What about Sun Shiwan's family? In fact, they didn't regard this scholar as a "teacher". They gave him very meager training. Three meals a day were vegetables, a bowl of tofu, and two cat fish were given as meat dishes. At the beginning, As a reward on the 15th, it is just a duck rack to make soup, and there is no oil or water at all. Sun Shiwan's wife often criticizes Sang and Huai, saying that the money to hire a husband is not as good as "raising a pig"; the husband has to pay for dinner every night I complained and privately scolded the Sun family for being "mean" and "all their descendants have to beg for food." Their appearance of "respecting teachers and teaching" but secretly hating each other made me deeply feel the hypocrisy of the old society. .
This kind of study career lasted for more than a year. Later I went home because the family couldn't open the fire.
Speaking of which, it is said that this was the so-called rule at that time: there must be five boys in the family before a military household can take the imperial examination. At that time, I was the only son in the family, and my father could only try his best to give birth to a younger brother for me. Unexpectedly, he gave birth to five brothers in a row. They were all younger sisters, and the family was very poor. After the fifth sister was born, my father gave up his thoughts and let me go home. Later I was transferred to the Political Department to engage in political work, and I learned about it during training and study. , in fact, the restriction imposed by the Ming Dynasty court on military households taking the imperial examination was only to restrict one person from each household to take the examination. My family fully complied with the requirements at that time. At that time, my father did not know where he got the news from or who was deliberately teasing him. He, an illiterate and honest man, was a blessing in disguise. If I had taken the imperial examination, how would I have had the chance to join the glorious Fubo Army?
After I got home, I realized that the pot was really in trouble at home. Although my sisters were young, they couldn't stand the large number of people and they ate too much. My parents couldn't afford it, so they had to sell my eldest sister to the Sun family as a maid. He also gave his third sister as a child bride, hoping to give her a way to live, but she was tortured to death by her parents-in-law within a few years. Speaking of this incident, I still can't forget the day she was taken away and she cried. She looked like she was begging her parents not to go - I couldn't help crying when I thought about this. I really wish she could live a good life like this for a few days! But at that time, the poor really had no choice.
The family had a large population, and it was a time when the body was growing and needed nutrition, so there was never enough to eat. So I went to the mountains to cut firewood to supplement the family income. I picked up a load of firewood every day and went to the street, sold half of it, and gave half to Brother Hai. Go do some part-time work, and at least you will have three meals a day. Every time Brother Hai kills a pig, he always leaves some offal meat that cannot be sold as a gift in return. Thanks to Brother Hai, I can see some meat in my house from time to time - This is how we support each other and share weal and woe.
I only have two memories of this era, and that is hunger. It was really hungry. It was as hungry as having a cat hiding in my stomach and scratching my intestines 24 hours a day. The other one was more terrible than hunger, but I couldn’t find it. to the direction of life. I lost Shu Nian and completely gave up the thought of taking the imperial examinations to honor my ancestors. The next path is to follow my father's example and give my grandson a lifetime of land and leave the task of declassification to the next generation; The other is that like Uncle Chicken, if you charge into the battle as a big-headed soldier, you may be able to exchange for military success and wealth. But I am not happy with either path. At that time, I vaguely felt that working as a long-term laborer farming for free like my father was just a job. It's just a cycle; I'm even more instinctively unwilling to be the main soldier who harms the people.
Just when I was confused both physically and mentally, the guide who led me to the great cause of the Senate appeared.
Uncle Chicken is my father's younger brother, and my Yao Shu is the "Caojun" in the guard house.
In my childhood memories, what Uncle Chicken used to do was no different from those of the soldiers. He was idle all day long, picking quarrels and provoking troubles. Later, Wang Zunde brazenly launched the so-called "Second Encirclement and Suppression", and Uncle Chicken also followed the Ming bandits.
During the war on Hainan Island, he was taken prisoner on Chengmai Beach. It took several years before he worked to redeem himself and return home.
Uncle Chicken has changed since he returned home!
This was my first feeling when I saw Uncle Chicken. In any case, I can't connect this strong black man with bright eyes, walking like the wind and sitting like a bell with the sickly second-rate guy in my memory. Looking back now
, Uncle Chicken who reported back to the guard station looked more like a Fubo Army soldier than a pseudo-Ming bandit. What surprised me even more was that Uncle Chicken, who had never been to school for a day, actually knew how to read! Then
It must have been the second month after Uncle Chicken came back. I took out the Analects of Confucius that I had copied in the past and read them in the yard. Uncle Chicken happened to be coming back from outside. When he passed by me, he glanced at me and said disdainfully: "The Analects of Confucius?"
Kong Laoer’s stuff is useless.” I was shocked at the time. If it were my father, he couldn’t tell whether what I was reading was The Analects of Confucius or something else. I said, “Uncle Chicken, how do you know this is
"The Analects of Confucius?" Uncle Chicken pointed at the page I was turning and said with a smile: "This sentence is 'Learn and practice it from time to time, it will be a pleasure', right? Haha, are you stupid? You uncle, I can read!"
