Tibet

Wei Jiansu also smiled and said: "Actually, Pei Shangshu is overly worried. In the tenth year of Tianbao, when I was appointed as the Minister of Civil Affairs, I sent someone to conduct an investigation in Chang'an, 'Do you want your daughter to study? Why?'

The scope of the survey mainly focused on the performance of the middle and lower classes. A total of more than 2,000 people were surveyed. As a result, 80% of the people said that if they had the opportunity, they would let their daughters study. When asked about the reasons, the answers were similar. If a girl can read and write, she will marry better. Well, this is the consensus of the people in Chang'an, and it is similar in other places.

We must not underestimate the people of the Tang Dynasty and let their daughters be maids and maids. That was the choice of the lowest class people. They would not do it even if they had the slightest conditions. Instead, they would send their daughters to learn embroidery from female workers and read some books by the way. What we are targeting It is not the people at the bottom, but the middle-class or lower-middle-class families. They hope that their children can make progress, so we will give them opportunities. "

After a pause, Wei Jiansu said to Li Dai again: "Your Majesty, I suggest that girls still have a five-year education system. In addition to reading and literacy, they should also be taught darning, clothing, embroidery, music, etc. This will be good for them. Their parents will definitely welcome."

Li Dai secretly appreciated it in his heart. No wonder his son wanted to keep Wei Jiansu in his post. Comparing with Pei Zunqing, the two people's knowledge was different.

Li Dai smiled and said, "Let's go have dinner first, and we'll continue chatting in the afternoon!"

In the afternoon, Li Dai came to the imperial study and met his son Li Ye. Li Ye quickly asked his father to sit down and asked Wei Gao to serve tea.

Li Ye smiled and asked, "How is it? Did you have a pleasant conversation with Zhengshitang?"

Li Dai smiled and waved his hand, "Education! Everyone is very concerned about it. Even Dugu Lie talked eloquently and introduced the preparations for the martial arts academy. Duan Xiushi also talked about his ordnance academy, which must be called firearms. He is completely familiar with firearms. Mesmerized.

Everyone was very interested. Even when the state schools started to be divided into subjects, everyone had little opinion. Only in terms of girls' enrollment, some people had different opinions. Pei Zunqing believed that girls were suitable for private teaching and not suitable for studying together in the school. As a result, Being ridiculed by Wei Jiansu at the wine table was a little unpleasant, but most people agreed that girls should be admitted to school. "

Li Ye smiled and asked, "What did Wei Xiangguo say?"

"He laughed at Pei Shangshu for not knowing the fireworks of the world, and always demanding ordinary people on the terms of the Pei family. Wei Xiangguo said that during the Tianbao period, there were many girls' schools in Chang'an, and there were fifty or sixty girls studying music together, all of whom were ordinary people. People send their daughters to learn various skills. Wei suggested increasing the number of girls to attend school for five years, three years to study and two years to learn various skills. I think this plan is very good. "

Li Ye nodded, "You can choose more places to conduct public opinion polls and be fully prepared!"

Li Dai pondered for a moment and said: "There are still two big problems that need to be solved!"

"Father, please tell me!"

Li Dai said slowly: "First of all, it is a financial issue. No one has said it clearly, but I can feel everyone's worries. Now the finances are sufficient and we can afford it, but what about the future?

Education is a century-old national policy. Once it is established, it will last for almost a hundred years. It is of great importance and we must consider it for a hundred years! "

Li Ye nodded, "Of course I have thought about this question repeatedly. Investment in education mainly involves investing heavily at the beginning, allocating land, and building new schools. Once it is put into operation, the expenditure will stabilize, mainly including professors' salaries and consumables such as pens, ink, and paper. , In fact, as long as the output is large, the small brush shop in Chang'an costs about 80 yuan to make a brush, but as far as I know, it only costs 10 yuan to make a pen in Huzhou. Why?

Because the Chang'an small pen workshop can only produce about a hundred pens a day, and the Huzhou pen factory can produce 10,000 pens a day. Of course we will buy Huzhou pens. If we buy a million pens at a time, it may only cost eight cents each, which will save finances. Down?

The same is true for paper and ink. As long as they are manufactured on a large scale, the cost must be much lower. "

Li Dai smiled happily and said, "Settling the accounts this way makes me feel much better!"

"What questions do you have, father?"

Li Dai thought for a while and then said: "Then there is the issue of dividing subjects into states. Everyone agrees, but they are worried about the lack of teachers."

The shortage of teachers is indeed a big problem. Li Ye pondered for a moment and said: "I think the idea of ​​running a school should be expanded. For example, the Dugu family ran a shipbuilding school in Jincheng back then. It is still there now. The school is very successful and uses excellent craftsmen as teachers. , the students who were trained are scrambling for them everywhere.

