Hehe... A single-chapter update.

You guys are out of your minds... Advanced obsessive-compulsive disorder at its finest...

I came up with a number in zero point zero zero zero one seconds. What of it? It literally didn't pass through my brain at all. Go ahead, whip me...

Or...

Huh??? Do you lot want to use a 136,820-word thesis to debate whether someone can churn out 136,820 words in 72 hours?

Anyway, I sure as hell can't. My back is practically breaking, and in three days I managed a measly 12,000 words, while my hair was falling out in handfuls.

And another thing.

What I find most unbearable is that some people are still fussing over how a pie chart is supposed to be drawn with a writing brush...

Let me just ask you this: A time traveler, a high-IQ time traveler—(this has fucking nothing to do with IQ!)

If it were you!

Going back to the Tang Dynasty, or straight back to the Stone Age, and you can't even figure out how to draw a simple chart...

Then brother... go marry a woman with wide hips meant for childbearing and go farm the land.

Let's put ourselves in each other's shoes for a moment. If I had to waste a thousand or eight hundred words describing every microscopic detail of how a chart is drawn—whether to use a thick brush or a thin one, a piece of charcoal or some weird obscure object—making sure every single word is crystal clear...

Would this story even be readable anymore? It would be completely pulverized into dust...

As for those of you still obsessing over the source of the data, I’ve already addressed that in the chapter notes. If you missed it, go find it yourselves.

Why the hell did I end up crossing paths with a bunch of professional contrarians like you lot?

Alright.

Enough fooling around, all that above was just a joke. As for that number, I originally had it at 230,000, but then I figured that might be a bit much... let's say 130,000.

I am officially not explaining how the chart is drawn anymore. Just tell yourselves whether Canshan's logic makes sense or not, and that's the end of it. If you travel through time and can't even draw a basic chart, you might as well just go back.

Time to open a solo chapter...

(Hehehe. I finally managed to grab an opportunity to open a solo chapter.)

To be honest, the narrative was getting a bit hazy, so I wanted to come out and have a chat.

As an author.

I rarely get the chance to show my presence. The only times I ever poke my head out are when a book review happens to step on my "sensitive nerve," or when it sparks some genuine reflection.

I've built up quite a backlog of thoughts, so I'll just say them all at once now.

Let's start with something interesting, which is...

Well, veteran readers keep asking why they don't see me cursing people out anymore? That fierce, hard-charging energy from the *Great Song* days is gone, and that imposing momentum where I'd tear into anyone I didn't like has vanished entirely.

Actually, I kind of miss it myself. It was exhilarating! Thrilling!

Ever since I started writing *Boiling Tang*, I suddenly became so peaceful...

Honestly, though...

You really can't blame me for this. It's not that the blade in Canshan's hand has grown dull; it's simply that those bastards at Qidian are completely unreasonable.

Of course, Qidian doesn't actively stop you from chewing people out. We live in the era of big data after all, and Qidian has set up a big data backend for authors.

It basically analyzes the readership structure: where you're from, what the male-to-female ratio is, and generally how old the people are who read your books.

Where you're from is just a province and doesn't have much to do with the author, and the male-to-female ratio is something you can figure out just by using your heels.

But this age demographic structure...

The moment that data came out, Canshan genuinely lost the ability to tear into anyone or curse them out.

I discovered that even though the historical fiction category leans toward the so-called veteran educated readers, the 18-to-24 age group still makes up the largest reading demographic.

"......"

How do you expect me to rip into them after seeing that?

The ages don't match up, the knowledge structures don't match up, and the worldly experiences don't match up either.

To put it bluntly, a bunch of hot-blooded young fellows are right at that stage where they think they're the greatest under heaven, and that nobody understands things better than them. They won't even listen to their own mothers, so in your eyes, an outsider like me looks no different from a complete moron.

So go ahead and say whatever you want.

You can't expect a twenty-year-old to think like a forty-year-old, or society would be far too lifeless and gloomy.

After all, back when I was in my early twenties, I used to post comments in some senior author's review section going, "This bastard! He spends chapters on a single ultimate move, what a total waste of time!"

I also used to latch onto a wrongly written blackboard note by one of my teachers, shouting at the top of my lungs with supreme arrogance, "This is wrong!"

Just the other day, my wife told me that she specifically went back and re-read all the solo chapters from *Great Song* where I was cursing people out...

She said, "You were so talented back then, you could curse with absolute floral artistry."

"......"

I damn near burst into tears.

Isn't this the definition of being a moron? By cursing others back then, I was effectively cursing my twenty-something-year-old self as well.

So, from now on, I'll try my best not to curse people out. Try my best, mind you... Unless I'm truly pushed to my limit, that is.

...

————————

Next, I want to talk about something I've been wanting to bring up for a while, but never had the chance.

Yesterday or the day before, a young brother successfully caught my attention in the review section.

He said that if I'm writing about this specific period of history in *Boiling Tang*, figures like Princess Taiping, Li Guor'er, Shangguan Xiaowan, and Empress Wei all need to be written off and killed. These are all historical figures who left disasters for ten thousand years.

