Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 172 Heartbroken
Sitting and drinking tea, chatting with Zhu Xiuer, talking about family matters and laughing about ordinary things.

Zhu Xiuer was very relieved to know that her brother and sister-in-law got along well and everything was fine at home. She couldn't help asking Xu Jingqiu if she was pregnant, and kept saying that Zhu Shenzhu was not a child anymore, and it was not convenient to run around in winter, so she asked Zhu Shenzhu to calm down and spend some time with Xu Jingqiu after returning home, and try to get her sister-in-law pregnant as soon as possible. Zhu Shenzhu was the only male left in their old Zhu family, and if Xu Jingqiu married in and had more children as soon as possible, she would be relieved.

After listening to his sister's words, Zhu Shenzhu wanted to tell his sister that Tana was pregnant, but when the words came to his lips, Zhu Shenzhu didn't say it in the end.

Xu Jingqiu knew that he and Tana got married on the grassland, but Zhu Shenzhu found an opportunity to tell her privately one day after they got married. Although Xu Jingqiu was more generous than she thought, she still felt unhappy after hearing this. Even if she didn't say it, Zhu Shenzhu knew that Xu Jingqiu felt a little uncomfortable.

As for his sister and brother-in-law, Zhu Shenzhui thought about it and decided to keep it a secret for the time being to avoid unnecessary trouble. As for Tana's pregnancy, it would not be too late to talk about it later when there was a chance. Anyway, even if Tana gave birth to the child, the child would stay in the grassland for a long time. Tana had already told Zhu Shenzhui about this before he came back this time.

"By the way, I heard that Xiancheng from the Xu family passed the imperial examination and became a scholar?" Speaking of Xu Jingqiu, Zhu Xiuer suddenly thought of Xu Jingqiu's younger brother Xu Xiancheng.

"I just passed the Autumn Examination not long ago, and I didn't expect that I would pass it by luck this time." Zhu Shenzhui said with a smile.

Xu Xiancheng took part in the Autumn Examination in early August. The results were announced shortly after the examination. Xu Xiancheng passed the examination and became a scholar on his first try, which was a great joy for the Xu family.

A few days before Zhu Shenzhu left for the grassland, Xu Jingqiu received a letter from home from Pingshun, which mentioned this matter. After learning that his brother had passed the imperial examination, Xu Jingqiu was very happy. The Xu family had been in decline for several generations. Xu Jingqiu's father, Xu Lao Xiucai, had taken the imperial examinations for his entire life, but he still only had the title of a scholar.

His younger brother Xu Xiancheng is only fourteen now. He passed the examination for Tongsheng two years ago and now he has passed the examination for Xiucai. He is definitely a prodigy. If he can continue to pass the examination, he will be eligible to go to Beijing to take the imperial examination. If he passes the examination for Jinshi, it will be a great achievement.

Of course, this is just a hypothesis. In the entire history of the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty, there was only one person who passed the imperial examination at the age of 15, and another who passed the imperial examination at the age of 16. The former was Qiao Tinggui from Jiezhou, Shanxi, and the latter was Wang Chen from Luling, Jiangxi.

The former is not yet born, because he passed the imperial examination in the 16th year of Chongzhen. The latter happened in the Chenghua period. If Xu Xiancheng can pass the imperial examination in Beijing next year and get his name on the gold list, then his current age will be enough to break the record of the youngest person to pass the imperial examination in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

This is fine in theory, but not in practice. You have to know that the imperial examination is a one-way street with thousands of people competing for it, and each level is more difficult than the last. How could it be so easy?

Some people passed the imperial examinations or even the imperial examinations when they were young, but there were many who failed to pass the final hurdle after spending more than ten or even dozens of years taking the exam.

Xu Xiancheng is just over fourteen years old, and he still has a long future ahead of him. It would be great if he could pass the exam next year, but it doesn't matter if he fails, because there will be opportunities later. Besides, Zhu Shenzhui thinks that it might be a good thing that Xu Xiancheng fails the exam for the time being. It is not easy to get into the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty. Being an official under internal and external troubles is too risky. It is better to be down-to-earth and take it step by step.

We were chatting happily when we heard hurried footsteps outside the door. In the blink of an eye, my brother-in-law Zhou Anmin came into the room covered in snow.

