The end of the year is approaching, the chaotic calendar of the four years of the Ming Dynasty has finally come to an end, and the first month of the fifth year of the new Ming Dynasty has come in a noisy and more noisy atmosphere.

In the Qinhuai River, in the Yingtian Confucius Temple, a group of scholars who have long passed the age of 30 are gathering together to chat. There are also people who smoke cigarettes - although the Ming Dynasty strictly prohibits opium smoking, but allows cigarettes to be sold, and most of the people who used to have a little opium addiction have now become cigarette lovers. The smoke blurred their faces and masked the emotions in their words.

"I knew that Lu Dao was like this, I went to take the exam when I was 2 years after the recovery, if I went to the exam, I would definitely be able to win, and now I am also an official of Shaoxing Mansion, even if it is a nine-grade sesame official, I can have two or three hundred and one years of money, and I will not worry about it in this life......"

"It's still good before, our Shaoxing master is all over the world, which yamen has no Shaoxing people?"

"Now it's all locals who are local officials, and the master's errand has become a secretary, and it's also included in the official establishment, there is no part of our Shaoxing people, those who are young can still go to the imperial examination, and we old ones have no one to ask for it......."

This seems to be talking about everyone's sadness, and through the smoke, all that emerges are scheming faces with helpless expressions.

"I don't think this petition is of much use, even if it can be slowed down, it won't help us much. There are many scholars in Shaoxing, and this imperial examination is more difficult than other places. Moreover, more than 2,000 people have been taken in the two years since the liberation, and this time, Zhejiang Province has only taken 2,000 ...... It's hard to get into! ”

"Actually, it's nothing if you can't get into Xiucai, the problem is that this gentry's identity can't be kept. There is no fame, no future. I can't even point to the relationship between the original officialdom. Do you still want people to treat us as gentry? The mayor of Pingshui Town has already come to my house to say hello. Next year's autumn tax (referring to 1852) will be collected in full! ”

"Alas, I'm there too, not a single copper plate can be reduced!"

"There is no long price that is already considered polite! We people have no fame, no merit, no luck, and no fists...... Those tax collectors don't bully us, who are we bullying? They can't pay a short price in their own homes, and they can still come to take care of us? ”

Speaking of the autumn tax, everyone sighed, and a person who was also dressed as a Confucian came over. Hearing this, he said loudly: "It's over, it's over, the emperor has already made up his mind not to let us take the exam...... The excerpt of the petition was dismissed! ”

The name of the person who came was Wang Yun, and the word was provincial Zhai. I'm thirty-one years old this year, and I don't look too old, so it seems that I can take the test again in a fool's way. However, he participated in the imperial examination for 2 years after the liberation, but he didn't get the first place! Therefore, he left a file in the university scholar's mansion, although it is not impossible to be confused, but he can't even pass the imperial examination in the 2nd year of the liberation. Can you still count on the recovery of 5 years of high school?

"It seems that I can only read New Oriental and Lanxiang...... I want to sell the land in my family to pay for the tuition fee to learn a teacher's license, which of you wants to buy the field? ”

"Buying a field? Did you buy a field to pay taxes to the emperor Lao Tzu? There is no fame to protect oneself. Who of us can keep the land? ”

"Yes, there is no choice but to sell the field and go to New Oriental! Zhai, you're still young, you can't just waste it like this, why don't you learn something? If you don't have enough tuition, we'll give you a little bit of it. ”

You can figure out how hard the bones of these Shaoxing masters are with their heels, since the emperor thinks they are old, they can only go another way. Of course, they disdain to be a mechanic, but they can consider the professions of generalists, accountants, accountants, and doctors. Especially the master and the accountant, aren't they doing this in the first place?

The scholar named Wang Yun took out an application form for Lanxiang Academy, waved it and said, "Thanks to my brother's care, my brother has already signed up to go to Hong Kong to study Lanxiang and prepare to study Western medicine." One of my classmates, who worked as a clerk in the newly established Imperial Foundation, told me that the emperor was going to open Western hospitals in large and medium-sized cities across the country, and that he would have to hire many doctors...... The hospital of this royal foundation can probably be regarded as a hospital, right? This doctor is also an official. ”

Hearing his words, a group of masters laughed, which was a good excuse for self-comfort. Wang Yun also grinned, turned around and walked out, he was going to go home and pawn the land. The advertisement on the "Qingliu Daily" said clearly that the junior internal medicine doctor class, the duration of study is 2 years, the tuition and miscellaneous fees are a total of 1,000 yuan, and there is a ninety percent probability of passing the Daming Physician Association examination, as long as the primary internal medicine doctor license is obtained, you can recommend to work in major hospitals across the country, and if the monthly salary is less than 100 yuan, all tuition and miscellaneous fees will be returned......

