1
徐貞女劉氏余氏虞鳳娘林貞女王貞女倪美玉劉烈女上海某氏谷氏白氏高烈婦於氏 〈（臺氏）〉 胡氏王氏劉孝女崔氏高陵李氏烈婦柴氏周氏 〈（王氏）〉 荊媧宋氏李氏陳氏蘄水李氏 〈（婢阿來）〉 萬氏 〈（王氏五烈婦明倫堂女）〉 陳氏雞澤二李氏姜氏六安女石氏女 〈（謝氏）〉 莊氏馮氏唐烈妻陳氏 〈（劉氏）〉 唐氏 〈（顏氏）〉 盧氏於氏 〈（蕭氏楊氏）〉 仲氏女何氏趙氏倪氏 〈（王氏韓氏）〉 邵氏 〈（李氏）〉 江氏楊氏張氏石氏 〈（王氏等）〉 郭氏姚氏朱氏 〈（徐氏女）〉 定州李氏胡敬妻姚氏熊氏丘氏 〈（乾氏黃氏）〉 洗馬畈婦向氏雷氏商州邵氏呂氏曲周邵氏王氏吳之瑞妻張氏韓鼎允妻劉氏江都程氏六烈江都張氏 〈（蘭氏等）〉 張秉純妻劉氏陶氏田氏和州王氏方氏陸氏 〈（子道弘妻）〉 於氏項淑美 〈（王氏）〉 甬上四烈婦夏氏
Xu the Chaste Woman, Lady Liu, Lady Yu, Yu Fengniang, Lin the Chaste Woman, Wang the Chaste Woman, Ni Meiyu, the Fiercely Chaste Woman Liu, a woman of Shanghai (surname withheld), Lady Gu, Lady Bai, the Fiercely Chaste Wife Gao, Lady Yu (Lady Tai)〉 Lady Hu, Lady Wang, the Filial Daughter Liu, Lady Cui, Lady Li of Gaoling, the Fiercely Chaste Wife Chai, Lady Zhou (Lady Wang)〉 Jing Wa, Lady Song, Lady Li, Lady Chen, Lady Li of Qishui (the maidservant Alai)〉 Lady Wan (Lady Wang, the Five Fiercely Chaste Wives, women of the Hall of Bright Principle)〉 Lady Chen, the two Ladies Li of Jize, Lady Jiang, the daughter of Lu'an, the daughter of the Shi clan (Lady Xie)〉 Lady Zhuang, Lady Feng, the wife of Tang Lie, Lady Chen (Lady Liu)〉 Lady Tang (Lady Yan)〉 Lady Lu, Lady Yu (Lady Xiao, Lady Yang)〉 the daughter of the Zhong clan, Lady He, Lady Zhao, Lady Ni (Lady Wang, Lady Han)〉 Lady Shao (Lady Li)〉 Lady Jiang, Lady Yang, Lady Zhang, Lady Shi (Lady Wang and others)〉 Lady Guo, Lady Yao, Lady Zhu (the daughter of the Xu clan)〉 Lady Li of Dingzhou, the wife of Hu Jing Lady Yao, Lady Xiong, Lady Qiu (Lady Gan, Lady Huang)〉 the woman of Ximafan, Lady Xiang, Lady Lei, Lady Shao of Shangzhou, Lady Lü, Lady Shao of Quzhou, Lady Wang, the wife of Wu Zhirui Lady Zhang, the wife of Han Dingyun Lady Liu, the Six Fiercely Chaste Women of the Cheng clan of Jiangdu, Lady Zhang of Jiangdu (Lady Lan and others)〉 the wife of Zhang Bingchun Lady Liu, Lady Tao, Lady Tian, Lady Wang of Hezhou, Lady Fang, Lady Lu (the wife of Zidaohong)〉 Lady Yu, Xiang Shumei (Lady Wang)〉 the Four Fiercely Chaste Wives of Yongshang, Lady Xia
2
徐貞女，宣城人。 少字施之濟。 年十五，裏豪湯一泰艷之，倚從子祭酒賓尹，強委禽焉。 女父子仁不受，夜趣施舁女歸。 一泰恚甚，脅有司攝施婦，欲庭奪以歸，先使人捽之濟父子及媒妁數人，毆之府門，有司莫能制。 徐氏被攝，候理，次城東旅舍，思不免，夜伺人靜，投池中死，衣上下縫紉不見寸體。 觀者皆泣下，共舁古廟，盛夏郁蒸，蠅不敢近。 郡守張德明臨視，立祠城東祀之。
Xu the Chaste Woman was from Xuancheng. In her youth she was betrothed to Shi Zhiji. At fifteen, a local bully named Tang Yitai desired her; relying on his nephew Bin Yin the libationer, he forcibly sent betrothal gifts. The girl's father Ziren refused; that night he urged the Shi family to carry his daughter home. Yitai was furious. He coerced officials into summoning the Shi woman, intending to seize her in open court and take her home. First he sent men to drag off the Shi father and son and several matchmakers, beating them at the government gate, and the officials could not restrain him. Summoned, Lady Xu waited for her case at an inn east of the city wall. Concluding she could not escape dishonor, she waited until the night was still, then threw herself into a pool and died; her upper and lower garments were stitched together so that not an inch of flesh showed. Onlookers all wept and together carried her to an ancient temple. In the sweltering midsummer heat, flies dared not approach her body. Prefect Zhang Deming came to view her remains and erected a shrine east of the city to honor her.
3
劉氏，京師人。 有松江人戍邊者，詐稱無妻，娶劉。 既而遇赦歸，紿劉曰：「吾暫歸省。」 久之不復至，劉抵松訪之，夫拒不納。 劉哭曰：「良人棄我，我將安歸。」 乃剪發為尼，行乞市上，人多憐而周之。 劉置一棺，夜臥棺中數十年。 鄰火起，劉入棺，呼曰：「乞與闔棺，以畢吾事。」 遂焚死。
Lady Liu was from the capital. A man from Songjiang serving on frontier garrison duty falsely claimed to have no wife and married Liu. Later he was pardoned and returned home. He deceived Liu, saying, "I am going home briefly to visit my family." For a long time he did not return. Liu went to Songjiang to find him, but her husband refused to take her in. Liu wept and said, "My husband has abandoned me—where shall I go?" She then cut her hair and became a nun, begging in the marketplaces; many people pitied her and gave her alms. Liu bought a coffin and for decades slept in it at night. When a fire broke out nearby, Liu entered the coffin and called out, "Please close the coffin lid and complete my final rite." And so she burned to death.
4
余氏，黃岡宋蒙妾。 蒙妻劉，舉子女各一人，余無所出。 及蒙卒，劉他適，妾辛勤育之。 日事紡績，非丙夜不休。 壺政嚴肅，親屬莫敢窺其門。 逾二十年，忽謂子女曰：「吾命將盡，不能終視若輩，惟望若輩為上流人爾。」 越數日，無疾而逝。
Lady Yu was a concubine of Song Meng of Huanggang. Meng's wife Liu bore one son and one daughter; Yu had no children of her own. When Meng died, Liu remarried elsewhere, and the concubine toiled to raise the children. Day after day she spun and wove, not resting until after the third watch. Her household conduct was stern and proper; relatives dared not peek through her gate. After more than twenty years, she suddenly told the children, "My life is nearly finished; I cannot watch over you to the end. I only hope you will become people of the highest standing." Within a few days she passed away without illness.
5
虞鳳娘，義烏人。 其姊嫁徐明輝而卒，明輝聞鳳娘賢，懇其父欲聘為繼室。 女知，泣謂父母曰：「兄弟未嘗同妻，即姊妹可知。」 父執不聽，女絕口不言，自經死。
Yu Fengniang was from Yiwu. Her elder sister had married Xu Minghui and died. Minghui, hearing that Fengniang was virtuous, earnestly asked her father to take her as his second wife. When the girl learned of this, she wept and told her parents, "Brothers have never shared a wife—so it must be with sisters as well." Her father stubbornly refused to listen. The girl said no more and hanged herself.
6
林貞女，侯官人。 父舜道，官參政。 女幼許長樂副都御史陳省子長源，既納幣，長源卒。 女蓬首削脂澤，稱疾臥床，哭無聲而神傷。 或謂未成婦，何自苦。 答曰：「子名氏、歲月飾而櫝之以歸陳，忍自昧哉！」 固請於父，欲赴陳喪，父為達其意。 陳父答曰：「以兇歸，所不忍，以好歸，疇與主之？ 姑俟喪除。」 女大悲咤曰：「是欲緩之，覬奪吾誌也。」 遂不食，積七日，嘔血死。
Lin the Chaste Woman was from Houguan. Her father Shundao served as Vice Grand Councillor. In childhood she was betrothed to Changyuan, son of Vice Censor-in-Chief Chen Sheng of Changle. After betrothal gifts were exchanged, Changyuan died. The girl let her hair hang loose, ceased all cosmetics, claimed illness and lay in bed, weeping silently but with spirit deeply wounded. Some said, "You are not yet married—why torment yourself? She replied, "My name and lineage were adorned and packaged to be returned to the Chen family—how could I bear to deny this myself!" She repeatedly begged her father to go to the Chen mourning, and her father conveyed her wish. Chen's father replied, "I cannot bear to receive her in mourning dress. If she comes as a bride, who would receive her? For now let us wait until the mourning period ends." The girl cried out in great grief, "This is meant to delay me and steal away my resolve." She then stopped eating. After seven days she vomited blood and died.
7
王貞女，昆山人，太仆卿宇之孫，諸生述之女，字侍郎顧章誌孫同吉。 未幾，同吉卒。 女即去飾，白衣至父母前，不言亦不泣，若促駕行者。 父母有難色，使嫗告其舅姑，舅姑掃庭內待之。 女既至，拜柩而不哭，斂容見舅姑，有終焉之意。 姑含淚曰：「兒不幸早亡，奈何累新婦。」 女聞姑稱新婦，淚簌簌下，遂留執婦道不去。 早晚跪奠柩前，視姑眠食外，輒自屏一室，雖至戚遣女奴候視，皆謝絕，曰：「吾義不見門以外人。」 後姑病，女服勤，晝夜不懈。 及病劇，女人候床前，出視藥竈，往來再三，若有所為。 群婢窺之而莫得其跡，姑既進藥則睡，覺而病立間，呼女曰：「向飲我者何藥？ 乃速愈如是。」 欲執其手勞之，女縮手有難進之狀。 姑怪起視，已斷一指煮藥中矣。 姑嘆曰：「吾以天奪吾子，常憂老無所倚。 今婦不惜支體以療吾疾，豈不勝有子耶！」 流涕久之。 人皆稱貞孝女雲。
Wang the Chaste Woman was from Kunshan, granddaughter of Grand Master of Stud Wang Yu and daughter of the licentiate Shu. She was betrothed to Tongji, grandson of Vice Minister Gu Zhizhang. Before long, Tongji died. The girl at once removed her ornaments, dressed in white, and came before her parents—neither speaking nor weeping, as one urging the carriage to depart. Her parents showed reluctance, so she had an old woman tell her future parents-in-law, who swept the courtyard to receive her. When the girl arrived, she bowed before the coffin without weeping, composed herself to greet her parents-in-law, showing that she meant to remain there for life. Her mother-in-law said through tears, "My son died young by misfortune—how can I burden the new bride?" When the girl heard her mother-in-law call her the new bride, tears streamed down, and she stayed to fulfill the wife's duties without leaving. Morning and evening she knelt in offering before the coffin. Apart from attending to her mother-in-law's sleep and meals, she always secluded herself in one room. Even when close relatives sent maidservants to inquire after her, she declined them all, saying, "By my duty I will not see anyone outside this gate." Later when her mother-in-law fell ill, the girl served her diligently, day and night without slackening. When the illness grew severe, the girl waited at the bedside, then went out to look at the medicine stove, going back and forth several times as if doing something. The maidservants watched but could not discover what she had done. Once the mother-in-law had taken the medicine she fell asleep, and when she awoke her illness was immediately relieved. She called to the girl, "What medicine did you give me just now? That it should recover so quickly!" She wanted to take her hand to comfort her, but the girl drew back with an air of reluctance. Her mother-in-law, puzzled, rose to look and found she had already cut off a finger and boiled it in the medicine. Her mother-in-law sighed and said, "Heaven took my son from me, and I always feared growing old with no one to rely on. Now my daughter-in-law spares not her own flesh to cure my illness—is this not better than having a son!" She wept for a long time. People all called her the chaste and filial daughter.
