In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 389 The Four Books and Five Classics are no longer popular
Ms. Liu thought that her family now had too much farmland to do the farm work, and her son would be a laborer in a few years, so he could hire less people.

Zheng Youbin said anxiously: "Everyone has to learn to read now. If you don't know how to read in the future, it will be difficult to move."

Ms. Liu used to be an ordinary village woman. How could she have such insight? She still shook her head: "Our family's land and his father's salary are enough for the baby to find a good wife in the future."

"Besides, going to school costs money." It turned out that Mrs. Liu was afraid of spending money, just like a small village woman.

Zheng Youbin said: "The tuition fees are paid by the court. As long as you pay for food, it's only [-] yuan per month."

"Only three hundred coins? How much money do you make in a month?" Ms. Liu exclaimed.

Zheng Youbin's face turned red. He only had enough money a month, and three hundred cash was not cheap.

But he has decided to let his son go to school and save himself some trouble. He can be an official in the future.

"I can be an official in the future." Zheng Youbin shouted again.

Mrs. Liu said, everyone goes to school, how can there be so many officials?
"..." Zheng Youbin was speechless for a moment, but it seemed to make sense.

The imperial court is gradually promoting schools. Now there are 300 people. In the future, there may be 500 or 1000 people. How many officials are there in Caizhou?

How can it be possible for so many literate people to become officials?

Zheng Youbin retreated to the next best thing and said, "The imperial court is still looking for craftsman apprentices and doctor apprentices."

"One can be an official in the future. Those who excel in the assessment can become officials. The other can directly become an official in the future. However, you must be literate to be a doctor's apprentice. You can become a craftsman's apprentice."

Mrs. Liu still shook her head: "If you don't go, our son will become the landlord."

Liu's family originally had ten acres of land allocated by the imperial court. When Zheng Youcai surrendered to the Song army, the Song army confiscated all the land allocated to the city's landlords. Later, Zheng Youcai continued to be promoted, and within a few years he was promoted to the head of the deputy capital, and his salary became higher and higher. The imperial court continued to divide the land. Liu bought the land when she had money. Now she has more than 50 acres. She is planning to let her son become the landowner in the future.

In the past few years, the imperial court has severely cracked down on landlords and imposed heavy taxes on landowners with more than a few hundred acres of land. Now in Caizhou, there are no more than a thousand households with more than [-] acres of land, leaving the middle class in the future, and the local High income earners.

Ms. Liu used to be a village woman, but now she is quite satisfied with the current situation. It doesn't matter to her whether her son can read or not.

Zheng Youbin was speechless.

Zheng Youbin couldn't convince his cousin-in-law, so he returned home depressed. When he told his mother-in-law, she immediately objected loudly.

You are confused. How much money do you make in a month? Three hundred yuan to go to school? Shall we not eat or drink?
Zheng Youbin said, the court subsidizes food, and I often get bonuses, which is enough for our family, but if we cannot complete the task this time, our wages will be deducted.

His mother-in-law was quite astute: "I've never heard of anyone having to deduct wages for doing such a thing. If Zhizhou dares to do it, we'll file a lawsuit against him."

Zheng Youbin had no choice but to settle for the next best thing, and added: "The imperial court is also recruiting a hundred apprentice craftsmen. There are quite a lot of people who have signed up, more than those who go to school. Let's learn craftsmanship, and we can become officials and officials in the future."

This time his mother-in-law agreed.

It turned out that in addition to recruiting specialized students, the imperial court also recruited one hundred apprentice craftsmen and fifty apprentice doctors.

The former is not required to be literate and works as an apprentice in a local craftsman's workshop. The court provides food and accommodation at home. If the home is not in the county or is far away, accommodation is provided for free, but wages are not paid for the first three years.

Apprentice craftsmen also have to learn literacy after entering. Of course, they only learn basic Chinese characters. They will not learn traditional literature such as the Four Books and Five Classics. They may also need to learn simple mathematics and the like.

