Chapter 48 Basic Education
Mo Jia, who worked diligently, was assigned a new job.
When the leader of the Mohist school saw the eunuchs in the palace, the smile on his face became stiff.
The palace messenger smiled at him and said, "Master, we meet again."
The great man smiled, his eyes dull and dark circles hanging from his face. "Your Majesty, are you going to create something new?"
Although it was a question, it revealed a sad certainty.
The eunuch said: "This is a great thing."
The giant smirked, "It's always a good thing."
The eunuch who delivered the order said: “…”
For the sake of the Qin Dynasty and His Majesty, the Mohists have to work hard. It's because you are so useful.
The eunuch who delivered the decree put on a business-like smile, which was so refreshing and pleasant to the ear, and made it impossible for the leader of the Mohist school to avoid him.
"Master, this is truly a great opportunity. If we can accomplish this, it will be easy to leave a lasting legacy."
Live forever!
The giant's ears twitched, his facial expression remained unchanged, but he no longer served tea.
A person who was passing by the door and was about to avoid suspicion stopped in his tracks. Hey, what did he hear?
What is the immortal reputation? What is the immortal reputation?
Pa pa.
The eunuch clapped his hands twice, and the palace servant who followed him opened the sealed box, revealing a simply carved wooden board inside.
When it came to his professional field, the master instinctively began to assess: "Tuanhua wood is too soft for carving. Why not choose a hardwood? The carving is smooth and experienced, but the edges are a little naive, like a beginner. Strange, how can there be such a contradiction?"
The eunuch who delivered the order: You better shut up.
"This was made by an immortal."
The Mohist master immediately changed his tune: "It's spontaneous and free-spirited, effortlessly free and unrestrained. It has both the rigor of an old master and the boldness of a newcomer. It can be said to be a combination of the best of both worlds. Wonderful, truly wonderful!"
The man outside the door secretly spat. This old fellow was like a firecracker when spoken to, but he could speak like a human being in front of others.
The eunuch was very happy to hear him praising the immortal, but he did not come here to listen to the immortal's flattery. If he wanted to hear words praising the immortal, he would say them himself when he returned, and he would say them better and in more ways than this.
"Master, please look at the engraving."
Stop talking and get down to business!
The engraving that was emphasized repeatedly finally attracted everyone's attention.
The leader of the Mohist school understood its function as soon as he saw it, dipped it in ink, and stamped it!
"This seal is a bit big, no wonder it has to be used... No, that's not right!" He thought of the eunuch's words that had just been said and would be passed down through the ages. It was just a larger ink pad, how could it have such an honor.
"This is..." He moved closer to the engraving, even touching it from beginning to end. His eyes widened and his eyes became brighter.
“This is for printed books!”
The giant was so excited just by imagining it that he couldn't sit still at all. He stood up and paced back and forth in the reception room to relieve the surging emotions in his heart.
"If you carve the classics on a wooden board, and then use cheap ink, no, not ink, but ink, dip it in ink, and then cover it with paper, you will have words on the white paper!"
"This way, we can produce at least two or three hundred more books a day! And we can avoid the mistakes of copying!"
The person eavesdropping outside the door suddenly widened his eyes and even stopped breathing.
"Such ingenuity, such ingenuity, truly worthy of the phrase 'lasting fame.'" The Mohist leader turned a few times, flung his robe aside, and sat down, leaning half his body toward the box containing the carved plates. "Your Majesty, are you serious about handing over such a great merit to my Mohist family?"
"This incident has caused the Mohist School to lose some of its reputation. Does the Immortal know about this?"
Your Majesty, please do not be foolish and risk offending the immortals by passing this matter down.
The eunuch glanced at him and said nothing, but the contempt in his eyes was clearly visible to the master.
Well, he was just being wishful thinking.
How could their Majesty, who treated the Mohists as tools and exploited them to death, offend the immortals in order to bring fame to the Mohists?
The great man asked himself: Am I worthy of it?
He immediately answered himself: I am not worthy!
"Okay, okay," he laughed out loud, "I, the Mohist..."
"We, Gongshujia, have responded!" A loud shout came from outside the door, directly drowning out the giant's voice.
