At this time, Gao Wuruo didn't know that there was an ambush ahead. He was still thinking about whether the journey to Xinzheng would be fast enough for him to return home before the New Year.
The New Year has extraordinary significance to the Chinese people, especially for a person who has rarely been able to go back to his hometown to celebrate the Spring Festival as an adult. If there is a chance to catch up, it must be done.
When Gao Wuruo was still underage, he felt that he was not the material to be admitted to the imperial examination, so he wrote to his eldest brother Gao Pangshi to discuss it. Finally, he got his brother's permission to go to the capital, and he had the favor of "study at the Imperial College".
"Studying in the Imperial College" should often not be regarded as a verb in the Ming Dynasty, but should be regarded as a noun.
In the early days of Hongwu, students of Guozixue could be divided into two categories according to their different sources, namely official students and people's students. Official students are appointed by the emperor, including not only the children of officials at all levels, but also the children of chieftains and overseas students; while people's livelihood refers to the handsome folk recommended by local officials.
"Emperor Taizu Gao originally designated the sons of the country as the second class of official students and people's students. Official students are from the superiors, and people's students are from the tribute."
"In the first year of Hongwu, the students were selected as Guozi scholars, the disciples of high-ranking officials were official students, and the people who were handsome were the people's livelihood."
In March of the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382), Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict to change Guozixue into Guozijian. From then on, the students who entered the Imperial College were generally called Jiansheng, among which the children of high-ranking officials were called Yinjian, and Yinjian could be divided into Guansheng and Ensheng.
In the previous system, father and elder brothers were awarded official positions based on their merits, which was called the system of appointing sons. This system was followed in the early Ming Dynasty, which stipulated that civil servants of the first to seventh grades could have a son inherit their salary. Later, the threshold for asking for help was raised, and only officials of the third rank or above could ask for help.
In addition, the emperor sometimes sent special decrees to allow the children of certain officials to study in the Imperial College, regardless of official rank. These students were called ensheng. This ensheng system began to appear in the first year of Jianwen.
Different from the children of Pinguan who come from the families of officials, Minsheng comes from the families of ordinary people, and can be divided into tribute eunuchs and jue eunuchs. Jujian refers to those who failed the examination and were sent to the Imperial College for tutoring. Gongjian refers to the admission of tribute students into prison. Gongjian is divided into four categories, namely annual tribute, selected tribute, enggong and paying tribute. During the Taizu period, Gongjian mainly referred to Suigong.
However, this has nothing to do with Gao Wuruo, because he went to the Imperial College through Enyin, and the reason why he went to the Imperial College was essentially to get a "diploma" - a prison student.
As mentioned just now, the Imperial College students of the Ming Dynasty were generally called "Jiansheng", and they were divided into four categories according to their origins: first, those who failed the imperial examination were called "Jiansheng"; second, those who were selected by local officials and were admitted to the Imperial College were called "Jiansheng". They are called "tribute supervisors"; the third are officials above a certain level and the descendants of meritorious officials, called "yin supervisors"; the fourth are supervisor qualifications bought by paying money and materials, called "regular supervisors".
The status and importance of these four kinds of supervisors to the court are of course different. The promotion of supervisors is the most important, followed by tribute supervisors. These two categories will be regarded as scholars with certain abilities and a certain future, because they have a good academic foundation and will still have the opportunity to become high school Jinshi in the future.
Among the latter two types, the prisoner in the shade is the most noble, and the prisoner in the regular prison is the meanest. In fact, both of them are generally considered to be guys with little ability and basically no future in reading. As for why the Yin Prison is still "noble", it is naturally because such people will probably have a good grandfather, a good father, or other elders in the family who are in high positions and have made outstanding achievements.
As for the regular prison...you who spend money to buy a diploma should not think about "everyone respects you". After all, the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty was about test scores first and family background secondly. You have nothing to do with either and only have the smell of copper all over your body. So what else can you say?
But having said that, in fact, as long as you are a prison student, you theoretically have a chance to become an official. It's just that when the first three types of supervisors can get the opportunity to become officials, the positions they can choose are better.
According to the regulations, "the heads of the six departments of Beijing officials, Zhongshu, Xingren, commentators, and doctors; the foreign officials who know prefectures, push officials, and county magistrates are selected by Jinshi." And "the chief officials of the Five Prefectures and Six Ministries of Beijing, the General Administration Department, Taichang Guanglu Temple, and Zhanshi Prefecture are all selected by Guan Yinsheng."
The first three categories of supervising students are collectively referred to as "official yin students". The situation for regular prisons is different. Those who are conferred can only choose the left two prefectures and counties and the chief officials of the prefecture. If they are in the capital, they can be from Guanglu Temple, Shanglinyuan or remote provinces.
