During the Unification War, He's father also joined the army. However, although he also served as a soldier for three years, he had always served in the local army. He had never even been on the battlefield, and after three years, he failed to take the exam.
As a sergeant, he could only retire as an ordinary soldier.
The only benefit was that he was assigned a share of land, and with the land lease-to-purchase order, he was able to support his family.
It's just that since his wife gave birth to her third child, she has been frail and sick. She has been taking soups and medicines all year round and has spent a lot of money. Naturally, the family's financial situation has not improved.
However, He's father saved his wife's life by using decoction, and she is still alive and well. If it were any other family, he would have given up long ago, and they would have to spend money to buy medicine to save it.
.
But Father He did this!
Just like when he retired from the army and returned to his hometown, with the land deed issued by the military, even though he didn't even have a place to stay, matchmakers still kept coming to his door.
But he didn't want anyone, so he married her, who also came from a poor family, was also frail and sick, and it was obvious from a glance that she couldn't do heavy work!
Just because before joining the army, he promised to marry her when he came back, and she also said that he would wait for her.
She waited!
He is married!
Even though the subsequent life was very difficult, Father He still had no regrets!
However, even so, for a person who was born in poverty, whose parents both starved to death, and who never had enough to eat or wear warm clothes until he joined the army, this kind of life was considered a success.
However, Fa, who joined the army with him when he was young, finally retired with the rank of sergeant major, and upon returning to his hometown, he became the deputy police chief of the town.
To be honest, it would be impossible not to be envious or extreme.
But he himself had no hope. He could only hope that his three sons would be successful. However, the early years were still miserable and it was difficult to eat. Naturally, he could not let them study. That is, he reluctantly let the eldest son go to school.
After one year of study, I can only recognize a few words.
Later, when they grew up, they were asked to sign up to join the army. Unfortunately, none of the three were selected.
This made Father He so angry that he was almost dead!
Logically speaking, He's father had joined the army back then. The three brothers were second-generation sons of Miaohong. There would be bonus points for signing up to join the army. As long as the conditions were met, the military would generally give priority to admission.
However, these three brothers are lacking in all aspects of quality.
Because the social status of soldiers in the Tang Dynasty was extremely high, whether they were from the elite class, the ordinary middle class, or children from peasant families, they all regarded joining the army as the best option in life.
Needless to say, children of powerful people, but for middle-class families, if their sons have this talent, they will try their best to support them all the way to the preparatory school, and then apply for martial arts school or sea school. Of course, if they can be admitted to the Youth Military Academy in advance,
The Royal Youth Military Academy would be even better.
Because in an empire like the Tang Empire, which had real aristocrats, the aristocracy was the main body of the country. The aristocrats, as well as a very small number of senior civil servants and super rich people, together constituted the upper structure of the Tang Empire, which is the so-called upper class.
society.
And how can you become a noble? Naturally, you can be knighted by military merit, or if you are a super genius, you can be knighted by academics.
In contrast, joining the army as an officer, and then achieving military merit and becoming a knight is the easiest way to squeeze into the upper class of the empire.
Even if they can't be knighted, the income and status of an officer are still high. At the same time, after retirement, they can smoothly switch to a local official position, which is not bad at all.
These rich and middle class kids all want to be military officers!
As for ordinary children from farm families, except for a few geniuses who can get through with scholarships, most of them will regard joining the army as their first choice in life.
Officers are paid well, and soldiers are not bad either. If you can get a non-commissioned officer, it will be even better.
When he returns from the army, he will be a patrolman at least, and he will still eat from the public family.
This has resulted in not only the number of students applying for the martial arts school every year, but also the number of students from the Hai Xuetang, and more children from farm families signing up to join the army every year!
In many places where martial arts are popular, during the annual military recruitment season, all young people who meet the requirements will rush to apply. There are many soldiers, so the requirements are naturally high. In addition, some people's fathers have retired from the military.
Just exercise, be exposed to some basic military knowledge, and even participate in some activities of the militia, etc. The basic military quality is not low.
Therefore, it is not easy to serve as a soldier in the Tang Empire nowadays. You need to have excellent physical fitness.
As for He Xihua and his three brothers, their family was in trouble when they were young, so only the eldest brother studied for a year, while the other two did not study.
They could not be selected to join the army, so they had to go out to work and learn skills. Anyway, if they just relied on farming, their family's land would not be able to support them.