8
倪美玉，年十八歸董緒。 緒居喪過毀得疾，謂妻曰：「吾無兄弟，又無子。 吾死，父母祀絕矣。 當以吾屋為小宗祠，置祀田數畝，小宗人遞主之，春秋享祀，吾父母獲與焉，吾無憾矣。 汝必以此意告我叔父而行之。」 緒卒，倪立從子為後。 治喪畢，攜其女及田二十畝囑其姒曰：「以此累姆。」 及夫叔父自外郡至，泣拜致夫命，叔父如其言。 事竣，婦出拜謝，即入室臥不食。 居數日，沐浴整衣曰：「亡夫召我矣。」 舉手別父母親屬而逝，年二十二。
Ni Meiyu married Dong Xu at eighteen. Xu, grieving excessively during mourning, fell ill and told his wife, "I have no brothers and no son. When I die, my parents' sacrifices will cease. Use my house as a small ancestral hall and set aside several acres as sacrificial fields. Let members of the minor lineage take turns overseeing them. At spring and autumn offerings my parents will share in them, and I will have no regrets. You must tell my uncle this intention and carry it out." When Xu died, Ni established a nephew as heir. When the funeral was complete, she brought her daughter and twenty acres of fields and entrusted them to her sister-in-law, saying, "I leave this burden with you." When her husband's uncle arrived from another prefecture, she wept and bowed to convey her husband's final wishes, and the uncle did as instructed. When the matter was finished, the wife came out to bow in thanks, then entered her room, lay down, and stopped eating. After several days, she bathed, dressed herself neatly, and said, "My dead husband is calling me." She raised her hand in farewell to parents and relatives and passed away at twenty-two.
9
劉烈女，錢塘人。 少字吳嘉諫。 鄰富兒張阿官屢窺之，一夕緣梯入。 女呼父母共執之，將訟官。 張之從子倡言劉女誨淫，縛人取財。 人多信之。 女呼告父曰：「賊汙我名，不可活矣，我當訴帝求直耳。」 即自縊。 盛暑待驗，暴日下無屍氣。 嘉諫初惑人言，不哭。 徐察之，知其誣也，伏屍大慟。 女目忽開，流血淚數行，若對泣者。 張延訟師丁二執前說，女傅魂於二曰：「若以筆汙我，我先殺汝。」 二立死。 時江濤震吼，岸土裂崩數十丈，人以為女冤所致。 有司遂杖殺阿官及從子。
The Fiercely Chaste Woman Liu was from Qiantang. In her youth she was betrothed to Wu Jiajian. A rich neighbor's son, Zhang Aguan, repeatedly spied on her. One night he climbed in by ladder. The girl called her parents to seize him together and intended to bring suit before the authorities. Zhang's nephew spread the claim that the Liu girl had seduced him and bound people to extort money. Many people believed it. The girl cried out to her father, "The villain has stained my name—I cannot go on living. I shall appeal to Heaven for justice." She then hanged herself. In the sweltering summer heat while awaiting official inspection, exposed under the blazing sun, there was no odor of decay. At first Jiajian, misled by people's words, did not weep. Gradually examining the matter, he learned she had been slandered. He threw himself on the corpse and wailed bitterly. The girl's eyes suddenly opened, and several lines of bloody tears flowed, as if weeping face to face with him. Zhang retained the litigator Ding Er to maintain the earlier claim. The girl's spirit possessed Er and said, "If you stain me with your pen, I will kill you first." Er died on the spot. At that time the river surged with roaring waves, and the riverbank split and collapsed for dozens of yards. People believed this was caused by the girl's wrongful death. The authorities then had Aguan and his nephew beaten to death.
10
上海某氏，既嫁，夫患瘋癩，舅姑謀奪以妻少子。 婦覺，密告其夫，夫泣遣之歸寧。 婦潛制殮具，夫既死，舅姑不以告，不闔棺，露置水濱，以俗忌惡疾也。 婦聞，盂飯淪雞，偕幼妹至棺所，抱屍浴之，斂以衣衾，闔棺設祭。 祭畢，與妹訣，以巾幕面，投水死。
A woman of Shanghai (surname withheld), after marrying, found her husband afflicted with leprosy. Her parents-in-law plotted to take her away and marry her to their younger son. The wife discovered this and secretly told her husband. He wept and sent her back to her parents' home. The wife secretly prepared burial goods. When her husband died, her parents-in-law did not inform her, did not close the coffin, and left it exposed by the water's edge, because custom abhorred the foul disease. When the wife heard of it, she prepared rice in a bowl and stewed chicken, went with her young sister to the coffin, embraced the corpse and bathed it, enshrouded it in garments and quilts, closed the coffin, and set out offerings. When the offerings were complete, she took leave of her sister, veiled her face with a cloth, and drowned herself.
11
谷氏，余姚史茂妻。 父以茂有文學，贅之於家。 數日，鄰人宋思徵責於父，見氏美，遂指逋錢為聘物，訟之官。 知縣馬從龍察其誣，杖遣之。 及谷下階，茂將扶以行。 谷故未嘗出閨閣，見隸人林立，而夫以身近己，慚發赪，推茂遠之。 從龍望見，以谷意不屬茂也，立改判歸思。 思即率眾擁輿中而去，谷母隨之至思舍。 谷呼號求速死，斷發屬母遺茂。 思族婦十余人，環相勸尉，不可解，乘間縊死。 從龍聞之大驚，捕思，思亡去。 茂感妻義，終身不娶。
Lady Gu was the wife of Shi Mao of Yuyao. Her father, because Mao was learned in letters, took him into the household as a live-in son-in-law. A few days later, a neighbor named Song Sizheng, to whom her father owed money, saw that Lady Gu was beautiful and claimed the debt as betrothal payment, bringing suit before the authorities. Magistrate Ma Conglong saw through the false claim and had him beaten and dismissed. As Lady Gu came down the steps, Mao was about to support her as she walked. Lady Gu had never before left the inner quarters. Seeing runners standing in ranks and her husband drawing close to her, she flushed with shame and pushed Mao away. Conglong saw this from afar and, thinking Lady Gu's heart did not belong to Mao, immediately reversed the judgment and awarded her to Si. Si at once led a crowd to carry her off in a sedan chair. Lady Gu's mother followed to Si's house. Lady Gu cried out, begging for a quick death. She cut off her hair, entrusted part to her mother, and sent part to Mao. More than ten women of Si's clan gathered around to counsel and comfort her, but she could not be consoled. Seizing an opportunity, she hanged herself. Conglong was greatly shocked when he heard of it and sought to arrest Si, but Si fled. Mao, moved by his wife's righteousness, never remarried for the rest of his life.
12
白氏，清澗惠道昌妻。 年十八，夫亡。 懷娠六月，欲以死殉。 眾諭之曰：「胡不少待，舉子以延夫嗣。」 氏泣曰：「非不念良人無後，但心痛不能須臾緩耳。」 七日不食而死。
Lady Bai was the wife of Hui Daochang of Qingjian. At eighteen, her husband died. Six months pregnant, she wished to die with him. Everyone admonished her, saying, "Why not wait a little, bear the child, and continue your husband's line?" Lady Bai wept and said, "It is not that I do not think of my husband having no heir, but my heart's pain cannot be eased even for a moment." After seven days without food she died.
13
高烈婦，博平諸生賈垓妻。 垓卒，氏自計曰：「死節易，守節難。 況當兵亂之際，吾寧為其易者。」 執姑手泣曰：「婦不能奉事舅姑，反遺孤孫為累。 然婦殉夫為得正，勿過痛也。」 遂縊。
The Fiercely Chaste Wife Gao was the wife of the licentiate Jia Gai of Boping. When Gai died, Lady Gao reckoned to herself, "Dying for chastity is easy; preserving chastity is hard. Moreover, in this time of military turmoil, I would rather choose the easier course." She took her mother-in-law's hand and wept, saying, "Your daughter-in-law cannot serve her parents-in-law and instead leaves an orphaned grandson as a burden. Yet a wife who dies with her husband acts rightly—do not grieve too deeply." She then hanged herself.
14
於氏，潁州鄧任妻。 任病，家貧，藥餌不給，氏罄嫁笥救之。 閱六月病革，氏聘簪二，綰一於夫發，自綰其一，撫任頸哽咽曰：「妾必不負君。」 納指任口中，令嚙為信。 任歿三日，縊死。
Lady Yu was the wife of Deng Ren of Yingzhou. Ren fell ill. The family was poor and could not afford medicine, so Lady Yu emptied her dowry chest to save him. After six months his illness became critical. Lady Yu had two hairpins made, fastened one in her husband's hair and one in her own, stroked Ren's neck, and said through sobs, "Your wife will surely not fail you." She put her finger in Ren's mouth and had him bite it as a pledge. Three days after Ren's death, she hanged herself.
15
州又有臺氏，諸生張雲鵬妻。 夫病，氏單衣蔬食，禱天願代，割臂為糜以進。 夫病危，許以身殉，訂期三日。 夫付紅帨為訣，氏號泣受之。 越三日，結所授帨就縊，侍婢救不死，恨曰：「何物奴，敗我事！ 令我負三日約。」 自是，水漿不入口，舉聲一號，熱血迸流。 至七日，頓足曰：「遲矣，郎得毋疑我。」 母偶出櫛沐，扃戶縊死。
In the same prefecture there was also Lady Tai, wife of the licentiate Zhang Yunpeng. When her husband fell ill, Lady Tai wore plain clothes and ate simple food, prayed to Heaven to take his place, cut her arm and made it into a gruel to offer him. When her husband's illness became critical, she vowed to die with him and set a date three days hence. Her husband gave her a red scarf as a parting token, and she received it with wailing sobs. Three days later she tied the scarf he had given her and attempted to hang herself. A maidservant saved her, but she hated it and said, "What sort of slave ruins my affair! You make me break my three-day pledge." From then on she took neither water nor food. With each cry, hot blood burst forth. On the seventh day she stamped her foot and said, "It is too late—my husband must not doubt me." When her mother happened to go out to comb her hair and bathe, she bolted the door and hanged herself.
16
胡氏，諸城人，遂平知縣麗明孫女也。 年十七，歸諸生李敬中，生一女而夫卒。 初哭踴甚哀，比三日不哭，盥櫛拜舅姑堂下，家人怪之，從容答曰：「婦不幸失所天，無子，將從死者地下，不得復事舅姑，幸強飯自愛。 他日叔有子，為亡人立嗣，歲時奠麥飯足矣。」 姑及其母泣止之，不可，乃焚香告柩前，顧家人曰：「洗含汝等親之，不可近男子。」 遂入戶自經，母與姑槌門痛哭疾呼，終不顧而死。
Lady Hu was from Zhucheng and granddaughter of Liming, magistrate of Suiping. At seventeen she married the licentiate Li Jingzhong, bore one daughter, and then her husband died. At first she wept and stamped in deep grief. By the third day she no longer wept, but washed, combed her hair, and bowed to her parents-in-law in the hall. The family found this strange. She calmly replied, "Your daughter-in-law has unhappily lost her heaven. She has no son and will follow the dead beneath the earth, and can no longer serve her parents-in-law. I hope you will eat well and take care of yourselves. If in the future my husband's younger brother has a son, establish an heir for the deceased. Wheat offerings at the seasonal rites will suffice." Her mother-in-law and her own mother wept and tried to stop her, but she would not be dissuaded. She burned incense before the coffin and told the household, "When you wash and dress the body, you are his kin—do not let men come near." She then entered her room and hanged herself. Her mother and mother-in-law beat on the door, weeping and calling urgently, but she paid no heed and died.
