The people defending the city
The first part begins with a historian talking about the troubles the city had to face and how many people died during various raids carried out by bands of bandits. The army and armed men were unable to stop them and were eventually killed. The author notes ironically that the ones who managed to fend them off were the normal people who searched refuge in the main city of the province. There, even though they did not have any type of training, they succeeded in defeating them and protecting their lands.
Places of debauchery
After the area was struck by different disasters, many temples and places of worship were destroyed or badly affected. The rich did not tried to rebuilt them and thus they remained in that state for a long time. as years passed by, the people no longer visited the temples to worship their Gods but rather to be left alone while they were behaving in a way deemed unacceptable. Ironically thus, the places considered once holy and the places that should have inspired people to be better were transformed into places where one goes when wants to be outside the law.
Paying the enemy
The historian Sung-ling writes about various riots and rebellions that took place in the 17th century and how the area was also affected by bands of bandits who would pillage and destroy everything they could. The ones who were affected the most were the wealthy as they were the first people to be attacked. Ironically, Sung-ling mentions how many wealthy people turned to those bands and paid them to protect their families and their fortune from other bands of bandits. Ironically thus, in some cases, the people who were being robbed paid the robbers to protect them.
Protected by the state
Sung-ling wrote about the state of the country and how more and more people had some type of connection with the bandits. The officials were so scared of them that, ironically, did everything they could to protect them so they would not retaliate against the ruling class. Sung-ling mentions how on many occasions, people even lied and claimed to be bandits just to be protected by the officials or to receive better sentences.
Not a symbol for abundance
The second part of the book begins with the author mentioning how the people were certain the year 1671 was going to be a good one for them. The reason why they had hope in the future is because that winter, it snowed and snow was generally seen as a good omen because it protected the winter crops. Ironically, the good omen turned into a tragedy when the snows did not stopped falling until they reached the roofs of many houses. As a result, many people died, frozen to death and the crop was affected as well by the harsh cold and most of it was destroyed as a result.
