After Anshi: Records of Travels

Sixty years after the Anshi Rebellion, Zhao Cheng, a native of Hebei, was born in Junfang, Weizhou—the home of a "descendant of rebels." His father was an old member of Anshi, and he was not regarded as one of his own until his death; his mother was the daughter of a Sogdian merchant, who taught him how to read and calculate accounts, and also taught him "don't forget who you are." That year Weizhou was besieged, his father died under a flowing arrow, and his mother died in the besieged city. Eleven-year-old Zhao Cheng followed his uncle on the trade route, from the sand moraine in Liangzhou to the marketplace in Chang'an, and from the dock in Yangzhou to the ridges of Jiangnan. He sold salt, killed people, fell into disgrace, worked as a bookkeeper, and also served as an inspector who cleared his father's land. He has seen how the Two Taxes Law has changed in the hands of people who "enforce the law" at all levels. He has seen how the land of large households has become wider and wider, and the taxes paid by tenant farmers have become heavier and heavier. He has seen how the eunuchs in Chang'an and the tooth soldiers in Hebei turned the world into a pot of porridge. This era refuses to give Hebei people a way to survive, so Zhao Cheng insists on finding one on his own. He gave himself the word "Xingzhi" - if he knows something, he should do it; if it doesn't work, he should go around. From the young man in Weizhou Junfang, to the inspector investigating the case in Jiangnan, to the participant in the Yongzhen Revolution, and then to the staff of the Xuanwei Envoy who returned to Hebei, he has been "traveling" all his life, and he has re-recognized the world through "traveling" again and again. This is a novel that uses small characters to write big history: the Two Taxes Law, the benefits of salt and iron, and the separation of vassal towns. How these systems written on paper crushed every living person on the land. Sixty years after Anshi, the world is still in chaos, but there are always people walking, thinking, and trying to turn "knowing" into "doing".