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 was less than forty years old but had been tortured by life like an old man, held the leather robe he had just redeemed from the pawn shop, looked at the dark plaster on it, and smiled bitterly. Even though it was too hot to wear this robe now, because he only had this piece of leather goods and had some money, he quickly redeemed it. Otherwise, what is written on the ticket, "A fur coat was bitten by a moth-eaten rat" will 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 feel a headache. Because he was so poor that he jumped into the river at the end of last year, Xinmin Daily published several issues investigating the living conditions of Beijing officials - the emperor gave each Beijing official a reward of five taels of silver, which allowed Li Chao Doujia to celebrate the New Year. Despite this, his living conditions have not improved at all.
厽厼. 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 begin its reform, and the fifth year of Wanli was the first year of the reform. Li Chaodou heard that a minister had already submitted a petition, suggesting that the emperor change the Yuan Dynasty next year, but he didn't know what the regulations were.
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 is still being drafted, some small changes have already begun. Li Chaodou felt 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 had been discussed for a long time before the year. After the year, I heard that the imperial court also discussed it several times, but the Ministry of Revenue strongly blocked it on the grounds that there was no silver in Taicang. However, less than five days after the reform matters were included, Li Chaodou had already received a lot of money - reissued starting from January of the fifth year of Wanli, 4 taels per month, totaling 16 taels. Because the reissue was in cash, for Li Chaodou, his salary was almost doubled.
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 couldn't escape.
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 looked at her. His wife said at home: "If you have nothing to do, go out and buy some meat. We haven't seen any meat in the house for half a month." After saying that, he handed over a bunch of copper coins. Li Chaodou took it but did not leave. 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 of besides that little 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. The husband is back again.
Li Chaodou ignored her, still 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 was living in this alley and 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 smiled after hearing this and said, "Although it is two months late, the imperial court has given you ten taels of living expenses each, and it is worth it."
Shen Maoxue laughed 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 - this In a few days, the collected works of Mr. Wang Jiefu have been 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. 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. Take this information out now and easily sell it for fifty taels. loose. 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 Di newspaper.
Shen Mao was a wealthy scholar, and when he saw Li Chaodou looking at him with a smile, he knew what was going on. He bowed to the ground and said: "Thank you, Mr. Li, for your favor. If you succeed in this course, this favor will be unforgettable! Please wait here, I will come as soon as I can."
After saying that, he ran back to his room in three steps at a time, took out the one hundred taels of silver in his suitcase, pulled off a piece of furoshiki and wrapped it up, and ran out again quickly. As expected, Li Chaodou was still standing there waiting.
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 to make up for the mistake. If Mr. Li doesn't want to , I will burn that 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: "With money and wealth, copying books is also a plan for rice!" The book is also for the purpose of rice and rice!" He staggered home, singing and crying.
Shen Maoxue didn't know that Li Chaodou had been serving as a capital official since he passed the imperial examination. Because his family was poor, all the tax exemptions were used by his relatives in his hometown - just for this, he still needed to help him 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 where he can take refuge and support him. He has only lived on his salary in recent years. Last year, his old wife and mother fell ill one after another, which really pushed Li Chaodou to a dead end.
This time copying Zhang Juzheng's memorial shattered the aloofness and self-reward that Li Chaodou had been proud of for many years. As he walked, two lines of tears flowed down his face. Shen Maoxue watched his back and sighed in his heart: "Although these two lines of poems are adapted from Du Gongbu's poems, they are also extraordinary. It can be seen that this Master Li is actually a man with unrecognized talents - alas, it is the same feeling in ancient and modern times!"厽厼
...
Not to mention that after Li Chaodou returned home, his wife thought he had gone out to rob someone, and was frightened to death by the one hundred taels of silver. At this time, in the southern part of the empire, Tong Chizhong, who was walking on the mountain road, was tortured to death by the dense subtropical forest in front of him.
Tong Chizhong, who had been on a sea boat for more than ten days and had vomited all the gall water, had not finished repairing for seven days before he was 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 - he almost wiped his neck with a knife.
After finally getting off the ship, for several days, Tong Chizhong, like his comrades, kept swaying while walking. Even though he knew it was flat ground, his eyes were shaking so much that he still walked with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
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. Then, Liu Xian was preparing to go straight to Yunnan through the deep mountains and forests of Guizhou under the leadership of his guide - 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 take the new edict. The army went to wish him a helping hand.
This 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 get used to the water and soil, and learn mountain warfare. This time Ling Yunyi will recruit 150,000 troops from Guangdong and Guangxi, divided into ten posts, and an iron wall to surround the Yao people. The main force is composed of soldiers who are familiar with mountain warfare. This is just a good opportunity for the new army to learn the skills of mountain warfare—— The military strength advantage is huge, and there is no possibility of failure. Where can I find such an opportunity to train troops?
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 really wrongly blamed the court.
Since the Jiajing decade, the Yao people in Guangdong and Guangxi have engaged in large-scale uprisings and riots, which has become a chronic disease in Guangdong and Guangxi. In the twelfth year of Jiajing's reign, 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 Luopang, Longshui became prosperous again, and the imperial court lost control in the entire Longshui area of Guangdong. The Yao people say, "The official has ten thousand soldiers, and I have ten thousand mountains." They are very arrogant. Yin Zhengmao, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi at that time, even moved the governor's palace from Wuzhou, Guangxi to Zhaoqing, Guangzhou in order to prevent Yao.
Martial arts was established, and when Yin Zhengmao was transferred to the capital, he never forgot that he had not completed Pingyao's achievements during his tenure. So combined with the martial arts staff and talents, it was decided and reported 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 it to the capital in a hurry. Because it was too far away from the capital, Liu Xian had already led the new army to Songjiang Prefecture by the time the report came in. This was the reason why he only received the change in the battle plan while at the Yuanjiang River.
