Hidden golden branches

Aunt Liu took the lead, followed closely by Yun Man and Chen Rong, followed closely by Ming Zhu and Cuizhu.

At this time, Chen Rong was in a particularly good mood. He had long forgotten the unpleasant incident of meeting Gu Fei. He felt strange everywhere he looked and soon became lively.

Along the way, he also met a few female relatives, whom he knew and interacted with on a regular basis. Yun Man always stopped to say hello to the female relatives in a friendly manner.

If they are strangers, or if they are female relatives whom they don’t have much contact with, they will just smile and nod when they meet.

After walking for about half an hour, we finally came to a tall and exquisite tent.

In front of the door of the tall bright yellow tent, there were two rows of tall and majestic guards in fine uniforms guarding the left and right sides.

Aunt Liu Ying stopped, turned to Yun Man and her daughter and said, "Mrs. Chen, the county master, you two will wait a moment and let me know when the slave comes in."

"Okay, thank you, auntie." Yun Man said politely.

If Chen Rong had jumped in after Aunt Yang, why would he have to wait outside the door?

At this time, only the imperial concubine Chen Wanru was sitting there drinking warm honey and goat's milk. After Emperor Hui Xiao Xuan arrived, he took a shower and changed clothes before going to another tent in the study room to discuss matters with the ministers and handle official business.

Xiao Xuan was a diligent emperor who never slacked off in his political affairs. Even when he was out of the palace having fun, he never forgot about the affairs of the state.

At this moment, Xiao Xuan was sitting on a nanmu throne carved with dragons and gold threads, facing the door curtain. He saw Cui Zhenyuan, the general of the auxiliary country, stepping forward, bowing and holding up a fluorene board, and said: "Your Majesty, seeing that winter is about to come, and it's time for Beidi to invade the territory. Another 20,000 soldiers guarding the pass were removed and sent to the western border. Therefore, Yanbei wants to expand its army."

Every time Beidi is short of food in winter, they harass the border.

Sometimes, it was just a small-scale harassment, just go to the border people to grab some grain and grass, and Dawei would send some grain, grass, salt and other necessary winter supplies.

But this year Beidi changed its leader, and it was the brave and militant Wula Ke.

Therefore, General Fuguo was worried that it would be difficult to dispatch the Beidi people this year.

In addition, there are not enough men and horses.

Cui Zhenyuan adhered to the principle that "people who have no long-term worries must have immediate worries", petitioned the emperor to expand the army.

Although General Cui is more than seventy years old, his beard and hair are all white, and he looks very old. But when he speaks, his voice is like a bell, and his body is upright, and he doesn't look old at all.

Yue Yun, the Minister of Civil Service, first bowed to the emperor and said, "I have this memorial."

Xiao Xuan said warmly: "Say."

Prime Minister Meng Heting said to Cui Zhenyuan: "Old General, there was a drought in Shanxi and Henan last year, and the grain tax was reduced by hundreds of grains and money. A few days ago, Tongzhou was hit by Xia flood again, and the Ministry of Industry also wanted to dredge the river... Expanding the military at this time may put a strain on the national treasury.”

Chen Youyu, the Secretary of the Ministry of Hubu, stayed in the capital. Xue Ruhai, the minister of the Ministry of Hubu, came forward to agree with Yue Yun and said to Old General Cui: "Yes, Old General, the Ministry of Hubu is calculating how much money to allocate for disaster relief. The national treasury is tight, not just one. It's been two days, you should know all this, there is really no money left for Cui Suyu to expand his army." The Ministry of Revenue is the court's money bag, and money is needed to expand the army, so how can the Ministry of Husbandry not protect the money bag?

Cui Suyu is Cui Zhenyuan's eldest son. Ever since the old general retreated from the border, he has been guarding the northern border.

Yue Yun, Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, waited for the two of them to finish speaking. After raising the wat board to the emperor, he lowered his eyes and said calmly: "Your Majesty, the expenditure required to expand the army is not small. Naturally, I understand that the country's priority is military intelligence and border defense. With Cui Suyu's ability, if Beidi's invasion had not endangered the safety of the Wei Dynasty, the old general would not have gone out of his way to escape."

