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    <s id="1:1">Along a coastal road somewhere south of the Yangtze River, a detachment of soldiers, each of them armed with a halberd, was escorting a line of seven prison carts, trudging northwards in the teeth of a bitter wind.</s>
    <s id="1:2">In each of the first three carts a single male prisoner was caged, identifiable by his dress as a member of the scholar class.</s>
    <s id="1:3">One was a white-haired old man.</s>
    <s id="1:4">The other two were men of middle years.</s>
    <s id="1:5">The four rear carts were occupied by women, the last of them by a young mother holding a baby girl at her breast.</s>
    <s id="1:6">The little girl was crying in a continuous wail which her mother's gentle words of comfort were powerless to console.</s>
    <s id="1:7">One of the soldiers marching alongside, irritated by the baby's crying, aimed a mighty kick at the cart.</s>
    <s id="1:8">'Stop it!</s>
    <s id="1:9">Shut up!</s>
    <s id="1:10">Or I'll really give you something to cry about!'</s>
    <s id="1:11">The baby, startled by this sudden violence, cried even louder.</s>
    <s id="1:12">Under the eaves of a large house, some hundred yards from the road, a middle-aged scholar was standing with a ten- or eleven-year-old boy at his side.</s>
    <s id="1:13">He was evidently affected by this little scene, for a groan escaped his lips and he appeared to be very close to tears.</s>
    <s id="1:14">'Poor creatures!' he murmured to himself.</s>
    <s id="1:15">'Papa,' said the little boy, 'what have they done wrong?'</s>
    <s id="1:16">'What indeed!' said the man, bitterly.</s>
    <s id="1:17">'During these last two days they must have made more than thirty arrests.</s>
    <s id="1:18">All our best scholars.</s>
    <s id="1:19">And all of them innocents, caught up in the net,' he added in an undertone, for fear that the soldiers might hear him.</s>
    <s id="1:20">That girl's only a baby,' said the boy.</s>
    <s id="1:21">'What can she possibly be guilty of?</s>
    <s id="1:22">It's very wrong.'</s>
    <s id="1:23">'So you understand that what the Government soldiers do is wrong,' said the man.</s>
    <s id="1:24">'Good for you, my son!'</s>
    <s id="1:25">He sighed.</s>
    <s id="1:26">'They are the cleaver and we are the meat.</s>
    <s id="1:27">They are the cauldron and we are the deer.'</s>
    <s id="1:28">'You explained "they are the cleaver and we are the meat" the other day, papa,' said the boy.</s>
    <s id="1:29">'It's what they say when people are massacred or beheaded.</s>
    <s id="1:30">Like meat or fish being sliced up on the chopping-board.</s>
    <s id="1:31">Does "they are the cauldron and we are the deer" mean the same thing?'</s>
    <s id="1:32">'Yes, more or less,' said the man; and since the train of soldiers and prison carts was now fast receding, he took the boy by the hand.</s>
    <s id="1:33">'Let's go indoors now,' he said.</s>
    <s id="1:34">'It's too windy for standing outside.'</s>
    <s id="1:35">Indoors the two of them went, and into his study.</s>
    <s id="1:36">The man picked up a writing-brush and moistened it on the ink-slab, then, on a sheet of paper, he wrote the character for a deer.</s>
    <s id="1:37">'The deer is a wild animal, but although it is comparatively large, it has a very peaceable nature.</s>
    <s id="1:38">It eats only grass and leaves and never harms other animals.</s>
    <s id="1:39">So when other animals want to hurt it or to eat it, all it can do is run away.</s>
    <s id="1:40">If it can't escape by running away, it gets eaten.'</s>
    <s id="1:41">He wrote the characters for 'chasing the deer' on the sheet of paper.</s>
    <s id="1:42">'That's why in ancient times they often used the deer as a symbol of Empire.</s>
    <s id="1:43">The common people, who are the subjects of Empire, are gentle and obedient.</s>
    <s id="1:44">Like the deer's, it is their lot to be cruelly treated and oppressed.</s>
