The settling is the 25th year (1392) of the reign of Ming Taizu, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. According to Mr. Cha's accounting of history in Yitian-Tulongji. Taizu, who was named Zhu Yuanzhang, usurped Zhang Wuji to seize control of the rebellion movement against the Yuan Dynasty founded by the Mongols. Zhang disappeared from history (he was after all a fictional character) and Zhu attained henceforth unimaginable riches. Over the course of Taizu's 30-year reign, he slowly eliminated his former comrads through intrigue or outright violence, thereby exhibitng the paranoia common in all powerful political figures. He became infamous for his brutality and excessiveness.

Three items are of particular interest to me in the settling for this story. First, Taizu established a secret police (Jinyiwei) in 1382 that had the power to arrest, torture, and kill without trial whoever was deemed a threat. The main character hails from this stock. This is the perfect position from which to blend reality and fiction. Starting in Southwestern China in the modern day province of Yunnan, Yie Ming, the protagonist, is on a mission to track down and eliminate the author and distributors of a certain political track deemed seditious by his superiors. His mission is complicated by the disappearance of his sworn blood brother, Chu Xie, around the same region near Mount Diancang where the famous Tianlongsi (a.k.a. Zongshengsi) is located. Their sister, Yi Yun, went missing six months prior when she had set out to find Chu. The line between official and private matters blends as Yie seeks to unravel this mystery and complete his mission.

The second event that gives texture to the story is the Lan Yu Incident. Lan Yu was a successful Ming general who campaigned actively under Taizu. He is responsible for bringing modern day Gansu, Qinghai, and Yunnan provinces under Ming control. In 1393, he was accused of plotting the assassination of the emperor and was summarily executed along with his kin and cohorts. The accusers were none other than the Jinyiwei. Now, Lan Yu was by no means a saint if the historical record is to be believed, but the cause of his death and the surrounding intrigue is good fodder for a story. Needless to say, Yie Ming had a hand in this one.

The third element is the Hu Weiyong Incident. In 1380, the minister of state, Hu, was "accused" of treason for plotting Taizu's assassination with various elements from Japan and Mongolia. This first purge was followed by a second in 1390 of those determined to be Hu's sympathizers and cohorts numbering over 20,000 individuals. Taizu published the names of these traitors in a pamphlet distributed throughout the country. From the perspective of the story, the precipitator of both these events is the same person and is deeply connected to the Jinyiwei. Yie is too young to be a suspect, but those giving out the orders are not. As story develops, these past events, especially the great purge three years ago begin to trouble Yie Ming and undermine the trust and respect he had for his superiors.

There is an interesting succession battle following Ming Taizu's death. Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, wrested the throne from his nephew the Jianwen emperor in the civil war of 1399-1402, and, in doing so, became the Yongle emperor, reigning till his death in 1424. His rule marks a period of what some consider the "second founding" of the Ming dynasty. The outbreak of violence doesn't take place until 7 years after beginning of the story, but I'd imagine that the maneuvering in the background began much earlier. Still, since doesn't happen until much later so I don't know if it will be included. Who knows? Should I do a time skip?

Some notes on Romanization and translation

The pinyin system is use to Romanize Chinese characters. This also assumes Mandarin/Putonghua pronunciations. For easy of typing, a 'v' will replace the u with umlauts where the sound appears in Mandarin. Spaces are used to separate words and phrases, not morphemes. Some phrases which consists of two separate words, but belong to one whole idea are joined by hyphens. Place names such as 'Tianlongsi' may also occasionally appear as 'Tianlong Temple' (si here means 'temple'). These 'half-translations' will be used interchangeably with the pinyin only for clarification purposes. Certain items like the 'Yitianjian' may appear as 'Yitian Sword' but more commonly as 'Yitian' or 'Yitianjian'. Unique terms like shifu will be translated to their nearest English equivalent or workable direct translation uniformly. For example in this case, shifu will be replaced by 'Master-teacher'. It is useful to remember some of the Pinyin for some common morphemes. Si at the end of a term probably means 'temple'. Jian at the end probably means 'sword'. Jing means something like 'tome'. Ji typically means 'record'. I'm constantly amazed by have easy it is to read and understand Romanized Chinese. The extra information given either by glyphs and diacritics are only needed occasionally. How interesting.

