"Anan, why don't you come with me to take a look?"
Because of his joy, Su Kunliang's face shone brightly, and his eyes were piercing.
"Alright."
With nothing urgent to attend to at the county government office, Lin Yinan instructed Lin Fu to put away the booklets on the table, ordered the guards to prepare a carriage, and went to the city academy with Su Kunliang.
The academy was built against the mountains and forests, and it only took a fifteen-minute carriage ride outside the city to get there.
The carriage stopped at the entrance of the academy, and Lin Yinan got off the carriage and saw the wide and imposing archway.
The academy adopts a courtyard layout, consisting of lecture halls, ancestral halls, libraries, laboratories, and dormitories. At the very back of the academy is a martial arts training ground the size of a football field.
The dormitory is what we call a modern student dormitory.
All the external hardware facilities have been completed, and carpenters are making tables, chairs, beds, and other furniture for various areas of the college.
"Anan, come with me."
Su Kunliang mysteriously led her to a renovated courtyard.
“Library.” Lin Yinan looked up at the three powerful characters above the courtyard gate. “Master Su’s calligraphy is flowing and vigorous, beautiful characters!”
In my past life, I had a classmate who loved calligraphy. Whenever she wrote a piece that she was satisfied with, she would ask everyone in the dormitory to give her feedback. She even went online to search for compliments on people's calligraphy.
With a smile playing on his lips, Su Kunliang took out his key with trembling hands and opened the door to one of the rooms in the library.
Pushing open the door, Lin Yinan was stunned by the scene before her, and a fragrant aroma of books wafted out.
The spacious room was filled with rows of bookshelves.
On the shelf, books are neatly arranged, each one exuding the unique scent of ink.
The bookshelves in the room are already nearly 60% full of books.
"Over this period of time, I have gradually moved all the books I brought over."
Watching the academy being built up bit by bit filled Su Kunliang with a sense of accomplishment, and his voice trembled slightly.
Lin Yinan's eyes flickered slightly, filled with respect for Su Kunliang, the one who spread the torch of education. "Master Su, thank you!"
Regaining his confidence, Su Kunliang clapped his hands and said, "We can start recruiting now. I'll go back and write the recruitment notice."
"Recruitment is not limited to the two southern prefectures. Have two more copies made later, and I will have Liu Ji take them to Cangwu County so that all the bright and studious students can have a place to study."
"Seven-year-olds are not allowed to sit together, so the enrollment age is set at eight to fifteen years old. Oh, right, in addition to the Six Arts of a Gentleman, the courses offered include architecture, agriculture, etc. I also asked Doctor Lin and Doctor Lü, and they are willing to take time to teach at the academy. Then we can add a course on benevolence."
Su Kunliang got a little carried away while talking, and even started gesturing wildly. Lin Yinan would occasionally chime in to express her approval of his work.
After a long while, he finally came to his senses. "By the way, Anan, how much should we charge for tuition? What about those poor students who can't afford the tuition but are talented and unwilling to give up their studies?"
Lin Yinan already had a solution for this.
"I don't expect this academy to generate revenue. As long as the tuition fees paid by the students are enough to support the teachers, that's fine. In addition, Longtan will provide some extra subsidies. For poor students, the academy can provide some jobs so that they can work part-time while studying. Longtan will also have special positions to recruit students."
"That's great."
After a long time, and having finished visiting the academy, Lin Yinan prepared to head home.
Stepping out of the academy, Su Kunliang slapped his forehead in frustration, saying, "Look at me, I forgot about something so important."
Lin Yinan stopped and looked at him.
"Master Su, what's wrong?"
"Come on, come on, the girls' college next door has also been completed, I'll take you to see it."
As Su Kunliang spoke, he led Lin Yinan to the next room.
The women's college was half the size of the men's college, and its layout was no different from the one next door. The library contained only a handful of books.
After the tour, Su Kunliang handed all the keys to the women's college to Lin Yinan as they came out.
"I already have a choice for the teachers at the boys' academy, but I'll have to put in a lot of effort for the girls' academy."
Su Kunliang understood Lin Yinan's original intention in building the girls' college, so he did not intend to interfere too much.
After returning home, Lin Yinan began to prepare. She rummaged through her space and found several books on cooking, pastry, and medicinal cuisine, as well as books on basic drawing, needlework and embroidery, mathematics, and other practical skills.
Regarding the selection of staff for the women's college, she finalized a few candidates and met with them. They were all very surprised and agreed to let her try it out for a period of time to see the results. If the results were good, she could continue to serve; if the students' feedback was not good, she could find someone else.
The original choice for cooking was Zhang, but Zhang felt that she was illiterate and worried that the students would not understand her lectures, so she asked Li Shulan to take on the role. The embroidery was taught by Yao Xiuer and Wu Yao respectively, and the mathematics class shared a teacher with the boys' college.
The specific curriculum will depend on the number of students enrolled.
With the help of the Deng family of Cangwu County in promoting the school, the boys' academy eventually recruited nearly a hundred students.
In an instant, the entire Dragon Pool was in an uproar.
The women's college, on the other hand, recruited villagers from the village below Longtan, numbering less than twenty.
For these twenty female students, Lin Yinan used his own private funds to arrange all the courses at the boys' academy.
He personally taught and guided students in riding and archery classes.
Riding on the popularity of Longtan, the market built in Chi'an and the markets between the villages and towns below Longtan have sprung up in full swing.
From this point on, Longtan's reputation was officially established in the southern region and Cangwu County.
Riding this wave of enthusiasm, Longtan achieved a bumper harvest of its second season of rice.
After two years of planting, the people who fled from the north or the Central Plains have finally established themselves in Longtan.
At the end of the year, Lin Yinan held grand weddings for couples.
Lin Yiheng gave birth to Wu Yao, Yun Ying and Yun Er, and Qian Xia and Yun Shiyi, who got married in the same year.
When Yun Shiyi proposed to Lin Yinan that he wanted to marry Qianxia, Yun Mo recalled Yun San.
When Yun San learned that Yun Shiyi had actually taken a liking to his beautiful younger sister, he beat him up for almost half a month.
In terms of martial prowess, Yun Shiyi and Yun San were evenly matched. However, for Qianxia's sake, he dared not go all out and lost to Yun San every time.
Looking at Yun Shiyi's handsome face, ruined by scars, it was covered in so much pain from his care during this time.
In the end, Yun San softened and agreed to let Qian Xia marry him.
Before the New Year, thanks to Yun Zhenchuan's active efforts, Feng Yongyan submitted a memorial to the court, and the Prime Minister agreed to the salt tax law for the southern region and Cangwu County.
In order to replenish the empty treasury, the imperial court ordered Feng Yongyan to send the taxes collected this year to the new capital as soon as possible.
Neither the wars in the Central Plains nor the turmoil in the imperial court could affect the development of Longtan.
After the New Year, everyone is busy with spring plowing.
Longtan is bursting with unprecedented vitality!
Meanwhile, the Yun family of Nanzhou Prefecture welcomed an uninvited guest—Wang Tingshan, the newly appointed Grand Secretary of the Imperial Court.
Looking at the sprightly old man in front of him, Yun Zhenchuan was puzzled, but remained expressionless.
He asked politely, "May I ask what brings you here, Grand Secretary Wang?"
Wang Tingshan was from the direct line of his wife's family, and since his marriage to the Wang family, he had never had any contact with the direct line.
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