"Brother-in-law!"

"Little brother!"

Zhou Anmin smiled and nodded at Zhu Shenzhui, and at the same time secretly winked at him. Zhu Xiuer was not aware that Zhou Anmin had sent someone to pass on a message to Zhu Shenzhui. He was just sitting in the Jinyiwei Yamen, and the servants at home came to tell him that Zhu Shenzhui had come. After hearing this, Zhou Anmin rushed back without delay.

He gave Zhou Anmin a knowing look, and they both laughed at the same time.

"You chat with my younger brother first. I'll go to the kitchen and ask him to prepare some delicious dishes tonight so you two can have a good drink together." Seeing her husband coming back, Zhu Xiuer stood up and helped Zhou Anmin take off his coat, then put it aside while patting off the snow. Then she said this and walked out. Zhou Anmin hurriedly said behind her, "My wife has worked hard," and personally sent his wife out.

After Zhu Xiuer left, Zhou Anmin returned to the room and went straight to the kang, sitting cross-legged with Zhu Shenzhui.

"Brother-in-law, what are you looking for me for so urgently?" Zhu Shenzhui asked after pouring a cup of hot tea for Zhou Anmin.

"I thought you had returned to Pingyang, but you were on your way back from the grassland." Zhou Anmin took a sip of water and continued, "The matter you entrusted to me before has come to an end. I think the road will be even harder to travel in a few days, so I told you as soon as possible while I can still go back and forth."

"How is it?" Upon hearing this, Zhu Shenzhui's eyes lit up and he asked hurriedly.

He had previously asked Zhou Anmin to do two things. One was to find the whereabouts of the survivors of Qi's army after the Battle of Liaodong and to go to Yiwu to find the veterans of Qi's army. The other was to go to Nanzhili to find the fireworks craftsmen.

The Liaodong matter was not accomplished. Zhou Anmin learned through Jinyiwei that the battle of Hunhe in Liaodong was extremely brutal. Not many soldiers of Qi's army survived, and even those who survived on the battlefield were seriously injured. It was not clear whether the Later Jin captured or killed these people, but the latter was more likely, because no one from Liaodong or other channels had heard that Qi's army had returned.

As for going to Jinhua to find the veterans of Qi's army, there was some progress. Zhou arranged to send people to Yiwu, and indeed found a few veterans of Qi's army. But things did not go as planned. As a result of the battle of Hunhe, Qi's army was completely wiped out in Liaodong. Everyone in Yiwu was in mourning, and every family was sad. Since the Qi's army was established for decades, the people in the Qi's army have changed several generations. Because the Qi's army is different from other Ming troops, its soldiers are basically from Yiwu, Zhejiang, so the Qi's army is also called Zhejiang soldiers.

Several generations of Yiwu people joined the Qi Family Army and fought for the country in many battles, making countless contributions and creating a great reputation for the Qi Family Army. However, the imperial court had always been on guard against the Qi Family Army. Not to mention the previous "rioting over salary", which resulted in a large number of elite Qi Family Army soldiers not dying on the battlefield, but dying at the hands of their own people. When the news came, the whole Yiwu was in an uproar, and the local people of Yiwu were furious at the imperial court's act of abandoning the enemy after the enemy had died.

After the "salary riot" incident, the imperial court rebuilt the Qi Family Army. At that time, the people of Yiwu were unwilling to continue to join the army because they felt that the imperial court's actions had chilled the hearts of the people of Yiwu. Since there had been a first time, if it happened again, the Yiwu people would not only fight for the country in vain but also lose their lives in vain. Who would want such a result?
However, although the Qi Family Army had experienced the pay riot at that time, some people were not involved, including several old subordinates of Qi Jiguang. Under their persuasion, the Yiwu people reluctantly accepted the court's explanation and sent their children to rebuild the Qi Family Army, which led to the birth of the second Qi Family Army.

But who would have thought that this time in the Liaodong battlefield, it was because of the court. First, Yuan Yingtai, the governor of Liaodong, was not familiar with military affairs and made mistakes, which led to the desperate situation of Qi's army and the White Spear Army. Then, the main force of the Ming army did not help, and allowed Qi's army to be attacked by the elite Eight Banners of the Later Jin Dynasty, which was several times larger than itself, and the whole army was annihilated.

