Chapter 216 Good times and beautiful scenery, but the sky
Nine cold days, the north wind blows in the face, especially at night, the north wind blows, the bone-chilling cold is like a knife cutting.
Zhu Pingan, 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 and opened the "Traditional Records" presented by the mysterious old Taoist, lit up the oil lamp and read it stand up.
Thirdly drunk, his head was a little heavy, and it was difficult to concentrate. Zhu Pingan covered the oil lamp with a shade and opened the window. The cold wind blew, and the feeling of being cut by a knife made Zhu Pingan wake up instantly. a lot of.
There are a hundred Hamlets for every one hundred readers. Wang Yangming's "Xin Xue" 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" The core of this method of "fighting against heaven, earth, and people" to be victorious in every battle is Wang Yangming's eight-character motto: This heart will not move but will move randomly.
"True knowledge means doing it. If you don't do it, it doesn't mean you know it. This is for scholars to teach hard and practice their duties."
It was still late at night, snow came into the window, and a certain man was reading by the window. The young man gradually fell into the book.
Early in the morning of the second day, Zhu Pingan got up, washed up, and went out as usual with his schoolbag slung across his body and a black wooden board under his arm. As the saying goes, "Winter practice is three days, and summer practice is three days." The emphasis in practicing calligraphy and learning is perseverance.
Nine cold days, practicing calligraphy and reading in the cold wind, have a unique flavor.
After more and more pedestrians came and went. Zhu Ping'an collected the writing brushes, bamboo tubes, black wooden boards and other objects and then walked out of the woods. I ordered a bowl of duck blood and vermicelli soup from a shop down the street and had breakfast with pancakes.
After breakfast, Zhu Ping'an walked to the dock outside Yingtian City with his schoolbag slung across his body, preparing to inquire about the passenger ship going upstream to learn about the situation. Yingtian's wharf was also relatively busy in this weather. Zhu Pingan went to the wharf to inquire about the situation. People on the wharf did not dare to neglect Zhu Pingan's gown.
After questioning, Zhu Pingan had 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 use a combination of sails, oars and maybe trackers. Go upstream under the influence. Moreover, the boat fare is three times more expensive than traveling 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 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 Pingan was simple: he wanted to take advantage of Zhu Pingan'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 the Bashu area. There will be several tax collection points on the way to the Yangtze River. At least seven or eighty taels of silver will be collected in taxes along the way. 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 Pingan's scholar status and wanted to use Zhu Pingan's scholar status to get tax exemption.
The people of the Ming Dynasty had the same idea as our modern people. If you can pay less tax, pay less tax. If you don't take advantage of it, wouldn't you be 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 not be able to make up for the tax. If you say, you will be punished. It is a serious crime to pretend to be an official ship as a joke. Another way is to find a scholar, an official, a scholar or something to come to the ship, and let them contact the tax collectors. , candidates, and scholars are all tax-free, which 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 as a ritual. I hope you will accept it." The shipowner heard that Zhu Ping'an was a recent official, and his attitude He was extremely respectful and promised Zhu Pingan like this.
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 have heard about this in my previous life. This has become a routine in the Ming Dynasty, so why should I break the routine?
After making an appointment at 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 Pingan quietly left the inn with his luggage on his back, walked along the Qinhuai River to the city gate, and rushed out before the first batch of people opened the city gate. 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 We had a hearty meal and sealed red envelopes and sent them to the room.
“Thank you.” Zhu Pingan thanked the shipowner.
"Master Zhu, please don't do this. It's me who should be thanking you. If there's anything wrong with your hospitality, please just point it out."
The shipowner hurriedly turned away, not daring to accept Zhu Ping'an's salute. He bowed and thanked Zhu Pingan.
Mutual benefit, Zhu Pingan no longer insisted, thanked the shipowner and started enjoying breakfast.
"Young 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, it cleverly used the wind to draw a zigzag upstream on the Yangtze River. The scenery on both sides of the river passed in front of us one by one. It's snow-covered woods, half-white mountains, and so on.
Facing the howling north wind, wearing a rabbit fur coat, standing on the bow of the boat and 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:
What a beautiful day, the king sent me to patrol the mountains.
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, it was already snowing heavily; when I left home, I was just a little scholar, but when I returned home, I was already a great person. It makes people feel a little emotional. I took this photo Zhu Pingan patted the falling snow on his body, put his bag on his back and walked forward. (End of this chapter)