In the spring of the fifth year of Wanli in the capital, the neck was very short, and there was still a bit of a chilly north wind in late March. By mid-April, it was too hot to wear cotton robes.
Li Chaodou, who is less than forty years old but has been tortured by life like an old man, holds the leather robe he just redeemed from the pawn shop, looks at the dark plaster on it, and smiles bitterly. Even though the weather is too hot to wear it now
But because he only had a piece of leather and had some money, he quickly redeemed this robe. Otherwise, the words on the ticket, "The fur coat was torn by insects and rats," would inevitably become true.
When he walked quickly back to the rented house, he saw clusters of grass sprouting from the cracks in the roof tiles, and he couldn't help but have a headache. Because he jumped into a river at the end of last year because he was so poor, Xinmin Daily published several issues of Beijing
Investigation into the current situation of official survival - The emperor gave each official in the capital a reward of five taels of silver, which allowed Li Chao Doujia to celebrate the New Year. Despite this, his living conditions did not improve at all.
In April of this year, with the conclusion of the Great Court Meeting, the imperial court announced to the world that the Ming Dynasty was about to start its reform, and the fifth year of Wanli was the first year of the reform. Li Chaodou heard that ministers had already submitted a report, suggesting that the emperor change the Yuan Dynasty next year, but he didn't know what it was.
Charter.
The reform edict has not yet been issued. According to the Capital Daily, the emperor has established a "special reform class" and the prime minister Zhang Juzheng is also the prime minister for reform. The emperor has issued an edict to solicit opinions on drafting the reform edict from across the country.
.
Although the imperial edict was still being drafted, some small things had begun to change. This made Li Chaodou feel very good - the issues that had been discussed for a long time in the court before were resolved very quickly as long as they were included in the special reform class.
For example, the policy of increasing the salary of Beijing officials was discussed for a long time before the year. After the year, I heard that the court also discussed it several times, and the Ministry of Household Affairs strongly blocked it on the grounds that there was no silver in Taicang. However, less than five years after it was included in the reform matters
By the end of the day, Li Chaodou had already received a lot of money - reissued starting from January of the fifth year of Wanli, four taels per month, totaling 16 taels. Because the reissues were all in cash, for Li Chaodou, it was almost as much as his salary.
times.
With these sixteen taels, plus the fifty taels that the Ministry of Rites gave him as a subsidy after jumping into the river, Li Chaodou finally paid back the principal and interest of the loan shark, and escaped from the nightmare that he could not escape from.
With a relaxed mood, he threw the leather robe to his wife who was recovering from a serious illness, but he stood at the door and watched. His wife said at home: "If you have nothing to do, go out and buy some meat. The house has been empty for half a month."
Looks a bit fishy." After saying that, he handed over a bunch of copper coins. Li Chaodou took them but didn't take them away. He was still looking around.
Li Chaodou's wife was puzzled and asked: "What are you doing there?" Li Chaodou said: "You don't understand, I want to make a lot of money today." The old woman laughed angrily and said: "What do you think is the salary?
, how can we grow hair, if the wind blows our tongues!"
Li Chaodou smiled and said, "Haven't you heard the saying 'if you are poor, you want to change'? If I complete this business, I will earn at least fifty taels." His wife listened to his bragging and looked at him with a smile, as if she was high-spirited after being awarded a Jinshi.
It seems like my husband is back again.
Li Chaodou ignored her and kept looking around at the door. After a long time, when he saw people moving at the entrance of the alley, Li Chaodou coughed lightly, closed the door and went out.
As soon as I went out, I saw Shen Maoxue, a son of Xuancheng imperial examination who had rented a house in this alley and was taking the Dingchou examination, coming towards me.
When Li Chaodou saw Shen Mao walking like a master, he smiled and said, "Ms. Shen, has the court set a date for the examination?"
When Shen Maoxue saw Li Chaodou greeting him, he quickly saluted and said, "I've met Mr. Li. Yes, the announcement has finally been posted - it's scheduled for the 25th of this month, less than ten days away."
Li Chaodou laughed after hearing this and said: "Although it is two months late, the imperial court has given you ten taels of living expenses each as a distinguished scholar, so it is worth it."
Shen Maoxue laughed after hearing this and said: "Yes, I didn't know why the imperial court postponed the examination before, but now I finally know. It seems that they want to select talents for this 'reform'. As for these ten taels of silver, it is not enough to buy the manuscript - —These days, the collected works of Mr. Wang Jiefu are hard to come by."
Li Chaodou heard this and saw that he was empty-handed, so he smiled and said: "Well, it is fate that you and I are neighbors. In the past few days, when I had nothing to do at the ministry, I also copied some articles by Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng and Wang Anshi. --Do you want it?"
After hearing this, Shen Maoxue was overjoyed and said, "Master Li, aren't you kidding me?"
Li Chaodou pretended to be angry and said, "What are you doing to entertain you when I have nothing to do? Just wait." After saying that, he pretended to return home, took out a thick stack of manuscripts, and handed them to Shen Maoxue.
Shen Maoxue took it and flipped through it. He found that Zhang Juzheng's previous memorials and instructions accounted for the majority. There were dozens of copies, and the other ten or so were Wang Anshi's articles. Now take this information out and sell it for fifty taels. It's easy. If it is sold to a printing house, it can be sold for two hundred taels, but in that case, Li Chaodou's copying of official documents will inevitably be exposed, because most of these materials may not have been published in the newspaper.
Shen Mao was quite wealthy among the scholars. When he saw Li Chaodou looking at him with a smile, he knew what was going on. He bowed deeply and said: "Thank you, Mr. Li, for your favor. If you succeed in this course, this kindness will be unforgettable! Please give me your thanks." Wait a minute, I’ll come as soon as I go.”
