prosperous age

"But, brother, I actually have other ideas about this money."

Thinking of what he had planned before, Wei Guangde continued.

"Well, Shandai please speak."

Zhang Juzheng didn't know what other ideas Wei Guangde had, but he felt that most of the proposals he put forward were actually quite interesting and feasible.

Of course, if there is no practical proposal, Wei Guangde generally won’t say anything.

For example, it would be difficult to instigate Zhang Juzheng to rebel in the current social environment of the Ming Dynasty.

Because up to now, there is actually no soil for rebellion from top to bottom.

Rebellions were common in the late Ming Dynasty, which was during the period from the late Wanli period to the Tianqi period. The national treasury was exhausted, and there was no way to provide relief when there were disasters in the local areas. The people had no food or clothing, and had no choice but to do so in order to survive.

In fact, even in the middle of the Chongzhen period, when the country was caught in a two-front war and faced extremely difficult circumstances, the domestic bandits were once wiped out by the government troops, and a brief period of peace emerged.

Although man-made disasters have been resolved, natural disasters still continue.

Afterwards, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and others were cunning and rose up again, which brought the rebellion back to life.

Even during the Tianqi reign, the Ming Dynasty did not look like it was about to fail.

Unless you travel back in time to the Chongzhen reign, if you want to rebel during the reign of other emperors, you will basically die, unless you travel back in time with a modern arsenal and use modern technology to crush the contemporary Ming army.

The Han people are actually a very smart people who know how to learn lessons and research new tactics to defeat the enemy.

Qi Jiguang's method of training troops was effective, not only because his wisdom surpassed that of other generals of his time, but also because he was supported by the weapons technology of the Ming Dynasty.

If the Qi family army replaced firearms with bows and crossbows, their combat effectiveness would inevitably be greatly reduced, because the training of archers and crossbowmen is much more difficult than that of firearmsmen, and it would be difficult to form an army in a short period of time.

After a little thought, Wei Guangde decided to be honest with Zhang Juzheng, so he told him everything Zhang Xueyan said and what he thought, without any reservation.

Zhang Juzheng listened very carefully. When Wei Guangde said that even if the court increased taxes greatly and the treasury revenue doubled, the major government offices and local governments would find ways to increase expenditures and take money from the court treasury, his brows unconsciously frowned.

Zhang Juzheng knew this very well.

However, he thought that such wanton waste could be prevented by formulating stricter supervision rules.

Not a penny of the money that should not be spent can be allocated, and as long as the petitions requesting money are strictly reviewed and approved, most of the money can be kept.

However, Wei Guangde mentioned that with the two of them around, perhaps the court's crazy withdrawal of money could be curbed, but what about after that?

Ten or twenty years later, the national treasury was full. The prime minister at that time had never experienced such a difficult period as they had, and he might quickly squander all the money.

According to the views of later generations, it is believed that the finances of the Ming Dynasty had always been in difficulty, with deficits every year since the Zhengde and Jiajing periods. The situation only improved slightly during the reign of Zhang Juzheng.

But in fact, thirty years after Zhang Juzheng's death, Emperor Wanli moved the silver in the Changying Treasury of the Imperial Household Department back to the inner court, which was the beginning of the real decline of the Ming Dynasty.

If the huge amount of money spent in the late Wanli period was for the war against Liaodong, then the millions of silver and money were wasted in a very short period of time in the Tianqi and early Chongzhen years, which was the real beginning of the disaster.

Emperor Wanli may have thought that it would be much more convenient to move the silver from the Changying Treasury back to the inner court, but that silver was Tang Monk's flesh.

Not only did the eunuchs engage in rampant corruption, but the civil servants of the previous dynasty also became jealous and frantically embezzled money from the national treasury. In the end, when the court was unable to function, they reached out to the emperor for money.

Now, Wei Guangde was just exposing this problem in advance, because Zhang Xueyan's words made him think of it.

Afterwards, Wei Guangde's proposal made Zhang Juzheng's eyes widen slightly.

"Shandai, if you want to promote community schools, you have to bring them back under government management. This..."

Zhang Juzheng was a little hesitant.

However, Wei Guangde made the decision after careful consideration. After all, the implementation of compulsory education in later generations has achieved remarkable results.

Although later generations of nitpickers said that compulsory education does not mean free education, in fact, the reason it is called "compulsory education" is that it is an imported product from the West.

Everything in the West is about equal exchange. To promote basic education, it is naturally impossible to charge for it. Otherwise, who would be willing to spend money to let their children go to school?

Therefore, compulsory education in the West is actually free. Those that are not free are private schools, which charge very high fees, and of course the teaching quality is also very high.

The compulsory education implemented in European and American countries is generally 13 years, and many states in the United States are transitioning to 15 years of free education.

In the United States, the basic education provided by public schools is collectively referred to as K-12 education, which is the general term for 12 years of free compulsory education from kindergarten to grade 13 of high school. Now some areas have begun to implement free college education.

