Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 674 Difficulties in Universalizing Compulsory Education

The successful trial production of baijiu has greatly improved Zhu Youjian's confidence.

This is the second new product that I have brought to this world besides cement, and it is a promising commodity that will bring more money to Taicang and allow the imperial court to be more comfortable in governing.

It would be better to monopolize the origin and sales channels of coffee, the most popular drink in European countries in the future, after Manila is conquered.

It was a new and lucrative industry.

However, this new drink that sells well all over the world will not be developed until the end of the seventeenth century. In the past few decades, the Royal Fleet of the Ming Dynasty should have been quite strong. By then, coffee from South America and Indonesia Protect the main producing area, then step up publicity efforts, study the latest technology of roasting coffee beans, and then vigorously dump coffee after setting off an upsurge in coffee love in the European land.

After hearing Zhu Youjian's decision to change the shareholding of Sihai Commercial Bank, everyone in the cabinet was full of surprises and admired the emperor's unexpected actions.

First, he gave up all the salt profits, which increased the court's income by more than 200 million taels a year. This is already an unprecedented behavior. Now he has taken the initiative to share the profits of the cash cow with the court. What the emperor did was not only selfless To describe it, this is really what the sages said in the book: The world is a public.

"From ancient times to the present, I have only heard that emperors regard the family and the world as the foundation of governance. I have never seen such a thing as the Holy One, who regards the foundation of the world's people as the most important thing. Although I am old, I am still willing to follow with this remnant body. Your Majesty, create a prosperous age that has never appeared in the history of China!"

"My minister, Chen Qiyu, is willing to attach himself to the tail!"

"My minister Yang Sichang swears to follow the Holy Majesty to the death!"

"Sir Li Banghua is willing to accompany you!"

"Honor Xun wishes everything to be based on the holy will!"

"My minister Fan Jingwen is willing to be the minion of the Holy One!"

The cabinet ministers headed by Wen Tiren all stood up, after tidying up their clothes, bowed their hands solemnly, and saluted Zhu Youjian solemnly.

The cabinet ministers now finally believe that what the emperor has done in the past few years is indeed to take Daming and the hundreds of millions of people in his heart, and he is indeed moving forward persistently in the direction of making a living for the people.

"My lords, sit down.

In fact, I, like all the lords, and even the people in the world, are also a person with seven emotions and six desires, and I also deeply love wine, sex and wealth.

But I am not greedy.

If we talk about a lot of wealth, I needn't deny that there is indeed a lot of domestic money accumulated now. Whether it is for me or the harem, it is much more extravagant than before, and the annual income of domestic funds is also endless.

Yes, I think enough is enough.

Even if there are tens of thousands of mansions, the rest only needs to be five feet wide.

However, many Li Shu who are suffering from hunger, cold, poverty, and no one to rely on have no place to get up. Every time I think of this, my heart is really uneasy!

I am the master of the world, and the billions of people in the Ming Dynasty are all my people!
To put it mildly, if Daming is a big family, then Zhen is the head of the family and the father of the world.

How can there be a reason why a king and father only care about his own enjoyment and neglect the daily struggle of his own son?

Since this statement is the voice of my heart, it should be encouraged by all the ministers!

When we are enjoying brocade clothes, fine wine and delicacies, we should plan for the hundreds of millions of people who support us, and we should also use the power in our hands to shield them from wind and rain, so as to live up to God's will. "

The cabinet ministers saluted and bowed again, expressing their intention to be taught.

The next step is to agree on the date of how the account department will hand over the accounts with the Four Seas Commercial Bank. Hou Xun, who is in charge of the account department, will go to the account department to order the details.

Since Taicang suddenly received a large amount of income, the corresponding expenditure should be put on the agenda.

Now that the busy farming season has come, it is natural to put aside the construction of water conservancy projects, and Zhu Youjian set his sights on the universal compulsory education system that had been envisioned for a long time.

If you want to fundamentally change Daming, then unlocking the wisdom of the people has become the top priority.

Improving the literacy rate and publishing a large number of books is the only way to open up the wisdom of the people.

Only when literate people accounted for the vast majority of the population of the Ming Dynasty, would science and civilization have a basis for vigorous development.

Zhu Youjian's plan is to copy some excellent measures of education in later generations, and strive to open primary and secondary schools in most of the areas where conditions are available in Ming Dynasty.

It takes ten years to grow trees and a hundred years to grow people.

The importance of education is self-evident, but to achieve this goal, the process will be complicated and long. Zhu Youjian doesn't know whether he can see the grand scene of everyone reading and literacy in his lifetime.

Investing in the establishment of schools is not a big problem. With the existing strength of Taicang, and the fact that Zhu Youjian will use internal funds to assist in the establishment of schools, build school buildings and prepare related facilities and equipment in villages and towns with relatively concentrated populations, this can be said. No difficulty.

However, the serious shortage of teachers has become the biggest obstacle restricting the popularization of compulsory education.

The original intention of the vast majority of literati in the Ming Dynasty to study was, to put it bluntly, just to get promoted and get rich, to have a mansion and a beautiful woman, and very few of them could stick to their original intention of studying to educate the world in the future.

The ratio of [-]% illiterate and [-]% educated gave Zhu Youjian a headache.

Except for those old students who were very old and desperate for the imperial examination, it was absolutely impossible for Daming to find even a young scholar who was willing to devote his life to teaching and educating people.

The only way now is to find old students from all over the country who open private schools in their villages, and then open public schools in the villages and towns where they are located. Teaching and educating people with peace of mind under the premise.

In Zhu Youjian's plan, free public schools must occupy an absolute dominant position in the education of the Ming Dynasty, and private schools of those wealthy families can coexist, but they cannot be given any right to speak.

The political status of teaching at the county level must be improved, and it cannot become a weak existence, and the grade can be low, but the local government officials have no right to issue orders to them regarding matters related to education.

The edict should be directly subordinate, and a separate office should be set up, and relevant personnel should be recruited to assist them in financial management and handling other sundries. They should not work with the local government, and funds related to education should be allocated directly by the household department.

In order to encourage ordinary people to take the initiative to send their school-age children to school, Zhu Youjian formulated a special policy.

Every child who enters school, after reaching [-] words of enlightenment, as long as he reaches the age of [-], can enter the shop and workshop opened by Sihai Commercial Bank in the local workshop with the certificate issued by the local teaching, and the apprenticeship period will be cancelled. You can receive the monthly salary stipulated by the firm in the month of employment.

This strategy is also to allow children who are literate to have opportunities for further education.

As early as the tenth year of Chongzhen, Sihai Commercial Bank, in accordance with Zhu Youjian's instructions, opened literacy classes in shops and workshops in various places, targeting young people between the ages of 14 and 22.

And qualified teenagers from junior schools will learn arithmetic and theories related to the industry according to the arrangement after they enter the post.

The shopkeepers and accountants of these shops and workshops are actually literate, and what they teach is practical knowledge. As for whether there are people who learn by analogy after learning, it depends on luck.

Although poetry, calligraphy, rites, music, archery, and art are the six arts of a gentleman, the latter three have long since existed in name only.

It is impossible to expect those old gentlemen to teach children to learn practical knowledge. We can only find a way to use the existing strength in our hands to guide and promote step by step.

(End of this chapter)