Original Text
Wherever the great armies passed, their harm was even worse than that of bandits. For bandits could be resented, but the soldiers could not be dared to resent. The only slight difference between soldiers and bandits was that they did not lightly kill people. In the year Jiayin, when the three feudatories Wu Sangui, Shang Kexi, and Geng Zhongming rebelled, the imperial army marching south encamped at Yanzhou, plundering every chicken, dog, cottage, and hut in the city, and violating all the women. At that time, continuous rain turned the fields into lakes, and the people, having no place to hide, took to rafts and hid among the tall sorghum stalks. When the soldiers learned of this, they stripped naked, mounted their horses, and rode into the water to search out and rape the women, and few escaped. Only one woman, Mrs. Zhang, did not hide but openly remained at home. Her house had a kitchen, and at night she and her husband dug a pit several feet deep, filled it with straw, covered the opening with a mat, and placed a straw mattress on top, as if it were a place to sleep. Mrs. Zhang herself cooked at the stove. When soldiers came, she would go out to greet them. Two Mongol soldiers wanted to rape her. Mrs. Zhang said, "Such a thing—how can it be done in front of others?" One of them smiled and said something unintelligible as he left. Mrs. Zhang went into the kitchen with the other, pointed to the straw mattress, and told him to go up first. As soon as the Mongol soldier stepped on it, the mat broke, and he fell into the pit. Mrs. Zhang then took another mat and cover, placed them over the pit, and deliberately stood by the edge, luring the other soldier. After a while, the second soldier came in, heard someone crying from the pit, but did not know where it was. Mrs. Zhang smiled and beckoned him, saying, "Here." As soon as he stepped on the mat, he too fell into the pit. Mrs. Zhang then threw firewood into the pit, lit it, and set it ablaze. The fire grew fiercer, even catching the house, and only then did Mrs. Zhang cry out for help to put out the fire. When the fire was extinguished, the stench of burnt corpses filled the air. When asked what had happened, Mrs. Zhang said, "Two pigs were afraid of being taken by the soldiers, so I hid them in the pit, and they were burned to death." From then on, Mrs. Zhang went to a treeless spot by the main road a few li from the village, and sat in the scorching sun doing needlework. The village was far from the city, and soldiers often came on horseback, arriving in groups of several in an instant. They would laugh and say things she could not understand, but they were all lewd remarks. However, since the place was near the road and offered no cover, they had to leave, and thus for several days Mrs. Zhang suffered no harm. One day, a soldier came who was utterly shameless and tried to rape her in broad daylight. Mrs. Zhang smiled slightly, did not strongly resist, and secretly pricked his horse with her needle. The horse snorted and neighed loudly, so the soldier tied the reins to his thigh and then came to embrace her. Mrs. Zhang took out a large awl and fiercely stabbed the horse's neck. The horse, in pain, bolted wildly. The soldier, unable to untie the reins from his thigh, was dragged for several dozen li before other soldiers caught the horse. When they looked, the soldier's head and body were nowhere to be found, only a thigh still tied to the reins.
The Chronicler of Strange Tales remarks: Chen Ping of the Han dynasty devised six ingenious stratagems to aid Emperor Gaozu in winning the empire, and Zhang's wife, with her successive clever plans, possessed a similar wisdom, thus she did not lose her virtue to the fierce soldiers. Truly virtuous was Zhang's wife! She was both shrewd and resourceful, and steadfast in her chastity!
Commentary
This story praises the Zhang family wife for her "six ingenious stratagems" and "wisdom in preserving her chastity," showcasing her bravery and resourcefulness, yet it more profoundly condemns the atrocities of the Qing soldiers who, under the pretext of suppressing the "Revolt of the Three Feudatories," burned, killed, raped, and ravaged the people of Shandong. "Wherever the imperial army goes, the harm it inflicts is worse than that of bandits. For bandits, people can still hate and retaliate against them, but soldiers are those whom people dare not oppose," is written with extreme anguish. It is against this backdrop and under these circumstances that the Zhang family wife, without leaving a trace or any incriminating evidence, rids the people of their scourge. Whether she "openly stays at home" or "sits in the scorching sun by the main road where there are no trees, carrying her needlework," her actions are not merely self-defense but resemble those of a wandering knight-errant who actively seeks to eliminate harm for the people. Due to the strong political overtones of this piece, it was not included in the Qingketing edition.