Local Gazetteers

When visiting Xiabang, you don't necessarily need to read heroic epics, but you must read local chronicles.

The official history of this continent is far removed from the common people. Even the governors of local prefectures are not considered important and do not even qualify as pawns in the eyes of the powerful.

Local chronicles record the annual taxation of a county or town, population changes and policy shifts, the main strategies of the county government and records of talent promotion, the sources of income for county officials' integrity allowances, and some local chronicles also record lawsuits and conflicts. In order to commend the county magistrate's achievements in handling cases and the strictness of local laws, several representative lawsuits will be specially presented.

The Mayflower's collection contains many local chronicles, including those from Xiantai Prefecture and other towns and cities of all sizes. These books serve as excellent lists of powerful families, making it easy to know which prefecture to visit, which family to consult, and what kind of business to conduct.

After Mr. Wen Bucai demonstrated his skills in catching sea monsters and fighting dragons, Mrs. Wang from the Xiantai Prefecture Governor's household was very impressed. Even if this family had no money, just having Wen Bucai. Wen Bucai as a henchman was a martial art worth a thousand gold pieces, which could be sold to the imperial family.

"Come with me, come with me, Mr. Wen." Wang family immediately led the "couple" to the museum to introduce them to the collection and talk about family matters.

The Master of Ceremonies led the way, chatting and laughing with the old butler of the ballroom. In the blink of an eye, Victor Wen Bucai arrived at a quiet room.

Wang family took a family genealogy book from the bookshelf Wen Bucai about their lineage.

The Wang family of Xiantai Prefecture can be traced back to a prominent family in the Capital City, and can be linked to the family of loyal ministers of the previous dynasty. Mrs. Wang's family has been engaged in the canal transport business for generations, and before being incorporated into the imperial court, they were river bandits in the Tonghe and Mist River areas. However, the local chronicles of various counties and prefectures have changed the description from bandits to righteous army.

Victor wasn't particularly interested in the origins of the Wang family. He found a document from the capital, which was also a local chronicle of Xiabang's capital, and slowly began to read it as writing material.

I asked casually halfway through reading it.

What does it mean to say that a scholar achieved the highest rank in the provincial examination?

Wang family and Mr. Wen Bucai were so engrossed in their conversation that they had no time to attend to the dancer's minor issues.

The Master of Ceremonies then leaned closer to Victor and explained, "That's a local exam in the prefecture, held every three years; it's a major exam."

"This examinee named Yu Datong," Victor inquired about a case from the local chronicles of the Capital City, "Is he both a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examinations) and a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examinations)? What exactly is he?"

"That's a successful candidate in the provincial examination." The Master of Ceremonies leaned closer to the book and continued, "Oh, he ranked in the top three in both the county and provincial examinations. This person has a bright future ahead of him."

"Is he going to be a high-ranking official?" Victor asked, puzzled.

The Master of Ceremonies, "A scholar who has passed the imperial examinations doesn't need to kneel before the county magistrate, is exempt from corvée labor and taxes, and cannot be subjected to arbitrary torture if he gets into trouble with the authorities—but he's still missing one crucial step before becoming an official."

Victor: "An extra?"

"Miss Latia, you are unaware of this. To become an official in Xiabang, one not only needs genuine talent and learning, but also an understanding of human relationships," the Master of Ceremonies solemnly described. "Even the lowest-ranking local official receives festival and birthday gifts, annual stipends, and private bribes for promotions and transfers. No matter how insignificant the provincial governor, county magistrate, or County Assistant, as long as they govern ten thousand households, they are still considered upright officials. However, in the eyes of the Xiabang emperor, these minor officials, who live thousands of miles away and may never be seen in their entire lives, do not receive any salary."

"If you want to make money or gain power, you always have to rely on these rules; it's the same principle from the bottom up."

Victor then pointed to the local gazetteer, where there were records about Yu Datong—

"--How did he end up being exiled to Danqiu Country? Wasn't he quite capable? Good at exams, good at writing essays."

The Master of Ceremonies interrupted, "It's no use. Isn't it all written clearly in the book?"

"Yu Datong Chaozhou in Wuling Mountain, which is 420 li away from the Capital City. They have absolutely no connection to him."

"No matter how much money he spends in the prefecture, even if he buys it outright for 30,000 taels of silver, he still needs to rely on his true talent to pass the imperial examination."

"Besides, he even dared to sue the authorities."

At this point, the Master of Ceremonies carefully examined the annotations in the local gazetteer and immediately realized what was going on.

"Oh, it was about his fellow candidates bribing the examiners. He took the opportunity of going to the capital for the palace examination to file a complaint, and according to the Xia law, a commoner who sues an official is also guilty of the same crime as the official. So he was exiled to Danqiu Country."

"No." Victor felt this didn't make sense. "Isn't he about to become an official?"

