prosperous age

Chapter 139 Chapter 138
The hurried footsteps of time change the scenery of the four seasons, and also change the appearance of a person.

At this time, Wei Guangde is no longer what he was two years ago. Now his body has grown a lot, because of the good family conditions, the 16-year-old Wei Guangde's physical condition has surpassed most people in this era, not to mention that he is still born In military households.

Due to the lack of reference objects, Wei Guangde didn't know whether his height had reached more than 1 meters at this time, but walking on the street, it was obvious that most people were shorter than him.

It took more than a year to visit all the four major academies in Jiangxi.

Wei Guangde is not a pure Neo-Confucianism, he does not reject the School of Mind, maybe it is the white cat and black cat theory of later generations that won his heart, in Wei Guangde's view now, no matter whether it is Psychology or Neo-Confucianism, as long as it can help him improve in the imperial examination , that's fine.

Waking up this morning, Wei Guangde punched as usual in the garden of his small courtyard. It wasn't any advanced martial arts, but a set of boxing and kicking skills passed down from his family.

Wei Guangde only learned this from his father when he was 14 years old. Because of his ancestral military kung fu, he didn't require any boy skills, so he started practicing at a young age, too young to practice would be bad for his health.

Just after punching, Wei Guangde took off the double-breasted clothes on his body, and the maid next to him handed over a hot towel, Wei Guangde wiped his body, at this moment, his servant Zhang Ji came in from the outside, walked up to Wei Guangde and bowed Said: "Master, Mr. Lao is here."

"in front of?"

Wei Guangde handed back the towel and asked casually.

"Yes, Mr. Lao sat down in the main room of the outer courtyard, and I asked someone to bring tea."

Zhang Ji replied.

"You go and serve first, I'll change clothes and come over."

Wei Guangde said to him, turned around and walked into the house.

When Wei Guangde went back to the house, he naturally wanted to change into a Taoist robe to go out to meet guests, wearing the double-breasted clothes that he wears at home is considered impolite.

Although it has been several years since the Ming Dynasty, Wei Guangde is still a little unaccustomed to the clothes of people in this era.

The double-breasted clothes that Wei Guangde wore before are actually similar to the shirts in the market. They are made of high-quality Songjiang cotton cloth, but the style is very different from most men's clothing today.

Women's clothes in this era were very casual. At the beginning, Zhu Yuanzhang had more regulations on men's clothing, and the requirements for women's clothing were relatively loose.

Most men's clothing in this era is slanted, perhaps the ancients thought it could cover the stomach and prevent colds.

Wei Guangde understood it this way.

It is said to find someone to make double-breasted clothes. After Wei Wei saw it, he once thought that Wei Guangde was interested in the army and wanted to abandon literature and follow the military.

There is no way, at the beginning, Father Wei praised Yu Dayou as a scholar general at home, but now his son is also a scholar, Father Wei was really afraid that Wei Guangde would follow suit, and went to serve as a soldier.

As for why Father Wei thought so, it was because he saw the clothes Wei Guangde was wearing at home.

Many military uniforms in the Ming Dynasty were double-breasted. For example, the mandarin duck battle jacket for ordinary clothes was double-breasted. This design was mainly for the convenience of wearing.

The style of the armor is mostly double-breasted, which is convenient for placement.

So seeing Wei Guangde wearing double-breasted clothes at home, it is inevitable that the old man will not think too much.

It took Wei Guangde a lot of words to convince him that Wei Guangde made the clothes just for convenience, not because he wanted to be a soldier.

After changing his clothes, Wei Guangde came to the front and sat down after paying respects to Lao Kan.

"Brother, I'm here this time to invite my brother to go out to have fun tonight. By the way, let's discuss when we will leave for Nanchang Mansion to take the exam."

After a few gossips, Lao Kan explained the reason for coming this time, for the August rural examination.

"I have nothing, I can leave at any time."

Wei Guangde said with a smile, "Okay, let's eat and talk at night. If you don't want to take a car, I'll take a boat from the guard and it's the same."

"If you really want to take a boat, one may not be enough. There are more than 20 people who have passed the scientific examination this time. Everyone should go to Nanchang."

Lao Kan laughed.

"If one is not enough, I will ask for a few more. I have to take everyone with me. They are all my scholars from Jiujiang. The future is boundless. Wei Li will not refuse to show favor."

In fact, it doesn't cost much money to hire a boat to go to Nanchang. Asking for an official boat from Jiujiangwei is not just for safety along the way.

Although the severe drought of the year before last did not occur in Jiangxi in the past two years, the weather was still unfavorable, but the disaster was not as severe as the year before.

Under such a city road, many bandits came from all over the north and south. Poyang Lake has been a stronghold of water bandits since ancient times, and the waterways are also very unsafe.

And the Nanhu Battalion, which was established by the imperial court to exterminate water bandits, has not performed well in recent years.

For those scholars who want to rush for the exam, it is naturally the best to travel by water by boat. You don't have to endure the bumps of the carriage, and you can also read books and discuss knowledge on the boat.

But the poor waterway is also their biggest concern, they are afraid of encountering water bandits on the road.

Wei Guangde was born in the guard, so he naturally knows the outside world well.

In order to ensure the safety of the waters around Jiujiang, the imperial court has sent many warships over in recent years, and asked Jiujiang Wei to increase the number of river patrols on weekdays. After all, there is the only bank on the Yangtze River.

The current imperial court, due to successive years of droughts and floods in the northern and southern provinces, the fight against the Tartars in the north and the suppression of the Japanese in the south, disaster relief and military expenditures have begun to rise sharply, and the imperial finances have fallen into a serious deficit.

The attention paid to the Chaoguan Wharf that can receive cash is naturally different from the past, and incidents near Jiujiang Chaoguan must not be tolerated.

Wei Guangde intends to see how many people plan to take the exam by water tonight, and then talk to his father in the guard, arrange a few more boats for everyone's board and lodging, and send two more warships to accompany them for protection, for the first time, of course It's patrolling and arresting robbers.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but sigh lightly.

Lao Kan seemed to have seen through Wei Guangde's thoughts, and said with a smile: "Don't sigh, my brother. The wind and rain have not been smooth these years, but the imperial court also needs taxes to support the border towns and coastal pirates. I hate these bandits. If you don't repair One's own virtue will cause disaster to the local people."

"I don't know what's wrong today, I remember it was fine when I was a child."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said: "In recent years, I have visited relatives and friends, and traveled all over the world. Brother Lao studied classics in Jiujiang, so I haven't seen the tragic situation in various places.

Those near rivers are fine, but in other places, the land has long since dried up, and farmers have nothing to produce from their land, so how can they get money to pay taxes.

Just the year before last, didn't the imperial court exempt me from Jiangxi's taxes?
Taxes are gone, but apportionment is indispensable. Local governments still have to pay everywhere. Can there be no bandits? "

"If there is no apportionment, what will the yamen at all levels above use to support it?"

After the imperial court exempted Jiangxi from taxes, the burden on farmers did not drop much, and I have heard of Lao Kan.

But since ancient times, the imperial court is not responsible for the expenditures of the provinces, and they have to rely on them to collect from below. This is unavoidable.

"I just hope that the imperial court can fight a few more battles like Wang Jiangjing's Great Victory, so that the Japanese pirates can be wiped out as soon as possible."

Lao Kan could only say so.

(End of this chapter)