17
王氏，淄川成象妻。 夫死，痛哭三日，唇焦齒黑。 父不忍，予之水，謝勿飲。 又三日，氣息漸微，強起語父曰：「翁姑未葬，夫亦露殯，奈何？」 父許任其事，氏就枕叩頭而瞑，年十七。
Lady Wang was the wife of Cheng Xiang of Zichuan. When her husband died, she wept bitterly for three days until her lips were parched and her teeth blackened. Her father could not bear it and gave her water. She declined and would not drink. After three more days her breath grew faint. Forcing herself up, she told her father, "My parents-in-law are not yet buried, and my husband lies in an exposed coffin—what is to be done?" Her father promised to take charge of the matter. Lady Wang lay back on her pillow, bowed her head in thanks, and closed her eyes at seventeen.
18
劉孝女，京師人。 父蘭卒，矢誌不嫁，以養其母。 崇禎元年，年四十六矣，母病歿，女遂絕粒殉之。
The Filial Daughter Liu was from the capital. When her father Lan died, she vowed never to marry and supported her mother. In the first year of Chongzhen, when she was forty-six, her mother fell ill and died. The daughter then stopped eating and died with her.
19
崔氏，香河王錫田妻。 崇禎二年，城破，氏與眾訣曰：「我義不受辱。」 涕泣乳其女，將自縊，家人力持不得遂。 兵及門，眾俱奔，氏倉皇縊於戶後，恐賊見其貌，或解之也。
Lady Cui was the wife of Wang Xitian of Xianghe. In the second year of Chongzhen, when the city fell, Lady Cui took leave of everyone and said, "By my duty I will not accept disgrace." Weeping, she nursed her daughter and was about to hang herself, but her family forcibly held her back and she could not succeed. When soldiers reached the gate, everyone fled. Lady Cui hastily hanged herself behind the door, fearing that if bandits saw her face they might cut her down.
20
高陵李氏，鎮撫劉光燦妻。 夫歿，勵誌苦守。 崇禎四年，賊陷高陵。 年七十九，其家掖之走，曰：「未亡人棄先夫室何往？」 語未已，賊露刃入。 即取刀自刺，流血淋漓。 賊壯其烈，與飲食，怒不受，以碗擊賊，罵曰：「吾忍死四十九年，今啜賊食耶！」 遂遇害。
Lady Li of Gaoling was the wife of Liu Guangcan, a garrison commander. After her husband's death, she resolved herself to preserve chastity through hardship. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, bandits captured Gaoling. At seventy-nine, her family supported her as they fled. She said, "Where would a woman who has not yet died abandon her late husband's home to go?" Before she had finished speaking, bandits entered with naked blades. She at once took a knife and stabbed herself, blood pouring forth. The bandits admired her fierceness and offered her food and drink. Angrily she refused, struck a bandit with a bowl, and cursed, "I have endured living for forty-nine years—would I now sip food from bandits!" She was then killed.
21
烈婦柴氏，夏縣孫貞妻。 崇禎四年，夫婦避賊山中。 賊搜山，見氏悅之，執其手。 氏以口嚙肉棄之曰：「賊汙吾手。」 繼扳其肱，又以口嚙肉棄之曰：「賊汙吾肱。」 賊舍之去，氏罵不絕聲，還殺之。
The Fiercely Chaste Wife Chai was the wife of Sun Zhen of Xia County. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, husband and wife fled bandits into the mountains. Bandits searched the mountains, saw Lady Chai and took a liking to her, and seized her hand. Lady Chai bit the flesh from her hand with her mouth and cast it away, saying, "Bandits have stained my hand." Then they seized her upper arm. Again she bit away the flesh with her mouth and cast it away, saying, "Bandits have stained my arm." The bandits let her go, but she cursed without cease, so they returned and killed her.
22
周氏，新城王永命妻，登州都督遇吉兄女也。 幼通《孝經》、《列女傳》。 崇禎五年，叛將耿仲明、李九成等據登州反，縱兵淫掠。 一小校將辱之，氏紿之去，即投繯死。 明日，賊至，怒其誑己，支解之。 事平，永命偵賊所在，擊斬之，以其首祭墓。 時蓬萊浦延禧妻王氏，年二十，守節撫孤。 九成叛，城陷，叔允章至其家，問所向。 答曰：「兒豈向患難中求活。」 時有麻索在床頭，叔以手振之曰：「欲決計於此乎？」 氏首肯，從容就縊。
Lady Zhou was the wife of Wang Yongming of Xincheng and daughter of the elder brother of Yuji, garrison commander of Dengzhou. From childhood she was versed in the Classic of Filial Piety and the Biographies of Exemplary Women. In the fifth year of Chongzhen, the rebel generals Geng Zhongming, Li Jiucheng, and others seized Dengzhou and rebelled, letting their troops rampage in rapine and plunder. A junior officer was about to violate her. Lady Zhou deceived him into leaving, then hanged herself. The next day bandits arrived, enraged that she had deceived them, and dismembered her body. When the affair was settled, Yongming tracked down the bandits' whereabouts, struck them down, and sacrificed their heads at her tomb. At that time Lady Wang, wife of Pu Yanxi of Penglai, was twenty years old, preserving chastity and raising her orphan. When Jiucheng rebelled and the city fell, her uncle Yunzhang came to her home and asked where she intended to go. She replied, "Would your niece seek life amid hardship?" There was a hemp rope at the head of the bed. Her uncle shook it with his hand and said, "Do you wish to resolve the matter here?" Lady Wang nodded and calmly hanged herself.
23
荊媧，陜西淳化人，姓高氏。 兄起鳳，邑諸生。 崇禎五年，流賊掠繼母秦氏及荊媧去，起鳳馳赴賊營請贖。 賊索二馬，起鳳傾貲得一馬，予之。 賊止還其母。 起鳳與妹訣曰：「我去，汝即死。」 賊令勸妹從己，且欲留為書記。 起鳳大罵不從，被殺。 百計脅荊媧，大罵求死。 賊悅其色，割發裂衣以恐之。 媧益罵不已，賊乃殺之，年甫十六。 巡按吳甡上其事，兄妹皆旌。
Jing Wa was from Chunhua in Shaanxi, surname Gao. Her elder brother Qifeng was a licentiate of the district. In the fifth year of Chongzhen, roving bandits carried off her stepmother Lady Qin and Jing Wa. Qifeng hurried to the bandit camp to ransom them. The bandits demanded two horses. Qifeng spent all his wealth to obtain one horse and gave it to them. The bandits returned only his mother. Qifeng took leave of his sister, saying, "When I go, you must die." The bandits ordered him to persuade his sister to submit to them and also wished to keep him as a clerk. Qifeng cursed them bitterly and refused. He was killed. By every means they coerced Jing Wa. She cursed them and begged for death. The bandits admired her beauty, cut her hair and tore her clothes to terrify her. Jing Wa cursed all the more without cease, so the bandits killed her. She was only sixteen. The touring censor Wu Shen memorialized the affair, and both brother and sister were honored.
24
陳丹余妻宋氏。 丹余為鄖陽諸生。 崇禎六年，賊至被掠，並執其女，迫令入空室。 前有古槐，母女抱樹立，罵曰：「吾母子死白日下，豈受汙暗室中。」 大罵不行。 賊斷其手，益大罵，俱被害。
Lady Song, wife of Chen Danyu. Danyu was a licentiate of Yunyang. In the sixth year of Chongzhen, when bandits arrived she was seized. They also seized her daughter and forced them into an empty room. Before them stood an ancient pagoda tree. Mother and daughter embraced the tree and stood, cursing, "We mother and daughter will die in the open daylight—how could we accept defilement in a dark room!" They cursed bitterly and would not go. The bandits cut off their hands. They cursed all the more, and both were killed.
25
黃日芳妾李氏、陳氏。 日芳知霍丘縣，崇禎八年，賫計簿入郡。 流賊突至，圍城。 二人相謂曰：「主君未還，城必不守，我兩人獨有一死耳。」 密縫內外衣甚固，城陷，南望再拜，攜赴藏天澗死。 越三日，日芳至，號哭澗側。 兩屍應聲浮出，顏色如生，手尚相援。
The concubines Lady Li and Lady Chen of Huang Rifang. Rifang was magistrate of Huoqiu. In the eighth year of Chongzhen he carried the account books into the prefectural city. Roving bandits suddenly arrived and besieged the city. The two said to each other, "Our master has not returned; the city surely cannot be held—we two have only death." They secretly stitched their inner and outer garments very firmly. When the city fell, they bowed twice toward the south, went together to Cangtian Stream, and died. Three days later Rifang arrived and wailed at the stream's edge. The two corpses floated up at the sound. Their complexions were as in life, and their hands still clasped each other.
26
蘄水李氏，諸生何之旦妻。 流賊至蘄，執而逼之去，不從，則眾挾之。 李罵益厲，嚙賊求死。 賊怒，刺之，創遍體，未嘗有懼色，賊斷其頸死。 從婢阿來抱李幼女，守哭。 賊奪女將殺之，不與，伏地以身庇之。 刺數十創，婢、女俱死。
Lady Li of Qishui was the wife of the licentiate He Zhidan. When roving bandits reached Qi, they seized her and forced her to go with them. She refused, so the crowd dragged her along. Lady Li cursed all the more fiercely, bit the bandits, and begged for death. The bandits were enraged and stabbed her. Wounds covered her body, yet she never showed fear. The bandits cut through her neck and killed her. Her maidservant Alai held Lady Li's young daughter and kept watch, weeping. Bandits seized the girl and were about to kill her. Alai would not give her up and lay on the ground, shielding her with her body. They stabbed her dozens of times. Both maidservant and girl died.
27
萬氏，和州儒士姚守中妻，泉州知府慶女孫也。 生六子，皆有室。 崇禎八年，流賊陷其城，慟哭孀姑前，命諸婦曰：「我等女子也，誓必死節。」 諸子環泣，急麾之曰：「汝輩男子，當圖存宗祀，何泣焉？」 長子承舜泣曰：「兒讀書，惟識忠孝字耳，願為厲鬼殺賊，何忍母獨死。」 遂負母投於塘。 諸婦女孫相隨死者十數人，僅存子希舜，求其屍，其聚塘坳，無一相離者。
Lady Wan was the wife of the scholar Yao Shouzhong of Hezhou and granddaughter of Qing, prefect of Quanzhou. She bore six sons, all of whom had wives. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, when roving bandits captured the city, she wept bitterly before her widowed mother-in-law and ordered the daughters-in-law, "We are women and swear to die for chastity." The sons wept in a circle around her. She urgently waved them away, saying, "You are men—you should plan to preserve the lineage. Why weep?" The eldest son Chengshun wept and said, "Your son has read books and knows only the words loyalty and filial piety. I wish to become a vengeful ghost and kill bandits—how can I bear to let my mother die alone!" He then carried his mother on his back and threw themselves into a pond. More than ten daughters-in-law, women, and grandchildren followed in death. Only the son Xishun survived. When he sought their corpses, they were gathered in the hollow of the pond, not one separated from another.
