Chapter 50 Enlightenment Books

Such a major event, involving the future of the Qin Dynasty, naturally couldn't be resolved in a single argument. Furthermore, with the Immortal present today, a heated argument would have been truly embarrassing. So, when Ying Zheng ordered a temporary postponement, both sides tacitly fell silent, though sparks flew between their glances.

When Wei Shengxue left the main hall, she had no idea why she'd even come. She seemed to have only mentioned asking the carpenter to build a loom and a spinning machine, but she could have just ordered them directly. Oh, and there's also pinyin.

This was indeed a very important matter, but it was really a spur-of-the-moment decision. She originally just wanted to solve the employment problem of the Maternity and Child Health Hospital.

But since it has come to this, I should learn the basic textbooks that go with pinyin.

When it comes to basic textbooks, the first thing that comes to Wei Shengxue's mind is of course the textbooks she used in elementary school, but learning the pronunciation and shapes of characters is all based on the texts, which have very strong characteristics of the times and are accompanied by the subtle and ubiquitous imprint of ideas.

In short, it is highly unsuitable for use in this world.

Otherwise, one day Ying Zheng would remember to go to the school to check and ask: What have you learned recently?

Student’s answer: How to overthrow the emperor.

The scene at that time probably wouldn't have been very pretty.

After much thought, I decided to leave such professional matters to professionals.

"What kind of books do you use for early childhood education here?"

Ying Zheng answered simply: "I use whatever books I have at home. Back then, I used the law books from the State of Zhao."

He began learning at the age when his father, Ying Yiren, fled back to Qin with Lü Buwei. As the last remaining member of the Qin royal family, he was taken into hiding by his mother, Zhao Ji, before he was captured and placed under strict supervision. He was watched day and night, and during the day, someone would constantly read the Zhao laws to him. Over time, he memorized the pronunciation of each word and the punctuation of each sentence.

It can be said that he learned to read entirely by self-study.

A Qin king was enlightened by the laws of another country, and a short sentence contained a thrilling message.

Wei Shengxue pursed her lips embarrassedly, as if she had accidentally exposed someone's scar.

So she changed the way she asked: "Do you have any special books for the early childhood education?" It's not that they can only be used for the early childhood education, but they are generally used in the first stage of reading and recognizing words.

Is there any?

Ying Zheng looked at Meng Yi. Compared with him, who was a wild child, the education Meng Yi received was more similar to the general situation of aristocratic children of this era.

Wei Shengxue also looked at him.

Being stared at by two pairs of eyes, Meng Yi said he felt very pressured.

He tried hard to recall how he studied as a child. It seemed that he was taught to read by his elder brother Meng Tian while reading military books.

"A military book?"

This answer was within Ying Zheng's expectations, but it made Wei Shengxue's eyes full of confusion.

A law and a military book, they sound very different.

Conclusion: There is no unified enlightenment book.

Now it depends on your friends.

"Come out, Tongmei!"

Education is an eternal and important matter.

If this one succeeds, the merits will come in droves.

The system was so excited just thinking about it that it started searching the huge database from the moment the host mentioned it. A series of basic textbooks, such as "XX Geography Three Character Classic", "Ancient and Modern Prose", "Rural Miscellaneous Studies", "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Names", "Thousand Character Classic", and "Literacy Textbook", were retrieved from the database.

Then, we excluded books such as "XX Geography Three-Character Classic" and "Literacy Textbook" whose contemporary style and ideological content were too obvious;

"Hundred Family Surnames", now only nobles have surnames, exclude;

"Three Character Classic" contains too many allusions, and many of them are related to Confucianism. It is not suitable for the present and is excluded.

…

After a series of screening, the three books "Ancient and Modern Wisdom", "Rural Miscellaneous Studies" and "Thousand Character Classic" were left for the host to choose.

Wei Shengxue saw three books projected directly in front of him, and opened them with his consciousness to read them. Each one had its own merits.

