The Ming Dynasty: Starting with bandits, it swept across the land.

Chapter 17 Repairing the Wall

The speaker was Wei Mingdao, Zhou Dezhao's student.

Since being banished from the capital by the eunuch faction and sent to the remote and impoverished Yijun, Zhou Dezhao had become somewhat depressed.

He followed the established rules in official business and didn't do anything new or unusual.

This was also the point that the local gentry were most satisfied with about him; in Yijun's environment, not causing trouble was the best outcome.

Zhang Douyao, the magistrate of Chengcheng next door, loved to show off and wanted to impress his superiors in the Ming Dynasty's assessment of local officials.

The excessive pressure to collect taxes from the people led to the emergence of people like Wang Er, who ultimately lost his life.

Aside from government offices, Zhou Dezhao spent most of his time at the county school. He was extremely concerned about Confucian education in the area and often gave lectures there.

Zhou Dezhao was able to rank among the top five in the second class of the imperial examinations, which speaks volumes about his knowledge, especially considering his diligent teaching.

The students in the county all admired him greatly.

In fact, when Zhou Dezhao first summoned the families, many students would have come on their own if their parents hadn't stopped them.

Wei Mingdao stepped out from below the hall, first bowed to Zhou Dezhao, and then said, "Master, uncles and elders, my family's residence is located in the north of the city. The house and courtyard walls are all made of blue bricks. I am willing to demolish this house to use the proceeds to repair the city walls."

Wei Mingdao's words shocked everyone in the room.

Zhou Dezhao was so excited he could barely speak.

"Mingdao, I will definitely report your righteous act of sacrificing your family fortune to relieve the nation's distress to the imperial court and receive high praise!"

"When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact. My mentor, I only did what I was supposed to do."

With Wei Mingdao as their example, everyone knew they had to contribute their own resources, so they all agreed to provide grain and manpower to help defend the county town.

Then Zhou Dezhao ordered the yamen runners to conscript people from the city and select able-bodied men to go to the north of the city overnight to dismantle courtyards and repair the city walls.

It was late at night, but the county government office was still brightly lit. Zhou Dezhao finished counting the grain sent by various wealthy households and rubbed his temples.

Eight hundred shi (a unit of dry measure), less than he had expected, but enough for the time being.

As previously agreed upon by the county government, each wealthy household would send someone to lead a team to guard the county town. The town had over six thousand people, enough to feed them for ten days.

Upon learning that Kuquanpu had been occupied by Wang Er, he immediately sent someone to Fuzhou to inform the prefect, Fan Zhimao.

Now we hope that Lord Fan, who has a good reputation as an official, will send troops as soon as possible.

Upon exiting the county government warehouse, Zhou Dezhao saw a figure waiting at the door.

"Mingdao, what are you doing here?"

The figure was none other than Wei Mingdao, who had broken the deadlock for Zhou Dezhao at the county government office that evening.

"My dear teacher, my house has been demolished. I wonder if I can stay here with you tonight?"

Upon hearing Wei Mingdao's words, Zhou Dezhao cursed himself for being foolish, having forgotten to arrange accommodation for his good student.

"Mingdao, you will stay in the side room of the county government office for now. After we defeat Wang Er, I will gather the strength of the entire county to build you a new residence."

"Thank you, my teacher."

-----------------

Since the Song Dynasty, China has had a tradition of "officials not repairing their offices".

The room that Zhou Dezhao arranged for Wei Mingdao was the south wing of the county government's backyard, which was originally occupied by Zhou Dezhao's wife and children.

This spring, Madam Zhou took her children back to Wuchang, leaving the wing room vacant. Zhou Dezhao had previously spent his own money to repair it, but the wooden wedges by the window were still infested with insects.

The pageboy Yang Sheng made up a bed for Wei Mingdao, and Wei Mingdao lay down on it and stretched comfortably.

"Young Master, why don't we go back to our own home? Although the courtyard wall and side rooms are gone, didn't Officer Su say we have enough bricks and the main house doesn't need to be demolished?"

Yang Sheng swept the floor with a broom, laid out bedding, and since the room wasn't big enough, he had to sleep on the floor.