The master was stunned for a moment, but he immediately reacted, jumped up and cursed: "That woman! How dare you, a brat!"
"The mouse has a skin, but the man has no manners. If the man has no manners, what is the point of not dying?"
Even mice have skin and face, but you are so shameless. You are so shameless, why don’t you just die?
This sentence from the Book of Songs is a very blunt and direct insult. Coupled with the previous sentence which directly insults the mother, even the great scholar could not help but speak without thinking.
People nowadays pursue nothing but fame and fortune.
For the present benefit and for the reputation after death.
Gongshu Lang wanted to snatch both of them away as soon as he opened his mouth. No wonder the leader of the Mohist school was so angry.
And the target was Gongshujia, who had an old grudge with the Mohist school.
But Gongshu Lang could ignore him. Whether the Gongshu family would rise to prominence or fall into complete despair depended on what they did today!
Gongshu Lang: Get out of the way, don’t affect my performance!
The eunuch who delivered the imperial edict did not expect such a change. He looked at the leader of the Mohist school on his left, then at the head of the Gongshu family on his right, and fell silent.
If we talk about closeness, it is naturally the Mohist school that serves the Qin Dynasty wholeheartedly. They are our own people. But the other side is Gongshu Jia, who Your Majesty is thinking of bringing to Xianyang to work for Qin.
The eunuch who delivered the order: The left and right are men~
Let Your Majesty take care of this kind of trouble.
-------
In the Hall of Eternal Life, Weishengxue stood in front of the floor-length mirror, changing clothes one after another.
"Which one is more suitable?" As she spoke, she looked left and right and felt dissatisfied, so she changed into another one.
Princess Yangzi stood behind her and watched her put on a set of clothes with every wave of her hand, and none of the styles were the same. She couldn't help but feel jealous, but at the same time she felt that the immortal was much more real.
When they attend parties, they will change clothes one after another, and even spend a long time worrying about the accessories on their bodies. They will no longer like the new clothes they specially made for the party as soon as they go out.
"It is her greatest honor to have the immortal here." She said this to the immortal who replied to her.
Wei Shengxue looked at her in the mirror and said, "I changed into new clothes because I was going out. It has nothing to do with where I was going."
When I’m at home, I wish I could wear pajamas every day, but when I go out, I burst out with amazing energy, getting up early in the morning to put on makeup, do my hair, and change clothes.
She herself couldn't figure out what was going on.
Seeing that she would miss the time if she didn't leave now, Wei Shengxue stopped changing her clothes and randomly picked a long dress that matched her makeup.
It was the blue color she always preferred, embellished with silver ornaments and tassels, and it looked refreshing.
Outside the palace gate, the carriage arranged by the Imperial Eunuch in advance had been waiting for a long time.
"Go to the outer city."
…
In Dongwaicheng, a townhouse was purchased by a mysterious buyer. After several months of renovation, it now looks brand new.
Shao Lan, wearing a simple long gown with curved hems, stood in the courtyard and gave her final lecture to the audience.
"The immortal is here today, please remember the etiquette you learned before."
"Remember." A uniform answer came from the courtyard.
"You're all able to stay where you are today thanks to the mercy of the immortal." Her face was cold, like a stern headmaster, scanning each person one by one. "If anyone makes a mistake today, get out of here. If one person in the same room makes a mistake, everyone in the room will be punished."
At the beginning, she still remembered the immortal's advice to be gentle to them, but she didn't expect that she couldn't even last three days before someone stole things from the yard and gave them to outsiders.
The people who made mistakes were dragged out to serve as an example to others, which also made her change her previous good temper and return to the usual style of the Qin people.
As a result, this cold and hard style had a better effect than the previous warmth. Those little actions that were not presentable were gone, and more people listened to what the manager said.
Shao Lan thought that perhaps the immortals had lived in the fairyland for too long and were unaware of the ugliness of the human world, so they always thought too highly of these untouchables.
Before she met them, she had never known that people could be so ignorant, nor could she have imagined that they could be so bold, knowingly committing crimes and going against the wind. There was nothing they couldn't do.
Dang——dang——
The clock in the next room rang, it was noon.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Maternity and Children's Hospital will begin at noon, and the immortal will arrive in a while.
