Chapter 47: Nanling County King【4K】
Professor Ma returned to his office, rummaged around, and found some books and materials related to the Tocharian script. Without a moment’s pause, he quickly turned back to the laboratory.
Even though Luxianbei repeatedly claimed that there was nothing unclean in his office, Luxianbei’s stubborn refusal to budge made him feel apprehensive.
That feeling reminded Professor Ma of his student days, when he would sneakily read martial arts novels in class, and his deskmate discovered the class teacher had appeared at the back door, but he couldn’t dare to say anything.
Holding the books and materials, Professor Ma paused in the corridor, glanced back at the office door, and his body trembled slightly, unable to refrain from cursing.
“Damned thing, I’ve been using this office for over ten years now, and now you’ve made me afraid to stay here any longer.”
Just because of Luxianbei’s words, he felt a chill down his back while in the office, as if some ghostly, twisted thing was lurking in the dark, watching him.
This really messes with one’s mentality!
“Can’t people be a little kinder to the elderly?!”
When he returned to the laboratory and sat down, Professor Ma didn’t converse much with Luxianbei. He directly picked up the token and began to compare it with the materials he had brought from the office, studying it carefully.
Although he occasionally lacked decorum and didn’t seem like a proper middle-aged person, when it came to academic research, he was fully invested.
Luxianbei knew Professor Ma’s personality. Seeing him concentrate on the study of the token, he obediently stepped aside, waiting quietly without disturbing him.
As time passed, in the quiet laboratory, the only sounds remaining were the turning of pages and the soft scratching of pen on paper, alongside the calm breathing of the two.
After about two hours, Professor Ma, who had been bent over for a long time, finally straightened up. One hand held the letter paper, which had been written on and revised multiple times, while the other adjusted his glasses. He turned to Luxianbei and said, “Although I can’t guarantee total accuracy, I’ve understood the general content.”
“The inscription on the back of this token should be a proclamation of conferment. In this case, this token is not only a certificate for military deployment but also a token similar to a contract. Take a look for yourself.”
As he spoke, Professor Ma handed the letter paper filled with text to Luxianbei.
Taking the letter paper, Luxianbei furrowed his brow slightly, lowered his head, and focused on the entire page filled with delicate small characters. 【’Under the auspices of the king, governing the universe, administering common affairs, there must be both civil and military talents among the loyal ministers, where they reside, the people’s hearts shall find peace; where they are appointed, military orders shall be strict. Those who construct great buildings must rely on broad talents for the beams and pillars; to cross great rivers, they must be provided with boats and paddles.’】
Luxianbei had just read the beginning when he frowned, set down the letter paper, and raised his head to look at Professor Ma, casting a pleading glance.
He could understand some of the content of the letter paper.
But often people like to depend on others, just like how children never grow up as long as their parents are around. When teachers emphasize certain points, students rarely summarize the knowledge themselves.
In a short time, if he wanted to extract useful information from such flowery language, he would need Professor Ma to take the lead.
Professor Ma glared at Luxianbei and feigned anger, saying, “You little rascal, all you know is to slack off! In scholarship, how can you lack this much patience? Mark my words, this is the last time, and don’t let it happen again!”
Although he spoke that way, he was still very indulgent towards Luxianbei.
After taking the letter paper back, he analyzed and explained it to Luxianbei piece by piece, as if he were a teacher explaining an example to a student. “You should have already read this large paragraph at the beginning, right?”
“Mm-hmm!” Luxianbei nodded.
“This part here indicates that the ancestor of that Dragon County King was a Yanzhuren, and the script used by the Yanzhuren is the Tocharian script,” Professor Ma said, “So, do you understand what it says?”
“I understand, it’s all flowery language! But…” Luxianbei asked, “Professor, why is this proclamation written in Tocharian? The imperial edicts from the Tang Emperor should be in Chinese, right?”
“Well,” Professor Ma pointed to a section of text on the letter paper, “there it mentions that the ancestor of the Dragon County King was Yanzhuren, who once married a princess of the Tang dynasty.”
“There might have been some changes after the marriage, causing the Dragon County King not to study Han culture deeply, which is why he uses Yanchi script, that is, Tocharian.”
