Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1573 Red and White
"Wait a minute, let me sort this out." Shangluo realized something very important. "So you mean, these caravans were actually of Roman descent?"

"To call it a race is truly inexplicably insightful. The so-called bread and circus, bread is bread. The circus is racing. A true Roman would ask about the racing team before meeting someone."

Shangluo turned to Faetong and asked, "Which team do you support?"

“I’m sorry I’m not a true Roman! I’m not looking at these caravans, because you’ve forgotten? I can’t stay under the eaves! I can’t stay in the city for too long.”

"So you're a savage."

"It's no different from being a savage. Being a demigod is this hard. You're always running around like a deer in the wilderness, doing this and that. You're never idle. You're busy to death and can't enjoy anything. There's nothing but grape juice."

"And what about you?" Shangluo asked Victoria, "Which team do you support?"

"Me? I can't support it. If I support it, it'll lead to a fight. But if you insist on asking me which party I support, I actually support the Green Party."

"So how exactly were these four teams divided?"

"So, let me ask you first—what's your first impression when you hear about the Green Party?"

"Environmental friendly?"

"Well, it's actually related. In Rome, red, white, and blue are generally considered primary colors. But green is not a primary color. Green symbolizes noble love—sincerity, loyalty, elegance, generosity, and courage, symbolizing positive emotions that transcend the mundane. I am a supporter of the Green Team, and the Green Team's symbol is a green tree of wisdom."

[By the way, Caligula, Nero, and many other shining stars support Team Green.]

Caligula, a universally acknowledged tyrant. He was handsome—according to Shangluo's impression, he looked a lot like Joffrey the Great of Westeros. In the early part of his reign, Caligula was only a step away from being a wise ruler, but the later part of his reign could be made into a film called "Caligula".

Nero, whose full name was Nero Claudius Caesar Dursus Germanicus, was another universally acknowledged tyrant. Although his name contained Germanicus, he himself had no military achievements in Germany. Because he did not rise to power through military merit, and because Roman emperors were essentially inseparable from military commanders, his legitimacy was questionable. This led him to adopt the worst aspects of Greek culture, abandoning the simple lifestyle of places like Sparta, and instead emulating the extravagant city-states of Boeotia by hosting lavish Greek-style banquets within Rome.

Nero actually did some good deeds, and according to publicly available records, he doesn't seem to have had a direct connection to the fire that nearly destroyed Rome. However, for some reason, he was seen by the world as a madman who deliberately set fire to build his palace. The Senate imposed the ultimate punishment on Nero—the Great Memory Erasure Curse, also known as the Curse of Amnesia. All positive records about Nero were deleted, and his entire image was etched into the public consciousness as a negative example.

“???” Victoria was stunned for a moment. “Nero aside, do I look a lot like Caligula?”

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Victoria snapped. "Can you stop undermining me? Just because I like the Green Team like everyone else, does that mean I'm the same as Nero?"

【Exactly the same. Nero burned Rome, and you're tearing Rome down with your own hands too.】

"Ah!" Victoria was stunned by this sentence. "Could it be that...could it be that the image I leave in historical records can only be compared to Nero?! But I don't think Nero destroyed Rome."

[Yes, you didn't actually demolish anything. But from a later perspective, you're probably depicted as demolishing Rome. So why not try Caligula?]

“I have no interest in Caligula’s kind of hedonism. If I had to say, I’m closer to Nero, and I’d rather sponsor the Olympics.”

See, you're pretty much like Nero, aren't you?

“I am Greek! Nero’s promotion of Hellenism is undermining the Senate. I am a genuine Greek, so isn’t it only natural for me to embrace Hellenism? I do indeed yearn for those ‘noble loves.’”

[However, Shangluo, let me tell you something: the Green Team he supports has declined. This is because the Green Team's main supporters are ordinary people, leaning towards the masses. However, in recent years, the masses have too many choices, and sponsors have been divided up. Therefore, groups that champion this 'noble love' of the Green Tree have become quite rare in recent years.]

"What do the other teams represent?"

[Actually, there are six car teams. Besides the Green Tree team, there's the Knights' Car Team and the Purple Wind team, the Blue House team representing the Senate and the traditional citizens, and the Yellow Chimney team representing the Merchants' Guild. Of course, the red and white teams have been the most popular in recent years.]

What do these two teams represent?

The Red Lightning and the White Lightbulb Legions are the two main forces in Rome today. The Red Lightning represents the support of the Empire—taking pride in the Empire and its legions. The White Lightbulb Legion is supported by academia; because Rome is rapidly becoming more magical, the White Legion, supported by Alexander, also holds a significant position.

"I understand." Shangluo scratched his head. "So you guys are actually a group with vested interests, right?"

[This is a very historically significant interest group. In reality, each team is a huge economic entity in itself, with its own selection system for everything from drivers and coaches to logistics. Each team owns numerous businesses and receives external sponsorships. Romans spend a great deal of time on the teams they support, and the teams help their high-level sponsors gain recognition and build bridges between supporters. For example, two complete strangers can become friends because they know the same driver.]

"So this really, really needs to be treated with caution." Shangluo realized—this was actually a product of some kind of mix between gangs and factions. The sports competition was just its outward appearance; in reality, it was very similar to the East Wing and West Wing.

Moreover, compared to the East Wing and West Wing, the East Wing and West Wing did not actually have any real activities to support them, nor did they extend much to the general public.

The Roman Reds and Whites were deeply rooted in the lives of all “authentic” Roman citizens, extending all the way to the highest levels of society, and they did indeed have an activity that could mobilize all their supporters to participate in together—participating in chariot races.

