Deng Ming originally planned to celebrate 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 far exceeded the initial expectations. It seemed that there were some landlords and rich peasants among them, and the proportion was not very low.

In Deng Ming's original estimate, one hundred taels of silver was a large amount of property for the farmers. Although there was a threat of robbery, many people would still be unable to resist this temptation. Moreover, the Ming army paid money to bribe the clerks and changed the information, which would not leave any trouble for the farmers. The Ming army would probably negotiate a marriage for half of the soldiers in Jiangxi, and most of them would be the daughters of the farmers' families.

Jiangxi will thus form a Yue Family Group of the Ming Army. In Deng Ming's view, spending such a sum of money is also beneficial to the Ming Army. At least these people who marry the girl to the Ming Army will not call the Ming Army a thief; and some of the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver will become the land in the Yue Family Group of the Ming Army. Although the probability is not high, some scholars may be generated, which will also be helpful for the expansion of the Ming Army.

At the beginning, Deng Ming did not think that there would be many rich peasants. The little landlord risked the thief to marry the Ming army. But the facts proved that his judgment was completely wrong. Although the poorest peasants came to inquire about the news, a considerable number of them chose to give up. They were at the bottom of being bullied and were extremely afraid of the government, fearing that greed for this hundred taels of silver would bring a catastrophe to the whole family. Only a very small number of people with great courage or poor marriages with the Ming army regardless of their imperatives to solve 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 considerable proportion. One hundred taels of silver gave small landlords less temptation to small landlords. They did not need this money to bring earth-shaking changes to their families, but they showed great enthusiasm for marriage. During the traditional leisure period of the Chinese New Year, they did not rest at home, but ran to the Ming army's army to inquire. Compared with the low-level poor peasants who were very closed, the wealthy people had a relatively narrow vision.

They were open and had a sharp sense of smell. When they saw the gentry class warmly welcome the Ming army, they immediately realized that this was actually a small risky transaction. With so many gentry participating, it was unlikely that the government would carry out a large-scale cleaning in the name of thieves after the Ming army left. For these wealthy families, although they did not need 100 taels of life-saving money, such a sum of money could completely allow them to enter the ranks of the richer classes ten years earlier, or a generation earlier.

After the New Year, some small landlords from Nanchang and other places arrived at the Ming army camp. They rushed to the Ming army camp in Jiujiang regardless of the long journey, which was enough to prove that they were not only rich in financial resources, but also well-informed. For these people, the value of one hundred taels of silver was even smaller. Some small landlords who came from Nanchang and brought their daughters to rent a boat and stay in a hotel and hired a carriage. If the Ming army was different from their imagination, they would take their daughter home. The families who could not care about the travel expenses for almost ten taels of silver obviously had no urgent demand for the betrothal of one hundred taels of silver.

But these people showed greater enthusiasm, and each of them observed the Ming army very carefully. After seeing the Ming army's uniform and appearance, all visitors tried to marry the Ming army. Many people even celebrated each other and were pleased that they did not let their daughter bind their feet. For these people, their status was still unstable, and they could not guarantee that their son-in-law would have the ability to let their daughters break away from physical labor.

Compared with the rich peasants, people who have entered the gentry class with one foot are more sensitive to politics and have begun to care about the situation in the province and even the world. These quasi-gentry classes believe that marriage with the Ming army will not cause trouble, and they have a stronger resistance to clerks. The poorest people expect the Ming army to help them clear the joints. If the clerks take their robbers' handle to extort after the Ming army leaves, they have almost no ability to defend themselves, and it is not impossible to be destroyed by their families. The rich peasants have much stronger resistance, and many of them have a relationship with clerks, and they can also rely on the help of their hometowns; and the small landlords themselves are the village elders, and clerks sometimes need them to cooperate with their work, so they will not easily provoke them. These small landlords also have a relationship with the gentry class. Even if the Ming army does not help, they themselves have the ability to say that all their married daughters were dead sick.

These small landlords basically have some ability to earn some industries or inherit the land passed down by their elders, and do not lose their family business because of bad habits. Their common point is that there have not been any scholars with fame in their families. Almost every family in this class is supporting a smartest son to study without production. This is the last step from the peasant class to the gentry class. After leaping through this dragon gate, a new gentry family will be born; and if they cannot leap over, they will continue to circulate in the same place. After several years of natural disasters, a painful lawsuit or an incompetent heir, the family will be reincarnated back to the bottom. Most of the juren and more than half of the jinshi come from this class, but compared with their huge grassroots population, families that can stand out from it and go to another level can be called rare.

These little landlords are not anxious to need a 100 tael of trophy to buy land, but this money can allow the son who holds the family's hope to continue studying in the provincial capital, join a better teacher, and take another round of imperial examinations. Once you successfully skip the dragon gate, the prosperity of the family's future generations will be guaranteed.