Anyway, the first three years are spent learning and improving at the same time. After three years, if you pass the assessment, you can stay and continue to be a worker.

As a craftsman from the imperial court, he would earn [-] coins per month, which would also include food or accommodation.

The worker's time is five years, usually in the local area. After five years, he will be assessed again. If he passes the test, he will be an official craftsman of the imperial court and enjoy the treatment of an official. At this time, the salary is equivalent to that of various officials in the yamen, with a minimum of five guan.

After becoming a craftsman, you can be assigned to other places, or you may stay in the local craftsmanship.

Moreover, after being assessed every five years, you can also be promoted to a great craftsman or a special craftsman.

As long as you can be promoted to a special craftsman, you will enjoy the same level as officials.

The lowest level is the ninth grade, and he is a formal official of the imperial court.

The requirements for the other type of apprentice doctor are the same, and the starting requirement is to be able to read.

Then he first worked as an apprentice at the local imperial hospital in Caizhou. Those who passed the five-year assessment would become official medical workers and directly serve as ninth-grade officials.

If you fail the assessment, you can choose to go home or continue to study. You can take the exam again every two years until you are admitted as an official.

After becoming a medical engineer, you will be reassessed every five years. If you pass the exam, you will become an eighth-grade official and a doctor.

After the same five years, you can be promoted to physician.

The doctor's apprentice is the same as the craftsman's apprentice. Food and accommodation are included. There is no money in the first five years, but later he becomes an official and has money.

From the perspective of these two apprenticeships, the craftsman apprenticeship has lower requirements and slightly worse pay, while the latter has slightly higher requirements, at least being literate, and the pay is slightly higher.

If two apprentices of the same age move forward 20 years at the same time, the official position of the apprentice of the doctor should be higher than that of the craftsman 20 years later.

When Mrs. Zheng Youbin heard that a doctor's apprentice started out as a ninth-grade official, she wanted her husband to open the back door and go directly to become a doctor's apprentice.

Isn't this better than reading and literacy? There are three hundred students studying, and they will have to take the imperial examination in the future. No wonder Liu did not agree. It is better to become a doctor's apprentice and directly become an official in the future.

Zheng Youbin said: "Damn it, the requirements for a doctor's apprentice are too high, they must be able to read."

"Our baby has never learned anything. It's all your fault. I told you to learn how to read."

His son was illiterate and had no chance to become a doctor's apprentice. Moreover, there were too many applicants for the doctor's apprenticeship. Some children dared to sign up even if they only knew more than 100 characters.

"Now there are too many applications for doctor's apprentices, and the court has to screen them and give priority to those who are the most literate."

"Our baby will either go to a reading class or a craftsman's workshop."

Mrs. Zheng Youbin had no choice but to say, go to the craftsman's office.

Zheng Youbin then walked around and found that the other relatives in the next door neighbor did not agree to attend the reading class. Everyone was most interested in the doctor's apprentice, because this person would become an official and have a high starting point.

Unfortunately, literacy is required, so most people want to apprentice as craftsmen.

When Zheng Youbin was walking around and going home, he happened to meet Zheng Youcai returning home.

The two brothers were overjoyed, and Zheng Youbin quickly told him about it.

"Damn it, this woman is stupid. Fortunately, I came back in time." Zheng Youcai cursed and rushed into the yard.

He and Li Liang were both small soldiers in the Jin Kingdom. Zhou Yong, a fellow countryman, had a higher position than Li Liang at that time. As a result, Li Liang learned dozens of characters from a hundred households in the army at that time. Yes, Li Liang only knew a few words at first. Ten words later, when he joined the Song Army, his position was actually higher than that of him and Zhou Yong.

After that, Li Liang devoted himself to studying and actively participated in calligraphy classes in the army. By the time Zhou Yong and Zheng Youcai wanted to learn, Li Liang had already left them behind.

