Daming: I, Yang Xian, really govern Yang!

The issue Xu Miaoyun and Yang Xian talked about is the foundation of the country and the survival of the country - the issue of education!

Technology is the primary productive force, and how to improve a country's technological level.

It relies on education, popularizing education, allowing more and more people to receive education, and increasing the foundation of educated groups. Only with the basic soil can anything flourish.

This is rejuvenating the country through science and education.

But there is currently a major problem facing Ming Dynasty, that is, even though Yang Xian has compiled a series of basic education textbooks such as Chinese Pinyin, when it comes to the specific implementation step, someone still needs to teach and impart knowledge.

The lack of teachers is the most fundamental problem.

Perhaps various primary schools and vocational schools were opened in Beijing and Yangzhou, and teachers could be found.

But looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, even some areas south of the Yangtze River are stretched thin, let alone the central and western regions, Mobei, Korea, and Japan. There are completely insufficient teachers.

In ancient times, the number of teachers who opened private schools was very small, because before Yang Xian prepared to carry out educational reforms and popularize education for all, knowledge was a monopoly.

During the Ming Dynasty, there were about 20 officials in the country, as well as a large number of officials and people trying to get ahead through the imperial examinations.

It is generally believed that the illiteracy rate in the Ming Dynasty was 85 to 90 percent, that is, about one in 10 people was literate, and most of them were men.

Moreover, this literate group is mainly found in cities and towns, with very few in the countryside.

For example, how could many eunuchs who looked very bad in the Ming Dynasty fulfill their duties as eunuchs with a pen?

Eunuch Bingbi was equivalent to the emperor's personal secretary, or office director, and his status was extremely high.

Why is this happening?

Because eunuchs are basically the poorest farmers. If they really can't afford food, who would be willing to send their children to the palace to be eunuchs. There are too few literate people here. It was very rare for a eunuch to be literate, and he could easily be promoted.

In fact, among all the previous dynasties, the literacy rate in the Ming Dynasty was already relatively high, no less than 15%. There was an explosion of novels in the Ming Dynasty, and there were still large collections of books among the people, all because there were more literate people.

For example, the Yuan Dynasty further back was miserable.

Although the Mongolians have their own written language, most of them are neither literate nor want to be literate.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial examination was abolished for a time, and there was even a saying that there were one official and two officials, three monks and four Taoists, five workers and six farmers, seven craftsmen and eight prostitutes, nine Confucians and ten beggars.

For a long time in the Yuan Dynasty, scholars had a very low status and were considered useless people. In the eyes of the Mongolians who were fighting on horseback, it was simply unbelievable that they could become the national elite just by reciting poems and making poems.

This is evident from the fact that the status of scholars was once ranked behind prostitutes.

It is precisely for this reason that there were very few literate people in the Yuan Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang was born in the late Yuan Dynasty, and he was illiterate. It wasn't until Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk and needed to understand the scriptures that he began to learn to recognize some of the most basic characters. Real learning of culture will have to wait until he joins the rebel army and forms his own small team.

After Zhu Yuanzhang joined the Red Scarf Army, the reason why Guo Zixing took a fancy to Zhu Yuanzhang was not only because Zhu Yuanzhang was unusually tall and tall, but also because he felt that this young man was extremely smart and motivated. While other soldiers only cared about eating, drinking, having fun and making money, Zhu Yuanzhang learned knowledge from the military scholars, and his cultural level became higher and higher.

Before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the literacy rate was also frighteningly low.

Because before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, knowledge was completely monopolized in the hands of those wealthy families.

The situation in Goryeo at this time is very similar.

These aristocratic families have the best educational resources in the world and a vast collection of books and classics. They will only hold them in their hands. Even if they don't read them themselves, they will never make them available to others.

Not to mention spreading and teaching.

Because knowledge is the most powerful tool for them as aristocrats to maintain their own class interests. The guys in Goryeo even learned this from us before, and they were behind the times.

If ordinary people can learn to write and become literate, then what advantage do they have as aristocrats?