Now Lanzhou has become the largest shipbuilding center in the northwest. It originated from this shipbuilding school. Therefore, the students trained by our state school do not necessarily go to Chang'an to continue studying engineering or agriculture. This is purely a skill, and after graduation, they will become a good Craftsmen support their families, so I think we need to learn from the experience of the shipbuilding school in Jincheng. We can use excellent craftsmen to teach and apply what we have learned. Only then will the school be successful and the people will welcome it. "

Li Dai smiled happily and said: "This is my next goal. I want to go out for inspection and take your mother with me. The first step is to go to Lanzhou to inspect Jincheng Shipbuilding School, and then to Zhangye to inspect animal husbandry. Zhangye also has a government-run animal husbandry school. , it is said that it is not bad. I want to go to see it, then go to the Central Plains, and then take a boat to Runzhou to learn about the agriculture in Jiangnan. By the way, I will visit the place where I was the governor. It will take about a year. "

Li Ye smiled and said: "Father also wants to prepare an organization in charge of educational reform. This organization will exist for a long time and will gradually replace the Imperial College."

Li Ye had always had objections to the Imperial College. When the Imperial College was reformed and the engineering and agricultural studies were established, the Imperial College officials headed by Pei Mian, the Imperial College's Jijiujiu, were firmly opposed to it. In the end, it was Li Ye who forced the implementation.

The Imperial College was too conservative, not just Pei Min, but a group of people. They were full of prejudice against engineering. They were afraid that the dominant position of Confucianism would be lost, so they did everything they could to suppress and make things difficult for the Engineering College and the Agricultural College. That’s why Li Ye was furious and separated the Engineering College and the Agricultural College and handed them over to the Ministry of Industry and the Sino-Agricultural Temple to run the schools, which were not under the jurisdiction of the Imperial College.

Li Ye decided to establish a department similar to the later Education Committee, with his father in charge, and then transferred those energetic young people from the Imperial College to completely undermine those corrupt Confucian scholars.

Li Dai nodded and smiled, "I've already thought of it. The name is Supervisor Academy. I'll transfer some old friends to participate, such as Gao Shi, Li Bai, and Du Fu."

Li Ye smiled and said, "I'll transfer a few young and capable officials from the Imperial College to my father, and he will take them out to investigate."

The three-day imperial examination was finally over. The major restaurants and brothels in Chang'an were crowded with scholars who were relaxing. No matter how well they did, it was over. Besides, even if they failed the imperial examination, there was still the Imperial College entrance examination next!

The Imperial College examination has become a hot commodity now. After studying for five years, you can go to various places to be an assistant teacher. This is a first-class official. After five years of being an assistant teacher, you will be promoted to a professor, which is a ninth-rank official.

Studying at the Imperial College can eventually become an official. This prospect has attracted tens of millions of scholars. Among the 100,000 scholars, basically half of them have applied for the Imperial College entrance examination starting the day after tomorrow. There are more than a dozen subjects such as literature, engineering, agriculture, mathematics, astronomy and geography, ship navigation, medicine, law, foreign languages, etc., and a total of 3,000 people will be recruited.

There is no last minute way to cram for this. Just relax today and take the exam the day after tomorrow.

Everyone in the restaurant is talking about today's exam. Today is the last day of the imperial examination, and the exam is the most difficult. Jinshi exams are about countermeasures, Mingjing exams are about discussion, and the imperial examinations are about mathematics.

The countermeasure question is "A person who is small but not humble, has little power but is not afraid of the strong, is rude but insults his big neighbor, is greedy and stubborn but has bad relationships, can be destroyed."

The requirement is: "You can solve the question in combination with the situation in Liaodong or Nanzhao."

This question is very difficult. If only Nanzhao was tested, I don't know how many candidates would be blackballed at first glance. Fortunately, there is also Liaodong, and everyone can write a little bit.

In Wude Restaurant, a candidate said to the people around him proudly: "We got the last question right!"

There was an uproar in the restaurant, and the scholars asked: "Where are you from, brother?"

"I am a scholar from Ezhou. Our provincial school teacher Liu Daru is very powerful. He has been studying the policy questions in recent years and found that the policy questions are closely related to current events. For example, last year's question, "What is the benefit of unifying the world to the country?" is related to eliminating the feudal lords and unifying the Tang Dynasty.

This year, the Liaodong War and the Nanzhao War were launched, but the trend of the Liaodong War came out last year, so our teacher predicted that the policy questions were related to Liaodong, and prepared a lot of Liaodong information for us, so it is easy to write."

Everyone was envious. Look at other people's provincial schools. Hey! Comparing people is so annoying!

Some scholars were not convinced and muttered: "Even if you are given the information, you may not be able to write it."

A young official who was eating here shook his head and laughed: "If you only write about Nanzhao and Liaodong, you will definitely not pass the exam!"

Everyone was puzzled and asked why?

The young official said indifferently: "The question is to start with the battle of Nanzhao or Liaodong. What does it mean to start with these two wars? This question does not actually require everyone to write about these two wars.

It requires everyone to use the ideas of the Legalists to look at the foreign policy of the Tang Dynasty. What should we do if Silla invades our Andong Protectorate? What should we do if Japan secretly disobeys us? There are also Tubo, Nanzhao, nomadic peoples on the grassland, and even distant Anxi.

How should the Tang Dynasty protect its territory, with power, virtue, or gentleness?"

After the official finished speaking, he laughed up to the sky, got up and left.

The scholars were stunned and asked the shopkeeper who the official was?

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "That is the emperor's former Tongshi Sheren and current Suzhou Chief Clerk Wei Yingwu, the same Wei Suzhou who wrote 'Spring tide brings rain in the evening, the boat drifts alone at the wild crossing'. When he returns to the capital this time, he will probably be promoted to Suzhou Governor."