In the seventeenth year of Hongwu's reign, the 23-year-old Mrs. Shexiang took off her bloody clothes and showed the whip marks on her back in front of Zhu Yuanzhang. That was the humiliation given to her by Guizhou commander Ma Ye - the ten whips tore not only her skin, but also the trust between the Ming Dynasty and the Yi family.
"My wife does not ask for rewards," she said in a clear voice, "I only ask that your majesty open a post road to the west of the water so that the Yi family's medicinal materials can come out of the mountains and the Han family's salt and cloth can come in."
Three months ago, her husband was newly deceased, and Ma Ye held a banquet to revolt. When the whip sounded, the tribesmen became furious. But she took out her young son and swore: "I want your Majesty to see with your own eyes how his ministers lit fires in the southwest."
After traveling thousands of miles, three guards died; for three days, the palace gates were closed to all. On the morning of the fourth day, she knelt on the royal road and shouted: "If you don't see me, blood will be splashed here!"
In the side hall, the emperor was moved by the scars. She told her calmly: "It's a small thing to humiliate, but it's a big thing to chill the people of southwest China."
Ma Ye was finally questioned, and she brought back the imperial decree for road construction. Many years later, "Longchang Jiuyi" ran through Qianshan Mountain. She slept on the roadside, watching the passing caravans - ten whip marks did not provoke rebellion, but in exchange for a hundred years of access.
A woman's forbearance is better than thousands of troops, and a post road connects the hearts of the Yi and Han people.
