What about Sun Shiwan’s family? In fact, he did not regard this scholar as a "teacher", and the training given to him was very meager. Three meals a day were vegetables, and a bowl of tofu and two cat fish were considered as meat dishes. As a reward on the first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, 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." Her husband complains every night at dinner, privately calling the Sun family "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 probably lasted for more than a year. Later I went home. Because the family really can’t open the pot.
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 my younger brother. Unexpectedly, he gave birth to five brothers in a row. They are all sisters, and the family is very poor. After my fifth sister was born, my father gave up and asked me to return home. Later, I was transferred to the Political Department to engage in political work. It was only during training and study that I learned that the Ming Dynasty’s restriction on military households taking the imperial examination was only to limit one person per household to take the exam. My family fully met the requirements at that time. At that time, my father didn’t know whether he had received the news from somewhere, or whether someone was deliberately teasing him, an honest and illiterate person. It 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?
It was only after I got home that I discovered that the pot was indeed unopened at home. Although the sisters were young, they couldn't stand the large number of people and ate too much. My parents couldn't afford it, so they had to sell my eldest sister to the Sun family as a maid, and gave my third sister as a child bride. They originally wanted to give her a way to survive, 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 way she cried and begged her parents not to go on the day she was taken away―I couldn’t stop crying when I thought of this. I really wish she could live such a good life 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 support my family. Every day I pick up a load of firewood and go to the streets, sell half of it and give half to Brother Hai. If I go do some part-time work, at least I'll have three meals a day. Every time Brother Hai kills a pig, he always leaves some offal meat that is unlikely to be sold as a gift in return. Thanks to Brother Hai, my family can see some meat and vegetables from time to time - this is how we have a relationship where we share weal and woe.
I only have two memories of this era, and that is hunger. I was so hungry, as hungry as if there was a cat hiding in my stomach and scratching my intestines 24 hours a day. Another thing that is more terrible than hunger is that I can’t find the direction in life. I lost Shu Nian and completely gave up the thought of taking the imperial examination to honor my ancestors. The next path is to be like his father, give Sun Shiwan a lifetime of land, and leave the task of denaturalization to the next generation; the other is to be like Uncle Chicken, charge into the battle as a leading soldier, and maybe gain military glory in exchange. . But I'm 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 cycle; and I was instinctively unwilling to work as a soldier who harmed 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 soldiers and gangsters, idling around all day long, picking fights and causing trouble. Later, Wang Zunde brazenly launched the so-called "Second Encirclement and Suppression". Uncle Jizi also followed the Ming bandits to fight on Hainan Island and was taken prisoner on the beach in Chengmai. It took several years before he worked and redeemed himself and returned home.
Uncle Chicken has changed after returning home!
This was my first feeling when I saw Uncle Chicken. No matter what, I can't connect this strong black man with shining eyes, who walks like the wind and sits 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, could actually read! It must have been the second month after Uncle Chicken came back. I took out the Analects of Confucius that I had copied out in the yard and read them. Uncle Chicken happened to be coming back from outside. He glanced at me when he passed by 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 wouldn’t be able to 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 over time, it is a pleasure', right? Haha, are you stupid? Your uncle and I can read!" I was very surprised at the time, so I begged him to ask him the whole story. It turns out that Uncle Chicken had once considered staying in Lingao. However, in Lingao, it is difficult for people to be illiterate. If you want to get a better job, you must have a diploma. In the Lingao prisoner-of-war camp, there happened to be a literacy program, so Uncle Jizi studied hard, and actually gave him a B diploma, and even gave him a tuba with a homonym for himself, called Liu Ji. He said that he had passed the Class B diploma, which is equivalent to a national examination, and whether he joined the army, went to a military academy or became a civil servant, it was all a matter of hands. If it weren't for the fear that he would be regarded as a deserter by the authorities and our family would be implicated, he would not have 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 also willing to "teach the ancients" to us little brats, teach us how to write "new characters" and teach us how to speak "new dialect". During those dark days, Uncle Chicken showed us a completely different world, which made my life a little brighter. What kind of big iron ship that moves without wind, what kind of steel behemoth is as strong as an ox (Editor’s note: that is, an excavator), what kind of big train is blowing black smoke but moving very fast on the track? At that time, I thought Uncle Chicken brags and only likes to hear him talk about the training and fighting of the Fubo Army. He quickly interrupts when he hears these technologies. It wasn’t until I arrived in Lingao that I realized that Uncle Chicken wasn’t 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 the train run? Can the army be victorious in every battle? Can the ground grow enough food to feed people? Can the people live a good life? Since he can't, then why should his disciples sit on the people's heads and shit?
(Editor's note, verified by our investigation: Uncle Ji Zai is the former deputy mayor of Zhaoqing City Liu Ji. He has served successively as liaison officer of the Zhaoqing Municipal Health Office, officer 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, Duanzhou District Magistrate of Zhaoqing City, Mayor of Zhaoqing City, etc. He has won one Chairman’s Commendation Order, two May 1st Labor Medals, and all three levels of Senate and People’s Service Medals. For Guangdong’s people made great contributions to liberation and reconstruction).
AD 1635 is destined to be the most memorable year in my life. One is that Badi Zai was born just before the Chinese New Year this year. Although my younger sisters, who don’t know how to worry, are very happy, my parents are suffering from the joy of the birth of a new life and the sorrow of having to open 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. So I worked part-time for the Sun family, not asking for wages, just to eat and save a mouthful of food for the family. Finally, he managed to survive, so that his little brother would not die of malnutrition.
The other thing is much bigger.
This year, our Fubo Army swore to cross the sea and conduct 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 organized group training. People who had no need to serve as soldiers were all taken to serve as soldiers. But my family and Sun Shiwan's family have always had an old relationship, and everyone in the guard station knows about it. The official in charge of Latin wanted to complete the task, but was afraid of offending Sun Shiwan, so he didn't dare to force me to be a young man, so he came to my house and asked me to register with coercion and inducement. My father didn't dare to say a word, he 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 quickly. But where can I run? Besides, if you run away at this juncture, if you are caught badly, you will be beheaded. Uncle Chicken went to argue with the recruiting officer, saying that including Uncle Chicken in my family, there were only two of them, and Uncle Chicken had already gone to serve as a soldier. According to the rules, only one of him was enough. Why should I do it too? Follow? The recruiting officer pointed at my younger brother Zai in the arms of my fourth sister and said, "Zai is here, so I am considered a remaining member and must enlist in the army according to the rules." Uncle Chicken was so angry that he yelled loudly, cursing the official for being so evil that he would definitely die a bad death. But if the county magistrate is not as good as taking charge now, what else can he do? In the end, Uncle Jizi had an idea. He told my parents that the Fubo Army was a civilized army and would not kill prisoners. As long as I followed him, he would keep me intact and return me to Zhao. So I reported in anyway.
The next day after registration was Dian Mao. We lived in a camp, which was still some distance from Zhaoqing. So Uncle Chicken and I and others set off on the fourth watch, and arrived at the school field early in the morning to gather. The meeting time was 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 all lined up in the playground, and at Mao hour, the officials above would take the roll call roll called "Mao book" and call our names one by one. According to the rules, those who fail to be called will be beaten with military sticks. If they are going to go on an expedition, they will even be beheaded if they are late. But the actual situation is completely different.
