Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 379 - 236 Four Openings_3

Chapter 379: Chapter 236 Four Openings_3

In other words, his main job was to talk.

When he detected unlawful behavior among officials, he would debate it openly in court if it was a major issue, or secretly report to the emperor for impeachment if it was a minor matter.

Obviously, this was a position that had significant influence in front of the emperor, and Chu Ge was somewhat pleased with it.

However, he was somewhat shocked because he knew who should be the Imperial Censor of the Qi Dynasty at that time.

It was none other than Qin Huizhi, the infamous traitor who had caused the death of General Han Fuyue.

Historically speaking, Qin Huizhi was relatively normal at that time, having cast a dissenting vote against ceding territory in an imperial vote held by the emperor.

But after the disgrace at Jingping, once he had been captured and returned from the Jin Camp, he embarked irrevocably on the path of a traitorous sellout.

Chu Ge had initially thought he was role-playing as Qin Huizhi, but after touring the mansion, he realized that was not the case.

He was playing a person named "Li Hao," and after searching his memories, Chu Ge found there was no such name among the key ministers of the Qi Dynasty. This led him to conclude that "Li Hao" might be a fictional character introduced in this slice of history.

This might be due to the influence of demons or some special considerations; in any case, he was not playing as Qin Huizhi but had taken on a completely new identity as the Imperial Censor of the Qi Dynasty at that time.

As for why the identity of this fictional character did not use the player’s real name, it was probably a precaution to prevent players from confirming each other’s identities directly by their names.

"From the strategic map available before the game officially began, by now the Jin soldiers had already seized Yan Jing and were marching southwards, having already crossed the Yellow River. Perhaps in three or four days, they will reach Cen Bridge Inn, and in ten days, arrive at the outskirts of the capital city. In at most half a month, they will formally begin the siege...

"At this point, the court should already be in chaos. As the Imperial Censor, I might try to exert some influence in these discussions..."

Chu Ge contemplated his speech for the early court session tomorrow.

...

In another different historical slice, Zhao Haiping, who had chosen the path of a common soldier, did not directly appear in Pingding County but first appeared in a martial training ground in Zhen Ding Prefecture.

Here, new recruits gathered from various counties around were being tested on their martial skills.

The Qi Dynasty had a conscription system that enlisted soldiers from disaster-affected areas every year with disastrous years, and the quality of these recruits was, as expected, very mixed.

Thus, after recruitment was completed, their wages would be determined based on the quality of these soldiers.

Zhao Haiping looked around and noticed that two different selection criteria were roughly used for these new recruits.

The first criterion was for those who had some combat capability, probably having learned some martial skills in their hometowns or coming from relatively affluent families that could afford the expenses of buying bows and arrows, etc.

This group of soldiers was clearly the elite force of the army. After passing the tests, they could directly take on the role of low-ranking officers and take command over the second type of people—those without any combat capability.

And the standards for assessing them also varied.

If skilled in swordsmanship or spearplay, a few moves in front of the officers was often enough to reveal their true level from aspects like whether their steps were solid and whether their moves were accurate. Or, they might try to draw a heavy bow to shoot arrows, with the draw weight or accuracy of the arrows also revealing their martial skills.

Of course, there were also more advanced skills, such as mounted archery.

If these new recruits could shoot arrows at targets while riding on moving horses and hit the targets, then they were definitely major training focuses of the army.

The second type of person, naturally, was those with no combat capability at all.

These might have been farmers who only knew how to farm beforehand, or vagrants who were disheveled and perhaps even sickly, all of whom could be recruited into the army.

Their selection process was much more crude and simple: it was based on height.

In the Qi Dynasty era, height was a major criterion for recruitment; for instance, the regular army’s minimum height was five feet five inches, while local armies required a minimum of five feet two inches. Translated into present-day measurements, these heights are approximately 1.70 meters and 1.68 meters, respectively.

Even after these new recruits were enlisted, their wages were also determined by height.

If their height was above five feet eight inches, then they would earn a monthly salary of a thousand coins; above five feet seven inches would earn seven hundred coins monthly; above five feet six inches would get five hundred coins monthly; if it was below five feet two inches, they wouldn’t receive any monthly salary at all, just food and lodging.

That means, simply being about two inches taller than someone else could mean earning double the monthly salary when serving as a soldier.

From a modern perspective, this was clearly a nonsensical standard. After all, taller people aren’t necessarily stronger, and those with strength aren’t necessarily good at fighting. Assessing combat ability based on how heavy a bow they could draw, their equestrian skills, or their proficiency with a spear and sword would be more scientifically sound.

However, the emperor of the Qi Dynasty stubbornly believed that height could directly correlate with combat ability, and this selection criterion never changed much.

For Zhao Haiping, he was rather fortunate as the body he occupied at that time was above five feet eight inches; thus, even without doing anything at all, he could earn the highest salary of a thousand coins a month just by virtue of his height advantage.

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