Original Text
In Licheng County, there were two constables who, under orders from County Magistrate Han Chengxuan, had been sent to another prefecture on official business and did not return until the end of the year. On the road, they encountered two men whose attire resembled that of government runners. These two claimed to be constables from the prefectural office. The county constables asked, "Among the bailiffs and lictors of Jinan Prefecture, we know nine out of ten, but we have never seen the two of you before." The prefectural runners replied, "To tell you the truth, we are ghostly runners under the City God. We are now on our way to deliver a document to the Great Emperor of Mount Tai." The county constables asked, "What matter does the document concern?" The ghost runners answered, "Jinan is about to suffer a great calamity, and this document reports the number of those who will be slain." The county constables asked in alarm how many, and the ghosts said, "We are not entirely certain, but it is close to a million." When asked the time, the ghosts replied, "On the first day of the first month." The two county constables exchanged horrified glances, calculating their journey; they would reach Jinan on New Year's Eve, and feared they might encounter this catastrophe, yet if they delayed, they would be punished for negligence. The ghosts said, "The crime of missing the deadline is small, but encountering the great disaster is a grave misfortune. You should hide elsewhere and not return home for now." The county constables heeded their advice. Soon afterward, Qing troops swarmed in and massacred the city of Jinan, leaving a million corpses strewn about. The two county constables, having fled, escaped the calamity.
Commentary
In Chinese folk culture, anything beyond human control—primarily natural disasters and man-made calamities—is often attributed to fate. This tale, through the mouths of ghosts and deities, exposes the brutal slaughter inflicted by Qing soldiers in Shandong during the late Ming dynasty. Evidence can be found in Tan Qian's "Guoque" (volumes 96 and 97): "In the first month of the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), on the day Gengshen, the Jianzhou barbarians captured Jinan... Censor-inspector Song Xuezhu, Left Provincial Administrator Zhang Bingwen, Licheng Magistrate Han Chengxuan... all died... Prince De, Youzhi, was captured, and all the commandery princes were killed. Jinan was ravaged and looted clean." "On the day Wuchen, Yunnan Censor Guo Jingchang was ordered to inspect Shandong and verify the losses. When Jingchang arrived, he buried the accumulated corpses in Jinan city, numbering over 130,000." "The Ghost Clerk" can be said to speak of history through ghostly tales. As for the claim of "carrying a million corpses," it may be somewhat exaggerated, perhaps due to the inclusion of those killed in nearby prefectures and counties, passed down and embellished through circulation.