In this way, not only were they regarded as aliens, but in the later period, as the number of regular prison personnel increased, there were simply not enough official positions to be allocated. Therefore, most of them would never have a vacancy in their lifetime and would need to be filled by regular prison guards.
As a member of the Gao family in Xinzheng, Gao Wuruo was only Gao Jingshi's concubine, but the situation in the Ming Dynasty was here. As long as Gao Jingshi, the elder brother of the Ge family, was willing, he could still be arranged to join the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion or the Sixth Army. , General Administration Department, Taichang Temple, Guanglu Temple, Zhanshi Mansion.
Of course, at the beginning, official positions were generally only at the level of experience, secretary, and official records. However, since Gao Gong reformed the official system, the court implemented the examination method, which means that as long as you have excellent performance in the evaluation of your position year after year, , you will be promoted after the specified time.
To put it simply, according to the current regulations, Gao Wuruo can still spend nine years to reach the sixth rank from the ninth rank - the sixth rank can reach the sixth level of the director. For example, "Head of the Department of Cleaning and Officials of Henan Province in the Ministry of Household Affairs" can review and guide the finance of Henan Province, which is a position of real power.
Of course, there is still an upper limit for a prison student to become an official. For example, someone like Gao Wuruo would never be able to become a minister in his life. Because the six ministers and ministers are called "tangshangguan", and non-jinshi are not allowed to do so.
Because the upper limit was too clear, Gao Wuruo lost interest. Later, he simply proposed that he would no longer be an official and stay in Beijing with peace of mind, which could be regarded as taking care of the family business. In fact, taking care of the family business is a life choice that is generally recognized by people in this era, and it is more respected than choosing to be an official as a supervisor.
Over the years, Gao Wuruo has been studying with Gao Jingshi and has been a trainee secretary for many years. He has accompanied Gao Jingshi in the three battles he led after returning to Beijing, including the Northwest Rebellion, the Battle of Yuan Dynasty, and the Aid to the Yuan Dynasty. North Korea did not fail in the three battles against the Japanese. Now it can be said that it has been "battle-tested" for a long time, and it only lacks personal command.
Originally, he thought that although this return to Xinzheng would be an opportunity to take charge of his own affairs, he would not be able to command operations. After all, even if the Heart School is engaged in conspiracy, it is just trying to assassinate the biological father and aunt's mother. How can there be a war?
Who knew that man was not as good as God? He thought there was no battle to fight, but the battle happened to find him.
Seeing a group of cavalry suddenly running out of a forest three miles away, Gao Wuruo's first reaction was that they were officers and soldiers nearby. This is not surprising. After all, although Tangyin County is still north of the Yellow River, because it belongs to the Henan Chief Envoy administratively, it is generally regarded as a "Central Plains" area. However, there should not be large-scale existence in the Central Plains now. Horse thieves and other forces.
However, Gao Wuruo was still wondering why the official cavalry was still active in the field at this time when the New Year was approaching. The leader of the cavalry beside him had already noticed that something was wrong. He suddenly drew his gun in his hand and shouted: "There is an enemy attack, protect him." Seventh Master!"
When the leader of the cavalry shouted loudly, the thirty-six cavalrymen immediately drew out their weapons - not sabers, but Wanli II-style lances. Their lances are loaded with a round of projectiles and corresponding gunpowder, and they can fire a volley before engaging in hand-to-hand combat.
At this time, Gao Wuruo realized what he was doing - after all, the other party's appearance could not be that of an officer or soldier. Although Gao Wuruo has never actually commanded a battle, he has met many famous generals over the years. After waking up, he immediately drew his sword and shouted: "Ignorant thief, if you dare to offend the power of my sword and flag, you will be punished." I'll kill them!"
Gao Wuruo drew a sword instead of a gun, because he was not equipped with a lance, but only a Tang Hengdao on his waist. As mentioned earlier, Gao Pragmatic will issue command knives to officers of a certain level in the garrison. The standard of the Jinghua command knife is neither a saber nor the Yanling knife popular in the Ming Dynasty, but a Tang Hengdao.
The reason why the style of Tang Hengdao was chosen is that the Hengdao blade is straight and centered. It has both the kingly style of a sword and the hegemony of a knife. Gao Pangshi told the guards and other servants that the Tang Hengdao not only symbolizes uprightness, but also because the knife has an edge on only one side, it is "the edge of the knife is facing the outside but not the inside". It is a symbol of unity and our unity against the enemy. weapons, so use them.
Due to Gao Jingshi's propaganda, not only the officers of the garrison liked Hengdao, but also members of the Gao family like Gao Wuruo and other high-ranking officials in Beijing also liked to wear Hengdao. In the end, Gao Jingshi simply ordered the arsenal to specially make a batch of them. Give them the sword.
