Rise From the Humble

During the cold weather, the north wind blows against our face, especially at night, when the north wind blows and is as cold as a knife cutting through our bones.

Zhu Ping'an, who had been feasting for a whole day, returned to his room in the inn before the evening curfew, with the smell of alcohol in his breath and a bit of drunkenness. Zhu Ping'an had once made up his mind not to drink, but there were so many big shots at the Luming Banquet, one for each, how could he have the nerve to eat there? ! So even though I was very restrained, I still felt a little drunk.

After returning to the room, Zhu Ping'an took a hot bath, changed into clean clothes, sat at the desk by the window, opened the "Traditional Records" presented by the mysterious old man, and lit up the oil lamp to read.

Partly drunk, his head was a little heavy, and it was difficult to concentrate. Zhu Pingan covered the lampshade and opened the window. The cold wind blew, and the feeling of being cut by a knife made Zhu Pingan instantly sober.

There are a hundred Hamlets for every one hundred readers. Wang Yangming's "Xinxue" thought combines the essence of the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Because of his hundreds of years of experience, Zhu Pingan saw it when he read "Chuan Xi Lu" An invincible method of "fighting against the sky, against the earth, and against the people", the core of which is Wang Yangming's eight-character motto: the heart does not move, but moves randomly.

"True knowledge is what you do, and what you can't do is not enough to know. This is for scholars to teach, and to do it."

In the middle of the night, snow fell into the window, and a young man reading a book by the window gradually sank into the book.

Early in the morning of the second day, Zhu Ping'an got up and finished washing. He carried his schoolbag across his shoulders and went out as usual with the black wooden board in his arms. The so-called "three nines in winter and three days in summer", the practice of calligraphy and learning emphasizes perseverance.

Counting nine cold days, practicing calligraphy and reading in the cold wind, but it has a special flavor.

Until the number of pedestrians coming and going gradually increased. Zhu Pingan collected the writing brushes, bamboo tubes, black wooden boards and other things, and Shi Shi ran out of the woods. In the store on the street, I ordered a bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup and had a breakfast with pancakes.

After breakfast, Zhu Ping'an walked to the pier outside Yingtian City with his schoolbag on his shoulders, planning to ask about the passenger ship going upstream to find out the situation. Yingtian's pier is also relatively busy in this weather, Zhu Ping'an went to the pier to inquire about the situation, and the people on the pier did not dare to neglect Zhu Ping'an's long gown.

After questioning, Zhu Pingan got a general understanding of the situation. Ordinary small boats would not go upstream in this kind of weather. Only larger passenger ships and cargo ships would go upstream under the combined effect of sails, oars and perhaps trackers. And the boat fare is three times more expensive than going down the river.

However, the owner of a large cargo ship took the initiative to contact Zhu Pingan. This cargo ship will set off upstream early tomorrow morning to reach the Bashu area. There is a section in the middle that overlaps with Zhu Pingan's journey.

The reason why the owner approached Zhu Ping'an was very simple, it was to use Zhu Ping'an's identity. We have toll stations on highways and toll stations on waterways in modern times. It was the same in ancient times. In ancient times, the government also levied taxes on transportation. What was not collected was the tax on goods and business travel. Ordinary people crossing the road did not collect taxes. This large cargo ship passes through the Yangtze River to Bashu area. There will be several tax collection points on the way along the Yangtze River. However, there were regulations in the Ming Dynasty that exempted people from taxes and did not charge taxes from officials. In other words, if the ship was a ship owned by officials or officials, they would not need to pay taxes, and scholars would also be exempt from tax. The owner of this cargo ship took a fancy to Zhu Ping'an's status as a scholar, and wanted to use Zhu Ping'an's status as a scholar to be exempted from tax.

