The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 359 The Wang family in Hengyang, the heart of an official

Hunan, Hengyang.

In the south of the city, near Yanfeng, is Wangjia Village.

The village got its name because most of the villagers are from the Wang clan.

But in fact, the Wang family in this village did not come from the same clan, but was divided into two branches.

One branch thrived here in the Southern Song Dynasty and had many branches; the other branch came from the commander of the Hengzhou Guards in the early Ming Dynasty, Wang Zhongsan.

After more than two hundred years, this branch of the Wang family is still flourishing. Only some of its members live in Wangjia Village, and some others live in Chengzhong or surrounding villages and towns in Hengyang.

The dynasty hired a family.

Twenty-three-year-old Wang Fuzhi was writing a treatise at his desk.

His two elder brothers Wang Jiezhi and Wang Shenzhi next to him, although one is thirteen years older than him and the other is eight years older than him, are still the same, like students taking exams.

In fact, at this time, the three people's old father, Wang Chaopin, was sitting not far away, staring at the three people with bright eyes, trying his best to imitate the environment and atmosphere of the imperial examination.

Speaking of which, in the late Ming Dynasty, Wang Chaozhen was a typical old man who got a son.

He was born in the second year of Longqing (1568). In his early years, he was determined to do learning and imperial examinations. He studied astronomy, geography, economics and history, finance, and military affairs under Wu Dingxiang, a great scholar in Hengyang. Later, he studied under Wang Yangming, a disciple of the Wang family. Disciple) Zou Shouyi studied mind science.

In fact, there have been many schools of thought since Wang Yangming, and some even hold completely opposite views.

In this line of study, Chaopin dislikes empty talk about one's character. Instead, he advocates "sincerity for self-examination and secret use, self-restraint in academic affairs, practicality when collecting talents, and not being stubborn".

That is to say, we advocate sincerity, diligence, self-denial, elimination of flashiness, and pragmatism.

Probably because he had learned too much, the dynasty hired more than 20 talented people to become scholars, and then married his wife, the Qi family.

The Qi family gave birth to a son who died young at the age of three. Soon after, the Qi family also passed away because she missed her son so much.

A few years later, the dynasty recruited talents and took the stepmother Tan.

By the time the eldest son Wang Jiezhi was born, Wang Chaopin was already thirty-eight years old. When his youngest son Wang Fuzhi was born, he was fifty-one years old!

Nowadays, the beard and hair of the imperial concubine are all white, but he is already seventy-five years old.

However, he is in good health and spirit, and he can also teach his three sons to take scientific examinations and make crafts.

Although he failed the provincial examination seven times, it did not mean that his level of craftsmanship was not high - mainly because he later became disgusted with the turbidity and darkness of the examination room, so he gave up on the imperial examination.

For so many years, he has studied knowledge intensively, focusing on "Spring and Autumn". He is absolutely qualified to be the teacher of his three sons in scientific examination articles.

At the same time, he also instilled in his three sons the pragmatic spiritual philosophy inherited from Zou Shouyi.

The three sons successively passed the college examination and became scholars, which also proved his ability to teach and educate people.

In fact, Wang Chaopin is now known as Mr. Wu Yi in Hengyang, and he is quite famous. Many children of other families are not allowed to become his disciples.

Not long after, Wang Fuzhi, the youngest, was the first to finish the paper. However, he knew that his father was very strict about learning and scientific examinations, so he checked and revised it over and over again, secretly waiting for his two elder brothers to finish it.

But he was young after all, and after checking it several times, he realized that nothing could be changed, and he became a little impatient.

Just when Wang Fuzhi was thinking about taking the risk of handing in the paper first and asking his father to check it, a hearty laugh came from outside the door.

"Brother, good news, the new dynasty will start the provincial examination this autumn!"

Following the words, a middle-aged man named Angzang, who was seven feet tall, also walked in.

