Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 138 Zhao Kuangyin, a good student

40 people petitioned. This kind of thing can hardly be found in history books, because before the Song Dynasty, it was almost impossible to find any city with a population of more than 40.

Zhao Kuangyin naturally thought of this, but he muttered: "Lao San once told me that urban economy is a unique characteristic of our Song Dynasty. Even the 400 years of war in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties only drove people to Wubao During the period, they rushed to the countryside, and even allowed the powerful to become stronger and stronger, giving birth to behemoths such as the Wei and Jin dynasties and the Guan and Long military nobles. Only our Song Dynasty had a large number of people concentrated in the cities due to the chaos of the Five Dynasties."

"Even with the great power of the Tang Dynasty, only Chang'an had a population that barely exceeded one million. However, even though the Song Dynasty has experienced a hundred years of turmoil, there are still four cities with a population of one million. So, blindly using The old methods of the past are undoubtedly not feasible to deal with the new problems of the Song Dynasty. In previous dynasties, 1 people gathered in Beijing to petition, which was enough to represent public opinion. Who has ever heard of 40 people collectively petitioning? of?"

"Of course what the sages said is not wrong, but the Song Dynasty naturally has its national conditions. How could the sages 1000 years ago understand the Song Dynasty 1000 years later? You say, Yes or no?"

When all the civil servants heard this, their hearts froze. No matter how they looked at it, these words had too much "Qinwang flavor".

The officials now seem to be really determined to promote the so-called New Deal.

It was as if out of nowhere, all of a sudden, they were about to face a life-and-death crisis?
All the officials were naturally opposed to this, but they were a little embarrassed for a while. At least for a short period of time, they really couldn't think of anything to say to fight Zhao Kuangyin back.

After all, it was still the early Song Dynasty, and politics was extremely pragmatic. Those unreasonable words of saints could not actually be regarded as the ultimate principles of heaven and earth. In fact, the respect for Confucianism in the Song Dynasty was all superficial, and the six classics were always included in the annotations. My heroic spirit and arrogance are completely different from those of the Confucian scholars of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The kind of minister who dared to pick out a few sentences from the Six Classics, misunderstood them, and then forced the emperor to implement the direction they set, at least did not exist in front of Zhao Kuangyin. Do you think he would take advantage of him? The jade ax will cut you.

Moreover, with the petitions of tens of thousands of people, whoever dares to speak out against him at this time will be known to the whole world. Without even thinking about it, even if what he says makes sense, he will definitely become a treacherous minister in the mouth of these unscrupulous people in the market, and then spread the word. All over the world, there is no doubt that someone will write it into unofficial histories or storytelling scripts. Wouldn’t this be ruined?

Ever since, everyone looked at Zhao Guangyi unconsciously.

Who made His Highness the King of Qi the leader of our civil servants, the Holy Lord of Benevolence and Filial Piety that the civil service group had long recognized?
At this time, Zhao Guangyi had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: "Brother, this is a serious matter. At least, we should discuss it with the third brother, right? He is responsible for this new policy, and we don't understand it. .”

"Hmm~"

Of course, there is nothing wrong with this. If you delay it before saying it, at least you can't let Zhao Kuangyin directly agree to these people with eloquent words in front of the public. In that case, it will be really difficult to reverse the situation afterwards.

Zhao Kuangyin calmed down a lot after hearing this, and nodded and said: "Don't worry, I will definitely consider this carefully. When King Qin comes back, we will discuss it with him, but there is one thing you can rest assured, I will definitely I will not believe anything just because a few people talk nonsense. I and the King of Qin are brothers, and what the King of Qin wants is what I want."

After saying this, I saw the crowd cheering and shouting long live.

Zhao Kuangyin, on the other hand, was of a high-spirited nature. He led hundreds of officials around the slum area outside the city, not only the two-row market area, but also the residential area and the workshop production area. They all enjoyed it. The shopping was endless, from noon to evening.

Then I simply found a food stall that made stir-fried vegetables and dealt with Bai Guan, and then continued shopping.

The legs and feet of many veteran ministers were swollen from wandering around, but he still had more to say.

The next day, I went to the newly built "primary school" in the city and listened to the teacher and the children teach for a whole day.

In fact, this so-called primary school is completely derived from the education of the children of the Forbidden Army in Kaifeng. However, at least when teaching boys, most of the schools in the Kaifeng Army still focus on military strategy. The children spend at least half a day every day in Practice formations, formations, physical training and gun and stick martial arts on the school field.

After all, most of the children who grew up in the Forbidden Army may really want to take over their father's footsteps and continue to serve as soldiers.

Only a small amount of time is left to learn other knowledge.

On the other hand, Yangzhou is just the opposite. Although they are all children of military households in name, they only have very little time for outdoor exercise, and it is obviously just for children to play. It is obvious that no one expects these children to grow up. Go to the battlefield to fight, and when the children grow up, if they are particularly good in physical fitness, they can also consider participating in the selection of the Forbidden Army, but currently the Forbidden Army is definitely not short of these soldiers.

