Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 168: Boarding the fourth child’s boat
Watching the competition going on, Zhu Di asked with surprise: "How many days have you let them learn this Thousand Character Essay? Two months?"

Zhang Yifan listened and thought for a moment before replying: "To be precise, it should be two months minus ten days."

I actually told Zhu Di about this matter. Obviously, Zhu Di was a little unbelievable, so he confirmed it again, otherwise, he wouldn't be so surprised.

After getting Zhang Yifan's reply, Zhu Di couldn't help but shook his head and sighed: "You did this, it really opened my eyes. In the future, you may be the most literate person in Xiangshan County!"

Speaking of this, without waiting for Zhang Yifan to speak, he went on to say: "Look, it's only been less than half an hour just now, and two of them have received the usual money, and there are seven or eight people who also have about five hundred coins. Every day Each person who comes up will more or less know a few words and receive a few copper coins. If the situation is real, they will definitely know more words!"

Zhu Di knew that all the literate people in Xiangshan County were working as county government officials and were not among those taking the test.In other words, these people were illiterate before.

Zhang Yifan listened, nodded with a smile and said: "It must be very positive to give them an easy-to-achieve goal and get the reward they want. If I changed this to asking them to recite poems and compose poems, would you believe it? If you don’t believe it, they won’t learn to read at all, because they will think that no matter how hard they try, it is impossible to achieve this goal, and naturally they will not learn it.”

At this point, he paused and said with a little pride: "By doing this, I can at least guarantee that the people of Xiangshan County, big and small, old and young, men and women, can at least write their own names!"

Zhu Di listened, nodded, and after being emotional for a while, he suddenly turned his head to look at Zhang Yifan and said, "However, it is still a special case for you to do this. But there are not many counties that can give out a thousand guan as generously as you Who can afford to lose money to do this?"

"Loss?" After hearing this, Zhang Yifan immediately shook his head and said with a smile, "Actually, I won't lose."

When Zhu Di heard this, he was a little curious and asked: "You spent a thousand dollars and let them participate in this competition for free. How come they won't lose money?"

"Guess?" Zhang Yifan looked at him and replied with a little smile on his face.

Zhu Di: "..."

After being stunned for a moment, he said angrily: "You still have to guess? I'm not a three-year-old child, so what can I guess?"

Zhang Yifan didn't whet his appetite, so he explained to him: "Look, after Xiangshan County's literacy rate increases, will there be more demand for pens, ink, paper and inkstones, and will there be more demand for buying various books?" ? Xiangshan County did not have these in the past. If new industries are added in the future, will there be more business opportunities? "

"Also, as they become more literate and have more flexible minds, can they think about making more money? Will Xiangshan County as a whole become richer?"

"Not to mention, if there are more people who are literate, the number of talents we can choose from in Xiangshan County will also increase?"

"One more thing, is it a rare thing for our Xiangshan County to do this? It is also a good thing. Will it spread to other places? In this way, Xiangshan County was the most remote place in the past. Maybe it will happen later. , once it becomes famous, and more people know about Xiangshan County, maybe more people will be attracted to come here, thereby increasing the population and wealth of Xiangshan County?"

"..."

Zhu Di was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect that it was just a literacy test. There were so many Dao in it. For a martial artist like him, it was simply unheard of!

He watched Zhang Yifan talking there, and finally, after Zhang Yifan finished speaking, he was very serious once, and with a very admiring expression, he sincerely said to Zhang Yifan: "I really admire you, you are amazing!"

so seriously?

Zhang Yifan is embarrassed. These concepts are known to most people in later generations. They are nothing more than advertisements. They were praised so much by Emperor Yongle!

So, he also said seriously: "I also admire your attitude in military affairs. You can really endure hardships!"

When Zhu Di heard this, he immediately became happy and asked Zhang Yifan: "Are we two complimenting each other?"

"Ha ha!"

The next few days are all about literacy tests.

And because the Chinese New Year is approaching, people in Xiangshan County have more money in their hands than in any other year.And it can be predicted that under the governance of the Prince Consort, the days to come will be better and better.Therefore, they are extremely generous during this Chinese New Year.

Clothes that I didn’t dare to buy before, chicken, duck, fish, etc. that I didn’t dare to eat before, I started to prepare for this year’s New Year.

