I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 583 You have thick eyebrows and big eyes

However, Fan Ling was very enthusiastic towards Cai Yong. When Cai Yong heard someone calling him, he turned around and saw Fan Ling, but he did not behave as enthusiastically as Fan Ling.

Fan Ling certainly knew the reason. It was not because Cai Yong was arrogant, but because in his early years in order to become the Grand Marshal, he not only spent a lot of money to buy an official position, but also specifically attached himself to the eunuchs. This dark history of Fan Ling was the reason why Cai Yong alienated him.

The two had a friendship before, otherwise Cai Yong, who never flattered others, would not have written an ode for him. Fan Ling had always been in the wrong and had not dared to seek reconciliation with Cai Yong, but now he had the confidence to do so.

Fan Ling didn't care whether Cai Yong was willing or not, and approached Cai Yong and said, "Bo Ji, in recent years I have built more than ten canals of different sizes in the south, why don't I see Bo Ji's article?"

After hearing this specious talk, Cai Yong snorted - Don’t you know the reason?
But Cai Yong immediately thought that Fan Ling had indeed built so many canals in recent years. Although he had not seen them with his own eyes, they all appeared in the court's bulletins.

Fan Ling continued, "Without Bo Ji's writings, I always feel like something is missing..."

After hearing this, Cai Yong, who originally had no intention of paying attention to Fan Ling, could not help but soften his heart. He stiffly found an excuse for himself: "I am very busy with the affairs of the Ministry of Rites. In recent years, I have been busy with the affairs of the Imperial College and Hongdumen School. I haven't written an article for a long time."

After hearing this, Fan Ling sighed and said, "Thinking back to the past, Bo Ji's writings were truly unique. If, because of his busy official duties, people around the world have never heard of his writings, it would be a great pity in my life!"

After hearing Fan Ling's undisguised flattery, Cai Yong was speechless for a moment.

Fan Ling was not in a hurry, but continued to say to Cai Yong: "I have seen many touching stories while repairing ditches in recent years. I think the reason why Bo Ji is unwilling to write is not only because of his busy official duties, but also because he is busy with documents all day and has not seen much in the countryside! So, next time when Bo Ji is free, I will visit him and talk to him about it."

After saying this, Fan Ling took his leave and left without waiting for Cai Yong to refuse, on the grounds of not disturbing official business.

As for the fact that Fan Ling wrote a visiting card immediately after returning and handed it to Cai Yong's house, waiting for Cai Yong's reply, that is another story.

Cai Yong naturally could not have anticipated all this at the moment. He came here to report important matters to the emperor.

Not long after, he was summoned by the emperor.

"After this year's examination, the students of the Imperial College and Hongdumen School were selected as officials or civilians. There are 3,500 students from the Imperial College and 650 students from the Hongdumen School."

"There are still 13,231 students in the Imperial College, of whom 9,215 are exempted from taxes and corvée labor, and the rest are included in the tuition fees to subsidize the expenses of the Imperial College."

"There are still 3,120 students in Hongdumen School, all of whom are exempted from taxes and corvée."

Cai Yong gave the exact number of students in the Imperial College and the Menxue to single digits and listed them one by one in front of Liu Bian.

After hearing this, Liu Bian praised as usual.

Taixue and Hongdumen School sent out not only officials, but also people who voluntarily returned to their hometowns to benefit their fellow countrymen, people who just wanted to engage in academic research, and so on.

After Cai Yong presented the achievements of the Imperial College and Hongdumen School, he talked about the enrollment plan for the coming year.

"Now that the country is in need of talents, the Imperial College and Hongdumen School should also accept more students. The people also hope to be educated. Thousands of poor children are willing to seek a chance to enter the Imperial College..."

Cai Yong spoke eloquently and fluently, and all kinds of profound truths came to Liu Bian's mind. It was obvious that he was well prepared.

Liu Bian only asked one question: "How many places do you want?"

Cai Yong opened his mouth and said: "The Imperial College has 10,000 students, and the Hongdumen School has 3,000 students!"

Liu Bian:...

Liu Bian knew that the thirteen thousand mentioned by Cai Yong represented the number of students who were exempted from taxes and corvee labor.

Originally Liu Bian thought that with the increase in national income, he would be able to spend money more lavishly in the future. However, he now realizes that the extra money in the national treasury has attracted covetous eyes from all sides.

Everyone wanted to get some money for the government office he worked for - his father-in-law, Cai Yong, was such a gentleman, but even such a man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, actually wanted to increase the money and grain in the national treasury.

Moreover, Cai Yong took a clever approach and did not just expand the enrollment of students at the Imperial College, but also included the Hongdumen School.

