Confucius: I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
The village expands. The quaint countryside proves a safe heaven for the restful and those who wish to remove themselves from public. Exiles come here, looking for peace.
Those who wish to disrupt the tranquility turn away. The village does not tolerate those who destroy the restful atmosphere.
On his infrequent travels outside the village, he hears that it has become known for being the place for court officials which have nowhere to go after losing everything. He thinks it's their loss. Court officials are highly educated and the honest ones who do remain here tend to spread their wisdom to the younger generation. In turn, the village hunters provide some of their fresh catch when the young ones are minded, while the farmers provide their children's teachers with the choicest of their produce.
Confucius once wrote that among the three people walking along the road, one would definitely have something he could teach. The villagers understand this, and thus they compensate scholars for their kind attention. The younger generation imitate their parents and value whatever wisdom those from court pass down.
This was a village where hard work was valued, but knowledge was revered.
It all comes to head when a messenger appears at the village of exiles.
A member of the Dong clan had set off for the imperial exams and had returned as a local clerk. He is not the most talented, but his ambition had seen him walk out of the safe haven that the village provides, such that he could make a name for himself. Dong Zhi had prayed for his success as a civil service candidate before leaving; Guang had had high hopes for him.
"The government wants to send a magistrate here. They say that the population is no longer small enough to be considered a village now." Dong Zhi writes back, his letter having been carried halfway across the country by members of the Li.
"We have no wish to take in a foreigner sent here by the government; he would only interfere with our affairs." The Li clan head strokes his beard in agitation.
"We have not paid taxes or tributes to any lords for the last four hundred years, it is no wonder they are interested." Says a member of the Jiang, who were always a level-headed set of people.
"Why should we? The government has never looked for us, past and present; we have always taken care of ourselves!" There went a branch member of the Zhang, angry and hot-blooded since his youth. Guang could still remember how the same boy had challenged his peers to rob peaches from the nearby grove, only to encounter trouble when a bull grazing in the field had caught them.
"We do not have the ability to defend ourselves." Jiang points out. "Our insularity has hurt us as we only have trade links via the Li, so not many know what goes on in the village. Let's give the new magistrate a try first." The village tries to renew itself by engaging in trade with the surrounding villages be it East or West, but its position on a mountain prevents easy access to anyone but the locals.
The fortress it has become has ended up hurting it. The mountain is tall, shielding the populace from strife. The forests are wide, they provide food and prey for villagers. Now, Guang finds, they have become the proverbial frog in the well.
Guang clears his throat, wary of any tension that the impulsive Zhang may bring about. The villagers perk up and listen to him attentively.
"We shall allow the magistrate in. But we shall speak with him before he enters the village." They agree, and praise his judgement.
Deep in his heart, he knows where his lord is. Such is the loyalty of a retainer to his lord, that he appears nearly instantly at the hermitage where his lord now resides.
The hut is silent. He kowtows before a bamboo screen, aware that his lord had been waiting for him.
"My lord," he begins, before he starts to recount the happenings of the village. The births in the Huang clan. The upcoming marriage between a Tao and a Li, to settle the disputed lands between the two families. The appointment of a new magistrate.
"You have done well." he hears, and inwardly he is pleased.
"Your village has grown." He thinks of the Jiang, whom had started a training school to teach others to defend themselves from bandits. The Dong, who have established a letter writing business for those who wish to communicate with their relatives. (1) The Lis, laden with goods from other provinces.
The outside world is finally looking for them. They can no longer remain the village of exiles.
"Times change, and we must adapt." The lord offers. Or we become unable to decide our own fate, he answers, thinking of the magistrate candidate that the villager headsman and some of the other clan heads would encounter.
He stands, and bows. He knows he must go out to see the magistrate candidate as well. The village must be able to trust him; it is a two way affair between the leader and his subordinates .
"I will not always be here." The pronouncement sends him reeling. He staggers, as though his heart had dropped into the pits of his stomach. From furnace to unofficial land god, he had always felt safe in the knowledge that he would be able to rely on his lord.
