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Chapter 967 Xiaoliuqiu Base 4
“Have you ever thought about letting your children go to school?”

This made Hong Tao a little puzzled. Guangdong and Fujian were the provinces where the new policy was first implemented, and they were also the areas where the new education was most widely popularized. Lin Liulian's deaths and injuries were all calculated, so why didn't he mention going to school? Not a word.

"Hehehe... My two nephews both studied in the new school, but my father sent them back after only half a year. It's enough for them to know a few characters and write their names. There's no point in learning so much.

To pass the imperial examinations, one must be a god of literature, not just anyone. If they want to study more, they can still study after they become soldiers, so it won’t be a delay.”

Lin Liu has a different view on this issue, and he is very sure of it. Even though he has to study culture in the army and know what the outside world is like, there is still no qualitative change from staying in the mountain village before.

"Ma Baoguo, I have a task for you. Come up with a practical plan to ensure that every child in the Ming Dynasty attends the new school for at least three years. You don't need to roll it out across the board yet. Find one or two provinces to pilot it."

At this point, Hong Tao had nothing else to ask, but he had an idea in his mind: literacy! He had been focusing on the establishment of a new learning system and always thinking about how to replace the original imperial examination system, but ended up ignoring the most basic link.

Lin Liu's situation is not uncommon. Even if a new school is opened at his doorstep, it will be useless. Habits formed over thousands of years cannot be quickly changed by adding thousands of schools. Even if the admission is free, people still think it is a waste of time.

At this time, we can no longer rely solely on self-consciousness, but must resort to coercive measures. Only by laying a solid foundation and changing the attitude of the grassroots people towards knowledge can we achieve a qualitative change.

Selecting elites to join the management team is important, but in the long run, universal education and improving the quality of the whole people are more urgent. As the saying goes, rising water lifts all boats. The overall level of an ethnic group or a country cannot be maintained in the long run by a small group of elites. It must improve as a whole to be sustainable.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Education is understaffed and it may be difficult to enroll all children in school."

Ma Baoguo was troubled when he heard this. It was not that he opposed the emperor's opinion, but the Ministry of Education had only been established for a short time and was seriously understaffed, and had no real power. Even if he only selected a certain province as a pilot, he could not force all local children to attend the new school.

"Just bring up your plan, and I'll find a way. Ministry of Justice, Dali Temple, let the people learn to read, write their names, and read newspapers. Is this considered the way of a benevolent monarch? If so, this should be added to the Ming Dynasty Law. With legal constraints, the Ministry of Education can also promote it according to the law."

Hong Tao could understand Ma Baoguo's difficulties, but he didn't intend to let him go. It was true that no government at any level could force children to go to school, but if this article was written into the Ming Dynasty law, wouldn't it be possible?

If this had happened 20 years ago, it would have been very, very troublesome to handle; if it had happened 10 years ago, it would have taken a lot of effort and two to three years of wrangling. But now, it is no longer necessary. Words come true, and it is so powerful.

The Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, and the Censorate were all just institutions that handled specific affairs for the emperor. It didn't matter if they agreed or not. Whoever didn't do it or was lazy could just wait for the Imperial Guard to come and check the accounts.

You can be upright and not afraid of your shadow, and you can be honest and not afraid of ghosts knocking at your door, but the position must be vacated. It's not that there is no one available, but there are a lot of available people. The court no longer has indispensable ministers, and leaving anyone will make a difference, except the emperor himself.

"You have traveled a long way for many days, so go and take a rest first. Although the accommodation here is a bit simple, it is much more comfortable than on the ship. If you have any needs, just tell the soldiers on guard, and they will inform the superiors in time." Speaking of legislation for compulsory education, Hong Tao originally planned to hold an on-site meeting at the dock to express his ideas more clearly. However, when he saw the sallow faces and exhausted expressions of the ministers, he changed his mind.

After all, it was his first time to go to sea, and he had not eaten well, drank well, or slept well on the way. The most important thing to do now was to rest instead of holding a royal meeting. He did have many more officials to use than before, but there was no need to use them to death.

"Commander Xiao, how far are the nearest farms and plantations?"

But while the officials were resting, Hong Tao did not want to be idle. He ate well and slept well during the journey. When he had nothing to do, he could go fishing and play mahjong with the sailors. There were not so many people to play with in the palace, so he had to relax physically and mentally.

"Your Majesty, this is a military port. There are no farms or plantations around it... The nearest village is on the east side of the mountain, about 20 miles away, with more than 30 households living there, most of whom are retired navy personnel and their families, and a small number of immigrants."

This question made Xiao Si quite embarrassed. He knew that the emperor wanted to go around and see it with his own eyes, but there was really nothing nearby, and those far away didn't want the emperor to go, and he couldn't lie.

"What's the security level?" Hong Tao didn't just go there regardless, but asked about the security issues first. According to the regulations of the General Staff, there will be five levels in the occupied area, namely red, yellow, blue, white, and green, representing the degree of danger from high to low.

Red is the most dangerous, basically it is just occupied and has not had time to clear it, fighting can happen anytime and anywhere. Yellow is slightly better, but there are still hostile forces. Areas in these two levels are not suitable for production and life, and are basically garrisons.

Starting from blue, you can conditionally immigrate, but you must also immigrate with armed forces. Because hostile forces still exist, you need to have the ability to protect yourself. White means that hostile forces have been completely eliminated, but there are different ethnic groups living together, and the public security situation is average. Green is equivalent to living in the local area, and the danger is basically eliminated.

Among the current overseas territories, Manila, central Luzon, several large cities in Annan, and various parts of Inner Mongolia are white, while Enniao Port, most of Yarkand, northern and southern Luzon, and some mountainous areas in Annan are blue.

Thanlyin and Colombo are yellow, which means that immigrants are not encouraged to live there long term, but armed businessmen can go there in groups depending on their abilities.

"The Land Guards just entered the mountains in the spring to sweep them, and drove the indigenous people who refused to leave the mountains and refused to cooperate to the east, and then it dropped to blue. The large tribes should not come close for the time being, but there will still be scattered mountain people who come out at night to steal food and livestock."

Xiao Si did not just answer the threat level, he also gave a full introduction to the situation near Seabird Harbor, and specifically pointed out that the blue color was not very reliable, and should be considered half yellow and half blue.

"Isn't there a horse farm over there? Find some horses and come with me to the village. Flathead, take people to get the horses, and select 30 warriors to go with you!"

As long as it wasn't pornographic, Hong Tao had nothing to fear. This trip wasn't to go into the mountains, just to wander around at the foot of the mountain. Even if the aborigines really came down the mountain to attack, the warriors of the Imperial Horse Administration could handle it.

(End of this chapter)