These people also have certain requirements for their son-in-law. They not only ask to see their future son-in-law, but also inquire about the various situations of their son-in-law, and are unwilling to betroth their daughter to a scoundrel. Fortunately, the Sichuan Army tried its best to cooperate, which made these people very satisfied. During the negotiations with Ren Tang, some people also asked what would be possible for their daughter to keep in touch with their parents' family after they got married in Sichuan - and few people in the poor peasant class have raised similar questions.

The little landlords would only marry their daughter to the Ming army, but would not let their sons go to Deng Ming's army. The daughters could be used as an investment and bet, but they would marry someone from other families and would be convenient for covering up. However, they did not have the courage to send their son to the Ming army and did not have enough confidence in the Ming army. After these people received the Ming army's betrothal gift, they generally took out some to buy dowry for their daughters, ranging from twenty taels to ten taels, so that their daughters would not be allowed to go on the road empty-handed.

These little landlords did not allow the intermediary matchmakers to buy and sell their daughters, so Deng Ming saved some of the agency fees given to Ren Tang, and the budget was obviously not enough. After Deng Ming learned the news, he asked Ren Tang to take out part of the budget and handed it over to these little landlords to run some academies. Unlike wealthy families, most people in this class could only raise money to invite teachers to teach their children, and could not ask famous teachers to come to tutor. The Ming army sponsored them to open academies was a gesture, because Deng Ming was not the generals of Kuidong's camp, but the representative of the Wen Governor, and his every move would be considered by the people as the attitude of the Southern Ming court.

Now, the small landlord class is the top of the Ming Junyue Family Group. The gentry class with higher status than them is the actual rulers of the local and even the world. Although the number of gentry families is only one-tenth of the small landlords, the number of gentry children who have obtained fame is not much smaller than that of the small landlords. Even if there is no one who has obtained fame and honor in the entire generation, it will not cause fatal damage to the family.

The gentry class was more sensitive to changes in politics and the world situation than the small landlord class. After the Battle of Gaoyou Lake, many gentry in Jiangxi were determined to marry the officers of the Sichuan Army - their marriage partner could only be the officers of the Ming Army. If the second lieutenant of Deng Ming was willing to marry the daughters of these families, the gentry would not care about the amount of the betrothal gift. If the Ming army paid the betrothal gift of 100 taels, they would return the dowry worth 100 taels.

However, Deng Ming's order to not allow soldiers to marry a woman with a tiny foot blocked the gentry's way. Some gentry asked to meet Deng Ming after trading with the Ming army. Many gentry hinted: This is just the rule of Admiral Deng's family, the rules of Admiral Zhu's family, and it has nothing to do with other families and should not cover all subordinates. But Deng Ming pretended not to understand what they were saying. Deng Ming had explained this issue many times. No matter how hard he explained it, others were still reluctant to give up. Now Deng Ming felt weak when he heard this kind of hint, and could not have any thought of explanation.

Deng Ming only emphasized that the Ming army often had to engage in high-intensity mobile warfare, so it was not convenient to carry a group of disabled women. Moreover, the Ming army was worried that the ups and downs would be effective. If senior generals and officers took the lead in marrying disabled women, the soldiers below would be unable to control them.

Deng Ming blocked the road tightly, and the gentry had no choice but to do anything, but their courage was much greater than the little landlords. Some people immediately proposed to let their sons, most of whom were concubines, serve in the Ming army in anonymous manner; some gentry who were particularly confident in the Ming army even expressed their willingness to let their younger sons go to Sichuan.

All the children from these gentry families recognize words. Their daily learning conditions are much better than those of the children of the little landlords. The families can provide them with pens, inks and paper for practicing writing, and often hire specialized teachers for enlightenment.

Like those genuine scholars who joined the army in Jiangnan, Deng Ming said that he did not have ready-made military positions, and if these scholars wanted to join the army, they had to start from scratch; but if they didn't want to start from the bottom, Deng Ming very much welcomed them to teach in academies in Sichuan. If a war broke out in the future, they would not be recruited into the army until the last moment.

Some gentry agreed to this arrangement. On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Ren Tang continued to handle the final work. Deng Ming took his family soldiers to Huguang first, and took away more than a hundred children of scholars, most of whom came from gentry-level families. None of the more advanced gentry sent their children to Sichuan. Most of their children were given guidance from famous teachers and could study under the famous scholars or Shujishi. The conditions offered by Deng Ming were not tempting to them.

...

Beijing.

After his son had finally returned home safely after going through hardships, Sony asked Baoyi to prepare a table of good dishes in advance, preparing to shock the third child.

But Soetu didn't say a word after entering the door, just sat blankly at the table, without drinking water or moving chopsticks. Sony looked at his words and waved his hand to let the maid and servant retreat, and then asked with a pleasant look: "Three, do you have any words in your heart to tell the father."
Chapter completed!