Shaolan finally warned them and asked them to go back and change into new clothes.
The homeless women each took a few children back to their homes. They walked in a hurry because in addition to changing their own clothes, they also had to take care of the children.
"It's really good here. We can have something to eat. Although it's more work, we can still support ourselves." There are two adults and ten children living in one house. Now several older children are taking the younger children to wash their faces and hands. They have a rare opportunity to hide behind the curtains to change clothes and even find time to chat.
"This dress is really strange." The woman with only short hair left shook out the folded clothes. She couldn't help but sigh at the neat long coat and trousers from later times.
"This is great. If you sew the crotch, you don't have to worry about exposing your butt while working. This pullover is also easy to sit on. Just sew two pieces of cloth together, and you can save half the cloth for a piece of clothing." Another woman with a scar on her face washed her hands carefully before picking up the clothes and trying them on herself.
She gestured and turned left and right to show the effect on herself, "Does it look good? There are flowers on it."
She was talking about the corner of the clothes. It was a simple symbol that looked like the Chinese character "山". The three pointed heads looked a bit like the tips of weeds in the field.
If Wei Shengxue were here, she would recognize that this was the simple sketch of grass she had drawn when she was trying out white paper and charcoal.
It was just the simplest decoration, even the base was very rough, but to them it was a rare and precious item. You know, at that time, the poor family might not even be able to find a complete set of clothes, let alone waste scraps of cloth to decorate clothes.
"When the immortal comes later, you must behave well. I want to stay here forever." said the short-haired woman as she put on her clothes carefully and quietly.
"I want to, too," the scarred woman said.
"I'm good at weaving. I've been helping my family peel hemp since I was five. When I was old enough to grow fingernails, I started splitting the hemp and spinning it into yarn. I work from morning till night, from the beginning of the year to the end. After paying the cloth tax, the remaining clothes go to the men. I don't even get a scrap of cloth."
The short-haired woman smoothed out the wrinkles on her clothes bit by bit and asked, "When you got married, your family didn't give you any clothes?"
The scarred woman's face showed a hint of tenderness and joy. "Of course not. It was altered from my younger brother's clothes. It only has two patches, brand new. I brought it to my husband's house and wore it for several years before it broke. I even altered it into diapers for my three sons."
The short-haired woman didn't ask why she was still here despite having three sons. She was just talking about those sad things. She just patted her clothes and said with a smile, "Now we all have new clothes! Brand new clothes that no one has ever worn!"
The scarred woman also smiled timidly, with a longing for the future in her eyes.
After changing their clothes, they went to take care of the little ones.
Abandoned children are much more obedient than ordinary children. They are best at reading adults' expressions. When they saw the two girls with stern faces, they knew that they must not make a fuss at this time, so they all obediently changed into clean clothes.
Although they didn't speak, their sparkling eyes and hands constantly touching their clothes revealed their joy.
Bang!
The short-haired woman slapped the child's hand that was touching the clothes and scolded him, "You ruin something good by touching it. If you ruin it, you'll see what you can wear!"
The child who was hurt by the beating didn't dare to speak. He shrank his head and hid in the crowd, but he didn't dare put his hands on the clothes. He just twisted his fingers together, stared at the clothes, and kept touching his hands, as if this was the same as touching the clothes.
In fact, they were all the coarsest linen, but they were the best clothes they had ever worn.
Bang bang bang!
The person in charge of the courtyard is ringing the gong.
This was the signal to summon them.
The two women quickly scanned the clothes on each child again. If they found no problems, they drove the kids out of the house like sheep.
…
Xianyang City was originally paved with stone slabs, and after being repaired with cement, it became even smoother. The wheels slowly rolled over the driveway, smoothly and quickly.
Shao Lan had already been waiting at the street corner. When she saw the carriage with the obvious markings, she came forward to greet it. "Shao Lan greets Teacher Weisheng and Her Royal Highness the Princess. Tea and fruit are ready. Please come inside."
The carriage went a little further into the street and finally stopped at a gate with a plaque hanging on it.
Maternity and Child Health Hospital.
Wei Shengxue took Princess Yang Zi out of the carriage and took a quick look at the environment at the entrance. It was not luxurious, and there was not even the simplest carving on the door, but it was clean and tidy, which was in line with her idea of a welfare institution.
