Du Ruhui is still only in his early forties, even if this is the age of a short life expectancy, if it is not for the invasion of disease or something, it is really not a problem to live for another twenty years.

But Li Gang is different, if a person is over eighty, it is equivalent to walking to the door of the Hades Palace, and it is possible to get into it at any time.

It is precisely because of the fear of death that Li Gang lives more and more like a child.

The advent of wheelchairs has made him no longer have to sit and lie down because of leg problems. Especially after the eunuch made a light carriage pulled by a calf according to the prince's drawings, the old gentleman could not sit still.

Except for the morning thunder will not move the thunder to give a class to the Xungui's children, the rest of the time, basically will not stay in the East Palace.

Who always leaves the palace when the prince is an adult? Only Li Chengqian.

Several officials saw the prince haunting Chang'an City several times, but they couldn't help it, and they participated in another book. Among them, there is naturally no shortage of Luo Qiuzheng, Huang Gui and Wu Qingfeng, who are eager to make meritorious contributions.

A morning plays nine heavens, and the sunset falls eight thousand on the sunset. It is said that the emperor's right to dispose of the courtiers is almost absolute. It was only in the morning that they submitted their recitals, and in the afternoon, the three of them began to pack up their salutes and prepare to take up their posts in the corner area of the Tang Dynasty.

Today is the day of the imperial court's sacrifice to the sky, as the winner of the Little Golden Man Award, how can Li Shimin, not make a fuss by worshipping the sky.

After sacrificing to heaven and condemning himself, he pinched two locusts on the ground and cursed: "The people feed on crops, and now you eat crops, you are harming the lives of the people. ”

Seeing that the emperor wanted to eat locusts, the hundred officials immediately exhorted in horror. These days, the Taoist priests of Laojunguan, under the leadership of Sun Simiao, have been preaching ways to prevent the pandemic. The most important thing is not to eat locusts. According to his old man's words, locusts take off from the mire, and the mire is full of dead things, and they feed on locusts and are very susceptible to disease.

Under the fierce persuasion of the ministers, the two locusts still entered the emperor's stomach.

Eating locusts raw is unbearable for a person.

Although his face was expressionless during the ritual of worshipping the sky, after returning to the harem, Li Shimin vomited in the dark. reviewed the recital with a white face, and saw the recital of the impeachment of the prince by the official, how could it not make people angry?

What happened to the prince out of the palace? In Li Shimin's view, the East Palace did a good job in this locust plague, and in addition to taking care of some orphans, widows, the elderly and the weak, the imperial court chose to capture locusts and exchange them for food. It is said that the people are self-reliant, but as long as the prince's car appears on the street, it will be praised by the people.

This is a great thing, no matter what the prince says, he is also a member of the royal family. It has only been eleven years since the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, and the people have not yet formed a sense of belonging to this dynasty. Countless examples in history prove that whoever wins the hearts and minds of the people wins the world. As long as it can win the support of the people, Datang will not follow the old path of the Sui Dynasty.

The people were grateful.

As for the question of the prince putting a step on them, as long as they are not stupid, they can see it. In the end, they owe the relief food to the officials for no reason, and they can exchange it for their labor, so they don't have this worry.

There are two exchange points in the East Palace, the farm and outside Chang'an City. When the shrewd people found that exchanging dried locusts for grain and meat always received praise and additional rewards from the county order, they no longer rushed to exchange them, but drowned them, dried them in the sun, and sent them over.

In this way, the farm does not need to allocate manpower in the matter of drying locusts, and although the two exchange points are crowded, they are still barely able to support them.

However, this balance has been broken with the participation of homeless people.

The people of Guanzhong are very strange, although there is a disaster that spreads throughout Guanzhong, they just don't want to go anywhere else. Knowing that Chang'an also suffered heavy losses under the attack of locusts, they still involuntarily gathered towards Chang'an, eager to find some work so that they would not starve to death.

Chang'an and Wannian counties accepted the homeless people and gave them a way to exchange food.

Even if the locusts are full of pits and valleys, they can't help but be pursued by so many people all over the mountains.

Therefore, when the nomads from other places also joined the army of catching locusts, for a while, there were no more swarms of locusts taking off around Chang'an City.

