Chapter 65 The prince is reliable!
The county school was built, and then Lu Chenyang had to worry about the teacher issue.
This is even more difficult than building a county school. Yanquan County can find more than 5,000 people who want to sign up for the army, but cannot find five scholars.
Which scholar would come to Yanquan County for no reason?
As for the local scholars in Yanquan County? Haha, there isn't even a county school here. It's been many years since a scholar was born. Forget about a scholar, there isn't even a student.
The teacher of Shen Shiqian's clan school was hired by the Shen family from another high-paid position, but Lu Chenyang had no money.
He also went to other counties to visit some old scholars.
Lu Chenyang's title of "Sixth Prize and Top Scholar" was still quite useful. In the eyes of scholars, "Sixth Prize and Top Scholar" was not much different from "Wenquxing". Seeing Lu Chenyang come to visit in person, they were all very excited.
Lu Chenyang makes friends through literature, and he is good at sweet talk, which makes people want to sacrifice their lives for the poor teaching level in Yanquan County.
"I know this is difficult, but it has to be done. For the sake of educating the people and for the sake of future generations, someone must do it." Lu Chenyang said gently, "I am not talented, but I also want to give it a try. Please help me, sir."
The old scholar was deeply moved and immediately agreed. He was completely motivated by Lu Chenyang's dedication to serving the people. Of course, Lu Chenyang's promise to lend him his reading notes was also one of the reasons.
Lu Chenyang brought back six teachers this time, and the county school could finally be opened.
The teacher was found, but finding students was even harder than finding a teacher.
Again, who is a good person and would send their children to school?
Yes, there are not many good families among them.
Lu Chenyang was tired, even though he had already offered very generous conditions, including free tuition, free food and accommodation, and he even provided paper, ink, brush and inkstone.
That's it. Those who came to send their children here were all from well-off families, and ordinary people did not send their children here.
Lu Chenyang was scratching his head every day because of this, wondering how he could convince them to send the child over.
Xu Zhenghui was very puzzled by this: "Sir, why are you so obsessed with the common people sending their children here? Those families simply can't afford to pay for their children's future imperial examinations. Why bother with this?"
Lu Chenyang said dejectedly, "But studying isn't just for the imperial examinations. Apart from learning the principles of being a good person, even just knowing a few more words is good."
After Lu Chenyang became the county magistrate, he dealt with many disputes caused by illiteracy.
They took advantage of people who couldn't read and wrote down documents without knowing what they were doing. Some sold their houses and land, and some even sold their children, all because they couldn't read.
Xu Zhenghui thought this wasn't normal. Being illiterate was normal these days, so why was Lu Chenyang so persistent? In his opinion, Yanquan County was already doing well. With Lu Chenyang as the county magistrate, no one dared to use words to bully others anymore.
Xu Zhenghui said, "Sir, this is a bit difficult. It's the busy farming season now, and even half-grown children are laborers who can help with housework. That's why ordinary people won't let their children come to school."
There's no point in studying. I might as well help with more housework.
How could Lu Chenyang not know this? That's why he was worried about how to solve this situation.
Lu Chenyang was so annoyed that he couldn't even enjoy his meal. Tan Feng, who had come back to improve the food, saw his condition and said casually, "There's no gain without gain. We can't just ask them to work and pay them, right?"
Zhao Xi almost slammed the table and stood up: "We praise them and give them money? Why don't they go to heaven? They can learn or not. We adults are just too kind-hearted. If I say they don't make progress, no one can do anything about it."
Lu Chenyang sighed softly, "Zhao Xi is right, we can't give this money. Since soft tactics don't work, let's use hard tactics."
They both looked at him, wondering how he could be so forceful?
Lu Chenyang asked Xu Zhenghui to write an announcement that anyone who has children of school age but does not send them to school will not be accepted into any job recruitment organized by the county government.
In other words, if you want to work for the county government and earn money, you have to send your children to school. If you violate this rule, you will not be recruited.
People: “…”
This move really hit the weak spot of the people.
There’s no other way, so just send it over.
The first day of September is the day set by Lu Chenyang for the first semester of the county school to start.
Seeing the four classrooms full of students, Lu Chenyang was very pleased.
Lu Chenyang attaches great importance to the education of these children and has discussed the content of the classes with the teacher who came here.
"These children come from different backgrounds and have different abilities, so we can't teach them all together. We'll have an exam at the beginning of the school year to assess their abilities and then divide them into different classes." Lu Chenyang said, "There are definitely some children whose goal isn't the imperial examination, and I don't expect them to succeed. As long as they can recognize some basic characters and do some arithmetic, they'll be able to find a job to make a living. Of course, if there are talented children, regardless of their background, as long as they want to study, we'll do our best to teach them. I'll take care of the financial issues."
