Due to years of war, the imperial court has not organized the imperial examination in the Northeast for several consecutive years, so many talents and children in the Northeast have not had the opportunity to become officials. Wang Qiang's popularity in the northeast is very good, and he is very powerful, officials at all levels are very stammered, and spent a lot of effort to select and recommend students for him, less than a month of work, the candidates recommended from all over the country took the recommendation letter of the government, and arrived in Tacheng in an endless stream, Wang Qiang instructed his entourage to charter a few hostels, arrange for these candidates to eat and lodging, and all of them are free of charge, and at the same time arrange examinations and selection. In the selection of students, Wang Qiang has hollowed out his thoughts, first of all, he has a background, and he specially selects those children from poor backgrounds, the children of officials and gentry and landlords, and those who are involved in various forces; The second is the level of knowledge, you need to have a certain knowledge base, it is best to have a skill, those who can only die reading, write eight-strand articles are not wanted; In the end, it is necessary to examine the character and ambition, and do not want to be promoted and make a fortune. After more than a month of selection, more than 40 students were finally selected from thousands of applicants to become the first batch of students.

Local governments also recommended a lot of teachers in accordance with Wang Qiang's instructions, but most of them were old gentlemen who taught, strange people who met Wang Qiang's requirements, and there were few erudite masters, but Wang Qiang was not in a hurry, as long as there was an excuse to run a library, people could slowly go to visit.

Due to the lack of instructors, Wang Qiang simply arranged for the students to conduct military training first, and he transferred several instructors from the original militia regiment from Li Gang to be responsible for arranging the training of the trainees, and he also wanted to inspect the character and temperament of these students through military training.

In the evening of this day, Wang Qiang came out of the post house dedicated to receiving teachers, dressed in civilian clothes and walked back to his house on the street, he had just received a few teachers recommended by the locality, and he was still full of sour Confucianism, he shook his head while walking, and heard someone next to him greeting: "Lord Wang." He stopped and looked to see a young man of about thirty years of age, dressed in a shabby robe and with unkempt hair, smiling at him with a fortune-telling banner in his left hand and a drum in his right hand. This young man has been wandering around the door of the post house for the past few days, Wang Qiang has seen it, but he has not paid attention to it, and now he heard the man greeting him, so he said: "Fortune teller, did you call me?" ”

The young man hurriedly stepped forward and said to Wang Qiang: "Exactly, looking down at the adult's haggard appearance, Yintang is dark, and it is obvious that his heart is depressed" Saying that, he pretended to pinch his fingers, and said with words in his mouth: "Oh, my lord, this is an unclean sky, and the peach blossom is a traitor, and there is a bad star in the northwest, it's terrible!" How about giving an adult a hexagram? ”

Wang Qiang has been busy these days, lack of sleep, and naturally haggard, but it is pure nonsense to say that he committed peach blossoms, he pouted and said angrily: "I said you save it, this peach blossom can be committed by others, but this master can't be committed, don't let me have trouble here." After saying that, he turned around and left.

The young man hurriedly tugged at Wang Qiang's sleeve and said, "Hey, hey! Don't go, I'm sorry Lord Wang, I just talked nonsense, I was a scholar, I traveled to study, I fell here, I didn't have to entangle, I really can't get by, so I borrowed this body, mixed a few meal money, I heard that adults are benevolent and love talents, so I made this decision, I want to find adults to fight an autumn breeze. ”

Wang Qiang listened to him and looked like a scribe, so he took out a piece of silver from his pocket and stuffed it into the man's hand and said, "You just tell the truth, why don't you make such a big turn." Seeing that you are young, you should find some regular business to support yourself, and it is not good to eat and drink all day long. Use this little money for it. ”

The man took the money, nodded gratefully, and said, "Thank you for your help, and thank you for your teachings." When he saw that Wang Qiang was leaving, he hurriedly said, "Hey! My lord, I heard that you are running a library, and I don't know if there is a shortage of helpers around me, so I want to follow the adults on errands and support myself. ”

Wang Qiang is indeed short of people at hand, he saw that this young man was very clever, and he was a down-and-out person, so he had the heart to accept it, so he said: "It's not fun to run errands with me, I am harsh in employing people, extremely strict, and I can't mix without some real skills, you can think about it." ”

The young man smiled and said, "That's natural, if the adults take it in, the students will naturally not dare to relax a little." ”

"Well, that's it, come with me." Wang Qiang felt that he still needed to investigate this person, so he took him into a noodle restaurant on the street, wanting to learn more about this person while eating.

