The students in the room looked at him with puzzled expressions, wondering why he would say such a thing.

Qin Ziyi looked at Chen Qingang and asked, "As you say, only those who become officials and ministers are truly useful to Da Yue?"

"This..." Since Chen Qingang was the most outstanding student of Chengzhang Academy, he was naturally not stupid. As soon as he heard this, he knew that he seemed to have fallen into a trap.

Qin Ziyi stopped looking at him and turned to the others. "Gentlemen, I would like to ask, wouldn't the blacksmith in the blacksmith shop, the embroiderer in the embroidery shop, the experienced craftsman in the fields, the fisherman along the river... be considered talented people?"

These words jolted Chen Qingang awake from his reverie, and he stared blankly at Qin Ziyi. "Headmaster, do you mean that Chengzhang Academy is establishing a women's college in order to..."

“That’s right,” Qin Ziyi continued, nodding. “Women’s colleges don’t just teach reading and writing, and they don’t focus on the content of the imperial examinations like men do. They focus more on practical skills.”

This was also Jiang Qinyu's intention. When a girls' academy first opened, it would definitely attract everyone's attention. If the girls' academy were to take the same subjects as the boys, the opposition from other students would certainly increase.

However, this era is different from modern times, or even the near modern era. Women's consciousness has not yet awakened, so even if she wanted to instill some modern ideas, she might not succeed.

But there is one thing that has always been universal: making money.

Women are the most numerous among them. If the girls' academy, in addition to teaching literacy, also offered some skills training classes so that the women here could earn money with their own hands, the situation would definitely be different.

In any case, during Jiang Qinyu's era, apart from the top small circle of capital, the number of high-income women was increasing by a terrifying percentage every year.

So much so that before she transmigrated, relationships between older women and younger men were very common. As for the reasons... those who aren't afraid of trouble can think about it carefully.

"Practical application?" Chen Qingang was stunned.

Qin Ziyi explained, "For example, needlework that is slightly more advanced than that of ordinary families, cooking, and accounting for household affairs, etc."

Jiang Qinyu once told him that if a woman is proficient in any one of these things, she can survive on her own in this world, and he deeply believed it.

Of course, those were just the basics in Jiang Qinyu's plan. There were other things, but he wouldn't mention them now to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.

"Oh, I see!" someone immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought that sending women to school meant they could also take the imperial examinations and become officials!"

"Yes, yes, what kind of logic is it for a woman to hold an official position? This has never happened before in history, so let's not set a precedent for this in our Great Yue."

"That's right, that's right..."

Jiang Qinyu heard these words from behind the crowd and secretly shook her head.

If Lu Yanzheng were to actually sit in that position one day, what if she intervened and created some positions in the court suitable for women?

Just as she was thinking this, she heard Qin Ziyi call her name, "Everyone, the establishment of the girls' academy is largely thanks to the General's wife. Why don't we let her say a few words to everyone?"

All eyes immediately turned to Jiang Qinyu. She had no choice but to put aside her wandering thoughts and smiled, "Confucius Qin, you flatter me. The general and I are both very happy to be able to do something practical for the people of Qinzhou."

We still need to say the polite words.

But Qin Ziyi then asked, "What does Madam consider to be a true talent?"

Jiang Qinyu paused, looked up at him, and although she didn't understand why he asked such a question, she thought for a moment and said, "I once read something like this in a book, 'Recruit talents without being bound by convention.' I think this is the most suitable definition of talent for us ordinary people, right?"

Her question startled the students in the room, and Qin Ziyi looked at her in surprise.

"Recruiting talents without being bound by convention?" Qin Ziyi pondered the words for a moment, then clapped his hands and laughed, "Brilliant! Brilliant! Madam, your use of the words 'without being bound by convention' is truly brilliant!"

Jiang Qinyu felt embarrassed and quickly said, "I didn't say that; I read it in a book."

Plagiarism is shameful; she doesn't have the audacity to claim someone else's work as her own.

But Qin Ziyi didn't care about all that. For someone his age, saying he had read a great deal of books couldn't even begin to describe the amount of reading he had done. He had never even heard of that phrase before. He simply took Jiang Qinyu's statement as an excuse.

"It's alright, it's alright," Qin Ziyi waved his hand and looked at the others in the room, asking, "Do you all understand?"

They are, after all, teachers and students of Chengzhang Academy. Their words are so straightforward, how could anyone not understand?

"Understood!" Everyone bowed to Jiang Qinyu in unison, "Thank you for your explanation, Madam!"

Jiang Qinyu was so flustered by this scene that she was sweating profusely, but she kept nodding with a smile on her face.

She dared not say anything more at this point, lest things get even more complicated.

Qin Ziyi quickly sent all the troublemakers away, then winked at Jiang Qinyu and whispered, "Girl, that last sentence wasn't just one sentence, was it? What were the others?"

Jiang Qinyu was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and then she was truly at a loss for words. How come Qin Ziyi was just like Grandpa Lu, acting like a playful old man?

However, this wasn't something that couldn't be said. Jiang Qinyu went through the poem in her mind and only spoke after confirming that she remembered it correctly: "The vitality of the land depends on the wind and thunder, but the silence of ten thousand horses is truly lamentable. I urge the heavens to rouse themselves again and send down talents without being bound by convention."

This poem is the 125th poem in Gong Zizhen's "Miscellaneous Poems of the Year Ji Hai" from the Qing Dynasty. Due to the special background of the Qing Dynasty, he supported reform, and this poem is a sacrificial text written for the gods.

Qin Ziyi carefully studied the poem she recited, his eyes growing brighter and brighter. "Girl, did you write this poem?"

Nowadays, composing fu (a type of classical Chinese prose-poem) is more popular, while the number of poems and lyrics is relatively smaller.

Jiang Qinyu dared not admit to this and quickly said, "No, I really read it in a book..."

“Yes, yes, but you forgot the book title, or maybe you can’t even find the book anymore, right?” Qin Ziyi winked at her, with an expression that said, “I understand.”

Jiang Qinyu was at a loss for words, and could only look at him helplessly.

"I was surrounded by people today, but getting this poem is worth it," Qin Ziyi said. He immediately wrote down the poem, then looked up at Jiang Qinyu and asked with a smile, "Are you satisfied with today's events, girl?"

At the academy, everyone who knew about the girls' college meeting was kept in check by him, and no one was going to cause trouble today, just to save Jiang Qinyu some trouble.

Jiang Qinyu nodded, "Thanks to Elder Qin, we will have to trouble Elder Qin to take care of things from now on."

"Hahaha... It's nothing, it's nothing. If you ever remember those poems again, be sure to tell me." Qin Ziyi laughed.

He looked down at the poem on the paper, and the more he looked, the more satisfied he became.

Seeing this, Jiang Qinyu could only let him go, and soon took her leave.

The news that Chengzhang Academy was going to open a girls' college spread like wildfire within two days.

It was at this moment that Lu Yanzheng returned.