What makes Xujia Village special isn't just the latrines; it was when Magistrate Zhang arrived at the newly built school that he was truly astonished.
Building ancestral halls is common in rural areas, but building schools is not.
Even if someone were to repair it, it would be the wealthy families who would open private schools for their own children to study.
Only families with some wealth could afford to send their children to school in the town.
But now there is a school in Xujia Village, and both boys and girls have to study, which is really rare.
To Magistrate Zhang's even greater surprise, the school was already packed with students.
The county magistrate is coming to inspect our work today, a rare opportunity. For Jiang Zhi, who has a deep understanding of modern life, it's natural to do something meaningful.
The drizzle prevented the villagers of Xujia Village from putting on a waist drum performance or having elementary school students present flowers, but they could still ask the county magistrate to give a speech.
Jiang Zhi felt sorry for the children waiting in the rain, so she had already arranged for them to wait in the classroom.
Magistrate Zhang was unaware of this. As soon as he stepped into the room, Tian Xiaoquan, Xia Yuan, and Shi Houzi, along with all the children, bowed in greeting.
"Greetings to the County Magistrate!"
"Greetings to the County Magistrate!"
The children, dressed in their neatest clothes, each held a stone slab and had a small bamboo stool beside them. They stood in rows according to their height, and their greetings were performed in a proper and orderly manner.
When Magistrate Zhang saw the twenty children standing there, he was immediately taken aback: "What are they doing?"
Xia Xiucai was among them. He stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Xu Family Village respects teachers and values education. Now that the new school has been completed, we would like to ask the county magistrate to teach the children the first lesson."
The school in Xujia Village was newly built, and Xia Xiucai had already attended morning and evening classes for a few days. However, when the county magistrate arrived, he naturally had to give up the title of the first teacher.
Jiang Zhi also said, "Magistrate Zhang, it's better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early."
The new school in Xujia Village has new classrooms and new students. If the county magistrate could teach the first lesson of the new year, the children could also be as talented as him and bring benefits to the people.
"Oh, I see!" Magistrate Zhang burst into laughter.
He came to Xujia Village today without wearing official robes, and without disturbing Zhang Juntou and Song Tingzhang. He only brought a clerk and two attendants, and looked just like a scholar traveling around enjoying the scenery.
Setting aside his heavy official duties, being able to give the first lecture of the new semester to new students in the newly built school was a pleasant thing for a scholar like Magistrate Zhang.
Especially now, facing these children with their bright, adoring eyes.
"Very well, since that's the case, then this official... this teacher will give everyone a lecture!"
"Wow!" The children clapped excitedly, and then quickly lined up and sat down at the prompting of Xia Xiucai and Jiang Zhi.
Nini sat to the left of Caixia and to the right of Leige; these three children were also going to school.
Caixia is only two years old, so she came along just to play.
At this point, the three of them couldn't keep up with everything they saw, so they quickly copied what the older children were doing.
Magistrate Zhang stood in front of the white lacquered board, holding a large brush, and wrote six characters on the board with ink: 礼、乐、射、御、书、数.
"Today, the Master will not lecture on the twelve chapters of the Analects, nor will he mention songs, poems, or lyrics. He will only talk about the Six Arts of a Gentleman."
The so-called "Six Arts of a Gentleman" refers to six skills that a man must master, including etiquette, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics.
The "Eight Arts for Women" are eight skills that women must master, including playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, flower arranging, and tea ceremony.
At this point, Magistrate Zhang said to the boys and girls sitting below, "Since you are all sitting in the school today regardless of gender, then the Six Arts of a Gentleman are something that everyone must learn."
Jiang Zhi knew about the Six Arts of a Gentleman, but not much of them, so this was a good opportunity for him to audit a class.
Seeing that the children below all came from farming families, Magistrate Zhang naturally did not expect everyone to pass the imperial examinations, but only hoped that they would be proficient in the Six Arts.
