and the guards were physically and mentally exhausted, as if they had been plagued by the plague, and when they stood guard, they also turned from side to side, and they all lost their former majesty.
On this day, a man in the shape of a merchant came to the city gate, and when he saw the soldiers like rotten wood that had been burned and smoked by fire, he couldn't help but laugh a lot. This unbridled laughter infuriated the guards who were smouldering in their hearts, and they gritted their teeth and gathered around.
The officer's eyes were wide open, and his eyes were oozing blood, and he waved the leather whip in his hand and was about to whip it, but he heard the merchant laugh and say, "Military master, you noble man is so forgetful!" Why don't you know me? The whip stopped and shrugged weakly.
The officer fixed his eyes and finally recognized that this person was the "acquaintance" businessman who had been "knocked" out of ten pieces of silver and dozens of pieces of snuff a month ago!
"It was you!" The officer was still angry and asked, "What are you laughing at?" ”
"I laugh at you for the poisonous sores but I don't know where it came from!" The merchant replied sarcastically, with contempt and ridicule in his eyes.
"You, what do you mean by that?" The officer felt that there was something in the businessman's words, and asked suspiciously.
"What does the military master think of my snuff?" Isn't it better than others? ”
At this moment, the officers and soldiers suddenly realized: it turned out that this merchant had made his hands and feet in the snuff, and the culprit was him! Anger raged, and the guards rushed up, grabbing the merchants together and beating them.
"Slow down!" The merchant shouted loudly, and then slowed down and said, "Don't you want to be cured?" You have to tie the bell to the bell! ”
The guards' raised fists were suddenly lowered again, and one by one they cried and laughed. Halfway through, the leader came up with a sentence: "Why do you, why do you want to harm us?" ”
"Am I harming you? Joke! Who is harming whom? ”
The merchant roared angrily and sneered, "My surname is Zhou Mingzhao, and I live outside this Chongwen Gate, and I have long heard that you guards have robbed pedestrians of their belongings and committed crimes." Some time ago, a good friend of mine entered the city, but you stopped and beat him badly, took all the money and goods, and came home sick. I want to spit out this anger for him, and with a little trick, I smeared a slurry on the snuff and smeared some snake venom, so that you would have poisonous sores and nowhere to heal! ”
When the leader heard this, "Flutter" knelt down in front of Zhou Zhao and apologized in a loud voice: "Uncle! Zhou Da Lao! Spare us! Spare us! The villain doesn't dare anymore! Don't dare anymore! The soldiers also knelt down, and there was a cry for forgiveness at the city gate. A few of the guards actually opened their mouths and scolded themselves as they hit. When pedestrians saw this, they all stopped and looked at it and laughed.
At this time, Zhou Zhao said in a loud voice: "And shut up!" I concocted this sore, and I want to cure the sore, but it is just a show of hands. But I have healed you, and if you in turn harm me, how can I deal with you guys with knives and guns when I am unarmed? Only by my own will I heal you of your poisonous sores!" ”
The officer hurriedly said, "Hugh said a thousand things, and he did it correctly!" The soldiers echoed him.
"That's good!" Zhou Zhao smiled and said, "This matter is not difficult, but I just want you to write down the extortion and robbery of pedestrians' money and goods, and then sign your names one by one and hand them over to me for safekeeping." If you do harm to me in the future, I will use this as a basis to sue you to the government!" ”
"This businessman, it's really hard to deal with!" One by one, the guards secretly exclaimed, "Do things without leaking." Bumping into him, I had to think I was unlucky! "Even though they were reluctant in their hearts, in order to cure the poisonous sores, they had to obey the orders to the letter.
After the "confession" arrived, Zhou Zhaocai gave the guards some pills, and left a message before leaving: "The amount of medicine is not enough, and he will give it again according to your repentance performance as appropriate!" ”
Since then, chongwenmen have more rules for soldiers, and the rotten sores on their faces have improved day by day. Those who do not know the details of the middle and bottom are only the manifestations of the heavens: when the guards do evil, they let them have poisonous sores on their faces, as a punishment and warning, and when the guards are honest, the poisonous sores will slowly heal on their own.
References 《庵雜識》