Shao Lan secretly glanced at her face from the side, and seeing that she looked satisfied, she felt relieved.
Although her idea of selling training class teaching materials in the store had been approved by the immortal, she was still nervous when it came to the actual situation. She hoped that the maternity and child hospital she established would make the immortal happy.
"There are more children than adults in the maternity and children's hospital, and girls are the majority. Twenty-five of the 32 children currently admitted are girls."
Shao Lan thought about the origins of these girls, and her emotions were mixed. "Some were sent here because they were sick and couldn't be saved. Some were secretly taken away by their biological mothers and abandoned at the door. Some were bought from human traffickers. Most of the women in the courtyard were bought."
As a noblewoman, she did not think there was anything wrong with human trafficking, but she was worried that the immortals would despise these people for being too lowly and polluting the land she set foot on.
Even though the row houses in the outer city had been renovated, they were still of limited size. Wei Shengxue simply turned around and took a few more steps before seeing rows of adults and children standing in the yard.
In the cool autumn breeze, they were still wearing thin linen clothes. They lowered their heads shiveringly under her gaze and tugged at the corners of their clothes nervously.
Wei Shengxue didn't ask them why they didn't give them more clothes. After being here for half a year, she already had a deep understanding of the productivity here.
Just what they have is probably equivalent to the annual income of an ordinary family.
Instead of asking Shaolan to increase their pay, it would be better to find some work for these people and teach them some skills so that the maternity and child health home can operate on its own.
"Didn't you say you prepared some fruit snacks? Take me to try some." Weishengxue turned around and looked at Shaolan with a smile.
Shao Lan led them in another direction. After turning a corner, she heard a sound of being driven away from the yard over there. It sounded like the steward was asking them to go back to their rooms and not come out and get in the way.
The footsteps gradually faded away, and the sound from the other end gradually weakened, until only Shao Lan's clear and lively voice remained in his ears.
…
In the reception room, exquisite snacks and seasonal fresh fruits were beautifully presented. While eating the snacks, I listened to Shaolan's experiences in the past two months.
Her language was humorous and playful, and occasionally mixed with the difficulties encountered in practice, which immediately brought the atmosphere back to the few months of classes in the training class.
By the time the fruit was served and tea was ordered and the business began, the atmosphere in the room had become much more harmonious.
Wei Shengxue asked, "What arrangements do you have for these people in the maternity and children's hospital?"
Shao Lan explained her plan, which she had made long ago: "As for the girls, I plan to teach them some needlework or gardening skills, and when they are older, they will come to work in my family. As for the boys, I will teach them some martial arts, and when they grow up, they can go to the farm to guard the house or farm, which are both good prospects. As for the women, let them take care of the children in the maternity and children's hospital."
These arrangements are well-organized and clearly have been carefully thought out, but there is one problem:
"There are only a few dozen people now, and your family can still accommodate them. But when there are more people in the future, will they all be crammed into your house?"
Shao Lan said confidently, "Although our Shao clan isn't a noble family, it's no problem for us to arrange for a hundred or eighty people."
Wei Shengxue was silent for a moment, then said, "I'm talking about hundreds or thousands of people."
Shao Lan: “Huh?”
Hundreds or thousands of people... She wants to gain a good reputation, not rebel!
There are hundreds or even thousands of people, how dare she do that!
Your Majesty doesn't even need to take action. Princess Yangzi, who is sitting at the table, can tear her to pieces alive.
Wei Shengxue blinked, looked at the two people who suddenly fell silent, and tilted her head in confusion: "Don't you want to open a private talent training institution?"
In the interstellar world, there are many private schools run by wealthy individuals that specifically enroll adopted children. After completing their studies, these children will join the wealthy individuals' organizations, most of whom will become ordinary cogs in the wheel. However, if a super genius emerges among them, this investment will yield unpredictable returns.
She thought Shaolan also wanted to go this way.
She told them this idea, and then she saw Shaolan kneel down.
Physically, I knelt down.
Shaolan screamed in her heart: I really have no intention of treason! Your Highness, I am innocent!