This young brother is fiercely opposed to evil... a truly fine comrade.

Today, while flipping through the chapter comments, I found another fine comrade... going by the name "Ink Bamboo Among Pines."

(All you onlookers who just want to watch me curse people out, step aside. No sarcasm intended here—these are genuinely fine comrades.)

These two brothers stirred up Canshan's reflections on two relatively profound questions.

---

First is the issue of historical perspective.

When talking about history, the indisputable authority is, of course, official history. Canshan often uses official history to make points, and in the manner mentioned by "Ink Bamboo," official history serves as a benchmark. That is completely understandable.

However!

To be honest, when I was writing *Great Song*, Canshan genuinely put in an enormous amount of effort.

*History of Song*, *History of Liao*, *Zizhi Tongjian*, *Rites of Zhou*, *Book of Etiquette*, *Classic of Rites*, *Classic of Filial Piety*, *Zuo Zhuan*, *Treatise on Food and Money*, *Map of Northern Song*.

Anything remotely related to the Renzong era, any material useful for understanding the composition of ancient society, I combed through two or three times before I even started writing the book.

Every single street, every single alley, and the exact location of every tavern in Bianjing that you saw in *Great Song* was thoroughly researched.

The historical figures, while not precisely portrayed as I wrote them, were definitely on the right general trajectory!

Yet when it comes to *Boiling Tang*.....

I'm not afraid of you cursing me out; aside from the *Treatise on Food and Money* which I must read, and the Tang Dynasty map which is an absolute necessity...

Everything else—the New and Old Books of Tang, the *Zizhi Tongjian*, this and that—I haven't flipped through a single character!

Am I just phoning it in? Am I not taking it seriously?

Really, that's not it at all. Because the more you read official history, and the more detailed you get, you'll realize... this stuff is utterly useless!

Especially when it comes to the history of Wu Zetian!!

It's honestly less real than fictional writing.

And then you have those contrarians forcing you to make things "logical." Well, as for history itself...

I can only offer two words in response—heh.

As for official history.

How should I put this.....

In the past, I might have felt that while it was a bit dry, it still allowed you to understand history and gain a correct understanding of it.

But after reading too much of it and comparing it with other materials, you realize that even the idea of "understanding history" through these texts is highly debatable.

It is genuinely open to debate; you have to view it with a critical eye.

To put it bluntly, *Records of the Three Kingdoms* and *Records of the Grand Historian* are still worth reading because they are relatively objective and can even be considered literature.

But ever since state-sponsored historiography began...

Just think carefully about it.

What is a history book actually for?

To help future generations understand history?

What absolute nonsense!

It was never compiled to help future generations "understand" anything in the first place, was it??

It's a tool for moral indoctrination! It was compiled to make future generations obedient!

And the target audience isn't ordinary folks like us; it's meant for the rulers, and for the power-holders beneath those rulers.

Its mindset and ultimate purpose are light-years away from the original intent of why we study it.

How can I explain it?

Let's use an analogy. Take Trump, for instance. He is undoubtedly a smart man. He shouts slogans about making America great again and putting America first.

And the things he does seem... to serve that objective.

Now, suppose a few hundred years from now, American history undoubtedly records this core ideology of his, right?

That becomes official history....

How will the American people of several hundred years later view this statement?

"He was a pragmatic, good president?"

Probably. Because many people today talk about Trump in the exact same way.

Yet the American people of that era certainly won't know how many Americans were screwed over by a statement like that.

He wasn't thinking about putting America first, or the people first; he was thinking about putting his close political donors first, and his election ballots first.

This is the hidden truth behind history, which you won't necessarily see in official histories.

From Canshan's perspective, we right now are the Americans of several hundred years in the future, and Trump's slogan is official history.

It's very likely that at some future point in time, a certain president will want to exploit this history and utilize Trump.

Or perhaps this history will contradict that president's ruling philosophy, so he will alter the statement entirely.

And then the truth of history becomes even more impossible to fathom.

Meanwhile, official history, driven by propaganda, indoctrination, the agenda of not letting women appear superior to men, and various other purposes...

Official history has been altered to the point where it's even less authentic than unofficial folklore and gossip.

Those historical figures who once lived in that era had no idea whether, thousands of years later, they would still resemble who they truly were.

Let's return to that young brother's post.

Whether it's Princess Taiping, Li Guor'er, Shangguan Xiaowan, or Empress Wei.

What they were really like back then is not necessarily how history has written them; they might even be mere fabrications by later generations.

For instance, the accusation that Li Guor'er poisoned her biological father is nothing more than speculation by later generations, or even malicious smearing.

First, a careful reading of that historical period makes it hard not to notice that Li Guor'er and Empress Wei had zero motive to poison Li Xian... In fact, the very last people who would want Li Xian to drop dead were this mother-daughter duo.

This is much like the claim that Wu Zetian murdered her own biological son, Li Hong. Yet if you look through all historical records, Li Hong was the most easily controllable among all the imperial princes, and the most suited for Wu Zetian to wield power through.