Zheng Youcai and Zhou Yong really can't learn.

In recent years, the Song Army has had literacy classes, and you can learn them voluntarily. It is said that Li Liang now knows more than 1000 characters, and he has been promoted to deputy commander. It took Zheng Youcai a few years to know two or three hundred characters. Li Liang is two levels behind, and the gap is getting wider and wider.

If he hadn't followed Li Liang and captured a large number of savages this time, and had Li Liang recommended him, he wouldn't have been promoted to deputy capital. This requires literacy.

Now that Zheng Youcai can't learn it himself, he must ask his son to learn it.

When he returned home, he gave Mrs. Liu a lesson without saying a word. How could Ms. Liu dare to disobey her husband's wishes, and this time her husband planned to take her into the camp, so she had no choice but to agree.

But now there is a problem. The husband comes to pick him up and goes to Haisan City. The son can go to Haisan City with him, or he can stay in Caizhou. But if he stays in Caizhou, the son will be at home alone. Although he can live in school or something, is he used to it? ?
What Liu meant was that his son should also go to Haisan City. Isn't there a school for learning literacy there?

"Don't go to that damn place. You can't see a single person within a hundred miles, and those who are are savages." Zheng Youcai cursed.

He was terrified in Changchun and Haisan City.

"We can come back in five years. I have been there for more than a year. We can stay there for another three years and then we can go home."

"Isn't there Youbin at home? The baby usually eats and lives in the school, so we don't have to worry about it. During the holidays, he stays at Youbin's house."

"Youbin and I made an agreement to give him twelve guan of money every year and we will take care of the baby."

"So much money?" Mrs. Liu was stingy again and screamed immediately. Didn't she say that the holidays were relatively small, so she was given so much in a year?
"What nonsense are you talking about? Don't you want Youbin to help take care of the fields at home? It's not much money. We are the deputy chief now. Does the deputy chief know?" Zheng Youcai said proudly.

This amount of money is really not much for Zheng Youcai, especially since their salary in Haisan City is higher than that of military attachés in other places.

Moreover, Zheng Youbin has to take care of the more than 50 acres of farmland at home. Although Zheng Youbin only needs to hire some people to help, he will still be very busy.

Generally speaking, military attaches like them who are away all year round and don't have the labor at home can hire neighbors to help and then share the income.

For example, one acre of land yields two stones, and a neighbor can get one stone for helping.

The divisions vary from place to place, with Caizhou starting at least half.

There is no way, you don’t have any labor at home, so you need help from others. This is a must.

Zheng Youbin also had to help them raise cattle, and the cattle they used for farming could not be taken away, so the twelve guan this year was really not high.

Mrs. Liu was convinced. The only reason was that she was afraid of missing her baby. After all, her baby was only nine years old and would be separated from her parents for a few years.

But children in ancient times were more independent. This nine-year-old child is estimated to be equivalent to thirteen or fourteen years old in later generations. Anyway, with Zheng Youbin taking care of her and living in school, it is definitely not bad.

Zheng Youcai finally said: "If you want a baby, give me another one when you get to Haisan City. Damn it, don't you know there are discounts for having a larger family now?"

The imperial court encouraged childbirth, and Zheng Youcai wanted to have seven or eight children.

"Bah," Ms. Liu said with a red face, eager to try.

Zheng Youcai laughed loudly at this time and quickly picked up his mother-in-law and walked to the back room.

Zheng Youcai made an agreement with his son and mother-in-law that day, but he changed his mind the next day.

The next day, Zheng Youcai took his son, and Li Liang accompanied a relative's child. The two brothers went to the local street government office.

Caizhou City is said to be divided into more than a dozen streets. The streets have street chiefs, who are under the jurisdiction of the state government. The street chiefs and deputy street chiefs are officials, basically selected from retired sergeants. (As of now, they are all coming back with minor injuries)

Li Liang and Zheng Youcai's future dream is to return to their current positions after retiring.