So there is a coincidence here: Since there are seven brothers in the six houses of the Gao family, Gao pragmatically specially made the "Seven-Star Hengdao". He kept a "Tianshu" for himself, and used Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang were given six horizontal swords to their six younger brothers respectively.
Therefore, the horizontal sword in Gao Wuruo's hand is the "Shaking Light", one of the "Seven Star Horizontal Swords". It is not only an undisputed treasured sword, but also a symbol of his status in Beijing.
The light was unsheathed, and the knights beside Gao Wuruo were excited. They had already seen that the opponent had about two hundred knights, but they were not timid at all. Instead, they regarded it as their contribution to the attack. Everyone had no objection to Gao Wuruo's order to "break through them", so they began to adjust their formation under the order.
Since they were about to penetrate, the cavalry quickly completed the formation change during the march, forming an obvious cone formation. It's just that they refused to let Gao Wuruo serve as the tip of the awl. Instead, they placed him slightly behind the center of the formation. The leader of the servants who shouted "enemy attack" did his part to serve as the tip of the awl, intending to lead the attack.
After completing the formation change, the servant cavalry did not start to charge with their horses. Instead, they slightly reduced their traveling speed to ensure that the formation was not chaotic. It wasn't until the distance between the two sides narrowed to about two miles that the cavalrymen began to tighten the belly of the horse, causing the horse to slowly accelerate.
When the opposite side continued to charge, the distance between the two sides had been reduced to about one mile, and the Jinghua Cavalry's speed was considered to have entered the charging range. Then after waiting for another two or three breaths, the leader shouted: "Fire with carbine!"
"Bang, bang, bang" volleys of gunfire rang out, and nearly 20 of the horse bandits from Dongping Water Village who were rushing towards them were killed on the spot. However, neither side could retreat when charging into battle, so the other side still relied on their numerical advantage to rush in chaotically.
"Change the saber - lean over and charge with the spatula!"
After the reform, the Ming army's cavalry now rarely has spear cavalry, and Jinghua's cavalry are almost identical. The main training of this kind of saber cavalry is Mongolian. In the technical and tactical action of charging into battle, the cavalrymen on horseback usually hold the saber in their right hand, with their arms against the back of the saber diagonally across the right side of the horse, and charge with the horse. The collision force of the moment is used as the killing power of the saber in the cavalry's hand to kill the enemy.
This method of using the saber is called "spatula" among the Ming army and Jinghua armed servants. As for "leaning down", it is naturally to reduce the area that can be attacked by the enemy, thereby reducing injuries and attrition. possibility.
The horse bandits in Dongping Water Village obviously did not expect that the Jinghua Cavalry, with less than forty people, would choose to attack in a tit-for-tat manner, and even reduce their own strength by 10% in a single salvo.
But at this time, they had no other choice. Although many people sobered up passively, they still resolutely confronted the Jinghua Cavalry.
What they didn't expect at this time was that although the Jinghua Cavalry looked like they were only wearing cotton robes, they were all wearing armor underneath the cotton robes. In the face of hand-to-hand combat, Dongping Water Village was actually at an "equipment disadvantage" from the beginning.
It was pointless to think about armor at this time, and the cavalry from both sides quickly charged together.
Soon, the head of the Dongping Water Village realized that something was wrong - the Beijing Cavalry, which consisted of less than forty people, was extremely ferocious. They did not engage in much entanglement with the enemy in person, and instead engaged in the kind of Jianghu battle style that he was familiar with. Instead of fighting, he just charged forward with his saber leaning against him.
Although this "move" seemed very dull to the master, and could even be called a "silly charge", the Dongping Water Village suffered a big loss once the two sides clashed - including the master himself.
The leader was not without success. When he was charging, he found that the enemy on his right was leaning down, with his upper body close to the horse's neck. This made the leader immediately feel that he could chop off the head of the enemy and his horse with a swing of his sword, so he subconsciously The sword came out.
However, the master did not expect that although the horse's head and the human head were really cut off with this sword, the body of the opponent who lost the head was actually "holding" the saber and "suddenly cut it off"...
In the great master's panic, the saber was already in front of him with its power, but the great master, who had just cut off the knight's head, had no time to close the sword. Even though he suddenly turned sideways and tightened his abdomen in an emergency, he still could not completely escape the bad luck. He cut his belly open and screamed.
Fortunately, the leader was a practitioner who had been practicing for many years. He endured the severe pain and hugged his horse's neck tightly before passing out from the pain.
The last scene he saw before he fainted was that Qiu Laoer seemed to have had the same "accident" as him, and the other people he saw were not as lucky as the two of them, and almost all of them were ridden by Jinghua. They were all injured and killed by the same stupid moves, and they fell off their horses one after another...
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Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi" and "Altay's Laoxi" for their monthly support, thank you!
ps: I have completed the promise of the previous chapter, and now I still owe 3 chapters.
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