    <s id="1:45">In the History of the Han Dynasty it says "Qin lost the deer and the world went chasing after it".</s>
    <s id="1:46">That means that when the Qin Emperor lost control of the Empire, ambitious men rose up everywhere and fought each other to possess it.</s>
    <s id="1:47">In the end it was the first Han Emperor who got this big, fat deer by defeating the Tyrant King of Chu.'</s>
    <s id="1:48">'I know,' said the boy.</s>
    <s id="1:49">'In my story-books it says "they chased the deer on the Central Plain".</s>
    <s id="1:50">That means they were all fighting each other to become Emperor.'</s>
    <s id="1:51">The scholar nodded, pleased with his young son's astuteness.</s>
    <s id="1:52">He drew a picture of a cauldron on the sheet of paper.</s>
    <s id="1:53">'In olden times they didn't use a cooking-pot on the stove to cook their food in, they used a three-legged cauldron like this and lit a fire underneath it.</s>
    <s id="1:54">When they caught a deer they put it in a cauldron to seethe it.</s>
    <s id="1:55">Those ancient Emperors and great ministers were very cruel.</s>
    <s id="1:56">If they didn't like somebody, they would pretend that they had committed some crime or other, and then they would put them in a cauldron and boil them.</s>
    <s id="1:57">In the Records of an Historian Lin Xiangru says to the King of Qin, "Deceiving Your Majesty was a capital offence.</s>
    <s id="1:58">I beg to approach the cauldron."</s>
    <s id="1:59">What he meant was, "I deserve to die.</s>
    <s id="1:60">Put me in the cauldron and boil me."'</s>
    <s id="1:61">'Often in my story-books I've seen the words "asking about the cauldrons in the Central Plain",' said the boy.</s>
    <s id="1:62">'It seems to mean the same thing as "chasing the deer in the Central Plain".'</s>
    <s id="1:63">'It does,' said the man.</s>
    <s id="1:64">'King Yu of the Xia dynasty, the first dynasty that ever was, collected metal from all the nine provinces of the Empire and used it to cast nine great cauldrons with.</s>
    <s id="1:65">"Metal" in those days meant bronze.</s>
    <s id="1:66">Each of these bronze cauldrons had the name of one of the nine provinces on it and a map showing the mountains and rivers of that province.</s>
    <s id="1:67">In later times whoever became master of the Empire automatically became the guardian of these cauldrons.</s>
    <s id="1:68">In The Chronicle of Zuo it says that when the Viscount of Chu was reviewing his troops on Zhou territory and the Zhou king sent Prince Man to him with his royal compliments, the Viscount questioned Prince Man about the size and weight of the cauldrons.</s>
    <s id="1:69">Of course, as ruler of the whole Empire, only the Zhou king had the right to be guardian of the cauldrons.</s>
    <s id="1:70">For a mere Viscount like the ruler of Chu to ask questions about them showed that he was planning to seize the Empire for himself.'</s>
    <s id="1:71">'So "asking about the cauldrons" and "chasing the deer" both mean wanting to be Emperor, ' said the boy.</s>
    <s id="1:72">'And "not knowing who will kill the deer" means not knowing who is going to be Emperor.'</s>
    <s id="1:73">'That's right,' said the man.</s>
    <s id="1:74">'As time went by these expressions came to be applied to other situations as well, but originally they were only used in the sense of wanting to be Emperor.'</s>
    <s id="1:75">He sighed.</s>
    <s id="1:76">'For the common people though, the subjects of Empire, our role is to be the deer.</s>
    <s id="1:77">It may be uncertain who will kill the deer, but the deer gets killed all right.</s>
    <s id="1:78">There's no uncertainty about that.'</s>
    <s id="1:79">He walked over to the window and gazed outside.</s>
    <s id="1:80">The sky had now turned a leaden hue showing that snow was on its way.</s>
    <s id="1:81">He sighed again, 'He must be a cruel God up there.</s>
    <s id="1:82">Those hundreds of poor, innocent souls on the roads in this freezing weather.</s>
    <s id="1:83">The snow will only add to their sufferings.'</s>