The two sat down in a private room and simply asked for two side dishes and noodles, Wang Qiang was about to ask, but the young man spoke first: "Lord Wang, I heard that you are setting up this study house at your own expense this time, why are you spending so much money and energy?" ”

"Well, I want to cultivate a group of talents for the country." Wang Qiang said.

"Oh?"

"Nowadays, the country is suffering from internal and external troubles, the people's livelihood is withering, the talents are withering, and they have been repeatedly humiliated and plundered by foreigners, which can be described as many disasters and difficulties, and a large number of talents for governing the country and the generals of Anbang are urgently needed, so I have this idea."

"Oh, the adults are so big-minded, the students admire. So how do adults plan to cultivate these students, how do they plan to cultivate these talents, and how do adults plan to arrange them? The young man asked again.

"Well, I didn't think about it in the end, anyway, I have to teach those really useful things, what science, military, economics, etc. Cultivating people is naturally to contribute to the country according to their own strengths, and they are not necessarily officials, and they can do business, study, and research, as long as they are beneficial to the country and the people. Wang Qiang said. He originally wanted to inspect this scholar, and he didn't want to even know the other party's name, but he was tested first, and he was unhappy, and he was about to ask about his situation, but he saw that the scholar had already knelt on the ground, kowtowed and said: "My lord is really a talent for helping the world, and Gu Yanwu is willing to follow my lord to follow the work of dogs and horses!" ”

"Gu Yanwu!" Wang Qiang listened to it, and was shocked, this Gu Yanwu is a very famous figure in history, and it is also introduced in history textbooks, he is a great writer and thinker in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, a famous person in the south of the Yangtze River, has written many books, and has repeatedly refused to serve the Qing court. Wang Qiang didn't expect that the down-and-out scholar in front of him was actually Gu Yanwu, who was famous in history, so he hurriedly helped him up and said, "Oops! It turned out to be Mr. Gu, I have heard the name for a long time, it's great that you are here. ”

At that time, Gu Yanwu was not yet thirty years old, born in a scholarly family, young and erudite, and had been promoted, because he hated the corruption and darkness of officialdom, so he did not become an official, but traveled to various places to study, and he had just begun to emerge in Jiangnan, and his fame was not big, so Wang Qiang said that he had heard of the name for a long time, but it seemed to be a kind word.

Gu Yanwu got up, took out a letter from the package, and presented it to Wang Qiang with both hands, it turned out to be a letter from Zhang Xiaodong, the prefect of Suzhou, to Wang Qiang, which was a letter of recommendation for Gu Yanwu.

It turned out that Wang Qiang wrote a letter to Zhang Xiaodong, talked in detail about his ideas for running a school, and asked him to find and recommend suitable teachers, that Zhang Xiaodong was familiar with Gu Yanwu, and knew that he was erudite and talented and a thoughtful person who wanted to do things, and felt that he was quite in line with Wang Qiang's requirements, and it happened that Gu Yanwu was staying in Suzhou, so he found him and talked about Wang Qiang's school, Gu Yanwu had heard about Wang Qiang's affairs, and he admired it very much, and he was willing to come to work after listening to Zhang Xiaodong's introduction of Wang Qiang's idea of running a school. So he immediately carried the letter of recommendation written by Zhang Xiaodong and traveled thousands of miles to Tacheng. After he arrived here, he did not go directly to Wang Qiang, but first lived in the city, privately learned about Wang Qiang as an official, running a school and other aspects, and after understanding a circle, he felt that Wang Qiang was indeed a good official who was honest and promising.