"I gave Suhe five taels of silver and told him to demolish the main house as well."

"Why, young master?"

Yang Sheng couldn't understand why they would demolish the main house, which was perfectly fine and didn't need to be demolished.

"Because young master, I want to pass the imperial examination."

Yang Sheng was even more confused.

"To accomplish great things, one must first establish a reputation; only then can one achieve twice the result with half the effort." After saying this, without caring whether Yang Shengming understood, Wei Mingdao turned over and closed his eyes to rest.

Wei Mingdao's family runs a tea brick business. Every year, they transport tea bricks to the grasslands to trade with Mongolian tribes, exchanging the tea bricks for horses, cattle, and sheep.

A box of tea bricks is worth no more than 2 taels of silver at the place of origin, but it is worth 10 taels when it reaches the grasslands. If it is exchanged for cattle and sheep and then returned to the mainland, it will be worth 20 taels. This trip is a tenfold profit.

But even after ten years, Wei Mingdao's family remained a small, insignificant household in Yijun City.

The reason is simple: the profits have been siphoned off.

To do business with officials, one must be able to bribe everyone, from top to bottom. After deducting the cost and losses during the journey, a box of tea bricks yields a profit of fourteen taels. However, starting from the eunuch in charge of the tea, through various checkpoints and finally to the border general, they all take a cut of twelve taels.

They were lucky to have two ounces left, as they didn't encounter any bandits or mountain robbers.

If anything goes wrong, you could lose everything.

Since the severe drought began in Shaanxi, his family hasn't even been able to earn those two taels of silver.

Along this road, many ordinary people turned to banditry because they couldn't make a living.

The caravans that can still use this trade route are all from families with powerful backgrounds, such as generals or governors.

Wei Mingdao knew very well that if you wanted to expand your business in the Ming Dynasty, you needed to have connections in official circles, and preferably those connections should be from your own family.

He studied very hard, hoping to pass the imperial examination one day and hang a plaque with the words "Jinshi Jidi" (meaning "passing the imperial examination") on his family's head. However, Yijun was not a place with a strong academic atmosphere, and even a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examination) could be celebrated for many years.

Wei Mingdao failed the provincial examinations four times.

This left him extremely frustrated, and he even considered writing the following in his study: "If I one day achieve my lofty ambitions, I will dare to laugh at Huang Chao for not being a true man."

But in the end, he held back.

He had been to the border with his father and knew what the Ming army there was like. Although they were not as elite as they were at the founding of the dynasty, they were still formidable and would go to the grasslands to burn wasteland whenever the Mongols caused trouble.

Just as Wei Mingdao was scratching his head in frustration while reading, Zhou Dezhao arrived.

A second-class Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations)—Yijun County had never seen such a highly educated official in so many years. Even Fan Zhimao, the prefect of Fuzhou, Yijun County's superior, was only a Juren (successful candidate in the provincial imperial examinations).

Moreover, this local official was extremely concerned about the local education situation and personally gave lessons to the students.

Wei Mingdao and his classmates were deeply moved.

So when they heard that bandits were about to besiege the city and that their teacher was summoning everyone to help defend it, everyone wanted to do their part to fulfill their teacher-student bond.

But Wei Mingdao had more to think about.

The Ming Dynasty adopted a system of anonymous grading for the imperial examinations, and the examination papers had to be transcribed before being sent to the examiners for review, in order to prevent favoritism and cheating as much as possible.

However, discerning people can still tell who the examinee is from the writing style of the exam paper.

As long as I can gain great fame during this siege of Yijun, and have my mentor write me a letter before the exam, I dare not say I will pass the provincial exam, but at least the provincial exam should not be a problem.

Lost in these thoughts, Wei Mingdao fell asleep.

When he woke up again, the sun had already risen, and there was no trace of the pageboy Yang Sheng on the ground. Only water for washing his face and a towel had been placed at the door.

Wei Mingdao washed his face and went outside, just in time to see Yang Sheng running in in a somewhat flustered manner.

Before Wei Mingdao could even ask a question, Yang Sheng hurriedly shouted:

"Young master, the bandits are here!"