Chapter 120 General School Hall: A Place for Poor Generals to Turn Over
When the soldiers in the New Army camp were worrying about gains and losses over the distribution of military pay and restructuring, a young man came to Yongning Gate, the south gate of the capital.
This young man's name is Fang Ruocheng. He is from a run-down hereditary family in Songshanwei, Zhejiang. This time he came here to honor his family name and make contributions. His goal is to enter the general school and let the Fang family return to the generals and become generals.
The lost glory is found again.
The Fang family is a well-established family in Songshanwei. Their ancestors can even be traced back to the wave of famous generals who followed Taizu to conquer the world at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. However, after nearly three hundred years of baptism, the Fang family has declined badly.
This is especially true for the Fang Ruocheng family.
His father was a hereditary Baihu. He died young a few years ago and passed the position of Baihu to Fang Ruocheng. Logically speaking, in the military hierarchy of the Ming Dynasty, Baihu was not at the bottom. In terms of future generations, it was at least considered a camp.
Regiment-level cadres. If it were a personal guard sequence in the capital, such as the hereditary hundred households of Jinyiwei, it would be even more remarkable. But for a declining hundred households in a declining military guard, this position passed down by Fang Ruocheng's ancestors has no gold content.
.
By Fang Ruocheng's generation, almost all of the military land left was taken over by big local households, and his family only had a dozen acres of irrigated land.
It seems that he can live a small life guarding these ten acres of land, but Fang Ruocheng doesn't want to live his life in such a mediocre way. He wants to turn over! The reality is cruel, and the chance of turning over from decline is very slim. These are troubled times.
There seem to be a lot of opportunities for soldiers. As long as they can lead troops to fight and win a few battles, their positions will surely rise. Zuo Liangyu, for example, got this advantage and became a supporting soldier in just ten years.
An army of over 100,000 soldiers.
However, Fang Ruocheng did not have such an opportunity, because he did not have any capital to make a comeback. What is the capital of an officer? In the current Ming Dynasty, it is easier said than done. It is easy to say that as long as you have a private army, you don’t need too many.
With twenty servants, you can actually become a small army leader. If you slowly fight a few battles, if you are lucky enough to survive, you can almost be promoted.
Fang Ruocheng didn't have the capital to start a business, let alone ten or twenty servants. It was difficult for his family to raise just one servant. Fang Ruocheng himself practiced riding without a horse, so he practiced on mules.
Just when he was despairing about his future, news came from the capital about the recruitment of Jiang School Hall. At first, Fang Ruocheng didn't think this was an opportunity, thinking that it would be just like the previous martial arts examinations with loud thunder and light rain.
In the end, you still have to fight for your family fortune!
It wasn't until March and April this year that he confirmed one thing from various sources. There is no need for family wealth to join the general academy and lead the army. After graduating from the general academy, students will directly divide their troops without recruiting private soldiers. Although they are only forty or fifty.
People, but this is enough for a low-level general to start his career! I heard that the first batch of graduates from the General Academy, the good ones can already lead eight or nine hundred soldiers, and the poor ones can also lead two to three hundred soldiers.
Hearing such news, Fang Ruocheng's first reaction was regret, and his second reaction was to quickly settle down with his family and rush to the capital for Qichen. He had already missed the opportunity to get the first share, but he couldn't miss it anymore. The emperor's money is thousands and thousands.
If you go to the general hall to recruit students late, you may not get the chance to lead actual soldiers.
Carrying the ancestral spear, he went all the way north, and it took him more than a month to reach the capital.
After entering the city from Yongning Gate, Fang Ruocheng went straight to the enrollment and registration office of General School Hall in Xiyuan.
"Hey! You're still a hereditary family member of the health center. Are you proficient in writing?" The teacher in the admissions office took the name card handed over by Fang Ruocheng. After a quick glance, he began to ask about the basic information.
Fang Ruocheng replied cautiously: "You know some words and you can read military books."
"Then you're basically proficient in writing and writing! Are you proficient in riding skills?"
"Slightly understood!"
"Can you count money and food?"
"Can do the math."
"Okay, the basic situation is pretty good. I have a few test questions here. You can pick one to answer and hand it over to me in an hour." The admissions officer took out a stack of test papers and asked Fang Ruocheng to pick one to answer.
He reached out and took out a roll of paper, took a rough look at it, and then started to answer on the table next to him.
The entrance examination paper was quite simple, basically a test on basic knowledge of literacy and arithmetic. It was so complicated that Fang Ruocheng had a hard time answering it.
While he was answering the questions, another student who was about to enter the general school came and his accent sounded like he was from Shanxi.
An hour later, Fang Ruocheng wanted to answer the questions for a while, but the examiner came and took away the test paper.
Seeing this, Fang Ruocheng had no choice but to give up and prepare to get up and leave the admissions office. He would first find a place to settle down and wait for the news.
"Fang Baihu, stay here for now. I'll give you a place to live after I finish judging this paper." Seeing that Fang Ruocheng was leaving, the admissions instructor quickly asked him to stay.
Can the paper be judged so quickly? Fang Ruocheng was a little surprised. He thought it would take at least two or three days to judge the paper. The instructor persuaded him to stay, so he had to sit in the lobby and wait for a while.
Less than half an hour later, the instructor came over with the paper and said: "Fang Baihu, your paper score is sixty-seven, which meets the admission standards of the general school. Come and mark the score, and then I will put it into the file for you.
, and then someone will be arranged to take you to the school to register. Tomorrow morning, your equestrian skills will be assessed. If you pass the equestrian skills, you can officially join the class. If you fail to pass the equestrian skills, you will be given a month to practice. If you pass the equestrian skills, you can also officially join.
Hall."
"Jiang Ming, I wonder if the regulations for the equestrian examination are strict? To be honest, Jian Ming, my equestrian skills were practiced on the mule at home. It is really difficult for me to get into the elegant hall." Fang Ruocheng actually passed the literary test. Fang Ruocheng looked at this admissions officer.
The instructor was easy to talk to, so he quickly took the opportunity to inquire about the equestrian assessment. He was really not very confident in his equestrian skills. He was originally from the south and didn't have a horse at home, so his level could not be imagined.
"Looking at your name, you are also the queen of the general family, and you also hold the hereditary position of a hundred households. Why don't you even have a horse in your family?"
"To be honest, the student's family is in dire straits and the family cannot afford a horse." Fang Ruocheng told the truth very embarrassedly.
"I never thought that the guard house would decline like this. Don't worry too much. You can be hired as long as you have a rough knowledge of equestrian. However, I'm afraid it will be a bit involved when we divide the subjects into different subjects in the future."
"Dividing subjects? Dare I ask what the rules are for dividing subjects?"
"At the beginning of the month, His Majesty made adjustments to the general school. From now on, the school will be divided into three sections: horse and infantry command section, artillery command section and engineer command section. About one month after enrollment, the school will be divided into three sections according to the students' wishes and expertise.
And the results will be divided into subjects. If equestrian is difficult to show, it will be difficult to be assigned to the horse infantry command subject."
And this matter, which of these three subjects is better? Fang Ruocheng, who was unaware of this matter, quickly asked: "May I ask the teacher, which of these three subjects will have the best future in the future?"
"I can't say for sure. His Majesty said that these three subjects are treated as one, and there is no difference." The instructor's answer was very official. In fact, he knew in his heart that the horse and infantry command section must have a good future. But this thing is in front of other people.
From a human perspective, it’s definitely not possible to say it directly.