Dorgon came to see the cannon in person. He smiled as the shells fell.
He said: "You are a Han Chinese, do you feel comfortable helping us fight against the Han Chinese?"
I said, "I want to live."
He said: "I also want to live. But for some people, living is more uncomfortable than dying."
He was right.
Later, the cannon I built opened Shanhaiguan. Later, the cannon I built followed the Qing army into Beijing. Later, the cannon I built was aimed at Nanming, Zheng Chenggong, and everyone who refused to shave their heads.
Three years later, when the Qing army saw me, they wanted to call me "Master Shen."
But I dream about those people every night - the people who were shattered by my cannons. Their faces can't be seen clearly, but they are all Han Chinese. They didn't speak, just looked at me.
There's Liu Da, there's Lao Zheng, and there's that young man who was retching. I don't know his name. They were looking at me too.
A crow crows outside the window again. From the west.
My name is Shen Dingyuan. Dingyuan Hou Banchao's Dingyuan.
But my cannon will destroy whose homeland and country it will destroy.
The weight of history. Airtight