Cui Zhenyuan took Yue Yun's words and said to the emperor who was sitting high on the throne: "Now we are just expanding the army and spending a small amount of money. It would be best if we can scare them. If they are reluctant to part with this small amount of money, Beidi's ambition will really strike. I'm afraid I'll have to spend a lot of money then, and I hope the Emperor will tell you the truth."

Xiao Xuan was silent for a long time, looked at the ministers calmly, and suddenly said: "The old general is worried about the same thing. It's just that the cabinet needs to quickly discuss a charter and the six departments can implement it quickly."

The minister in the scarlet robe suddenly raised his hands and said, "I have something to report. Zhou Mengqiu, the magistrate of He'an County, mentioned that the method of urging students to pay taxes in the township school preface will do more harm than good to the people, and is extremely unfair. It should not be implemented." Originally waiting to be dismissed. All the ministers in the court were startled.

The method of urging students to pay taxes in the preface of the township school was written by the county magistrate Zhou Mengqiu.

This matter had already been discussed by all the ministers in the court, and the ministers supported and refuted it. There was already endless debate, but when someone came up with it, a quarrel broke out in the tent.

"This move inherits the will of the late emperor and enlightens the people's wisdom. How can it do more harm than good?" "The will of the late emperor is about whether there is a distinction or not. It is not about increasing people's wealth through clever design. Asking the whole village and all the people to provide for the children of the village is to increase people's wealth!" "Every household in the township school can enroll in Xiang, and if there are students in high school in the future, it will be repaid to the village and the family. This is obviously a good thing that benefits everyone. How clever is it to establish a name!" They have to go to school for three years, but every household has to pay money from birth to death to provide for other school children. This is a clever way to increase people's tax." "Since increasing taxes is not good for the people, then all funds should be allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs. It is dedicated to Xiangxu." "It's a coincidence that maintaining Xiangxu studies requires nearly 500,000 taels every year. If more money is added, the revenue will be unbalanced and the national treasury will be empty. Who will be responsible?"

In the large tent where the palace held temporary political discussions, the ministers were arguing endlessly.

The ministers of the old party who came from aristocratic families looked down upon Han Shu, and Xiang Xu was beneficial to Han Shu. This was Emperor Qianyuan's method to curb the monopoly of knowledge by aristocratic families, so they strongly opposed it.

The new party minister, who came from a humble background, was fed up with being squeezed out by aristocratic families and had long been unhappy with them, so how could he let such a good thing be ruined.

The other party sprayed with all their strength.

This move by Xiao Xuan and the late emperor gave all the people the opportunity to read, become literate, and move up the ladder.

Therefore, from the beginning of the late emperor to the present, rural schools have been spread all over the counties and villages, with only clear distinctions. You can enter the school at the age of seven, and do not need to be bound. It is restricted to men and women. Even the common people in Guizhou can read and read. This is a true fulfillment of what the ancient sages said. "There is no category".

On top of rural schools, there are county schools, government schools, prefectural schools, and Kyoto Imperial College. But if you want to study at a government school above the "township" level, you must pass the corresponding imperial examination to be eligible.

"Everyone, everyone," Meng Heting, who was the prime minister at the time, shouted to stop.

Meng Xiang was the junior minister of Zhan Shifu during the late emperor's time and had a high reputation, so the disputes gradually stopped.

Prime Minister Meng Heting, who was nearly sixty years old, slowly suggested: "Asking the villagers to pay money for schooling is indeed suspected of increasing the income of the people, and the money from the Ministry of Households to encourage education will burden the national treasury. If everyone retreats, the villagers will have to force the villagers to go to school." If you pay money to study, the Ministry of Household Affairs will only give you a quota of student aid, and the students who get the scholarship will be provided with pens, ink, paper, inkstones, and food by Xiangxu."

Xiao Xuan and his father did a good deed for the poor people and introduced a program to help the children of poor people to go to school for free.