Those who are smarter can immediately go to Guangzhou to purchase goods and then come back to sell them. Anyway, as long as you have a household registration in Xiangshan County, small business is allowed by the Prince Consort County Magistrate.

Even businessmen in Guangzhou saw business opportunities and shipped all kinds of materials to Xiangshan County.

In short, Xiangshan County used to be a remote place. Except for the locals in Xiangshan County, there were no outsiders at all. But now, there are more and more outsiders in Xiangshan County. While they come to make money and work, Xiangshan is also beginning to prosper. County.

The banks in Xiangshan County also started to have people coming and going.

Not only are there more people taking out loans, but there are also more people making deposits.Finally, you have to queue up to handle daily loan and deposit business.

Of course, loans are mainly for people registered in Xiangshan County and require guarantees, and if the amount is large, a mortgage is required; but there is no such restriction on deposits, which is also convenient for those from outside the country.

Zhang Yifan is very busy here. After he is busy in the east, he is busy in the west, and after he is busy in the west, he is busy in the north. In short, he needs to be guided by all kinds of things, and his attention is also inseparable during the execution process.So much so that his wish to sleep until he woke up naturally could not be realized, and he was dealing with things every day.

No, he took advantage of the year before and took another trip to Qi'ao Island.

All pirate prisoners, including their families, are housed here.

Qi'ao Island is very large, has fresh water, and can also farm.In the past, the people of Xiangshan were worried about pirates. The pirates were worried that they were too close to the coastline and the imperial army would come to encircle and suppress them, so everything was wasted.

But at this time, there were many people.

On Lan Yu's side, Guangdong's navy was dispatched, and part of it was stationed on Qi'ao Island as a base; the management of pirates was done by those pirates who had submitted to Xiangshan County from the beginning.The two leaders were Liu Datou and Zhou Heizi.

Among the approximately 500 young men, about [-] were instigated by Liu Datou and Zhou Heizi to rebel, so they all had ethnic origins.

Through them, Zhang Yifan also had a clear understanding of the background of these pirates. Based on their expertise, he immediately assigned 1000 people to open up wasteland and farm on Qi'ao Island;
About 3000 people formed the Xiangshan County construction team, which was used as free labor for construction.

About 1000 more people set up a Xiangshan County fishing team to specialize in fishing; about 500 people added to the already established passenger and cargo fleets, responsible for running the two routes of Guangzhou and Dongguan.

The remaining pirates began to combine with the officers and soldiers sent by Zhu Di, preparing for them to go to Nanyang later in the year.

The nine years of Hongwu passed in such a busy manner.

On New Year's Eve, Zhu Di called Jinghaihou Wu Zhen and Lan Yu to celebrate the New Year together with the consort and princess in Xiangshan County.

........................

At the same time, the capital is naturally celebrating the New Year.However, Prince Zhu Biao was called by Zhu Yuanzhang to talk about the matter.

"Look at the memorial sent by the fourth brother!" Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to say with a little emotion, "This Zhang Yifan is really capable. After getting on the fourth brother's boat, he came up with something good again."

After hearing this, Zhu Biao was very curious, and quickly took a memorial from the servant, and immediately opened it to read.

On Zhu Yuanzhang's side, he continued to speak: "Yifan explained this artillery clearly. If you look carefully, many details are very useful. Although it has not been built, I am sure that the power of this artillery It’s huge, and the naval battle is unclear, but if we had to use this artillery in the Battle of Poyang Lake, it wouldn’t have been so hard.”

"In my opinion, with this kind of artillery, it is simply a siege weapon. The general city cannot withstand the bombardment of this kind of artillery. It is time to do it in Yunnan. Besides, apart from the desert, as long as there is an attack Anyone in the city can take action!"

"..."

Obviously, Zhu Yuanzhang's military vision is absolutely powerful.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, after the Manchu Qing Dynasty obtained the Hongyi cannon, they went to the pass to attack the city. It was like drinking water, and they often plundered a lot of money before leaving the pass.Only those cities that are also equipped with Hongyi cannons are not easy to conquer.

At this time, Zhu Biao had almost finished reading. When he heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, he nodded and said with a smile: "My father was really far-sighted and gave him the title of "walking on orders", so he should be allowed to walk around. Maybe I can think of more good things.”

