HCB Chapter 196 Human Choice
Chapter 196 Human Choice
The next part is what makes Shen Zhiqiu feel disappointed, which is about settling down. It is divided into four types. No wonder there are four teams queuing up in front.
The first type is the worst, those whose household registration is unclear are considered unstable elements and are forced to do corvée labor.
For example, you probably won't have much time to rest throughout the year. In addition to farming at home, you are also responsible for building city towers, roads, bridges, rivers, etc.
Anyway, you just go wherever there is work, there is no human rights at all.
The second type is to be sent into exile for protection.
The people in Shenjia Village were familiar with this. It seemed that what Fu Huaian's servant A Chi said about those bandits being sent to the army for protection was probably false information.
It is obvious now that those bandits are doing forced labor!
As for those who were originally refugees and were forced to move to the mountain stronghold, they were probably forced to serve in the army.
I have never seen or heard of military households in ancient times. They just farmed the land for others to grow food in their spare time.
During wartime, he put down his hoe and went to the battlefield. If he could live to the end of his life, he would definitely be a very lucky person among the military households.
And you can't walk around everywhere. You can only stay in the one-third acre of land allocated to you. When the day comes that you can leave this one-third acre of land, it means you are going to the battlefield.
I guess by that time, even if you are watched with a whip, you will not be willing to go out.
The third type is frontier farmers. The meaning is very simple. You will be assigned to places with vast land and sparse population. You can increase some popularity when you go there, but your ancestors have not had any great fortune, so you will probably stay there for the rest of your life.
But this is still good, because he is a farmer in the frontier area, and he is also a farmer. You still have a chance to turn things around, because farmers can take the imperial examinations.
Military households are not allowed to take the imperial examinations. Male adults around 14 or 15 years old have to go to the battlefield when there is a war, and even if there is no war, they may be asked to guard the border.
Of course, farmers at the border are also settled at the border. They cannot escape if anything happens at the border. They may have to put down their hoes and go to the battlefield.
But compared with military households, it is much better. At least you can buy a house and land, and you can also do some small business to supplement some family expenses. The most important thing is that your children can take the imperial examinations.
The fourth type is discretion. What does discretion mean?
In other words, you can only be assigned to a place where people think you are worthy of being a citizen.
That is, you may be assigned to any town under the jurisdiction of King Yan, which is a relatively stable area, but the gap between the rich and the poor is different.
You definitely don't just live in Jeju, there are many cities, you go wherever you are assigned to go, and after entering the city, the officers and soldiers in charge of each team will lead the way.
As for how to distribute it, it will be written on the notice and the gatekeepers will analyze it at their discretion.
After seeing this sentence, anyone who is not a fool should understand it, right?
The above four types actually mean the same thing: it is not up to you to decide how to arrange you. It is the gatekeeper who has the final say.
There were a few big words at the end: "Maintain order, those who don't line up will be executed immediately!"
It's still bright red, very obvious.
After listening to Shen Zhiqiu's story, the refugees suddenly panicked, and some even collapsed on the ground, wiping their tears.
It was unacceptable. They traveled thousands of miles to escape famine, some got lost and some died on the way. After finally holding on for a long time, they finally reached a stable place, but in the end they were still forced to become military households or farmers at the border.
You have to know that in ancient times, there were scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, and then there were military households. Back in their hometown, they were all farmers!
For example: Shen Zhiqiu's family tightened their belts to support their child's education, not necessarily for the purpose of actually taking the imperial examination to become an official. They just hoped that at least he could pass the exam and be praised by others as a person who passed down farming and studying as a family tradition!
I felt very proud and was considered a well-known family in the surrounding villages. No matter if it was a boy or a girl, they could find a good family and marry a good wife.
But now, it is very likely that those of them who have nothing to offer will become military households, the lowest class of people.
Some even looked at the empty space around them and estimated that they could not even get the lowest-level military households, and had to go build bridges and roads for others.
There is absolutely no chance for self-selection, and one's fate is decided by others.
Not to mention the refugees, even Shen Zhiqiu couldn't accept it. He was filled with worry and thought:
"The first type of corvée is probably similar to those in the ancient TV dramas I watched before, where the whole family was sentenced to exile after making a mistake or being framed.
I guess they eat at a certain time, then go to work after eating, and work very hard day after day. If they are not careful, they will be whipped. And they are not paid for their work.
And General Fu had previously ordered that the words be engraved on this one and taken away, so I guess this one also needs to be engraved on it, Emma!
Do you know how words were carved in ancient times? Just thinking about it makes his hair stand on end. They used a branding iron that sounded very similar to the word "servitude" and burned it red on your forehead. It made a sharp sound, just like the torture of forcing a confession by words and deeds. It was so scary!
As for why you have to carve words on your face, it is because once you have words on your face, you can’t run away even if you want to. When people see the words on your face, they will know that you are a forced laborer!
The second type is military households, which are not much better than exiles. Basically, you are assigned a range, similar to a small village, and you can only move around in that small village. If you want to leave the village, you must report it.
Moreover, not all the grain you grow belongs to you. You have to hand over a large portion of it as rations for the local garrison.
There is another key point here, that is, the children of military households must get married at the age of fifteen. If they are not married at the age of fifteen, regardless of whether they are male or female, they will be forced to get married. The purpose is obvious, which is to ensure more births.
Everything else doesn't count, this is the point that Shen Zhiqiu simply cannot accept. Although he doesn't want to see his daughter unmarried, he cannot accept just finding someone for his daughter to get married.
Not to mention getting married at the age of fifteen. He was disgusted by this from the bottom of his heart. Fifteen is still a child, and she doesn't know anything about getting married. Even if his daughter is actually an adult soul, it's not okay.
A fifteen-year-old child is not fully developed yet, and childbirth itself was a very dangerous thing in ancient times.
Moreover, if you become a military household, if you don't make any military achievements, if you don't become at least a small leader like those around General Fu,
You have been a military household for generations, and the children of military households can only marry the descendants of military households, and the children born will still have this status.
To put it bluntly, at that time, he thought that having a child was also a tragedy, because the fate of a child was determined at birth, and the child could not go to school and was not eligible to take the college entrance examination.
Born to be on the edge of a knife, why did you give birth to such a child? Isn't it just to make him suffer in this world?"
Don't ever tell him that there would be no peace in the world without soldiers guarding the borders. He admits this and admires those soldiers who risk their lives to defend the territory.
But he was just an ordinary citizen and he didn't have any big ambitions in his previous life. His biggest ambition was to make a little money and let his wife and daughter live a safe and happy life.
If the country is really in danger of collapse, he can sacrifice his own life, but he is reluctant to sacrifice his wife and daughter.
Moreover, the gap between ancient times and modern times is too big. If I am gone in modern times, my wife and daughter may still be able to survive. But if I am gone in ancient times, and there is war everywhere, how can the mother and daughter survive?
What's more, now that he has Luming, he has to consider the offspring of Luming and Youyou.