Jiedu envoys in various places still have many veterans of hundreds of battles who have not yet sucked them all.

Zhao Kuangyin naturally knew about this so-called elementary school for a long time, but before he was in Kaifeng, he focused on military strategy. He only served as a companion for knowledge other than military strategy, and indeed taught some reading and literacy. Something?

When I heard this in Yangzhou, I realized that this elementary school actually had such profound knowledge.

The schools here also teach Confucianism, but they only teach a little bit of The Analects of Confucius, the Classic of Filial Piety, the Book of Songs, Yuefu, etc., but content such as the Spring and Autumn Period and Zuo Zhuan are not taught at all. Although students learn history, they start with modern history. When I started studying, the beginning of the chapter was about the Anshi Rebellion, and the previous content of the Anshi Rebellion was almost brushed over and not discussed at all.

But even Zhao Kuangyin listened with interest.

After all, what happened during the Anshi Rebellion is indeed related to modern times and has inheritance. Although it is only briefly discussed, Zhao Kuangyin still couldn't help but feel a little indignant when he heard that Shi Jingtang presented Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures. The children heard Here, everyone is clamoring to go to the battlefield to fight the Khitan dog thieves.

This is actually enough for the common people!
As for the great righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, he, as an emperor, just felt bored when he heard it. Is there really any point for ordinary people to learn these things?

In addition, there are a large number of miscellaneous subjects and manual classes, such as agriculture, biology, engineering, arithmetic, etc., which amazed Zhao Kuangyin.

Then, a strange scene appeared on the primary school campus:
A black-faced man in his 30s and weighing over 200 pounds sat hunched on a pony in a primary school classroom. He held a book and followed a group of ten-year-old children to class, often with a group of black beards behind him. Or the old man with a white beard. Outside the classroom, there are many big brothers wearing armor and holding weapons in their hands. They look very brave and handsome, standing there, looking fiercely at everyone who passes by.

As for the teachers who lectured to the children, all of them lost their eloquent literary talent. They all became stumbling, nervous, and had big tongues when lecturing.

In the autumn, everyone was sweating while giving lectures.

It was not difficult for some older children to guess Zhao Kuangyin's identity, but after being a little nervous, children naturally thought far less than adults. Seeing that he was just listening to the class and not saying much, they naturally didn't care that much. .

As for those who are younger, they may not know what Zhao Kuangyin does at all, and they may not even know what the official family means, so naturally they just behave as they should.

Of course, after class every day, Zhao Kuangyin would always have to chat with the teachers of various subjects. He found that the origins of these teachers were also varied, and almost none of them were serious scholars. Even those who taught the Analects of Confucius and the Book of Songs, It is said that two of them used to be storytellers in the market, and one wrote lyrics for brothel singers.Many of those who teach engineering are simply old craftsmen, and those who teach biology are simply pig butchers.

Of course, there are also some children who were trained by the Kaifeng Forbidden Army. Everyone has his own ambitions, and not everyone likes to fight and kill. There are always some children who do not want to follow their father's footsteps and are not willing to continue to be soldiers.

Every time he met Zhao Kuangyin, a teacher from the Forbidden Army, he would chat with them about daily life for a long time.

After asking about it, I found out that the school tuition in Yangzhou is not expensive, because one teacher teaches many children, and these children are not studying for the Jinshi exam. The cost of education is actually shared.Moreover, it is said that elementary schools conduct exams every year, and the top half can not only advance to higher schools and learn more advanced knowledge, but also have their tuition fees waived.

As for the students ranked at the bottom half, they love to study but don't want to study. If they want to study, they have to pay tuition and repeat the grade. Gradually, students who are not that good will drop out of school.

Generally speaking, commercial banks do not provide much subsidies to schools. For a university like Yangzhou, the subsidy is 10,000+ yuan a year. However, in order to send their children to school, there are many people who have to work in or outside the city. Even if Even if you live in a shack and drink dirty water, you will be happy as a parent.

As a result, the company's labor costs have been significantly reduced.

And the teachers at the school can actually talk about these things openly and fluently, without even thinking that there is anything despicable or embarrassing about it.

"His Highness once said that it is a win-win and mutually beneficial thing. If you have to be coy about it, the flashy moral signs on the packaging will not only make the things you do more and more awkward, but also increase the number of related matters. There is room for officials to engage in corruption and seek personal gain.”

Zhao Kuangyin thought about it and surprisingly felt that it made sense.

Zhao Guangmei has always thought of the middle and lower-level officials in the worst possible way, tacitly assuming that they will be greedy as long as they have the chance to be greedy. She never believes in the character of anyone who reads books about sages, so that now Zhao Kuangyin is attracted by him. The lead was a little off track, and I gradually began to think so.

Later, while chatting, I learned that Yangzhou actually has night schools in addition to primary schools. It is a place where workers can learn literacy and the corresponding skills required for various types of work.

