Educational reform

Two years after the implementation of the new imperial examination system, Wu Zetian frowned more and more as she looked through the hometowns of those who had passed the examinations.

(Inner monologue: How come students from Jiangnan make up 60%? The proportion from poor families in Guanzhong is still too low... This is due to the uneven distribution of educational resources!)

She ordered someone to bring in the "Map of the Tang Dynasty's Territory," and used a vermilion brush to circle the administrative centers of each circuit: "Issue the decree that each of the ten circuit governors shall establish an official school specifically for students from poor families."

Li Zhi was teaching Li Xian to play chess when he heard this and looked up: "The national treasury just allocated military funds, where did this money come from?"

"There's no need to build new schools." Wu Meiniang pointed to the temples and monasteries in various prefectures and counties. "These places have many empty side rooms; with a little renovation, they can become schools. As for the teachers..."

She smiled slightly, "Let retired officials give lectures, and provide them with 80% of their original salary in rice rations."

(Inner monologue: I can use my remaining energy to solve the teacher shortage problem at the same time, perfect!)

The new policy faced numerous obstacles in its first month of implementation.

The Shaolin monks of Songshan Mountain blocked the entrance to the official school, claiming that they had disturbed the tranquility of the Buddhist temple.

Wu Zetian went there in person and had a private conversation with the abbot in the meditation room for half a day.

The next day, Shaolin Temple not only removed its obstruction, but also took the initiative to send out martial monks to maintain order in the school.

(Inner monologue: It's just a promise to grant Shaolin Temple exclusive land grants to its monks...)

The most troublesome thing is the teaching materials.

The "Correct Meanings of the Five Classics" sent by the Imperial College was so difficult and obscure that the farm children kept falling asleep while reading it.

Wu Zetian simply summoned her ministers and personally supervised the revision of the new teaching materials.

"Change 'the benevolent love others' in the Analects to 'if you see your neighbor is hungry, you should share your cake with him,'" she said to the editor while annotating. "Replace the grand principles of governing the country and bringing peace to the world in the Book of Documents with actual cases of county magistrates judging cases."

The old scholars cried out in anguish, "Your Majesty, how can the classics be interpreted in such a vulgar way!"

"Then please go to the official school and give three days of lectures," Wu Zetian said slowly, turning the pages of her book, "and see if the children prefer to hear stories of 'self-discipline and returning to propriety' or 'corrupt officials being beheaded.'"

(Inner monologue: Practice makes perfect!)

Three months later, the first batch of simplified teaching materials was printed and distributed to various regions.

The most popular of these is "Interesting Talks on Law" written by Di Renjie, which uses everyday disputes to explain Tang law, making it easy for even women and children to understand.

That day, Wu Zetian was inspecting the official school in the capital when she overheard the teacher lecturing on "Elementary Arithmetic": "If your father earns fifteen coins from selling firewood, spends eight coins on rice, and pays two coins in taxes to the government..."

"Five coins left!" the children answered in unison.

"Wrong!" the man shook his head. "We still need to save three coins to buy salt. So, we'll only have two coins left."

The classroom was completely silent.

One of the children whispered, "My dad always says, 'If only the tax were even a penny less...'"

Wu Meiniang stood outside the window and silently memorized those words.

(Inner monologue: Children's words are innocent, yet they reflect the most authentic aspects of people's lives.)

During the autumn harvest, when the school children were helping to calculate the yield of the fields, they discovered that the county magistrate had falsely reported the disaster and embezzled relief grain.

When the news reached Chang'an, Wu Zetian immediately dispatched an imperial censor to investigate.

The county magistrate involved lamented in prison, "If I had known that even children could do arithmetic these days, I should have..."

"We should just do our jobs honestly," Di Renjie said coldly, slamming the new "Anti-Corruption Regulations" onto the table.

At the end of the year, the number of poor students from the Guanzhong Plain who passed the imperial examinations doubled.

Looking at the performance evaluation report, Wu Zetian smiled at Li Zhi and asked, "Your Majesty, do you now think that building this school was worthwhile?"

Li Zhi was looking at the New Year's gift sent by the Taiyuan official school—a treatise on governance written by the children on Taiping paper. Although the handwriting was immature, it was full of spirit.

"Worth it." He gently stroked the suggestions for improving the post stations on the paper. "More worthwhile than 100,000 elite soldiers."

——

[Mini-Theater: The Textbook Controversy]

(Li Xian's perspective)

My mother has been forcing us to try out the new textbooks lately.

At the age of eight, I was forced to read "Illustrated Agricultural Administration" and write a reflection.

The most terrifying thing was that book, "Elementary Arithmetic," which actually asked you to calculate "If you raise ten chickens, they will consume three liters of grain per day"...

(This is clearly a task assigned by the Imperial Kitchen!)

Yesterday, my mother checked my homework and asked me how I would collect taxes if I were a county magistrate.

I answered with the answer about the well-field system according to the Book of Rites, but she shook her head: "Xian'er, go to the West Market in Chang'an and see how much the old woman selling vegetables earns each day."

Today I secretly went to the West Market and saw an old woman arguing with a customer over a single coin.

On his way back, he met Di Renjie, who was explaining contracts to a pancake seller using "Interesting Anecdotes about the Law".

(Now I suddenly understand why my mother wanted to change the textbooks.)

But... could you please stop making me calculate how much feed the chickens eat?