“It’s also possible that there is not just one token, but another inscribed with Chinese characters. Only when the two tokens are combined do they constitute a complete token. I think this possibility is higher, as this is a military dispatch token, similar to a tiger tally.”
“Oh,” Luxianbei responded a couple of times, secretly noting Professor Ma’s conjecture, then gestured for him to continue.
Professor Ma glanced at Luxianbei and continued, “The beginning of this token follows the standard format of a Tang dynasty proclamation—first praising the emperor, then flattering the awarded person.”
“And the actual content of the reward probably occupies less than half.”
As he spoke, he pointed to the text at the end of the letter paper, “This content is similar to that of the Minister of the Central Secretariat and the Deputy Minister of the Central Secretariat, essentially stating which officials are responsible for this document. I guess you’re not interested in that part?”
Even though he knew Luxianbei was not interested, Professor Ma still gave him a brief explanation in that manner. This could be considered a professional habit or a teacher’s dedication.
Luxianbei nodded again, giving a thumbs up, saying, “Those who know me, understand me, Professor Ma!”
Professor Ma rolled his eyes at Luxianbei and continued, “So you should only be interested in the person being conferred and the content of the conferred. Look here.”
He pointed to a section of text on the letter paper, “This says that the ‘Southwest County King Long Family’ is the person being conferred, and it also states that he has a lightly armed elite force capable of long-range combat.”
After a pause, he moved his finger down to point at another section of text, “Here it says that in the third year of Tang Xuanzong’s reign, there was a massive invasion of monsters in the Western Regions, causing great suffering for the people of Ganzhou, Yizhou, and Shazhou. This Dragon County King repelled the invading monsters, which made the emperor very happy and decided to reward him.”
“Although it’s unknown why they call them ‘monsters,’ since this is in Tocharian, I can’t accurately discern the meaning of these characters for now. I guess ‘monster’ is probably a derogatory term for a certain ethnic group from the Western Regions.”
In fact, throughout history, many derogatory terms existed for ethnic groups outside the Central Plains, so being called monsters is not unusual. At this point, Luxianbei seemed to think of something and interrupted, “Wait! Professor!”
“Is it possible, I mean, just possibly! That these monsters referred to here are actually real monsters, as in a kind of urban legend?”
Professor Ma opened his mouth to reprimand Luxianbei for “talking nonsense,” but suddenly realized that this youth sitting in front of him is a genuine urban legend himself, so he nodded, “That’s also a possibility.”
Upon hearing this, Luxianbei nodded in deep thought. He could almost visualize a fallen nobleman, a distant relative of the emperor, blessed with extraordinary talent and exceptional spirit energy, defeating the invasion of urban legends in the Western Regions in successive battles.
Wouldn’t the emperor be pleased if he repelled a whole group of potentially disastrous urban legends? Of course, he would reward him!
Hmm, that makes sense! The ancestors’ masters are likely descendants of that county king, which is why they possess the techniques of spirit pattern drawing, various peculiar spell formulas, and alchemy.
But why did they have to flee, and from where did they escape?
Luxianbei suddenly recalled the handkerchief he found at the dilapidated small Taoist temple, with the words “exiles, ultimately return to their homeland” written in bl**d-red characters, frowning.
At this moment, Professor Ma spoke again, “However, based on some details from this proclamation, the emperor’s reward does not seem to be a good thing; it’s likely that he has ulterior motives!”
Although he had already seen too many dark aspects of the feudal era while researching ancient texts, every time he encountered something similar, he couldn’t help but want to curse.
“Oh?” Luxianbei looked at Professor Ma, tilting his head.
“Look at the reward content here. The beginning is fine—common rewards like good lands, fine horses, gold, and so on. But at this point, things start to feel off.” Professor Ma brought the token closer, comparing it with the content of the letter paper as he spoke.
“Here, it roughly means to dispatch ten thousand elite armored soldiers, coordinating with this Southwest County King to rebuild the Yumen Pass destroyed by the monsters, and then garrison there to prevent the monsters from invading again. This token is for deploying those soldiers.”
Yumen? Is this Yumen related to the Jade Gate Desert? Luxianbei immediately thought of many things but remained silent, quietly waiting for Professor Ma to continue speaking.
