Deng Ming originally planned to spend the New Year in Jiujiang and then set off to return to Huguang, but the number of people who came to marry the Ming army greatly exceeded the initial expectations, and it seems that some landlords and rich peasants were among them, and the proportion was not even very low.

In Deng Ming's original estimate, one hundred taels of silver was a lot of money for the peasants, and although there was a threat of thieves, there were still many people who would not be able to resist this temptation, and the Ming army paid bribes to change the information, so that the peasants would not be left with any trouble. The Ming army would probably negotiate marriages for half of the soldiers in Jiangxi, and most of them would be the daughters of peasant families.

Jiangxi will thus form a Ming army's Yuejia group, in Deng Ming's opinion, spending such a sum of money is also good for the Ming army, at least these people who marry the girl to the Ming army will not call the Ming army a thief; Moreover, some of these hundreds of thousands of taels of silver will become land in the hands of the Yue family group of the Ming army, although the probability is not high, but it may produce some scholars, which will also help the Ming army expand its influence.

At first, Deng Ming did not think that there would be many rich peasants and small landlords who risked thieves to marry the Ming army. However, this judgment proved completely wrong, and although many people came to inquire about the poorest part of the peasants, in the end a considerable number of them chose to give up. They are at the bottom of the oppression, and they are extremely afraid of the government, for fear that coveting this hundred taels of silver will bring disaster to the whole family. Only a very small number of people who were particularly bold or particularly poor married the Ming army in order to relieve their urgent needs.

To Deng Ming's surprise, among the people who came to marry the Ming army, rich peasants and small landlords accounted for a large proportion. One hundred taels of silver is less tempting to small landlords and local tyrants, who do not need this money to bring earth-shaking changes to their families, but they show great enthusiasm for marriage. During the traditional leisure period of the Chinese New Year, they did not rest at home, but came to the Ming army to investigate. Compared with the poor peasants at the bottom who were very closed to the news, the wealthy families had a broader vision and a keen sense of smell, and when they saw the gentry class's warm welcome to the Ming army, they immediately vaguely realized that this was actually a small risky business -- with so many gentry involved, it was unlikely that the government would carry out a large-scale purge in the name of thieves after the Ming army left. For these wealthy families, although they don't need a hundred taels of silver to save their lives, such a sum of money can completely allow them to enter the ranks of the richer class ten years earlier, or a generation earlier.

After the year, there were some small landlords in Nanchang and other places, who rushed to the Ming army camp in Jiujiang despite the long distance, which is enough to prove that they are not only financially rich, but also well-informed. To these people, a hundred taels of silver was worth less. Some small landlords who came from Nanchang with their daughters spent one or two taels of silver to rent boats, stay in shops, and hire carriages, and if the Ming army was different from what they imagined, they would take their daughters home. Families who can not care about the travel expenses of a few taels of silver obviously have no urgent requirements for a bride price of one hundred taels of silver.

But these people showed greater enthusiasm, and all of them observed the Ming army very carefully, and after seeing the military uniforms and postures of the Ming army, all the visitors tried to marry the Ming army. Many people also celebrated with their crowns, rejoicing that they had not let their daughters bind their feet - for these people, their position was still precarious, and they did not dare to guarantee that their sons-in-law would have the strength to free their daughters from physical labor.

Compared with the rich peasants, those who had already stepped into the gentry class with one foot were more sensitive to politics and began to care about the situation in the province and even in the world. These quasi-gentry class believed that marrying the Ming army would not lead them into trouble, and they were more resistant to the officials - the poorest people counted on the Ming army to help them open their joints, and if the officials used their thief handle to extort money after the Ming army left, they had little ability to defend themselves, and it was not impossible for them to be ruined; The rich peasant class was much more resistant, and many of them were related to the officials, and they could count on the help of the villagers; The small landlords themselves are the old class of the villagers, and the officials sometimes need them to cooperate with the work, so they will not provoke them lightly. These small landlords also had connections in the gentry class, and even if the Ming army did not help, they themselves had a way to say that all the daughters who married out were sick and dead.

These small landlords basically had some ability, and were able to earn some inheritance, or inherit the land passed down from their elders, and did not lose their family business because of bad habits. What they all have in common is that there is no famous scholar in the family, and almost every family in this class is supporting a smartest son to leave production to study. This was the last step in the rise from the peasant class to the gentry class, and after jumping through this dragon gate, a new gentry family was born; And if they can't jump, then they will continue to spin in circles. A few years of natural disasters, a painful lawsuit, or an incompetent heir can knock the family back to the bottom. Most of the juren and more than half of the jinshi and tongjinshi are from this class, but compared to their huge grassroots population, the families that can stand out from it and go to the next level can be called rare.

These small landowners were not desperate to need a hundred taels of dowry to buy land, but this money would allow the son, who had pinned the family's hopes, to continue his studies in the provincial capital, to be under the name of a better teacher, and to take one more round of imperial examinations. Once the dragon gate is successfully skipped, the prosperity of the family is guaranteed for future generations.