"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, your exchanging food for locusts is indeed a good way to deal with disasters. But there are only so many locusts, and Xia Guan has heard many people complain today, saying that there are more people catching locusts than locusts. If this continues, how will our food be distributed? ”

Yu Qiusheng is worthy of being a pro-people official, and the scorching sun of June has turned him from a white-faced scholar to a black charcoal head, his official uniform is stained with sweat, and his shoes are also covered with patches.

On the light carriage, Li Chengqian and Li Gang sat side by side, listening to Yu Qiusheng's complaints, and couldn't help but feel worried.

Swapping locusts for food is the most direct means of dealing with this locust plague. However, as soon as the homeless people from other places came, this exchange was about to end, so what else could be done?

"Let the local people, who have already stocked up on food, stop first, and help the people from other places to come first. Now the locusts are far from finished, and they should be able to hold out for a while. In addition, you have to arrange the accommodation of the homeless, and I feel that there will be no drought this year, and there will be heavy rains. The same order, you also tell He Shou, let Wannian County do the same. ”

After asking the prince's instructions clearly, Yu Qiusheng trotted all the way down to order.

This locust plague was so large, he never thought it would have such a small impact.

The people were very peaceful, and I heard that there was no quarrel in the court because of this incident. That's good, that's good.

As long as there is no chaos, no matter how great the disaster is, it will pass.

The so-called light carriage is actually similar to the human-powered two-wheeled vehicle of later generations, with only a folded roof at most.

Such a car can be used to travel in Chang'an, but it is not possible to go out of the city.

Yu Tai stopped in front of the car, refusing to let the prince out, if he wanted to go out, he had to take the carriage lined with iron plates that would be made by the superintendent. Even this light carriage must be surrounded by guards before it can get out.

If you can't get out of the city gate, it's just boring.

So at Li Gang's suggestion, Li Chengqian went to Li's mansion.

Li Gang's grandson, Li Anren, has returned from his ancestral land to continue his teaching journey. Starting.. ..

Under the thatched hut is a group of children who are guarding a small mound of dirt and writing.

As children of small businessmen and commoners, they could not afford to enjoy specially made sand tables, let alone paper. After each write, I have to use a wooden stick to bulldoze the sand and reuse it.

The carriage was parked outside the hut, and the guards were driven behind the carriage so as not to frighten the children.

Looking at the serious expressions of the children when they wrote, Li Gang sighed and said: "It is said that the millennium is a thousand years of Wenhua, but how many can be passed down?" Even if our Datang has been stable for more than ten years, there are still a few literate people! Boy, guess how many of our Datang literate people can we have? ”

Li Chengqian thought for a while before he tentatively asked, "Two or three out of a hundred?" ”

Li Gang shook his head: "One thousand and two!" ”

"So little?"

Li Chengqian almost couldn't suppress his voice, one thousand and two? Doesn't it mean that there are few people who can read in the entire East Palace?

"What do you think it is, this is still the way it is near Chang'an, the more remote the place, the more unbearable, and even some barren places, the county order may be half a bottle of water. It's hard to read! Why do you think the five surnames and seven hopes can be proud of the princes? It is because of their family origins that the children in the clan are basically literate, and there are countless people who do learning. These few families that control the readers, even in the family, occupy half of the country. Otherwise, why do you think there will always be officials with five surnames and seven wangs being recommended? It's really because there are few people who study in poor families, and they can't recruit many if they want to. And a poor scholar, without the recommendation of others, it is difficult to enter the officialdom! ”

Li Chengqian was shocked, and he couldn't imagine that the mere literacy alone would divide the class in Datang.

The imperial examination seems to be a thoroughfare opened by the emperor's father to the commoners, but it is estimated that it should be a means to deal with the five surnames and seven hopes. If you want to know the influence of the five surnames on the court, you must reduce the intensity of recommendation, and strive to find people from the common people who do not bear the mark of family power to be officials.

However, this is not enough! There are few scholars from poor families, even if the imperial examination is opened, how many choices can there be?

Looking at the children who were lying on the ground and writing, Li Chengqian's heart was full of sourness.

At the beginning, the orphanage where he lived was a small county level, although he did very well in the college entrance examination, but he failed to reach the level of tuition reduction, and in the face of high tuition fees, he could only choose to retreat. If possible, he would still like to go to university.