——You are not Cai Yong, give that upright gentleman back to me!
So, after Cai Yong spoke up, Liu Bian also spoke up: "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

But Cai Yong did not stop his plan. Instead, he continued to persuade him: "Your Majesty, when Luoyang's literary style was at its peak, there were 30,000 students, which was a good story at the time. Now that the country is prosperous, it is time to promote culture and education!"

Look, in order to recruit more students, Cai Yong has gone to such lengths that people even started to praise him so openly.

Liu Bian also knew that Cai Yong had devoted a lot of effort to the education of the Han Dynasty. He could not completely reject Cai Yong's request. The benefits of education are self-evident.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Since the Imperial College has 3,500 students, I will grant them 3,000 places for tax and labor service exemption next year. If you still want to expand the Imperial College, you can recruit more self-funded students and collect more tuition fees to make up for the loss of taxes and labor service in the counties and states."

When Cai Yong first heard that Liu Bian only gave 3,000 places to the Imperial College, he was about to say something. It couldn't be that the treasury's income increased while the number of students at the Imperial College decreased!

Later, when he heard that Liu Bian was willing to use the extra tuition to subsidize the students of the Imperial College who were exempted from corvee and taxes, Cai Yong carefully thought about the possibility - even if they were the children of the powerful, because they had many descendants, it was impossible for all of them to be qualified to enter the Imperial College. Moreover, the Imperial College had become increasingly prosperous in recent years. Although it was still not as good as those family schools of wealthy families, it was a good place to increase qualifications and find opportunities.

Once he was allowed to collect money from wealthy and powerful young men who were willing to pay, Cai Yong felt that it should not be a problem to eventually reach his goal of 10,000 people, so he stopped worrying about it.

After seeing Cai Yong accept it, Liu Bian continued: "As for Hongdu School, we should first expand the enrollment by 2,000 to see the effect!"

There are 3,000 students in the Imperial College, but I hesitate; there are 2,000 students in the Main College, but I give them as soon as I open my mouth.

Seeing this contrast, although Cai Yong knew that there were few students in Hongdu School and he had also seen the role of Hongdu School in recent years, he still couldn't help but have an idea in his mind - could it be that one day, Taixue would be surpassed by Hongdu School?
But he immediately threw this idea out of his mind. The Imperial Academy studied classics, which were the great principles. Although the Hongdu School taught things that were also beneficial to the country and the people, they were minor principles.

Although we cannot abandon it just because it is a minor path, we should not lose sight of the important things for the sake of it either.

Cai Yong left quite satisfied.

Liu Bian secretly sighed that the country's annual revenue has increased, but there are also more places to spend money.

Cai Yong was not the first minister to find an opportunity to ask him for money. In fact, it was the Shangshu Ling Huangfu Song who first asked Liu Bian for money. He found that the documents stored in the Shangshutai were increasing day by day, and the number of staff was also increasing. The original Shangshutai was no longer enough, so he hoped to increase the number of buildings in the Shangshutai. Liu Bian would definitely agree to this. Fortunately, there was still extra space in the Taige District, and after the three offices were moved from the Taige District to outside the city, there were still some idle offices left, so there was no need to worry about insufficient space in the palace.

However, Empress Dowager Dong decided on Liu Xie's marriage, and he finally married Dong Cheng's daughter and Dong Heng's sister. But at this time, Liu Xie's mind was not on this. Since he followed Hua Tuo to practice medicine under an assumed name, Liu Xie had seen a lot of suffering in the world.

On this day, Liu Xie returned to the palace rarely.

Queen Dowager Dong held another family dinner and invited Liu Bian to attend. During the dinner, Liu Bian noticed that Liu Xie was hesitant to speak, and later found Liu Xie to ask about it.

Liu Xie did not shy away from saying that at a young age, he said with a little emotion: "Brother, during this period of time, I followed Hua Gong to practice medicine, and the patients I saw... cannot be described in a few words... Although the medical science of Hongdumen has been vigorously developed for many years, learning medicine is not a matter of several years. Even under the rule of Henan Yin, I have seen many people harmed by quack doctors."

"I heard that in other states and counties, people can't even find quack doctors, and can only resort to witchcraft and magic water."

Liu Bian knew that the problem ultimately came down to the lack of good doctors. Although he had been working hard to train more, it was still a drop in the ocean compared to the entire world.

In fact, as early as when Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing first entered Hongdu School, they had decided on the strategy of training disciples and sending them to various counties and kingdoms.

