Hongwu Daming: Why hasn't my son rebelled?

Chapter 199
Wang Laowu is an honest and honest farmer in Liaoyang. He had his first son when he was in his 30s.

Wang Laowu has no other goals, but wants to raise his son well in this troubled world, let him inherit the few acres of poor land in the family, watch his son marry a wife and have children, and pass on the family line. Even if it is worth it.

Of course, it's not that Wang Laowu didn't think about letting his son go to study in the future.

It's just that things like reading are too far away, so I can only think about it at ordinary times.

His mother-in-law would also talk to him about going to school from time to time, and would occasionally complain that Wang Lao Wu had no skills and couldn't let his son go to school, etc., and so on.

But at this time, Wang Laowu would always go out and look at the clouds silently, or walk around the fields more often with a hoe on his shoulder.

Although there is no work to do, it is better to talk to the mother-in-law about the children's schooling at home.

It's not that he can't listen to his mother-in-law's nagging, but he just thinks that his child can't go to school, and he feels sad and blames himself. As a father, it is natural to have such emotions.

In February of the 12th year of Hongwu, when Wang Laowu was plowing in the field, he heard two fellow villagers sitting beside him chatting on the ridge of the field. One of them said:

"Have you heard? Yesterday, a propaganda team went to our village to promote the new school."

After the man finished speaking, the other person looked confused, and Wang Lao Wu was also confused.

Yesterday, he didn't care about the fact that there was a propaganda team in the village. He pricked up his ears and wanted to understand, but the other person thought exactly the same way and asked:
"What's the situation with this propaganda team? What's going on with the new school? Tell me about it."

Then the man said that it turned out that the propaganda team was sent by the subordinates of His Royal Highness Liao Wang, and the propaganda was about this new school.

Although I don't know what a new school is, this place is quite different from the place where the Four Books and Five Classics are taught.

The children here heard that they will also teach things like literacy, but more of them are teaching some other aspects of knowledge, not for preparing for the imperial examination.

What is the imperial examination?
They all understand that the Four Books and Five Classics are still heard of. If the Four Books and Five Classics are not taught in this school, what else can they teach?

The common people in the village also thought the same way, and the propaganda team explained in great detail, saying that the school does not cultivate talents who will take the imperial examinations, but talents who will work in the Liao Palace in the future.

To put it bluntly, the people recruited by the Liao Palace must have special skills, and those who want to go to the Liao Palace must graduate from a new school.

Although this new-style school does not teach the Four Books and Five Classics, which are used in the imperial examinations, it is still a place to learn characters.

These days, being able to know how to read is already a great thing. If you can write, you can set up a stall outside and help others write home letters, and you can support yourself.

Even if he became a teacher, he could be highly respected and enjoy a high status in the village.

After getting old, he is also a villager!

In any case, there are many benefits of literacy, so there is no need to mention it, and His Royal Highness King Liao is now opening this new school, and everyone thinks that most of them require tuition fees, and the price should not be very cheap.

But the fact is completely different from what they thought. The price of this new school is so cheap that people are so surprised that they can't believe it.

The price of the new school is not calculated on a yearly basis, but on a semester-by-semester basis, and a semester is only three months.

And for these three months, only 500 cash is needed for each student. If calculated based on two semesters a year, the annual tuition fee is only one tael of silver.

The tuition fee is only one tael of silver, which doesn't seem like a lot. After all, other private schools cost at least five or six taels of silver a year.

But for a poor peasant family like Wang Laowu, the tuition fee of one tael a year is still unaffordable.

You must know that the cost of food in their family for a year may be within three or four taels.

So for Wang Laowu, such tuition fees are still unaffordable.

Just when Wang Laowu secretly sighed, he heard those two people continue to say:
"One tael of silver a year is not expensive, but it is not something we ordinary people can accept casually."

Another person quickly said:

"His Royal Highness, who is that?

Can your Highness not think of things you can think of?Your Highness has already thought about it for you. We poor people have no money to send our children to school, so let our children go to work in the school! "

"Working, part-time job?"

For this fresh vocabulary, the farmer obviously misunderstood the meaning and was taken aback.

And Wang Laowu also felt a lump in his heart, is His Royal Highness Liao Wang hiring children as thugs?Who is this man called Gong?

He just thought this way, and the person next to him hurriedly said with a smile:

"I can see from your expression that you have misunderstood. This part-time job does not mean beating people, but doing work for His Highness. As long as the work is done well, the tuition fee can be reduced."

After hearing this, the others breathed a sigh of relief, and Wang Laowu was also moved. If he could really earn some money by working part-time, and if he could make some money himself, he might be able to send his own child. Go to school, maybe.

His heart was also moved all of a sudden, and then he looked at the two people who were still talking beside him, and walked over cautiously. Those two people also saw Wang Lao Wu walking over, and someone took out the wine gourd, Handed it to Wang Laowu, said with a smile:

"Old Wang, aren't you also interested in that new school? I want my doll to try it out recently."

Wang Laowu didn't think too much, and said:
"If it's really possible to send children to school, then I definitely think about it."

He thought for a while and asked again:

"Did the publicity team mention this tuition reduction? What exactly is the reduction method?"

The two of them heard that Wang Laowu was also interested, so they sat down with him and talked in detail.

The propaganda team sent by His Royal Highness King Liao to the village naturally explained it in great detail. This work-study program is actually helping in the cafeteria, cleaning the school or doing some manual chores and so on.

The tuition fee reduction is also very high. According to the labor cost in the market, it can be reduced or exempted. It can be said that if you take one or two tuition fees a year, if you spare time every day to go to work-study programs, you can basically study without paying tuition fees. Of course , the prerequisite is to pass the entrance examination.

Good guy, I have never heard of working in the school and earning back the tuition fees.

In the eyes of the common people, this is simply His Royal Highness Liao Wang doing charity!

Of course, it was impossible for Zhu Qi to do such charity. The work he let those students do would naturally create a value far beyond the one tael of silver.

Even if he wanted to do charity, he didn't have the money.

What's more, if these students are allowed to study with other people's money every day, it is inevitable that some people will feel inferior in their hearts, but if they are allowed to earn tuition fees through labor, it will be different.

Anyway, apart from the quality of teaching, Zhu Qi is more concerned about the physical and mental health of the students.

(End of this chapter)