Therefore, it is meaningless to nitpick. We cannot say that "compulsory education" without the word "free" means compulsory education that requires payment.

All we can say is that “imported goods” have been “taken out of context” and “removed of their dross”.

Of course, there is a saying in later China, which is "free is the most expensive."

So was there similar education in the Ming Dynasty?

Actually, there is. This is the community school, a way of education that is different from official schools, private schools and clan schools.

Official schools are naturally the schools run by the government in various prefectures and counties, taught by instructors appointed by the court. However, they are aimed at scholars with official titles, and generally only scholars are eligible to enroll.

Private schools and clan schools are similar to private schools.

Community schools originated in the Yuan Dynasty and continued to develop after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty.

Community schools were formed in the Yuan Dynasty, flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and had the nature of "popular education".

"A community school is one that studies in a community. A village consists of one hundred and ten households, and there must be a community in the village, so the school that studies in the village is called a community school."

Community schools are usually funded by gentry and common people, and are responsible for enlightening the boys in the community. When the boys grow up and become successful, they can take the entrance examination for the local Confucian school. Those who pass the examination can enter the school and become Confucian students.

Community schools were generally established throughout the country. In the eighth year of the Hongwu reign, an imperial decree was issued to all places to "recruit teachers to teach the children of the people." However, only a few years later, due to numerous problems, an order was issued to close them.

In the 16th year of the Hongwu reign, the emperor ordered the public to recruit teachers and establish community schools on their own, and local officials were not allowed to interfere. Community schools were then promoted throughout the country.

The cost of studying in ancient times was too high. Even private schools were not affordable for many people. Only large families could run clan schools, and the number of admissions to official schools was limited.

Therefore, in order to encourage people to learn to read and write, and of course to promote the laws of the Ming Dynasty and his own ideas, Zhu Yuanzhang referred to the Yuan system and ordered the establishment of community schools in various places, with local governments helping private schools.

Since it was funded, community schools had another name in ancient times, which was charity schools. Charity schools were privately funded schools to teach children of clans and villages. They were different from family schools of officials and wealthy people in that they could accept children of neighbors and had the nature of serving a village or a community.

However, the quality of community schools largely depends on how much emphasis the local officials place on education.

In the 15th year of the Hongzhi reign, the imperial court once again issued an order to establish community schools in all prefectures, counties and districts, and stipulated that children under the age of should be sent to community schools.

Jiangxi's social schools developed greatly during this period and had a unique position in the country, which was mainly due to Li Mengyang and Wang Yangming.

During the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, Li Mengyang served as the deputy envoy of Jiangxi Education. He reformed the shortcomings of the past community schools and vigorously developed them.

He first established 16 community schools in Nanchang and Xinjian counties as a model, starting from far away and then to nearby, and gradually expanding to the entire province.

He required the officials in charge of schools to select teachers for community schools in accordance with regulations, exempt them from corvee labor, respect and honor them, and not allow them to collect tuition, rice, wine and food from students without authorization, so as to prevent people from feeling that going to school is a hard labor and trying to escape it.

The good teachers of community schools were promoted, the bad ones were expelled, and there were rewards and punishments, which was conducive to running community schools well. In order to make people pay attention to community schools, it was also stipulated that students who were not graduates of community schools would not be able to enter county and state schools in the future.

Under the promotion and supervision of Li Mengyang, Jiangxi Social School has made great progress.

In the 13th year of Zhengde, after suppressing the riot in southern Jiangxi, Wang Yangming believed that "the people's customs are bad because of unclear education", so he issued an order requiring the counties under the jurisdiction of southern Jiangxi "the elders and children should encourage each other, establish community schools, hire teachers to teach their children, sing poems and practice etiquette." He also promulgated the "Community School Regulations", which led to another great development of Jiangxi community schools.

The knowledge imparted by community schools is actually mainly to teach people to read and write, and moral education is placed in the first place, with the goal of cultivating young children to understand and follow "filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty, propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame" as the educational goal of community schools.

It was precisely because of the intermittent community schools that the literacy rate in the Ming Dynasty was actually not low.

As we all know, three of the four great classics came from the Ming Dynasty. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were countless vernacular novels, such as "Jin Ping Mei", "Du Shiniang's Wrath and Sinking of the Treasure Box", "Investiture of the Gods", etc., all of which were aimed at ordinary citizens.

The emergence of so many "pulp" novels represents a huge demand for reading.

From this point we can see that the literacy rate of ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty was very high, otherwise there would be no soil for the production of novels.

It should be noted that from the beginning to the end of the Ming Dynasty, this type of vulgar novels emerged in an endless stream.

All this was due to the promotion of community schools during the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, so many common people in the Ming Dynasty were literate and many of them had a basic understanding of writing.