Seeing Liu Xie's attitude, Liu Bian was somewhat relieved. After thinking for a while, he explained to Liu Xie: "Originally, I intended to set up medical officers in counties and towns, but it has not been implemented due to the lack of available talents and limited money and grain in the national treasury. Now if we want to popularize it in counties and towns, it is still insufficient, but it should be completely achievable at the county level."

"In addition to being responsible for prescriptions and herbal medicines, the county and state medical officers also teach medical students in county and state schools, treat illnesses and save lives with medical students, and often tour counties and towns."

Liu Xie never thought that his royal brother had already planned at this level, and he looked at Liu Bian with even more respect.

He also understood that according to his brother's request, it was not an easy task to find suitable medical officers for all the counties and states in the world.

It was just that his royal brother had thought about this matter and made preparations long before, but he was helpless in the face of it.

Liu Xie suddenly thought of what Hua Tuo had said to him before. At this point, he suddenly made up his mind and said to Liu Bian: "Brother, Hua Gong once mentioned to me that he has been practicing medicine in Luoyang for many years. He has already completed the medical book he wanted to write and has trained several disciples who can inherit his skills. Hua Gong said that as a doctor, one should not be complacent and should travel around the world to observe difficult and complicated diseases and further complete the medical book."

"Brother, I want to go with Lord Hua!"

Liu Xie said solemnly.

Liu Bian knew that Liu Xie had a compassionate heart as a doctor, but he did not expect that Liu Xie had such awareness.

He did not suspect that Liu Xie had any unusual thoughts, but he doubted whether Liu Xie could endure the hardship of traveling around.

Moreover… Liu Bian said to Liu Xie: “Now that your marriage has been decided, but you haven’t gotten married yet, your grandmother will not agree to your leaving.”

When talking about his marriage, Liu Xie frowned slightly. This was indeed a difficult problem he needed to face.

After a little thought, Liu Xie had a wonderful idea in his mind: "Brother, if I get married early, can I leave with Lord Hua?"

Liu Bian didn't expect that Liu Xie would have such a brilliant idea. Let the new bride stay alone in the empty room after the marriage, right?
Scumbag!

Complaining about Liu Xie's naivety in his heart, Liu Bian said, "If you can get your grandmother to agree, I have no objection."

But it would be strange if Empress Dowager Dong agreed, as she was looking forward to having more great-grandchildren!

"Royal brother..." Liu Xie also knew how difficult it would be to get Queen Dowager Dong to agree, so he continued to beg Liu Bian.

But Liu Bian decisively refused.

He didn't want to cause trouble and bring bad luck to Empress Dowager Dong.

Liu Xie left with some sadness.

As it turned out, Liu Xie's sorrow did not end, and Liu Bian's guess was correct.

Faced with Liu Xie's request, Empress Dowager Dong, who had always loved Liu Xie very much, got angry for the first time.

Liu Bian did not see it with his own eyes, but he heard Empress Dowager He gossiping: "Xie'er was beaten badly this time. The imperial physician said that he will have to lie on the bed for several days to come."

"By the way, did Xie'er come up with this idea after meeting you?"

Faced with Empress Dowager He's question, Liu Bian thought about it and realized that this was indeed possible. Perhaps it was something he said that strengthened Liu Xie's belief.

But it was impossible to admit it: "I think Xie'er had this intention from the beginning. He mentioned it to me yesterday, and I told him that as long as grandma agrees, I will not object..."

"You!" After hearing this, Empress Dowager He immediately understood that Liu Bian played the role of instigator.

Liu Bian smiled innocently.

Having said that, the county medical officers and medical students in the county schools should be put on the agenda.

So Liu Bian first asked the Secretariat to decide on the appropriate number of medical students, and then summoned Cai Yong again to announce his decision - each county and state school would enroll ten to twenty medical students based on its population and the number of counties under its jurisdiction.

Because these medical students, in addition to studying medicine, also have to undertake some medical consultation work, so their selection must be cautious.

When Cai Yong saw that Liu Bian was so decisive in setting up special medical officers for doctors, and saw that this might be set up in counties and townships in the future, he couldn't help but wonder again about the dispute between the main path and the small path.

Thinking of the visiting card he received from Fan Ling, Cai Yong had not originally planned to invite him to his house for a chat, but now, he wanted to hear the thoughts of Fan Ling, who had built many ditches.

So, when he returned home that day, Cai Yong wrote back to Fan Ling, inviting Fan Ling to meet him on his next day off.

On the other hand, Fan Ling, who was continuing to check for leaks and fill in the gaps in the ditches, was delighted when he saw Cai Yong's reply. Looking at the piles of information on the desk, he felt less tired.

Who can refuse Cai Bojie's eulogy!
(End of this chapter)