Chapter 52: Paper is expensive in Luoyang, pigs are expensive in Jingchang? (……
Shen Zhiwei's long silence made Changzi, who was waiting for her consent, feel a little embarrassed.
To be precise, it is confusion.
Rebuilding the academy in Jingchang was not wrong from any perspective and was a great thing. If this happened to other princes, Changzi would be treated as a guest of honor and would be worshipped as a deity.
There are only so many talented people in the world. The fact that Bian State was able to grow from a small country into one of the powerful vassal states is, to be frank, all thanks to the Imperial Academy. Which vassal king could resist the temptation of the Imperial Academy?
Strength is the eternal theme in troubled times.
Therefore, in Changzi's eyes, the emperor's silence was a very wrong reaction.
Wen Tao, however, was already accustomed to the king's occasional peculiar reactions. She quickly understood and whispered to her teacher, "Teacher, the king has his own ideas. The platform at the city gate represents the king's orders."
Changzi had also seen the podium and even listened to the lecturer's lectures on the podium. He suddenly realized and thought he understood the reason for the emperor's silence.
He immediately said, "If Your Majesty is worried that the academy will eventually become a battlefield for different schools of thought, you can establish different academies and also set up another lecture platform."
Jingchang is so big that it can accommodate various ideas and can also accommodate more academies and lecture platforms.
Changzi thought that the emperor was worried that the establishment of the academy would affect the promotion of simplified Chinese characters, and he thought he was very considerate and proposed a solution.
After hearing this, Shen Zhiwei felt like spitting out a mouthful of blood.
What?! One school isn't enough, you want two!
"Teacher is right, Your Majesty. The books compiled by Tao are more suitable for enlightenment. We can establish two academies. One will be managed by the teacher, inviting students from all families to come and discuss the principles of state governance. The other will be open to young children to help them open their minds."
Okay, okay, not only do we have two schools, but we also have primary schools and universities.
Shen Zhiwei immediately agreed to their request.
Stop discussing this. If we continue, nine-year compulsory education will be implemented soon.
Shen Zhiwei deeply understood what it meant that the world changed drastically when a genius thought about it. She gave up thinking in front of a genius to avoid exposing the reality that she was a fool.
I can't think of any reasonable reason to refuse such a pure and good thing! She is really a failed king who lost his country!
The key point is that Shen Zhiwei always felt that if she refused, the two would do it privately, and it would be even more uncontrollable at that time. Who knows how things will develop.
Changzi has already arrived in Jingchang, and he will not give up until he achieves his goal. Wen Tao now holds the position of Dazai, so it is too easy for him to find a backdoor for the teacher.
Moreover, even if the master and the disciple do not hold any official positions, as descendants of aristocratic families and famous figures throughout the world, what can't they do?
After Shen Zhiwei and the others left, he sighed dejectedly, staring blankly into the air.
The system panel quietly unfolded, showing the familiar special event section. She couldn't even look at the character information.
Isn't this a game world? Why is there no character information? If she could see the character information and knew the extraordinaryness of Wen Tao, Gui Yang and others from the beginning, she would not have reused them!
It’s all the system’s fault!
The special event is still at the stage of National War II. When Shen Zhiwei saw the word "National War", his heart skipped a beat. The special event has not ended, which means that the National War has not ended either, and there will be more war next.
I just hope that she won't initiate the attack, and let other vassal states fight as well. Their presence is too low.
Perhaps God finally heard Shen Zhiwei's prayers. When the news of the war came, the protagonist finally had nothing to do with Shen Zhiwei.
The war was between Beiguo and Anguo, and their targets were clear: they were the small vassal states around them.
This time there was no excuse at all, they just attacked and seized the cities directly. However, after the vassal states were conquered, those vassals who claimed to be kings were not killed, but continued to be vassals in their original territories. However, the thrones they had just obtained were returned to their original titles in an instant.
At first glance, it seems that King An and King Bei are the common rulers of the world.
