I have a fortune book

Chapter 13
Pingcang County is named after the most famous mountain near this county, Cangshan Mountain.

Although it is not a thousand-foot-thousand-foot red cliff and a thousand-fold green wall, it is also lush with strange trees, like Deng Lin.

On the official road leading to Pingcang County, a horse-drawn carriage was running smoothly and quickly, and it looked like a veteran driver.

In the car, Zhou Rui was lying half-lying, chattering endlessly, while Zhou Bai lifted the window curtain, glanced at the surrounding scenery and terrain, and his thoughts were flying.

The continuous Cangshan Mountain semi-surrounds the entire Pingcang County. If you want to cross Cangshan Mountain, except for a few hunters and hunters, only the bitter pass opened by the government at a high cost can pass.

Zhou Bai once went to see Kukou Pass, and it really is a pass where one man is the pass, and ten thousand are not allowed to open it. There is a pass at the pass, and there are military strongholds on both sides, which are heavily guarded.

The reason for such precautions is because Pingcang County is the farthest "cooked" county in the north, and further north, there are "new" counties established just before Jiazi, and the enemies of the grassland are constantly harassing.

In fact, Pingcang County has not been established for a hundred years. It was opened up at the peak of Daxu's national power, but with Cangshan Mountain leaning against it as a barrier, its development is not inferior to ordinary inland counties.

At the beginning, the bandits in Cangshan colluded with the hostile forces in the grassland and the northern border, forming a self-contained body, resisting the rule of the imperial court in the Ming Dynasty, which hindered the grand strategy of opening up border states.

Due to the excessive consumption of military supplies and material resources, the imperial court issued an edict to attract inland refugees and small families to move to the border with various preferential policies.

It was under this background that the major families came to Pingcang County. They gathered heroic refugees and fought bloody battles with the bandits in Cangshan to compete for the land for the tribe to live in.

In the end, the few families who contributed the most became the county tyrants and settled in the county seat, while many small families such as the Zhou family scattered in the countryside and became the lowest ranks of the township.

The Zhou family was quite lucky. With their meritorious contributions, they earned a thousand acres of fertile land for the next generation, and also had a co-executor.

It is this same fame that allowed the second-generation ancestors to lead the family to gain a foothold in Pingcang County, and even turned into ancestral spirits after death, truly stabilizing the foundation.

Although Tongjuren is a special promotion of the imperial court and is at the end of the Juren class, he has all the privileges he should have, and it is not surprising that he can support a rural framework.

In the following decades, the Zhou family has no gaps, and there is a real Juren, the third generation ancestor in the sense of family contribution, who pushed the Zhou family into a real old-fashioned village.

It is a pity that there will be no successors after the successors, and many benefits earned by the ancestors of the third generation have not been preserved, and the county's noble family status has always been out of reach.

Of course, it is also fortunate that it is located in Pingcang County. Even if many small families cannot rush to the county, they can still maintain the family status of the village, and they will not fall into the unknown small clan.

There is an unwritten rule in the Humane Court of this world. The Daxu Dynasty will continue, that is, the court should open up as much as possible. Later generations will evaluate the former dynasty, and how much territory it has opened up plays a very important role.

Generally speaking, the Human Dao Dynasty is only 300 years old, but there are many Human Dao Dynasties in this world that exceed 300 years.

Among them, expanding the territory and reducing social conflicts may not be the key factor affecting the longevity of the dynasty.

In order to open up the frontier, Daxu gave many rewards to the pioneers. The fellow lifters of the second generation ancestors of the Zhou family are only a small aspect, and the real preferential treatment law is the whole.

For example, in the imperial examination, the fame of a scholar needs to go through the three passes of the county examination (children's examination), the county examination, and the courtyard examination.

Coupled with the decline of the frontier culture and the support of policies, even if it is still difficult to pass the exam, it is still much less difficult than the inland states and counties.

Like the Zhou family, many townships have always maintained a number of scholars to maintain the family style and pass it on from generation to generation.

The time limit for a new land is within 95 years, and Pingcang County has been established for [-] years, which means that if the Zhou family can't make a candidate, there are only two chances to enjoy the preferential treatment at most.

The number of places in the county exam is several times that of the college exam. It is conceivable that it is difficult to get a name in the college exam. It is no wonder that the clan attaches so much importance to the blessing quota, and even breaks the ranking rules, and strives to get more in the two sessions. Produce a few talents.

But in a sense, the introversion of the clans in Pingcang County has accumulated a certain amount of strength for the catastrophe, which is in line with the pace of some aristocratic clans. Zhou Bai felt a little strange in his heart.

"Zhou Bai, you didn't hear what I said? It's a good thing I let you ride in my father's carriage, kindly treating you like a donkey." At this moment, Zhou Rui's angry voice came.

Zhou Bai smiled slightly at Zhou Rui: "Listen, listen, Zhou Datian's niece is Zhou Heyun's roommate, so Zhou Heyun and even Sanfang will definitely target me?"

Zhou Rui's chubby face showed a bit of anxiety, and he said: "Yes, I'm not afraid, anyway, my father arranged for me to go out to do business. You shouldn't give up your quota, you don't even know what the clan has to say about this county exam. How much support is there, do you really want to be assigned to the manor?"

The county was getting closer and closer, Zhou Bai stretched out his head to look at the terrain and environment, and then comforted Zhou Rui: "Haha, you said that the imperial examination is not only based on luck, how come I can't do it?"

"You...well, treat me as nothing! Let's see if you can win a child, and then you can get a better manor."

……

The Daxu Dynasty has a vast territory, starting from the ocean in the east, reaching the dead desert in the west, reaching the [-] mountains in the south, and reaching the boundless grassland in the north. The area is more than hundreds of millions.

There are 48 states, hundreds of counties and thousands of counties and market towns.

And even if it is compared with the whole Daxu, Pingcang, as a border city in the north, is also an existence with a large area.

The county town is full of the ruggedness of a "newly created" place, with towering city walls, archery towers, enemy towers, and corner towers, but it is rare to see armored sergeants that match them.

Covered by Cangshan Mountain, Ping Cang County has been in peace for decades, not only can it be called a big county in terms of area, but even the population living in a cluster has gradually caught up with the middle and lower levels of the mainland.

There are more than [-] people gathered in the county town, and the population of the scattered townships and ri is at least two or three times that of people. In addition to the hidden servants, the strength of the major families is not weak.

At the gate of this bustling city, the carriages engraved with the Zhou family logo were not inspected by the guards. The old man who drove the carriage skillfully dropped a few copper coins and galloped into the city.

Near the county government office, Zhou Rui pointed to the carriageway in the distance: "This is not an easy trick. The old horseman my father often uses is not that I want the county test, and he will never send me to see me off."

"Well, it's an enemy of ten people in the clan, and it's easy to deal with a few thieves." Zhou Bai replied lightly.

This is the family background, even if it is only a direct lineage, it can raise such a good player, except that their Qifang is weak.

Zhou Rui was taken aback, and said with some doubts: "You can also see this? Then I will still be a servant."

"Let's go, there is nothing more important than the county test, just go to the inn to stay, there is no disrespect."

Although there is still time to sign up tomorrow, there are already many scholars queuing up in front of the county government office, all of whom are from ten miles and eight townships.

However, there is no need for the Zhou family's direct lineage to line up, just a notification, and two servants will come to lead the way immediately.

(End of this chapter)