    <s id="1:84">Two figures caught his eye, moving along the highway from the south.</s>
    <s id="1:85">They walked close together, side by side, each of them wearing a coolie hat and a rain-cape.</s>
    <s id="1:86">As they drew nearer, he recognized them with a cry of pleasure.</s>
    <s id="1:87">'It's Uncle Huang and Uncle Gu,' he said to the boy as he hurried out to greet them.</s>
    <s id="1:88">'Zongxi, Yanwu, what good wind blows you hither?' he called out to them.</s>
    <s id="1:89">The one he addressed as 'Zongxi' was a somewhat portly man with a plentiful beard covering the lower half of his face.</s>
    <s id="1:90">His full name was Huang Zongxi and he, like his host, was a man of Zhejiang Province.</s>
    <s id="1:91">The other one, a tall, thin man with a swarthy complexion, was Gu Yanwu, a native of Kunshan in Jiangsu Province.</s>
    <s id="1:92">Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu were two of the foremost scholars of their day.</s>
    <s id="1:93">Both of them, from patriotic motives, had gone into retirement when the Ming Empire collapsed, being unwilling to take office under a foreign power.</s>
    <s id="1:94">Gu Yanwu drew a little closer before replying.</s>
    <s id="1:95">'Liuliang, we have something serious to discuss with you.</s>
    <s id="1:96">That's what brings us here today.'</s>
    <s id="1:97">Liuliang was the man's name, then—Lü Liuliang.</s>
    <s id="1:98">His family had lived for generations in Chongde, a prefecture in the Hangzhou district of Zhejiang Province.</s>
    <s id="1:99">Like Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu, to whom you have just been introduced, he is an historical personage, famous among those Southern gentlemen who, during the last days of the Ming dynasty and the early days of the Manchu conquest, buried themselves away on their estates and refused to take part in public life.</s>
    <s id="1:100">Lü Liuliang observed the grave expression on his visitors' faces.</s>
    <s id="1:101">Knowing of old how unfailingly Gu Yanwu's political judgement was to be trusted, he realized that what the latter had referred to as 'something serious' must be very serious indeed.</s>
    <s id="1:102">He clasped his hands and bowed to his guest politely.</s>
    <s id="1:103">'Come inside,' he said.</s>
    <s id="1:104">'Drink a few cups of wine first, to warm yourselves up a bit.'</s>
    <s id="1:105">As he ushered them into the study, he gave an order to the boy.</s>
    <s id="1:106">'Baozhong, tell your mother that Uncle Huang and Uncle Gu are here.</s>
    <s id="1:107">Ask her to slice a couple of platefuls of that goat's meat pate to go with our wine.'</s>
    <s id="1:108">In a minute or two the boy came in again, accompanied by his younger brother.</s>
    <s id="1:109">They were carrying three sets of chopsticks and wine-cups which they laid on the study table.</s>
    <s id="1:110">An old servant followed them carrying a wine-kettle and balancing some plates of cold meat.</s>
    <s id="1:111">Lü Liuliang waited until the two boys and the servant were outside the room and closed the study door.</s>
    <s id="1:112">'Come, my friends, ' he said.</s>
    <s id="1:113">'Wine first.'</s>
    <s id="1:114">Huang Zongxi declined gloomily with a brief shake of the head; but Gu Yanwu, helping himself unceremoniously from the wine-kettle, downed half a dozen of the tiny cupfuls in quick succession.</s>
    <s id="1:115">'I suppose your visit has something to do with this Ming History business,' said Lü Liuliang.</s>
    <s id="1:116">'Precisely, ' said Huang Zongxi.</s>
    <s id="1:117">Gu Yanwu raised his wine-cup and, in ringing tones, recited the following couplet:</s>
    <s id="1:118">The cool wind sways not me, howe'er it blow; For me the bright moon still shines everywhere.</s>
    <s id="1:119">'That's a splendid couplet of yours, Liuliang, ' he said.</s>
    <s id="1:120">'Whenever I drink wine now, I have to recite it—and do it justice, too,' he added, with a ceremonious flourish of his wine-cup.</s>