It is extremely rare for an ordinary person to understand the Six Arts.
At this moment, Jiang Zhi was filled with awe and realized the meaning of those six simple words.
To reach the standard of the Six Arts, one cannot describe a scholar as a "weak and scholarly person".
The term "etiquette" encompasses various manners and ceremonies (i.e., moral education today), requiring students to understand polite language and the rules of etiquette for various ceremonies.
There are many kinds of etiquette. Sacrifices are auspicious rites, funerals are inauspicious rites, military affairs are military rites, guests are guests rites, and coming-of-age and marriage rites are celebratory rites. Each one needs to be learned.
In daily life, pay attention to your words and actions, respect others, and follow social norms and moral principles.
Music: Music not only includes the cultivation of musical skills, but also focuses on the influence of music on people's morality and emotions, requiring the learning of one of the instruments to cultivate one's character.
Jiang Zhi thought of scholars like Xia Xiucai, who were either skilled in playing the guqin or the flute and xiao.
When he chanted it, he swayed his head and made it melodious, which sounded much better than his own singing of "Life is short, what a hassle".
As for musical instruments, Jiang Zhi, a graduate of a modern university, is only good at playing the "retreat drum".
There's also archery: on the surface it's about archery skills, but in reality it requires physical training and participation in various sports activities.
Just like Li Bai could travel the world with his sword.
Confucius carried a sword (representing virtue) on his back and a bow and arrow (representing propriety) on his back. He was accompanied by seventy-two disciples, who taught them to win people over with virtue and treat people with propriety.
"御" refers to the skill of driving a horse-drawn carriage, which in modern times is equivalent to university students needing to obtain a driver's license.
Book: Calligraphy (writing, literacy, characters).
Number: arithmetic, also known as rational number or numerical number. In ancient times, there was a saying of nine numbers.
In his commentary on the Rites of Zhou, Zheng Xuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty quoted Zheng Sinong as saying: "Nine numbers: square field, millet, difference, lesser area, commercial work, equal transport, equation, insufficient profit, side essentials; now there are double difference, evening tribulation, and right triangle."
The Pythagorean theorem existed in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and considering the "Nine-Nine Song" from the time of Qin Shi Huang, Jiang Zhi was glad that she hadn't proudly taught people multiplication tables; that would have been a real slap in the face.
Everything we do today is built upon and expanded upon what our ancestors passed down. Even an ancient version of the Olympiad math problem, "The Chicken and Rabbit Problem," can stump a whole bunch of people.
Jiang Zhi was utterly impressed by the wisdom of her ancestors and happy for the good fortune of the children in Xujia Village.
Compared to learning to read and do math using just a few sentences, this is the proper ancient version of education.
Jiang Zhi would argue with anyone who said that ancient people were bookworms. She argued that a scholar could really know so much knowledge, which was more impressive than that of a graduate from a top-tier university.
After Magistrate Zhang finished reciting the Six Arts and then the Eight Arts, he spoke at length for more than an hour.
The older children, including Tian Tao, Xia Yuan, and Tian Xiaoquan, were thrilled.
They knew that passing the imperial examinations to become officials was very difficult, so when they heard about the Six Arts of a Gentleman, they found it even more interesting than listening to Xia Xiucai's lectures, as there was so much to learn.
It was the first time that several young children had attended such a long class. They couldn't understand what they were hearing or learn anything, and the warm classroom had made them fall asleep huddled together.
Lei was almost in tears, pulling at Caixia and Nini to keep them awake.
There were also a few older children who were scratching their toes and tugging at their clothes in a daze, completely ignoring what was being said, such as Xu Qiang from Xu Genyou's family and Lin Xiaohu from the Lin family.
Some children were very excited. The two sons of the Ma family kept showing off their martial arts skills, which they had practiced every day.
From now on, I will no longer be a reckless man, but will be skilled in archery, one of the six arts of a gentleman.
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