28
流賊陷和州，王氏一時五烈婦； 王用賓妻尹氏，用賢妻杜氏，用聘妻魯氏，用極妻戴氏，又王氏良器女，劉臺妻也。 五人同匿城西別墅，誓偕死。 及賊登陴，呼聲震地。 五人相持泣曰：「亟死亟死，毋汙賊刃。」 結繯，繯斷，適用賢所佩劍掛壁上，杜趨拔之，爭磨以剄，次第死。 州又有女，失其姓，與諸婦共匿明倫堂後。 其四人已為賊執，用帛牽之。 獨此女不肯就執，多方迫之不得。 四婦勸之，泣曰：「我處女也，可同男子去耶？」 以頭搶地。 賊搴其足而曳之，女大罵。 賊怒，一手搴足，以刀從下劈之，體裂為四。
When roving bandits captured Hezhou, there were at one time five fiercely chaste wives of the Wang clan: Lady Yin, wife of Wang Yongbin; Lady Du, wife of Wang Yongxian; Lady Lu, wife of Wang Yongpin; Lady Dai, wife of Wang Yongji; and also the daughter of Wang Liangqi of the Wang clan, wife of Liu Tai. The five hid together in a villa west of the city and vowed to die together. When the bandits mounted the battlements, their shouts shook the earth. The five embraced one another weeping and said, "Die quickly, die quickly—do not be stained by bandit blades." They tied nooses, but the ropes broke. By chance Yongxian's sword hung on the wall—Lady Du rushed to draw it, they competed to sharpen it and cut their throats, and died one after another. In the prefecture there was also a girl whose surname is lost. She hid with several other women behind the Hall of Bright Principle. Four of them had already been seized by bandits and were being led away with silk cloth. This girl alone refused to submit to capture. They tried every means to force her but could not succeed. The four women urged her. Weeping, she said, "I am a maiden—can I go off with men?" She struck her head against the ground. Bandits grabbed her feet and dragged her. The girl cursed them bitterly. The bandits were enraged. With one hand grabbing her foot, they split her body into four parts with a blade from below.
29
陳氏，涇陽王生妻。 有子方晬，生疾將死，以遺孩屬陳。 陳曰：「吾當生死以之。」 流賊至，陳抱子避樓上。 賊燒樓，陳從樓檐跳下，不死。 賊視其色麗，挾之馬上，陳躍身墜地者再。 最後以索縛之，行數里，陳力斷所系索，並鞍墜焉。 賊知不可奪，乃殺之。 賊退，家人收其屍，子呱呱懷中，兩手猶堅抱如故。
Lady Chen was the wife of Wang Sheng of Jingyang. They had a son just past infancy. When Sheng fell gravely ill and was near death, he entrusted the remaining child to Chen. Chen said, "I will live or die with him." When roving bandits arrived, Chen took the child in her arms and fled upstairs. Bandits burned the building. Chen leaped from the eaves and did not die. The bandits, seeing her beauty, lifted her onto a horse. Chen twice threw herself off and fell to the ground. Finally they bound her with a rope. After traveling several li, Chen forcibly broke the rope that bound her and fell from the saddle together with it. The bandits knew she could not be taken and killed her. When the bandits withdrew, the family collected her corpse. The child wailed in her embrace, and both hands still held him firmly as before.
30
雞澤二李氏。 一同邑田蘊璽妻。 遇亂，蘊璽兄弟被殺。 李抱女同姒王抱男而逃。 王足創難行，令李速去。 李曰：「良人兄弟俱死，當存此子以留田氏後。」 遂棄己女，抱其子赴城，得無恙。 一嫁曲周郭某。 遭亂，舉家走匿。 翁姑旋被殺，李攜幼男及夫弟方七歲者共逃，力罷，不能俱全。 或教之舍叔而抱男，李曰：「翁姑死矣，叔豈再得乎！ 子雖難舍，然吾夫在外，或未死，尚可期也。」 竟棄男，負叔而走。
The two Ladies Li of Jize. One was the wife of Tian Yunxi of the same district. During the turmoil, Yunxi and his brothers were killed. Lady Li carried her daughter while her sister-in-law Wang carried a boy as they fled. Wang's feet were wounded and she could not walk easily. She told Li to flee quickly. Li said, "My husband's brothers are all dead—we must preserve this boy to continue the Tian lineage." She then abandoned her own daughter, carried Wang's son to the city, and both came through unharmed. The other had married a Guo of Quzhou. When turmoil struck, the whole family fled and hid. Her parents-in-law were soon killed. Lady Li fled carrying her young son and her husband's seven-year-old younger brother, but her strength gave out and she could not save all. Someone advised her to abandon the uncle and carry the boy. Li said, "My parents-in-law are dead—can I ever get my husband's brother back! Though it is hard to abandon my son, my husband is away and may not yet be dead—there is still hope." In the end she abandoned the boy and carried her brother-in-law as she fled.
31
宋德成妻姜氏，臨清人。 德成知贊皇縣，寇入署，姜投井。 賊出之，逼令食，罵曰：「待官兵剿汝，醢為脯，吾當食之。」 以簪自剔一目示賊曰：「吾廢人也，速殺為幸。」 賊怒殺之。
Lady Jiang, wife of Song Decheng, was from Linqing. Decheng was magistrate of Zanhuang. When bandits entered the yamen, Jiang threw herself into a well. Bandits pulled her out and forced her to eat. She cursed, "Wait until government troops exterminate you—I will mince you into jerky and eat you." She gouged out one of her own eyes with a hairpin to show the bandits and said, "I am a ruined person—kill me quickly and I will be grateful." The bandits killed her in rage.
32
六安女，失其姓。 崇禎中，流賊入境，見其美，將犯之。 以帕蒙其頭，輒壞之，曰：「毋汙我發。」 被以錦衣，又擲之曰：「毋汙吾身。」 強擁諸馬上，復投地大罵請死。 賊怒刃之，既而嘆曰：「真烈女。」
The daughter of Lu'an, her surname lost. During the Chongzhen reign, when roving bandits entered the district, they saw her beauty and were about to violate her. They covered her head with a cloth, but she kept tearing it off and said, "Do not defile my hair." They dressed her in brocade robes. She threw them off again and said, "Do not defile my body." They forcibly lifted her onto a horse. She threw herself to the ground again, cursing loudly and begging to die. The bandits killed her in a rage. Then they sighed and said, "A truly chaste woman."
33
石氏女，失其邑裏，隨父守仁寓五河。 崇禎十年，流賊突至，執欲汙之。 女抱槐樹厲聲罵賊。 賊使數人牽之不解，斫其兩手，罵如初。 又斷其足，愈罵不絕，痛仆地佯死。 賊就褫其衣，女以口嚙賊指，斷其三，含血升許噴賊，乃瞑。 賊擁薪焚之，厥後所焚地，血痕耿耿，遇雨則燥，旸則濕。 村人駭異，掘去之，色亦入土三尺許。
The daughter of the Shi clan, her native district unknown, followed her father Shouren to lodge at Wuhe. In the tenth year of the Chongzhen reign, roving bandits suddenly arrived, seized her, and intended to violate her. The girl clung to a locust tree and cursed the bandits at the top of her voice. The bandits sent several men to pull her, but they could not loosen her grip. They hacked off both her hands, yet she cursed as before. They then severed her feet. She cursed all the more without cease, then collapsed in pain and feigned death on the ground. As the bandits came to strip off her clothes, the girl bit a bandit's finger and severed three of them. She held roughly a sheng of blood in her mouth, sprayed it at the bandits, and then closed her eyes. The bandits heaped firewood and burned her. Thereafter at the place of the burning the bloodstains remained vivid: when it rained they were dry, and when the sun shone they were wet. The villagers were appalled. They dug up the soil and removed it, but the color had also seeped about three chi into the earth.
34
又當塗舉人吳昌祚妻謝氏，為亂卒所掠。 謝以手抱樹，大罵不止。 卒怒，斷其附樹之指，復拾斷指擲卒面，卒磔殺之。
There was also Lady Xie, wife of the Dangtu licentiate Wu Changzuo, who was seized by disorderly soldiers. Xie clung to a tree with her hands and cursed loudly without stopping. The soldiers were enraged and cut off the fingers with which she clung to the tree. She picked up the severed fingers and threw them in the soldiers' faces. The soldiers dismembered and killed her.
35
周彥敬妻莊氏。 彥敬，棲霞知縣。 氏讀書知大義，亂起，鄉人悉竄山穴中。 莊以男女無別，有難色。 彥敬強之曰：「不入，且見殺。」 莊曰：「無禮不如死，君疑我難死乎！」 既引刀自裁。 彥敬感其義，終身不復娶。
Lady Zhuang, wife of Zhou Yanjing. Yanjing was magistrate of Qixia. She had studied and understood the greater moral principles. When disorder broke out, all the villagers fled into mountain caves. Zhuang hesitated, for men and women would not be kept apart. Yanjing pressed her and said, "If you do not go in, you will soon be killed." Zhuang said, "To live without propriety is worse than death. Do you doubt that I find death hard?" She then drew a knife and killed herself. Moved by her righteousness, Yanjing never took another wife for the rest of his life.
36
梁凝禧妻馮氏。 凝禧，隨州諸生。 崇禎十年，聞賊警，夫婦買舟避難。 行至西河，賊追急，登岸奔魏家砦。 夫婦要同死，氏訣凝禧曰：「同死固甘，但君尚無子，老母在堂，幸速逃，明早可於此地尋我。」 凝禧遂逃，次早果得屍於分手處。
Lady Feng, wife of Liang Ningxi. Ningxi was a licentiate of Suizhou. In the tenth year of the Chongzhen reign, hearing a bandit alarm, the couple bought a boat to flee. When they reached West River the bandits pressed close in pursuit. They went ashore and ran to the Wei family stockade. The couple wished to die together. Lady Feng took leave of Ningxi and said, "To die together would indeed be sweet, but you still have no son and your old mother is at home. Please flee quickly. Tomorrow morning you may seek me at this place." Ningxi fled. The next morning he indeed found her corpse at the place where they had parted.
37
唐烈妻陳氏。 烈，孝感諸生。 崇禎十年，從夫避難山砦。 賊突至，夫與子俱奔散，陳獨行山谷間。 砦人曰：「非唐氏嫗乎？ 事迫矣，可急入保。」 陳問夫與子至未，曰：「未也。」 陳泣曰：「我煢煢一婦人，靡因而至。 諸君雖憐而生我，我何面目安茲土耶！ 夫存亡未知，依人以生不貞，棄夫之難不義。 失貞與義，何以為人！ 吾其行也。」 卒不入。 已，賊至，逼去不從，大罵死。
Lady Chen, wife of Tang Lie. Lie was a licentiate of Xiaogan. In the tenth year of the Chongzhen reign she followed her husband to take refuge in a mountain stockade. Bandits suddenly arrived. Her husband and son both fled and scattered, while Chen walked alone through the valleys. People in the stockade said, "Is this not old Mrs. Tang? The situation is urgent. You should hurry inside for protection." Chen asked whether her husband and son had arrived. They said, "Not yet." Chen wept and said, "I am a solitary woman with no one to rely on when I arrive. Though you pity me and would let me live, what face have I to settle on this ground! My husband's fate is unknown. To live by leaning on others is unchaste, and to abandon my husband in hardship is unrighteous. To lose chastity and righteousness—how can one remain human! I shall go." In the end she did not enter. Afterward the bandits arrived. They pressed her to leave, but she refused. She cursed them bitterly and died.
38
又劉氏，懷寧人，應天府丞顏素之孫婦也。 崇禎末，亂兵焚掠江市。 其舅與夫先在南京。 劉孑身出避，倉皇無所之，見男婦雜走登舟，慨然曰：「吾儕婦人，保姆不在，義不出帷，敢亂群乎！」 遂投江死。
There was also Lady Liu of Huaining, granddaughter-in-law of Yan Suzhi, assistant prefect of Yingtian Prefecture. At the end of the Chongzhen reign, disorderly troops burned and plundered the river market. Her uncle and husband were already in Nanjing. Liu fled alone. In her panic she had nowhere to go. Seeing men and women mixed together rushing to board boats, she said with feeling, "We are women. With no nursemaid present, by propriety we do not leave the inner quarters. How dare we mix into the crowd!" She then threw herself into the river and died.