“Additionally, it also says something about rewarding his wife and children by bringing them to Chang’an to enjoy peace and happiness…”
“Enjoy happiness?!” Luxianbei interjected with a strange tone, “I see, they probably want to use his wife and children as hostages to force that county king to obey!”
“That Southwest County King is still a relative of the emperor! How could he do such a thing?” So, there’s a reason why the imperial family supposedly has no familial affection.
Let alone being distant relatives, even close brothers are not much different, Professor Ma thought, patting Luxianbei on the shoulder, “You just haven’t learned enough; such things were quite common in ancient times, you’ll get used to it.”
The ancient imperial families had witnessed far more cruel, chaotic, and incomprehensible things than this.
After a pause, Professor Ma added, “However, there are still some contents I temporarily do not understand, such as here mentioning the materials used to reconstruct the Yumen Pass—a thing translated directly as the ‘Yuanlong Frame,’ which should be some kind of building material?”
Just like how some materials used to support shapes and fix structures are now called dragon bones. Luxianbei, “It might also really be the skeleton of some legend called ‘Yuanlong.'”
“And here,” Professor Ma mused, “Maybe I translated it incorrectly, ‘the God Realm forever united’…”
“Huh?!”
Luxianbei had recently been pondering the fusion of the God Realm Prototype and Ling Tai Purification, making him very sensitive to the term “God Realm.” Upon hearing Professor Ma mention the God Realm, he couldn’t help but let out a surprised gasp.
The ancestors’ masters, could they have escaped from some kind of God Realm? Luxianbei thought.
“Is there anything strange about that?” Professor Ma scrutinized Luxianbei, saying, “At that time, during the Tang dynasty, it was the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, while it was not comparable to the flourishing Tang era, it could still barely be considered a celestial kingdom; it wouldn’t be strange to call it a God Realm.”
“Mm-hmm, I see!” Luxianbei nodded, nonchalantly replying, “I understand.”
After hearing the term “God Realm,” his mind was already not in the laboratory. He wanted to quickly go to the Siye Society to check on information regarding Yumen Pass, and of course, even more importantly, information about Liao Zhai Tavern.
After glancing at Luxianbei, Professor Ma frowned, “Why do I feel like you’re just brushing me off?”
“I’m not! Absolutely not!” Luxianbei said earnestly, “Professor, you know me; I love to learn! However, it’s getting late today, and I have some other matters to attend to…”
As he spoke, he reached out for the token on the table. Just then, Professor Ma reached out, placing his hand on the back of Luxianbei’s hand, displaying a disquieting smile.
“Don’t be in such a hurry to leave; since you love to learn so much, I must satisfy your thirst for knowledge! Go back, check the materials, and write a small paper, with this token as the topic.”
Luxianbei, “???”
I suddenly realized I’m not that eager to learn after all. Is it too late to tell Professor Ma now?———
Luxianbei ultimately agreed to Professor Ma’s request to complete the small paper. The reason for this was his understanding of Professor Ma’s desire to help him learn more, and he was also curious about what happened to that Dragon County King afterward.
After bidding farewell to Professor Ma and exiting the College of Arts and Literature Experimental Building, Luxianbei hopped on his small motorcycle and headed straight toward the Huacheng Cultural Heritage Management Bureau.
Although the matter of the token seemed to have concluded for the time being, there was still another matter lingering in his mind that he couldn’t forget: the Liao Zhai Tavern.
There must be related records in the files of “The Book of Siye” and the Siye Society, Luxianbei thought.
Just as he rode his small motorcycle toward Mudan Street, a shadow observing him from the dark narrowed its eyes as it watched his departing figure.
“I heard that guy offended all the girls he had previously pursued in just one class this morning.”
Indeed, beings like scumbags behave like this; when they like you, they can be incredibly devoted. But once they don’t, they become even more distanced than a monk.
Hmph, how strange! I want to see exactly what you are doing! Huaxie Yu thought fiercely to herself, tightening her pink fist and stealthily following Luxianbei.
(EMMM, this chapter today was a lot of research, gave me a headache, didn’t write much, and may not even be interesting, but I had to write it, so frustrating!)
(PS: The setting of the Nanling County King, although referenced some historical elements, is mostly fabricated. If the research enthusiasts find issues, then you are right!)
