Chapter 320 321. A woman with great ambitions
Lei Zhouzhou was pregnant, so Lei Li and Zhou Yi were not in a hurry to return to Beijing to report. They decided to wait until Bai Hui had almost recovered and Lei Zhouzhou's pregnancy was stable before returning.
All officials from top to bottom have been cleared out, and fresh blood has been brought in. The province is in a state of revival, especially in basic education.
The abandoned Wanjia School was rebuilt at a selected site, with government officials at all levels hiring local people to build it and publicly recruiting teachers.
The position of teacher is not limited to men or those with official titles. Any boy or girl without official titles, or husband or wife, as long as they can read and do math and have a desire to teach, can become a teacher. The age range is from twelve to sixty.
If they are female or male tutors, they will receive the same benefits and salary as male tutors, and the selection requirements are also the same. We cannot set high standards just because they are female or male tutors, and allow men of lower quality who are far inferior to them to be selected.
Since this was a major event that benefited both the country and the people, the people of Baihui were very excited and supportive, and some even wanted to help build the school without asking for any wages.
The vigorous movement of building schools ended, the teachers were selected, and the students were enrolled. As long as the children were five years old or above, they could go to school. However, due to government subsidies, the tuition fees for girls would be 20% less than that for boys.
This naturally caused dissatisfaction among some people. Some officials, bound by prejudice, could not understand it, so they wrote a petition to withdraw the regulation.
But Governor Lei Li always keeps his word.
He immediately sent the post back, pulled out the emperor's flag, and scolded them for treason and openly defying the emperor's orders. He fined them all six months' salary and ordered them to reflect on their mistakes for one month. He also ordered them to speed up the implementation of the school matters. If there were any mistakes, they would be held accountable.
After this incident, all officials, big and small, dared not say a word and worked tirelessly to implement the instructions issued by the governor, with unprecedented efficiency.
"I always say that a good official is born under the stick."
Lei Li went on another secret visit in disguise. The small fishing village in Xiazhi County he came to was the one where he and Zhou Yi had camped and barbecued on the beach last time, watched the sunset and sunrise, and went out to sea with the fishermen.
Seeing the county town thriving and the sound of reading in the school in this small fishing village, he nodded with satisfaction.
"Although this Wanjia School is a bit small and there is only one female teacher, the children in the nearby villages at least have books to read and can recognize words."
"However, the county must also pay attention to the safety of this female teacher. If any incident of molesting the teacher occurs, I will make the county magistrate, the mayor, and the village heads in the surrounding area bear the brunt of the consequences."
As he spoke, a cold light flashed in his affectionate and smiling peach blossom eyes, and he said sinisterly,
"If they dare to act like they are disobeying the emperor because I'm back in Beijing, I'll show you how I'll deal with them. If you can't do this job well, there are plenty of people who want to do it."
"It's really hard to cure the problem of lip service and double-crossing."
Zhou Yi also felt that his thoughts were reasonable. After thinking for a while, he said, "There are many upright censors in the court. Why not propose to the emperor that those censors take turns to serve as censors to supervise the four directions?"
"Every year, we randomly select three or four prefectures for inspection. Those who do well will be promoted and given titles, while those who don't will pack up and leave."
"It's best to let pure officials and censors do this. Although they may be a bit pedantic, they value rules and are very picky. They will submit a memorial to impeach any house that doesn't meet the standards."
This will save them from having nothing to do in Beijing and always finding fault with the Changning Marquisate, especially Lord Situ.
“This is good!”
Lei Li's eyes lit up, and his mind raced as he came up with a bunch of bad ideas. "I've always thought the imperial court's five-year inspection review was bad. They should conduct inspections every year to prevent them from slacking off and trying to take advantage of the people."
"It would be best to send two inspectors who have grudges against each other and have them supervise each other to prevent officials from protecting each other."
"Once the two inspectors have checked everything and found nothing wrong, I'll make a surprise attack and conduct a private visit to one of the three prefectures to see if they have colluded with local officials. We can both travel on public funds and watch the show."
The more Lei Li talked about it, the more he thought it was a good idea. If nothing happened, he could just treat it as a trip. But if they really found out something, hehe, that would be a good show to watch.
His favorite part among these dramas is playing the role of a righteous and mighty governor who sentences corrupt officials to death!
In the court, he hit the corrupt official who was shouting that he was innocent with a wake-up stick and gave him 30 lashes of the board before dragging him away. Then he took people to the corrupt official's home to search his house.
If he finds something he likes among the stolen belongings, he can put it into his personal stash! It's like a treasure hunt, hehe!
Moreover, he was not enriching himself. This was a small benefit given to him by the dog emperor when he was on a business trip. As long as the items were found during the house search, he could take them away as long as he liked them. Otherwise, why would he be on site to supervise every house search?
Do you really think Lei Li is some kind of impartial messenger of justice? He works himself to death and doesn't earn a penny. He's not sick, so he might as well go home and sleep!