Princess Yangzi was also shocked by this idea. It took a while for the image to switch from jpg back to avid. She rubbed her cheeks to restore her stiff face to its original state, and slowly and solemnly,
"Immortal, no one except His Majesty the Emperor can do this."
Wei Shengxue blinked and nodded.
Okay, she said to Ying Zheng.
"But you can't rely solely on your money to support these people. Such one-sided investment won't last long." She raised her hand to stop Shao Lan from speaking.
"And once they get used to the easy life in the maternity and children's hospital, they will lose their ability to survive. You don't want to spend money and time raising people who are useless and can't accomplish anything, do you?"
So Shaolan shut up.
Wei Shengxue's idea was similar to Shao Lan's, and even more idealistic than her plan, which made the two people who heard it sigh in their hearts: The idea is beautiful, but unrealistic.
You can't learn a skill just because you want to. It is a family heirloom passed down from grandfather to father, father to son, son to grandson, and from generation to generation. It is the ability for a family to make a living.
"There is something the immortal does not know." Princess Yangzi prepared her speech in her mind before speaking slowly.
She did not talk about the inheritance of technology, but raised the difficulties faced in this matter.
"Take weaving, for example. Turning hemp into silk is extremely laborious. The spinning alone takes a long time, and a skilled woman can only spin a few spindles of yarn a day. And even a skilled weaver can only produce six or seven feet of cloth a day at best."
Moreover, these are things that only the top weavers in the palace can do. For women from ordinary families, it would be considered good if they could weave five feet.
But these are not problems in Weishengxue's view. Science and technology are the primary productive forces. The biggest reason for insufficient productivity is that the technology is too backward. At this time, what needs to be increased is not manpower, but improved technology.
At the same time, the task prompt sounded at the right time:
[Ding! Mission 3: Build a water-powered spinning machine
Mission 4: Build a water loom
Mission Reward: The Most Suitable Textile Factory Site]
[Ding! Mission 5: Build a water-powered textile mill and provide employment for 20 people.]
Wei Shengxue waved, looking like a reliable Amway salesperson: "Have you heard of the 'Technical College'?"
Assign people to specific positions and receive targeted training. Don't learn anything else, just learn this one.
As for technology, there is a system.
"Right."
Ah, yes, yes, yes.
"It's just a little bit of technology, and it's a win-win situation for both of us."
Ah, yes, yes, yes.
"After you have sorted out the information, we will go find Fellow Daoist Ying Zheng."
Ah, yes, yes, yes.
"Tongmei, you are a bit weird today."
[Ah, yes, yes, no, no, no, I didn’t! ]
[The system is just slacking off, just to please the host]
That's so righteous.
The system quickly flipped through the recent records and sincerely suggested: [Host, before professional skills training, you must first solve one thing.]
Wei Shengxue's mind raced, but he couldn't find any problem.
If there is a lack of certain types of talent, then we should train technical personnel in that area. Is there anything wrong with this idea?
No.
The system currently captures the population information of Daqin within its detection range, and presents it to the host. The line about the illiteracy rate is highlighted in bold:
Illiteracy rate: 95%
According to the population of the Qin Dynasty, there were less than two million literate people.
It sounds like a lot, but if you remove the officials and the group of nobles who don't participate in the work, there won't be many people left.
Most of them were disciples of the various schools of thought, and many were unwilling to serve Qin.
As a result, there was a serious shortage of even low-level officials, and the country had to rely on local powerful families and nobles for governance.
------
In Zhangtai Palace, the issue of staff shortage was raised again.
The cause was a letter from an official in a certain county, which roughly meant: We are short of half the people here, and the work cannot be finished. Your Majesty, can you give me a few more people?
The court was divided into two factions:
The Juanwang faction believed that, putting the topic aside for now, the army was the only country in the entire Qin Dynasty that had no shortage of people. As long as they worked themselves to death, they would always be able to finish the work. Li Si was a representative of this faction.
The work-rest faction believed that this matter must be put on the agenda. If everyone was exhausted, there would be no one left to work. This faction was led by the veteran minister Wang Wan.
In the end, the King of Rolls faction had an overwhelming advantage, and the reason was simple.
——There is no one in Daqin.
In Xianyang City, even the guard dog is at 007, and there is no extra manpower to support.
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