People in Ming Dynasty have the same thinking as our modern people, if you can pay less tax, you can pay less tax, and if you don’t take advantage of it, it’s not stupid. They mainly use two methods to avoid taxes. One is a high-risk method, which is to pretend to be an official ship and disguise their own ship as the ship of a certain official to avoid taxation. However, this method is very risky. , after all, you are pretending to be an official ship. Once you are found out, you will be punished not only to make up for the taxes, but also to pretend to be an official ship as a joke. This is a serious crime. Another way is to find a person who is a scholar, an official, or a scholar. Those who come to the ship and let them contact the tax collectors. Officials, recruiters, and scholars are all tax-free. It is justifiable and there is no need to take risks. Generally speaking, they can't find many officials, and they don't have many candidates. Scholars are relatively easy to find. They approached Zhu Pingan for the purpose of tax exemption.

"Thank you, Mr. Zhu. I will entertain you with good wine and food along the way. I also have ten taels of silver for the ceremony. I hope you will accept it." The shipowner was extremely respectful when he heard that Zhu Ping'an was a recent official. Ban made a promise to Zhu Ping'an.

After hearing this, Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but raise the corners of his lips. He would eat, drink, play and travel for free, and he could also earn some consulting fees by the way. Why not do it.

Besides, I had heard about this in my previous life, and it had become a routine in the Ming Dynasty, so why should I break the routine?

After agreeing on a time and place, Zhu Pingan said goodbye to the boatman and returned to the inn. The fat man in the inn had just gotten up. After hearing the news that Zhu Pingan would return home early tomorrow morning, the fat man took Zhu Pingan to a restaurant to practice for Zhu Pingan.

Zhu Ping'an is somewhat famous near the Confucius Temple. He is the youngest candidate in this year's Enkenan Zhili. When he was having dinner at the restaurant, the shopkeeper asked the waiter to give him two of the restaurant's specialty dishes for free. This made the fat man sigh, and he swore that he would study hard after returning home and enjoy this treatment.

On the second day, before it got light, Zhu Ping'an quietly left the inn with his luggage on his back, walked along the Qinhuai River to the city gate, and was the first to open the city gate to let people out of Yingtian City.

The owner of the cargo ship had been waiting at the dock early. After seeing Zhu Pingan, he asked his crew to help Zhu Pingan get on the ship.

This cargo ship should be considered a giant ship in the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Pingan boarded the ship, the owner of the cargo ship used a packed room upstairs as Zhu Pingan's bedroom, and asked the cook on board to cook a sumptuous meal. Meals and sealed red envelopes were delivered to the room.

"Thank you." Zhu Pingan thanked the shipowner with his hands.

"Master Zhu, please don't do this. I should be the one thanking you. If there is anything wrong with your hospitality, please just bring it up."

The shipowner quickly turned away and did not dare to accept Zhu Pingan's salute. He bowed and thanked Zhu Pingan.

Mutually beneficial, Zhu Ping'an didn't insist anymore, thanked the shipowner and started enjoying breakfast.

"Master, if you need anything, just go downstairs and call for help." The shipowner also left with a wink.

Because the cargo ship's side is very high and has handrails, it is very safe. After breakfast, Zhu Ping'an went to the bow of the ship and firmly held the handrails to enjoy the snowy scenery of the Yangtze River in winter.

Although there are snowflakes in the sky, there is no ice in the Yangtze River because of the flowing water.

The cargo ship raised several large sails, and with the exquisite skills of the helmsman, he cleverly used the wind to paddle upstream on the Yangtze River. The scenery on both sides of the river passed in front of him one by one. Forests full of snow, half of which The mountains of Baekdu and so on.

Facing the howling north wind, wearing a rabbit fur coat, standing on the bow of the boat, watching the mountains and woods passing by before my eyes, I couldn't help but feel an impassioned feeling echoing in my chest.

In this situation, standing on the bow of the boat, Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but recite a poem:

The beautiful scenery is beautiful in this beautiful time. Your Majesty sent me to patrol the mountain.

After three days of sailing, the ship passed through a banknote checkpoint. Zhu Ping'an disembarked and showed his official certificate to the tax officer on duty, and the cargo ship passed the banknote checkpoint smoothly.

Two days later, Zhu Ping'an got off the boat and home was close at hand.

When I left home, I was still busy with the autumn harvest, but when I returned home, the snow was already falling; when I left home, I was just a little scholar, but when I returned home, I was already a great person, which makes people feel a little emotional. Ping An picked up his luggage and walked forward.