A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 938: The preaching village heard about the county school, the chaos made the students valuable

Looking at the smiling Bai Zhubu, the people of Wansheng Village looked at each other in confusion. They didn't understand where this "blessing" came from.

It was Patriarch Lu who broke the deadlock and asked:
"I wonder what the difference is between this county school and the private schools and family schools of the past? Why does the chief clerk say that we are blessed?"

"Your Excellency is benevolent and considerate of the hard work and expense of the students, so he is ordering that all the tuition fees of the county students be waived. Anyone from this county can consider this."

As soon as he finished speaking, the villagers started chattering and the discussion was heated.

You have to know that in the past, if people wanted to learn knowledge, there were very few ways.

Or you can marry into a local wealthy family and work as a servant to the young masters and young ladies, and be controlled by them all your life.

Or they could pay a huge amount of tuition to enter the private schools run by the big families.

Even this is something that is hard to come by. It doesn't matter, they won't accept you at all.

Of course, there are other ways. For example, in Wansheng Village, all ethnic groups jointly invested to set up a community school, but there are restrictions. Only people from the village can enroll.

The rest, or those from poor families, learned on their own with some books passed down from their ancestors.

Or, if you are extremely lucky, you may meet a wandering Confucian scholar and become his disciple.

However, this last method only exists in people’s conversations throughout Zhongmu County.

Even in a seemingly open-minded community school like Wansheng Village, the tuition fees required were still very expensive.

Therefore, most of the students in the community school are from the five ethnic groups, and there are very few people from other families.

The manager of this community school is the Liu clan leader who was writing and drawing on the ground before, Liu Fansheng, who is 36 years old this year.

Because he had taken the imperial examination but failed repeatedly, he returned to Wansheng Village, inherited his father's position as the patriarch, became the manager of the village community school, and the only teacher.

In line with the principle of spending less money, when Liu Fansheng returned to his hometown, the decision was passed by a majority of the joint meeting of all ethnic groups.

On the same day, he dismissed the highly paid teacher at the community school and handed the teaching over to Liu Fansheng personally.

As for why Liu Fansheng did not object, it was because the Liu family was the last of the five surnames.

Even the three elders are not from their Liu clan. If the Liu clan did not have a large population, some land, and were relatively united among their members, they would have long been reduced to the so-called outsiders in the village and been eaten up by the other four clans.

The villagers were discussing enthusiastically the issue of exempting tuition fees for the county school, but the senior leaders of the five surnames, including Patriarch Lu, were not very excited.

Because they don't lack this little gift.

Liu Fansheng was somewhat interested. If he could recruit more people, he would transfer all the students of the community school to the county school so that he could study with peace of mind and then go to Chang'an to try. What if he passed?
So he asked, "I wonder how many students this county school can accept?"

Bai Zhubu held up five fingers.

"Five hundred people?" Liu Fansheng asked in surprise.

If there were 500 people, the big families would not bother to pay such a small fee, and the ordinary people without power could not compete with him. There were more than 80 students in the community school in the village.

It’s so easy to just leave it all to the county school.

"Fifty people."

"what?"

Everyone present was surprised at first, then stopped discussing, and some villagers even turned around and left.

"Haha, it seems that this is just a trick used by the government to fool people. What can fifty people do?"

"An exam? I think it's the Orphanage to help the orphans and widows, so I'll just pretend and leave."

Liu Fansheng also felt disappointed and fell back into his previous state of being indifferent to everything.

Only a few people including Patriarch Lu remained unchanged, still maintaining the same fawning and friendly attitude as before.

"Master Bai, there is no need to be disappointed. I am a countryman and I don't know any etiquette. Please forgive me."

Bai Zhubu did not respond, but continued, "Because this county school is newly established, the number of students admitted this year is large. If it is next year, the number will be reduced to ten." "The military government has ordered that all students who enter the county must pay the school registration, and their families will be exempted from taxes and corvée labor."