However, after the Qing army entered the pass, the prosperity of Ming Dynasty vernacular novels disappeared, the literacy rate dropped rapidly, and the people only saw "numbness".

It is worth mentioning that when we talk about the "policy of keeping the people ignorant" today, we will consider it as one of the sins of "feudal society".

However, judging from the Han, Tang, Song and Ming dynasties, it is a bit far-fetched to say that the imperial court implemented a "policy of keeping the people ignorant".

Otherwise, Zhu Yuanzhang would not have had to issue an edict to promote community schools and spread the "Great Edict".

However, when it came to Wei Guangde, the funding for the community school changed from donations from gentry to government funds, but of course donations were still accepted.

"Brother, I have roughly calculated that a low-level county can earn at least 100 taels of silver a year from the exchange of silver. A middle- and upper-level county can easily earn 300 to 500 taels of silver, which is completely enough for the community school and even has some surplus."

Wei Guangde continued to talk there. He had not just been thinking about it these days. He collected the transaction records of the pawnshops in the prefectures and counties around the capital, and calculated the tax silver he should receive based on the recorded transaction amounts.

Of course, this is still calculated according to the Ming Dynasty's tax rate of one in thirty.

As for raising the tax rate on some fine or luxury goods to 10%, that was just his idea.

In later generations, there were many suggestions about luxury taxes, and Wei Guangde naturally heard about them, so he thought it would be best to do it in one go. After all, the rich have money and don’t mind spending a few more dollars.

Even by raising the prices of your own products, you can set yourself apart from others.

The ancient concept of hierarchy actually exists at all times.

Even though Wei Guangde has been here for so long, he has long been accustomed to it.

"Before, community schools received different levels of attention from officials, with mixed results, but the main reason for their failure was that funding was intermittent, and teachers were not interested in teaching in community schools, and most of them chose to go home and open private schools to make a living.

With the continuous and stable investment of silver from the imperial court, the community school could be maintained and would not be as unstable as before.

It just so happens that my uncle and I have just proposed to rectify the academic atmosphere. I think the prohibition of establishing academies and prohibiting the formation of academic societies will easily be opposed by the scholars.

If the imperial court levies silver for postal payments and uses part of it to develop local community schools, it can effectively respond to their derogatory remarks. "

Wei Guangde certainly knew that the fundamental purpose of Zhang Juzheng's 18 measures to rectify academic style was actually to suppress speech, crack down on speech propaganda and the struggle for ideological discourse power, and prevent the foundation of power from being shaken.

Because the reform measures launched by Zhang Juzheng previously had already harmed the interests of many people, and Wei Guangde had stayed out of it, many people in the court and the public denounced Zhang Juzheng for his autocracy and harming the country.

"Shan Dai, do you agree with the "Revising the Old Regulations and Instructing the Education Administration"?"

When Zhang Juzheng heard Wei Guangde talking about the memorial he had drafted before, he immediately asked.

“Some of the measures in the memorial on the old rules and regulations for the administration of education can be implemented, but some still need to be discussed.”

Wei Guangde didn't dare to say that he supported banning academies and prohibiting lectures. If this got out, he would be criticized by the public opinion in the scholars' circle.

“For example, if you want to ban academies, you must think twice before doing so.

The academy was originally a place for students to study. There was a limit on the number of places in official schools, and students wanted to study, so they went to the academy to study.

Destroying it would be equivalent to cutting off these students' path to advancement, which is not advisable.

However, gatherings for lectures can be banned.

I remember that during the Longqing period, Gao Suqing had pushed for this, and the late emperor issued an edict for this purpose, "The Edict Prohibiting Officials in Charge of Education from Gathering Students to Give Lectures."

There are many students and apprentices, and they do things in different ways. The big ones shake the court and confuse the name and the reality, while the small ones hide their ugliness and pursue profit and avoid fame. "

Wei Guangde talked eloquently that these were actually the reasons Gao Gong had stated at the beginning.

Zhang Juzheng's memorial "Please Reapply the Old Regulations to Regulate Educational Administration in Order to Revitalize Talents" directly accused lecturing of "gathering followers" and "wasting business with empty talk", causing officials at all levels to "prefer to defy the imperial edict rather than listen to popular slander; prefer to undermine public laws and regulations rather than go against private requests".

Zhang Juzheng regarded the harm of lecturing as extremely serious, and since lecturing mostly relied on private academies, Zhang Juzheng originally planned to ban all academies.

But Wei Guangde naturally opposed this. He traveled to Jiangxi in his early years and went to many academies to study. The examination papers for imperial examinations were all based on the manuscripts stored in these academies.

It's a pity to destroy it.

Without waiting for Zhang Juzheng to speak, Wei Guangde continued: "Even if the academy is destroyed, they can still choose famous mountains and rivers, or give lectures by the West Lake. Although the academy will accelerate the spread of their words, it is not necessary. There is no need." (End of this chapter)