Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 436 The spring breeze blows again

"This is the capital..."

In early October, at the Jiangdongmen Pier in Nanjing City, I stepped out of the Jianghuai River in Yunnan for the first time. Facing the lively and prosperous terminal, I felt a kind of shock in my heart.

On the pier, he saw countless ships and cargoes docked, and hundreds of boatmen busy carrying cargoes.

He saw many vendors setting up stalls on the pier, shouting one after another, and also saw some businessmen negotiating business.

Here, even the Lifu who sells strength at the dock is well-dressed and not shirtless like in the village.

The dock covering hundreds of acres has been smoothed with cement and is clean and tidy. There are also some old women who specialize in cleaning.

Jiang Huai felt that everything here was too unreal, and he felt as if he was in a dream.

Following the team, he continued walking forward and saw some stalls with various items.

He saw some vendors hawking their wares, and many people standing in front of the stalls to choose.

The three-foot-high street shops on both sides of the official road are neat and orderly, and there are a lot of people coming and going. There is no need to hawk here. The flow of people in and out of Jiangdong Gate alone is enough for the shops on the long street. full.

"Member Jiang Sheng, let's go!"

To put it simply, there are two middle schools in Nanjing, Jiangning and Shangyuan. Each covers an area of ​​several thousand acres and can accommodate tens of thousands of students to study and live in them.

"Group of four, get in the car!"

More than a hundred soldiers wearing mandarin duck jackets took their group of more than 70 students from Yunnan out of the bustling Jiangdongmen Wharf and arrived in front of Jiangdongmen.

The carriage passed through Mochou Lake, and there were many neighborhoods and restaurants on both sides. However, due to the existence of the Sixteenth Floor, the Qinhuai River in this period did not have as much rouge as in the late Ming Dynasty.

"Three to one."

Walk along Sanshanmenwai Street to the front of Sanshanmen. The city wall here is made of bluestone, which looks stronger and thicker.

After eleven years of peace during the Yongle period, Nanjing's population grew day by day, and even the once deserted outer city was paved with wide cement official roads.

After passing through the long corridor, the scenery ahead suddenly becomes clear.

After arriving here, Jiang Huai understood why Wang Huan said that when he came to Nanjing, he would no longer think about the young lady of the Qi family.

After a simple inspection, they were put into the Sanshan Gate and walked into the inner city.

Ahead, the military attache's shouts brought Jiang Huai back to reality. Looking closely, it turned out that the military attache had rented a carriage for their group of students.

Looking at the group of inner-city women with fair and delicate skin, wearing silk and satin, and colorful accessories, their skin color alone is better than more than 90% of the women Jiang Huai has seen.

In an instant, Jiang Huai's eyes moved away from these silks and satins.

Jiang Huai didn't know what a shock absorber was, but everything today made him feel fresh about his middle school life in the next five years.

After getting on the carriage, the stability on it made Jiang Huai feel fresh, and the military attache of their carriage also said: "This four-wheeled carriage has shock absorbers. You will learn it when you enter middle school in the future."

He saw some exquisite ornaments and some beautiful silks.

A student asked, and the military attache shook his head when he heard this: "You can rest until the Lantern Festival at most, and you have to enroll in school after the Lantern Festival."

The four-wheel carriage with steering is undoubtedly an eye-opener for the students from western Yunnan.

The four-wheel carriage is a technology developed by Taixue in the past few years. Although Eucommia gum is not heat-resistant, it is not a problem to wrap the wheels.

Now it seems that this money is probably not worth spending in a prosperous place like Nanjing.

When he came to Nanjing this time, he brought a total of fifteen thousand dollars, which was almost the maximum amount that his family could scrape together.

"If you want to take part in the provincial examination of the imperial examination, you'd better go back to Kunming Prefecture to take it. After all, Kunming Prefecture is the middle scorer, so it's not too difficult."

The chatter between the customers and the waiter made Jiang Huai subconsciously touch his waist.

