A few days after Pei Zhi left, a group of prisoners began to be transferred.
The officers responsible for escorting them cursed loudly.
It's a long way to go, and it lasts for several months. It's obvious that we can't celebrate the New Year at home. How can we not be angry?
What I didn’t say is that if the prisoner’s family doesn’t take care of themselves, they will suffer a lot on the road.
The winter solstice is approaching, and the officials, who have already been slacking off, suddenly have to approve many cases. They go down to the counties, go to the Ministry of Punishment and even the Dali Temple, and they are extremely busy.
In the past, many prisoners who could receive light sentences would be directly sentenced to exile in Andong Mansion.
There are a lot of petty thefts and bullies, which are not big things in theory, but this will open up old scores with them, and they would like to have all eighteen generations of their ancestors tried, all the bad things they have done in the past be recorded, and sentenced to exile.
Most of the bandits hiding in the mountains were dispersed during the amnesty in the first year of Jianji, but there were still some who remained. They usually farmed in the mountains and robbed business travelers part-time, but this time they suffered a head-on attack. The villagers reported each other, and again
A large number of people were arrested and sentenced to exile.
For a time, the entire Henan Prefecture, Ruzhou, and Zhengzhou launched a campaign to strengthen public security. All the evil spirits and snake gods were unlucky and were almost wiped out. A group of corrupt officials were also punished, all were arrested, and Anton was exiled.
Mansion.
Of course, there are also benefits.
Some prisoners who deserved death were inexplicably given light sentences and were exiled to Andong Mansion - just as in history, the British Empire artificially reduced the amount of money involved in many prisoners who were worthy of death sentences and commuted their sentences to exile. The fate of these people has also developed huge changes.
Changes, on the whole, have been beneficial.
The imperial court acted so quickly and resolutely that the people below naturally did not dare to neglect him. If there were not enough officials, they even dispatched state soldiers and local regiments to help escort him to Qingzhou and Dengzhou for centralized detention.
On this day, Qin Erlang from Xin'an County, Henan Prefecture met a group of eastbound prisoners on the road.
With the mercy of the saint, except for the most vicious criminals, the other exiled prisoners did not need to wear shackles to travel. Therefore, they walked quite easily. Dozens of men and women, escorted by almost the same number of officials, headed eastward - women and children, basically
They were family members who voluntarily accompanied the exile.
Qin Erlang was wearing a patched and patched camel hair brown cloth military uniform. He was holding a knife in his left hand and holding a horse in his right hand. The country road was narrow, so he took shelter in front of the courtyard wall of a house.
At this time, it was just dawning, and a ray of morning sun shone through the shade of the trees in the yard.
It was deep cold and heavy dew, and crystal water droplets rolled around on the vegetable leaves, and soon fell to the ground.
The hens rushed out of the morning mist, and their chicken paws were carefully searched in the field. Every time they found
As soon as they eat something, they will coo happily and even fight with each other.
The owner of the house also got up and ran straight to the hens.
"Cuckoo..." The hen struggled fiercely. A big hand grasped its neck tightly and carried it to the well. The sharp knife easily cut the hen's throat, then put its head down and poured the blood into the bowl.
middle.
There is boiled hot water nearby, and the owner directly washes, scalds and plucks the hens.
The winter solstice is here. After a year of hard work, you must reward yourself and your family.
"Qin Lizheng is here." Zhou Dalang, who was killing the chicken, put down his sharp knife, wiped the handle carelessly, and greeted him respectfully...
Qin Lizheng glanced at the yard, walked over and patted Zhou Dalang on the shoulder, saying: "Have a good time during the festival. After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, go to the county for training."
"This..." Zhou Dalang's face turned pale.
There have been conscriptions before, but it was his father who went there. But his father got suddenly ill and died suddenly a few months ago, so now he can only do it.
Qin Lizheng glanced at him and said calmly: "It's true that you can live a comfortable life, but you can't forget your duty of fighting. Your father built this business with his swords and spears, so don't let him fall.
His reputation is so great. I think back in those days, Zhou Tiejian was a good player and was unparalleled in battle."
"Yes! Yes!" Zhou Dalang replied with an ugly face: "I just didn't know about this recruitment.
What happened?"
Qin Lizheng pointed at the exiled prisoners walking slowly on the road and said
: "Did you see the prisoners who were exiled to Anton Mansion?"
"I saw it." Zhou Dalang's expression became even worse. Could it be that he wanted to go on an expedition to Anton Mansion?
"They are going to Andong Mansion. They are poor and have nothing. Naturally, they need the imperial court to allocate supplies. We were named by the Ministry of War to escort a batch of grain and grass." Qin Lizheng said briefly: "They will be transferred from Hanjiacang City.
Go to Qingzhou. The soldiers of the state cannot be moved lightly, and the countrymen of Tutuan will be dispatched."
Zhou Dalang let out a long sigh of relief, it was much better than the worst-case scenario he expected.
"Husband, it's time to eat." Zhou Dalang's wife picked up the two sleepy children, sat at the table, and then brought sticky millet porridge, refreshing pickles and some cheese.
"If you have time, you might as well..." Zhou Dalang said with a forced smile.
Qin Lizheng waved his hand and led the horse away.
The life of Zhou Dalang's family is decent, which can be seen from the quality of breakfast. It is impossible for ordinary people to eat such thick and sticky rice porridge. In fact, in his early years, he followed Shao Sheng to conquer the world, moved all the way eastward, and immigrated to Henan Prefecture.
