Li Bai once left a poem while traveling in Huizhou: “I heard of the Jinhua Crossing, with five hundred rapids to the east. One day I shall take your hand, and row our boat into Xin’an.”
This poem indicated that one could reach Huizhou directly by entering the Xin’an River from Jinhua.
This group of wokou pirates had taken the route from Ningbo into the Qiantang River, then into the Xin’an River, and finally entered Huizhou through the Xin’an River. Along the way, they had gathered numerous water and mountain bandits—all desperate outlaws—and by the time they reached Huizhou, their numbers had grown to over eight hundred.
Among these wokou were some particularly cunning individuals. During the day, they had people disguise themselves and infiltrate Huizhou city. Then, taking advantage of the midnight hour, they coordinated an attack from both inside and outside, successfully capturing the East Gate and breaking into the city.
Huizhou’s garrison numbered merely two hundred men, and their fighting prowess was no match for the wokou who had been hardened by years at sea. The nearest military post was still over thirty li away from the city.
Moreover, as soon as the wokou entered the city, they started setting fires everywhere, throwing the city into instant chaos.
“How could the wokou suddenly appear in Huizhou? And they managed to take the city without making a sound—it’s inconceivable!” Zhenniang clenched her fists tightly, gritting her teeth in disbelief. Although some regions during this period of the Ming Dynasty were truly chaotic, the Huizhou area maintained good order. Whenever bandits caused trouble, they would be suppressed by the joint forces of government troops and local garrisons.
The common people had been living in peace and prosperity.
“The wokou changed into our Ming clothing and mixed with mountain and water bandits, gathering nearly a thousand men. They moved in separate groups, hiding during the day and moving at night—this was a premeditated action. When they first caused trouble in the city, if it weren’t for some wokou revealing their identity through their swords and speech, everyone would have thought it was just bandits or a civilian uprising.” Luo Wenqian spoke coldly.
Zhenniang nodded. Due to frequent earthquakes and various disasters in recent years, unrest and uprisings have occurred in various places. Just recently, there had been a stone quarry workers’ uprising in Jiangxi.
“What do we do now?” Zhenniang asked anxiously. She hadn’t expected them to gather nearly a thousand people—this would cause major chaos. At this moment, Li Jingfu and Madam Zhao, who were listening to the situation, were also startled.
“We must evacuate immediately. The wokou and mountain bandits have broken through the East Gate and are heading straight for Sibao Street. The yamen’s forces are insufficient, and with the chaos of the night, we must clear the space to better intercept the wokou and bandits. Therefore, all residents of the Sibao Street area must evacuate,” Luo Wenqian said.
He held a position as a garrison inspector, though it was purchased with money. However, at times like these, he had to do his duty. Therefore, as soon as the incident occurred and he received the news, he gathered his guards to join the resistance against the wokou and bandits.
However, it was nighttime, and with several fires starting at once, the civilians were thrown into chaos. Government troops, bandits, wokou, and civilians were all mixed. The government forces were already few, and when the panicked civilians scattered them, they dispersed. Meanwhile, each household’s servants and local militia had to protect their residences, so for the time being, it was impossible to organize any large-scale resistance. As a result, the prefectural magistrate gathered all functional officials and some local gentry to discuss countermeasures.
It was obvious that the wokou and mountain bandits were targeting Sibao Street, currently the most prosperous area in Huizhou, home to several great families. The wokou and bandits were naturally headed there for plunder, as in this era, ordinary households barely had enough grain to survive and nothing worth stealing.
Everyone understood this.
Therefore, the current plan was for the yamen troops to hold them off at the cost of their lives, buying time for the residents of Sibao Street to evacuate. Then, they would let the wokou and bandits enter the Sibao Street area. This area had many alleys, and when the wokou and bandits spread out to loot, they would naturally become scattered. At that point, they could organize the government troops and local militia to engage in alley warfare with the wokou and bandits, trapping them in various lanes. Once the garrison troops arrived, they could catch them all in one sweep.
Of course, this was just the plan—nobody knew how it would turn out, and they couldn’t think that far ahead. In any case, they would fight to the death. They couldn’t let these invaders plunder and leave at their leisure.
As Luo Wenqian was speaking, the sound of bronze gongs suddenly rang out from outside—it was an urgent notice from the yamen runners.
“Wokou and bandits have invaded, and the East Gate has fallen! All residents of Sibao Street must immediately evacuate to the yamen on South Street. Repeat: all residents of Sibao Street must immediately evacuate to the yamen on South Street.” After several shouts, more gong sounds followed.
At this moment, the door was pushed open again as Li Daolang and Li Zhengxi returned. Both wore shocked expressions and the information they had gathered matched what Luo Wenqian had said.
“Father, Mother, right now the yamen runners and some local militia are holding back the wokou and bandits. We must evacuate quickly—the wokou and bandits are heading straight this way, and the government troops are few. They won’t last long,” Li Daolang said urgently.
“Good, quickly pack up and evacuate.” Li Jingfu said, then turned to Li Daolang: “Daolang, hurry and notify your Seventh Grandmother and help them evacuate.” The Seventh House had no adult males, only women and children, so their side needed to help.
“Alright,” Li Daolang responded.
“Brother, I’ll go with you,” Zhenniang said. No matter what, she was still Li Mo’s head manager, and she couldn’t abandon the Li family’s Seventh House. As she spoke, Zhenniang glanced back at Luo Wenqian.
Luo Wenqian naturally understood Zhenniang’s concerns. Although the Eighth House had male members, it also had many women—Madam Wu, Madam Zheng, Madam Zhao, and Madam Du, plus the two children, Xiaoguan’er and Huiguan’er. All these people needed special attention.
