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Historical records, including Chinese documents from the Yuan Dynasty, provide clues to substantiate Polo's claims regarding his position as a privileged foreign traveler. Some records reference a courtier named "Boluo," a name that bears phonetic similarities to "Polo," and suggest he held a significant administrative role, potentially as a tax collector in Yangzhou – an economically prosperous region during Polo’s time.
Peng Hai, a contemporary historian, has further investigated Polo's alleged involvement in local affairs, discovering that detailed accounts of tax collections and administrative procedures during that period closely resemble Polo's descriptions in his writing.