    <s id="1:121">In spite of Lü Liuliang's patriotic unwillingness to serve, a local official, impressed by what he had heard of Lü's reputation, had once sought to recommend him as a 'hidden talent' meriting a summons to the Manchu Court for suitable employment; but Lü had made it clear that he would die rather than accept such a tones, recited summons, and the matter had been dropped.</s>
    <s id="1:122">Some time later, however, when another high-ranking official sent forward his name as a 'distinguished scholar of exceptional merit', Lü realized that his continued refusal would be construed by the Court as an open slight, with fatal consequences for himself and perhaps his family.</s>
    <s id="1:123">Accordingly he had had himself tonsured (though not in fact with any intention of becoming a real monk), whereupon the Government officials were finally convinced of his determination and ceased urging him to come out of his retirement.</s>
    <s id="1:124">Gu Yanwu's enthusiasm for Lü's somewhat pedestrian couplet sprang from the fact that it contained a hidden message.</s>
    <s id="1:125">In Chinese the word for 'cool' is qing (the word chosen by the Manchus for their new 'Chinese' dynasty) and the word for 'bright' is ming (the name of the old Chinese dynasty they had supplanted).</s>
    <s id="1:126">So the couplet Gu had recited could be understood to mean: The Qing wind sways not me, howe'er it blow; For me the Ming moon still shines everywhere.</s>
    <s id="1:127">In other words, 'I will never bow to the Manchus, however they may threaten and cajole.</s>
    <s id="1:128">For me the Empire is still the Ming Empire, whose loyal subject I remain.'</s>
    <s id="1:129">Although the poem in which these lines occurred could not be published, they were familiar to all the like-minded scholars of Lü's wide acquaintance, and Huang, hearing them recited now by Gu, responded to the challenge by raising a wine-cup in homage.</s>
    <s id="1:130">'Yes, it is a very good poem,' he said, and drained it off at a gulp.</s>
    <s id="1:131">'Thank you both, but it doesn't deserve your praise,' said Lü Liuliang.</s>
    <s id="1:132">Chancing to glance upwards at that moment, Gu Yanwu found his attention caught by a large painting which was hanging on one of the walls.</s>
    <s id="1:133">It must have measured near enough four feet from top to bottom and well over three yards horizontally.</s>
    <s id="1:134">It was a landscape, so magnificently conceived and boldly executed that he could not forbear a cry of admiration.</s>
    <s id="1:135">The sole inscription on this enormous painting was the phrase 'This Lovely Land' written in very large characters at the top.</s>
    <s id="1:136">'From the brushwork I should say this must be Erzhan's work,' he said.</s>
    <s id="1:137">'You are absolutely right,' said Lü.</s>
    <s id="1:138">This Erzhan's real name was Zha Shibiao.</s>
    <s id="1:139">He was a well-known painter in the late Ming, early Manchu period and a good friend of the three men present.</s>
    <s id="1:140">'How is it that so fine a painting lacks a signature?' said Huang.</s>
    <s id="1:141">Lü sighed.</s>
    <s id="1:142">The painting had a message, ' he said.</s>
    <s id="1:143">'But you know what a stolid, careful person Erzhan is.</s>
    <s id="1:144">He wouldn't sign it and he wouldn't write any inscription.</s>
    <s id="1:145">He painted it for me on a sudden impulse when he was staying with me a month or so ago.</s>
    <s id="1:146">Why don't you two write a few lines on it?'</s>
    <s id="1:147">Gu and Huang got up and went over to examine the painting more closely.</s>
    <s id="1:148">It was a picture of the Yangtze, the Great River, rolling majestically eastwards between innumerable peaks, with a suitable garnishing of gnarled pines and strange misshapen rocks: a very beautiful landscape were it not for the all-pervading mist and cloud which seemed calculated to create an oppressive feeling of gloom in anyone looking at it.</s>
    <s id="1:149">'This lovely land under the heel of the barbarian!' said Gu Yanwu.</s>