The person who came had slightly gray hair and clear facial features. He seemed to be in his forties or fifty, but he was Wang Jiapin, Wang Fuzhi's third uncle.

Perhaps because his ancestor was a military general in the Ming Dynasty, all the men in the Wang family were over seven feet tall, and Chaopin was even taller than Wangjiapin.

In addition, the Wang family also has the habit of having young sons late, and Wang Jiapin is only in his early fifties. Although he is also a scholar, he is more chivalrous and has a wide range of friends. Now he lives in Hengyang City and has opened two shops. The information is naturally better than that of Wangjiacun.

Seeing Wang Jiapin arriving and bringing another important news, Wang Jiezhi, the eldest brother, immediately stood up and said: "Father, I have finished writing."

It turned out that Wang Jiezhi had already finished writing this paper, but he just didn't want Wang Chaopin to think that he was not stable enough, so he deliberately delayed it.

The same thing happened to Wang Shenzhi, so he followed up and said, "Father, I've finished it too."

"Me too." Wang Fuzhi said hurriedly.

When Wang Chaopin took a look at it, he knew that the three of them had no intention of continuing the composition, so he said: "Then hand them all over, and I will look at them later."

The Wang family is just a small landowner with dozens of acres of land, with tenant farmers and no servants. Therefore, after handing in the composition, the youngest Wang Euzhi rushed to serve the Wang family with tea.

Then he stood in the hall with his two elder brothers, preparing to listen to the conversation between his father and Wang Jiapin. Wang Chaoping said calmly: "The establishment of the new dynasty will inevitably start the imperial examination, so why should my third brother make a fuss?"

Wang Jiapin laughed and said, "Brother, what you said is not entirely correct. The imperial examinations held this autumn in the new dynasty have different meanings to the children of the Wang family than the imperial examinations held a few years or even more than ten years later."

"What, are you sure you want Yun Xiu to take part in the provincial examination this autumn?"

"Of course, aren't you going to let Jie Zhi and the others take part in this provincial examination?"

After hearing the discussion between the two elders, the three Wang Fuzhi brothers became nervous.

Speaking of which, the ancestor of the Wang family was a mid-level general who founded the Ming Dynasty, and was the hereditary Hengzhou Guard commander. Although his lineage is no longer related to the main lineage, and he changed his studies to literary studies several generations ago, and has lost much of his ancestral legacy, the family has been somewhat blessed by the country.

Therefore, when the Yi army entered Hunan, Wang Chaopin heard some bad rumors about the Yi army. He believed that the Yi army was similar to Li Zhangluo and other rogue bandits. He planned to arrange for his family to live in seclusion and let the three brothers assist the Ming government in resisting. From Yijun.

As a result, wherever the Tai army passed, the Ming army surrendered. Some magistrates and other Ming officials even took the initiative to offer their cities to surrender. In some places, they even announced their plans.

Even if Wang Chaopin wanted to let Wang Fuzhi's three brothers assist the Ming army, he could not find a chance.

It was not until the Wei army arrived in Hengyang that Wang Chaopin realized that the Wei army was completely different from what the officials had rumored.

He had strict discipline and had no offense with the people. After taking over Hengyang, he even sent troops to quickly eliminate some mountain bandits and water bandits who had been troubled in the local area for many years.

It should be noted that Hengyang is located in the south of Huguang and has many mountains and hills. Even in the Taiping Festival, there are many bandits. Nowadays, the world is in chaos, and there are even more bandits and bandits who have taken over the mountains and built strongholds near the water. The people are disturbed by them, but the Ming Dynasty officials and troops cannot eliminate them.

The Eijun army wiped them out with ease as soon as they arrived. Even the idle hooligans and bully libertines in the city were captured by the Eijun army to do hard labor, building roads and canals, and actually made Hengyang safer and safer both inside and outside the city than it had been for more than ten years. Ping Jing.

This surprised both Wang Chaopin and the three Wang brothers.

