Chapter 260

It was an ordinary day.

On this day, a certain Mayan leader was contemplating moving his settlement to a place called "Place of Many Waters" (Palenque); across the vast ocean, the King of the Ostrogoths was leading his army through the morning mist, struggling in battle across Northern Italy; in the Pyongyang palace, the ninety-six-year-old King of Goguryeo opened his eyes on his bed as usual; north of the Yellow River, the Empress Dowager of the Tuoba Wei, not yet of advanced age but with little time left to live, was planning to take the young Emperor to Fangshan to personally inspect her mausoleum.

This day was August 1st, 490 AD, and the Southern Qi mission officially set out for Wenyang Gorge.

On this day, the sun rose as usual.

Sunlight shone on the mottled lacquer plaque; the five characters "Water Bureau Adjutant Office" had long since lost their gold powder, the two elm doors were half-open, and there was no sign of any gate guards. The courtyard was equally deserted, with tools like iron shovels and wooden rammers scattered in the grass on both sides, and a few dried fish, hung by someone in passing, dangled under the corridor. In the hall, three clerks were present; two older ones were chatting idly, and one young one was copying documents.

"... It just depends on how you look at it. For easy promotion, there's the Merit Bureau (Organization Department), the Record Office (General Office), and the Secretariat (Provincial Secretariat); for good benefits, there's the Household Bureau (Household Registration + Taxation) and the Field Bureau (Land Resources); for real power, there's the Law Bureau and the Security Bureau. These are the choice posts, but look at the batch that just fell—they were all from these. Oh, and the Penal Bureau; before, that group in the Prison Bureau were all acting so high and mighty, weren't they? Now, they're the most unlucky ones."

(The bureaus mentioned here all belong to the military prefecture, that is, the bureaus under the Chief Clerk, not the offices under the Jingzhou Assistant Governor.)

A colleague slowly ground his ink and chimed in:

"That's why I say, the path in officialdom is the same principle as us surveying canals. It looks flat on the surface, but you never know what obstacles are hidden underneath. The Record Office and Secretariat are glamorous, but one wrong step could mean disaster; the Household and Field Bureaus handle a lot, but the more you handle, the easier it is to get mud on your hands..."

He clicked his tongue at this point and sighed:

"Really, you can only eat as much as your ability allows. If your ancestors didn't have a name and you have no one backing you, don't crowd into those critical spots. Even if you do, you'll just be a scapegoat. It's meaningless, you know, Guo'er?"

He looked at the young clerk:

"Don't always look at those lords' resumes and records; it really does you no good. Just treat yourself as a hired hand; do the work and take the money, that's all. Besides, it's easier than being a hired hand; many times you can get paid without even working. Keep it simple; it's better for you and better for us. Look at that Chief Clerk Lord—he's the Adjutant Lord now. When he was Chief Clerk before, he got up before dawn and worked until the hour of the Pig, sometimes even sleeping in the government office. Look at him now; how many times has he come to the Water Bureau? Has he managed anything? He's truly let it all go..."

The young clerk stopped writing and replied helplessly: "I know, Uncle."

The man glared: "We're in the office, why are you calling me that!"

The young clerk dragged out his voice perfunctorily: "I know, Bureau Clerk Jiang."

Clerk Jiang sighed to his colleague: "This kid doesn't let one rest easy; I don't know if he took it to heart."

"He's young, high-spirited, and always wants to toss and turn a bit." The colleague said to the young clerk: "Your uncle is right. Uncle will teach you eight more characters: 'Have no desires, seek nothing, nourish your body and mind.' Remember these eight characters, and you'll live comfortably."

The young clerk was still very polite to outsiders, immediately cupping his hands: "Many thanks for your instruction, Uncle Li."

The colleague smiled at Clerk Jiang: "He's a smart child; don't you worry, this nephew of yours won't be bad."

The two chatted idly for a while longer, and the young clerk finished copying the documents and presented them to the two.

The two clerks looked them over carefully, then each signed and stamped them. The young clerk was about to leave with the official letter when Clerk Jiang immediately called out: "Where are you going?"

"To submit it to the Record Office."

"When do they need it?"

"In four days."