In Jingchang, Shen Zhiwei became an imposter, eating and sleeping every day, living a very comfortable life, and did not make any comments on the actions of King An and King Bei. For a while, all the eyes of the world were on the two countries of An and Bei, and some princes even took the initiative to send letters of surrender.
They can't wait to choose a new emperor.
Shen Zhiwei watched the changes quietly, and after discovering this phenomenon, she was almost moved to tears. If everyone could be like these princes, why would she worry about not being able to complete the main storyline?
The problem is that she has a lot of ministers who are unwilling to be ordinary. After seeing this situation, those ministers have only one thought in their hearts, that is, they must let those people know who the real emperor is!
So the Bian land, which had just passed the spring plowing season, began to become restless.
More than one county governor submitted petitions requesting the dispatch of T troops to eliminate the nearby small states.
Don’t attack the big countries first, but never let the small countries go. If there is a chance, you can also touch the border of Anguo. If you can get a few cities, you will make a profit!
That’s right, Gui Yang was not the only county magistrate who submitted a petition requesting war. The colleagues that Wen Tao had previously arranged for him to go there, as well as some officials who had come from Jingchang, all began to submit petitions requesting war.
Shen Zhiwei wanted to set up a preaching platform at the gate of the city where the county magistrates were located, so that when they had nothing to do, they could go to literacy classes instead of thinking about fighting and killing every day, which was so rude!
Unfortunately, this is unrealistic, and Shen Zhiwei doesn't want to take care of education matters recently. If a few more great people like Changzi come and suggest that she open schools everywhere, then she will be doomed. How can she still be a king of a fallen country? She should pack up and prepare to be Emperor Wen.
Oh, no, it’s King Wen. He has a posthumous title, but he is not emperor yet.
As soon as Shen Zhiwei opened his eyes, he began to think, between the Northern King and the An King, who could be the first emperor?
Can't you destroy a country today, a city tomorrow, become a king in three years and an emperor in five years? How about lending Wen Tao to them and asking Wen Tao to write some teaching materials on how to become an emperor?
When Shen Zhiwei had this thought, she knew that she had finally gone crazy hahahaha...
Shen Zhiwei had always been reluctant to face the fact that a full-scale war had broken out in Bian, but she still had to face it, because by early April, a city would send her news of victory.
It happened too fast, too fast. Shen Zhiwei couldn't resist the urging of these people. Less than a month after the order to go to war was delivered, this group of people destroyed a small country.
It was such an exaggerated speed that Shen Zhiwei was so angry that he cursed the prince of that small country for an hour in the empty bedroom, calling him a complete waste!
After scolding, he was in a good mood. He ordered food to be served in his bedroom, and he ate braised pork and stewed pork ribs.
It smells so good, only delicious food can soothe Shen Zhiwei's heart that was hurt by the capable minister.
"Your Majesty, this year many villages have borrowed piglets from the government. There are so few young piglets among the people that the government can't buy them. This..."
Seeing that the king was eating with relish, Yanxia couldn't help but talk about the biggest worry facing the people recently.
Shen Zhiwei really likes people chatting with her while she eats, as long as she doesn't spit food all over other people's faces.
Besides, if no one talks while eating, the atmosphere will be too awkward.
She couldn't talk while eating or sleeping, Shen Zhiwei couldn't do it! That's right, she was such a down-to-earth king.
While people were fighting to the death outside, the people near Jingchang were also fighting openly and secretly. While people were fighting for lives outside, the people near Jingchang were fighting for pigs.
This contrast made Shen Zhiwei feel a little uncomfortable, but when the next bite of braised pork entered her mouth, Shen Zhiwei felt better again.
What's wrong with pigs? Pork is so delicious!
"Is there enough food?"
Shen Zhiwei's impression of the common people still remained at the beginning: they were all as thin as bamboo poles, and could not even feed themselves, let alone feed pigs. There were many children and the elderly who starved to death.