"Of course, this is only the first year. In the past, your study time was from the beginning of March to the beginning of July, and from the beginning of September to the end of the twelfth lunar month."

On the bluestone-lined streets, many pedestrians wearing silks and satins came and went.

The military attache reminded him, but this sound made Jiang Huai nodded in understanding.

Autumn boudoir has ended. He took the provincial examination in Kunming Prefecture and did not pass the exam, but he was not discouraged.

At first glance, there is not a single piece of cheap ready-made clothing on him.

Because the area was too large, they were placed in the open space in the outer city north of Taixue and Dajiaochang.

"Ooh!"

In front of Jiangdong Gate, hundreds of soldiers wearing armor and carrying muskets checked all the procedures. After confirming that there were no problems, they asked the military attaché to lead Jiang Huai and the others into Jiangdong Gate.

After saying this, the military attache told them some things that he knew about the middle school needs to pay attention to, and everyone listened carefully.

"How much is this Sujin in charge?"

The city wall of Jiangdong Gate, which was more than four feet high, made these students who came from the land of western Yunnan couldn't help but raise their heads and sigh. Their unseen appearance made many passers-by chuckle and make everyone blush. .

"Are we also starting school on the first day of March?"

After passing through the corridor, the prosperity here is even higher than that of the outer city.

Not far away, a man wearing a mandarin duck jacket called out, and Jiang Huai walked out of the bustling city and quickly followed him.

Jiang Huai couldn't help but stop and look at the things on these stalls.

However, before going to these two middle schools, they all had to report and register at the Yingtianfu Yamen in the inner city.

If her facial features were more delicate, she would already be considered beautiful.

"These women are not beautiful yet. Before they pass the exam, when can they go to the sixteenth floor and see that the women there are really stunningly beautiful."

The military attache clicked his tongue a few times, as if he was a little nostalgic, but after he finished speaking, he did not forget to add: "Of course, if you want to be beautiful, it is those ladies of the world."

"If you get good grades in middle school, take the imperial examination and become a high school scholar, your combination of talent and beauty will no longer be a problem for you."

What the military attache said is true. The number of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty has remained around 30,000 all year round, and the number of officials with Jinshi background is only more than 2,000.

More than two thousand people started out at the seventh level. With a little effort, a little more understanding, and finding a backer, they could reach the threshold of the fifth level.

Therefore, as long as they are Jinshi in high school, families with strength and background will naturally come to propose marriage, which will not only help them rise to prominence, but also allow them to marry beautiful girls and live a prosperous life.

It is precisely because of this temptation that so many people cannot control themselves and fall into the big dye vat one after another.

The students in more than a dozen carriages glanced at the street intently, and the beautiful women were dazzling.

Jiang Huai was also watching, but while watching, he still thought of the young lady of the Qi family.

I don't know how long it took, but they were taken to the Yingtian Mansion Yamen. After queuing up to register their information, they were sent out of the inner city by carriage.

When the carriage left the inner city, most of the students were very reluctant to leave.

Although they have never lived in the inner city, their souls have been hooked by just the experience.

Although they are the best among tens of thousands of students in western Yunnan, looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, there are really very few of them who can be called geniuses.

Even if they were unwilling, they were sent to Jiangning Middle School.

As one of the two major middle schools in Nanjing, Jiangning Middle School is surrounded by a six-foot-long wall. The gate is twenty feet wide. On the left and right sides of the gate are two concrete statues three feet high.

The two statues wear high crowns from the Han Dynasty and wide robes with large sleeves. One has his hands behind his back, looking high-spirited, while the other holds a brush and book and looks into the distance.

Both statues look like young men, and between them stands a huge Taihu stone tablet with the words "Jiangning Middle School" written on it.

In front of the large gate of the middle school, there are often more than a hundred armored soldiers patrolling. Even the surroundings of the university are patrolled by soldiers and horses, making it very safe.