"What day is it now?"

The young clerk thought for a moment: "... The second day?"

"Then what are you in such a rush for?"

The young clerk asked suspiciously: "Isn't it better to finish it early by submitting it early?"

Clerk Jiang and his colleague looked at each other and smiled.

The young clerk was puzzled.

The colleague laughed: "My dear nephew, for things like this, you have to wait until the last day to submit them. If you submit them early, the superiors will either find faults and make you redo it, or they'll think you have spare capacity and assign you other tasks. The more you do, the faster the whip; the more smoothly you're used, the more they'll use you. Not to mention the exhaustion, the more you do, the more chances there are to make mistakes, and in the end, you're the one who suffers."

A look of hesitation appeared on the young clerk's face: "But... but this blockage in the river channel is getting more and more serious, especially at Jiangjin Ferry. At the end of last month, a cargo ship almost ran aground. If we delay any longer, in case an accident happens..."

Clerk Jiang snorted: "You think that by reporting this in advance, it will be dealt with immediately? A blockage has been there for two or three months and no one has cared, and our Adjutant Lord doesn't attend to business. Who in the Water Bureau can speak to the superiors? You'll have plenty of time to wait! Besides, the siltation at the ferry isn't the main channel; at most, a ship might get a hole, and it's so close to the shore that nothing major will happen. Even if it really did..."

Clerk Jiang paused: "You think I submitted the request for funds in mid-July, requested miscellaneous materials, and urged the Central Record Office for a reply just to find trouble for myself!"

The young clerk suddenly realized: "... Then should the inspection report for the Water Transport Commander (the supervising leader) also be held until the last day?"

Clerk Jiang said solemnly: "That won't do! You have to submit the one for the Water Transport Commander in advance. If it's due in five days, you give it on the fourth day. You have to leave a day for revisions. Our Commander Liu doesn't understand water affairs, so he likes to pick at words and sentences. You occasionally leave one or two flaws for him to point out, and then you show sincere admiration; this way Commander Liu is satisfied, and you save effort. Otherwise, if Commander Liu gets serious and makes a random critique, it won't just be a matter of changing a sentence or two; rewriting it is possible."

"So that's how it is..." The young clerk's voice carried the realization of someone just beginning to see the path, but also a hint of an indescribable sense of loss.

The more Lady Xie Lady Xie Xinghan thought about it, the more she immersed herself in it, feeling like Bian He weeping blood at Mount Jing, his raw jade covered in dust; like the injustice in the East Sea, a white banner stained with blood mourning the heavens! Under the weight of such "great injustice," she actually gave birth to an indomitable courage! She suddenly threw off the quilt and lunged toward the brocade pouches!

"Don't make the flaws too stupid; there must absolutely be no typos or grammatical errors. They need to be clever, for example..."

The colleague continued leisurely: "For example, you write 'this is accumulated silt,' and after Commander Liu adds the two words 'over the years,' you can then show 'sincere shame at your own inferiority'."

The two clerks squinted and chuckled...

No, it was three clerks laughing.

Jingzhou, Dangyang County, Tianmen Pass.

"Pass" means gate. A gate within a gate, the gate of the Tianmen, is called the Tianmen Pass.

The outer gate has two mountains standing far apart, holding the sky and containing the sun, catching the wind of a thousand miles into the trap;

The inner gate has twin peaks gripping closely, swallowing clouds and connecting to the Han River, gathering the energy of the nine heavens within.

The dawn light first gilds, golden radiance spills over the lintel, as if the imperial gate is opening at dawn;

The lingering mist gradually recedes, silver ribbons float lightly over the windows, as if the heavenly palace curtains are opening.

Beneath the heavenly palace, the Southern Qi mission, vast and mighty, passed through the Tianmen.

The vanguard with spears and lances cleared the way, the blade tips pointing, reflecting a thousand cold lights on the walls; the rear flank with crimson banners pressed the formation, and where the flag shadows passed, several nesting eagles were startled from the cliffs. The provincial troops were divided front and rear, the Imperial Guards were lined up in the center, with thirty-two armored soldiers, thirty-six cavalry guards, and twenty-one crossbowmen protecting the mission from all sides.