39
唐氏，廣濟潘龍躍妻。 崇禎十三年避賊靈果山。 賊至，加刃龍躍頸，索錢。 唐跪泣，乞以身代夫，不許。 女巽跪泣，乞以身代父，不許。 唐知夫不免，投於塘，女從之。 賊愴然釋其夫。
Lady Tang, wife of Pan Longyue of Guangji. In the thirteenth year of the Chongzhen reign they fled bandits to Lingguo Mountain. When the bandits arrived they pressed a blade to Longyue's neck and demanded money. Tang knelt and wept, begging to die in her husband's place. They refused. Their daughter Sun knelt and wept, begging to die in her father's place. They refused. Tang knew her husband could not escape. She threw herself into a pond, and their daughter followed. Moved to sorrow, the bandits released her husband.
40
又顏氏，長樂諸生黃應運妻。 城陷，兵至其家，欲殺應運生母詹氏，顏泣訴，願身代。 及顏方受刃，妾曾又奔號曰：「此我主母，無所出，願殺我以全其命。」 卒感其義，兩釋之。
There was also Lady Yan, wife of Huang Yingyun, a licentiate of Changle. When the city fell, soldiers came to their home intending to kill Yingyun's birth mother, Lady Zhan. Yan wept and pleaded to die in her place. When Yan was about to receive the blade, the concubine Zeng ran forward again, crying, "This is my mistress. She has borne no children. Kill me instead to spare her life." The soldiers were moved by their righteousness and released them both.
41
潁州盧氏，王瀚妻。 家貧，舂織終歲。 崇禎十四年大饑，夫患疫。 氏語夫曰：「君死，我當從。」 及夫死，時溽暑，氏求親戚斂錢以葬曰：「我當死，但酷熱無衣棺，恐更為親戚累，遲之秋爽耳。」 聞者咍之。 及秋，盡糶其新谷，置粗布衣，余買酒蔬祀夫墓。 歸至家，市梨數十進姑，並貽妯娌，語人曰：「我可死矣。」 夜半自縊。
Lady Lu of Yingzhou, wife of Wang Han. The family was poor. She pounded grain and wove cloth the year round. In the fourteenth year of the Chongzhen reign there was a great famine, and her husband fell ill with plague. She told her husband, "When you die, I shall follow." When her husband died it was the height of summer. She asked relatives to gather money for the burial and said, "I ought to die, but in this fierce heat we have no shroud or coffin. I fear burdening my kin further, so I will wait until the cool of autumn." Those who heard sneered at her. When autumn came she sold all her new grain and bought coarse cloth garments. With what remained she purchased wine and vegetables to offer at her husband's tomb. Returning home she bought several dozen pears for her mother-in-law and also gave some to her sisters-in-law. She told people, "I can die now." At midnight she hanged herself.
42
於氏，汝州張鐸妻。 崇禎十四年，賊破城，氏謂兩婢曰：「吾輩今日必死，曷若先出擊賊，殺賊而斃，不失為義烈鬼。」 於是執梃而前，賊先入者三，出不意，悉為所踣。 群賊怒，攢刺之，皆死。
Lady Yu, wife of Zhang Duo of Ruzhou. In the fourteenth year of the Chongzhen reign bandits breached the city. Lady Yu told the two maidservants, "We must die today. Why not go out first and strike the bandits? To kill bandits and then perish would be no disgrace as righteous martyrs." Thereupon they took clubs and advanced. Three bandits who entered first were caught off guard, and the women knocked them all down. The bandits were enraged. They gathered round and stabbed them, and all three died.
43
蕭氏，萬安賴南叔妻。 夫早喪，無子，遺一女。 寇大起，築室與女共居。 盜突至，率女持利刃遮門，詈曰：「昔寧化曾氏婦，立砦殺賊。 汝謂我刃不利邪！ 犯我必殺汝。」 賊怒，縱火焚之，二人鹹燼。
Lady Xiao, wife of Lai Nanshu of Wan'an. Her husband died early. She had no son and was left with one daughter. When banditry flared she built a dwelling and lived there with her daughter. Robbers suddenly arrived. Leading her daughter, she took sharp blades and blocked the door, cursing, "In former times the wife of the Zeng clan at Ninghua built a stockade and killed bandits. Do you think my blade is not sharp! If you violate me I will surely kill you." The bandits were enraged, set fire, and burned them. Both mother and daughter were reduced to ashes.
44
又楊氏，安定舉人張國纮妾。 崇禎十六年，賊賀錦攻城急。 國纮與守者議，丁壯登陴，女子運石。 楊先倡，城中女子從之，須臾四城皆遍。 及城陷，楊死譙樓旁。 事定，家人獲其屍，兩手猶抱石不脫。
There was also Lady Yang, concubine of the Ding'an licentiate Zhang Guohong. In the sixteenth year of the Chongzhen reign the bandit He Jin pressed the siege of the city fiercely. Guohong discussed with the defenders: able-bodied men would mount the ramparts while women carried stones. Yang took the lead, and women throughout the city followed. In no time all four walls were covered. When the city fell, Yang died beside the watchtower. When affairs were settled her family recovered her corpse. Both hands still clutched stones and would not let go.
45
仲氏女，湖州人，隨父賈漢陽。 崇禎中，漢陽陷，從群婦將出城，賊守門者止之。 有頃，賊大肆淫掠，見女美，執之。 女剺面披發，大罵。 賊具馬，命二賊挾之上，連墜傷額，終不肯往。 賊露刃迫之曰：「身往何如頭往？」 笑曰：「頭往善。」 遂被害。
The daughter of the Zhong clan, from Huzhou, followed her father trading in Hanyang. During the Chongzhen reign, when Hanyang fell she was about to leave the city with a crowd of women, but bandits guarding the gate stopped them. Before long the bandits carried out widespread rape and plunder. Seeing the girl's beauty, they seized her. The girl slashed her face, let her hair hang loose, and cursed loudly. The bandits prepared a horse and ordered two bandits to lift her onto it. She fell repeatedly and injured her forehead, yet in the end she would not go. The bandits bared their blades and pressed her, saying, "Will you go in person, or shall your head go?" She smiled and said, "For the head to go is best." She was then killed.
46
鄺抱義妻何氏。 抱義，臨武諸生。 崇禎末，氏為賊所執，乃垢面蓬發紿以病疫，賊懼釋之。 及賊退，家人鹹喜，何泣曰：「平昔謁拜伯叔，猶赭顏汗發。 今匿身不固，以面目對賊，牽臂引裾，雖免汙辱，何以為人！」 竟忿恚不食死。
Lady He, wife of Kuang Baoyi. Baoyi was a licentiate of Linwu. At the end of the Chongzhen reign she was seized by bandits. She smeared her face filthy, let her hair hang in disarray, and pretended to have plague. The bandits released her in fear. When the bandits withdrew her family rejoiced, but He wept and said, "In ordinary times when I called on uncles and elders I still blushed and broke into a sweat. Now my concealment was not secure. I showed my face to bandits who seized my arms and pulled my skirts. Though I escaped defilement, how can I face the world!" In the end she died from indignant fasting.
47
湯祖契妻趙氏。 祖契，睢州諸生。 氏知書，有誌節。 崇禎十五年，賊陷太康，將抵睢。 氏語家人曰：「州為兵沖，未易保也。 脫變起，有死耳。」 及城破，屬祖契負其母以逃，而己闔戶自經，家人解之，投井，復為家人所阻，怒曰：「賊至不死，非節也，死不以時，非義也。」 賊至，環刃相向，牽之出，厲聲訶賊，遂遇害。
Lady Zhao, wife of Tang Zuqi. Zuqi was a licentiate of Suizhou. She was literate and possessed firm resolve and integrity. In the fifteenth year of the Chongzhen reign, bandits captured Taikang and were about to reach Suizhou. The lady told her household, "The prefecture lies on a military thoroughfare and will not be easy to hold. If trouble should arise, there is only death." When the city fell she entrusted Zuqi to carry his mother and flee, while she herself closed the doors and hanged herself. Her family cut her down. She threw herself into a well and was again stopped by her family. She said angrily, "Not to die when bandits arrive is not chastity; to die not at the proper time is not righteousness." When the bandits arrived they surrounded her with blades and dragged her out. She shouted at the bandits in a fierce voice and was then killed.
48
蕭來鳳妻倪氏。 來鳳，商城貢生，慷慨有大節。 賊逼受職，不屈死，倪自經從之。 又有宋愈亨，深澤舉人，寇至投井死。 妻王氏曰：「夫既如此，吾敢相負。」 媳韓生男甫六日，願從死，相對縊。
Lady Ni, wife of Xiao Laifeng. Laifeng was a tribute student of Shangcheng, generous and possessed of great integrity. The bandits pressed him to accept an appointment. He refused and died. Ni hanged herself to follow him. There was also Song Yuheng, a provincial graduate of Shenze. When bandits arrived he threw himself into a well and died. His wife Lady Wang said, "Since my husband has done this, how dare I fail him." The daughter-in-law Han had given birth to a son only six days before. She wished to die with them, and they hanged themselves facing one another.
49
邵氏，鄒縣張一桂妻，同妾李氏遇賊。 欲迫李行，邵罵曰：「亡夫以妾托我，豈令受賊辱。」 賊怒殺之。 李知不免，紿曰：「我有簪珥埋後園井旁。」 賊隨李發之，至則曰：「主母為我死，我豈獨生。」 即投井。 賊下井扶之，李披發破面罵不已，扭其衣欲令並死井底，叫聲若雷。 賊知不可強，乃刃之。
Lady Shao, wife of Zhang Yigui of Zou County, together with the concubine Lady Li encountered bandits. The bandits wished to force Li to go with them. Shao cursed them, saying, "My late husband entrusted the concubine to me—how could I let her suffer bandit insult." The bandits in anger killed her. Li knew she could not escape and deceived them, saying, "I have hairpins and earrings buried beside the well in the rear garden." The bandits followed Li to dig them up. When they arrived she said, "The mistress died for me—how could I live alone." She immediately threw herself into the well. The bandits went down the well to pull her out. Li let her hair hang loose and slashed her face, cursing without cease. She twisted their clothes wishing to make them die together at the bottom of the well, her cries like thunder. The bandits knew she could not be forced and then killed her with blades.
50
宗胤芳妻江氏，魯山人。 子麟祥，進士。 流賊之亂，江與麟祥妻袁氏率孫女、孫婦九人登樓，俱懸於梁。 視其已死，乃引刀自剄。
Lady Jiang, wife of Zong Yinfang, a native of Lushan. Their son Lixiang became a jinshi. During the turmoil of roving bandits, Jiang together with Lixiang's wife Lady Yuan led granddaughters and granddaughters-in-law—nine persons in all—up a tower, and all hanged themselves from the beam. Seeing that they were dead, she then drew a knife and cut her own throat.
51
曹復彬妻楊氏。 復彬，江都諸生。 城破，復彬創仆地，楊匿破屋中。 長女蒨文，年十四，趣母決計。 次女蒨紅，年十二，請更衣死。 楊止之，復彬執不可，乃為三繯，次第而縊。
Lady Yang, wife of Cao Fubin. Fubin was a licentiate of Jiangdu. When the city fell Fubin was wounded and fell to the ground. Yang hid in a ruined house. The elder daughter Qianwen, age fourteen, urged her mother to decide on a course. The younger daughter Qianhong, age twelve, asked to change her clothes before dying. Yang stopped her, but Fubin insisted it could not be done. They then made three nooses and hanged themselves in order.