    <s id="1:150">'And we have to swallow our humiliation and go on living in it.</s>
    <s id="1:151">It makes my blood boil.</s>
    <s id="1:152">Why don't you do an inscription, Liuliang — a poem that will give voice to what Erzhan had in mind to say?'</s>
    <s id="1:153">'Very well,' said Lü Liuliang, and he took the huge scroll carefully down from the wall and spread it out on the desk, while Huang Zongxi set about grinding him some ink.</s>
    <s id="1:154">He picked up a writing-brush and for some minutes could be observed muttering to himself in the throes of composition; then, writing straight on to the painting and with pauses only for moistening the brush, he quickly completed the following poem:</s>
    <s id="1:155">Is this the same of Great Song's south retreat, This lovely land that hides its face in shame?</s>
    <s id="1:156">Or is it after Mount Yai's fateful leap? This lovely land then scarce dared breathe its name.</s>
    <s id="1:157">Now that I seem to read the painter's mind, My bitter teardrops match his drizzling rain.</s>
    <s id="1:158">Past woes I see reborn in present time: This draws the groans that no gag can restrain.</s>
    <s id="1:159">Methinks the painter used poor Gaoyu's tears To mix his colours and his brush to wet.</s>
    <s id="1:160">'This Lovely Land' was commentary enough; No need was there for other words to fret.</s>
    <s id="1:161">The blind would see, the lame would walk again, Could we but bring, back Hong Wu's glorious days.</s>
    <s id="1:162">With what wild joy we'd look down from each height And see the landscape free of mist and haze!</s>
    <s id="1:163">He threw the brush on the floor as he finished and burst into tears.</s>
    <s id="1:164">'It says all there is to say, ' said Gu Yanwu.</s>
    <s id="1:165">'Masterly!'</s>
    <s id="1:166">'It lacks subtlety, ' said Lü.</s>
    <s id="1:167">'In no way could you call it a good poem.</s>
    <s id="1:168">I merely wanted to put Erzhan's original idea into writing so that anyone looking at the picture in days to come will know what it is about.'</s>
    <s id="1:169">'When China does eventually emerge from this time of darkness, ' said Huang, 'we shall indeed "see the landscape free of mist and haze".</s>
    <s id="1:170">When that time comes, we shall gaze at even the poorest, meanest, most barren landscape with a feeling of joyful liberation.</s>
    <s id="1:171">Then, indeed, we shall look down with "wild joy . . . from each height"!'</s>
    <s id="1:172">'Your conclusion is excellent, ' said Gu.</s>
    <s id="1:173">'When we do eventually rid our country of this foreign scum, the feeling of relief will be infinitely greater than the somewhat arid satisfaction we get from occasionally uncorking our feelings as we do now.'</s>
    <s id="1:174">Huang carefully rolled up the painting.</s>
    <s id="1:175">'You won't be able to hang this up any more now, Liuliang, ' he said.</s>
    <s id="1:176">'You'd better put it away somewhere safe.</s>
    <s id="1:177">If some evil-intentioned person like Wu Zhirong were to set eyes on it, you'd soon have the authorities round asking questions and the consequences could be serious not only for you but probably for Erzhan as well.'</s>
    <s id="1:178">That vermin Wu Zhirong!' said Gu Yanwu, smiting the desk with his hand.</s>
    <s id="1:179">'I could willingly tear his flesh with my teeth!'</s>
    <s id="1:180">'You said when you came that you had something serious to discuss with me, ' said Lü, 'yet here we are, like typical scholars, frittering our time away on poetry and painting instead of attending to business.</s>
    <s id="1:181">What was it, exactly, that brought you here?'</s>
    <s id="1:182">'It has to do with Erzhan's kinsman Yihuang, ' said Huang.</s>
    <s id="1:183">The day before yesterday Gu and I learned that he has now been named in connection with the Ming History affair.'</s>
    <s id="1:184">'Yihuang?' said Lü.</s>
    <s id="1:185">'You mean he's been dragged into it too?'</s>