Why during this period, aristocratic families were able to endure for a long time and remain standing for hundreds of years. The main reason is that only educated people can be officials, and knowledge and culture are in the hands of these aristocratic families. Coupled with the nine-level Zhongzheng system, this situation leads to this situation.

In that era when ambition was hard to achieve and everything was hard to achieve, it was already a lot of hard work to be able to stand in the world. If you wanted to get ahead, it was even harder than climbing to heaven.

The imperial examination system in the Sui and Tang Dynasties was indeed of epoch-making significance.

Ordinary people at least have a way to rise.

Many people at the bottom not only changed their lives through the imperial examination, but also left a mark on their respective eras.

You must know that Zhang Juzheng, who will be known as the first chief minister of the Ming Dynasty in the future, was born in a military household, that is, a lowly family. Even if he goes back three generations, no one can be said to have status.

After the imperial examination, although the situation was much better.

But if the target is all the people, the vast majority of people who want to read will still suffer from having no books to read.

Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty's economy has jumped up several levels thanks to Yang Xian's efforts. Without the solid economic foundation laid previously, this educational reform would not have been successful.

Children from ordinary families are too busy herding cattle and doing farm work, so how can they have the money, time, and energy to study.

It can be said that everything Yang Xian did after coming to Ming Dynasty has already been done step by step, and he has arranged the best path for this country and this era.

But even so, the problem raised by Xu Miaoyun is still not easy to solve.

Xu Miaoyun said: "There are too many students and too few teachers and schools."

"Leave everything to me." Yang Xian raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a smile. "Just wait and see when the time comes."

While Yang Xian and Xu Miaoyun were talking, a figure walked in from outside.

"My boss, Miss Xu is here too."

The person who came was none other than Liu Kun.

Liu Kun bowed respectfully to Xu Miaoyun, then stood up and reported to Yang Xianhui: "My boss, the school you ordered has been built and completed. I have inspected it and there is no problem. Whenever my boss is free, you can go there in person." take a look."

"I can rest assured that you will do the work." Yang Xian chuckled.

When I first met Liu Kun, he was just a young boy who ran out to work on a construction site so that his younger brothers and sisters could have food to eat. The cute boy who went to Beijing with a belly full of vegetables from the greenhouse and handed over the pastry tip Wang Yuemin gave him when he came back.

A few years later, he has grown into a commander who can independently complete disaster relief operations in Huguang and Huguang. During this period, he had direct contact with the victims, and communicated with the government on behalf of the secretary. A series of things were accomplished without enough water.

"School? What school?" Xu Miaoyun asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Yangzhou already has Yangzhou University, which trains high-end talents, and Yangzhou Primary School, which provides universal education. What other schools should be built?

"Yangzhou Normal University." Yang Xian said with a smile.

This was the method he used to solve Xu Miaoyun's problem.

Not only in Yangzhou, the next step will be to build a Jinling Normal University in Beijing.

"Normal University?"

"It's a school used to train teachers. Now our Ming Dynasty is short of teachers, so let's train a group of teachers." Yang Xian said with a smile. "Is it really that easy?" Xu Miaoyun was still a little worried.

You must know that this is not going to the market to buy food, as long as you have money.

This is training teachers.

"Just go back and wait for the news. You will see in two days. Have I ever been unreliable in my work?" Yang Xian said with a smile.

Xu Miaoyun felt at peace in her heart. The man standing in front of her was always so confident and so radiant.

Just like the sun in the sky.

Any man in this world would lose his light and color if he stood in front of him.

Xu Miaoyun did not say that many nobles came to Xu Da these days to propose marriage for their sons.

After all, at Xu Miaoyun's current age, she has already reached the age of marriage.

Even passed.

But Xu Miaoyun never let go. In order to avoid it, she even moved out of the Xu Mansion and placed all her daily work at the Daming Girls' School.

Xu Miaoyun didn't tell Yang Xian all of this.

Because she couldn't think of any reason she had, and in what capacity she should tell Yang Xian about this.

Come back to your senses.

Xu Miaoyun raised her head, and what came into view was still the warm and welcoming smiling face.

