Launch Day Note (Tearfully Begging for First-Day Subscriptions)!
It will be available tomorrow at noon, which is the 10th.
First of all, thank you all for your support, and I hope you will continue to support us.
First-day subscriptions are a very important indicator of a new book's success, specifically the number of subscriptions within 24 hours of the first chapter being released.
The higher the initial subscription, the better the subsequent recommendations will be, so I earnestly request everyone to make the precious subscription.
The decision to release the book on Sunday noon was made with the consideration that some readers might be students who have time to support the book during their Sunday off, which would result in higher initial subscriptions.
I just finished my thesis defense this June and graduated from university, which is less than three months ago.
Although it's a single book, it covers mechanical design and manufacturing, which is notoriously a dead end. Graduation means going straight into a factory, and with the economy in recent years being sluggish, everyone is counting on the new book.
Therefore, the results of this book are very important to me. The first thing I do every day when I wake up is to ask the editor about the follow-up reading. Every time I hear that the follow-up reading has dropped, I sit in front of the computer for one or two hours with a headache, wondering what went wrong.
In addition, my previous book was about wilderness survival, which I wrote during my junior and senior years of college. This one is fantasy, which is a completely unrelated transition. Fortunately, so far, this book is doing much better than the previous one. At least it didn't get recommended and then get canceled halfway through.
I try my best to revise the chapters based on readers' feedback. For example, a couple of days ago, the protagonist's spear was named "Li Quan," and several comments said it was unworthy of the name. I changed it that day, but that was irresponsible to the readers who could accept it and had already read the chapter.
Explaining it in the main text would affect the reading experience, because many people don't know about it, and explaining it would only confuse them. So I just mentioned it in the author's notes. To be honest, I'm in a bit of a dilemma.
I originally had twenty chapters in reserve before starting the book. For the first ten days, I was able to maintain a normal schedule, but as the writing progressed, I became more and more tired. Sometimes I would think about a comment repeatedly.
At first, it was 1 or 2 a. m., but now it's 3 or 4 a. m., and the drafts have been reduced from 20 chapters to only 4.
There are some things I don't really want to explain.
My long-time readers know that I am very rigorous when it comes to information and references.
For example, regarding the initial price of fish, some people honestly said, "How could the price of fish be so low?" In reality, it was that low. The price of a pound of fish was far less than that of a pound of rice. Often, it was priced per fish. During the Song Dynasty, Lu You bought fish for two or three coins per fish. With one hundred coins, he could buy enough fish to feed twenty strong men.
In more outrageous cases, a Big Fish could cost less than a single coin. When Cai Jing was demoted and returned home by water, there were small boats selling fish nearby, fifteen of them for only ten coins.
For example, Chapter 54 says that Ping Yang Town has a population of tens of thousands, comparable to a typical county town. Some people say that this is impossible and unreasonable. In ancient times, county towns only had a few thousand people. Those with tens of thousands of people were considered large county towns. A town with tens of thousands of people could not possibly be large. Also, the era in ancient times varies. The Qin and Han dynasties, Tang and Song dynasties, and Ming and Qing dynasties are completely different.
In fact, there were many large towns with tens of thousands of people during the Ming and Qing dynasties. They are recorded in the Shenghu Gazetteer and the Jiangning Gazetteer. Towns with 10,000 households were everywhere. A household is a family unit, and a family with three generations must have at least 5 to 10 people.
In ancient times, the average household was usually counted as six people. For example, Uncle Chen's family had six people. If the number was lower than this, it indicated that the family structure in the area was not good, and there might have been war, banditry, or plague.
Even in the city, there are several thousand people, or even nearly ten thousand.
Speaking of this city, there's something I really want to complain about.
Zeng Tou City in the Water Margin is quite famous. Even if I forgot (it's not a memorable point), I still wrote about it in the article, and a lot of people still criticized it.
Writing a book is often exhausting. Even when you have the evidence right in front of you, people still don't believe you and say you're making things up.
There's also the issue of pinyin. From the fanqie method, there are over 400 initial consonants and over 1,000 final vowels. Then there's the thirty-six letters of the Song Dynasty's Shou Wen, which uses over thirty Chinese characters to cover the fanqie method. It was invented by a monk alone and is already extremely close to the pinyin form.
The only problem is that if it's purely for phonetic notation, the pronunciation of Chinese characters will change, and this system will become unsuitable.