    <s id="1:186">'I'm afraid so, ' said Huang.</s>
    <s id="1:187">'As soon as we heard, the two of us hurried as quickly as we could to his home in Yuanhua Town, but he wasn't there.</s>
    <s id="1:188">They said he'd gone off to visit a friend.</s>
    <s id="1:189">In view of the urgency, Yanwu advised the family to make their getaway as soon as it was dark.</s>
    <s id="1:190">Then, remembering that Yihuang was a good friend of yours, we thought we'd come and look for him here, '</s>
    <s id="1:191">'No, ' said Lü, 'no, he's not here.</s>
    <s id="1:192">I don't know where he can have gone.'</s>
    <s id="1:193">'If he had been here, he would have shown himself by now, ' said Gu.</s>
    <s id="1:194">'I left a poem for him on his study wall.</s>
    <s id="1:195">If he goes back home, he will understand when he reads the poem that he is to go and hide.</s>
    <s id="1:196">What I'm afraid of, though, is that he may not have heard the news yet and may expose himself unnecessarily outside and get himself arrested.</s>
    <s id="1:197">That would be terrible, '</s>
    <s id="1:198">'Practically every scholar in West Zhejiang has fallen victim to this wretched Ming History business,' said Huang.</s>
    <s id="1:199">'The Manchu Court has obviously got it in for us.</s>
    <s id="1:200">You are too well known.</s>
    <s id="1:201">Gu and I both think that you ought to leave here — for the time being, at any rate.</s>
    <s id="1:202">Find somewhere away from here where you can shelter from the storm, '</s>
    <s id="1:203">Lü Liuliang looked angry.</s>
    <s id="1:204">'Let the Tartar Emperor have me arrested and carried off to Peking!' he said.</s>
    <s id="1:205">'If I could curse him to his face and get rid of some of the anger that is pent up inside me, I think I should die happy, even though it meant having the flesh cut slice by slice from my bones!'</s>
    <s id="1:206">'I admire your heroic spirit,' said Gu, 'but I don't think there's much likelihood of your meeting the Tartar Emperor face to face.</s>
    <s id="1:207">You would die at the hands of miserable slaves.</s>
    <s id="1:208">Besides, the Tartar Emperor is still a child who knows nothing about anything.</s>
    <s id="1:209">The Government is in the hands of the all-powerful minister Oboi.</s>
    <s id="1:210">Huang and I are both of the opinion that Oboi is at the back of this Ming History affair.</s>
    <s id="1:211">The reason they are making such a song and dance about it and pursuing it with such ferocity is that he sees in it a means of breaking the spirit of the Southern gentry.'</s>
    <s id="1:212">'I'm sure you are right,' said Lü.</s>
    <s id="1:213">'When the Manchu troops first came inside the Wall, they had pretty much of a free run in the whole of Northern China.</s>
    <s id="1:214">It wasn't till they came south that they found themselves running into resistance everywhere.</s>
    <s id="1:215">The scholars in particular, as guardians of Chinese culture, have given them endless trouble.</s>
    <s id="1:216">So Oboi is using this business to crush the Southern gentry, is he?</s>
    <s id="1:217">Humph!</s>
    <s id="1:218">What does the poet say?</s>
    <s id="1:219">The bush fire cannot burn them out. For next year's spring will see them sprout. —Unless, that is, he plans to wipe out the lot of us!'</s>
    <s id="1:220">'Quite,' said Huang.</s>
    <s id="1:221">'If we are to carry on the struggle against the Tartars, we need anyone who can be of use to stay alive.</s>
    <s id="1:222">Indulging in heroics at this juncture might be satisfying, but would be merely falling into their trap.'</s>
    <s id="1:223">Lü suddenly understood.</s>
    <s id="1:224">It was not only to look for Zha Yihuang that his friends had made their journey to him in the bitter cold.</s>
    <s id="1:225">They had come because they wanted to persuade him to escape.</s>
    <s id="1:226">They knew how impetuous he was and were afraid that he might throw his life away to no purpose.</s>
