Tibet.

Chapter 1333 Wei's Solution
Wei Jiansu also laughed and said, "In fact, Minister Pei is worrying too much. In the tenth year of Tianbao, when I was the Minister of Personnel, I sent people to Chang'an to do a survey, 'Are you willing to let your daughter study? Why?'

The survey mainly covered the performance of the middle and lower classes, with a total of more than 2,000 people surveyed. As a result, 80% of them said that if they had the chance, they would let their daughters go to school. When asked about the reasons, they all said the same thing: girls who can read and write will marry better. This is the consensus of the people in Chang'an, and it is similar in other places.

We must not look down on the people of the Tang Dynasty. Sending daughters to be maids is the choice of the lowest class of people. Even those with a little bit of means would not do so. Instead, they would send their daughters to learn embroidery and read some books. We are not targeting the lowest class of people, but the middle class or lower middle class families. They hope that their children can make progress, so we will give them the opportunity. "

After a pause, Wei Jiansu said to Li Dai, "Your Majesty, I suggest that girls should continue to receive a five-year education. In addition to reading and writing, they should also be taught knitting, mending, making clothes, embroidering, music, etc. This will be good for them and their parents will definitely welcome it."

Li Dai secretly admired in his heart. No wonder his son wanted to keep Wei Jiansu. Compared with Pei Zunqing, the difference in their insights was obvious.

Li Dai smiled and said, "Let's go eat first, and we'll continue our conversation in the afternoon!"

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

Li Ye asked with a smile: "How was it, did you have a pleasant conversation with the Political Affairs Hall?"

Li Dai smiled and waved his hands. "Education! Everyone is very interested. Even Dugu Lie talked about the preparations for the Martial Arts Academy. Duan Xueshi was also talking about his Ordnance Academy, and he always mentioned firearms. He was completely fascinated by firearms.

Everyone was very excited. Even the provincial school began to be divided into different subjects. No one had much objection. Only when it came to girls' admission, some people had different opinions. Pei Zunqing thought that girls were more suitable for private instruction, not for sitting in the school together to study. As a result, Wei Jiansu ridiculed him at the wine table, which made him a little unhappy. However, most people agreed to girls' admission. "

Li Ye asked with a smile, "What did Prime Minister Wei say?"

"He laughed at Minister Pei for being ignorant of worldly affairs and always requiring ordinary people to meet Pei's standards. Prime Minister Wei said that during the Tianbao period, there were many girls' schools in Chang'an, and there were 50 to 60 girls taking classes to learn music. They were all ordinary families who sent their daughters to learn various skills. Wei suggested increasing the number of girls' schooling to five years, three years of studying and two years of learning various skills. I think this plan is very good."

Li Ye nodded, "We can select more places to conduct public opinion surveys and make full preparations!"

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

"Father, please speak frankly!"

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

Education is a national policy that will last for a hundred years. Once it is decided, it will last for almost a hundred years. It is a matter of great importance, and we must consider it for a hundred years!"

Li Ye nodded, "Of course I have thought about this question repeatedly. Education investment mainly requires a large initial investment, allocating land, and building new schools. Once they are put into operation, the expenses will stabilize, mainly professors' salaries and consumables such as pens, ink, and paper. In fact, as long as the output is large, a small brush shop in Chang'an will cost about 80 coins to make a sheep-hair brush, but as far as I know, it only costs 10 coins to make a pen in Huzhou. Why?
Since the Chang'an Small Brush Workshop can only produce about a hundred pens a day, and the Huzhou Brush Factory can produce ten thousand pens a day, we will of course buy Huzhou pens. Buying a million pens at a time may only cost eight cents per pen. Wouldn't that save money?
The same is true for paper and ink. As long as they are manufactured on a large scale, the cost will be much lower.”

Li Dai smiled happily and said, "I feel much better after settling the accounts this way!"

"What else is wrong, father?"

Li Dai thought for a moment and said, "Then there is the issue of state academic divisions. Everyone agrees, but they are worried about the lack of teachers."

The lack 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 opened a shipbuilding school in Jincheng, which is still there. The school is very successful. They use excellent craftsmen as teachers, and the students trained are sought after everywhere.