"That's right, it's just one step away." The Master of Ceremonies thought Latia was a bit naive and childish, "Miss Latia, I only dare to tell you this when we're on the ship."

"If we go back to Xiantai Prefecture, talking nonsense will cost me my head."

"Even if a scholar doesn't wear the clothes of a beast, doesn't receive the governor's order, and doesn't have the County Assistant's approval, he'll still be a lowly commoner when he returns to his hometown."

"If everyone had the ability to file a complaint against the officials, what would the local governors and magistrates do? No matter how they complained, the case would just be sent back to the local authorities for retrial—would the Emperor have to personally travel to Wuling Mountain? Or would the county magistrate of Wuling Mountain have to spend more than a month traveling over 400 li to the capital to meet the Emperor? All for 30,000 taels of silver? For such a trivial matter?"

"I know you have a magical railway that allows people to travel a thousand miles in a day."

Before the Master of Ceremonies could finish speaking, Victor roughly understood what story the local chronicle was telling, because turning to the next page revealed even more outrageous things.

"In the autumn of the fifteenth year of Lingzong, a great plague and famine struck the southeast. In Pei County, the flesh of a male adult cost six qian per jin."

This also led to a debt case, which tells of a family in Pei County who, when they were in dire straits, wanted to go to Sifang City in the north to borrow grain from their relatives to get through the crisis.

The male head of the household set off in early April, but local tenants who wanted to travel far away had to obtain a travel permit approved by the county magistrate. This rule had existed since ancient times. Xia State was often plagued by internal strife, and tenants were an important resource for local county magistrates to support the regional armed forces. They could not be easily given away to other places.

The travel permit also included fees for fire loss, ticket price, and postage, which could be considered another kind of toll.

The male head of the household couldn't afford the money; his family was starving, so where would he get the funds to buy the travel permit? He secretly slipped away. When the county magistrate investigated, before the tenant farmer returned, he had his wife seized and forced into prostitution, and his son chopped into mincemeat and used as military rations.

The male head of the household obtained grain, which was then converted into meat at a price of six coins per pound. All the grain he received from the clan was confiscated.

Victor was completely shocked after reading the short stories in the local chronicle.

--He is already very old. If you've lived this long, it's because he gradually came from the evil capitalist society to the modern era. He has never experienced the exploitation of the feudal slave empire.

In the memory of this European and American writer, the most barbaric place was also related to the Mayflower, except that it was another Mayflower from the mundane world, a pioneer ship heading to the American continent.

These lines of black and white text completely changed Victor's understanding of Chabon.

Local chronicles, through their accounts of litigation and case adjudication, offer a different perspective, showcasing the strict laws and regulations of the region and the decisive measures taken by its administrators to outsiders.

It felt like a farmer demonstrating how to slaughter chickens and turn unruly chickens into chicken feed.

"Miss Latia?" Seeing that the dancer remained silent, the Master of Ceremonies pressed on, "Are you perhaps speaking out for this scholar?"

"That makes sense. Such a talented young man, what a pity. It's a pity that the law in Xia Bang is unforgiving."

"If Yu Datong weren't from the Wuling Mountain region, perhaps His Majesty would have been more lenient when approving his memorial."

Wuling Mountain area is where Luo Ping'an's Daoist temple is located.

--This formidable man once told a story to Meteor.

Since Mr. Ping An came to Shambhala, for the next 1,300 years, starting from the era of Empress Wu Zetian, he has been killing corrupt officials and rebelling against them. But after killing and killing, all the bad ones are gone, and only those who are not so bad remain.

To be fair, Ping An is already doing well just to keep the Taiyi Xuan Sect afloat; he's already done his best to help the brothers and sisters in the sect live a simple life.

This place is teeming with demons and monsters; there's no torch of science or civilization to be found. Even the sun in the sky can't guarantee it will rise tomorrow. How can one or two people possibly change the fate of tens or hundreds of millions of people?

There were no telephones, no cars, and no railways. Even if a Daoist priest received word of someone's arrival to kill them, he would have to climb mountains for months and travel over a thousand miles.

In even earlier times, Luo Ping'an didn't even know if what he was doing was right or wrong. By the time the news arrived and he went to the site to verify and search for the demons, the evil spirits had probably already hidden themselves away.

Yu Datong, a scholar who passed the imperial examination, came from the Wuling Mountain region, a place that the emperors of Xia Bang disliked the most.

--A living deity has appeared here, and the people no longer worship the emperor but instead worship the deity. What kind of situation is this?

If it weren't for the lack of strength to suppress bandits, the Great Xia would have long ago labeled the Taiyi Xuan Sect as a cult leader.

The Immortal of Peace was unable to escape the limitations of his era, and in the end, just like the Sixteen Copper River Kingdoms that he himself had depicted, he became one of the warlords. Then he waited and waited for ships from the civilized world to find this desolate continent.

