Huo Guang coughed lightly and said, "Your Highness's proposal has laid out the general framework, but the criteria for taking the exam haven't been established yet. Surely not everyone can take it?"

He really couldn't find any problems. Liu Tan even wrote about preventing the test paper from leaking and preventing cheating. What else could they say?

In fact, if Liu Tan had not written it, even Huo Guang would not have thought that the test paper would be leaked and cheating would have occurred at first.

After hearing this, Liu Tan said, "Those who can read should come and take the exam. After all, the first round is to screen out those who don't know enough words."

After hearing this, Li Buyan asked foolishly, "Doesn't that mean there are a lot of people?"

Liu Tan sneered: "Go to Shuofang City now and ask how many people can read?"

Even after generations of people made great efforts to eradicate illiteracy, they were still unable to make everyone literate, let alone now.

Studying is always very expensive no matter what era it is. Without financial support, it is impossible to reach a certain level. Being able to recognize a few words is the best you can do.

Liu Tan had not conducted a sample survey, but think about it, Miao Rui and Bi Gao were able to stand out from the eunuchs and be by his side just because they could read and write, which shows that even eunuchs were not necessarily literate.

Is there anything to worry about?

Huo Guang glanced at Li Buyan and asked, "How many of your soldiers can read?"

Li Buyan scratched his head and said nothing more.

This is also the reason why Liu Tan screened the first wave of literate people.

However, Li Buyan's words suddenly inspired him.

Liu Tan suddenly thought that some people were not incapable, but they just did not have the capital to learn. It would be a pity to miss such people.

He spoke whatever came to his mind. After hearing his suggestion, Huo Guang immediately doubted whether the memorial was written by Liu Tan. How could there be such a big difference?

Huo Guang said helplessly: "My Lord, even if there is such a person, how can you identify him?"

Liu Tan paused for a moment, then tilted his head and said, "Ask the county governors from various places for recommendations?"

Huo Guang's expression was expressionless. "Recommend? How do we recommend? Do we want them to recommend only illiterate people? Do you believe they would dare to promote the reformed slaves among their own disciples?"

In those days, the process of exchanging slaves for civilian status was extremely strict, so strict that it was almost impossible to find such a person in a year.

What's more, when ordinary people encountered bad times, they would become slaves in order to survive, and some slaves even lived better than ordinary people.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just take Miao Rui and Bigo, and even Liu Tan’s riding slaves, well, the kind of slaves who specifically led his horse and helped him mount it, they all lived better than the common people.

These people have been in contact with officials for a long time, and some of them have even been slaves in the county magistrate's house for generations. Do you think the county magistrate wants to promote his own slaves or ordinary people he doesn't know?

After hearing this, Liu Tan opened his mouth and instantly thought of many possibilities. For a moment, he felt that his idea was a bit naive.

"It seems inappropriate."

Jiang Chong also said: "Even if the county magistrate is upright, it is impossible for him to screen people every day. Moreover, these people are illiterate. They need to be taught again after being sent here, which is a waste of time."

Liu Tan thought about it and agreed. Someone like Huo Guang had to have been trained for decades and grew up by Liu Che's side to have such abilities and insights.

If it were someone else, who is already not young anymore, it would be a torture for him to start learning from scratch.

Liu Tan felt a little embarrassed and inflated. Seeing that everyone was not averse to the exam, he wanted to go a step further.

Think about it, this was during the Western Han Dynasty, when no aristocratic families emerged. Although the nobles were also monopolizing the class, it was not so difficult for people from poor families to make a name for themselves.

If it were in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Tan's proposal for the examination would probably have been suppressed by the aristocratic families as soon as it was put forward.

Liu Tan simply gave up this proposal.

Everyone else breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that it was just their Highness's fantasy.

However, who would have thought that although Liu Tan did not mention this matter, he put national literacy campaign on the agenda.

Of course, this can only be discussed. First of all, we must ensure that everyone has enough food and clothing, and then they will have the spare energy to pursue a higher class.

Regarding other questions about the exam, basically no one objected. All that remained was to wait for the county magistrates from various places to arrive and assign them tasks.

Before that, the inn where the county magistrates lived needed to be repaired.

Originally, Liu Tan wanted to build a brick house directly, but he didn't expect that the finished red brick products would not be available until some time, so he could only build the house using the old method for the time being.

Liu Tan directly handed this matter over to Sang Qian - Li Buyan was watching the brick kiln, Wei Buyi was looking for purple-red rocks, Huo Guang was in charge of the affairs of the entire Northern Border Kingdom every day, and Jiang Chong was still looking through the files of previous years.

Since these people are busy, doesn’t it have to be handed over to Sang Qian?

Sang Qian had originally prepared to ask for leave to go out and draw pictures. After all, a man should do what he says. He used this reason to ask to resign, and he must follow through to the end.

Before he could even run away, Liu Tan assigned him a new task. Sang Qian did not object, but was shocked when he saw the blueprint - isn't it too small?

Sang Qian didn't dare to go to Liu Tan. He didn't know why. Liu Tan seemed gentler and Huo Guang was more serious, but he would rather go to Huo Guang than Liu Tan.

It was probably like this... Although Huo Guang was serious, they were at least familiar with each other and had similar values, but he could not guess what His Royal Highness the King of the North was thinking.

Huo Guang was a little surprised to see Sang Qian coming over and asked, "What's wrong?"

Sang Qian held up the blueprint and said, "Isn't this posthouse a little shabby?"

Huo Guang put on Liu Tan's trademark gentle smile, which made Sang Qian shudder. Then he heard Huo Guang gently ask, "Do you know where His Highness lives now?"

County government, is there any need to ask?

Sang Qian was about to answer when he suddenly realized that this posthouse was actually larger than the county government. According to regulations, no building within the country could be larger than the royal palace.

But... the county government looks like that...

Seeing that he was still hesitant, Huo Guang's face suddenly turned stern and he scolded him, "This scale has already been specially approved by His Highness. What else do you want?"

Sang Qian decisively slipped away. After all, it was the county magistrate's residence, not theirs. Sang Qian's own residence was very shabby!

When the post house was completed, the county governors arrived one after another. When they saw the post house, they were all stunned.

Except for the extremely poor counties, whose mansion is not better than this?

At first, everyone thought the King of the Northern Territory was trying to intimidate them. Then Sang Qian stepped forward and said with a smile, "Everyone, thirty feet ahead is the county seat where His Highness currently resides."

Everyone's eyes subconsciously looked to the east. At a distance of about thirty feet or a hundred meters, they could see at a glance that the county government was not even as big as the post station.

Everyone was silent at once. A thin, dark-skinned county governor said, "In my opinion, this inn is quite good. It seems that you are all used to living in luxury. Even His Highness lives here, so why not stop being picky?"

The other county governors didn't even look at him and went in with their sleeves swung. They didn't think Liu Tan was trying to intimidate them, but they were still unhappy.

And he had a captain of a country watching them. Was he worried about them? How could they know that it was because Sang Qian was the most idle at the moment?

Soon something even more unhappy happened.

After everyone arrived, Sang Qian gathered them together and pointed to a stack of snow-white papers on the desk and said, "Everyone, let's take the test first."

County Magistrates: ?????