The two carriages in the very center traveled side by side; the left carriage was surrounded by twelve Imperial Envoy guards (imperial bodyguards), white-robed like refined silk; the right carriage was guarded by the four Wang family guards, black-clad like lacquer.

The carriage curtains hung low; Wang Yang leaned on the soft cushions carefully prepared by Lady Le, eating the white snow and red jade dragon-beard rolls sent by Lady Xie Lady Xie Xinghan, reading the "Collection of Pan Xu" in a leisurely manner.

To be precise, he wasn't reading, but reciting. Reading in a carriage is very hard on the eyes, but reciting is different; a glance, the characters appear in the heart, and then he closes the book and recites. When Wang Yang was a junior in college and went to Hangzhou to play, he once used this method to recite Chen Yinke's "Elegy for Mr. Wang Guotang" on a bus, and continued to recite Wang Guowei's "Summer Palace Poem" when going to Shaoxing. After getting off the bus, he toured the lakes and mountains with the literary spirit of Mr. Chen and Mr. Wang, drifted on West Lake, and obtained a stanza of "Eight Beats of Gan Zhou" on the boat; he entered Shen Garden and composed four poems in a row while chanting about yellow vine wine—in two words: flying high.

Chen Qingshan sat next to Wang Yang, holding the food box containing the dragon-beard rolls, not eating, always turning her head to look outside the carriage, appearing somewhat restless.

Wang Yang smiled helplessly: "Little Shan, relax. Didn't I say, I'll tell you when we get there."

Little Shan's fingers tightened slightly: "But... what if someone steals the horse lance?"

For convenience, Wang Yang had someone make a lance rack outside the carriage wall, and then jokingly told Chen Qingshan the story of Hu Che'er stealing the halberd from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." As a result, Chen Qingshan became ill after hearing it, and insisted on sleeping by the carriage shaft when camping at night. Wang Yang didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Instead of sleeping by the lance, you might as well let the lance sleep by you. If you're really worried, why don't you just take it down and hold it while you sleep?"

As a result, Chen Qingshan really did sleep holding the lance...

She carefully unfolded the paper roll and leaned in close; on it was a line of tiny characters as thin as mosquito feet:

Hearing this, Wang Yang felt as if he had returned to the day they set out four days ago. He had spent almost the entire first day on horseback with Wang Yi, the two of them chanting poems and discussing essays, spending the day, which was indeed not bad. Later, Wang Yang was tired and returned to the carriage, but Wang Yi came to invite him repeatedly. At first, Wang Yang accompanied him a few times, but damn it, he kept coming to call him, four or five times a day. Who could stand that?

Wang Yi was neither a beauty nor a close friend, and didn't have the charm of the "Collection of Pan Xu." Moreover, Wang Yang was wary of him, fearing another cold arrow or something, so he began to decline in various ways, while Wang Yi was persistent, inviting him in various ways.

"Passing Dangyang County once, and not looking at the Tianmen Pass!"

"Lifted the curtain and looked at it..."

Wang Yi knocked on the wall and urged: "Can you see it well by looking? Only by setting foot on the solid ground can you know the creation. Only by moving your steps and changing the scenery can you get the true interest!"

Wang Yang replied: "I can see it well! My heart travels ten thousand fathoms, why do I need to set foot? Lying down and viewing the clouds and mountains is also carefree."

"..."

"Zhiyan, get out of the carriage first. Let's play something interesting this time! A chain of commands! Two sentences each, three characters per sentence. The first and third rhyme, the second and fourth rhyme, the chain is unbroken, specifically chanting the beautiful scenery! Look at me: Jingchu dome, Tianmen Pass. You come down, let's send our eyes and compose poems!" (Meaning the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th sentences rhyme with one rhyme, and the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th sentences rhyme with another, totaling two rhymes, alternating to the end.)

Wang Yang held the scroll and laughed:

"The beautiful scenery is in the heart, why send the eyes? Kunlun Peak, Emei Frost. Huashan Pine, Wuxia River. Wuling Cave, Huangshan Peak. Penglai Palace, Wild Goose Clouds. Gusu Bell, Dongting Mast. Jianye Warship, Guangling Sail. Tiantai Cricket, Zhongnan Calamus. Xiaoxiang Rainbow, Cangwu Light. Uncle, after you finish these eight couplets, I will immediately get out of the carriage, and we will continue."