This statement surprised several teachers, because the idea they had been taught since childhood was that studying was for the purpose of imperial examinations. What was the point of studying if not for the imperial examinations?
Lu Chenyang went to such great lengths, even paying out of his own pocket, to send his children to school. They thought it was for political achievements. Because if someone under his jurisdiction passed the examination to become a Tongsheng or Xiucai, it would also be considered an achievement for the county magistrate.
But now it seems clearly not.
Several teachers agreed and left the room. Teacher Yan muttered to Teacher Li, "Isn't our Master Lu taking it for granted? He lets them study even though they don't have to take the imperial examination. How much money is this wasted?"
Master Li smiled and said, "I am just an ordinary person. I have taken the exam for so many years but never passed. What qualifications do I have to speculate on the thoughts of the top scorer of the Six Yuan Examination?"
After he finished speaking, he turned and left, leaving Master Yan's face turning pale and blue.
Master Li was mocking him for overestimating his own abilities.
In fact, Yan Xing also thought so. Because of the school incident, the garrison's food and grass were three days late, and he had to go into the city to ask Lu Chenyang for food.
Lu Chenyang agreed repeatedly: "I understand. I'll send it over tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." He couldn't help but mutter: "Ah, when will Wang Zhong come back?"
As he spoke, he couldn't help but look at Yan Xing.
Wang Zhong has connections with Yan Xing and is considered one of his men.
Yan Xing knew it all, so he didn't hide it from him. "Okay, I'll have Tingshu write to ask later." After a pause, he asked, "Now that the merchants in the city are honest, why don't you buy from them?"
Lu Chenyang said, "I can't rely on them every time something happens. This will only amplify their ambitions. Yanquan County will never allow another Shen family to appear. Only when outside merchants come in can these merchants really settle down."
Otherwise, if something goes wrong, he will ask them to buy food, making them think they can control him.
Yan Xing said, "Aren't you being a little too aggressive with the school? You've been so forceful in getting all the students to enroll this time, and I've heard that many people are resentful of you."
Since he couldn't pass the imperial examination and become an official, why bother? It would only delay his family work. Because of this incident, Lu Chenyang's good reputation was affected, and many people said that Lu Chenyang was meddling too much.
Lu Chenyang said, "Studying is only part of it. In the future, I will separate the county school. In addition to studying, I will also teach crafts. I want to give them a skill to survive. But no matter what they do, studying and understanding are not in vain. They just don't know, so someone needs to tell them."
Yan Xing looked at him with dismay at his serious expression. He hummed, "Just do it if you want to. Anyway, I'll support you. Yanquan County won't be in trouble."
Lu Chenyang smiled, his eyes curved, "The prince is reliable!"
Yan Xing also curled the corners of his lips.
Lu Chenyang grabbed Yan Xing's arm and said, "Since you're here, please help me take a look at how well I've made this plow. I've observed that the plows people use nowadays aren't very easy to use. It's mainly because there are many mountains here, and the plows used outside aren't very suitable, so I improved it..."
Yan Xing was shocked and looked down at the arm he was holding.
It was summer, and he was only wearing a thin layer of clothes. The thin fabric could not block the warmth of his palms.
He felt the heat from his palms, which seemed to penetrate his clothes and reach his heart.
He pursed his lips, his mind went blank, and he only felt him holding his hand.
Seeing no response, Lu Chenyang looked at him suspiciously: "Prince?"
Yan Xing came back to his senses, looked into his clear eyes, and then felt that he was dizzy from the heat.
"Let me see." He calmed himself down and took his manuscript.
The top scholar who won the sixth place in the imperial examination was also an expert in painting, and his paintings were clear at a glance.
He nodded: "I don't quite understand, but let's do it first."
Lu Chenyang sighed quietly, "How could I not know that? I've tried it, and it works pretty well. But if we want to make it, we need iron. We in Yanquan County are short of iron."
He said, looking at him eagerly.
Yan Xing was stunned. "Yes, what does that have to do with me? I don't have anywhere to find iron for you."
Ironware is something that is strictly controlled by the Da Gan.
Lu Chenyang chuckled: "I've already done some research, and we should have iron ore here. The prince has such a good ability to find his way, so don't waste it."
Come on, this is to ask him to go out and find iron ore for him.
Yan Xing looked at him helplessly. What could he do?
Yan Xing had no choice but to nod.
Yan Xing knew the importance of ironware, so the next day he took a map and set out with his men to look for iron ore.
Tan Feng stayed to continue training.
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