The people of Kansai are living well.
The family raises a lot of livestock, which can be used for milking and making cheese. The farmland has good harvests under the irrigation canals extending in all directions, and the output is high. The family also has an orchard and a mulberry forest, which provides a lot of income.
With such good days, it’s no wonder that they don’t want to go out and fight. It’s not a bad thing to drag them to the battlefield from time to time. Otherwise, if one day the Forbidden Army is defeated and suffers heavy losses, and they want to reorganize a new army, I’m afraid they won’t be qualified.
of troops.
The figures of the exiled prisoners have gradually faded away.
Zhou Dalang chased after him out of the courtyard and stood on tiptoe to look. Outside the peaceful and peaceful Henan Mansion, it looked like it was not peaceful. The world was really tormenting the common people!
He returned home, took out the steps passed down by his father, and danced lightly, trying to regain the feeling of practicing when he was a boy.
******
When the exiled prisoners passed through Luoyang, the Winter Solstice Festival had already passed.
Zhang Wu, who comes from Jinjiang County, Quanzhou, is bidding farewell to several fellow villagers.
They are all a bunch of poor students with no background, and even the court officials are unwilling to take them on the road. This shows that they really have no family support.
One or two of these people have meritorious titles, namely the Ming Jing of the former Tang Dynasty. The new dynasty recognized the meritorious names of the former Tang Dynasty, but also opened an additional hole. Even if they had the meritorious status of the former dynasty, they could still take the exam for the meritorious titles of the new dynasty. This is
The two students who had passed the Ming Jing examination wanted to try their luck and try again to become a Jinshi in the new dynasty...
However, they were not very confident either. After hearing what Zhang Wu relayed about Li Mo's words, their hearts moved and they planned to go to Anton Mansion to serve as officials. Zhang Wu was here to see them off.
There is no doubt that this is a huge gamble. Zhang Wu actually did not make up his mind at first. However, after finding out the identity of the construction engineer Li Mo in a roundabout way, Zhang Wu no longer hesitated and made up his mind completely - Jiyin County
Gong's grandson has gone to Andong Mansion to practice, what else do you have to hesitate?
"I've also made inquiries in the past few days to find out." Zhang Wu said: "The Anton Mansion is in urgent need of people who can read and write. If you are familiar with the format of official correspondence, they will open their doors to welcome you. Alas, to be honest, I am all
I don’t want to take the exam anymore and go directly to Lushun to see if there are any opportunities.”
Wang Shenzhi, the governor of Fujian's mighty army, has a reputation for being eager for talents. Everyone believed it at first, but after a few years of observation, they found that he was only polite to famous scholars. At the very least, you still need to have a Jinshi.
Without fame, it would be difficult to enter his shogunate as an official, let alone a state or county official position dominated by local powerful men.
Fujian students have no chance in Fujian. Doesn’t this force them to develop abroad?
Zhang Wu has made up his mind that he will not return to his hometown in Quanzhou even if he fails to pass the Jinshi examination. If the Anton Mansion is really full of gold, then he doesn't mind going there to make a living.
"Brother Yu is going to explore the road first." A middle-aged Confucian scholar with a thick accent said, "Even if you can't be an official, it's not bad to be a civil servant."
As soon as these words came out, something was wrong in the atmosphere.
None of you here has been taking the exam for many years. The road to the scientific exam is long and lonely, and the bitterness of it is really inhumane. Some people lose confidence after taking the exam, accept the reality, and start to
He began to make plans to support his family.
But this is not easy. Which feudal town would use people who have Ming Jing or even no fame?
Anton Mansion was established just a few years ago, and it is very remote. It also faces the threat of Khitan. Many people are unwilling to go there. This is an opportunity for them.
As long as you join a job and have an official position, even if you don't have any fame, you can be promoted by one or two levels through seniority, which is enough. If you have an unexpected encounter, it will be even more serious. Promotion and other trivial matters.
"Be sure to write a letter back when you go." Zhang Wu held his hand and said eagerly: "I found out today that there are also scholars from his town who plan to try their luck. Kansai and Henan studies are still there
Select students to go to Anton Mansion. If you arrive late, you may not have a chance. "
Naturally, Fujian was not the only scholar from other towns who came to Luoyang to study. Somehow, the news that it was easy for scholars to get promoted if they went to Andong Mansion spread like wildfire in Luoyang, and soon spread to every corner. Dare to implement it
, the other disciples from the feudal town who made up their minds to go to Andong Mansion also made their decision resolutely.
Competition is not as slight as imagined.
"Definitely, definitely!" said the middle-aged Confucian scholar: "After I go there, as soon as I can find a way, I will write to Brother Zhang immediately."
Zhang Wu thanked him repeatedly and said goodbye to all the fellow villagers.
On the nearby post road, several horses galloped past.
The exiled prisoners were almost knocked to the ground. Women and children screamed and panicked. Some even fell to the ground in shock.
The officer responsible for escorting them even cursed loudly and tried to throw them off their horses.
Kang Fu and Zhao Jing looked at the busy officials and prisoners, laughed loudly, and drove away.
The soldiers and horses have not moved, but the food and grass have gone first. In order to ensure a smooth northern inspection next year, the Daxia court has already started taking action in advance.