Original Text
In Laiwu County, there was a scholar named Li Zhongzhi, who was by nature upright and incorruptible, showing no favoritism. Yet every few days, he would fall into a deathlike trance, lying as stiff as a corpse, and would not revive for three or four days. When asked what he had seen in the underworld, he always remained tight-lipped, never revealing a single word. At that time, there was a certain Zhang Sheng in the county who also fell into such trances every few days, and he told others, "Li Zhongzhi is the Lord of the Underworld in the Hall of Yama. When I go to the netherworld, I am but his subordinate." As for the couplet on the gates of the Hall of Yama, Zhang Sheng could recite it from memory. When someone asked him, "What business did Li Zhongzhi handle in the underworld yesterday?" Zhang Sheng replied, "I cannot speak of it in detail, but I recall that he summoned Cao Cao for trial and gave him twenty strokes of the bamboo."
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: The case of Cao Aman has likely passed through the judgments of dozens of Yama Kings. He has been transformed into oxen and horses, endured the mountains of swords and forests of blades, and all manner of punishments have been exhausted upon him. What crime he should be sentenced for could be determined without further deliberation, yet for several thousand years no verdict has been reached, and he is still being interrogated to this day—what is the reason for this? Could it be that condemned criminals often beg for a swift blade to hasten death, and so they deliberately ensure that Cao Cao cannot die, causing him to suffer all the more? Truly a strange affair!
Commentary
Among the historical figures of ancient China, Pu Songling harbored the deepest hatred for Cao Cao, not only depicting him suffering cruel tortures in the underworld in this tale, where his case remains unresolved for thousands of years, prolonging his agony so that he "cannot die even if he wishes" (as in "The Judge of Hell"), but also in another story, "The Lady Zhen," causing Cao Cao to be reborn as a dog in the mortal world, unable to escape his karmic retribution across countless lifetimes. In the only historical-themed piece within "Liaozhai Folk Songs," titled "The Quick Tune," Pu Songling defied historical facts by having Zhang Fei intercept and slay Cao Cao at Huarong Pass, thus "avenging a thousand years with a single spear." Furthermore, in his "Reading History" poem from "The Poetry Collection of Liaozhai," Pu Songling directly expressed his loathing for Cao Cao: "After the Han, usurpation became a common practice, as if all followed the same hand. They hastened to seek the Nine Bestowals, and the letters of abdication had long been prepared. They granted themselves and then renounced, their demeanor so utterly vile. Some usurped the throne for three generations, their clans slaughtered by the hundreds. At the time, they felt no remorse, but for a thousand years, they make men retch!" Why such intense hatred for Cao Cao? Pu Songling clearly pointed out: Cao Cao was too treacherous, "his crime lay in his cunning."