When the news came, the people of Yiwu were furious. They thought this was the second betrayal of the imperial court. The Qi Family Army, composed of Yiwu children, had never done anything wrong to the Ming imperial court, but the Ming imperial court did this again and again, which really chilled the hearts of the people of Yiwu.

After the defeat in Liaodong, Emperor Tianqi was heartbroken to learn that Qi's army and the White Spear Army were completely wiped out. The destruction of such a strong army was the heaviest loss for the Ming Dynasty, even more serious than the loss of Liaodong.

The white-pole soldiers were better, after all, they could continue to be recruited from Sichuan. But the Qi Family Army was different. The Qi Family Army, which was composed of Yiwu children, was a relatively special army in the Ming Dynasty. It was not easy to rebuild this army with a glorious history and strong combat effectiveness after it was destroyed.

Therefore, Emperor Tianqi planned to send people to Yiwu to recruit Yiwu soldiers to build an army in the same way as before to rebuild the Qi Family Army. However, the heartbroken people of Yiwu ignored the court this time. No matter how hard the people sent by the emperor talked and made countless promises, the people of Yiwu, who had been deceived, no longer believed in the court and refused to send anyone no matter what.

In this way, the people sent by the court stayed in Yiwu for two months without any success. Not to mention rebuilding the Qi Family Army, they couldn't even recruit an ordinary soldier. Faced with such a situation, the court was helpless. After reporting the matter to the emperor and the cabinet, the emperor and the cabinet were also speechless. They had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​rebuilding the Qi Family Army.

"So, the trip to Yiwu was in vain? We failed to hire anyone?" Zhu Shenzhui asked anxiously.

Zhou Anmin sighed and said, "The court wanted to rebuild this army, but no one was willing to do so despite the many benefits they offered in Yiwu. In the end, they returned empty-handed. My people learned about this after they went there. In addition, the locals in Yiwu not only disliked the court officials, but also drove them away when they came. If the locals hadn't restrained themselves, they would have taken up arms and fought back."

"What happened next?" Zhu Shenzhui asked.

"Don't worry, listen to me slowly." Zhou Anmin said: "If the imperial court can't do it, even the Jinyiwei will find it difficult to do it. Besides, this matter can't be forced, so we can only think of another way."

"Later, I consulted with the local Jinyiwei colleagues, who gave me some advice. It is absolutely impossible to recruit soldiers from Yiwu. The people of Yiwu are now unwilling to contribute to the court. If we want to find people, we can only use other methods."

"What does brother-in-law mean...?" Zhu Shenzhui asked thoughtfully.

Zhou Anmin nodded and said, "Young people are out of the question, but there are a few old soldiers in the local village who were seriously injured in the Qi family army and returned home. We might be able to try to find a solution from these old soldiers, but little brother, let me make it clear to you, these old soldiers are not young, the youngest is over 40 years old, and the oldest is in his early 50s, and all of them are injured, some are missing arms, and some are broken legs. It is impossible to get them to go to the battlefield."

Zhu Shenzhui thought about it silently, and asked Zhou Anmin: "Are you sure these are all old members of the Qi Family Army?"

"Of course!" Zhou Anmin said without thinking: "The Qi Family Army is different from other armies. There are strict rules for joining the army and returning home. These veterans are all injured and returned home from the Qi Family Army. This is absolutely true."

"how many?"

"Not many. Excluding those who couldn't move and those who didn't want to leave, there were only three."

"Only three?"

"Three is not a small number. The actual number of veterans is much higher, but the rest are either too old or too disabled, or unwilling to leave. Although these three are disabled, they are in good health and have no family ties. Even so, it will take a lot of effort to convince them."

"Three means three. I want all three of them! I will not treat them unfairly in terms of resettlement allowance, military pay, etc. Everything will be in accordance with the old rules of the Qi Family Army. On top of that, I will double their salary!"

"Have you thought about it?"

"I've thought about it!" Zhu Shenzhui nodded and said, "I'm sorry to bother you, brother-in-law. Please arrange for these three people to be sent to Shanxi as soon as possible. I hope you will take good care of them along the way."

(End of this chapter)