Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 345: Universal Public School
Gu Zuyu was still a little nervous and asked, "Man Weng, did the king really ask to see me?"

Fang Yizhi's courtesy name was Mizhi, and his other nicknames were Mangong, Luqi, and Longmian Yuzhe. He was already the Left Assistant General of the Military Advisory Office, and a well-known figure in the Red Army. If we really had to rank them, the Red Army would be headed by Cen Danchu, followed by the Left Assistant General Fang Yizhi. However, Fang Yizhi stayed behind for a long time, and did not have a close relationship with the Red Army generals, so his influence was far less than that of Cen Danchu.

"That's right," Fang Yizhi smiled, looked at Gu Yanwu, and said, "I also mentioned it unintentionally, saying that the king is recruiting talents from all over the country, and the Gu family from Jiangnan came to Guangzhou recently. The king happened to hear it, was very interested, and specially summoned him."

Gu Yanwu was also a man who had seen big scenes, so he didn't think much of it. Gu Zuyu was still very young, and had been brought up in a strict family, so he seldom left the house. Now he had to face the ruler of Nanyue, who was at the height of his power, and he was nervous just thinking about it.

This feeling was just like the moment Zhang Sheng fell in love with Cui Yingying at first sight in the play, or just like the moment when a new Jinshi entered the Huagai Palace to attend the grand ceremony of announcing the imperial examinations. Whenever Gu Zuyu thought about it, his heart would beat non-stop.

"If it weren't for Mr. Man's intention to promote us, why would the king summon the two of us?" Gu Yanwu and Fang Yizhi were originally good friends who exchanged poems and essays with each other. Now there is a huge gap in their status and they have just met, so Gu Yanwu can only call Fang Yizhi Mr. Man.

Gu Yanwu advocated "being well-versed in literature" and "behaving with shame", emphasized exploring the causes and applying knowledge to the world, and pioneered the trend of simple learning.

Fang Yizhi had always admired his knowledge and said, "I am honored to hold a high position. In recent years, I have been busy with miscellaneous affairs and have been quite lazy in studying. Ding is a man of both talent and learning, and he works the hardest. I am ashamed of myself for not being as good as him.

"The king summoned me today to discuss phonetics and fonts in preparation for the popularization of public schools. Dingren, you are the most rigorous in academics. If you have any insights, you must tell the king."

Gu Yanwu nodded and sighed, "In the midst of endless wars, the ruler of the country was able to set his mind on promoting education and personally determine the phonetics and fonts. He is truly an intelligent ruler."

"The king has long been interested in promoting education. When he was in western Guangdong, he could only provide public schools for the children of soldiers and officials due to financial constraints. Now that he has eastern Guangdong, the financial resources have increased dramatically, and the king is also ambitious and determined to promote public schools."

During these days, Gu Yanwu had to see Fang Yizhi every day and heard about the public school. The Nanyue Kingdom planned to fully promote public schools in Guangdong and Guangdong from the beginning of the spring of the sixth year of the Yongli reign.

The public school system is five years, with children starting school at the age of seven and graduating at the age of twelve. All children of school age, regardless of urban or rural areas, Han, Yao, Miao or Dong, must be enrolled. Tuition is waived, teachers are recruited, trained and paid by the government, and textbooks are provided by the government. At the same time, all private schools are banned, and all textbooks are banned.

With many questions, brothers Gu Yanwu and Gu Zuyu came to the Palace of the King of Nanyue.

Unlike what I imagined, Cen Danchu was very young and approachable. There was a huge rectangular table in the room, which was not seen often.

Danchu sat at the top, and everyone else sat on both sides of the table. A stack of manuscript paper was placed in front of each person's desk.

Fang Yizhi introduced to everyone that many important figures were present today, in addition to Cen Danchu, Fang Yizhi, Gu Yanwu, and Gu Zuyu, there were also Left Councillor Yu Houji, Vice Minister of Education Qian Bingdeng, Chief Instructor of Yong'an University Bi Fangji, Minister of Propaganda Liu Xiangke, Director of Propaganda Wang Fuzhi, and Director of Education Jin Bao, etc.

The ancients attached great importance to hierarchy, and seats were also divided into high and low levels. When discussing matters, it was rare for a group of people to sit around one table.

Gu Zuyu felt uneasy and didn't dare to sit down.

Danchu smiled and said, "Jingfan, don't delay things, sit down. The Red Army advocates equality, and this clan is different from others. We are used to sitting at the same table with others, eating, discussing things, everything."