“Don’t worry, go quickly and come back soon. I’ll take care of your parents,” Luo Wenqian stepped forward and held Zhenniang’s hand, then ordered Luo Wuzi to follow Zhenniang and help look after the Seventh House.
Zhenniang nodded firmly, then withdrew her hand from Luo Wenqian’s grip and followed Li Daolang to the Seventh House.
With such chaos in the city, the Seventh House couldn’t be unaware, and they were already gathered together.
“Seventh Grandmother, please have the aunts quickly pack some belongings and evacuate to South Street,” Zhenniang urged Old Madam Li and the other women as soon as she entered. Meanwhile, young Tianyou pressed his lips together, face cold, fists clenched. Though there was some helplessness in his eyes, he was trying hard to maintain composure while comforting his mother, Madam Sun.
This little fellow was gradually growing into the pillar of the Li family’s Seventh House.
“Yes, Seventh Grandmother, we can’t delay. We don’t know how long the government troops can hold, and the sounds of fighting are getting closer,” Li Daolang added urgently, worried that Seventh Grandmother wouldn’t be able to let go of their household possessions.
“Very well.” Old Madam Li had always been decisive and knew this wasn’t the time to worry about material possessions. She immediately said to Li Daolang: “No need to pack anymore. Daolang, take your aunts and little Tianyou and leave immediately.”
“Seventh Grandmother, what about you?” Zhenniang asked anxiously.
“I still have some things to take care of in the ink workshop, I’ll follow shortly,” Old Madam Li said.
The ink workshop was crucial to the Li family. Not to mention the notebooks and historical ink collections that needed to be secured—whether looted or burned, it would be a devastating blow to the Li family. Zhenniang had come specifically concerned about the ink workshop, and now said: “Seventh Grandmother, you should go first, I’ll pack up the things in the ink workshop.”
“There are things you don’t know about, I must do it myself,” Old Madam Li said gravely.
“Then I’ll stay with Seventh Grandmother,” Zhenniang insisted, unwilling to let Old Madam Li stay alone.
“Very well, come along then.” Old Madam Li knew this girl wouldn’t leave her, so she nodded and turned to wave Li Daolang away to lead the aunts out first. The aunts had already secured their valuable jewelry on their persons, and they nodded to Old Madam Li and Zhenniang before taking Tianyou and following Li Daolang out with several servants leading the way.
Meanwhile, Luo Wuzi, who had followed Zhenniang into the Li household on Luo Wenqian’s orders to protect her, never left her side.
Thus, Zhenniang and Luo Wuzi helped Old Madam Li enter the Buddha hall.
“Wuzi, wait at the door. This concerns the Li family’s secrets,” Old Madam Li said to Luo Wuzi.
Hearing it concerned the Li family’s secrets, Luo Wuzi nodded and left, closing the door but remaining vigilant outside.
As Zhenniang was about to rush into the ink workshop to retrieve the important notebooks, Old Madam Li stopped her.
“Zhenniang, the ink workshop is the foundation of our Li family’s hundred-year enterprise, so our Li ancestors were extremely careful in its construction. The Li family’s ink workshop has two versions—real and fake. You must remember this.” Old Madam Li told Zhenniang as she walked to the Buddhist shrine, which had a protruding redwood handle. The old lady twisted it and then pressed down hard, and immediately the entire shrine moved sideways, perfectly blocking the ink workshop’s door without leaving even a crack. If Zhenniang hadn’t known there was an entrance there, she would never have noticed it.
At the same time, where the shrine had moved from, another door appeared. Using the same key to open it, Old Madam Li beckoned to Zhenniang. Following the old lady inside, Zhenniang discovered it had the same layout as the front ink workshop, even with some ink blocks arranged on shelves and complete with notebooks. Zhenniang flipped through one and found it contained mostly known ink formulas and some seemingly authentic but slightly off-manufacturing recipes—seven parts truth mixed with two or three parts fiction, impossible for ordinary people to distinguish.
“This…” Zhenniang was truly eye-opened by this situation.
“This is the fake workshop. I sealed the real workshop with the shrine, and the real workshop’s walls are built entirely of large bluestone blocks with sand packed between them for fireproofing. Ordinary fires can’t burn through,” Old Madam Li explained.
Hearing this, Zhenniang was overjoyed: “That’s wonderful, now we don’t have to worry about losing the ink workshop.” Speaking of which, she remembered time was pressing and said to Old Madam Li: “Then, Madam, once we’ve taken care of things, let’s hurry—the aunts are worried.”
“Good, let’s go.” Old Madam Li scanned the surroundings one more time, then nodded and said to Zhenniang.
Supporting the old lady, Zhenniang noticed a small groove along the wall while climbing the steps. It seemed to contain some kind of oil.
“Old Madam, what is this groove for?” Zhenniang asked while helping Old Madam Li out of the fake workshop.
The old lady didn’t answer, just smiled, then closed the door and locked it. She took out a painting of Guanyin and hung it above the door, perfectly concealing it. Thus, even the fake workshop became undetectable.
Anyone entering would only see a small room with a Buddhist shrine and a Guanyin painting hanging beside it. Nothing else.
Who could imagine that in the same space, two workshops—one real, one fake—were hidden?
What ingenuity—the Li ancestors were truly capable, Zhenniang marveled inwardly.
“Let’s go.” Seeing everything was in order, Old Madam Li waved her hand, and Zhenniang supported her out of the room. Luo Wuzi, who had been waiting anxiously outside, finally relaxed upon seeing them emerge.
The three then hurried toward the exit. By now, the Li family mansion was empty.
“Old Madam Li, Miss Li, where might you be going?” Just as Zhenniang and the others were about to leave through the main gate, Lian Jiyingsong appeared at the entrance with his hands behind his back, and behind him were wokou wielding their distinctive swords. Without a doubt, the Li family compound was surrounded.