Chapter 258: I want to be a precursor to the Holy King

In the past two or three years, Zhao Heju has taken advantage of the surplus of the inner treasury to open a primary school to accommodate orphans in the Song Dynasty, spending more than 2 million yuan before and after, and building six primary schools in Xuzhou, Quanzhou, Lin'an, Chengdu, Jiankang, and Guangzhou, with a total of about 10,000 orphans.

In addition, he also opened so-called medical schools in major state capitals to teach poor children, although not as large as primary schools, but they covered a wider range of children, and they were not only orphans.

The educational reform he proposed this time is to formalize and institutionalize these scattered schools that use new textbooks for teaching, and to promote the compulsory education system.

However, if compulsory education is promoted, unlike the original focus on training, the three-year school system is afraid that it will not be enough, and it must be extended to five years.

At present, it is not money that restricts the promotion of compulsory education, but with the current national strength of the Great Song Dynasty, the money for five-year compulsory education can be afforded financially. The most important thing restricting its development is the teaching force, if you just get a group of old masters to shake their heads and teach some Zi Yue Shiyun, Zhao Heju feels that this is tantamount to throwing money into the sea.

Zhao Heju estimated that if the whole country really wants to popularize compulsory education, at least hundreds of thousands of teachers will be needed, and even if all the students trained by the Liuqiu secondary school in the past ten years are sent out to teach, it will not be able to meet this need.

Therefore, the promotion of compulsory education is not an overnight thing.

"Fifteen million dollars for these expenses." After the court confirmed the promotion of compulsory education, Zhao and Ju crossed their fingers and listened to the ministers: "The first is to train teachers, I want to select Confucian students from all over the country who are willing to be teachers in primary schools, and at least 20,000 people must be selected to come to Lin'an for training. ”

The importance of arithmetic to the Great Song Dynasty has been reflected in the government affairs of the past few years, and the fact that Wei Liaoweng said that last year's fiscal expenditure was more than the previous year's was relied on by a group of young officials who were proficient in arithmetic, all of whom had been trained in Chen Zicheng's night school in Lin'an. Moreover, among the imperial examination subjects opened in the Tang Dynasty, there was arithmetic, so the hundred officials had no objection to this. However, for the subject of "national style", the hundred officials are a little unfamiliar, and the school is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, so Zheng Qingzhi went out of the class and asked: "Your Majesty, what do you learn in this national style?" ”

"The science of national style actually includes two, one is my Great Song Dynasty scenery, people, geography, and current affairs, and the other is loyalty, patriotism, courtesy, righteousness, and shame." Zhao Youju made no secret of his values of cultivating the next generation with the help of compulsory education: "Every time I think about the changes in Jingkang, there are many renegades and defectors, and then I think about the land of Hebei today, Yan Shi, Shi Tianze and others are all Han people, but they don't know how to be loyal to the monarch and patriotism, they don't know etiquette, righteousness and shame, and I often hate it." Therefore, this subject is opened, so that the literate people in the world have the ambition to serve the country and be loyal, know the magnificence of China, and know the humanity of my Yanhuang. ”

Hearing Zhao and Ju say this, Zheng Qingzhi retreated silently, very ashamed in his heart, Qiao Xingjian's death, he was one of the few people who knew the inside story, and he was quite panicked during that time. And since Qiao Xingjian's incident, Zheng Qingzhi obviously felt that the Son of Heaven was not as close to him as he used to be.

Although Zheng Qingzhi asked himself that he was not selfish in Qiao Xingjian's matter, and it was purely to recommend talents for the Son of Heaven, a mistake is a mistake, and it is inevitable to make mistakes again and again, and it is inevitable to disappoint the Son of Heaven.

"Due to the shortage of manpower, the primary schools set up in the compulsory education institutes were first set up in the administrative offices of the state capitals, and were managed by both the school and the government. The cost of the school shall be budgeted for by the state government, and shall be paid by the Ministry of Household from this 1,500 yuan. It's February...... The state government was ordered to submit the budget before 30 May, and the household department should complete the accounting by 30 June. The size of the primary school is determined by the number of school-age children in the state capital, and the school buildings are all supervised by the Ministry of Industry to prevent disasters such as strong winds, earthquakes, and fires. ”

Seeing that everyone had no doubts, Zhao Youju continued.

"The daily expenses of the school, the salaries of teachers, and the food and clothing of students should be reported from all over the country, and I have set a rule that the salaries of teachers in the school shall not be less than those of the ninth grade officials, and the seniority and performance appraisal shall not be lower than the eight grade officials. If the food and clothing of the students can be solved in these fifteen million, they will all be solved for it, so as to encourage the people to send their children to school, if it cannot be completely solved, at least two of them must be solved, one is that every morning in Xuzhou, as in Xuzhou, each schoolchild must have an egg or duck egg; The second is that each school must have a set of summer shirts and a set of winter jackets. ”

When these words came out, all the officials were stunned. At this time, it was extremely difficult to pass the imperial examination, and the vast majority of scholars had no hope of fame in their lives. But the fact that the Son of Heaven treats elementary school teachers so favorably makes this position of teacher very attractive.