"And every year the military government will hold an official selection examination for each prefecture and county, and those who pass the examination can be granted an official position."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the field fell silent, leaving only the rustling of the locust tree leaves.

Suddenly, the noise reached the sky.

"Master, do you think I can enter the county school? My family is poor, with nothing in my house. My parents died young, and I have no parents to support me or children to support me. I am miserable."

"Sir, I, I, I can sell myself. As long as I can enter the county school, I will never leave."

The villagers suddenly burst into great enthusiasm and surrounded Bai Zhubu, fearing that they would fall behind.

“How dare you!” “Bang, bang, bang!”

Chieftain Lao Lu kept pulling the copper bell under the locust tree, while other chieftains and elders beat and kicked the villagers to separate them, fearing that they would offend Lord Bai.

"Well, Master Bai, what do you think of my grandson? He is smart and a good hand. He will do whatever you ask him to do, and he can recite poems."

As he said this, Patriarch Lu grabbed a teenage boy and forced him to recite "Song of the Wandering Son".

Under the threat of the old patriarch Lu's gaze, the child shrank back and stammered as he recited "Song of the Wandering Son"

"A loving mother's thread, a wandering child, a wandering child, a wandering child, a wandering child..."

"Okay, Patriarch Lu, stop forcing Chi'er. I'll say it again, the county school is not the Lonely Garden established by Emperor Liang, but a military school established to select talents."

"And who gets into the county school and who doesn't is not something I can determine. They need to pass an exam. The exam questions are brought by the superiors in the state. The county is only responsible for organization and notification."

Bai Zhubu looked at the chaos on the field helplessly and had to stop them quickly.

When Liu Fansheng heard this, his eyes lit up, and he quickly stepped forward, relying on his status as the clan leader, and asked, "Excuse me, Chief Clerk, how difficult is this exam compared to the imperial examination in Chang'an?"

Bai Zhubu laughed and said, "It's just the county school examination. How can it compare to the imperial examination? It's really simple."

"Is it true that I can take the civil service examination without the need for a Jinshi degree?"

"Officials are recommended to the imperial court by the military government. They are not as good as those Jinshi, but they are still officials."

After listening to Bai Zhubu's explanation, Liu Fansheng blushed and asked, "Can I, can I participate?"

Bai Zhubu did not make fun of him, but said seriously: "I heard that Brother Liu went to Chang'an many times to take the exam, but he was unlucky and failed every time."

"If you believe in me, don't take the examination for the county school, but go to Guancheng to take the examination for the state school. Although they are both students, there is still a difference."

Liu Fansheng asked in confusion: "What's the difference?"

"Nowadays, the military government has set up provincial schools and county schools, plus the Bianliang Academy that already existed, which is a three-level school system."

"According to a letter from my good friend, although these three were all students and were listed on the academic rolls, their official ranks after passing the official selection examination were different."

"Students from county schools were given the ninth rank, officials from state schools were given the eighth rank, and officials from Bianliang Academy were given the seventh rank."

At this point, Bai Zhubu sighed and said, "Although I was born in the Bianliang Academy, I am a dropout. Otherwise, why would I come to Zhongmu and serve as a small clerk?"

Then he patted Liu Fansheng on the shoulder loudly:

"If Brother Liu can pass the provincial school entrance examination, he will be appointed as an official. I may even call you my superior."

When Bai Zhubu and Liu Fansheng finished their conversation, Patriarch Lu came up and asked:
"I wonder who is the official in charge of the provincial examination in this state? And who is the official in charge of the county school in the county?"

Bai Zhubu smiled and said:
"As a rule, we won't know who the state's school official is until we arrive at the county."

"As for the person in charge of the county school, it is the instructor, who is of the eighth rank, on the same level as the county magistrate and the county lieutenant. I am not talented, but I am the one who is in charge of the county school."

(End of this chapter)