52
梁以樟妻張氏，大興人。 以樟知商丘縣。 崇禎十五年，流賊圍商丘，急積薪樓下，集婢女其上，俱令就縊。 謂子燮曰：「汝父城守，命不可知，宗祀惟汝是賴。」 屬乳媼匿民家。 自縊死。 家人舉火，諸屍俱燼。
Lady Zhang, wife of Liang Yizhang, a native of Daxing. Yizhang was magistrate of Shangqiu County. In the fifteenth year of the Chongzhen reign roving bandits besieged Shangqiu. She urgently piled firewood below the tower, gathered maidservants upon it, and had them all hang themselves. She said to her son Xie, "Your father is holding the city; his fate is unknown. The ancestral sacrifices depend on you alone." She entrusted him to a wet nurse to hide among the common people. She hanged herself and died. Her family set a fire and all the corpses were reduced to ash.
53
鄭完我母石氏，甘州衛人。 完我，南陽府同知，既之官，妻王氏奉石家居。 崇禎十六年，賊圍甘州，石預戒家人積薪室中。 及城陷，攜王及一孫女縱火自焚。 寇退，出屍灰燼間，姑媳牽挽不釋手。 女距三尺許，覆以甕，啟視色如生。
Lady Shi, mother of Zheng Wanwo, a native of Ganzhou Guard. Wanwo was assistant prefect of Nanyang Prefecture. Having taken office, his wife Lady Wang attended Lady Shi at home. In the sixteenth year of the Chongzhen reign bandits besieged Ganzhou. Shi beforehand warned the household to pile firewood in the rooms. When the city fell she took Wang and one granddaughter and burned themselves to death. When the bandits withdrew, from among the ash of the corpses the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were found clutching one another and would not let go. The girl lay about three feet away, covered with a jar. When they opened it her complexion was as in life.
54
郭氏，長治宋體道妻。 崇禎十五年，任國琦作亂，同居諸婦皆羅跪，呼郭不出，獨匿垝垣。 賊怒，詰其不跪，瞪目厲聲曰：「我跪亦死，不跪亦死，已安排不活矣。」 賊加數刃，迄死罵不絕口。
Lady Guo, wife of Song Tidao of Changzhi. In the fifteenth year of the Chongzhen reign Ren Guoqi raised a revolt. All the women living together knelt in a row calling for Guo to come out, but she alone hid behind a collapsed wall. The bandits in anger questioned why she would not kneel. She stared with bulging eyes and said in a fierce voice, "If I kneel I die; if I do not kneel I die—I have already arranged not to live." The bandits struck her many times with blades. Until death she cursed without cease.
55
姚氏，桐城人，湘潭知縣之騏女，諸生吳道震妻。 年十九，夫亡，以子德堅在繈褓，忍死撫之。 越二十六年，至崇禎末，流賊掠桐城。 兄孫林奉母避潛山，氏偕行。 賊奄至，孫林格鬥死，德堅負氏逃。 氏曰：「事急矣，汝書生焉能負我遠行，倘賊追及，即俱死，汝不能全母，顧反絕父祀乎！」 叱之去，德堅泣弗忍，氏推之墜層崖下。 須臾賊至，叱曰：「出金可免。」 氏曰：「我流離遠道，安得有金。」 賊令解衣驗之，罵曰：「何物賊奴，敢作此語！」 賊怒，刃交下死。
Lady Yao, a native of Tongcheng, daughter of Magistrate Zhiqi of Xiangtan, wife of the licentiate Wu Daozhen. At age nineteen her husband died. Because her son Dejian was still in swaddling clothes she endured death to nurture him. After twenty-six years, reaching the end of the Chongzhen reign, roving bandits plundered Tongcheng. Her elder brother's grandson Lin escorted their mother to avoid danger at Qianshan. The lady went along. Bandits suddenly arrived. Sun Lin died fighting. Dejian carried the lady fleeing. The lady said, "The matter is urgent. You are a student—how can you carry me on a distant flight? If bandits should overtake us we will both die. You cannot save your mother yet would cut off your father's sacrifices!" She scolded him to go. Dejian wept and could not bear to leave. She pushed him and he fell from a layered cliff. In a moment bandits arrived and shouted, "Produce gold and you may be spared." The lady said, "I am a refugee on a distant road—how could I have gold." The bandits ordered her to strip for verification and cursed, "What kind of bandit slave dares speak thus!" The bandits in anger struck her to death with crossing blades.
56
朱氏，無為人，徐畢璋妻。 年十七，歸璋。 璋有妹名京，年十五，未字。 崇禎十五年，流賊破城。 朱方懷孕，奔井邊，謂京曰：「吾妊在懷，井口狹，可推而納之。」 京曰：「唯。」 納畢，即哭呼曰：「父母安在乎，吾伴嫂死矣！」 躍而入。
Lady Zhu, a native of Wuwei, wife of Xu Bizhang. At age seventeen she married Bizhang. Bizhang had a younger sister named Jing, age fifteen, not yet betrothed. In the fifteenth year of the Chongzhen reign roving bandits breached the city. Zhu was pregnant and ran to the edge of a well. She said to Jing, "I am pregnant. The mouth of the well is narrow—you can push me in." Jing said, "Yes." When Zhu was in she immediately cried out, "Where are Father and Mother? I accompany my sister-in-law in death!" She leaped in after her.
57
李氏，定州人，廣平教授元薦女，歸同里郝生。 崇禎十六年，州被兵。 生將奉親避山中，留李與二子居其母家。 生控馬將發，李哭拜馬前，指庭中井訣曰：「若有變，即潔身此中，以衣袂為識，旁有白線一行者，即我也。」 比城破，藏二子他所，入井死。 兵退，生出其屍，顏色如生。
Lady Li, a native of Dingzhou, daughter of Instructor Yuanyuan of Guangping, married a man named Hao of the same district. In the sixteenth year of the Chongzhen reign the prefecture suffered warfare. Hao was about to escort his parents to avoid danger in the mountains and left Li with two sons staying at his mother's home. As Hao took the reins and was about to depart, Li wept and bowed before the horse. She pointed to the courtyard well in farewell and said, "If there should be trouble, purify your body in this place. Take the sleeve of my robe as a token—where there is a row of white thread beside it, that is me." When the city fell she hid the two sons elsewhere, entered the well, and died. When the soldiers withdrew Hao took out her corpse. Her complexion was as in life.
58
胡敬妻姚氏。 敬，孝感貢生。 流賊陷孝感，姚乘舟避難南湖，欷歔不已。 鄰舟婦解之曰：「賊入黃，從未殺人，何畏也？」 姚曰：「我非畏殺，畏其不殺耳。」 聞賊將入湖，嘆曰：「賊至而死，辱矣。」 遂攜二女僮投水死。
Lady Yao, wife of Hu Jing. Jing was a tribute student of Xiaogan. When roving bandits took Xiaogan, Yao boarded a boat to flee to South Lake, sighing and sobbing without cease. A woman on a neighboring boat consoled her, saying, "When bandits enter Huangzhou they have never killed anyone—why fear?" Yao said, "It is not death I fear—I fear that they will not kill me." Hearing that bandits were about to enter the lake she sighed, "To die when bandits arrive would be shameful." She then took two young maidservants and threw herself into the water and died.
59
熊氏，武昌李藎臣妻，大名知縣正南女。 藎臣父周華，官贛州知官，藎臣從父之任，留婦於家。 崇禎十六年，武昌陷，婦匿林藪中，為賊所得，奪刀自刎。 賊去，鄰嫗救活之。 明年，李自成率殘卒南奔，婦只身竄山谷。 有胡姓者，欲為子娶之。 婦曰：「吾頸可斷，汝不聞前事乎！」 已，藎臣自江西歸，遇賊被殺。 婦慟三日，自縊死。
Lady Xiong, wife of Li Jinchen of Wuchang, daughter of Magistrate Zhengnan of Daming. Jinchen's father Zhouhua was prefect of Ganzhou. Jinchen followed his father to his post and left his wife at home. In the sixteenth year of the Chongzhen reign Wuchang fell. The wife hid in woods and thickets but was taken by bandits and snatched a blade to cut her own throat. When the bandits left, a neighboring old woman revived her. The next year Li Zicheng led his remnant troops fleeing south. The wife alone fled into mountain valleys. A man surnamed Hu wished to marry her to his son. The wife said, "My neck can be severed—have you not heard what happened before!" Later Jinchen returned from Jiangxi, encountered bandits, and was killed. The wife mourned three days and hanged herself and died.
60
丘氏，孝感劉應景妻。 崇禎末，為賊所執，逼從，不可。 賊曰：「刃汝。」 丘曰：「得死為幸。」 賊註油滿甕，漬其衣，語同類曰：「此婦倔強，將巘之。」 丘哂曰：「若謂死溺、死焚、死刃有間乎？ 官兵旦夕至，若求如我，得哉！」 賊怒，束於木焚之，火熾，罵不絕口。 同邑乾氏，年十七，歸高文煥。 文煥卒，無子，拔刀自裁。 母及姑救之，越三日復蘇。 自是斷葷，日不再食。 崇禎十六年，聞賊陷德安，將及孝感。 從子高騫將扶避山砦，氏曰：「吾老矣，豈復出門求活。 行吾四十年前之誌，可也。」 投後園池中死。
Lady Qiu, wife of Liu Yingjing of Xiaogan. At the end of the Chongzhen reign she was seized by bandits. They pressed her to follow them but she would not. The bandits said, "I will blade you." Qiu said, "To obtain death is fortunate." The bandits poured oil filling a jar, soaked her clothes, and said to their fellows, "This woman is stubborn; we will burn her alive." Qiu sneered, "Do you suppose dying by drowning, dying by burning, and dying by the blade differ? Government troops will arrive any day or night—if you seek death like mine, can you obtain it!" The bandits in anger bound her to wood and burned her. As the fire blazed she cursed without cease. A woman of the Gan clan of the same district, age seventeen, married Gao Wenhuan. When Wenhuan died and there was no son, she drew a blade and cut herself. Her mother and mother-in-law saved her. After three days she revived again. From then on she abstained from meat and ate only once a day. In the sixteenth year of the Chongzhen reign, she heard that bandits had captured De'an and were about to reach Xiaogan. Her nephew Gao Qian was about to help her flee to a mountain stockade. The lady said, "I am old. How could I go out again merely to save my life? Carry out the resolve I made forty years ago—that will suffice." She threw herself into the rear garden pool and died.
61
邑又有黃氏，張挺然妻。 崇禎末，賊帥白旺陷德安，授挺然偽掌旅。 黃泣止之，不聽。 賊令挺然取婦為質，黃攜十歲兒匿青山砦。 挺然誘以利，劫以兵，且使親戚招之，皆不應。 已而破砦，焚己居以窮黃，黃匿愈深，竟不可得。 挺然寄兒金簪，兒以綰發，黃怒，拔棄之曰：「何為以賊物汙首！」 久之，賊敗，挺然走死襄陽，黃耕織以撫其子，鄉人義之。
In the district there was also Lady Huang, wife of Zhang Tingran. At the end of the Chongzhen reign, the bandit chieftain Bai Wang captured De'an and appointed Tingran a bogus brigade commander under the rebel regime. Huang wept and tried to stop him, but he would not listen. The bandits ordered Tingran to take his wife as a hostage. Huang took her ten-year-old son and hid in the Qingshan stockade. Tingran tried to lure her with rewards and coerce her with troops, and even had relatives call on her—she would not respond. Before long they stormed the stockade and burned his own home to drive Huang out. She hid deeper still and in the end could not be found. Tingran sent the boy a gold hairpin; the boy used it to bind his hair. Huang angrily pulled it out and threw it away, saying, "Why defile your head with rebel goods!" After a long time the bandits were defeated. Tingran fled and died in Xiangyang. Huang farmed and wove to support her son, and the villagers honored her conduct.
62
蘄水洗馬畈某氏，為賊所執，不從。 賊刃其腹，一手抱嬰兒，一手捧腹，使氣不即盡以待夫。 夫至，付兒，放手而斃。
A woman of a certain clan at Ximafan in Qishui was seized by bandits and would not submit. The bandits slashed her belly. With one hand she held her infant and with the other she pressed her wound, keeping herself alive until her husband could arrive. When her husband arrived she handed him the child, let go, and died.