After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he smiled slightly and did not accept the words.

If he really wanted to have far-sightedness, he wouldn't have always sided with Li Shanchang over the matter of ordering a consort.Thanks to Zhang Yifan's deep love for Zhu Jingjing and his persistence, he was finally moved by him and appointed Zhang Yifan as his consort.

"This artillery must be built as soon as possible!" Zhu Yuanzhang changed the subject and said, "Lao Si said in the letter that according to Yifan, the place where the artillery hit can be calculated. If so, it will be more powerful. Look back. Be sure to verify it to see if it’s just bragging!”

Zhu Biao listened and said with some curiosity: "There is no way to estimate the firing of artillery. Why would Yifan say that he can calculate the place where the artillery hit, instead of estimating the place where the artillery hit? This... can really be calculated. ?”

After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he nodded and said, "It's a bit unbelievable. It must be a clerical error caused by the fourth child, right?"

Having said this, he paused and asked Zhu Biao: "What do you think of what Lao Si reported to Yifan about specialization in the arts?"

Zhu Di wrote down everything he thought was worthy of memorial in this memorial.Among them is the treatment of craftsmen.

After hearing this, Zhu Biao probably had already thought about it when he read it, so he replied directly: "There are specializations in the art industry, which is a wise saying, and it is definitely not wrong. However, if we improve the treatment of craftsmen as mentioned in the memorial, , so that they can improve something better, Erchen thought that the effect might not be as good as imagined!"

"Oh? How do you say it?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was a little surprised when he heard this.Because he found that, under normal circumstances, his son was in favor of some of the views raised by his son-in-law.Unexpectedly, there were different opinions this time, which is rare.

Only Zhu Biao replied seriously: "I think those craftsmen are mostly vulgar people, and everything they learn is taught by the master. Moreover, when a master teaches his apprentices, he often hides his secrets and will not teach them all unless absolutely necessary. This is the so-called Teach the apprentices and starve the master to death. Therefore, it is difficult for me to imagine that those craftsmen can innovate and transform into better things."

At this point, he paused for a moment, as if he thought it was not enough, so he continued: "Also, many of the skills of craftsmen are passed down from generation to generation rather than from daughter to daughter. The broomstick is treasured by itself as a family heirloom. In other words, the skills of the craftsmen are hidden. It’s too late to tuck it in, so how can we learn from the best of hundreds of schools of thought and introduce new ones?”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded when he heard this, and said with some relief on his face: "Yes, this is the current situation, this kid's ideas are still fantastic!"

Having said that, he paused for a moment and said, "There is a reason why craftsmen's status is low throughout the dynasties."

After Zhu Biao heard this, he was not happy because he was praised by his father. Instead, he said expectantly: "Father, if you don't reply to Yifan, what will he say? I feel that he may still be reasonable. explain!"

"Okay, you can contact him and see what he says?"

After Zhu Yuanzhang agreed, he continued to ask: "There is also food from Nanyang. Lao Si said in the memorial that he would send people to Nanyang to verify and report back later. We have such a large population in the Ming Dynasty, and the food we need is huge. Just That wild land, can you still be satisfied?"

After hearing this, Zhu Biao shook his head and said, "I have never paid attention to Nanyang affairs before, so it's hard to say. However, I think Yifan is located in the south of Lingnan, which is closer to Nanyang. He probably heard something , that’s why you say this, right?”

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Forget it, let's see the news about the people he sent first. If it can really produce a lot of food, that would be a good thing!"

Originally, he had no interest in places outside of China.

However, after seeing the drawings of the Hongyi cannon today, with his eyes, he immediately felt keenly that it would be much easier to capture the city, which made him feel relaxed and extra excited.

He has been hungry since he was a child, and he knows the importance of food.In order to stabilize the rule of the Ming Dynasty, the most critical thing was not to let the people go hungry.

If the food in Nanyang is enough to supply the entire Ming Dynasty on a large scale, he really has this idea to see how Nanyang is doing.

Guangjiliang can never be wrong at any time!
At this time, compared to their father and son, other people's focus was obviously different.

Most people are paying attention to the upcoming trial of the three divisions on Yongjiahou's collusion with pirates.

　Ask for support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)