Just like when she pulled him and rushed back to the capital from Yangzhou to treat Xu Da.

"That Miaoyun is in the capital, waiting for the good news from Mr. Xu." Xu Miaoyun smiled slightly, saluted, then turned and left.

Of course Yang Xian knew about Xu Miaoyun's concerns.

Because for scholars, the ultimate goal of everyone is to become an official.

Of course, now there is one more option, that is, political officers.

There are very few scholars in the world who volunteer to be teachers. You can tell by looking at the age of those private school teachers.

All of them are old and have no hope of career.

At most, he had the status of a scholar. In the end, he chose to open a private school in his hometown to accept students in order to make a living.

But Yang Xian knows that even now there is an additional path of political affairs officer.

There are still some readers who cannot digest it.

Especially in economically affluent areas.

So Yang Xian prepared to write a letter to scholars all over the world.

He wanted to tell these scholars that they should not study just for the sake of becoming an official. The standard that defines whether a scholar is successful in life is not just this.

Yang Xian's letter to scholars all over the world was published in Daming Daily and Jiangnan Daily.

The first sentence of the letter said this.

"My name is Yang Xian, and I have quite a reputation. Whether it's good or bad, I think you all know me."

"I have many titles, including the magistrate of Yangzhou, the first scholar in the Ming Dynasty who was granted the title of Xu Xu, inventor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, Confucian reformer, and founder of new learning."

"Please ignore these identities, because today, this letter is a dialogue between Yang Xian, an educator and the president of Yangzhou University, and you."

"I am writing this letter to you, assuming that you are an ambitious young man. If you really do not underestimate yourself, you will definitely understand that I am not underestimating you when I give you the advice in this letter. Lord and Master of Heaven and Earth, This sentence must be familiar to you. Everyone talks about respecting teachers, and you have all come from childhood education. I believe you must also understand the importance of education.

I can tell you clearly now that education is not only important, but education is the foundation of a country. "

"But when you prepare for a career or choose a career, you always feel that teaching is the end of the road. If you have other things to do, do other things. When there is nothing else to do, you have to be a teacher. You think This is a last resort. You complain, and you are even ashamed of it. You even said that if the family has three measures of food, you should not be the king of children."

"Friends, what is going on with you? Is this a contradiction?"

"Is there a hypocrisy and incomplete thinking behind this contradiction? You don't want to do something important that you think should be done, and you hope others will do it because you think it's hard work. This is evading responsibility. It's selfishness, it's coveting the so-called glory and wealth of the world, it's seeing danger and not doing anything to help, just trying to steal a day's peace. Most of the things in the world are caused by people like you and the mentality you have.

Ask your conscience, have I wronged you with my words? "

Wenzhou Prefecture, Yongjia County.

In a government office, clerk Wang Wei looked at the contents of the Daming Daily in his hand and was shocked.

Because Wang Wei was a teacher at that time.

Taking advantage of the reform of subordinate officials, he was admitted as a political officer as he wished. Now he works in the county government and is usually responsible for the document processing of the government office.

The reason why he was so deeply touched was because the content of Yang Xian's letter to scholars all over the world penetrated his heart as accurately as a scalpel.

At that time, Wang Wei had no hope of official career because of the reform of the imperial examination.

Would a 30-year-old scholar have no choice but to go back to the countryside to teach in order to make a living? At that time, he would not have made this choice if there was another way to go.

Therefore, when the announcement about the reform of subordinate officials came out, he immediately signed up to take the political service examination.

And finally succeeded in becoming a political officer.

Wang Wei still remembers returning to his private school with the admission notice as a political officer and watching each of the children say their final goodbyes.

Those children thought at first they were just saying goodbye to the usual school day.

Wang Wei still remembers the expressions on the children's faces when they knew that after today's farewell, they shouted goodbye and the man in front of them was no longer their husband.

It's not even certain whether they will be taught by other teachers in the future.

Because teachers are scarce.

Ask your conscience, have I wronged you with my words?

I was not wronged.

Wang Wei spoke softly in his heart. (End of chapter)