Then came the Phags-pa Script, a Tibetan script modified during the Yuan Dynasty. It was a completely different system for expression. Both Korea and Japan saw it and quickly copied it, but it was too exotic. It wasn't until Zhang Taiyan used abstract Chinese characters to annotate the phonetic symbols of Mandarin that the protagonist was basically at this stage. The Taiwan Province is still using this system today. I have sorted out the entire development system. It is about summarizing the rules and adding alien characters. It is not too difficult. It is just a matter of whether you can think of it or not.
Furthermore, the distinction between spears, lances, and lances has never been strictly defined; rather, it is more a matter of customary names used in different historical periods and regions.
To explain what a gun, a spear, or a lance is, you can actually find counterexamples in classical texts.
So why did I call it "gun"? It's simple: calling it "gun" doesn't feel out of place; the two names evoke different feelings.
Not to mention that this is a fictional world and dynasty, or even a fantasy. It doesn't matter if it's not scientific. I'm just writing with the intention of being realistic. After all, there are real-world bases, so many things are less likely to go wrong. For example, prices. I have references for prices, from cotton to pork and mutton.
Therefore, let me give a simple explanation here.
Secondly, I would like to thank my editor, Lan Guang, who always answers my questions and replies to messages even on Saturdays and Sundays. He is a very responsible editor.
Finally, regarding updates, I will update the entire event on the day of release.
Next, the protagonist will be free until spring, during which time his strength will increase significantly.
Marsh Spirit will transform into Azure Marsh Weasel, the eldest brother will send things back, the imperial court will bestow rewards, and both beasts will evolve.
These things are all from before chapter 100. Then we will explore the underwater ancient battlefield, which will be the real beginning of the exploration of the Jiang Huai River, focusing on the underwater area.
Regarding Marsh Spirit, Wu Zhiqi will still be the main focus, so everyone can rest assured.
Erlang Shen is a gifted character who helps the protagonist learn things. After all, it would normally take half a year or a year to master a fighting style. I think the pace needs to be accelerated. If Erlang Shen is to reappear, it will probably be when he fights the Flood Dragon in the future.
Regarding extra chapters, I will try my best to update more frequently in September, guaranteeing more than 6,000 words per day. I can't guarantee anything more for now, but I will definitely do my best.
One last sacrifice, may it all become my power of destiny.
"I Cultivated Immortality After My Throne Was Abolished" - Dreamcatcher
"Lu Mingfei Doesn't Want to Be a Superhero" - Brewing Tea Beneath Falling Snow
"I Joined the Time Traveler Chat Group, But I Didn't Time Travel!" — After the Misty Rain in a Blue Robe; "I'm the SSR Character You Want to Draw!" — Don't Be Impatient
"I Can Refresh My Golden Finger Every Month" - the Moon at the World's End Shines Today; "The Mythical Worlds I Traveled Through Have All Become Reality" - Avocado; "I, Jiajing, Joined the Ming Dynasty Emperors' Chat Group" - Orange Cat Detective
"My Alias Became a Saint in Death Row" - White-Robed Scholar
"I'm Really Here to Maintain Peace" - Ghosts Never Get Lost
"Entering the Unscientific" - Novice Angler; "The First Cause of All Worlds" - Pei Tugo; "The Immortal Only Wants to Lie Down" - Pig Heart and Shrimp.
"My I Bloom Late in the Cultivation World" - The Black-Hearted Master
"I stand atop the long river of time, overlooking eternity" — Rivers Carry the Moon
"In the World of Gods and Demons, I Can Change My Fate" — Bai Teman
Stellaris: Star Lords – Attaining the Dao Overnight, an interstellar war genre.
"Don't be afraid, this humble monk is truly not a demon" - Ji Qi
"This rotten, cowardly Jie Sect can't stay any longer" - Durian Aged Liquor; "The Golden Core is a star, and you call that cultivating immortality?" - Ground-Walking Crane; "Hong Kong Anthology: Starting from Stanley Prison" - the Third Watch Never Ceases
"This Top Star Treats Celebrities Only as Work" — Bao Xing
2014: I Want to Be the Governor – Brilliant Fireworks
"Shen Gongbao, the Great Sage, Persuades the Immortal Who Dies" - the Vast Sea Turns to Dust
"Abundant Martial Virtue" - Fireworks Build a City
In the world of martial arts, you'll find you have many friends.
They're all veteran authors, each with their own style; those interested can check them out.
Thank you all for your support! I hope this book can continue to accompany you on your journey!
I'm begging for a first subscription, crying my eyes out!