As soon as they arrived at the street, they saw an acquaintance, Li Changfu, the mayor of their street, who was also Li Liang's neighbor.

Li Changfu participated with them in the battle to encircle and suppress Tolei. Later, he also joined the Song Army and was later transferred to other places. He participated in the campaign to conquer Xixia the year before last. He returned with an injury to his leg and was forced to work on the street.

They hadn't seen each other for many years, so they hugged each other quickly.

Li Changfu has weak legs and feet and walks with a limp, but his momentum is not weak. After all, he is now considered a major official.

"Is there a street here now?" Li Liang asked with a smile, "We don't have one in Haisan City yet."

"When the imperial court established the Ningxia system, it was first implemented in Xixia and then extended to the Central Plains." Li Changfu said: ""

“In our prefecture-level cities, there are ten households per group, one small guarantee for every [-] households, one big guarantee for every [-] households, one street for every [-] households, a town for every [-] households, and a county for every [-] households. .”

"There is still a town in Caizhou."

"I see." Li Liang's eyes lit up and he said, "Isn't there a mayor?"

"Yes, Li Liang, you will be retired from this official position in the future, at least you will be a mayor."

"If you are literate enough and pass the test, you can still be a county magistrate."

"Can I be a county magistrate?" Li Liang looked incredulous.

Li Changfu said: "Of course, as long as you can read enough and pass the test, you know Zhou Laojiu, the magistrate of Shangcai County (a county under Caizhou) next door."

"Fuck, this guy can also be a county magistrate?" Li Liang and Zheng Youcai yelled at the same time.

But Zhou Laojiu started at a higher level than them. When Caizhou belonged to the Jin Kingdom, Zhou Laojiu was one of the thousands of Han soldiers in the Jin Kingdom, and he knew a lot of words.

At that time, Zhou Laojiu was a member of the Jin army and followed the Song army to launch thunder. As a result, the Song army rebelled and destroyed the Jin army. Then he led the Jin army to the river and asked if they would surrender. Those who refused would be beheaded.

Zhou Laojiu surrendered immediately, and Li Liang and Zheng Youcai were present at the time.

This family was quite good at fighting, literate, and was originally at the Qianhu level. After being demoted from the Song Army, he directly became the deputy capital head, and then took Li Changfu to participate in the campaign to conquer Xixia.

Zhou Laojiu also came back injured, missing two fingers on his right hand, which made it difficult to hold a bow and sword. When he came back, he was the deputy commander of the Song Army, the same official position as Li Liang now.

When he came back last year, he was 36 years old. The mayor of the town was originally arranged for him, but Zhou Laojiu had to compete for the county magistrate.

When an officer returns to serve as a county magistrate, he does not need to take an imperial examination; he only needs to pass the examination.

"How to assess?" Li Liang's eyes lit up after hearing this.

"There is a written examination and an internship period." Li Changfu said: "Zhou Laojiu is very good. He passed the written examination first. The internship period is one year. He just completed one year a month ago."

"Under his rule, Shangcai County's grain and commercial taxes actually increased, its population also increased a lot, and the imperial examination was good, so he was promoted to an official county magistrate."

Zheng Youcai was anxious: "He knows how to govern the people? He has never read any books or scriptures, and he only knows Braille."

Li Changfu said: "At the time of the Four Books and Five Classics, the imperial court had no requirements for military attachés, as long as they passed the government affairs assessment."

Shangcai County was a large tax payer last year. The imperial court's local military recruitment, grain requisition, tax collection, population growth and other indicators were all met. Who cares whether you can read the Four Books and the Five Classics.

Now the Confucian classics of the Four Books and Five Classics have been sidelined in the Song Dynasty.

Li Liang's eyes turned red when he heard this, and he felt that he could come back and be a county magistrate in the future.

(End of this chapter)