But now-his security slips away, and he feels naked and protected.
The magistrate is startled to see three men, all in Han robes woven from cotton imported from Tibet. It is a calculated move designed to outrage, for how they could be savages if they wear the same dress as those who live down the mountain? And how are they subjects of the Tang when they choose cotton, as opposed to the silk robes that Tang officials wear.
The Tao clan head brings plum wine and peaches freshly picked from the temple's grove. The Li clan head prepares paper made from hemp and brushes of goat's hair. A cross-examination of the village's main exports, as well as a reflection of the practicality of the village.
Guang slips in as one of the servants. He wishes to ascertain the changes that this magistrate may bring.
"This figure-it's true?" The magistrate looks like a goldfish, his eyes wide at the population census that Li brings.
"We are not a rich community; but the mountain provides for us." The village headsman gives a kindly smile. Guang remembers that he had been chosen as village headsman precisely for this charming smile; the cunning is neatly hidden.
"But you have no rice or grain! How do you sustain yourselves?" Not true, but attempts at cultivating wheat by earlier generations had created a hardy crop that could grow even on mountains. It had been cross-bred with plants from Tibet, and the majority of the village relies on it for their daily meal. Some of the latter immigrants, having grown tired of the prey caught from the dense forests have turned to domesticating goats and cows, which graze on hills with gentle gradients. The vegetables, on the other hand, thrive on the mountain itself, flat lands having been cut into the mountain soil by the third generation Tao clan head.
"Our shops are dominated by the five clans, but other families have also improved the variety we got." The magistrate falls silent, his fingers interlocked.
The trio had been updated by Dong Zhi; Guang was aware of the usefulness of information to the town. The war for the village's independence had already started, even before the actual encounter itself.
By initiating the meeting place, they had prepared their own advantageous positions. At this time, the magistrate, according to Dong, had suffered a setback in the capital. He has very little political power; there would be no calling on troops from Tang to pacify the town. He had been frustrated at the lack of progress in his career.
On the other hand, the town has already prepared means of stopping communications between the magistrate and his counterpart from the nearby town. They are also united; for the Tibetan empire shows signs of expansion into their mountain. Between the two nations, they have decided that the Tang would be more supportive of their culture. Furthermore, Dong Zhi and his fellow civil officers have a smear campaign ready should this magistrate tries to create havoc in the capital.
天时。地理。人和。The chance allocated by heaven. The favourable earth terrain. The harmony between the people of the village.
Magistrate, all three principles of war are on our side. We have the upper hand.
1) Guang enters his adolescent period. As a child, all seems well and joyful. As a young adult (hence the adolescent period), he still keeps in contact with his lord (or parent) but he is mostly in the village rather than a retainer to his lord. Now, he encounters difficulties, and decides that he must change should he wish to continue to survive.
2) Besides silk, which has traditionally been the choice of textile by the Chinese for clothing, I have chosen cotton. Traditionally, cotton had been grown by the non-Chinese in Yunnan, whom are culturally similar to the Vietnamese. The shock value implied here would be the fact that rather than silk, an expensive material usually reserved for the rich and for government officials, they have opted for cotton, heavily associated with barbarians from the south.
3) Village expansion. A village in Chinese terms is usually 500 to a thousand over. However, the mountain town has grown over that number, due to the occasional 'landslides' on conveniently vacant pieces of land, trade of Tang and Tibetan products, as well as a constant influx of people fleeing from conflicts such as the War of the Eight Princes has led to expansion. This has led to the creation of a village headsman as well as an informal town council that helps to govern the area. In contrast, the Tang created a system of military districts (similar to the Western marcher lords or legates) who protect border towns. While the Tibetan empire had not expanded so far as to threaten Tang control, the barbarians from the west have spread their influence to the capital. Thus, the magistrate here is a jiedushi or military commissioners.
I had deliberately left the year vague but it's actually during the Tang period. The first seven emperors created a golden age for China similar to the Han period, but after the An Lushan Rebellion, the use of military commissioners had led to the creation of individual warlords with armies.