Daming: I asked you to hang yourself, but I didn’t ask you to rebuild the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Yujian kept running, and at some point he arrived at Pengqiao Town in Dengzhou.

The local administrative divisions in the Ming Dynasty were very complicated, and each county was different. There were township-du-tu-li-jia, township-tu-li-jia, and du-tu-li-jia, etc.

Take 10 households as A, 110 households as a li, and several li as a map (equivalent to an administrative village). The townships and capitals above are equivalent to the districts and towns in later generations.

But the weaving of "town" is surprisingly the same.

Armed force!

Whether it is an important town like Jiubian where a large number of troops are stationed, or it is a small town where a patrol of rural soldiers is stationed in the inland geographical artery of mountains, rivers and swamps.

As long as it is a town, it must mean a military important place.

Because it is located at the southernmost end of the ancient Shang-Yu Road, Dengzhou has always been an important military area.

There were many soldiers stationed here during the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, in the middle and later stages, most of them only exist in writing...

The "town" of Pengqiao originated from the Song Dynasty.

General Wang Jian built the Great Wall and military stronghold defense in the mountainous area of ​​Yuanchong in the west of Dengzhou and Guanghua territory of Hubei Province. It was called the Great Wall of Song Dynasty.

This place is only ten miles away from Pengqiao.

(Wang Jian was born in the Wang family in present-day Pengqiao Town).

Therefore, Pengqiao became a custom and was called Wangjia Town.

……

The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty were extremely hostile to the Han and Southerners, especially the descendants who served as officials in the Song Dynasty. They massacred people in the Central Plains area. There are many massacres in history. Even when suppressing refugees, they massacred cities in large numbers.

As a result, the Central Plains experienced the tragic situation of "no smoke for a hundred miles, and no roosters for a thousand miles."

After the Yuan people captured Dengzhou, all the people were killed and fled. They did not establish a system for 20 years and were directly in a no-man's land...

In this context, there are very few ordinary people who are unable and unable to escape into the mountains to avoid disaster.

……

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, politics was stable, society developed rapidly, and people multiplied rapidly.

In Dengzhou, the population with surnames such as Zhang, Gao, Zhao, Wang, and Li multiplied rapidly.

These people are all after high-ranking officials.

Because only these powerful families can save their lives in the mountainous area!

Let’s not talk about the surname Zhang. This is the most common surname in the Tangbai River Basin. It has taken root in the Nanyang Plain since the Han Dynasty.

The surname Li comes from the family of Li Xian, a famous prime minister in the Ming Dynasty, and the surname Zhao comes from Zhao Pu, the founding minister of the Song Dynasty...

As for the Wang surname, there are mostly two groups of Wang surnames in Dengzhou. One of them is a Mongolian descendant left behind after the Yuan Dynasty fled to the north and lives in seclusion in the Jiuchong area.

The other branch was derived from the Wang Jian family.

Pengqiao Town was called Wangjia Town for a long time.

However, Wang Jian was a former general after all. After hundreds of years of changes, the Wang family had long lost its prestige in the local area.

During the Ming Dynasty, there was a Jing family in Wang Jian's hometown. Although he did not join the officialdom, he served as a village elder several times, assisting the county government in managing the people.

As a result, Jingjia Town replaced the original Wangjia Town and became the local place name.

After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the Jing family gradually declined and their influence in the government was not strong.

It was the Peng family that was rising at this time.

The Peng family was a small family 30 years ago.

The Peng family is small, and they have only been living for four generations since they moved to Pengqiao. It is really impossible to support Peng Ershu, who is studying full time.

Because of the special tax exemption system for gentry, poor scholars like Peng Ershu were deeply loved by scholars.

The rich local Jing family paid for Peng Ershu's education expenses after he passed the Tongsheng examination.

(It is also because of this that some people in the local area still say that Peng and Jing are the same family.)

In 1633, 28-year-old Peng Ershu passed the scholar examination and became a celebrity throughout Nanyang.

……

(Some people say that a scholar is a junior high school student, which makes them laugh out loud.

The number of talents admitted to each county fluctuates around 20.

There are about 2 new talents in the country every year.

Gu Yanwu said: "In the late Ming Dynasty, the number of scholars and above was calculated as 300 in each county, and the total number would not be less than 50."

In other words, the total number of gentry as a group is only a little over 50, and will never exceed one million.

Let’s not talk about junior high school students. How many college students are there?

Not to mention the whole country, Wuhan alone has more than 100 million college students!

According to the 21 census, the total number of college students and above in the country is over 2.2 million.

Scholars are equivalent to junior high school students?

The number closest to the number of scholars is doctoral students, with about 7.5 students admitted every year.

From the comprehensive consideration of political status, difficulty in obtaining the exam, and welfare benefits, the value of a scholar should be at least equal to that of a doctorate.

As for the promotion of people, once you become an official, you will start as a deputy city or deputy county, or at least a doctoral supervisor in politics and law.

What about Jinshi?

Only about 300 people are admitted every three years. This ratio is at least equivalent to academicians of the two academies. In terms of power, Jinshi is about to be the county official and deputy city, which is far beyond the comparison of academicians. )

After Peng Ershu passed the scholar examination, he was no longer able to continue studying hard.

At this point, if the Jing family continues to support Peng Ershu, they are seeking death!

This is not simply because the cost of taking the exam is not something that ordinary people can afford;

Being able to obtain the 80 acres of tax-free land from Xiucai Gong is already the biggest gain for the Jing family as a local gentry...

If the Jing family is not willing enough, in the end, they will not even be able to keep the tax-free land at the Xiucai Gong level!

(There are experts in the Jing family. After getting the greatest benefit, they quit in time!)

The Jing family did not support it, and Peng Ershu was immediately in trouble.

……

However, for scholars and above, local gentry cannot do it, but gentry can!

Peng Ershu found Yang Qi, who was the magistrate of Xinye County, and went to seek refuge.

After Yang Qi took the exam, he felt that this person could achieve success and was worth investing in.

Therefore, Yang Qi shouldered Peng Ershu's study expenses and even took him to the Dazhong Temple in the city to live permanently.

Not only did he bear his food, clothing, housing and transportation, but he also gave him 20 taels of silver every month, thinking that he would use it to make friends with scholars.

Not only that, but the temple was closed and ordered that no one except scholar figures could enter!

With no worries, Peng Ershu passed the examination three years later in 1636.

After a successful candidate was born, neither Wangjia Town in the previous dynasty nor Jingjia Town in the previous dynasty were enough to be used as local place names.

As a result, the name Pengjia Town replaced the original local name and became the new local name.

Later, because Peng Ershu built a bridge there, it was renamed Pengqiao Town.

This name has been passed down to later generations.

Four years ago, in the 13th year of Chongzhen (1640), Peng Ershu went to Beijing to take the exam. He passed the exam three times in a row and passed the Jinshi exam. He was sent to Shanxi as a county magistrate by Chongzhen.

Last year, because his mother died, Peng Ershu returned to his hometown to observe his filial piety. (Li Zicheng captured Shaanxi and Shanxi in succession, and his momentum was great. He saw that the opportunity was not good and ran away.)

(Once you take this example from Peng Ershu, you will all know what kind of operation Shilin is!)

……