Sacrificing a Son to Save an Orphan
Sacrificing a Son to Save an Orphan. In early July of the fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, a month after Qin Hou's murder, a troop of government soldiers suddenly surrounded the ancient village of Maogang and rushed to Qin Hou's home, vowing to wipe out his descendants. This was strange: since Qin Hou's arrest, his family had been destroyed and his clan exterminated—how did the soldiers come looking again? It turned out someone had reported to Zhu Yuanzhang...
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
Sacrificing a Son to Save an Orphan
In early July of the fifth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, exactly one month after Qin Hou was murdered, a detachment of government soldiers suddenly surrounded the ancient stockade of Maogang and made straight for Qin Hou's old home, declaring they would exterminate Qin Hou's descendants. This was rather strange: ever since Qin Hou's arrest, his family had been destroyed, his entire clan wiped out—how did the soldiers come looking again?
It turned out that someone had secretly informed Zhu Yuanzhang: when Lady Zhu, the second wife, died, she left behind a son hidden at Maogang. Zhu Yuanzhang said, "If Qin Hou's line is not cut off, the Great Ming's realm will not be stable." So he dispatched over a hundred soldiers to Maogang to search Qin Hou's old home. But Qin Hou's residence had long since been burned down, leaving only broken walls. When the officer could not find Qin Hou's orphan, knowing he could not report back and complete his mission, he issued a proclamation: if the orphan was not handed over within three days, all one-year-old infants in Maogang would be killed!
One day passed—no movement.
Two days passed—still no one came forward to surrender.
Three days passed—still nothing!
Seeing that threats were useless, the officer ordered a house-to-house search, killing every infant on sight and claiming heads for reward! The hundred or so soldiers, hearing that killing brought rewards, had long been itching for it. One by one they sharpened knives and wiped spears, as if facing a great enemy. Just then, someone suddenly reported: "Qin Hou's groom Hu Boji is offering the orphan
The officer looked and saw a burly, dark-faced man walking slowly in, cradling a one-year-old infant in his arms.
The officer asked: "Are you Hu Boji, Qin Hou's groom?"
"Yes."
"Bold Hu Boji! Why did you secretly harbor the rebel's cursed son?"
"Reporting to the officer, before Lady Zhu, the second wife, died, she gave birth to a son named Liangyou and entrusted me to raise the orphan. I remembered my many years with Qin Hou and could not bear to refuse, so I had no choice but to take Liangyou in. I am late in handing him over today, and beg the officer's forgiveness."
The officer, suspicious, suddenly shouted: "Is this truly Qin Liangyou?"
Hu Boji answered calmly: "Lady Zhu, the second wife, left a bracelet. Please examine it, officer." With that, he handed the infant to the officer with both hands. The officer saw that the infant indeed wore a silver bracelet on his wrist, engraved with: "Liangyou, Liangyou, you are of Qin Hou's line; in fifteen years, avenge your father!" The officer was both delighted and alarmed. Trembling, he removed the silver bracelet, cut off the infant's head with one stroke, and returned to the capital well satisfied to claim his reward.
As soon as the officer left, Hu Boji and his wife embraced the infant's corpse and wailed bitterly: "Oh child, you died so unjustly!" They cried until they were beside themselves, and heaven and earth seemed dim.
Why were the couple so heartbroken? It turned out that when Lady Zhu, the second wife, gave birth to Liangyou, Hu Boji's wife, Lady Zhu [of the Hu family], had also given birth to a son. When Lady Zhu was dying, she secretly entrusted Liangyou to the groom Hu Boji to raise, hoping to preserve Qin Hou's bloodline for future revenge. Hu Boji took Liangyou into his home from then on. Later, Lady Zhu's cousin Zhu Shiji, in order to prove his loyalty to Zhu Yuanzhang, not only betrayed Qin Hou but also revealed the secret of Lady Zhu's orphan—though he did not yet know the child was being raised in Hu Boji's home. Seeing the Ming officers pursuing urgently, and fearing that the descendants of Maogang would truly be exterminated, Hu Boji thought it over again and again and could only bear the pain of offering his own son, substituting the false for the true and saving Qin Liangyou. The infant the Ming officer killed was his own flesh and blood.
Fifteen years later, Qin Liangyou had grown to manhood, and had mastered all the eighteen martial arts—on horseback and on foot, with bow, sword, spear, and staff. Only then did Hu Boji tearfully recount to Liangyou, one by one, the grievances of the Qin family. Liangyou was deeply grateful, and acknowledged Hu Boji as his adoptive father; hence for many years afterward, the Qin and Hu families in the Maogang area did not intermarry. Before long, Maogang once again raised the banner of rebellion. Only then did Zhu Yuanzhang realize he had been fooled by a horse groom, and could not help sighing: "Qin Hou, oh Qin Hou, you are truly like the thatch roots on Maogang Mountain—I wiped out your nine clans, and yet another Qin Liangyou has sprung up!"