"There's enough to eat. The harvests have been good over the past two years, and Your Majesty has reduced corvée taxes. People near Jingchang are trading their surplus grain for cloth, and the wealthy have even bought cattle."
When Yanxia talked about this, she was also shocked. The common people were poor and had no family background. They didn't even dare to look at cows. But now, after only two years, they bought cows for their families.
Therefore, not only were pigs being snapped up near Jingchang, but livestock such as cattle and donkeys were also in short supply.
"Before, the ministers often complained about the king's reduction of corvée taxes. But during this year's spring plowing, the common people paid the rent for the farm tools from last year. Now that the granaries are full, those ministers haven't complained a word."
Yanxia wanted to laugh when she talked about this, and in fact she did laugh, her eyes narrowed into slits.
Shen Zhiwei finished the last bite, wiped his mouth and rinsed it, then slowly said: "As long as the tax revenue does not flow into other people's pockets, the country and the common people will not be poor."
It's just that in the past, too many wealthy families seized land and people, causing the country's tax revenue to decline again and again. When low taxes could no longer keep the country running, the remaining few common people had to bear the excessively high taxes after they were evenly distributed.
Coupled with corrupt officials and kings who love luxury, this will make it even more difficult for the common people to make a living.
Thinking of this, Shen Zhiwei began to worry about Anguo and Beiguo sincerely.
"King An and King Bei are only concerned with fighting wars and have done nothing to govern the small kingdoms they have conquered. I'm afraid there will be a big mess later."
The Qin State in history is a lesson. It only fought, but had no experience in governing a large country after the war. In addition, the local nobles and powerful people were not cleaned up, and there was a foolish monarch. The final result was that a huge unified country fell into war and division in just fourteen years.
"However, Anguo had conquered several small vassal states before without any incident."
Yanxia didn't understand what kind of big trouble would happen.
"The An Kingdom accumulated strength for decades before defeating four small vassal states. The current King An has already surpassed his father's record in less than two years."
An Guo had previously defeated the small vassal states within two years, but it took An Gong Shouguang ten years to plan the attack. When he was still the crown prince, he began to pay attention to those small countries and wait for the right opportunity.
The young King An was probably stimulated by the previous act of destroying the Chiwei State, and thought that the small vassal state was vulnerable, so he attacked it.
On the surface, the small vassal states were indeed weak, and none of them were capable of fighting.
In order to stabilize their power as quickly as possible, King An and King Bei did not kill those princes, but made them submit to them as they did to the Zhou emperor.
Shen Zhiwei sighed. Without experience, it would be useless. When would she be able to wait for an emperor who could unify the country?
"Send a letter to Hu Youan, saying that the defeated princes and their direct royal descendants must not be allowed to live. Disobedient nobles should also be dealt with according to the old rules. Ask her to persuade those county governors who are rebellious. We really don't have enough officials!"
Shen Zhiwei got a headache when he thought about so many new territories to manage.
She even began to consider prying students from Changzi. In fact, opening a school has some benefits, as it can significantly reduce the king's workload.
It's just that the subsequent benefits are so great that Shen Zhiwei really doesn't want to open this door. She is afraid that subsequent talents will grow like leeks, one after another.
If the talent gap is greater than the current job vacancies, then we have to expand the job market.
Just like the system of conferring titles based on military merit, once the locomotive starts moving, there is no way to stop it. Only continuous expansion can stop the situation from getting worse. However, too large a territory has great disadvantages, and various national policies are like drinking poison to quench thirst. In the end, it becomes a mountain of shit code that will collapse if anything moves.
Shen Zhiwei's head hurt even more when he thought of that situation. He ordered Yanxia to repeatedly remind Hu Youan to fight fewer small countries, take one step at a time, and not to be impatient.
Let Anguo and Beiguo fight. If they don't find any problems, it would be best if they keep fighting. If they can also destroy Jingchang, she can then remove the heavy burden of being the emperor.
Shen Zhiwei felt that he was the person in the entire Jingchang who most wanted to welcome Prince An or Prince Bei.
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