"Ancient and Modern Wisdom" includes famous sayings and idioms, which are compiled into rhymed prose in the format of traditional wisdom. It reads in a rhythmic and powerful way. Most importantly, there are many sayings that she is familiar with, such as "Three years new, three years old, and three years of mending", which are sentences that she cannot understand but knows, and "It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but it is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality", which are words that she often says.

Seeing familiar things in a strange world made her reluctant to let go.

"Rural Miscellaneous Characters" uses four-character sentences and rhymes in pairs, much like the popular Book of Songs, and should be suitable for this world. Furthermore, it covers a wide range of practical information, including the 24 solar terms, crops and trees, fertilizers and pesticides, and hygiene practices. This is especially true for farmers who struggle with reading, as the promise of "being useful for farming" will encourage them to learn.

As for the Thousand Character Classic, it was purely because she often saw the line "The sky and the earth are dark yellow, the universe is vast and boundless" when she was reading novels about cultivating immortals in the interstellar era.

Wei Shengxue thought, perhaps this book is related to the mother planet.

She was lost in thought, unconsciously slowing down her pace, and even her vision lost focus, looking distracted.

She was originally walking side by side with Ying Zheng, but she slowed down as she walked. Once she slowed down, it was difficult for the people following her to pass her, so they could only slow down as well.

Ying Zheng took a few steps and turned around to see that there was no one beside him and everyone was moving behind him.

This scene seemed as if all the people there were Wei Shengxue's subordinates, but asking him to walk back? How could that be possible? At most, he could just wait a while.

So when Wei Shengxue approached, Ying Zheng was about to speak when he saw that her eyes were empty and she looked slightly absent-minded.

Could this be the legendary... soul leaving the body and wandering through the heavens and earth?!

Ying Zheng recalled a folk legend he had read before, in which a strange man was killed when his body was touched by someone while he was wandering, and his soul had nowhere to go.

With the previous experience as a lesson, how could it dare to disturb them? It could only stand there and wait with everyone.

Fortunately, the immortal opened his eyes soon after. To demonstrate his professionalism, Ying Zheng asked, "Fellow Daoist, are you feeling unwell now that you've returned from your spiritual journey?"

Wei Shengxue:???

Daydreaming? What daydreaming? She was thinking!

The spiritual journey described by Ying Zheng: traveling freely and unrestrainedly between heaven, earth, mountains and rivers.

Wei Shengxue’s cognitive wandering: daydreaming in class is a prelude to being scolded.

In order to change the subject, she immediately mentioned the three literacy books she had just selected.

"Ancient and Modern Wisdom", "Rural Miscellaneous Studies", "Thousand Character Classic"..." Ying Zheng chewed on the titles of these three books. It seemed that the first one was the most meaningful.

A virtuous person is one with many talents.

It should be a book that includes rich literary articles from modern times and ancient times.

It sounds somewhat similar to the Book of Songs.

"That's not the case. This is the only one among the three that doesn't look like the Book of Songs." The immortal's explanation came to my ears.

It turned out that he had muttered his inner thoughts aloud without noticing.

This realization shocked Ying Zheng.

He was too relaxed.

After regrouping, Ying Zheng waved his hand and, borrowing a phrase from an immortal, said, "Only children make choices. I want them all!"

It is impossible to write it by myself. Who would be exhausted by writing so many words?

Wei Shengxue directly refused three times: I can’t do it, there’s no hope, just wait to die.

In the end, Zhao Gao was drafted into the army because he was the person who wrote the best and was closest to the people nearby.

When the small seal script was promoted in the past, the Minister of Justice Li Si wrote "Cangjie Pian", the Grand Historian wrote "Boxue Pian", and Zhao Gao wrote "Yuanli Pian", which shows the beauty of their calligraphy.

To put it simply, it means that one can write well and quickly, making him the most suitable person to be a copying tool.

This kind of work seemed boring and tiring to Wei Shengxue, but in Zhao Gao's eyes, it was the emperor's appreciation of him!