Fictional and Pseudo-fictional Elements

Jianghu - What is Jianghu? Essays can be written about this. For the purposes of Xunyunji, Jianghu will refer to the 'underworld' beyond the domain of government and everyday life. Jianghu is the alternate reality populated by clans and factions vying for power through violence and intrigue. While I don't want to make martial arts mastery to play an outsized role in the story, it seems it would be hard to avoid. Remember: my gungfu is better than ur's!!

Jinyiwei (The Emperor's Secret Police) - The government organization responsible for Black Ops founded in 1382. While typically the worlds of government and Jianghu does not mix, the Jinyiwei, which contains many individuals with Jianghu connections, is an exception rather than the rule. In this position, it arbitrates between these two non-mixing realities. Yie Ming belongs to this organization by virtue of his Master-teacher's leadership role in the Jinyiwei

Murong Family - The Murong family are the descendents of the Xianbei people. They were the ruling family who established the Yan kingdoms which included parts of Hebei, Shangdong, Shangxi, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Liaoning during its height. The kingdoms existed from 337 to 436 and sometimes contemporaneously. After the Northern Yan was conquered by the Northern Wei in 436, remnants of the Murong family, according the Louis Cha, went into hiding and finally established a small base for themselves in the south drawing their power from meticulously cultivated Jianghu connections. After the devastating events of Tianlongbabu, the Murong family's continuity was seriously threatened. Nursing their wounds for the duration of the Yuan Dynasty, the subsequent rebellion, and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Murong family is ready once again to pursue its ambitions. In Xunyunji, the Murong family's patriarch, Murong Zhen, is at odds with his eldest son Murong Pi over the precise ways to go about re-establishing the Yan kingdom. The following schism saw each going their separate ways. Murong Zhen pursued his plan to co-opt and twist the Ming court for his purposes while the younger Murong Pi sought power through manipulating Jianghu politics with his position within the Shashoulou.

Shashoulou (Assassin's Tower) - the organization Yie Ming finds himself fighting in the search for Chu Xie and Yi Yun. As one of the three principal powers in the Jianghu world, the Shashoulou is based in Yunnan with its power extending east and west to Guangdong and Tibet. Shrouded with mystery, Shashoulou began as litte more than a group of bandits and wanted criminals grouping together for mutual security. From these modest beginnings, the Shashoulou grew to be a formidable organization detailed in the story. In 1380, it established its reputation as a fearsome power when a coordinated attempt by some of the most respected martial artists of the generation tried to bring the Tower down failed miserably. Those brave souls disappeared without a trace and no one has heard another word from them since.

Tianlongsi (Heavenly Dragon Temple) - Located on Mount Diancang, the Buddhist temple still exists today and is a tourist destination in Yunnan. During the Ming Dynasty, it was known as Zongshengsi. Louis Cha first introduced Tianlongsi in his novel Tianlongbabu as the religious center of the Dali kingdom, an autonomous, self-governing kingdom existing from 937 in Yunnan until Khubilai Khan conquered it under the direction of the Great Khan Mongke in 1253. Tianlongsi, according to Louis Cha's accounting, was were the kings of the Dali kingdom commonly retired when they abdicated their thrones to their successors. In its heyday, Tianlongsi received generous patronage but declined throughout the Yuan dynasty. The retired Duan family rulers have long passed away and the monks residing there today are only loosely connected to Louis Cha's Tianlongbabu through their knowledge of the lore from that time... Or are they?

Characters

Yie Ming -

Items

Yitianjian (Yitian Sword, Yitian) - The legendary sword forged from some of the shards of Yang Guo's Xuantiejian from Louis Cha's Shendiao Xialv. Its name roughly means 'in accordance with the heavens'. Within the original sword is contained a copy of the Jiuyinzhenjing, an instructional tome for a martial arts style of incredible power. Zhang Wuji from Yitian-Tulongji acquired Yitian and destroyed it by striking it against the Tulongdao to obtain the contents therein. In Xunyunji, Yitian has again been reforged. It still maintains its reputation as a blade of unbelieveable sharpness, but compared to its first incarnation, the power of its edge has declined by an order of magnitude.

More to come...