Tibet

Li Ye came to the official room and immediately summoned all senior officials to discuss education matters.

The reason why Li Ye is so anxious is that he has to rush for the imperial examination in March next year, and he needs to inform the world about the imperial examination again.

"Yesterday afternoon, I went to the Firearms and Gunpowder Department and I was deeply aware of the lack of talent. The talent I am talking about is not just the lack of craftsmen, but also the fact that there are very few people who know how to do research and understand the principles. I was asked to remind them to use cotton for experiments. This is not okay. , we must cultivate knowledgeable talents, just like officials like Yuwen Kai in the Sui Dynasty. In this way, officials do not appear all at once, but spend money to train them and create conditions for them to study. So I am considering, next March For the imperial examination, the subjects of arithmetic and agriculture will be opened. I will also build three more schools, one to expand arithmetic and new ones to study agriculture and weapons.”

Everyone looked at each other, and Li Mi smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, we thought we were convening today to discuss the establishment of county schools and prefecture schools. The plans for the imperial examination have been finalized, and I'm afraid it will be too late to change them."

"It's not a change. We won't change the plan we made. What I'm talking about is adding, supplementing, adding 50 places each for arithmetic and agriculture. Arithmetic includes surveying, architecture, mining, metallurgy, alchemy, equipment, and shipbuilding, and agriculture includes Astronomy, geography, agriculture, etc., regardless of age or origin, only talents can be chosen.”

Everyone in the lobby was silent. They couldn't accept His Highness King Qi's idea for a while.

Li Ye saw everyone's confusion and added: "I know everyone doesn't understand. We have discussed before, where is the source of Anlushan's rebellion? With the decline of the military system in the government, the imperial court could not afford such a heavy military salary, so it had to The important matter of raising military salaries was left to frontier generals like An Lushan. The reason why the military system declined was because of land annexation. But if we go west or north, we will find that there is boundless land outside. We should I also know that the westernmost part of the Tang Dynasty is the Aral Sea. I once established Aral Sea County there, which is subordinate to the Hezhong Dudu Mansion. There are millions of hectares of fertile land around it, and Juzhanti, which is also our territory. , there are hundreds of thousands of hectares of wheat fields around, how can we keep these lands that belong to us?

Either send tens of thousands of troops with swords, guns, arrows and crossbows, or send a thousand troops with powerful firearms. One soldier can deal with a hundred enemy troops. Our fire and thunder weapons have just begun and are not very powerful, but in the future, a few Iron fire thunder can kill thousands of enemy troops. This requires cultivating high-level firearms talents, not craftsmen. "

Speaking of this, Li Ye took out another map and asked his followers to hang it up, and said to everyone: "This is a map of Nanyang. I drew it based on the descriptions of some maritime merchants."

Li Ye pointed to the northernmost Liuqiu Island with a wooden pole, "This is Liuqiu Island, which is about the same area as Guanzhong. It is only three hundred miles away from Quanzhou. It is a very rich big island. Only a few thousand natives live here. In addition, there are thousands of Han people who are evading exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. Zhang Ping, the governor of Quanzhou, went to the island to see it. He has already prepared to build the county seat according to my requirements.

Second, let’s look south again.”

Li Ye pointed the wooden pole to Luzon in the south and said to everyone: "More than three hundred miles south of Liuqiu Island, there is another big island. I named it Luzon. It is an archipelago with an area about the size of two rivers. , currently uninhabited.”

When Li Ye said this, the seven senior officials were obviously a little excited. The land the size of two Hedong Roads was actually uninhabited. Isn't this a godsend to the Tang Dynasty?

Li Ye smiled slightly and continued to move the wooden pole southward, "This is the Nanyang Islands, which produces spices and various precious woods. Everyone knows that, so I won't say more. I want to say that it is the south of the Nanyang Islands, about a thousand miles away. , there is also a large island with the same area as the Tang Dynasty, and there is no human habitation on it. There is also a small island next to it, which is also equivalent to the area of ​​​​two Hedong Roads. It is also uninhabited. These two vast uninhabited islands are about 100 meters away from each other. We are about 5,000 miles away, and it is basically the sea. Now you understand why I want to select the imperial examination scholars for shipbuilding. Everyone, the area is the same as that of the Tang Dynasty, and there is no one to live in! We can build another Datang Dynasty. Are you not interested? With such a vast land, why should we worry about the annexation of land if the people don’t have enough to eat?”

Everyone couldn't sit still. "Create another Tang Dynasty." This sentence was so confusing that even these deep-thinking senior officials couldn't help but have wild thoughts.

Liu Yan couldn't help but said: "Your Highness, is five thousand miles too far?"

Li Ye smiled and said: "It is very far, so our big ships must make progress. They must be driven by the heat generated by burning coal. We must build stronger iron-hulled ships. In that case, a fleet can transport tens of thousands of people." , we can reach the New World in one month, which is almost the same as when we go to Hexi now.”

"But how much iron is needed?"

"So this is a chain of events. We need to find new iron mines and increase iron production. This requires mining and smelting talents. We also need construction talents who know how to build houses. We also need construction talents who can grow food in foreign lands. That requires agricultural talents and a large population, and then the people have to have enough food to reproduce. "

Speaking of this, Li Ye remembered something and said with a smile: "Speaking of having enough food, there is another important thing. There is a small country in the south of Jiaozhou called Champa Country. The rice in this place is very famous, with an output of five to six hundred kilograms per mu. The key is to grow two crops a year.

We can definitely introduce rice seeds and try planting them in Quanzhou first. If it is successful in Quanzhou, it can be promoted to the entire south of the Yangtze River. In this way, grain output will increase greatly and the population will grow rapidly.

A few decades later, the population will exceed 100 million, our shipping technology has also matured, and a large number of people have migrated overseas. Think about it, is this what I said? We have enough Confucian students now, and I want a lot of people to understand technology. Talents. "

Li Mi nodded, "Although we can't understand what His Highness said for the moment, I can feel His Highness's seriousness and sincerity. Let's express our support! Please raise your hands if you support His Highness's enrollment expansion plan and school running plan!"

The seven senior officials all raised their hands. The vision described by Li Ye finally moved them. Without their full support, many of Li Ye's ideas would not be implemented.

In the afternoon, Wei Yingwu reported at the door, "Your Highness, Master Tengfei is here!"

Li Ye was shocked and said quickly: "Please come in quickly!"

After Li Feiteng returned to Chang'an, he officially became the master of Taiqing Palace. For several months, Li Ye had almost no news about her. Even Princess Dugu Xinyue didn't know if she was in Chang'an now?

Li Ye sent someone to Taiqing Palace yesterday to deliver a message saying that she was not in Chang'an. Unexpectedly, she came today.

After a moment, Li Tengfei, wearing a Taoist robe, walked into the official room, saluted and said: "Immeasurable Heavenly Lord, Your Highness is so kind!"

"Auntie, isn't she out?"

"I went to Hanzhong and just came back this morning. I saw the note you left and rushed here."

"Thank you for your hard work, Auntie, please take a seat!"

Li Ye asked Li Tengfei to sit down. The tea boy came in and served tea. Li Tengfei took a sip of hot tea and asked with a smile: "What do you want from me?"

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【Two chapters today】