Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 356
In this era of extreme lack of knowledge, extremely slow speed of information transmission, and an illiteracy rate of over [-]%, coupled with the extremely low social status of women, the common sense that many children of later generations know is unknown in contemporary times.

Take women's menstruation as an example. Regardless of their basic understanding of this matter and the subsequent hygiene measures that individuals should take, most women are in a state of near ignorance.

Zhu Youjian once asked Zhou Hou how to deal with women's menstrual affairs, but after Zhou Hou blamed him, he went to Queen Yi'an to sue with a look of disgust.

In desperation, Zhu Youjian found the virtuous and gentle Concubine Yuan. On the premise that she explained in advance that she planned to solve the matter for the poor women in the world, Concubine Yuan told him the answer shyly and angrily: Incense ash is used for absorption.

While marveling at the wisdom of the ancients, Zhu Youjian can also imagine how women from poor families endured the suffering in this matter.

It is not difficult to solve this problem: just replace the incense ash with sterilized cotton.

But under the current conditions, large-scale production is impossible, because the supply of cotton is simply not enough.

Now that thousands of people are struggling with life and death, the most important issue is to solve the food and clothing of the people, and this matter can only be considered in the future.

To put it bluntly, the material foundation is the most important thing. Only after the various classes of Ming Dynasty are relatively rich can other things be put on the agenda.

According to Zhu Youjian's plan, Jing'an Hall is just the prototype of his plan.

His plan is that in the future, Jing'an Hall will be built in a form similar to the Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital of later generations, and it will be gradually promoted and built in various counties throughout Daming.

According to the wealth he owns now, it can be opened in most counties now, but the extreme shortage of female doctors has become the biggest constraint factor.

Just thinking about it gave him a headache, and it was not a problem that could be solved with money.

In his eyes, Daming now lacks everything. In terms of medical care and health, not to mention female doctors, even male doctors are pitifully scarce.

This is not a problem that can be solved in a year or a half, or ten or eight years. It requires a long-term planning plan and strategy.

Fortunately, the Department of Health has launched action on this according to the specific situation.

Select suitable candidates as the backup force for doctors and female doctors, organize experienced doctors and female doctors to train them intensively, and print and distribute relevant medical books for trainees to refer to and read. These are the relevant measures Wu Youxing has put forward, and they are also the most effective at present. measures.

While Zhu Youjian summoned Wu Youxing and praised him greatly, he also specially allocated money from internal funds to support him.

When Zhu Youjian thought about it, he realized that improving literacy rates, the manufacture and use of paper, the printing and dissemination of various books, and the popularization of many common senses of life, etc., are all intertwined and indispensable. It takes a huge amount of manpower, material and financial resources to implement it among the grassroots.

The establishment of schools is the foundation of everything. After the number of literate people increases dramatically, it will be easier to solve other problems.

It was after realizing the importance of literacy that Zhu Youjian exiled the family members of the prisoners from the traditional exile in a remote place to a place with a closer distance and a more concentrated population, so that these special groups of people with cultural knowledge Passively participate in the literacy team.

Since the implementation of this measure, judging from the feedback from Jinyiwei who monitored this group of people in various places, the effect is still very significant. This group has played a very important role in the literacy campaign launched in various places.

The reason why these people have such a high enthusiasm is that Zhu Youjian specially formulated relevant policies for this purpose.

As long as you actively cooperate to complete the tasks assigned by the imperial court and achieve corresponding results, after a certain period of time, according to your personal wishes, these family members of criminal officials will be released to their original places and given a certain salary. After returning to their original places, they will It is allowed to participate in any production activities except the imperial examination as a civilian.

After regular review by the local government, as long as they perform well, they can participate in the imperial examination from the fourth generation onwards.

It was under the encouragement of this measure that this group burst out with the greatest enthusiasm and enthusiasm for work, and they are also grateful to the emperor for this good governance from the bottom of their hearts.

This gratitude is no exaggeration.

Because compared with the emperors of all dynasties, Zhu Youjian is extremely kind.

First of all, instead of beheading all the officials who committed crimes, they only punished the chief culprit.

Secondly, the female relatives were not sent to the Jiaofang Division, which prevented them from being physically and personally insulted.

Thirdly, although they were exiled, they were not abused in life, and their eating habits were not much different from those of local farmers.

The last one is also the most important.

Originally, exile meant that future generations could never return to their homeland, and they would become humble and the lowest class in society.

But the current exile has a time limit, not to mention, and as long as the rules are followed, the future generations can still have a bright future. This regulation is beyond their imagination. Many family members of criminal officials built a shrine for Zhu Youjian at home. Make offerings day and night to express your gratitude.

Of course Jin Yiwei would not stop this behavior of respecting the emperor, but just reported the matter back to Beijing and waited for Shangfeng's handling.

Zhu Youjian just smiled when he knew about it. Luo Yangxing knew that the emperor acquiesced to this, so he didn't issue a special order on this, and the captains naturally understood and let it go.

However, the number of exiles is too small after all. Although they will play a certain role in literacy, their power is still too weak.

Only when more social forces are widely mobilized to participate, and there is an upsurge in running schools and promoting literature in the whole Ming Dynasty, will the literacy rate of ordinary people have a huge leap.

But there is another important restrictive factor, which does not come from the material aspect, but from the monopoly of knowledge by the officials and gentry, and a fear of popularizing knowledge.

These high-ranking gentlemen are the direct beneficiaries of cultural knowledge. They are naturally aware of the power of knowledge, but at the same time they also imagine that this resource has always been controlled by a small number of people. In this way, their future generations can enjoy endless luxurious.

And once this monopoly is completely broken, it means that there will be a large number of competitors coming to snatch their golden jobs, which will cause some of them to be eliminated from the upper class, and those civilians who have always been regarded as worthless Will become a superior person on their equal footing.

This huge contrast is unacceptable to the officials and gentry.

The literacy campaign promoted by Zhu Youjian met with explicit or covert resistance. Some local officials took an indifferent attitude towards this. a norm.

Zhu Youjian is also ready to come up with corresponding measures to deal with this matter.

He plans to add a new assessment standard for officials in areas where literacy is being eliminated, and add the literacy rate to the assessment of the Ministry of Officials, so as to mobilize and supervise the importance that relevant officials attach to literacy.

This article will be implemented as a rigid target.

Zhou Yun, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, is his own ironclad, and he should implement this decision to the letter, no matter whether he is willing or not.

As for how to mobilize more social resources to invest in running schools, Zhu Youjian also thought of a way. If there are good supporting policies, this way should have good results.

　Thanks to the book friends for the reward that no one has used this account.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)