My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 335 The Corpse of the Tanka People

Pearl diving is a very ancient industry.

It has been recorded in documents since the Qin and Han Dynasties. The Book of Han mentioned that Hepu in the Fujian and Guangdong regions had poor land along the coast and the people mostly made a living by pearl diving.

These people who make a living by collecting pearls and fishing are also called Tanka people. Their status has always been among the lowest. They can only live on boats and travel with the tides. They are not allowed to live on land and are always drifting.

Moreover, from generation to generation they were only allowed to engage in fishing and pearl collecting activities, were not allowed to learn to read and write, take part in imperial examinations, or marry decent women from the shore.

The Song Dynasty Criminal Law states: "If a slave falsely claims to be a good woman and marries her as a maid, the children and grandchildren born to him shall follow the good woman. If the woman knows that the man is a slave, she shall follow the slave.

Therefore, children of the Tanka people often start learning how to collect pearls and fish when they are seven or eight years old, and start working on the boats at the age of fifteen.

The dangers of pearl diving are hard to imagine for ordinary people. In addition to the unpredictable ocean, there is also the strong pressure brought by deep water, lack of oxygen, low temperature, and even the pearl oysters themselves are a danger.

Ming Dynasty scholar Lu Ji mentioned in "Ancient and Modern Talks on the Sea": "When encountering a large fish, dragon, turtle or sea monster, being touched by its mane often causes its abdomen to burst and its limbs to break. When people see a streak of blood floating on the water, they know that the turtle is dead."

What this means is that during the pearl diving process, if the people on the boat see traces of blood emerging from the water, even if they pull up the rope immediately, what they will see are mostly broken limbs and arms, indicating that the pearl divers have already become food for the sea monster.

In addition to the harm caused by the natural environment, the harm caused by those in power during the feudal period was even greater. Countless Tanka people died at the hands of the sword during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

It is recorded in the book that during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the people of Lianzhou Prefecture in Hepu could not bear the harsh rule of the government and launched a riot. One hundred and twenty people were beheaded at the same time in the city.

For a time, along the coast of Lianzhou Prefecture, "thousands of villages were covered with weeds, and there was no light in the daytime and ghosts cried at night."

During the Jiajing period, the Tanka people in Fujian and Guangdong were forced to go out to sea to collect pearls. More than 600 ships and more than 10,000 Tanka people spent 10,000 taels of silver and went out to sea for three months, but only got 80 small pearls.

The price was that 4 pearling ships were sunk by wind and waves, 26 were damaged, and 6, along with their crews and boats, were lost in the storm, and their fate was unknown.

"Suddenly, a strong wind blew up the waves, the rudder was broken, the sail was destroyed and the boat was about to collapse. The cries of grief were heard by the sky, and half of the 100,000 strong men died, and the dead were often buried in the stomachs of fish..."

This is "Picking Pearls" written by Lin Zhaoke, a poet of the Ming Dynasty. It can be said that every word of it is written with blood and tears.

However, the land is divided into north and south, people are divided into north and south, and pearls are also divided into north and south.

Among the southern pearls, those produced in Hepu are considered the best and are deeply loved by the royal family and nobles. However, the northern pearls are considered the best when produced in the northeast and are also called eastern pearls.

As for why Northern Pearls are called Eastern Pearls, there are two theories. One is that they are called Eastern Pearls because they are produced in the Northeast.

Also, because the collection of northern pearls mostly relies on the sacred eagle Gaker, they are named Eastern Pearls.

After the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, the status of Dongzhu became ordinary, and ordinary people were not allowed to keep it privately, otherwise they would be charged with treason.

According to folk legend, one of the twenty major crimes that Jiaqing charged Heshen with was privately hoarding the Oriental pearl.

The Qing Dynasty oppressed the Tanka people in the north and south even more than the previous dynasties, which is one of the reasons why there were so many rebellions in the two places in the late Qing Dynasty.

It was not until after liberation that the profession of Tanka people gradually disappeared and completely withdrew from the stage of history.

Let’s look at the Eagle House in the game. It is an institution established and supported by the secular dynasty in order to obtain the Dongzhu.

At this time, a new text popped up in the game.

"You learned about the bloody past of the Tanka people, and somehow gained their recognition, opening up the map of Tanka villages in southern Fujian."

"You have unlocked the Tanka Village map." "You can use the shrine to teleport to the many Tanka villages in the coastal areas of southern Fujian in the secular world at any time to explore."

"Do you want to go there immediately?"

Jiang Xinghuo was stunned. He didn't expect to have such an unexpected gain. He opened the teleportation shrine with joy and found that there was indeed a new map on it.

However, Jiang Xinghuo was not in a hurry to explore. He could go there anytime anyway, so there was no need to waste time. He decided to explore Eagle House first.

"You walked into the abandoned Eagle House and began to explore the house. After a careful search, you found something."

"You found a volume of "Falconry", a volume of "Water Treasure Hunting", a cuttlefish armor, a map of Zhenmu Pond, and a well-preserved Tanka corpse."

"Falcon Taming Technique (Ordinary Skill), a secret manual on taming falcons passed down from generation to generation by falcon trainers. It records in detail how to tame a Gaker Falcon and also includes many unique techniques."

"Do you want to learn this art of falconry?"

Jiang Xinghuo didn't think too much about it. He just clicked on the text and chose to learn falconry.

"You have mastered the art of falconry."

A large amount of information suddenly flooded into my mind. Just as the text described, it not only contained methods of hawk training, but also included many strange tricks.

For example, the Thousand Miles Tracking Eye, the Marching Technique, the Wave-Flipping Hand, etc...

"Underwater treasure hunting (excellent technique), can detect hidden treasures underwater through the water surface and immediately lock its exact location, unaffected by the refraction of light waves."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the description of the game text and naturally had nothing to say, so he just used it.

"You used the secret book to learn the art of treasure hunting in water."

"You have mastered the spellcasting skills and experience of underwater treasure hunting and integrated them into your treasure hunting eyes."

"The treasure hunting eye level has been improved, +5."

Jiang Xinghuo tried it and found that the level of his treasure-hunting eye had been upgraded and its ability had been slightly enhanced.

If the original treasure hunting eye was a radar that could discover treasures hidden underground, then the current treasure hunting eye is based on radar and has added the function of three-dimensional imaging.

Not only can you discover hidden things, but you can also present that thing in your retina in three-dimensional form.

Jiang Xinghuo learned two skills and then looked at the remaining props.

"Cuttlefish Armor (rare item), the close-fitting armor of the Eagle House Master, made from the membrane of a thousand-year-old cuttlefish. Wearing it can protect you from the invasion of underwater sea monsters and various poisonous creatures in the deep water."

"After the night of dawn, the Eagle House was destroyed by the Tanka people from Kanto. The owner was brutally killed and his body was chopped into pieces and sunk to the bottom of the river. This cuttlefish armor was hidden in a secret compartment, so it was not abducted by the Tanka people."

Jiang Xinghuo took a look at the game text and put the cuttlefish armor into the magic bag. This prop is quite good and may come in handy in the near future.

Finally, there are two things left.

Jiang Xinghuo first looked at the body of the Tanka villager. Judging from the description in the game text, the body was well preserved and seemed to have no problems, but that was actually the biggest problem.

Yingfang has been destroyed for so many years. Even if there were really corpses here, they would have turned into dry bones long ago. How could they still be well preserved?
(End of this chapter)