Two yamen runners from Licheng County, dispatched on official business out of town, finally returned near the end of the year.

En route, they encountered two men whose attire resembled their own.

Upon inquiring about their origin, the pair replied, "We are constables from Jinan Prefecture." The yamen runners remarked, "We know nearly all the constables from Jinan Prefecture, yet we don't recognize either of you.

How is that?" The two responded, "To be frank, we are ghost envoys from the City God Temple, ordered to proceed to Mount Tai to deliver official documents to the Great Emperor Dongyue." One yamen runner asked, "What are the documents concerning?" The reply came, "Jinan is soon to face a great calamity.

The contents of the dispatch relate to the number of fatalities." The yamen runner asked, "How many will die?" The ghost envoys stated, "The precise figure is unknown, but it will be no less than a million." The yamen runners inquired about the date of the great calamity.

The ghost envoys replied, "The first day of the first lunar month." The yamen runners were greatly alarmed and exchanged worried glances, both thinking, "Calculated by our pace, by the time we reach the county seat, it will be New Year's Eve—we would arrive right at the beginning of the disaster!

Yet, if we don't return, we will certainly be punished.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, what should we do?" The ghost envoys advised, "Punishment is a minor matter; life is paramount.

It would be best for you two to flee far away to avoid disaster and by no means return to the city." The yamen runners wholeheartedly agreed and immediately relocated to another province.

Not long after, Qing soldiers marched south, breached Jinan, and massacred the populace, leaving corpses numbering in the millions.

Because the two men were in another province, they ultimately escaped death.