"I was very surprised at the time, so I begged him to ask the whole story. It turned out that Uncle Chicken had once considered staying in Lingao, and in Lingao, it is difficult to be illiterate. If you want to find a better job, you must have a diploma. In Lingao, you must have a diploma.
There happened to be a literacy program in the Gao prisoner-of-war camp, so Uncle Jizi studied hard and actually gave him a B diploma. He also gave him a big name with a homonym for himself, called Liu Ji.
. He said that he had passed the B-diploma, which is equivalent to a civil servant examination, and whether he joined the army, went to a military academy or became a civil servant, it was all a matter of course. If it were not for the fear that he would be treated as a deserter by the Ming government,
If our family is implicated, he will not come back.
Now I was extremely surprised. This has been unheard of in China for thousands of years! I pestered Uncle Chicken to talk about what he saw and heard in Lingao, and Uncle Chicken was willing to tell us
These little kids "talked about the past", taught us how to write "new characters", and taught us how to speak "Newspeak". During those dark days, Uncle Chicken showed us a completely different world, which made me
The days have become a little brighter. What big iron ship that moves without wind, what kind of steel behemoth is as strong as an ox (Editor's note: it's an excavator), what kind of big iron ship that blows out black smoke but moves very fast on the track.
Train, at that time I thought Uncle Chicken was bragging. I only wanted to listen to him talk about the training and fighting of the Fubo Army. When I heard about these technologies, I quickly interrupted. It wasn’t until I arrived in Lingao that I realized that Uncle Chicken was not bragging.
!At this time, I completely sneered at the tricks of Kong Laoer and his disciples. Just like Uncle Chicken scolded us when he "told us about ancient times", can the Analects of Confucius make a train run? Can it make an army victorious in every battle? Can it?
Can the land grow enough food to feed people? Can the people live a good life? If it can't be done, then why should his disciples sit on the people's heads and shit?
(Editor's note, verified by our investigation: Uncle Chicken is the former deputy mayor of Zhaoqing City Liu Ji, who has served successively as liaison officer of the Zhaoqing Municipal Health Office, director of the Propaganda Department of the Zhaoqing Municipal Government, deputy county magistrate of Fengkai County, Zhaoqing City and National Army Central Committee
Captain, Fengkai County Magistrate and other positions. He has received a Chairman's Commendation Order, two May Day Labor Medals, and all three levels of Senate and People's Service Medals. He has made great contributions to the liberation and reconstruction of Guangdong).
AD 1635 is destined to be the most memorable year in my life. One is that just before the Chinese New Year of this year, my eighth brother Fa Zai was born. Although my younger sisters who did not know how to worry were very happy, my parents were still there.
I was tormented by the joy of the birth of a new life and the sorrow of adding another mouth. In order to reduce the burden on the family, Uncle Chicken said that he had a place to eat and rarely went home to eat; I worked part-time for the Sun family without asking for wages.
Just to eat, I saved a mouthful of food for the family. I finally managed to survive so that my little brother would not die of malnutrition.
The other thing is much bigger.
This year, our Fubo Army swore to cross the sea for the Northern Expedition. On March 1, Guangzhou was liberated. When the news came, Xiong Wencan, the then governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, was in panic all day long. He called the guards to mobilize troops and issued lists to organize group exercises. Originally, it was used
People who didn't want to be soldiers were all taken to be soldiers. But my family and Sun Shiwan's family had always had a feud, and the guards knew about it. The officer in charge of Latin wanted to complete the task, but was afraid of offending Sun Shiwan, so he didn't dare
They forced me to be a young man, and then came to my house and asked me to register. My father did not dare to say a word and just sat aside and sighed. My mother was afraid that I would die in vain on the battlefield, so she told me to run away. But how could I run away? Let's talk about this.
If you run away at a critical moment, you will be decapitated if you are caught badly. Uncle Chicken went to argue with the recruiting officer, saying that my family only has two men including Uncle Chicken, and Uncle Chicken has already gone to serve as a soldier.
, according to the rules, it is enough for him to go alone, why should I go with him? The recruiting officer pointed at my younger brother Fa Zai in the arms of my fourth sister and said, Fa Zai is here, so I am considered Yu Ding, so according to the rules, I have to go too.
Enlisted in the army. Uncle Chicken was so angry that he yelled loudly, cursing that the official was so evil that he would definitely die a good death. But the county magistrate was not as good as taking charge now, so what else could he do? In the end, Uncle Chicken had an idea. He told my parents, Fu Bo
The army is a civilized army and does not kill prisoners. As long as I follow him, he will keep the jade intact and return it to Zhao. So I reported for duty.
The next day after registration was Dian Mao. We lived in a camp, which was still some distance away from Zhaoqing. So Uncle Ji and others set off on the fourth day of the morning and arrived at the school field early in the morning to gather. The meeting time
The time is set at Mao hour, which is now around six o'clock in the morning, so it is called Dian Mao. According to the rules, we arrive at the playground and line up in a queue. When we arrive at Mao hour, the officials above will take the roll call called "Mao book".
They were called one by one. According to the rules, those who failed to be called would be beaten with military sticks. If they were to go on an expedition, they might even be beheaded if they were late. But the actual situation was completely different.