1. The Ming Dynasty’s first official worship of Mazu occurred during the Yongle era—the timeline has been moved up here. However, the Ministry of Rites did indeed send an Imperial Academy student at that time.

2. The custom of sinking and retrieving porcelain is not fabricated, but its origins are unclear.

3. The reasons for Zheng He’s voyages to the Western Ocean have always been subject to various theories, so it doesn’t hurt to add one more hypothesis.

4. Whether snake gallbladder and snake blood can directly neutralize snake venom is pure speculation—take it with a grain of salt.

5. Regarding whether the Prefect of Quanzhou had the authority to deploy Quanzhou garrison troops, this is also speculation. The speculation is based on the assumption that in emergencies, when prefectures and counties couldn’t request instructions from the Ministry of War in time, they should have had some temporary authority to deploy troops and suppress rebellions within their jurisdiction.

6. The eight-character bandit suppression formula “bold courage, united hearts, fine weapons, skilled techniques” comes from Lin Zexu—borrowed for use here.

7. I’m no longer clear which department was responsible for Buddhism and Taoism during the Ming Dynasty, so I’ve tentatively written “Court of Colonial Affairs”—though this seems to be a Qing Dynasty institution?

8. There should be no place called Longwang Valley near Quanzhou, but Fujian has many mountains and snakes, so such places should be quite common.