Xiangye

Chapter 2 The Not So Bright Road Ahead

After the autumn harvest, the fields were bleak, and the wind was blowing, carrying the unique smell of the Yellow River.

"Lu Yin took it out and have a look." Gao Wen took a piece of paper from a passer-by and looked at it for a long time: "Oh, from Hejin, Shanxi, what are you doing in Hancheng?"

"As for Master Hui, the younger one has an uncle who lives in Tianshui Lane, Chengguan, Hancheng. His surname is Liao. In two days' time, it will be his 60th birthday. The grass-roots people cross the river to leave the house, not refugees." The man crossing the river carried a small burden on his body, and the river water still stuck to his hair.He is about forty years old, probably because of daily hardships, his face is full of wrinkles, and he looks very old.But facing Gao Wen, who was young and weak, he still called out "bad guy" respectfully.

The officials in the yamen are not so easy to deal with. If one is not easy to tell him to go back and forth, wouldn't it be a waste of time to go.If he really annoyed him and arrested himself as a refugee, he would have to suffer some hardships.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly stuffed a small string of money into the hand of the little officer in front of him, and said flatteringly: "Master, I hope you can accept some money for tea."

The money is only ten coins, which is what the later generations would look like in ten yuan. The copper coins in the Ming Dynasty contained low copper content. In real terms, it was only six or seven yuan, which is enough to buy a catty of rice for a day.

"Mr. Liao, I know, I know. What are you doing? It's all from the villagers. How can you use your money?" Gao Wen hurriedly stuffed the copper coins back: "If it is passed on, how will I see people in the future? Go away quickly." , hurry up, if it’s too late, I’m afraid I won’t be able to enter the city gate before dark.”

Then he waved his hand.

The man stuffed it a few more times, and seeing that Gao Wen was determined not to accept it, he thanked him a few times and left with his hands folded.

After looking at the back of the man, he turned his head and squinted habitually to look at the Yellow River far away.Although it has been five days since I arrived at this checkpoint, I am already familiar with the torrent coming from the world in front of me, but I have never seen it once, and I am still shocked and excited by the surging torrent.

It was dusk, and the autumn sunset was extraordinarily fiery red, casting the afterglow on the torrent.The entire Yellow River seems to be molten copper, emitting a brilliant light that thoroughly illuminates the world.

"Don't you see, the water of the Yellow River comes up from the sky, rushes to the sea and never returns, Li Taibai sincerely does not deceive me. The scenery here is quite different from the water town in the south of the Yangtze River. If you don't go to the north, you don't know the size of the world!"

Gao Wen sighed, and thought again: "It's been five days since I've been in this strange time and space. Today, I finally woke up. Heh...it's interesting!"

That's right, this Gao Wen is the senior editor of a publishing house who died of cerebral hemorrhage in modern society.For some unknown reason, after his death, a wisp of his soul floated in the void, and unexpectedly possessed the body of this ordinary Ming Zhuang.

Coincidentally, this man was also named Gao Wen, and he was from Hancheng, Xi'an Prefecture, Shaanxi Province.In this way, it also avoids the trouble of being unable to recover when others call your name for a long time.Moreover, what pleased Gao Wen the most was that this man was eighteen years old, probably engaged in physical labor for a long time before, tall and with long arms, not to mention healthy and well-proportioned, and his facial features were also very correct.If it wasn't for the fact that his skin was dark because of being exposed to the bright sun all the year round, he would really have a taste of fresh meat.

Not only is he more than ten years younger, but he also has a healthy body, which is inexplicable. From this point of view, God is still kind to him.

This year is Orthodox 14 years.As for the others, the former Gao Wen didn't know.For a child of an ordinary citizen, the whole world is just the small sky above Hancheng County.

This year name may be unfamiliar to ordinary people, but when it comes to the change of Tumubao, it is thunderous to those with a little bit of historical knowledge.

