A small county magistrate in the Qing Dynasty changed his fate

During the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court strongly issued the "Shave Order", requiring all adult men to shave the hair three inches in front of their foreheads and tie a queue at the back of their heads. Those who did not comply would be executed. However, in a remote county far from the capital, the local people ignored the high pressure of the court's "keep your hair or your head" policy. The only person in the county who shaved his hair and tied a queue as required by the court was the county magistrate, Fan Yong. He walked on the streets looking very conspicuous, but the people only laughed at his strange appearance and did not follow suit. They said, "The emperor is far away, can the court still control us here?"

The people remained unmoved, and Fan Yong was anxious about how to report to the court. As the deadline approached, he was in a frenzy. One day, he saw the old patriarch with white hair and a silver beard passing by the county office, and an idea came to his mind: why not let the respected old patriarch set an example for everyone? Fan Yong immediately conveyed this idea to the old patriarch, but he was flatly refused. The old patriarch said, "Hair is given by parents, how can it be shaved at will? The rules left by our ancestors, how can their descendants change them arbitrarily?"

Fan Yong was speechless for a moment and could only mumble, "That's true, that's true..." His eyes looked blankly into the distance.

The old patriarch didn't know what Fan Yong was looking at, so he looked in the direction of Fan Yong's gaze and saw a Taoist priest not far away, fortune-telling for others. The old patriarch suddenly realized that Fan Yong's repeated "that's true" was not a perfunctory response to himself, but a homophonic hint of "that Taoist priest" with his bun on his head. Right, since everyone is unwilling to shave their hair, if they tie their hair into a bun and pretend to be a Taoist priest, wouldn't the shaving order be irrelevant? Thinking deeper, Fan Yong naturally couldn't speak out directly, so he must have come to me, the patriarch! In fact, the old patriarch had just spoken, but he knew in his heart that if he really opposed the court, it would be like an egg hitting a rock. Now, this temporary solution can save all the people in the city from disaster, which is a great thing, isn't it?

The old patriarch knelt down with a thump and said, "Master, rest assured, I understand what you mean. I will do it!" He immediately got up and strode away.

Looking at the back of the old patriarch, Fan Yong was confused: what "do it"? What "understand your meaning"? I don't understand what you mean, and you understand what I mean? However, Fan Yong had self-knowledge. He was originally a local, and he became a county magistrate with a small fortune from his family. Since he took office, he has relied on the simple folk customs of the local area to be a stable official. He knew he didn't have any real skills, and it was common for his mind to not turn quickly, so it was normal for him not to understand the old patriarch's words now.

But what he didn't expect was that after the old patriarch said "do it," in just a few days, he suddenly found that all the adult men on the streets had tied their hair into Taoist buns. He was both surprised and delighted, and the old patriarch's "do it" turned out to be this! He sighed repeatedly, "Ginger is still the old spicy!" He was so excited that he immediately wrote to his superior, Liu, the prefect, and reported that the shaving order had been successfully implemented in the county.

He thought things could be vaguely passed like this, but who knew that after Liu, the prefect, received the report, he couldn't believe it: Do you, Fan Yong, have such great ability? He wrote with a big pen: In ten days, I will come to your county in person. If it is true, I will report to the court to set an example. This scared Fan Yong, and he hurried to ask the old patriarch for help. After listening, the old patriarch pondered for a moment and comforted, "Master, in fact, this is not a difficult matter. Fortunately, there are still ten days left, and I can teach everyone some Taoist knowledge, and then we can get by."

Ten days later, Liu, the prefect, came as expected. Although he found it a bit strange to see Taoist priests all over the street, he could ask a few people and they could all speak a few sentences of Taoism. Liu, the prefect, was obsessed with merit and did not delve into it. He went back and wrote to the court, exaggerating that the county was practicing Taoism, the people were well-behaved, and the whole city was peaceful, and so on. The emperor was delighted and ordered Liu, the prefect, and Fan, the county magistrate, to each be promoted to three levels and to take office in the capital in half a month.

If it were usual times, being promoted to one level would be a good thing, let alone three levels. But when the imperial edict came to the county, Fan Yong was trembling all over: as soon as the new county magistrate arrived, the scam would be exposed. What to do? However, Fan Yong, although stupid, knew that now Liu, the prefect, and he were on the same string of grasshoppers, so he mustered up the courage to write to Liu, the prefect, and told the truth. Liu, the prefect, was furious when he learned about it, but it was too late to do anything about it, so he had to think of a way to deal with it together.

Soon, Fan Yong wrote to the emperor: I am grateful for the emperor's grace and tears. However, I heard that the imperial concubine is ill, and the whole country is collecting good medicine. Although our county is small, everyone advocates Taoism, and Taoism pays the most attention to alchemy and longevity. I am willing to stay in the county and organize virtuous Taoist priests to pray and refine elixirs for the imperial concubine.

The emperor read the note and praised Fan Yong in front of the whole court, and also allocated a large sum of money for him to refine the elixir.

This time, the disaster has become bigger and bigger. Fan Yong thought that he would be dead sooner or later, so he might as well use the "alchemy" to make the people shave their forehead hair by themselves to eliminate future troubles, and he would not be a parent official in vain.