Timid, cowardly, and completely obedient to his mother.

So why on earth would old lady Wu get rid of him? Just to manufacture a black mark for later generations to scrutinize?

Similarly, according to the history books, Empress Wei wanted to be emperor, and Li Guor'er wanted to be crown princess, so they got rid of Li Xian. But at the time of Li Xian's death, these two women's political foundation was clearly inadequate!

They made their move far too early. Anyone with half a brain would know that if Li Xian died, it would be equivalent to a death sentence for the mother-daughter pair as well.

...

Second, when did the accusation that Empress Wei poisoned Emperor Zhongzong first emerge? It was more than half a month after Li Xian had already died, when Princess Taiping and Li Longji launched a coup. One of the generals participating in the coup told his soldiers: "The Empress Dowager poisoned the former emperor, and we must avenge him." Was that statement motivated more by the justification of a coup, or by the recounting of factual truth?

Third, the *Old Book of Tang* does not contain the accusation that Li Guor'er poisoned Emperor Zhongzong at all. That particular plotline only suddenly appears in the *New Book of Tang* and the *Zizhi Tongjian*.

Here is the question: Was the *Old Book of Tang* shielding Princess Anle?

Of course not. On the contrary, the *Old Book of Tang* made an example out of her; it is the official history that smears Li Guor'er the worst.

There was never any official Tang Dynasty proclamation stating that Li Guor'er and Empress Wei murdered Li Xian.

Yet the *Old Book of Tang*, which is chronologically closest to Li Guor'er, doesn't even mention this matter. Later generations simply solidified the claim based on the words of a single soldier.

Do you think that's reliable?

...

And so on, and so forth.

The history of Wu Zetian is precisely the period that has been altered beyond all recognition.

Because she was a woman—that single fact alone was enough to make all men deeply uncomfortable.

This is also why Canshan designed Wu Laojiu to be a time traveler who knows nothing about history. Later on, he will serve as an unmasker, little by little revealing the true story of that era (though, of course, this is merely the truth imagined by Canshan; the actual truth is long impossible to investigate).

To friends like "Ink Bamboo" and those sharing the same mindset as that brother: Don't take it too seriously, it's useless!

To hell with the Twenty-Four Histories and all those other texts!

...

Speaking of this, Canshan wants to say a few more words regarding the issue of history itself.

...

Even if the truth were exactly as recorded in the history books, so what?

What I am writing is... to be completely frank, history is just a hook I use to entice you all to read the book, while the story is my core.

I am essentially fabricating things and talking nonsense anyway.

Some readers might feel, "Saying that time travel itself isn't logical, and then asking why we look for logic in time travel, is just being deliberately argumentative."

Canshan thinks that's being argumentative too.

Then let's phrase it differently.....

In *A Chinese Odyssey*, Supreme Treasure blurts out this line in front of a bunch of bandits and minor demons:

"I服了you!" *(I serve/submit to you!)*

Is that logical? Mixing a half-Chinese, half-English phrase into a period costume and mythical fantasy genre?

It's logical... because it's a comedy, fitting Stephen Chow's brand of nonsense humor. So not only is it logical, but it also became a classic.

In *Forrest Gump*, that simple-minded Forrest experiences virtually every major event and historical label of the American sixties, seventies, and eighties. He can be called the ultimate overpowered protagonist among overpowered protagonists.

That isn't logical either, but it strings together a deeply touching, thought-provoking, and wonderful story.

In *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, Zhuge Liang summons the eastern wind, and Zhao Zilong charges in and out of enemy lines seven times. Does anyone feel that is illogical?

Then what on earth is going on?

Why must mainstream-accepted values follow the herd, while low-status web novels are forced to conform to real-world logic?

Art originates from life, yet transcends life.

Can you be a bit more lenient and leave us an escape route as well? Don't block all the paths so that when we are fabricating stories, we can have a little more space to be 'shameless'?

Would you be so kind?

Canshan is naturally not the kind of author who excels at manufacturing instant gratification or rigid genre tropes.

Just the other day, someone left a sour comment in the review section: "Three chapters in, and I didn't see any instant gratification."

If you won't even let me spin "shameless" stories...

Then there's no way for me to survive here anymore...

I'll starve to death!

Please don't start sending me "paper offerings" and all that funeral stuff, alright...

I've turned over a new leaf.

...

Lastly, an explanation for the new readers.

Canshan is anxious too, and wants to update more frequently.

I'd love nothing more than to finish telling this story—which I've held inside for a very long time and love dearly—all in a single day.

But it's impossible.

Canshan has a body full of ailments. It's not just a polite excuse about poor health; my health is genuinely terrible.

Please understand. I will try my best not to break my update streak.

Love you guys.

In my next life.....

I'll marry....

...

Marry your grandpa! A bunch of contrarians!

(Let's see who dares to say: *With the time it took to write a solo chapter, you could have updated a lot more chapters instead!?*)