The thing is, in June of this year, the leader of the Oala tribe of Mongolia also marched into the Ming Dynasty first. Under the instigation of the eunuch Wang Zhen, the orthodox emperor Zhu Qizhen ordered his younger brother Zhu Qiyu to stay behind and lead the army to go out in person despite the dissuasion of the officials.

When the imperial army marched to Datong in August and heard the news of the defeat on the front line, Wang Zhen decided to return to the army.When he retreated to Tumubao, he was surrounded by the army led by Yexian. The army suffered heavy casualties. Wang Zhen was killed, and the emperor was captured by Yexian.

In this battle, the Son of Heaven also became a prisoner of the Oirat army.

After capturing the emperor, he also had rare goods to live in, and extorted money from the court.

At this time, Minister of the Ministry of War, cabinet assistant minister Yu Qian, Tong Wen military officer, and internal and external ministers supported Zhu Qiyu to proclaim himself emperor, and Rang Yexian's attempt to blackmail the Ming Dynasty went bankrupt.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty implemented a political system in which nobles ruled the army, civil officials ruled the country, and civil and military officials checked and balanced each other.And because these nobles control the army, and most of them are descendants of the emperor's relatives and heroes of Jingnan, they are extremely powerful, and civil officials don't have much say in the political arena.

But after this battle, almost the entire military group of nobles and nobles was wiped out first, so the civilian group began to dominate and take over the state power in an all-round way. Even the emperor couldn't do anything about them, and they were often pointed at and scolded by the civil officials It's not good to have a bloody head.

For the civil service group, or for the intellectual class, this is a golden age.

As a graduate of a 985 famous brand university, and later engaged in the study of history and ancient Chinese for a long time, such an era is simply set for him.With the modern way of learning, if you read it for a few years, you can still win the fame of a scholar if you don't dare to say it.

Later generations always preconceived the words "poor scholar" and "sour scholar" when they mentioned scholar. In fact, scholar in Ming Dynasty might be a little pedantic and sour, but he was definitely not poor, even if he wanted to be poor.Because, once you pass the examination as a scholar and become a student member, then you are a person with fame.Not only can you see officials without kneeling, but you can also be exempted from taxes and corvee, which can be regarded as squeezing into the ruling class.

As long as you get fame, some merchants entrust their family business to you, and you can live comfortably just by eating the rake every year.Moreover, if you have good grades and are selected into a county school or even a government school, the state will have to send money and food every month to let you eat public meals.

However, after thinking about it, Gao Wen suddenly smiled wryly and shook his head: "Unfortunately, this road is going to be cut off, what should I do next?"

It turned out that Gao Wen's current identity was a villager in Hancheng County.

The so-called Minzhuang was first set up in the early years of Hongwu, and it was mainly responsible for military tasks. Its responsibilities mainly included defending cities, guarding granaries, treasuries, and prisons, and at the same time conducting military training.Later, the world was peaceful for a long time, and military drills became a mere formality, and no one mentioned it again.The strong ones are only used for strict inspections and arrests of bandits entering the country.

Of course, there are three classes of yamen servants in the job of arresting bandits, and there is also the army.Therefore, the role of Minzhuang is to clean the streets and check directions. To put it bluntly, they are cleaners and urban management.

In fact, in the late Yongle period, Minzhuang had been abolished and incorporated into the inspection department.Only because Shaanxi is the location of the three sides, the frontier of the Ming Dynasty's frontier defense, this semi-militarized organization still remains.

In fact, after traveling to the Ming Dynasty, no matter what he did was just a means of earning a living for Gao Wen, he was born to be useful, and with his own ability and foresight of history, he would be successful in the future.

The terrible thing is that Min Zhuang eats public food, and he belongs to the category of subordinate officials in the Ming Dynasty, and he and his descendants are not allowed to take the imperial examination.

As a child from a poor family, studying and becoming an official can be said to be the only means that can change one's destiny.Without the imperial examination, the road ahead suddenly became less bright.

(End of this chapter)