So Zhao Kuangyin went to night school with great interest.

He went to primary school during the day and went to night school at night. Even though they learned many of the same things, he still enjoyed it. Even state affairs were left to Zhao Guangyi to handle, and he didn't even care too much about the autumn tax. .

Because there is really nothing to worry about. This year, Empress Dowager Du and her son Zhao Dezhao are calculating the general ledger at the commercial bank. Although the specific figures have not been calculated yet, Zhao Dezhao had vaccinated him before coming. This year The profit of the commercial bank is at least 500 million yuan.

This income has exceeded the total income of the three companies in the past two or even three years. What is there to worry about?Even if Sansi's income this year is zero of Te Niang's, he doesn't care anymore.

Even Zhao Dezhao complained that there is definitely something wrong with the taxes collected by the three companies. The national finance is not as good as one-third of the profits of a commercial bank, but ordinary people still feel that the taxes are heavy. The two-tax law is a piece of stinky shit!

But if you ask him how to change the tax law since there are problems with it, he will be hesitant and unable to give an explanation. In the end, he will say: Ask my third uncle, he will definitely understand.

But he didn't care, and those civil servants didn't dare not care. Seeing that Zhao Kuangyin had to carry a schoolbag to school every day, and lived like a good student, the civil and military officials in the court, especially the civil servants, were panicked.

How can this kind of elementary school stuff be something that a founding monarch in his 30s can listen to?
Except for the Book of Songs, a school that does not teach almost any serious sage studies is not a crooked way.
Even the Book of Songs is not taught well and is not required to be memorized.

The civil servants are worried, upset, and pulling out their hair in fistfuls. If this continues, the official family will be completely led astray by His Highness King Qin.

A few days later, a wave of more than ten so-called famous scholars and elders appeared out of nowhere. It was said that each of them was a highly talented person. They broke into the elementary school directly and asked to see Zhao Kuangyin.

"Having heard that His Highness is obsessed with such heretical doctrines day by day, ordinary people are so bold that they are willing to risk their lives to dissuade His Majesty."

Zhao Kuangyin was not angry either. Of course he knew that these so-called bullshit elders and Fang Zheng were just knives found by civil servants. He said with a smile: "I listen to what the teachers of this elementary school teach. They are very knowledgeable. Old man, how can we prove that they are heretical?"

"The common people are willing to debate classics with teachers in this school."

There was a pop, but Zhao Kuangyin couldn't hold it back and was happy.

Really, don’t be a B-face anymore.

Although I really don't know these old men, but they dare to challenge me directly when they are found by these civil servant groups at this time. Needless to say, they must be at least some famous so-called Confucian scholars, and 70% of them are in their [-]s and [-]s. Years and above.

In ancient times, 70-year-olds could walk sideways. Even if they pointed at Zhao Kuangyin's nose and scolded them, it was impossible to do anything to them based on the image that Zhao Kuangyin had worked so hard to create. So to a certain extent, they could indeed Unscrupulous.

In other words, these old people are probably all old academics who have been living in poverty for decades.

What about the elementary school?Who is a serious scholar?
Even those who came out of the Forbidden Army must not have learned very well. After all, those who really learned well must have been hanging out in Kaifeng. There is no reason to travel thousands of miles to Yangzhou for a business trip.

And they are generally children in their 20s, or even under 20 years old.

A group of old people with old age and no knowledge found themselves debating the Bible with a group of elementary school teachers in their twenties who were not scholars.

What about the face?

However, instead of being annoyed, Zhao Kuangyin nodded happily and agreed, saying: "As the saying goes, the more you debate, the clearer the truth becomes. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, hundreds of schools of thought also relied on debate to argue about right and wrong. I think, Isn’t it great that you, the virtuous and upright Confucians, are willing to engage in debate with this new learning again like the sages before you? This is great.”

As soon as he said this, the faces of all the old guys turned purple.

Where did you learn something new?

Why are there so many schools of thought?

Confucianism is the orthodoxy of China, so why has it turned back into a hundred schools of thought?
However, this was not over yet. Zhao Kuangyin pondered for a while and then continued: "Originally, I wanted to wait for the third brother to come back before returning this shit basin to him, but since he is so busy, I still have to wipe his ass. Come for him."

"Since we have to debate scriptures, what's the point of just you guys debating in primary school? If you want to debate, all the people must participate. When we were in Kaifeng, didn't nearly ten thousand people go to the capital to complain, asking me to bring order to the chaos? ?”

"But as soon as I came to Yangzhou, hey, there were tens of millions of people who persuaded me to make the New Deal a regular practice. You think, which one is the public opinion? I think they are both public opinion, but since these two views are Quite the opposite, well, it’s unreasonable, so you don’t understand.”

"Tomorrow, a piece of land will be drawn out in the outer city. If you ask me, I will bring out these 1 people and let them disperse among the hundreds of thousands of people outside the city. Let them also debate together. I will also Let’s see, which one of them has more truth to say?”

(End of this chapter)