“You, you…”
Zhou Yi knew what he was thinking as soon as he saw his expression. He smiled and shook his head, saying, "Although the emperor promised us this, if those censors in Beijing knew about it, they would definitely cause another uproar."
"Noisy!"
Lei Li was furious when he heard this. "All they do every day is make trouble at court. No wonder our family has so few children. They don't even worry that if the trouble continues, the younger ones will start making trouble too. They'll know they're finished if their family lineage ends."
"If you have this much free time, you might as well have more children."
Zhou Yi was delighted when he heard this and said, "With so many children, there's no time for trouble."
If a troublemaker is born, he will cause as much trouble as two or three other people. Even if Lord Situ dislikes their family, he won't have time to find fault, right?
etc--
Lord Situ's family does have a newborn! If it's a rebellious demon king...
The couple thought of this at the same time, looked at each other, and burst out laughing.
The two of them laughed for a long time on the country road, until an old man looked at them with a dazed look, and then they stopped laughing.
"Um?"
Lei Li took a closer look and realized that the old man was an acquaintance. He smiled warmly, "Old man, do you still remember us?"
"You are..."
The old man looked carefully at Lei Li, then at Zhou Yi, and after thinking carefully, he suddenly realized, "You, you are the governor!"
He was immediately terrified and was about to kneel down and kowtow to the governor. As soon as he bent his knees, he was supported by Zhou Yi, who was quick-eyed and quick-handed.
"Your Excellency, Your Excellency the Governor..."
The old man was still trembling with fear, and the more friendly the governor was, the more anxious he became.
With his limited knowledge, he didn't know how high an official the governor was. Before this, he thought the highest official was the county magistrate, and since the county magistrate was always respectful in front of the governor, the governor must be very high-ranking.
In just a moment, the old man thought about all the bad things he had done in his life, but no matter how he thought about it, he didn't think there was anything that could alarm the governor.
Except for the ten taels of silver given by the governor last time.
"Your Excellency the Governor..."
The old man was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and trembled as he said, "Th-those ten taels of silver were left at home, and they were not touched..."
"Don't be afraid."
Lei Li smiled and said, "We're not here to ask for money from you. Once you give us the money, it's yours to do with. There's no reason to ask for it back."
He thought he was approachable enough, but the old man looked at him as if he had seen a monster, and his legs felt so weak that he felt like he was about to kneel down at any moment.
Lei Li: A stiff smile
This old man didn't act like this last time when the fat magistrate was here. Could it be that he didn't react last time?
"Old man."
Zhou Yi cleared his cough and said, "Just think of us as an ordinary wealthy family. We are just passing by and want to ask you a few questions."
Seeing that they had kind faces and friendly attitudes, the old man gradually calmed down. After a moment of awkwardness, he tentatively invited them to his home for a visit.
Normally, when a distinguished guest comes, he should be invited to sit at home, have a drink of water and a meal, but this is the governor, and his house is bare with only some sea fish and kelp. He was really afraid of being punished for neglecting the governor.
Lei Li and Zhou Yi were not the kind of people who cared about material possessions, so they naturally did not think that simple meals were a neglect. These were the best things the old man's family had.
Lei Li started by talking about his last fishing trip, and asked some questions about the sea to ease the old man's tension and gradually open up his mouth.
Then he calmly asked about recent events, such as how the newly appointed county magistrate was doing, how the Wanjia School was doing, whether he had sent his granddaughter to school, and whether the teacher was teaching well.
These were things the old man was familiar with, so he talked about them naturally. When he got home, it was an environment he was familiar with and trusted, so he felt less awkward, and it was his family's turn to be nervous.
Lei Li and Zhou Yi had an ordinary fisherman's meal with the cramped family. They were smiling and very friendly before leaving, which made the family feel much more at ease.
——Fortunately, I didn’t offend this adult.
"Grandpa!"
The little granddaughter suddenly cried out, pointing at the brocade bag on the dining table and asking curiously, "Grandpa, what is that? Is it something that the adult left behind?"
"oops!"
"That adult has gone far away!"
"Shall we catch up?"
"Open it first and see what's inside. What if it's something that the master left behind on purpose?"
"It looks bulgy to me. Could it be for us? If we look at it, will it..."
The whole family was hesitant and looked at the old man. The old man made up his mind, took the brocade bag and opened it. He was shocked to see that there were fifty taels of silver!
A full fifty taels!
The family looked at each other. They were all honest people and no one dared to say that they would take the fifty taels of silver, let alone the silver left by the governor.
"There's a piece of paper in here!"
The sharp-eyed granddaughter said that she took out the paper and opened it, and saw a few lines of words, but she only recognized one or two and could only look at her grandfather blankly.
"That's right! The village chief can read!"
The family hurried to the village chief's house and asked him to take a look. Only then did they realize that it was written on the wall:
If a little girl likes to study, let her study hard and grow up slowly. A grown-up woman has ambitions, so don't let her get married early and waste her time.
[May I have another female champion in Dayou]
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