History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1 Demon Rises
【Devil Rises】

Late Tang Dynasty, the sixth year of Dazhong, 852 AD.

This year, the hungry people of Banan gathered together to become bandits. They were tricked by the government troops to go down the mountain and lay down their weapons. Then they were suddenly attacked by the government troops and brutally massacred.

This year, the Tanguts invaded the borders of the Tang Dynasty again;
In this year, Hedong Jiedushi Li Ye "harassed the mixed Hu people and killed those who surrendered without reason", which led to "unrest in the north";
This year, our beloved poet, Du Mu, died;

This year, the emperor's favorite son, Prince Jinghuai Li Mi, died;
This year, there was a great famine in Huainan.

At the end of that year, Mr. Zhu Cheng was blessed with a son in Wugouli, Dangshan, Songzhou (now Dangshan County, Anhui Province).

Mr. Zhu Cheng is really a "Mr.", a teacher. His father, Zhu Xin, is also a teacher. To put it in a flattering way, the Zhu family can be regarded as a family of scholars.

Since they are from a scholarly family, they naturally cannot name their children casually. Only uneducated families would name their children something like brick, tile, fence, mud, chicken, duck, cow, sheep, shit, urine and fart.

Zhu Cheng already had two sons, the eldest son Zhu Yu and the second son Zhu Cun. The newly born son was the third. What should the third son be named? Anyway, it should have a good meaning and sound.

At that time, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Chen, was in power, and all the princes were given names with three drops of water, such as Li Wen, Li Jing, Li Mi, etc. Li Wen, later Emperor Yizong of Tang, changed his name to "Li Mi" after he ascended the throne.

Wen is a good word. It means gentle, kind, mild, warm as spring, gentle and elegant, kind, respectful, frugal and modest...

Mr. Zhu Cheng followed the trend and simply borrowed the word "Wen" to get some royal blessings. Thus, the newborn baby boy had a resounding name - Zhu Wen.

Zhu Cheng certainly could not have imagined that his child was really blessed by the Tang Dynasty royal family. He got so rich that he directly destroyed the Tang Dynasty's nearly 300 years of national prosperity.

This child named Zhu Wen later had a more resounding title - Emperor Taizu of Liang.

Zhu Wen must have found the compliment of "coming from a scholarly family" offensive. If someone had used it to curry favor with him at that time, it would have been a failure.

At this point, we need to have a deeper understanding of the education system of the Tang Dynasty in order to be familiar with Zhu Wen’s family background and to have a glimpse of his miserable childhood:
There were roughly three types of academies in the Tang Dynasty: Chongwenguan in the Prince's Eastern Palace, Hongwenguan in the Menxia Province, and schools.

The first two, especially the first one, are not for common people. No matter how rich you are, you can't buy a school district house in "Erguan". "Erguan" has only a few dozen enrollment quotas, and the admission requirements are basically royal relatives, high-ranking officials, and it is a real "noble school".

The last one is school, which is divided into capital school and prefecture and county schools.

The Imperial Academy was under the Imperial College, which consisted of six schools: Imperial College, Imperial University, Four-door Academy, Law School, Calligraphy School, and Mathematics School, collectively known as the "Six Schools". Therefore, the Imperial Academy is also called the "Six Schools and Two Academies" together with the above-mentioned "Two Academies".

Let’s take a look at the enrollment brochure of the “Six Schools”:
Imperial College: The third rank and above, and the descendants of the dukes, and the great-grandsons of the second rank and above;

Imperial College: descendants of officials of the fifth rank and above;
Four schools: descendants of sixth- and seventh-rank officials and talented common people (finally opened to common people);
Law, calligraphy, and mathematics: the descendants of officials of the eighth and ninth ranks, as well as the common people are proficient in these studies.

As a key national educational institution, the high threshold is supported by a strong faculty. For example, the teacher configuration of the "Guozixue" is: five doctors, all of the fifth rank; five teaching assistants, all of the sixth rank.

Since the establishment of the imperial examination system in the Sui Dynasty, achieving a reversal in life by passing the imperial examination has become the dream of countless poor people, "in the morning, you can be a farmer, and in the evening, you can enter the emperor's palace."

However, in fact, most of the farmers did not have the admission qualifications for the "Six Schools and Two Academies", and they could only enter the prefecture and county schools.

County schools are schools run by local states and counties. They are small in scale, have relatively weak teaching staff, and also do not have many admissions quotas.