Take a carriage and enter the university. Although it has the same playground, grassland and teaching building as the primary school, there are more buildings and more various scenery here.

Transplanted flowers and trees of all kinds, carefully manicured gardens, and pavilions everywhere...

Various buildings are eye-catching, but fortunately there are not many students in the current middle school.

The earliest middle school in Nanjing was Shangyuan Middle School, but the number of students was not too large, less than 2,000.

After the implementation of the New Deal in South Zhili, Jiangning Middle School came into being, but the number of students could not be solved. After all, if students from South Zhili were to enroll, they would have to wait at least five years.

Therefore, the two middle schools in Nanjing recruit top freshmen from all over the world, and there are restrictions in each place.

Jiang Huai and the others already understood all these things on the way to Nanjing City.

Under the leadership of the military attache, they found the teachers from the middle school, who took them to the dormitory.

The three-story row house with a height of three feet is their dormitory. Each building has thirty dormitories. Each dormitory covers an area of ​​half a minute (30 square meters), accommodates four people, and has its own toilet.

There are two large bathhouses on campus, which provide hot water every night. In addition, each dormitory building also provides heating in winter.

These various conditions were dizzying, especially when Jiang Huai and others who didn't know what heating was were asked about it.

"To study in Jiangning Middle School, you all need to accumulate credits."

"There are two semesters every year. There will only be exams at the end of the semester. The scores you get from the exams are the credits you can accumulate."

"The maximum score for each subject is 100 points. There are nine subjects: Chinese, mathematics, politics, history, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, and physical education. The maximum score is 900 points."

"The results are: A-level 100 points, B-level 80 points, C-level 60 points, D-level 40 points..."

"There are four large canteens in the north, south, east and west of the school. You can buy food with your credits. If you don't have enough credits, you have to pay for it yourself. The same goes for taking a shower."

"In addition to the four major canteens and the four major market stores, you can buy all kinds of ready-made clothing and stationery products in the market stores. You can also buy them with credits or with money."

Walking in front, he introduced Jiang Huai and others to the professors at Jiangning University. While introducing them, Jiang Huai and others also took note of everything he said.

For Jiang Huai, whose family is not wealthy, the words of the teacher undoubtedly gave him a sigh of relief. "This is the Peking University cafeteria. I'll take you to check it out first and have a meal on the way."

"The meal is free, don't worry."

"In addition, when the club is disbanded, you will be given credits for your credits. You should keep them yourself. Each person who enrolls for the first time only has 500 credits. Once these 500 credits are spent, you will have to spend your own money to buy meals."

After the teacher finished speaking, they also arrived at the door of a building covering an area of ​​several acres.

Walking inside, the two-foot high ceiling makes people feel comfortable, while the lighting overhead and on all sides of the building relies on glass to transmit natural light.

Although I had already seen glass in Kunming Mansion, compared to the glass in the larger canteen, the glass windows in the Chief Envoy Si Yamen of Kunming Mansion were extremely shabby.

Since the imperial court's standard was to have a bright kitchen and a bright guard, all dishes were prepared and cooked in front of the students.

A wooden sign five feet high and two feet wide hangs next to the kitchen, which records today's meals, as well as the required credits and prices.

"Basically only this part of the cafeteria is open now, but when students arrive one after another, several other parts will be opened one after another."

The instructor turned around to explain, while Jiang Huai looked at the prices on the menu.

【Rice - free】

[Mutton stir-fry—Ten articles (2 credits)]

[Stir-fried cabbage—five essays (1 credit)]

【Pepper vinegar shrimp...】

Jiang Huai glanced at it and saw that rice was basically free, meat and vegetables were ten cents, vegetarian dishes were five cents, and one credit was worth five cents.

In other words, if all nine doors get full marks of Grade A, it will be almost four points and five points.

Jiang Huai did a simple mental calculation. If he wanted to eat and buy stationery, even if he had perfect scores, the credits would not be enough, and he would have to pay for them in the end.