100 yuan! His man has been a master all his life, and he has never taken this number! What other reason he had not to give it a try?

Wang Yun left with great ambition, and the rest of the masters began to smoke silently again, and it took a long time before he was humane: "This old Wang's son has shown us a clear way, let's not spend it in Yingtianfu, go home and sell the land to raise tuition." ”

The tuition fee of 1,000 yuan is not a large amount for these masters, and there is no need to sell the land at all. However, these spirits are the most aware of human feelings. Their gentry status is gone, and they can't let people treat you as a lord anymore. If you can't be a gentry, the land in your house has to be taxed according to the standards of ordinary farmers......

The age of an imperial examination and the limit on the number of references may seem to have nothing to do with the land issue, but its marginal effect is quickly transmitted to land and agriculture. The industrial and commercial development of the southeast coast is very fast, and there are many ways for "overage" scholars. In addition to enrolling in New Oriental Education and Lanxiang Academy, they can also directly invest their funds in industry and commerce, even if they are not willing to do business on their own, the opening of the Daming Stock Exchange and the issuance of "Old Eight Shares" also give them the opportunity to receive dividends. Of course, the premise is that they sell their own fields and take out the silver buried under the backyard - without the gentry's skin, no matter how deep they bury the silver, they may not be able to keep it! It's better to live in those big cities that are more about the king's law as early as possible.

And the gentry trade, like other trades, also has people who are very mixed and even more mixed. Those who can be an official in the former Qingzheng are of course the best among the gentry, and those who can be the curtain seats are also considered high-level gentry. And the vast majority of the gentry are just a few dozen acres of land in their hometown in the name of a showman. After Liu Zongxian sent his brother back to Anren, he returned to Chengdu to enroll in the "Western Studies Cram School" of Jinjiang Academy, and learned Western politics, history, law and various legal systems of the Ming Dynasty under the teaching of several Hunan masters.

These Hunan masters also did not have the opportunity to participate in the imperial examination after the age of 30, but they all had a few drops of foreign ink in the Yuelu Mountain Academy, Shigu Academy, and Changsha Chengnan Academy opened by the Xianghu faction, so they were hired by the Confucian Academy in Sichuan to teach as a new school. The so-called new learning, except for the laws and systems of the Ming Dynasty, which are more realistic, other things are just some Western common sense. The textbook was co-edited by Pan Zuyin, who was studying in the Department of International Politics of Yingtianjishi University, and Weng Tongyong, the secretary of Zhu Jishi, and it was not boring, especially the content about Western history and military affairs was very wonderful, and it could be read as a novel, which was much more interesting than the Four Books and the Five Classics.

Before the Spring Festival in 1852, Jinjiang Academy was on vacation, and Liu Zongxian spent another three days walking home to meet his brother Liu Zongying, who had been transformed into "Zhou Papi". As soon as I entered the Liu family's compound, I heard crying and scolding.

"Second master, second master, please...... The way for our family of five to survive is those acres of land, you can't take them all, you're trying to force us to death......"

"Yang Laobai! It's useless for you to kowtow, hurry up and leave me, leave as soon as the Chinese New Year's Eve passes, and you won't stay for a day, your family has rented my Liu Er's field for ten years, is there a time to pay off the rent? Will I be able to repay the money I borrowed from you? ”

"Second master, you can't be so unreasonable, in the past ten years, I, Yang Laobai, have been working in the fields day and night, and seventy percent of the grain I get has paid rent and paid back the money for printing, do you really want to force me to sell my sons and daughters......"

"Selling sons and daughters? Can that stupid son and ugly girl be sold? Stop dreaming! Hurry up and get out, you owe Lao Tzu Yinzi money, Lao Tzu doesn't want it, let's go, let's go! By the way, I'll show you a way to live, go to the county and sign up for the Northeast Collective Farm! (To be continued......)