The above are the public schools in the Tang Dynasty. Generally speaking, those who could pass the imperial examination and enter official career basically came from here, and they were mainly from the "Six Schools and Two Halls". The golden phoenixes that flew out of the county schools were rare.

In addition, there are private schools, private schools, or "teachings for students". These private educational institutions have loose admission requirements, low tuition fees, sparse teaching staff, and almost zero enrollment rate... What about the Zhu family? Zhu Wen's ancestors were poor farmers for eight generations. Not to mention eight generations, even eight generations before that were also farmers who worked hard in the fields.

It was not until the generation of Zhu Wen's great-grandfather that people finally made up their minds to change their fate with knowledge. So Zhu Wen's grandfather Zhu Xin picked up his books and resolutely embarked on the road of imperial examinations.

After failing the imperial examinations three times, he finally became disheartened. In order to support his family, he could only "gather students and teach doctrines" while inspiring the next generation, that is, Zhu Wen's father Zhu Cheng.

Zhu Cheng was very determined and took the imperial examinations eight times in a row, but failed each time.

In a feudal agricultural society, a full-time or part-time laborer was an economic burden on the entire family.

Eight years!
Not to mention the Tang Dynasty more than a thousand years ago, even before the reform and opening up of New China, we often saw such scenes: a farmer's son failed the college entrance examination and repeated several years in a row. Before the new year's college entrance examination, his parents told him that the family was heavily in debt and could not afford it. If he did not pass the exam this year, he would have to go home to farm. Then the candidate gritted his teeth and worked hard, and finally received an admission letter from a certain university... For the specific plot, you can refer to the movie "Chinese Partners".

In order to make a living, Zhu Cheng had to give up the imperial examination and instead taught in the countryside to make a living, "teaching the Five Classics to the people of the village." For this he earned a slightly teasing nickname: Zhu Wujing.

Let’s take a look at the “school” founded by Teacher Zhu:
School address: Wugouli, Dangshan County, open-air sun-lit classroom (under a big tree at the entrance of the village);

Teachers: One all-round talent with rich experience in the imperial examination (failed for eight consecutive years) (Principal and lecturer, Dean of Academic Affairs, security guard, cleaner...)
Curriculum: Five Classics (primary school courses below grade 3);

Charging standard: Affordable price (just pay a certain amount).

Therefore, it is best not to use words like "intellectual family" and "scholarly family" to describe Zhu Wen. Don't hit someone in the face, and don't expose their shortcomings when scolding them.

The economic situation of Mr. Zhu's family is also clear. They are poor, really poor!

The two generations of the Zhu family have tried eleven times, but all of them have failed. If they want to turn things around, they can only rely on the third generation.

The eldest son, Zhu Quanyu, was honest, simple, and pragmatic. He was an honest man and loved to speak the truth: "Dad, I'm not cut out for studying. Grandpa took the exam three times, and you took it eight times, but you didn't get any honor. I'd say, don't bother with it, just accept your fate."

Hearing these discouraging words, Zhu Cheng was ashamed and angry. Forget it, a forced melon is not sweet, and working hard on farming is also a virtue.

By the way, the eldest brother Zhu Quanyu also said two truthful words to Zhu Wen later, but Zhu Wen only listened to one of them. If he had listened to the second one, his end would not have been so tragic. This is a later story.

The second son Zhu Cun and the third son Zhu Wen were aggressive and often got into fights and made trouble. However, Zhu Wen was smart and had more brains than the second son.

Therefore, Zhu Cheng placed all his hopes on Zhu Wen, hoping that one day he would be able to pass the imperial examination, return home in glory, and bring honor to his family.

It’s a pity that Zhu Cheng couldn’t wait for that day.

Poverty not only crushed Zhu Cheng's spirit, but also his body.

In the seventh year of the Tang Dynasty's Xiantong reign, in 866 AD, the 44-year-old Zhu Cheng ended his miserable and short life, leaving behind four children: 18-year-old Zhu Quanyu, 16-year-old Zhu Cun, 15-year-old Zhu Wen, and a 13-year-old little daughter (her name is unknown, so let's call her "Pink Zhu Little Sister" for now).

My wife and children knelt down in front of the bed, crying.

They are crying for the departure of their husbands and fathers, and also for themselves. How should they live next?
The family only has more than ten acres of thin land, an orphan and a widowed mother. The pillar of the family suddenly collapses, and the times are chaotic. How can they make a living?

Zhu Cheng, it's easy for you to die alone, but it's hard for our family to survive!
(End of this chapter)