What is the most frightening story in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, and what is the profound implication behind it?

In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, things changed. There was a villager named Li Hualong who met officers and men marching at night. He was afraid that the officers and men would kill innocent people, so he lay in the dead and pretended to be dead. When the officers and men were far away, he was about to get up, but he witnessed an incredible horror scene ... Pu Songling described this story in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, titled Wild Dog.

Rebellion in Chyi Yu

"In the seven chaos, killing people is like hemp."

The writing technique of Wild Dog is different from other stories. Looking through nearly 500 stories in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Pu Songling tells people and places at the beginning of almost all stories, such as a student and a local. "Wild Dog" begins with the background of the times, "Killing people like hemp in the seven chaos", and only eight words present that dark historical period to readers.

According to records, during the Shunzhi period, the Qing Dynasty entered and left the customs, and the situation was unstable. There are many adherents of the Ming Dynasty who cherish the dream of rejuvenating the country. Yu Qi, located in Shandong Peninsula, is one of them. He was a martial artist during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty. After decades of hard work, he finally became famous and died. Who can stand this? So in the fifth year of Shunzhi, he raised the flag and led the peasant brothers to rebel in Sawtooth Mountain.

Qi uprising was huge, and the Qing court wooed him once in the middle and made him the commander-in-chief of Qixia. A few days later, Qiqi revolted again, taking Sawtooth Mountain, Kunyu Mountain, Aojiangshan Mountain and Zhaohushan Mountain as the base areas, and the ranks were several times larger than the first time. Unfortunately, it was finally suppressed by the Qing court with the imperial army and the Shandong Governor's Association, and they fled in unison. From uprising to repression, * * * lasted 15 years. Since then, the Qing court has carried out bloody revenge on many areas within the scope of the seven uprisings, and the world has changed color.

History books and local chronicles recorded this uprising, which was called "Yu Qi Uprising".

Villager Li Hualong

"The villagers Li Hualong, since the mountains. The soldiers on duty entered at night, fearing the disaster in Yan Kun, hid in a hurry, lay stiffly among the dead, and cheated like corpses. The soldiers were too tired to leave. "

Li Hualong, a villager, hid in the mountains to avoid the confusion of soldiers, and didn't dare to go home until evening. Who knows that he met officers and men on the road? He was worried that he would be killed if he was found out, so he had a brainwave and lay in a mess pretending to be dead. Until the officers and men walked away, they were afraid to stand up.

With the introduction of "Yu Qi Rebellion", it is not difficult to understand why Li Hualong hid in the mountains, why there were dead bodies everywhere, and why he didn't dare to come forward until all the officers and men had left. These officers and men must have been sent by the imperial court to take indiscriminate revenge on these seven or more parties. For ordinary people like Li Hualong, whether it is victory in July or victory in the Qing court, it will be unlucky in the end.

narrowly/barely escape with one's death

The following story is creepy. When Li Hualong was secretly observing the movements of officers and men, among those "people" who lacked arms and brains, bodies suddenly stood up. One of them said, "What can we do if wild dogs come?" Other "people" have also said what to do! Say that finish, they fell down again, surrounded by silence, as if nothing had happened.

Li Hualong was in shock and was about to stand up and run for his life when he suddenly saw a monster coming. Monster:

"The head of a wild animal, sitting on a person's head, sucked all over his brain."

Li Hualong, who has just stood for half a minute, really can't run away this time. Not only that, he also hid his head under the dead body. First, he can't look at it. On the other hand, this monster feeds on the human brain and needs to protect its own head. This is probably the so-called ostrich mentality. As long as you can't see it, there is no danger.

The monster finally ate Li Hualong. He pulled Li by the shoulder, looking for his head. Li Hualong has been burying his head among the dead. The monster was furious and pushed away all the dead bodies around him. Li Hualong can't hide. Just at the critical moment, Li Hualong touched a bowl of stones. When the monster relaxed his vigilance and was ready to enjoy the food in front of him, Li Hualong suddenly and violently attacked the dog that hurt people, while hitting the wild dog's head with stones:

"Something bent over the cup. Li suddenly started up, shouted, hit him on the head and hit him on the mouth. Things are like cockroaches, covering their mouths with pain and vomiting blood. "

Pu Songling really cherishes words like gold. In just over 20 words, he thought wild dogs wanted to eat people. As a result, they were killed and fled in pain. They wrote very vividly. For someone who needs to tell a story. These 20 words can be said for one day and one night, which shows Pu Songling's pen power.

wild dog

Look at this wild dog. As mentioned earlier, its image is "animal head", and it likes to suck brains, which is shocking enough. Later, it was said that it sounded like an owl (ch: and).

Owl is a kind of bird recorded in ancient books, which was first seen in Shan Hai Jing ·Xi· Shan Jing;

"There are birds on the Three Dangers Mountain ... a three-body song, which is shaped like a (happy bird) and named owl."

There is also an owl in Indian mythology. It is a beautiful bird with a sad voice. According to textual research, the owl in Indian mythology should be an endangered hornbill with wrinkled crown.

The owl in Wild Dog is neither a three-body strange bird nor an Indian god bird in Shan Hai Jing, but a kind of owl. Why do I spend so much time on an owl in the story of wild dogs?

Because in ancient times, owls were also called owls and night owls. As the saying goes, "the night owl came into the room and nothing came." Because the owl is an ominous bird, if it flies into the house, it will definitely bring disaster. The reason why owls are annoying is that they howl at night. The cry of an owl is piercing and terrible, which is not only annoying, but also frightening.

The story of "Wild Dog" begins with the dark background of murder, followed by the horrible scene of the resurrection of dead bodies, and then the terrible picture of wild dogs eating people. From beginning to end, it was shrouded in terror and ominous breath. At this time, it is even more frightening to suddenly let wild dogs scream like owls, coupled with people's ominous cognition of owls.

Wild dogs were smashed by Li Hualong, and they vomited blood and fled. Don't say, Lao Li is really bold. Instead of running away quickly, he went forward to observe what the wild dog vomited. I saw:

"Look, two blood teeth, sharp in the middle, more than four inches long. I don't know what to show people. "

There are two teeth in the blood, curved in the middle and sharp at both ends, more than four inches long. Lao Li picked them up and showed them to everyone in his hometown. No one knows what it is.

What exactly is a wild dog?

What exactly is a wild dog? Nobody knows. It's the head of a wild animal, which barks like an owl. It doesn't look like a dog at all, so in the article, except for the title and the word "wild dog" when the dead body is resurrected, everything else refers to "things" (referring to monsters).

In fact, if we carefully scrutinize this story, we will understand that wild dogs are actually a metaphor. It was against the background of that dark era that the blood and tears of the officers and men who retaliated against the common people were accused. The rebels have long been bribed, and the court has been guilty of imprisonment, just because there are some remnants of the party that are unlikely to exist. Wherever the officers and men go, there are corpses everywhere, and nothing grows.

Why do innocent people come back from the dead, just to convey the message that "wild dogs are coming, but there is nothing they can do"? When they are alive, they will be extinct by government forces, and they will be bitten by "wild dogs" after their death. No matter whether they are seven parties or government forces, they have no sympathy for the people, just like monsters and wild dogs.

Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio (Volume 9) and Gongsun nine niang also talk about the seven chaos. If you compare these two stories, you will have a clearer understanding of that era and better understand Pu Songling's intention of comparing people who brought disasters to ordinary people to "wild dogs".