Yishui Elegy

In the last years of Qianlong's reign, the powerful officials in the court were in power, local corruption was rampant, and natural disasters and man-made disasters were causing people's livelihood. The anti-Qing forces in Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, Hunan, and Shaanxi used the name of the White Lotus Sect to secretly accumulate strength, and war was about to break out. Tan Shengluan, the nephew of the master of Yishui Hall, Qin Jiayao, went deep into the mountains of southwest Hubei to make arrangements in advance. He happened to meet and fall in love with Qiu Yun, Miss Feng Jiayao, a wealthy family in Guandiankou. Yishuitang met with colleagues in Xiangyang, Yidu, Youshui, Lichuan, Sichuandong, and Shaanxi, and launched an uprising at the same time in the first year of Jiaqing. For a time, gunpowder smoke spread everywhere, the rebel army was in full swing, and the government and the public were shocked. The Qing government mobilized officers and soldiers from several provinces to encircle and suppress them. The Qin family's rebel army was forced to break into pieces and fight thousands of miles away, turning the land of southwestern Hubei upside down. After three years and dozens of battles, he was finally trapped on Yunpan Ridge in Guandiankou. There was a heavy snowfall and he was besieged internally and externally. He was annihilated by Zhao Yuansheng, the magistrate of Jianshi County, and the armed forces of the gentry, and composed a tragic song of the hero's end. During the war, Feng Qiuyun's family was destroyed and he fled into Buddhism; his mother, second uncle, and adopted sister died in the battle one after another, and the rebel army was wiped out. Tan Shengluan returned to the mountains and forests in despair; Zhao Yuansheng saw through the darkness of officialdom and decided to resign and return to his hometown. Zhao Yuansheng and Qin Shengluan met by chance at the ancient ferry, wandering around the beautiful mountains and rivers, and lost their grudges with three glasses of water and wine.