But no matter what, the credit system can still solve most of the problems of poor students.

"Okay, feel free to order whatever you want. This time it's free."

"Besides, don't waste it. If you don't finish your meal, you will be deducted ten credits or fined fifty cents."

After the instructor gave the order, he took the dinner plate and started to ask the master to prepare the food.

Jiang Huai was not greedy for cheap, but ordered a bowl of rice and a meat and vegetable dish according to his own appetite.

There are not many people like him. After all, most students come from well-to-do families and they don't eat a plate of food too many times.

Because of this, there are many people who have their points deducted after eating.

The instructor did not reprimand them, it was just business.

After all, these students have enough wealth. Even if their credits are deducted, they can still pay for food.

If they can’t finish the thrown away food, they can also feed the poultry and livestock raised in the school.

Prices inside Jiangning Middle School are more expensive than outside. Without credits, once they pay, the middle school can recover part of the cost.

"Okay, here are your credit tickets, keep them carefully."

After dinner, another instructor drove a carriage and brought stacks of credits.

One card is one point, and five hundred cards is a pile. Therefore, for those who are not deducted points, it is enough to directly distribute one pile, and those who are deducted points will draw credits from it.

After a busy quarter of an hour, all the credits were distributed, and the instructors arranged dormitories for them.

In their arrangement, those from poor families live in one building, and those from well-off families live in one building. They are not allowed to walk between the buildings. There are often troops patrolling between the dormitories, so it can be said that they do not disturb each other.

After Jiang Huai got to know each other and his three roommates who also came from poor backgrounds, they went to the market to buy bedding and stationery.

After spending more than a dozen credits, they each bought what they needed, then returned to the dormitory with their bags, and each lay down to sleep tiredly.

While they were lying down, in Jiangning Middle School at dusk, a carriage was also walking around the campus.

In the car, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the situation of Jiangning Middle School, nodded with satisfaction and said:
"The system and environment are good. Let's see if the credit system can be implemented. If so, it can solve the problems of most poor students."

"Your Highness is truly merciful when he is poor." Sitting in the carriage, Yi Shiha patted the horse. Only when he flattered Zhu Gaoxu would he not feel angry.

"Two middle schools, how many students are expected to enroll this year?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, and Yi Shiha also subconsciously replied: "According to the book, there are 1,764 people, mainly outstanding students from Sichuan, western Yunnan and the north."

"Yes." Zhu Gaoxu responded and at the same time ordered: "If the credit system is good, it can be promoted to middle schools in Liaodong, Shandong and Bohai. Future middle schools must also be opened according to such standards."

Compared with the number of primary school students who are often enrolled in the hundreds of thousands, the number of secondary school students is always on the small side.

Even though it has been promoted in middle schools for several years, the number of middle school students in the country is only over 30,000.

As long as the Ming Dynasty's Yangtze Triangle trade goes smoothly, and Taixue continues to promote scientific and technological progress, then the education expenditure from middle schools is just a drop in the bucket for the Ming Dynasty's finances.

"According to the previously calculated price, these credits will basically subsidize more than a dozen credits per student after five years. If there are more students in the future, I'm afraid it will be difficult to continue..."

Yi Shiha spoke worriedly, but Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said: "When there are more students in the middle school, it will be able to support higher-level schools. You don't have to worry about this kind of thing."

Zhu Gaoxu trained more than just people who knew how to read. Otherwise, he could have accepted all the two to three million primary school students who graduate every year.

Two to three hundred thousand people selected more than 1,700 people. This group of people is basically the only one in a hundred.

After you train them, pick out the smarter ones.

This group of people, whether they enter the officialdom or the Imperial Academy, will be much smarter than ordinary students, and Zhu Gaoxu only needs smart people now.

The problem of quantity has been solved, now he has to solve the problem of quality.

Governing the Ming Dynasty, how to implement the New Deal, and how to suppress the growth of official and business capital in Jiangnan, these are all things he needs to worry about.