Wang Yi's expedition was not successful, and he was defeated directly...

——————

3247 characters in the main text.

Note: ① Palenque is one of the ancient Mayan cities. The original Mayan name was Lakam'ha, meaning "place with much water." The carved panels currently in the Palenque Site Museum (see image below) record the relocation of the capital on August 25, 490 AD, which was the predecessor of the Palenque dynasty.

Image cited from Skidmore, Joel. The Rulers of Palenque. Mesoweb

(Format does not support italics, continued from the image above: Mesoweb Publications, 2010, p. 18)

② Perhaps some friends will not understand the plot segment about the Water Bureau. I will explain it briefly. On one hand, when I write about key points in the plot, I rarely provide manual-like descriptions, writing directly about how A is such and such, and how B is such and such. Just like Wang Yi, I have never written directly about which faction Wang Yi belongs to, what his inclinations are, or what his purpose is. But as long as you finish reading the conversation between him and Xiao Baoyue in the temple, even those who read superficially will know a little, and those who read deeply will understand more.

Like the conversation in the Water Bureau office today, some points, such as the purge of Liu Yin's faction, and the derivation of who the purger is, the purpose of replacing people, etc., and other points are all buried in this conversation. Some points need to be connected to the previous and subsequent text to be seen more clearly, such as the plot mentioned in the conversation between Xiao Baoyue and Wang Yi about the Emperor asking Qiu Xiong. Some need to be seen through a domino-like chain reaction to be clearer. For example, Liu Yin helping the Prince of Badong collect business, which led to him having no time or mind to pay attention to small matters like the Water Bureau. Because he didn't pay attention, it could lead to the scene that happened in the Water Bureau office in this chapter, and this scene will—no spoilers.

On the other hand, my writing theme has always been living in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, like traveling, or living abroad.

The point of traveling is to feel, not to know the result of going to the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum today, then to the Confucius Temple, then to the Qinhuai River, and finally to the museum. Knowing the result is meaningless. Experiencing the process before the result, going through it, and feeling it is the most important thing. So the framework of details in all aspects will be built up bit by bit. Just like this segment of the Water Bureau, it not only contains several points, but also fills in the structure, writing about the world.

I will carve it bit by bit, like carving, until it becomes a historical world that is both vast and delicate in texture.

And I don't take full attendance rewards; I haven't taken them once from the beginning to now. As for those rewards based on full attendance, they have nothing to do with me. If I didn't seek precision and just wrote something casually, full attendance would be as easy as turning over a hand! But I don't want to do that. I also don't have an update task, and no one cares whether I update or not. Of course, readers will be anxious, I care about that! Uh... try to care (whisper).

So the number of words means nothing to me. The number of words in each chapter is always determined by the plot. Not counting the notes, just the main text, the short ones are over 2500, and the long ones are nearly 4000. When there are many, if I divide 4000 into two chapters, one chapter of 2000, it counts as two updates a day, but I don't want to do that either. So I won't write a segment of slacking plot just for the sake of word count. It's better not to write it. Is the game not fun or is the movie not good to watch...

Notes are not added casually either. I never add things that can be checked easily, and sometimes I don't add things that are discordant. Just like the note about making ice, the segment about ancient Egyptians and Persians making ice was actually cited from English literature, but I felt it was unnecessary to cite it, as it is easily misunderstood as showing off knowledge, so I deleted the source. Just like the Mayan note today, if it weren't for using this scholar's image, I wouldn't have cited it either...

In short, if I write it, there must be a purpose. Those who know my intention, please take the seat of honor! Those who don't know my intention!!!

Also take the seat of honor...

After all, you are my lovely readers ╭(￣▽￣)╯

I'm a bit tired, I might rest for a few days after this busy period, but as for the update, even if it is delayed, it will only be delayed by one day. So far, the latest update has only been a three-day update a few times. In fact, there have only been two days without updates. I will try my best to maintain this record...