After several of them went out to work one after another, the eldest brother was a good person, smart enough, and willing to endure hardships. He worked hard for several years with a master who repaired steam engines. After studying for a few years, he barely started working this year. He found a job in Shanghai.
Although the job of repairing machinery has just started, the monthly salary has already reached more than ten yuan, and the future is promising.
But the second and third children just lacked something. If they were asked to work outside, they would only work stupidly. They didn't know how to steal from the masters, and they didn't know how to please the old masters and learn a few skills.
Wouldn't it just mean hanging around at the bottom of those factories?
In the end, there was no choice but to immigrate.
As for going home to farm, the two brothers don't have a share of the family's land.
It's not that he was partial and didn't give even half of the land to these two sons, but the family only had so much land, and it would be okay if only one son inherited it.
But if it is divided between two sons or even three sons, then this little land will be nothing.
Even the boss who gets all his land cannot live a good life relying on the land. The boss still has to work in Shanghai, and the location of the family's land is just a supplement.
Now the eldest son's son is also six years old and will be of school age next year. Father He and the eldest son are saving money desperately. Why are they saving money? Naturally, he is going to school.
Studying is very expensive these days!
Over the past few years, he also knew that the second and third children had a lot of complaints against him, but he still had no regrets.
If the three of them are all confused, they might as well support the eldest child with all their strength. As for why they are not the second and third eldest children, this can only be blamed on God, who allowed them to be born late.
The empire implements the heirship system. The law clearly stipulates that the titles of nobles, land grants, fiefs, salaries, or other assets that are clearly bound to the titles are bound together. These properties and titles will be strictly followed by the heirs.
Inheritance is inherited by the eldest son.
And they don’t recognize the inheritance rights of concubines!
Because the imperial law clearly stipulates monogamy, only children born to the husband and his legal wife, and the birth of the child must be witnessed by other nobles, officials, officers and other people with official status, and provide guarantee notarization.
Only this child can have the legal right to inherit the title.
Avoid situations such as civet cats changing princes, or illegitimate children popping up, which could corrupt the aristocratic system!
Although the empire only has clear legal provisions and restrictions on the inheritance system of nobles, there are generally no clear restrictions on the inheritance of ordinary people. As long as you are willing, you can make an officially notarized will and leave your assets to anyone, even cats.
Dog or donate directly.
But if there are no survivors, it will naturally be inherited by the immediate family members according to the law.
Generally speaking, the inheritance laws of the Tang Dynasty were relatively complete. As long as a survivor was established during his lifetime, you could do whatever you wanted and burn all the money.
If there are no survivors, official distribution will be followed.
However, in fact, many of the powerful and even middle-class people in the empire follow the inheritance system of the nobility, because wealth and social status need to be accumulated, often over several generations. If they are scattered along the way, it is easy for them to lose their families.
Lost in the middle of the road.
Therefore, most powerful people and the middle class will leave most of their property to their eldest son, and only give a little to their second son and then send it off to make a living on their own.
Even among farmers, we often see this situation. The eldest son inherits the family business and farms at home, while the second sons go out to work, immigrate, or go to work in the city.
The eldest son inheritance system is a very common phenomenon in the current society of the Tang Dynasty.
This system has the influence of the aristocratic inheritance system and is also closely related to the rapid development of industry and commerce in contemporary society.
Datang is now full of factories, and the outbreak of the Industrial Revolution has brought many non-agricultural jobs.
Workers are needed in factories, clerks are needed in stores, and various service personnel are needed in restaurants.
The development of industry and commerce has created many jobs in the secondary and tertiary industries in Datang to accommodate the increasing number of surplus laborers coming out of the countryside.
Many people choose to work in the city to make money during their spare time, and some young people stay in the city to work all year round and rarely go home.
The abundant employment opportunities provided by industry and commerce are what allowed this eldest son inheritance system to be spontaneously formed among the people.
After all, the second son can find a job outside his hometown after he leaves his hometown!
It doesn't matter if you can't find a job, the Immigration and Settlement Department always welcomes people to immigrate to border provinces or overseas territories.
The many border provinces in the mainland, many overseas territories in Southeast Asia, America, etc. can accommodate a large number of people, so there is no need to worry about running out of places to go.
The development of industry and commerce and immigration ensured the stability of the social system and indirectly affected the civil inheritance system.
After all, if the second sons who are kicked out of the house cannot find a job or immigrate, and cannot support themselves, then no matter how cruel their parents are, they will not kick the second sons out and let them starve to death.
He Xihua's family was just an ordinary family among many rural families in the Tang Empire.