63
向氏，黃陂人。 年十八，歸王旦士。 未久，賊陷黃陂，被執。 賊持刀迫之，氏罵不絕口。 賊指眾曰：「若非汝父母，即舅姑兄弟，必盡殺，而後及汝。」 氏曰：「我義不辱，與家人何與！」 奪刃自刎。 賊怒，立磔之。
Lady Xiang, a native of Huangpi. At eighteen she married Wang Danshi. Before long bandits captured Huangpi and she was seized. The bandits held blades to her throat; the lady cursed without cease. The bandits pointed at the crowd and said, "If they are not your parents, then they are your parents-in-law and brothers—we will kill them all, and only then come for you." The lady said, "I would rather die than be dishonored—what does that have to do with my family!" She seized a blade and cut her own throat. The bandits in anger immediately dismembered her on a stake.
64
劉長庚妾雷氏。 長庚為同州諸生。 賊陷潼關，將及州，長庚拜家廟，召妻及二子曰：「汝年長，且有子，當逃。」 召雷及所生女曰：「汝年少，當從吾死。」 雷曰：「妾誌也。」 長庚攜酒登樓，謂妾曰：「汝平日不飲，今當共醉。」 妾欣然引滿。 長庚且飲且歌，夜半遍題四壁，拔刀示妾曰：「可以行乎？」 對曰：「請先之。」 奪刀自刎。 長庚乃解所系條，縊於梁。 女方七歲，橫刀於壁，以頸就之而死。
Lady Lei, concubine of Liu Changgeng. Changgeng was a licentiate of Tongzhou. Bandits captured Tong Pass and were about to reach the prefecture. Changgeng bowed at the family shrine, summoned his wife and two sons, and said, "You are older and already have sons of your own—you should flee." He summoned Lei and his own daughter and said, "You are young—you should die with me." Lei said, "That has always been this concubine's resolve." Changgeng brought wine and went up to a tower, telling his concubine, "You never drink, but today we shall drink our fill together." The concubine gladly drained her cup. Changgeng drank and sang. At midnight he covered all four walls with inscriptions, drew his blade, and showed it to his concubine, saying, "Shall we go ahead?" She replied, "Please go first." She seized the blade and cut her own throat. Changgeng then untied the cord at his waist and hanged himself from a beam. The girl was seven. She laid a blade against the wall and pressed her neck to it until she died.
65
邵氏，商州人，布政使可立女，侍郎雒南薛國用子匡倫妻也。 流賊將至，避之母家。 商州陷，賊驅使執爨，罵曰：「吾大家女，嫁大臣子，肯為狗賊作飯耶！」 賊怒，斫其足，罵益厲，斷舌寸磔之。
Lady Shao, a native of Shangzhou, daughter of Surveillance Commissioner Ke Li and wife of Kuang Lun, son of Vice Minister Xue Guoyong of Luonan. As roving bandits were about to arrive, she took refuge at her mother's home. When Shangzhou fell the bandits forced her to cook. She cursed, "I am a daughter of a great house, married to a minister's son—would I cook for dog bandits!" The bandits in anger hacked at her feet. She cursed all the more fiercely. They cut out her tongue and dismembered her piece by piece.
66
關陳諫妻呂氏。 陳諫，雲夢諸生。 族有安氏者，殉其夫關坤，呂每談及，輒感慨欷歔曰：「婦人義當如是。」 崇禎末，寇陷鄰郡，呂謂夫曰：「賊焰方張，不如早為之所。」 取魚網結其體甚固。 俄寇至，俾縫衣，呂投剪破賊面，罵曰：「賊敢辱我針黹乎！ 手可斷，衣不可縫。」 賊怒，磔之，投於水。
Lady Lü, wife of Guan Chenjian. Chenjian was a licentiate of Yunmeng. In the clan a woman of the An clan had died for her husband Guan Kun. Whenever Lü spoke of it she would sigh and say, "That is how a woman ought to act." At the end of the Chongzhen reign invaders captured a neighboring prefecture. Lü told her husband, "The rebels are spreading fast—we had better prepare while we can." She took a fish net and bound their bodies very tightly. Before long the invaders arrived and made them sew clothes. Lü threw her scissors and cut a bandit's face, crying, "How dare you bandits insult my needlework! You may cut off my hands, but you will not make me sew." The bandits in anger dismembered her on a stake and threw her into the water.
67
邵氏，曲周李純盛妻。 寇至，姑姊妹俱避地洞中。 邵為寇所得，問洞所在。 紿之行，寇喜隨之，徑往井傍，投井死。 洞中五十余人俱獲免。
Lady Shao, wife of Li Chunsheng of Quzhou. When invaders arrived, her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law all hid in an underground cave. Shao was seized by the invaders, who asked where the cave was. She deceived them into following her. The invaders gladly went along. She led them straight to a well and threw herself in and died. More than fifty people in the cave were all spared.
68
王氏，宛平劉應龍妻。 年十六，嫁應龍。 家貧，以女紅養舅姑。 應龍父子相繼亡，王事姑撫子。 閱二十年，賊陷都城，泣拜其姑曰：「留長孫奉事祖母，婦死已決。」 遂攜幼子投井死。
Lady Wang, wife of Liu Yinglong of Wanping. At sixteen she married Yinglong. The family was poor; she supported her parents-in-law with her needlework. Yinglong and his father died in succession. Wang served her mother-in-law and raised her son. After twenty years bandits captured the capital. Weeping, she bowed to her mother-in-law and said, "Leave the eldest grandson to serve you—this wife's death is already decided." Thereupon she took her young son and threw herself into a well and died.
69
吳之瑞妻張氏。 之瑞，宿松諸生。 福王時，城陷，軍士欲汙之。 張恐禍及夫與子，紿曰：「此吾家塾師，攜其子在此。 吾醜之，若遣去，則惟命。」 夫與二子去已遠，張乃厲聲唾罵，撞石死。
Lady Zhang, wife of Wu Zhirui. Zhirui was a licentiate of Susong. During the reign of the Prince of Fu the city fell, and soldiers meant to violate her. Zhang feared harm would come to her husband and son. She deceived them, saying, "This is our family tutor, and he has brought his son here. I find him repulsive. If you send him away, I will accept whatever comes." Her husband and two sons were already far away. Zhang then cursed them loudly, dashed her head against a stone, and died.
70
韓鼎允妻劉氏。 鼎允為懷寧諸生。 福王時，城潰。 舅姑雙柩殯於堂，劉守不去。 賊欲剖棺，劉抱棺號哭，賊釋之。 一女年十三，賊欲縱火，而數盼其女。 劉紿之曰：「茍不驚先柩，女非所惜也。」 賊喜投炬，攜女去。 劉送女，目門外池示之，女即投池死。 賊怒，刃劉，劉罵不絕口死。
Lady Liu, wife of Han Dingyun. Dingyun was a licentiate of Huaining. During the reign of the Prince of Fu the city was breached. Her parents-in-law's coffins lay side by side in the hall, and Liu stayed to guard them. Bandits wanted to open the coffins. Liu clung to them and wailed until the bandits let them be. She had a thirteen-year-old daughter. The bandits meant to set a fire and kept looking at the girl. Liu deceived them, saying, "If you do not disturb the coffins of the elders, the girl is nothing to me." The bandits gladly set the torches and took the girl away. Liu walked her daughter out and signaled with her eyes toward the pool by the gate. The girl at once threw herself into the pool and died. The bandits in anger killed Liu with a blade. She cursed them to the end.
71
江都程氏六烈。 程煜節者，江都諸生也。 其祖姑有適林者，其姑有適李者，其叔母曰劉氏、鄒氏、胡氏。 而煜節之妹曰程娥，未字。 城被圍，與劉約俱死，各以大帶置袖中。 城破，女理發更衣，再拜別其母，遂縊死。 劉有女甫一歲，啼甚慘。 劉乳之，復以糕餌一器置女側，乃死。 鄒與胡亦同死。 適林者，投井死。 適李者，遭掠，紿卒至井旁，大罵投井死。 時稱一門六烈。
The Six Fiercely Chaste Women of the Cheng clan of Jiangdu. Cheng Yujie was a licentiate of Jiangdu. His grandfather's sister-in-law had married into the Lin family; his father's sister had married into the Li family; his uncles' wives were Lady Liu, Lady Zou, and Lady Hu. Yujie's younger sister was called Cheng E and was not yet betrothed. When the city was besieged she and Liu agreed to die together, each keeping a long belt in her sleeve. When the city fell the girl combed her hair, changed her clothes, bowed twice to her mother, and hanged herself. Liu had a daughter only one year old who wailed piteously. Liu nursed her, set a bowl of cakes beside the child, and then died. Lady Zou and Lady Hu died as well. The woman who had married into the Lin family threw herself into a well and died. The woman who had married into the Li family was seized. She deceived her captors until she reached a well, cursed them loudly, and threw herself in. At the time people called them six fiercely chaste women in a single household.
72
張氏，江都史著馨妻。 年二十六，夫亡。 及城陷，撫其子泣曰：「向也撫孤為難，今也全節為大。 兒其善圖，吾不能顧矣。」 遂赴水死。
Lady Zhang, wife of Shi Zhuxin of Jiangdu. At twenty-six her husband died. When the city fell she embraced her son and wept, saying, "Before, raising an orphan alone was the hard part; now keeping my integrity intact is what matters most. My son, make your own way—I can no longer look after you." Thereupon she went into the water and died.
73
又蘭氏，孫道升繼妻。 其前妻女曰四，蘭所生女曰七，皆嫁古氏。 次曰存，孫女曰巽，皆未嫁。 其弟道乾、道新並先卒。 道乾妻王氏，子天麟妻丁氏，道新妻古氏，其從弟子啟先妻董氏。 江都之圍，諸婦女各手一刃一繩自隨。 城破，巽先縊死。 蘭時五十四，引繩自縊死。 王氏、丁氏投舍後汪中死。 古氏亦五十四，守節三十年，頭盡白，投井死。 有女嫁於吳，生女曰睿，方八歲，適在外家，從死於井。 董氏以帶系門樞，縊死。 存病足，力疾投井死。 董氏之娣，有祖母曰陳氏，方寄居，與董氏同處，亦自縊死。 四與七同縊於床死。
There was also Lady Lan, second wife of Sun Daosheng. His first wife's daughter was called Si; Lan's own daughter was called Qi—both had married into the Gu family. Next came Cun; Sun's granddaughter was called Xun—all were still unmarried. His younger brothers Daogan and Daoxin had both died before him. Daogan's wife was Lady Wang; his son Tianlin's wife was Lady Ding; Daoxin's wife was Lady Gu; and his cousin Qixian's wife was Lady Dong. During the siege of Jiangdu each of the women kept a blade and a cord with her at all times. When the city fell, Xun was the first to hang herself. Lan was then fifty-four. She took up her cord and hanged herself. Lady Wang and Lady Ding threw themselves into Houwang Pond and died. Lady Gu was also fifty-four. She had preserved her chastity for thirty years until her hair was wholly white, then cast herself into a well and died. She had a daughter married into the Wu family, who bore a daughter named Rui, only eight years old. The child happened to be visiting her mother's kin and followed them into the well to die. Lady Dong fastened her belt to the door pivot and hanged herself. Cun had an afflicted foot; straining herself despite the illness, she threw herself into a well and died. Lady Dong's sister-in-law had a grandmother, Lady Chen, who was then staying as a guest. Living together with Lady Dong, she hanged herself as well. Si and Qi hanged themselves together on the bed and died.
74
同時有張廷鉉者，妻薛氏，城破自縊死。 廷鉉之妹曰五，遇卒鞭撻使從己，大呼曰：「殺即殺，何鞭為！」 遂殺死。
At the same time there was Zhang Tingxian, whose wife Lady Xue hanged herself when the city fell. Tingxian's younger sister, called Wu, met a soldier who beat her to make her go with him. She cried out, "Kill me if you will—why whip me!" Thereupon they killed her.