"Master."

After the morning lessons ended, a young Daoist priest pushed open the door of the side room to wake Mr. Ping An up.

"Mmm!" Luo Ping'an sat up, clutching his tablet, and lazily yawned on the bed, taking off his glasses.

Young Daoist priest. "You stayed up all night again?"

Luo Ping'an quickly hid the tablet under his pillow.

The young Daoist priest chuckled and asked, "What kind of bewitching magic is in those foreign tricks? Can it drain your true energy, Master?"

"Hehe. Heh." Luo Ping'an didn't hide anything anymore. Since his little apprentice had pointed it out, he simply shared it with everyone.

I noticed that the TV shows playing on these electronic devices were all period dramas, related to fantasy and cultivation themes.

"Hey kid, look at this, and this, and this one too."

Luo Ping'an introduced it with great enthusiasm--

Although there was no internet or electricity, a power bank was enough for him to watch over 200 episodes of TV dramas and short series.

"Hey!" The little apprentice said with a look of disdain, "I've seen it all before, it's all just a hoax. Do you really think you can find a way to become an immortal from these foreign tricks, Master? If it were that easy, would everyone in the Nine Realms be an immortal?"

At this point, the young apprentice changed his tune again.

"That's right. This little gadget (tablet computer) has a hidden secret: it can show scenes from thousands of miles away. I imagine the people in these paintings are certainly not worried about food and drink."

"Unlike our Wuling Mountain, last year Tianjiatun was plagued by locusts. All the men in more than ten villages were forced to wear short-sleeved clothes (meaning they had to pawn their long coats to work in the fields). Fortunately, no more cannibalism has occurred, otherwise demons would have appeared again—and you wouldn't have had time to lie in bed watching the show."

Most beautiful period dramas will not show you any gruesome scenes of cannibalism.

This is also the strange and interesting story that Luo Ping'an told when he met the shooting star. In the eyes of this old man, the entertainment products of the mortal world and the narrative of the feudal era are like fairy tales. He can't have that kind of wonderful life. Besides envying it, he can also watch it as an absurd comedy.

"Your master isn't very capable; all he does is kill people," Ping An said casually, sitting on the bed with his legs crossed. He told his little apprentice about these TV dramas, "If one day, Wuling Mountain could really become like the ones in these stories, how wonderful that would be."

"Where? Where?" The young apprentice couldn't understand. "You expect these heroes to save me, Master? They can't even hold their swords properly, they're flying around with ropes hanging from their bodies, they don't even bring any food when they go on long journeys, they only have a little money in their bags, and they have to introduce themselves to everyone they meet. If you dump them in our back mountain, they'd be lucky to survive for two days."

Ping An quickly explained, "What I mean is, wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone could live like that, simply, happily, and healthily?"

"Tch!" the young apprentice immediately said. "Then I have to criticize you! Master! You taught me that there is no such thing as something for nothing in this world, and even if there were, it wouldn't be in Xia Bang. When you rescued me from the River God, you told us boys and girls that saving us was a favor, and repaying that favor was our duty. Killing monsters relies on diligent practice; we can't expect monsters to show mercy."

"That's a good criticism," Ping An replied with a smile. "Yes, yes, yes."

"And another thing, you're always looking at this little magic weapon." The little apprentice held the tablet computer, his face full of reproach. "Perhaps all your true energy has been absorbed, and your mind isn't working so well anymore."

"These stories are all about love and romance. They can't even kill someone properly. All that 'I love you, I love you,' drowning, wrist-cutting, suicide for love—don't they farm? Don't they ever go hungry?"

Ping An smiled even more broadly, "That's why I'm so envious."

"My mother married into Chen Family Village, Qinghe County. My maternal grandfather traded her for three bushels of beans. I suppose my mother's love was worth three bushels of beans, but it's still better than becoming a two-legged sheep." The little apprentice said unhurriedly, "According to this little magic weapon, it is indeed quite wonderful—hundreds or thousands of years of cultivation can be given up or discarded at will. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is so abundant that even a stray dog on the roadside can attain immortality. Taking a few breaths of an immortal's farts and eating a few mouthfuls of an immortal's excrement are all part of cultivation."

At this point, the young apprentice also began to envy the fantastical world depicted on the tablet.

"Hmm! That's wonderful! That's wonderful! If I were reincarnated into a prince's family, or a celestial family, I'd probably be just like this! But I'd be even more generous! I'd definitely poop and fart by the roadside every day, making all the common people immortals!"

"Master, please teach me the art of reincarnation! I want to experience the mortal world too! To fall in love with these fairy sisters!"

Luo Ping'an cursed--

"--What the hell do you think you are? If I had such magic, I would have practiced it myself long ago!"