"Five months have passed, how is the overall implementation of the New Deal in South Zhili?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, and Yi Shiha said without hesitation: "After a simple measurement, the population of South Zhili has increased by more than 5 million compared with thirty years ago, and now it is 15,717,000. In Yukou, there are more than 88,246,000 acres of cultivated land.”

"Is the population increasing by more than five million and the cultivated land being cultivated by more than seven million?"

Zhu Gaoxu touched his mustache and did not feel that the population and cultivated land had increased too little. After all, although there were more than 81 million cultivated lands in Southern Zhili in the early Ming Dynasty, most of the cultivated land was under extensive management.

In addition, the imperial court has migrated a lot of people from Nanzhili in recent years, and this growth rate is not exaggerated.

"It seems that the six prefectures in Jiangdong account for 60% of the population in South Zhili. This is really..."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what to say for a while, then he shook his head after pondering: "Think of a way to move some people from the six prefectures in Jiangdong."

"Should we do it now?" Yishiha asked, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said:
"Wait until Zheng He and the others return and bring back enough cinchona bark."

Except for some of the cinchona bark sent back by Wang Ren last time for research, Zhu Gaoxu gave the rest to Muchun and the others and took them to the southwest.

This thing is indispensable for the chieftains of Guangxi. Since they were equipped with matchlocks and cannons, the Ming army still has thousands of casualties every year, and more than 70% of them are in the south.

The main reason why there were so many casualties was the miasma in Nanyang and Southwest.

It was okay to pacify Guizhou, but to pacify Guangxi, Yunnan, Jiaozhi, Nanyang and other places, without cinchona bark, it would be really difficult to advance the front.

Even if you want to set fire to the woods that produce miasma, you still need to set many fires, and it is very easy to catch miasma.

Therefore, only by storing a sufficient amount of cinchona bark can the Ming army have the capital to continue to expand southward. Otherwise, it will be like Zhu Qi Town's three expeditions to Luchuan. Not many people died on the frontal battlefield, but tens of thousands were killed by the climate and environment. Civil servants and soldiers.

"Tuk-tuk!"

"Enter!"

Suddenly, someone knocked on the carriage door.

Following Zhu Gaoxu's response, the door was opened and Hu Lun appeared in the carriage.

He knelt down and bowed, then took out a Tang newspaper from his arms and handed it to Zhu Gaoxu.

"Your Highness, there is news from Guangxi. As expected, Xie Jin couldn't bear the loneliness. After taking half a month's leave, he left Guilin Mansion in the name of going to Beijing to travel, and is now heading to the capital."

"Heh..." Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help laughing after hearing this. He shook his head and asked, "How long will it take for him to arrive in Nanjing?"

"Based on his current travel schedule, it is estimated that he will not arrive in Nanjing until a few days before Zhengdan."

"If nothing unexpected happens by then, His Majesty will have almost arrived in Nanjing."

After Hu Lun explained it, Zhu Gaoxu handed the pond newspaper to Hu Lun and ordered:

"Continue to monitor and record his every move, and at the same time let people find ways to stir up trouble with Ji Gang. Let them do this, but don't do it."

"Yes!" Hu Lun agreed. Then seeing that Zhu Gaoxu had no instructions, he got up and walked out of the carriage, got on his horse and left.

After he left, Yi Shiha finally said, "The incident involving Jie Jin prisoner this time is probably enough to warrant imprisonment."

"As long as he goes to prison, Ji Gang will never let him go."

"Yeah" Zhu Gaoxu responded and touched his mustache with interest.

"You talk to Sun Cheng, you can add insult to injury when the time comes, but don't go too far."

"If we don't add insult to injury, they will think that we are ulterior. If we add insult to injury too much, they will hate us."

"The killing is endless. It is enough to suppress them as much as possible."

After giving the explanation, Zhu Gaoxu waved his sleeves:
"Let's go and rest in Huichunhe Temple..."

(End of this chapter)