The "Hong Fan Lun" states: Not being able to see clearly or hear clearly will result in punishment. Ah, the ancient emperors had their struggles too. Look, in the third year of Tai Chang, in November, a white owl was caught in the capital; in the second year of Su Zong's Zheng Guang, on the eighth day of the month, a bald owl was actually captured in the palace! In the second year of Xiao Chang, in April, someone even brought in a bizarre duck with one head, two bodies, four legs, four wings, and two tails! What on earth is this? In the second year of Xiao Jing's Tian Ping, in March, a male pheasant surprisingly flew into the Ministry of Personnel and was directly caught in the hall! This is just a string of strange occurrences! The "Hong Fan Lun" also says: If the ruler is tyrannical, focused solely on exploiting the common people; greedy and insatiable, constantly mustering armies; building cities and towns while losing the people's hearts, then disasters will follow! You see, just as predicted, in the fifth year of Gao Zu's Tai He, in July, Dunhuang was hit by a locust plague, and the autumn harvest was nearly all ruined! In July of the sixth year, Qing Zhou and Yong Zhou were again plagued by locusts; in August, seven states including Xu Zhou, East Xu Zhou, Yan Zhou, Ji Zhou, Ping Zhou, Yu Zhou, and Guang Zhou, as well as four towns: Ping Yuan, Fang Tou, Guang A, and Lin Ji, all faced locust disasters! In April of the seventh year, Xiang Zhou and Yu Zhou were again afflicted by locusts; in March of the eighth year, Ji Zhou, Zhou, and Xiang Zhou faced damage from the locusts; in April, seven states including Ji Zhou, Guang Zhou, You Zhou, Si Zhou, Yong Zhou, Qi Zhou, and Ping Zhou were all plagued by locusts; in June of the year of Yi Si, Xiang Zhou, Qi Zhou, Guang Zhou, and Qing Zhou again suffered from locust damage! In October of the sixteenth year, in the year of Gui Si, Fohan also faced a locust plague, and all the crops were wiped out!
In the first year of Shizong Jingming, in May, the six states of Qingzhou, Qizhou, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, Guangzhou, and South Qingzhou were plagued by locusts damaging crops; in the third month of the fourth year, a locust disaster struck Hezhou, leading to a complete loss of the wheat harvest; in May, locusts damaged crops in Guangzhou; in June, a locust disaster occurred in Hezhou; in July, locusts damaged crops in Donglai County; in the first year of Zhengshi, locust disasters occurred in Xiazhou and Sizhou in June; in the fourth year, locusts damaged jujube flowers in Qingzhou in April; in August, a disaster caused by yellow mice, grasshoppers, and locusts occurred in Jingzhou, with locusts in Hezhou, locusts in Liangzhou, and locusts in Hengnong County in Sizhou also causing disasters together! In the first year of Yongping, a locust disaster occurred in Liangzhou in June; in the fifth year of May, locusts damaged jujube flowers in Qingzhou; in July, locust disasters occurred in the capital, along with locusts; in August, locusts damaged crops in Qingzhou, Qizhou, and Guangzhou, with two-thirds of the crops being eaten! This has been an ongoing series of disasters!
In the first year of Xiping, in June, the pest situation was severe in Qingzhou, Qizhou, Guangzhou, and South Qingzhou, and the crops were all affected.
In the first year of Tian'an, in June, an odd spectacle occurred in Yanzhou: black ants and red ants fought a big battle, with a battlefield sixty steps long and four inches wide, and all the red ants were killed, with their heads rolling. Black ants occupied the north, and red ants occupied the south. By November, the governor of Yanzhou, Liu Yu, sent envoys to negotiate their surrender, and the court sent General Wuyuan to accept them, defeating the rebel generals Zhou Kai and others.
In the seventh month of the tenth year of Taihe, Zhang Wanshou, the Zhong of Bingzhou, reported that in Jianxing Huoze County, a commoner named Jia Riche had been raising silkworms since mid-April and found that the silkworms spun into a curtain, inside which contained something rolled up that resembled a ribbon, four feet long and three inches wide, thin, with two yellow cocoons on top, shaped like footprints.
In the second year of Zhengshi, in March, Xuzhou suffered a silkworm moth disaster, with over one hundred ten people bitten, and twenty-two fatalities resulting from the bites.
The calamity of the caterpillar refers to those abnormal and bizarre phenomena. When the founding emperor took the throne, a large tiger appeared in Henan, lying by the river for three months before it finally left. The following year, many ants and white deer crossed the Yellow River. A year later, the river water turned blood red. All of these were signs of the Wei Chen clan's impending downfall. Later, the Wei Chen family was wiped out, and their bodies were thrown into the river, and no further incidents occurred there.
In the first month of the Yuanxiang era, a wolf ran into the city and was caught in the Xieshi area.
In the twelfth month of the fifth year of Wuding, a leopard was caught on the copper platform in the north city.
In the fifth month of the first year of Taihe, a fox spirit came out to cut people's hair and even wrote characters. At that time, Empress Dowager Wenming was in power, and this was a sign of corruption in the court.
In the second year of Xiping, starting from spring, the capital saw incidents of fox spirits cutting people's hair, which scared everyone. On the renchen day in June, Empress Dowager Ling summoned those who had their hair cut and ordered Liu Teng, commander of Chongxun Guard, to whip them outside the Qianqiu Gate. This incident mirrored what happened during the Taihe era. The "Ruitu" states: If local nobles, governors, and county magistrates oppress the common people brutally, leading to widespread grievances, white mice will appear.
In the second month of the third year of Yongxing, a commoner named Zhao Wen in the capital found a white mouse at home and presented it to the court.
That spring, a white mouse was also caught in the Northern Garden, but it died soon after. Upon dissection, three small white mice were found in its belly.
In the third month of the fourth year of Yongxing, the emperor went to the Western Palace and caught yet another white mouse.
In August, a commoner named Zhang An from the Imperial Palace caught another white mouse.
In the fifth month of the second year of the Shenrui era, the emperor went hunting at Qielun Mountain and caught a small white mouse. Three small white mice were also caught in Pingcheng. In June, two additional small white mice were caught in Pingcheng.
This is simply a flood of mice! There are reports of mice everywhere, which feels a bit strange. By August, Wang Kui of Yuzhang also caught a mouse. In November of the first year of the Tai Chang era, someone in the capital caught a mouse and even went so far as to present it to the emperor. Was the person who presented the mouse trying to win the emperor's favor? In June of the second year of Tai Chang, two mice were caught in the Zhongshan area. In March of the third year of Tai Chang, yet another mouse was caught in the capital. In November, yet another mouse was caught in the capital. The number of mice showing up in the capital is just ridiculous! By August of the third year of the Shizu Shiguang era, a mouse was caught in Weijun, Shaozhou. In August of the first year of Tai Yan, a mouse was sent from Yanmen. In August of the twenty-third year of the Gaozu Taihe era, another mouse was caught in the capital. In May of the fourth year of the Shizong Jingming era, yet another mouse was caught in the capital. In June of the first year of the Zhengshi era, another mouse was caught in the capital. In April of the first year of the Suzong Xiping era, it was reported from Sizhou that a mouse had been caught and sent over specifically. These mice are seriously everywhere—north, south, east, and west!
