It was an ordinary day.
On this day, a Maya chieftain was contemplating moving his seat to a place called the "Place of Many Waters" (Palenque); across the oceans, the king of the Ostrogoths was leading his army through the morning mist, fighting a grueling campaign across northern Italy; in the royal palace at Pyongyang, the ninety-six-year-old king of Goguryeo opened his eyes in bed as usual; north of the Yellow River, the grand empress dowager of Tuoba Wei, not yet advanced in age but likewise with few years left to live, was planning to take the young Son of Heaven to Mount Fang to inspect her own mausoleum.
It was August 1, AD 490, the day the Southern Qi delegation officially set out for Wuyang Gorge.
On this day, the sun rose as usual.
Sunlight fell on a plaque whose lacquer had grown mottled. The gilt had long since faded from the words "Office of the Waterworks Army Advisor." Its two elmwood doors stood half open, with not a gate guard in sight. The courtyard was equally deserted, so quiet one could have netted sparrows at the gate. Iron spades, wooden tampers, and other tools lay scattered in the grass on either side, while several dried fish someone had casually hung up to air dangled beneath the veranda. Three Registrars sat in the hall: the two older ones were chatting, and the younger one was copying documents.
"...Depends on how you look at it. For promotion, there's the Personnel Department (organization department), the Records Office (the two general offices), and the Secretariat Clerk (provincial secretariat); for good compensation, the Household Department (household registration plus taxation) and the Land Department (land resources); for real power, the Legal Department and Guard and Defense. Those are plum posts. But look at