After saying that, he ran back to his room in three steps and two steps at a time, took out the one hundred taels of silver in his bag, pulled off a piece of furoshiki and wrapped it up, and ran out quickly. As expected, Li Chaodou was still standing there waiting. With.
Shen Maoxue bowed again and said: "It's hard for Mr. Li to copy these - it's just a matter of polishing the pen, just in case something happens, please don't refuse!" After saying that, he handed over the small baggage.
Li Chaodou grasped the small bundle tightly with his big hands, but handed it over and said: "We agreed to give it to Mr. Shen, how can I get this money? Don't be ashamed to kill me!"
Shen Maoxue said with an embarrassed look on his face: "My wife was seriously ill before, and I always wanted to visit. Because of my busy schedule, I was rude and unbecoming of a human being! This is just a little bit to make up for my mistakes. If Li If you don't want it, sir, I will burn the manuscript right now! Please don't resign!"
Li Chaodou's face first turned red and then turned blue. His expression was complicated and difficult to understand. Suddenly, his eyes became red. He turned around and left with the silver, chanting: "Following the money and wealth, copying books is also a plan for rice! Copy!" The book is also for the purpose of rice and rice!" He staggered home as he sang and cried.
Shen Maoxue didn't know that Li Chaodou had been an official in the capital since he passed the imperial examination. Because his family was poor, all the tax exemptions were used by relatives in his hometown - just for this, he still needed to provide financial support from time to time.
There are as many dignitaries as dogs in the capital. He, a small official in the capital, doesn't even have a shop to take refuge and support him. He has only lived on his salary these years. Last year, his old wife and mother fell ill one after another, which really pushed Li Chaodou to a dead end.
The copying of Zhang Juzheng's memorial this time shattered the self-respect that Li Chaodou had been proud of for many years. As he walked, two lines of tears rolled down his face. Shen Maoxue watched his back and sighed in his heart: "This Although these two lines of poems are adapted from Du Gongbu's poems, they are also of extraordinary quality. It can be seen that this Master Li is actually a man of unrecognized talents - alas, it is the same feeling in ancient and modern times!"
...
Not to mention that after Li Chaodou returned home, his wife thought he had gone out to rob the road, and was frightened to death by the one hundred taels of silver. At this time, Tong Chizhong, who was walking on the mountain road in the southern part of the empire, was also tormented by the dense subtropical forest in front of him. Half dead.
Tong Chizhong, who had been on a sea boat for more than ten days and had vomited up all the gall water, had not finished repairing for seven days before sitting on a river boat for more than ten days. When the river boat entered Poyang Lake, Tong Chizhong thought he had entered the sea again. ——At that time, I almost wiped my neck with a knife.
After finally getting off the ship, for several days, Tong Chizhong, like his comrades, was swaying while walking. Even though he knew it was flat ground, his eyes were shaking so much that he still walked one step deeper than the other.
Seeing that the morale of the army was declining, the commander-in-chief Liu Xian set up camp not far from the Yuanjiang River. After more than ten days of repairs, the new army's physical strength and morale were restored. Afterwards, Liu Xian was preparing to march through Guizhou under the leadership of his guide. They headed straight to Yunnan from the deep mountains and old forests - but the Ministry of War sent a new edict from the emperor. Ling Yunyi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, wanted the army to encircle and destroy Luopang Yao. Zhu Yijun asked Liu Xian to bring the new army to wish him a helping hand.
The edict made it clear that before the attack on Toungoo, the new army was originally planned to train in the south for half a year, gradually getting used to the soil and water, and also learning mountain warfare. This time, General Ling Yunyi recruited 150,000 troops from Guangdong and Guangxi, divided into ten sentries. The iron wall surrounded the Yao people, and the main force was composed of warriors who were familiar with mountain warfare. This just allowed the new army to learn the skills of mountain warfare - the advantage in strength was huge, and there was no possibility of failure. Where could I find such an opportunity to train troops? go?
After Liu Xian received the order, he secretly complained in his heart, thinking that there was no such method of using troops and that the central government was completely fooling around - in fact, this was really the wrong fault of the imperial court.
Since the 10th year of Jiajing reign, the Yao people in Guangdong and Guangxi have engaged in large-scale uprisings and riots, which have become a chronic disease in Guangdong and Guangxi. In the 12th year of Jiajing period, Chaozhou garrison Zhang You attacked more than 130 Yao villages and killed many people without calculation, thus maintaining peace for decades. .
During Mu Zong's period, the Yao people's power in Longshui Luopang flourished again, and the imperial court lost control in the entire Longshui area of Guangdong. The Yao people said that "the official has ten thousand soldiers, and I have ten thousand mountains" and was very arrogant. The then Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Yin Zhengmao, for Fang Yao even moved the Governor's Palace from Wuzhou, Guangxi to Zhaoqing, Guangzhou.
After the martial arts was established, when Yin Zhengmao was transferring the capital from within, he was obsessed with the fact that he had not completed his achievements in Ping Yao during his tenure. So he combined the talents of the martial arts staff to formulate the "Guangdong and Guangxi Ping Yao Policy" and reported it to Zhu Yijun.
Because Zhu Yijun wanted to attack the Taungu dynasty, his request to Ling Yunyi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, was to prevent the Yao movement from expanding. However, on February 20th of the fifth year of Wanli, Luo Pangyao gathered 15,000 troops and actually broke through Gaoyao County. He killed the county magistrate and robbed all the granaries and banks in the county.
This slap in the face was so severe that Ling Yunyi did not dare to hide it and reported to the capital in a hurry. Because it was too far away from the capital, by the time the report came, Liu Xian had already led the new army to Songjiang Mansion - this was when he received the report at the Yuanjiang River. to the reasons for the change in the battle plan.