Therefore, Fan Yong ordered to build an alchemy room and posted a notice: Now, by the order of the emperor, to refine the elixir for the imperial concubine, a medicine lead is needed, which is the hair three inches wide in front of the forehead of adult men. Those who offer hair will get 20 taels of silver each. "Wow, 20 taels! My family can't earn so much money in a few years!" "Yes, it's a good thing to save people's lives, and there's money to be made. Isn't it a win-win situation?" The people saw the notice and whispered to each other, all excited. At first, you looked at me and I looked at you, feeling embarrassed to enter the alchemy room. Finally, someone took the first step, came out with a shaved top and a queue, holding white silver in his hand. So everyone followed suit, and Fan Yong finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In the end, only the old patriarch in the city had not shaved his hair. Fan Yong persuaded him with great effort: "Are you the only one in the whole city who has guts? If your life is gone, what's the use of the rules passed down by your ancestors? As long as the green hills are there, there will be firewood to burn. You should understand this truth, right?" Fan Yong has always been clumsy in speaking, and even he was surprised to say this at the moment. The old patriarch touched the few sparse hairs on his head, sighed while listening, and finally said, "Well," and gritted his teeth and finally stepped into the alchemy room.

The people who shaved their heads soon got used to each other's appearance, and because of the 20 taels of silver, their lives were more comfortable than before. But Fan Yong's heart was as hard as frying in oil: looking at the approaching deadline for refining the elixir set by the emperor, if he couldn't produce the elixir, he would be beheaded. If he casually took something to fool around, he would be reluctant. In case the imperial concubine really got sick and ate it in the future, the people of the whole city would also lose their lives. Thinking about it, Fan Yong thought it was best to commit suicide by himself, die alone, and not implicate anyone. So he took out paper and pen, wrote down the ins and outs of the matter in detail, to account for future generations. The next day, he sealed the item and handed it to the old patriarch, saying he was going out for a trip and asked him to keep the land deeds and the like, and then bid farewell.

The old patriarch always felt that Fan Yong's expression was not right today. As soon as he left, the old patriarch opened the seal and was stunned. He quickly gathered everyone, told them about this matter, and mobilized everyone to search for Fan Yong immediately.

Finally, people found Fan Yong at the foot of Xishan. They saw that he had a three-foot white silk around his neck and was hanging on a crooked tree. Everyone rushed over crying and shouting, "Master Fan, you can't die!" For a moment, the sad wind and sorrowful clouds filled the valley. But unexpectedly, as soon as the crying started, Fan Yong, who was hanging on the tree, suddenly fell to the ground with a "thud."

It turned out that Fan Yong was timid after all. He had the white silk on for a long time, but he hesitated to step on the stone under his feet, standing on tiptoe to encourage himself. Just now, everyone was only looking at the white silk on his head and didn't notice that the stone under his feet hadn't been stepped off.

The old patriarch quickly directed everyone to help Fan Yong up. Just then, someone was seen galloping from a distance. It turned out to be a close servant of Fan Yong, shouting to Fan Yong from a long distance: "Master, the prefect is coming! The imperial concubine has passed away!"

Fan Yong was shocked to hear that the imperial concubine had passed away and stood up straight with a "carp leap": "Is this true?" Surrounded by everyone, he rushed back to the county office, and sure enough, Liu, the prefect, was waiting impatiently in the office.

When Liu, the prefect, saw Fan Yong, he said, "The imperial concubine has passed away, and the emperor has sent me to check the silver allocated for refining the elixir and transport it back." Fan Yong made up his mind, anyway, he had to die, so he told the truth about distributing the silver to the people.

Liu, the prefect, was actually harboring ulterior motives. He took this imperial mission and wanted to make a big profit from it. Seeing his dream shattered, his face turned blue with anger. Then he thought: Will this kid play tricks on me again? He insisted on going to the treasury to check it himself and then report to the emperor when he returned to Beijing.

At this time, the old patriarch had already slipped away under the pretext of fear, and Fan Yong was determined to die, wanting to be a full ghost. He patted his chest and said to Liu, the prefect, "What's the hurry, Liu? Anyway, I will die sooner or later. I will go with you after I have a good meal and drink." He ordered people to set up a meal and wine, and without inviting Liu, the prefect, he just ate and drank by himself. After eating and drinking enough, he took Liu, the prefect, to the treasury. But to his surprise, when he opened the silver boxes in the treasury, they were all filled with white silver. Fan Yong was dumbfounded!

Liu, the prefect, laughed wildly: "You kid wants to cheat me? Humph, who do you think I am?" He ordered his men to load the silver boxes onto the cart and set off. But just at this moment, there was a sudden shout: "Liu is robbing silver! We can't let them go!" Everyone in the whole city suddenly came from all directions with sticks and tools in their hands. Liu, the prefect, was so scared that his face turned white, and he hurriedly commanded his men to set off and rush towards the capital.

Looking at their backs, the old patriarch suddenly appeared from somewhere and said to Fan Yong with a loud laugh: "Congratulations, Master, we have finally cleared this account with Liu's hand!"

It turned out that the old patriarch pretended to slip away, but actually came back to organize the villagers to do tricks in the treasury. Everyone contributed silver and strength, filling the silver boxes with stones, and only a thin layer of silver was laid on the stones in the top few boxes; to prevent being seen through, they also performed the good play of beating Liu just now.

Fan Yong was moved to tears when he heard this...