However, this is also a large expense, and if there are 20,000 teachers, each of them will receive a salary of the ninth grade, and this alone will not be less than a million yuan per year. And the accommodation, food and clothing of students will also be a huge expense. More importantly, the investment in school construction and maintenance is a bottomless pit, and fifteen million yuan may not be enough if calculated in this way.

It is no wonder that the Son of Heaven opened his mouth with such an astonishing number, it turned out that he had already prepared.

"Do you still have any questions about this matter?" Zhao Youju asked again.

Because of the strength of Zhao and Ju, the Great Song Dynasty has now formed a strange situation, in the past, it was proposed by the ministers, and the Son of Heaven signed the decree, but now it is not, now it is the Son of Heaven who proposes, and the courtiers have some discussions, and then the Son of Heaven signs the decree. In other words, the decision-making power in the hands of the courtiers in the past has been unknowingly taken over by the Son of Heaven, and the courtiers only have the right to execute and make suggestions.

Although he generally respected the power of the courtiers and did not use the increasingly concentrated imperial power in his hands to do anything that the ministers collectively opposed, a far-sighted minister like Choi still had some worries in his heart. When today's son sets such a precedent, the future generations of the Son of Heaven who are virtuous and benevolent will also take advantage of this centralized imperial power to do evil?

However, this is a long-term worry, so we can only put it down first and solve it later.

Soon, this edict called "King James Decree on Enlightenment" was issued to the world in the form of newspapers and official documents of governments at all levels, for the Great Song Dynasty in the magnificent innovation, this is only one of the many innovations of the Son of Heaven, its influence, in three or five years can not be seen, until ten or even a hundred years later, people will realize that the importance of this edict in all the edicts promulgated by Zhao and Ju can be ranked at least in the top five.

A month and a half later, the newspaper containing the full text of the edict was also presented in front of the Tomine case.

Tuo Lei is easy to learn, and now he can recognize some Chinese characters, but he is still weaker when used to see the edict of the Great Song Dynasty. Therefore, it was Li Rui who read it for him - just like Zhao Heju set up a bachelor in Boya Building, and Tuo Lei also set up a bachelor in Huanglong Pavilion, and the first one was this Li Rui. Li Rui has now gained the trust of Tuo Lei to a certain extent, although he does not have military power or actual administrative power, but he can follow Tuo Lei's side and prepare him as an adviser on the situation of the Great Song Dynasty and Liuqiu.

"This edict coincides with Qing Xiang's suggestion." Tuo Lei said with a smile after listening to Li Rui's reading.

"The Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty has seen far, beyond the reach of his ministers, Your Majesty, this is the merit of thousands of generations, and it is much stronger than conquering a country and a place." Li Rui did not hesitate to praise Zhao and Ju, even in front of Tuolei, he did not hide his admiration for Zhao and Ju.

His attitude did not arouse the disgust of Tuolei, but it made Tuolei feel happy: this man was straightforward and talented, and could treat his enemies fairly.

"Qing is persuading me again......" Tuo Lei is very smart, compared to Temujin, who only knows how to fight, he is proficient in the political strategy of the Han people, so he heard the meaning of Li Rui's words.

Last time, Li Ruijin asked Tuo Lei to promote sinicization within his jurisdiction, although Tuo Lei greatly appreciated this suggestion, but in the actual implementation of the obstruction of the Menghu nobles and hesitated. He was not worried about his noble warriors, but about his brothers, although the four brothers reached a consensus to divide Temujin's inheritance equally, and declared that whoever could avenge Temujin would go to the Great Hando to inherit the throne, but in fact they never stopped using small tricks between them. Those brothers coveted the 40,000 elites in his hands, and they sent people to win them over in the open and secret, and if they forcibly promoted sinicization, they would definitely be used by those brothers.

So Tuo Lei has been waiting for an opportunity, and now that he heard Li Rui's urging, he stood up a little irritably, and walked around the palace with his hands behind his back: "Li Rui, what I'm worried about is my brothers, I am promoting sinicization here, and my brothers will inevitably win over the nobles and princes under my tent and divide the tribes in my hands, so what should I do?" ”

This problem of towing thunder made Li Rui's eyes shine, this is his opportunity, if he can help Tuolei solve this question, his status in Tuolei's heart will inevitably rise.

For this reason, he lowered his head and racked his brains to think hard.

Tuo Lei didn't urge him, after Tuo Lei thought about it, he couldn't find a way to think about it for months, where could this Li Rui come up with it in a moment!

"Your Majesty, the minister has a ...... strategy" After a long time, Li Rui finally raised his head and said.

Tuo Lei was extremely surprised, and couldn't help but stare at Li Rui, and after staring for a while, he asked, "You can tell me about it." ”

"The minister has been fortunate enough to come to His Majesty's side for several months, and he has been blessed by His Majesty, and the minister has some contacts with the nobles of the country, and has made some young and talented people."