75
張秉純妻劉氏。 秉純，和州諸生。 家故貧，氏操井臼，處之怡然。 國亡，秉純絕粒死。 氏一勺水不入口，閱十有六日，肌骨銷鑠，命子扶至柩前祭拜，痛哭而絕。
Lady Liu, wife of Zhang Bingchun. Bingchun was a licentiate of Hezhou. The family had always been poor. Lady Liu worked the mortar and pestle and took it cheerfully. When the dynasty fell, Bingchun starved himself to death. Lady Liu would not take even a spoonful of water. After sixteen full days her flesh and bones were wasted away. She had her son help her to the coffin to bow in farewell, wept bitterly, and died.
76
陶氏，當塗孫士毅妻，守節十年。 南都覆，為卒所掠，縛其手介刃於兩指之間，曰：「從我則完，否則裂。」 陶曰：「義不以身辱，速盡為惠。」 兵不忍殺，稍創其指，血流竟手，曰：「從乎？」 曰：「不從。」 卒怒，裂其手而下，且剜其胸，寸磔死。 陶母奔護，亦被殺。
Lady Tao, wife of Sun Shiyi of Dangtu, had preserved her chastity for ten years. When the Southern Capital fell, she was seized by a soldier who bound her hands and wedged a blade between her fingers, saying, "Come with me and you stay whole; refuse and I split them." Lady Tao said, "I will not let my body be shamed for righteousness' sake—a swift death would be a mercy." The soldier could not bring himself to kill her and only cut her fingers lightly until blood covered her hands. He asked, "Will you follow?" She said, "I will not." The soldier in fury tore off her hand, gouged out her breast, and dismembered her inch by inch until she died. Lady Tao's mother rushed to shield her and was killed as well.
77
田氏，儀真李鐵匠妻，姿甚美。 高傑步卒掠江上，執犯之，田以死拒。 挾馬上，至城南小橋，馬不能渡。 田紿卒牽衣行，睹中流急湍，曳二卒赴水，並溺死。
Lady Tian, wife of Li the blacksmith of Yizhen, was exceedingly beautiful. Gao Jie's foot soldiers raided along the river. Seizing her they tried to assault her, but Tian resisted to the death. They forced her onto a horse. At a small bridge south of the city the horse could not cross. Tian tricked the soldiers into leading her by the robe. Seeing the swift midstream current, she pulled both soldiers into the water and all three drowned.
78
王氏，和州諸生張侶顏妻。 南都不守，劉良佐部卒肆掠。 氏同母匿朝陽洞，卒攻洞急，氏以子付母曰：「賊勢洶洶，我少婦，即茍免，何面目回夫家。 此張氏一線，善撫之。」 言訖，挺身跳洞外，洞高數十仞，亂石巉巖若鋒刃，碎身死焉。
Lady Wang, wife of Zhang Lüyan, a licentiate of Hezhou. When the Southern Capital fell, the soldiers under Liu Liangzuo looted without restraint. Lady Wang hid with her mother in Chaoyang Cave as soldiers pressed the attack. She handed her son to her mother and said, "The rebels are raging; I am a young wife. Even if I were vilely spared, what face could I show returning to my husband's house? This is the Zhang family's lone heir—raise him well." With that she leapt straight from the cave. It was dozens of ren high, its rocks jagged as blades, and she was dashed to pieces.
79
方氏，桐城錢秉鐙妻。 避寇寓南都。 歲祎，饘粥不給，以女紅易米食其夫，己與婢仆雜食糠乞。 客過，潔茗治饌，取諸簪珥，與秉鐙遊者，未嘗知其貧也。 秉鐙與阮大鋮同里，有隙，避吳中。 方挈子女追尋，得之。 已而吳中亦亂，方知不免，乃密紉上下服，抱女赴水死。
Lady Fang, wife of Qian Bingdeng of Tongcheng. Fleeing the turmoil she took refuge in the Southern Capital. In the yi year porridge ran short. She traded her needlework for rice to feed her husband, while she and the servants ate bran mixed with chaff. When guests called she served them clean tea and a proper meal, drawing on her hairpins and earrings. Those who traveled with Bingdeng never guessed how poor they were. Bingdeng was from the same district as Ruan Dacheng. They had a feud, and he fled to the Wu region. Fang took the children and went after him until she found him. Before long the Wu region too fell into chaos. Knowing she could not escape, Fang secretly stitched her upper and lower garments together, held her daughter, and drowned them both.
80
陸氏，嘉定黃應爵妻。 少喪夫，家貧，紡績自給逾三十年。 甫歿，嘉定城破。 子道弘妻，亡其姓，持二女倉卒欲赴井。 長女曰：「若使母先投，必戀念吾二女，不如先之。」 乃挽妹亟入，道弘妻繼之，並溺死。
Lady Lu, wife of Huang Yingjue of Jiading. She lost her husband young. The household was poor, and for more than thirty years she supported herself by spinning and weaving. He had only just died when Jiading's walls were breached. His son Daohong's wife—her surname is not recorded—seized her two daughters in haste and prepared to throw herself into a well. The elder daughter said, "If Mother goes in first she will surely fret over us two girls. Better that we go first." She pulled her younger sister in at once. Daohong's wife followed, and all three drowned.
81
於氏，丹陽荊潹妻。 潹父大澈為亂兵所殺。 於聞變，知不免，謂潹曰：「請先殺妾。」 潹不忍，怒曰：「君不自殺，欲留為亂兵汙耶！」 潹慟哭從之。
Lady Yu, wife of Jing Shan of Danyang. Shan's father Dache was killed by mutinous troops. When Yu heard what had happened she knew she could not escape. She said to Shan, "Kill me first, I beg you." Shan could not bear to do it. Yu cried angrily, "If you will not kill yourself, do you mean to stay and be defiled by the mutineers!" Shan wept bitterly and followed her to his death.
82
項淑美，淳安人，適方希文。 希文好蓄書。 杭州不守，大帥方國安潰兵掠江滸，數百里無寧宇。 希文避山間，載書以往。 會幼子病疹，希文出延醫，淑美與一嫗一婢處。 是夕，亂兵突至，縱火肆掠。 婢挽淑美衣，欲與俱出，正色叱曰：「出則死於兵，不出死於火，等死耳，死火不辱。」 時嫗已先去，見火熾復入，呼曰：「火至，奈何弗出？」 淑美不應，急取書霍左右，高與身等，坐其中。 須臾火迫，書盡焚，遂死。 賊退，希文歸，則余燼旋而成堆，若護其骨者。 一慟，灰即散，乃收骨瘞先兆。
Xiang Shumei of Chun'an had married Fang Xiwen. Xiwen was an avid collector of books. When Hangzhou fell, the routed troops of Grand Marshal Fang Guo'an looted the river country for hundreds of li without a peaceful home left standing. Xiwen fled into the hills, taking his books with him. His young son came down with measles, and Xiwen went out to fetch a doctor. Shumei was left with one old woman and one maid. That evening mutinous soldiers burst in, set fires, and looted at will. The maid tugged at Shumei's robe, urging her to flee together. She rebuked her sternly: "Go out and we die by the sword; stay and we die by fire. Death is the same either way, but to die by fire is no disgrace." The old woman had already fled, but seeing the blaze she returned and cried, "The fire is here—why will you not come out?" Shumei did not reply. She hurriedly heaped books around her until they stood as high as she was, and sat within the pile. In a moment the flames closed in. The books burned away and she perished. When the raiders withdrew and Xiwen returned, the embers had already settled into a heap as though shielding her bones. At a single sob of grief the ashes scattered. He gathered her bones and buried them beside her husband's grave.
83
先是，有慈谿王氏，歸同里方姓。 甫逾月，火起，延及其屋。 夫適他出，氏堅坐小樓不下，遂被焚，骸骨俱燼，惟心獨存。 夫歸，捧之長號，未頃即化。
Earlier there was Lady Wang of Cixi, who had married a Fang clansman of the same district. Barely a month later fire broke out and spread to her house. Her husband happened to be away. Lady Wang sat steadfast in the upper room and would not come down. She was consumed in the flames; her bones were ash, but her heart alone remained whole. When her husband returned he held it and wailed until it crumbled to dust in his hands.
84
甬上四烈婦。 錢塘張氏，鄞縣舉人楊文瓚妻。 國變後，文瓚與兄文琦，友華夏、屠獻宸，俱坐死。 張紉箴聯其首，棺殮畢，即盛服題絕命詩，遍拜族戚。 吞腦子不死，以佩帶自縊而卒。 文琦妻沈氏亦自縊。 夏繼妻陸氏結帨於梁，引頸就縊，身肥重，帨絕墮地。 時炎暑，流汗沾衣，乃坐而搖扇，謂其人曰：「余且一涼。」 既復取帨結之而盡。 有司聞楊、華三婦之縊，遣丐婦四人至獻宸家，防其妻朱氏甚嚴。 朱不得間，陽為歡笑以接之，且時時誚三婦之徒自苦也。 數日，防者稍懈，因謂之曰：「我將一浴，汝儕可暫屏。」 丐婦聽之，闔戶自盡。 時稱「甬上四烈婦。」
The Four Fiercely Chaste Wives of Yong. Lady Zhang of Qiantang, wife of Yang Wencan, a presented scholar of Yin county. After the dynastic change Wencan, his elder brother Wenqi, and their friends Hua Xia and Tu Xianchen were all implicated and executed. Zhang sewed their severed heads back in place. When the coffining was finished she dressed in her finest garments, wrote a farewell poem, and bowed to every kinsman and relation. She swallowed gelsemium but did not die, then hanged herself with her belt and expired. Wenqi's wife Lady Shen hanged herself as well. Xia Ji's wife Lady Lu tied a scarf to the beam and put her neck into the noose, but her body was heavy and the scarf snapped, dropping her to the floor. It was midsummer and sweat drenched her clothes. She sat down and fanned herself, telling the others, "Let me cool off a moment first." Then she tied the scarf again and completed the deed. When officials learned that the three wives of the Yang and Hua households had hanged themselves, they sent four beggar-women to Xianchen's house to watch his wife Lady Zhu closely. Zhu found no chance to act. She greeted them with feigned cheer and often mocked the three wives for making themselves suffer. After several days the watch grew lax. She told them, "I am going to bathe—you may step outside for a while." The beggar-women agreed. She shut the door and took her own life. At the time they were called "The Four Fiercely Chaste Wives of Yong."
85
夏氏，黔國公沐天波侍女也。 沙定州之亂，天波出走，母陳、妻焦亦避外舍。 懼賊迫，焦謂姑曰：「吾輩皆命婦，可陷賊手乎！」 舉火自焚死。 夏歸其母家，獲免。 後天波自永昌還，夏復歸府，則已為尼矣。 天波感其義，俾佐內政。 及天波從亡緬甸，夏遂自經。 時城中大亂，死者載道，屍為烏犬所食，血肉狼籍，夏屍棄十余日，獨無犯者。
Lady Xia was a waiting-woman in the household of Mu Tianbo, Duke of Qian. During the uprising in Shading Prefecture, Tianbo fled. His mother Chen and his wife Jiao took refuge in an outlying lodge. Fearing the rebels would close in, Jiao said to her mother-in-law, "We are all wives of rank—can we fall into the enemy's hands?" They set a fire and burned themselves to death. Xia returned to her mother's home and escaped harm. Later, when Tianbo returned from Yongchang, Xia came back to the household, but she had already taken vows as a nun. Tianbo was moved by her integrity and had her help manage the inner household. When Tianbo followed the court into exile in Burma, Xia hanged herself. The city was then in chaos; the dead choked the streets and crows and dogs fed on the corpses until flesh and blood littered the ground. Xia's body lay abandoned for more than ten days, yet no one touched it.