These people also have certain requirements for their sons-in-law, not only asking to see their future son-in-law, but also inquiring about their son-in-law's various situations in detail, and are unwilling to give their daughters to a certain ruffian. Fortunately, the Sichuan army tried their best to cooperate, so that these people were very satisfied. During negotiations with Ren Tang, some people also asked what they could do to keep in touch with their mother's family after their daughter's marriage in Sichuan, which was rarely asked by the poor peasant class.

The small landlords would only marry their daughters to the Ming army, and would not let their sons go to Deng Ming's army. The daughter can be used as an investment and bet, after all, she is married to someone with a foreign surname, and it is also easy to cover up; But sending their son to the side of the Ming army, they did not have the courage to do so, and they did not have enough confidence in the Ming army. After these people received the bride money from the Ming army, they generally took out some to buy a dowry for their daughters, as much as 20 taels and as little as 10 taels, so as not to let their daughters go on the road empty-handed.

These small landlords don't let the intermediary matchmakers buy and sell their daughters, so the intermediary fees that Deng Ming handed over to Ren Tang will be saved, and the budget will obviously not be spent. After Deng Ming learned the news, he asked Ren Tang to take out a part of the budget and hand it over to these small landlords, so that they could run some academies -- unlike the wealthy families, most people of this class could only pool money to hire teachers to teach their children, and could not invite famous teachers to come to tutor -- the Ming army's sponsorship of their opening academies was a gesture, because Deng Ming was not Kuidong's camp generals, he was the representative of the Wen Governor, and his every move would be regarded by the people as the attitude of the Southern Ming court.

Now, the small landlord class is the top layer of the Yuejia group of the Ming army. Although the number of gentry families is only a few tenths of that of small landlords, the number of children of the gentry who have gained fame is not much less than that of the children of small landlords, and even if there is no meritorious name in an entire generation, it will not cause fatal damage to the family.

The gentry class was more sensitive to changes in the political situation and the world than the small landlord class, and after the Battle of Gaoyou Lake, many gentry in Jiangxi were determined to marry the officers of the Sichuan army, who could only marry the officers of the Ming army. If Deng Ming's second lieutenant officers were willing to marry the daughters of these families, then the gentry didn't care about the amount of the dowry at all, and if the Ming army paid a dowry of one hundred taels, they would return the dowry worth one hundred taels.

However, Deng Ming's order not to allow soldiers to marry small-footed women blocked the gentry's way, and some of the gentry even asked to meet Deng Ming in person to protest to him after making a deal with the Ming army. Many gentlemen hinted: This is just the rule of Admiral Deng's family, it is the family rule of your old Zhu family, it has nothing to do with other families, and it should not cover all subordinates. But Deng Ming pretended not to understand what they were saying. Deng Ming had already explained this issue many times, no matter how hard he explained, others still did not give up, and now Deng Ming felt powerless when he heard this kind of hint, and he couldn't give birth to any idea of explanation.

Deng Ming only emphasized that the Ming army often had to conduct high-intensity mobile warfare, so it was not convenient to carry a group of disabled women. Moreover, the Ming army was worried about the effect of going up and down, and if the senior generals and officers took the lead in marrying disabled women, they would not be able to control the soldiers below.

Deng Ming blocked the road tightly, and the gentry were helpless, but they were much more courageous than the small landlords, and immediately some people proposed to let their sons, most of whom were concubines, serve incognito on the side of the Ming army; Some of the gentlemen who were particularly confident in the Ming army even expressed their willingness to let their youngest son go to Sichuan.

The children of these gentry families were all literate, and their learning conditions were much better than those of the children of small landlords, and the families could provide them with pen, ink and paper to practice writing, and often hired special enlightened teachers.

Like those who joined the army in Jiangnan, Deng Ming said that he did not have a ready-made position in the army to arrange them, and if these scholars wanted to join the army, they had to start from scratch; But if they don't want to start from the bottom, Deng Ming is very welcome to teach in the academy in Sichuan, and if there is a war in the future, he guarantees that they will not be conscripted into the army until the last moment.

Some of the gentlemen agreed to this arrangement. On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Ren Tang continued to handle the finishing work, and Deng Ming set off for Huguang first with his family soldiers, and took away more than 100 scholars and children, most of whom were from squire-level families. None of the more senior gentry sent their children to Sichuan, and most of their children were instructed by famous teachers, and were able to study under the disciples of the famous Confucians or Shu Jishi, and the conditions offered by Deng Ming were not tempting to them.

……

Beijing.

The son finally went home safely after going through hardships, and Sony asked Baoyi to prepare a table of good dishes in advance, ready to shock the third child.

But Suo Etu didn't say a word after entering the door, just sat at the table in a daze, didn't drink water or move chopsticks. Sonny observed the words, waved his hand to let the maids and servants who served withdrew, and then asked with a pleasant face: "Third child, do you have anything to say to your father?" ”

Suo Etu's face turned red and white, white and red, and after the battle between heaven and man, he suddenly bounced up from his chair, lay motionless in front of Sony with his hands on the ground, and summoned up the greatest courage to ask, "Amma, did you betray the emperor?" (To be continued)