Now that I have traveled to Datang, I don't have to worry about learning, but I can't help but feel emotional when I see these children with similar fates to myself.

Yu Qiusheng's complaints flashed through his mind, Li Chengqian suddenly had an idea, and couldn't help but hold the old man's thin hand and said, "Master Li, what do you think, how about a disciple opening an academy to teach students from poor families?" The expenses of the academy are borne by the disciples' Donggong, whether it is a student who comes to study or a teacher who teaches, there is no need to worry about money. ”

Li Gang smiled slightly: "Even if you open a academy, what can you do?" How big our Datang is, you should be clear, the gentleman of the academy has taught him all his life, and it is very good to be able to teach everyone near Chang'an to read and write in his lifetime. ”

Li Chengqian was silent, but jumped to the ground and asked a guard for a horizontal knife.

Pulling out the horizontal knife and drawing a vertical line on the ground, Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Master Li, this is a gentleman who teaches. ”

Li Gang nodded, given that this apprentice had given him too many surprises, he simply waited for him to finish explaining to him.

"One person, teaching ten people shouldn't be a problem. In the enrollment process, as long as we select four people to stay, teach the next batch. In this way, it became five gentlemen, teaching fifty disciples. ”

There was no way to draw so many lines, so Li Chengqian could only write on the ground with great difficulty.

"When this term is over, there will be twenty-five gentlemen left, and these twenty-five gentlemen will be able to teach two hundred and fifty students. And after these two hundred and fifty people have finished studying.... Hey, hey, hey. ”

Li Gang had no time to care about Li Chengqian's evil smile, because he didn't need others to help him calculate, he already understood what Li Chengqian meant.

One person, even if he tries his best, can teach so many people. But if you keep the person who has learned to be the master, then the speed of this expansion will only get faster and faster. He may not be able to see it in his lifetime, but in Li Chengqian's lifetime, it is not a dream to admit all the children born in the new generation of Datang into the school!

He took a deep breath before saying, "Since you have this idea, let's give it a try." The question of the establishment of the academy still needs the approval of the imperial court. If it is really as you said, when it is developed, the scale of this academy will be paid attention to, even the court. As long as you can get the approval of the imperial court, the old man can recruit the old man, and you don't have to worry about it! ”

Educate the world!

Li Gang smacked his lips, full of anticipation. A person's whole life can be said to be living in regret. When I was young, I was full of spirit, and I always felt that I could take on a big responsibility. When he was middle-aged, he was as fierce as fire, and he always wanted to leave a name in history. Now that I'm old, I realize that when I enter the court all my life, I'm doing useless things.

More than 80 years have passed, and there is still not much change in the world, the only thing that has changed is the dynasty, the emperor and the imperial court.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, although educating the world still seems so far away, but as long as you do it, you will definitely be able to do it.

The impatient old gentleman immediately urged the guards and Li Chengqian to return to the East Palace. This time, too, he was going to draft a note.

Since the Displaced Persons Incident, Li Chengqian has gained the power to play the game. When this news was first announced, many officials advised the emperor to withdraw his order, but Li Shimin insisted on suppressing it.

A child was given a lighter, and although he pressed it, he couldn't light it everywhere to play. Li Chengqian has this self-knowledge. So since the exile incident, he has not been playing. The officials applauded the prince's silence and forgot about it.

Back in the study of the East Palace, the old and the young did not speak, and each picked up a pen and wrote.

Li Gang is worthy of being an old fritter mixed up in the court, a macro article, which was written in just half an hour, and then began to check and correct the mistakes.

And when he looked up at the opposite side, he found that Li Chengqian had actually finished writing the recital, and he was writing something in the vernacular at this time, so he asked directly.

"Hehe, this is a private message written by a disciple to his father. Although our master and apprentice will play together, the court officials will agree, but in order to increase the success rate, it is better to bring the father and emperor over. ”

Li Gang just thought about it for a while, and he didn't need to look at the content to know what Li Chengqian wrote.

Helplessly pointing at the prince, Li Gang ignored it and continued to revise his article.

It was already evening when the revisions were completed and copied into this chapter.

The twists and turns of the master and apprentice were handed over to the eunuch to be sent to Zhongshu Province, and the letter written by Li Chengqian was sent directly to the harem by Fang Sheng.