Now Lanzhou has become the largest shipbuilding center in the northwest, which originated from this shipbuilding school. Therefore, the students trained in our provincial school do not necessarily go to Chang'an to continue studying engineering or agriculture. This is completely a skill. After graduation, they can become a good craftsman to support their families. So I think we should learn from the experience of the shipbuilding school in Jincheng, use excellent craftsmen to teach, and apply what they have learned. Only then will the school be successful and welcomed by the people. "

Li Dai smiled happily and said, "This is my next goal. I will go out to investigate and take your mother with me. The first step is to go to Lanzhou to investigate the Jincheng Shipbuilding School, and then go to Zhangye to investigate animal husbandry. Zhangye also has a government-run animal husbandry school, which is said to be good. I will go and take a look. Then I will go to the Central Plains and take a boat to Runzhou to learn about agriculture in the south of the Yangtze River. By the way, I will also visit the place where I was the governor. It will take about a year."

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

Li Ye had always had opinions about the Imperial College. When the Imperial College was reformed and engineering and agriculture were established, the officials of the Imperial College, led by Pei Mian, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, strongly opposed it. In the end, Li Ye forced it through.

The Imperial College was too conservative, not just Pei Min, but a whole group of people who were full of prejudice against engineering. They were afraid that the dominance 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 them, without the supervision of the Imperial College. Li Ye also decided to establish a department similar to the later Education Committee, with his father in charge, and transfer 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 recruit some old friends to participate, such as Gao Shi, Li Bai, and Du Fu."

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

The three-day imperial examination was finally over. All the major restaurants and brothels in Chang'an were filled with scholars relaxing. No matter how well they had done, it was all over. Besides, even if they failed the imperial examination, there was still the Imperial College entrance examination next!
Nowadays, the Imperial College examination has become a popular subject. After studying for five years, one can go to various places to work as an assistant teacher. This is a first-class official. After working as an assistant teacher for five years, one can be promoted to professor, which is a ninth-rank official.

Studying at the Imperial Academy can eventually lead to becoming an official. This prospect has attracted tens of millions of scholars. Among the 100,000 scholars, basically half of them have signed up for the Imperial Academy entrance examination which will start the day after tomorrow. There are more than a dozen subjects including literature, engineering, agriculture, mathematics, astronomy and geography, naval navigation, medicine, law, foreign languages, etc., and a total of 3,000 people will be admitted.

There is no 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. The Jinshi test is about policy making, the Mingjing test is about discussion, and the Suo Ke test is about mathematics.

The policy question is "A country that is small but does not humble itself, has little power but does not fear the strong, is rude but insults its big neighbors, is greedy and stubborn but does not make friends well, is doomed to perish."

The requirement is: "You can solve the problem by combining the situation in Liaodong or Nanzhao."

This question is very difficult. If we only tested Nanzhao, I wonder how many candidates would be dismayed at first glance. Fortunately, there is also Liaodong, so everyone can write a little.

Inside the Wude Restaurant, a candidate proudly said to those around him, "We got the last question right!"

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

"I am a scholar from Ezhou. Our provincial school teacher Liu Daru is very capable. He has been studying the policy questions over the years and found that the policy questions are closely related to current events. For example, last year's question, "What are the benefits of unifying the world for 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 emerged last year, so our teacher predicted that the topic and countermeasures would be related to Liaodong, and prepared a lot of Liaodong materials for us, which made it easier to write. "

Everyone is extremely envious, looking at other people's state schools, ah! Comparing yourself to others is really frustrating!

Some scholars were not convinced and grumbled: "Even if I give you the information, you may not be able to write it."

A young official who was having dinner here shook his head and laughed, "If you only write about Nanzhao and Liaodong on this question, you will definitely fail the exam!"

Everyone was puzzled and asked why?

The young official said calmly: "The question is to start with the Battle of Nanzhao or the Battle of Liaodong. What does it mean to start with these two battles? This question does not actually require you to write about these two battles.

Instead, we are asked to view Tang's foreign policy from the perspective of the Legalists. What if Silla invades our Andong Protectorate? What if Japan secretly disobeys us? There are also Tubo, Nanzhao, nomadic peoples on the grasslands, and even the distant Anxi.

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

After the official finished speaking, he looked up to the sky and laughed loudly, then stood 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 'The spring tide brings rain in the evening, and the boat drifts alone at the wild crossing'. When he returns to the capital this time, he will probably be promoted to the governor of Suzhou."

(End of this chapter)