Gu Zuyu was surprised and happy. He didn't expect that Cen Danchu actually knew his courtesy name. He suddenly felt like he had met a wise master.

Before Danchu traveled through time, he highly respected Gu Yanwu and Gu Zuyu. In history, these two people were famous Ming loyalists, and they were masters of their generation in academics. Especially Gu Yanwu, he was a famous Confucian scholar, historian, geographer, and phonologist in the late Ming Dynasty. Together with Huang Zongxi and Wang Fuzhi, they were called the three masters of the early Qing Dynasty. Together with Tang Zhen, they were collectively called the "Four Great Enlightenment Thinkers" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. The most valuable thing is that Gu Yanwu, like Fang Yizhi, never cooperated with the Qing Dynasty and maintained his integrity throughout his life. He was imprisoned by the Qing government, and his friends asked Qian Qianyi for help. Gu Yanwu believed that Qian Qianyi had violated his integrity and would rather stay in prison than suffer Qian Qianyi's favor. How valuable is this kind of integrity?

When the Jiangnan Gu family came back, Danchu felt that "the world's talents are within our grasp". Today, when discussing phonetic fonts, it is appropriate to invite the Jiangnan Gu family to attend to show respect.

"Everyone, phonetic scripts are related to the popularization of public education and the unification of the country, so we must give them enough attention. Today, this domain has summoned you to brainstorm and decide whether to adopt Latin phonetics and simplified Chinese characters."

Dan Chu already had an idea in mind. Today's rally was just to unify thoughts and promote the teaching of pinyin and simplified Chinese characters.

Fang Yizhi had long wanted to reform the phonetics and had studied it for many years before joining the Red Army. However, what surprised him was that Cen Danchu, who had never delved into phonetics, had come up with a more concise and practical phonetic scheme, which was simply amazing.

"The ruler of the country said that the value of rhyme lies in practicality and unification. Every dynasty has its official language to break down dialects and unify the language..."

Fang Yizhi made an opening speech and first introduced the origin of Mandarin.

The official language of the pre-Qin period cannot be verified. In the Han Dynasty, "Luo language" was designated as the official language, and Luo language inherited the elegant language of the pre-Qin period.

The Western Jin Dynasty inherited the Han Dynasty and used Luoyang as the official language. During the Yongjia Rebellion, Luoyang was overthrown and the Eastern Jin Dynasty moved its capital to Jiankang. The Luoyang elegant pronunciation combined with the Middle Wu dialect to form the Jinling elegant pronunciation, also known as Wu pronunciation, which was inherited by the Southern Dynasties.

After the Sui Dynasty unified China, it took the Jinling and Luoyang elegant pronunciations as the basic official pronunciations, integrated the official pronunciations of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and formed the Chang'an official pronunciation (Qin pronunciation).

The Tang Dynasty used the Luoyang reading pronunciation as the standard pronunciation, which was inherited by the Song Dynasty.

In the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolian was legally designated as the national language and Chinese was designated as the common language in the region, known as the "universal language of the world." In fact, it was still the Bianluo dialect of the Central Plains that had dominated since the Tang and Song dynasties.

The Ming people used Nanjing dialect as the official language. It originated from the Jinling dialect, which was the reading dialect of Luoyang brought by the northern nobles during the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China and merged with the Wu dialect. Nanjing dialect is elegant and fluent, with ups and downs. It is widely spread and has a great influence. The modern popular Beijing dialect is actually derived from Nanjing dialect.

Everyone has no objection to Nanjing Mandarin, but they have doubts about the pinyin.

"The Latin alphabet is a foreign language, not exclusive to China. If the Latin alphabet is used to spell Chinese characters, it is not in line with tradition and may not be tolerated by the gentry." Yu Houji, the left councilor, was good at handling complicated affairs, but was not a scholar.

"We European missionaries are used to using Latin letters to spell Chinese characters when teaching Chinese. Although we are foreigners, we can quickly master Chinese characters. The spelling scheme of the Lord is simpler and easier to learn, and is suitable for enlightenment of young children."

Bi Fangji avoided talking about the Latin alphabet and only talked about practicality. He was an Italian who came to China during the Wanli period. His qualifications were comparable to those of Tang Ruowang, the chief astronomical official of the Qing Dynasty, and he spoke Mandarin quite fluently.

"Chinese culture is broad and profound because it draws on the strengths of many cultures. Think about it, Buddhism originated from India, and the Red Cannon originated from Europe, both of which are widely used in China. As long as the Latin alphabet is practical and easy to learn, what's the harm even if it is imported from overseas?" Danchu set the tone, and everyone had to agree.

(End of this chapter)