In the past few months, although Li Rui has no real power, and even the garrison is forbidden by Li Quan, he is a heroic man, and his knowledge is extensive among Menghu, and he is bold and generous, and has a brave reputation for killing tigers alone, so he has made a lot of friends among the young nobles of Menghu. These people have prominent family backgrounds, and they are all powerful people who lead troops to fight under the tent of Tuolei. Tuo Lei had also heard about this, so when he heard him say this, he nodded: "So what? ”

"The minister found that these young talents all admired the beauty of Song people's utensils." Li Rui continued: "I heard that their parents and grandparents are the same. ”

"The minister wants to come, people die for money, birds die for food, others want to win over the generals in the hands of His Majesty, and the people are nothing more than wealth and power, Your Majesty controls the rich land of Liaodong, if it is properly managed, how can the wealth and goods provided by others be as much as Your Majesty? Your Majesty's expedition to Goryeo in the east, to Song Jin in the south, and to Zhurong in the north, when it comes to power, how can Your Majesty give less? ”

"Therefore, the key to Your Majesty's stability and subduing the hearts of the people is to be able to give them enough rewards."

Tuo Lei sighed when he heard this, Li Rui said very reasonably, but it was only very reasonable, because he himself understood these truths, but where did he get enough wealth to satisfy the insatiable greed of his Mongolian princes and nobles.

Now he can support it, relying on Li Rui's uncle Li Quan's Tuntian in Liaoyang.

"If Your Majesty wants to accumulate more goods, there are only two ways, one is to plunder, but now the only one that can be plundered is Goryeo. The other is ......"

Li Rui said this, but he was silent.

Tuo Lei took his arm with one hand, and his eyes were fixed on him: "Say, say quickly!" ”

"If you say this, you are guilty, Your Majesty...... Your Majesty can ask someone, and after he says it, not only will he be innocent, but he will be more easily accepted by the princes and nobles of the country. Li Rui smiled slightly.

"Who?"

"King Polu."

Li Rui is very familiar with the person of Polu, and when he was begging, he heard people talk about it more than once, like Yelu Chucai, like Meng Xisheng, they all talked about this son of Mu Huali.

He not only inherited Mu Huali's prince, but also inherited Mu Huali's prestige in Menghu, and Tuo Lei was able to still master 40,000 Menghu elites after the fiasco, and Polu contributed a lot. But it was also because of Polu's prestige and influence that Tuo Lei was a little jealous of him.

Among the Han people who learned from Tuolei, many of them were things that made great achievements. Although Tuo Lei is open-minded, this kind of jealousy will inevitably arise with his position. Therefore, Polu was not by his side for a long time, but was sent by him to explore the north, and only returned a few days before the victory.

"Polu?" He groaned slightly, and his heart suddenly lit up.

When Temujin went west, he ordered Polu to run Yanyun, but as a result, the wealth of the Polu tribes was that the nobles who had robbed their mouths full of oil in the west were also jealous, and they went to Temujin more than once to complain, saying that the things they had stolen were not as much as what Polu had obtained through trade. Now those who are good at managing money have followed a few brothers, and the only ones who can collect money in their own hands are Polu and Li Quan.

"Come, go and invite King Polu...... No, I'll go myself. Tuo Lei said loudly, took two steps, looked back at Li Rui, and saw that Li Rui stayed where he was, he said with some dissatisfaction: "Li Qing, what are you still doing there, go with me." ”

Polu has the style of his father Mu Huali, plus he has been in the Han land for a long time, among all the Menghu magnates, he is the fastest to accept Sinicization, even faster than Tuolei. When Temujin was alive, he was quite unhappy with this, and after he ascended the throne, he sent him to the north to conquer the barbarians of the mountains and forests, but he did not complain. This time, Tuo Lei brought Li Rui to visit, and he was not surprised.

When he heard the meaning of the thunder, he glanced at Li Rui quickly.

"If you want to accumulate wealth, you must first let go of your hatred and trade with the Song people." He is a person who can answer all questions, and he has thought about many things in the past two years, and his experience and experience have made him realize that if Meng Huruo continues to follow the same herding life for hundreds of years, it will not be long before he will perish in the attrition of the Song Kingdom. After pondering for a while, he said: "Your Majesty, in the past three years, we have accumulated a large number of furs, and the Song people need these furs, we can use Goryeo as a transit, sell these furs to the Song people, exchange them for rare utensils on the grassland from the Song people, and then use these utensils to go to Ogedai Khan and Jochi Khan to exchange for more furs, we make a profit in the middle, and use the wealth accumulated from this profit to attract the grassland tribes, why should Your Majesty worry that they do not abide by Your Majesty's system?" I have one thing here, and Your Majesty will know how much profit this trade can gain when he sees it. ”

When he saw what he said, he laughed, and what he took out was the newspaper that he had just put down.