Spread out the paper, prepare the pen, grind the ink, the immortal said, he will record.

"The sky and earth are dark and yellow, the universe is vast and boundless. The sun and moon wax and wane, the stars and constellations are spread out..."

Wei Shengxue's reading speed wasn't very fast, but Zhao Gao could easily keep up. Furthermore, he was clear in his writing and would never write too hastily to meet deadlines.

He was so focused on recording that he had no time to think, but the other two people present were able to savor the meaning of the four-character sentence.

The parallelism is neat, the structure is clear, the words are plain and easy to recite and remember.

Moreover, all the characters are unique, and you can tell at a glance that this is a book specially compiled for literacy.

Half an hour later, Zhao Gao finally finished writing.

Ying Zheng couldn't wait to pick up a few pieces of paper and read them carefully word by word.

"good!"

"Why is there so much space between the words?" Meng Yi took a closer look and found that there was too much space between each word.

Zhao Gao said, "Leave some room for the pinyin that the Immortal Master mentioned."

Pinyin is short and narrow, so that little space is just right for it.

I have to say, he is worthy of being the Minister of the Imperial Chariots who is most capable of understanding the intentions of his superiors.

"Papermaking, printing, and enlightenment books, the combination of these three can be called a powerful weapon of our Great Qin. Hahaha." Ying Zheng laughed out loud while holding the paper with the Thousand Character Essay written on it.

Qin was desperately short of low-level clerks. Xianyang was probably the only city in the country that had a full complement of them. Everywhere else was short of either one thing or another, or both. But with these three things in hand, after only a few months of training and study, a large number of clerks could be trained to fill the gap.

Wei Shengxue was shocked by this: "A few months, barely even a full school year, and you can become an official?!"

This makes those in the interstellar world who have worked hard for countless years to get in jealous to the point of madness, and this does not include the time spent on early education.

Meng Yi corrected her: "It's a minor official, not an official."

Weishengxue:confused.jpg

Officials, officials, isn’t this a title?

Meng Yi continued to popularize science.

As long as you can read, you are qualified to become a minor official in the Qin Dynasty. After learning the Qin laws, you can take up your post.

Yes, that's right, it's that sloppy.

But in fact, being able to recognize words already surpasses most people.

This is the Qin Dynasty, where illiterate people are everywhere.

Wei Shengxue instantly remembered the data the system had captured in front of her: the illiteracy rate was 95%.

At that time I was just shocked by the number, but now after going through this, I truly understand what hopeless illiteracy is.

While they were talking, Zhao Gao had already led his men to organize the dozen or so pieces of paper into a book and clipped them together in order.

Wei Shengxue took out a piece of white paper, wrote down 63 basic syllables on it, and explained them briefly again.

"Do you understand?"

Those who can stay with Ying Zheng for a long time are not ordinary. Having a photographic memory is a basic skill. Even if they are exposed to new knowledge, they can remember it after learning it twice. At most, they may be a little clumsy in using it and not as proficient as Wei Shengxue.

Meng Yi and Zhao Gao divided the work and each took a copy and marked the pinyin. Even Ying Zheng took a copy and drew it with great interest.

"The Mohists are skilled in wood carving. Let them make a few engravings. It would only take a few days to meet the temporary teaching needs. I heard from fellow Taoists that the other two books seem to have more words?"

Wei Shengxue: "Not really, it just has a few more words than the Thousand Character Classic."

When she was in school, the homework she had to do had more words than this.

Ying Zheng knew that her standards were very different from those of the Qin Dynasty, and he had a rough idea of ​​it.

"Leave this matter to..." He suddenly stopped talking halfway, and Weishengxue turned to look at him in confusion, with a questioning look in her eyes.

Ying Zheng was silent for a moment, then said, "Today, the Mohist and Gongshu families are entering the palace. Each family has its own strengths in construction. Why don't you come with me to meet them?"

The two heads of the family should not mind that he accidentally forgot about them.