“Victoria, I am now certain. These communities will not disintegrate upon entering Cybernia; on the contrary, they will ‘thrive.’ Because now that there is no material pursuit, everyone can start a great battle in the spiritual realm. When life itself becomes a battle of ideologies—Miss Victoria, I suggest that the competition must be maintained. Because when there is competition, one can still discuss the competition itself. If there is no competition, then it is hard to say what these people will do when they organize themselves.”

During the early Ming Dynasty, there was a severe crackdown on Cuju (ancient Chinese football) – anyone who played it would have their legs broken. This was because, starting in the Song Dynasty, sports like sumo wrestling and Cuju easily triggered mass incidents, as large groups of adult men would gather to watch the games. The outcome of a single ball could escalate into a massive brawl.

But then I thought, it's better to get into a physical fight just to watch a game than to loaf around on the street.

“That’s what the ancient Greeks thought,” Victoria replied. “The ancient Greeks held the Olympic Games, which was essentially a way for city-states to release the tensions and conflicts of the world. And I think it’s not so bad to let everyone have some fun occasionally, rather than release tensions—sometimes, if we want to build a cohesive whole, we need not only cooperation, but also conflict. Because the biggest problem is not hostility towards each other, but indifference towards each other.”

【My Miss Victoria, this is dangerous. I think Nero thinks so too.】

“I don’t think Nero was a bad person. There must have been some reason why the Senate executed him.”

“I do know a little,” Shangluo said. “If you don’t know the specific reason—it might be because the current historical records don’t emphasize this point, but it is actually recorded. Nero’s falling out with the Senate was actually due to the Greek autonomy incident.”

【Huh? Is that so? Let me check. It really is! That's the reason!】

“What Greek autonomy?” Victoria asked.

"Simply put, at that time Greece was a province of the Senate. Nero couldn't just take Greece directly from the Senate, so he declared Greece an autonomous province. Greece had nominal autonomy, but in reality it became an imperial province."

The Senate provinces and the Emperor's provinces were long-standing Roman institutions. Although the Emperor's provinces might sound more like "directly governed" regions, the Senate provinces were actually more like direct governed regions, forming the core of Rome's power base. The Emperor's provinces were more like military districts, established to facilitate the Roman emperor's troop deployments on the borders.

Although this was the initial intention, the distinction between the two quickly became a platform for infighting between the emperor and the Senate. Thus, Greece, in the middle, became Nero's clever tool—of course, because this tool was so clever, it angered the Senate, which is another matter entirely.

“Ah,” Victoria thought for a moment, “Now that you mention it, I remember. Actually, I did know, but I knew too much and didn’t think about the historical significance of this matter at the time. Now that you’ve connected the dots, I understand.”

"So, Miss Victoria, do you still want to learn from Nero?"

“Now that you mention it, I admire Nero even more. I believe Nero protected the interests of the majority, and he could lead the Roman Empire to true prosperity. It's just that he did too much, which is why he was attacked by the Senate. That must be it.” Victoria had no doubt about Nero's benevolence, and she felt that it must all be the Senate's fault.

[Shangluo, don't go along with her. I think she's projecting all her anger towards Nero onto her. She's still going through a rebellious phase, so she likes things that others don't.]

“I can’t argue with Victoria, I think your approach is correct. Occasional competition can actually strengthen our relationship. And after entering Cybertronia—”

According to Shangluo's previous plan, once the Pantheon is once again filled with "lifestyles" that can kill time, like a supermarket, the next war will probably begin soon.

Shangluo doesn't mind letting everyone from the Ming Dynasty come and play, since it was originally planned that both sides would share a virtual world.

If Rome is divided into these teams to play together, then the Ming Dynasty could also join in this game.

"Hey, Shangluo, are you going to let the Ming Dynasty create a new team too?"

"No, no, no." Shangluo shook his head. "This is the most important thing—when users from the Ming Dynasty arrive, they shouldn't create new teams. Instead, they should join existing teams, like the Red Lightning and White Light Bulb teams. Because this is Roman territory, and we are guests from a foreign land. We should treat the existence of these teams as a kind of 'background setting,' treat the Romans as NPCs, and these teams as pre-set NPC forces, and then join them. Otherwise, it's easy to bring offline problems to the online world."

I understand what you mean. You're saying that the world can be freely defined for the Roman NPCs because they're locals. But for outsiders, the degree of freedom can't be too high, right?

"That's right. Because if there's too much freedom, we can't control the general direction of the world—and sometimes we lose the fun of playing. Because the key to game design is sometimes not just freedom, but also rules. Complete freedom only makes people feel lost. All games in this world explore possibilities within the framework of rules. Otherwise, why play hopscotch? Wouldn't it be faster to just walk over? Why play soccer? Wouldn't it be better to just start the awards ceremony? In sumo wrestling, wouldn't it be the fastest to just pull out a knife and stab? Sometimes the rules themselves are the source of fun. Because rules allow you to not think too much and allow you to quickly find your comfort zone within the preset gameplay path."

【I understand. You mean that while open-world sandbox games are the closest to reality, their level-based gameplay also has its own unique charm, right?】

"I prefer a sandbox-style gameplay that falls somewhere in between—a meticulously designed world with a degree of freedom. So joining teams like Rome is fine. But creating your own team and then having a free-for-all online is not. When people come here to play, they can simply play the role of a Roman. With this simulation framework, many social issues can be separated into virtual and real worlds. I do want to promote communication, but these two sides really cannot be merged. Otherwise, if the conflicts between online and offline merge, our Heavenly Court will probably never have peace."

(End of this chapter)