As a result, Wang Chaopin never mentioned being loyal to the Ming Dynasty and resisting the Yi army.

Obviously, Wang Chaopin recognized Damei's rule over Hengyang to some extent, but whether Wang Chaopin allowed Wang and his wife to serve as officials was a matter that none of the three dared to ask.

Therefore, the three brothers have always been unsure of Wang Chaopin's attitude towards officialdom.

After hearing Wang Jiapin's question, Wang Chaopin was silent for a moment.

His old face looked calm, but in fact he was struggling in his heart.

It is true that the Ming Dynasty was benevolent to the Wang family - not to mention the hereditary position of commander of the Hengzhou Guards, the main line of the Wang family, it is their lineage. Almost all three generations of the Ming Dynasty were members of the Ming Dynasty, and they all suffered from the Ming Dynasty's tax on students. Grant discounts and exemptions.

However, his family has never produced an official of the Ming Dynasty in three generations. He can only be regarded as a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, not a minister of the Zhu Ming Dynasty.

In recent decades, the Ming Dynasty has been in decline, like a decaying house that is about to collapse and difficult to save. Under such circumstances, the emergence of a true rebel army like the Yi Army can be said to be a sign of obeying the will of the people.

The so-called "learning in literature and martial arts brings goods to the emperor's family".

Since Liu Wei replaced Zhu Ming and changed the dynasty in order to obey the heaven and the people, what's wrong with him, a member of the Wang family, who is an official and can benefit the people while displaying his knowledge and ambitions?

Wang Chapin could think of the truth, but he had feelings for Ming Dynasty after all. Now that Ming Dynasty was not completely destroyed, it was really difficult for him to make the decision to let his three sons serve.

Wang Jiapin seemed to see the confusion in Wang Chaopin's heart, and then asked with a smile: "If the eldest brother really doesn't want Jie Zhi and the others to become officials, why do you need to let them continue to practice the art of imperial examination? Don't you want to teach them some other knowledge? Is it more in line with Big Brother’s wishes?”

This question undoubtedly points directly to Wang Chaoping’s original intention.

He sighed, closed his eyes and said, "Tell me, you shouldn't just bring the simple news that the new dynasty will start this autumn's provincial examination, right?"

"Brother, the older you get, the better you get." Wang Jiapin joked and said with a smile, "According to the news from the government school, the new dynasty not only changed the first provincial examination to August 21st, but also this time The seven provinces under the rule all use the Ministry of Rites examination questions."

"What?!" Wang Chaopin couldn't help but open his old eyes suddenly when he heard this, showing a look of surprise, "Seven provinces have the same exam questions? This guy doesn't think that students from seven provinces will be ranked in the same list, right? This matter is taboo, If the person in Nanjing doesn’t know, doesn’t Qian Muzhai also know?”

"Brother, don't worry." Seeing Wang Chaopin's behavior, Wang Jiapin was even more sure that he had the intention to make the Wang family's children official, and said with a smile: "Although the exam questions are the same among the seven provinces, each province evaluates and lists the papers separately.

In addition, there are some changes in the content of this rural examination. For example, in the first test, only the original works of the Four Books will be tested, and the annotations will no longer be tested..."

Immediately, Wang Jiapin made it clear to Wang Jiapin one by one the contents of the rural examination reform promoted by the government schools in the city.

After Wang Jiapin finished talking about the fourth session of the provincial examination, Wang Euzhi, who was listening to it, couldn't help but think: It seems that the founding emperor of Da'an was also a pragmatic person, otherwise he would not have deleted the examination of the commentaries on Confucian classics. , and strengthen the assessment of practice.

At the same time, he was looking forward to this provincial examination even more.

He thought that since his father asked his third uncle to talk about the details of the rural examination reform, he must be planning to let them participate, right?

But what if the father is just curious and not ready to let them refer to it?

For a moment, Wang Euzhi felt uneasy.

　Second more.

　　Good night~

　　

　

(End of this chapter)