    <s id="1:227">This was true friendship and he felt grateful for it.</s>
    <s id="1:228">'You give me such good advice, ' he said, 'I can hardly refuse to follow it.</s>
    <s id="1:229">All right, then.</s>
    <s id="1:230">I'll leave with the family first thing tomorrow.'</s>
    <s id="1:231">Huang and Gu were visibly delighted and chorused their approval of his decision, but Lü looked uncertain.</s>
    <s id="1:232">'But where can we go?'</s>
    <s id="1:233">The whole world belonged to the Tartars now, it seemed.</s>
    <s id="1:234">Not a single patch of land was free of their hated presence.</s>
    <s id="1:235">He thought of the poet Tao Yuanming's story about the fisherman who, by following a stream that flowed between flowering peach trees, had stumbled on an earthly paradise—a place where refugees from ancient tyranny had found a haven.</s>
    <s id="1:236">'Ah, Peach Tree Stream,' he murmured, 'if I could but find you!'</s>
    <s id="1:237">'Come,' said Gu, 'even if there were such a place, we cannot, as individuals, opt out altogether.</s>
    <s id="1:238">In times like these—'</s>
    <s id="1:239">Before he could finish, Lü struck the desk with his hand and jumped to his feet, loudly disclaiming his own weakness, 'You do right to rebuke me, Yanwu.</s>
    <s id="1:240">The citizen of a conquered country still has his duty.</s>
    <s id="1:241">It's all very well to take temporary refuge, but to live a life of ease in some Peach Tree Haven while millions are suffering under the iron heel of the Tartars would be less than human.</s>
    <s id="1:242">I spoke without thinking.'</s>
    <s id="1:243">Gu Yanwu smiled.</s>
    <s id="1:244">'I've knocked about a great deal during these last few years,' he said, 'and made friends with an extraordinary variety of people.</s>
    <s id="1:245">And wherever I've been, north or south of the River, I've discovered that it isn't only among educated people like ourselves that resistance to the Tartars is to be found.</s>
    <s id="1:246">Many of our most ardent patriots are small tradesmen, Yamen runners, or market folk—people belonging to the very lowest ranks of society.</s>
    <s id="1:247">If you'd care to join us, the three of us could travel to Yangzhou together.</s>
    <s id="1:248">I have a number of contacts there I could introduce you to.</s>
    <s id="1:249">What do you think?'</s>
    <s id="1:250">'But that would be wonderful,' said Lü Liuliang delightedly.</s>
    <s id="1:251">'We leave for Yangzhou tomorrow, then.</s>
    <s id="1:252">If the two of you will just sit here for a moment, I'll go and tell my wife to start getting things ready.'</s>
    <s id="1:253">He hurried off to the inner quarters, but was back in the study again after only a few minutes.</s>
    <s id="1:254">'About this Ming History business,' he said.</s>
    <s id="1:255">'I've heard a good deal of talk about it outside, but you can't believe everything people say; and in any case they conceal a lot of what they do know out of fear.</s>
    <s id="1:256">I'm so isolated here, I have no means of finding out the truth.</s>
    <s id="1:257">Tell me, how did it all begin?'</s>
    <s id="1:258">Gu Yanwu sighed.</s>
    <s id="1:259">'We've all seen this Ming History.</s>
    <s id="1:260">There are, inevitably, passages in it which are not very complimentary to the Tartars.</s>
    <s id="1:261">It was written by Zhu Guozhen, who, as you know, was a former Chancellor at the Ming Court.</s>
    <s id="1:262">When he came to write about the "antics of the Paramount Chief of the Jianzhou tribe", which is how the Ming Court used to refer to the Tartars, it's a bit hard to see how he could have been polite.'</s>
    <s id="1:263">Lü nodded: 'I heard somewhere that a member of the Zhuang family of Huzhou paid one of Chancellor Zhu's heirs a thousand taels of silver for the manuscript and published it under his own name— never dreaming, of course, that it would lead to such terrible consequences.'</s>
    <s id="1:264">Gu went on to tell him the whole story.</s>
  </p>
</text>
