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Story 25: Princess Tongji Bridge Tears
Princess Tongji Bridge Tears
Author: Anonymous
The Tongji Bridge spanned the Shuihe River, a tributary of the Panlong River, between today’s Shulin Street and Tongren Street. Although it no longer exists, it has left a deep impression in people’s memories. This is because a tragic murder occurred on this bridge.
During the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Yuzhen Division of the Red Turban Army, they invaded Yunnan and occupied Kunming. King Basaravalmi of Liang was defeated and retreated to Chuxiong, seeking help from Duan Gong, the general manager of Dali.
Duan Liang’s troops came to the rescue and defeated Ming Yuzhen’s army, allowing King Liang to return to Kunming. In order to thank Duan Gong, the king of Liang made Duan Gong the political official of Yunnan Pingzhang, and made Duan Gong his son-in-law with the clever and beautiful princess A’he.
The King of Liang was corrupt. Because Duan Gong had many political achievements and gained prestige, he gradually became scrupulous. At this time, some people said that Duan Gong had the intention of “swallowing the golden horse and the green chicken”.
He was not satisfied with Dali and would not benefit the king of Liang, so he conspired to harm Duan Gong. The King of Liang asked Princess A-Zu to kill Duan Gong with the highly poisonous peacock bile poison. A-Zu refused and sued Duan Gong and advised him to return to Dali.
However, Duan Gong did not believe it and thought that he had done something for the King of Liang. As for harm.
The King of Liang made another plan and asked Duan Gong to burn incense at the East Temple (today’s Dongsi Pagoda area on Dongsi Street), and ordered an ambush to kill him when he passed the Tongji Bridge.
A’he knew that Duan Gong had died, so he cried bitterly and paid homage. He took the coffin back to Dali, and sadly committed suicide himself.
Guo Moruo once wrote the script “Peacock Gut” based on this story, which made a past incident in Kunming city a tragic song again, and this small Tongji Bridge became deeply engraved in people’s memory.