Wang Qiang read the letter, hugged his fists at Gu Yanwu and said: "Mr. Gu, I'm worried here, I can't find a suitable Chinese language teacher, it just so happens that you are here, I think I hired you to be responsible for teaching Chinese culture?" ”

"It's all up to the adults." Gu Yanwu said.

"Okay, but I'd like to know, how are you going to teach this language?" Wang Qiang asked.

"Back to my lord, I think what adults want to cultivate is to cultivate useful talents who can help the world and save the country, rather than only writing sour essays and showing talents. Therefore, if I want to teach the Chinese language, then I plan not to talk about those eight-strand articles, but to cover the subset of classics and history, and select those wonderful chapters to teach. In addition, while talking about the national language, we should also talk about the principle of being a human being, the idea of helping the world, and the grand theory of strengthening the country. I don't know if this meets the requirements of adults. Gu Yanwu talked eloquently, and the demeanor of the writers between the pitches was complete.

Gu Yanwu's thoughts coincided with Wang Qiang, Wang Qiang stroked his palm and smiled: "Mr.'s words are exactly what I want, and I have insight." ”

The two cherished each other, hated each other late, added wine and food, talked and drank happily, and chatted until late at night.

After a month of military training, Wang Qiang carefully reviewed the comprehensive evaluation and daily performance comments of each student, and did not hesitate to eliminate those students who were afraid of hardship, tiredness, weakness, and poor ethics, and laid off more than 10 people, and finally only 36 officially entered the school.

The official opening date of the study hall is set for October 1, and all aspects of preparation work are being carried out intensively. On this day, Wang Qiang was alone in his room preparing the speech for the opening ceremony, he thought about how to set a tone for the purpose of running the school, in order to guide the students' thoughts and behaviors, he knew that there are still many people in this group of students who are still recruiting with the purpose of having the opportunity to become officials or have a future, and it is difficult to say whether they can use it for themselves in the future, and it is even more difficult for them to follow themselves with all their hearts.

Wang Qiang was pondering, heard a noise at the door, he walked out of the door to the door, it turned out that the three brothers of the Yan family wanted to come to see him, but were stopped by the guards at the door, Wang Qiang smiled and greeted the Yan brothers, instructed the doorman to let them in, Wang Qiang let the three of them into the house, and asked, "Why do the three strong men have time to come to me today?" ”

Yanlong said: "Back to my lord, after we saw you last time, we went back and told my father about the situation, and my father also admired my lord very much. ”

Yan Hu said: "So this time, my father asked us to send you some souvenirs. ”

Yan Leopard said, "Please smile. ”

Saying that, the three brothers took out a few wooden boxes from the packages on their backs and opened them, which contained all kinds of rare medicinal materials, such as ginseng, shou wu, bear bile, etc., all of which were strange and rare. Wang Qiang saw it and said repeatedly: "Oh, I'm really ashamed to be such a good thing, his old man is too polite." ”

The three brothers put down their belongings, knelt down together and said, "Lord Wang, the three of us have one more thing to ask for. ”

"The last time we came to the market, I heard that you are going to set up a study house here, teaching knowledge and martial arts, our brother has followed his father since he was a child, and he only knows a few words, so I want to join the adults and learn some useful culture together."

"I hope you can take it away."

The Yan brothers came to study, Wang Qiang was naturally happy, he helped the three of them up one by one, gave up their seats, and then said: "Okay, you are welcome to come." However, my study house is very strict, and there are many rules and regulations, and if you violate it, you will be expelled. ”

Yan Long said: "This is natural, our brothers must strictly abide by the rules, as long as others can do it, we will definitely be able to do it." Please rest assured. ”

"Good! Then take you in, and you can report to the library today. Wang Qiang said. He saw that the three brothers were simple and had no scheming, and the purpose of studying was naturally not to become officials, so he asked curiously: "Your Yan family makes a living from hunting, why do you want to study in the study house now?" ”

Yan Long said: "Although my family has lived by hunting for generations, they also know the importance of learning knowledge. ”]

Yan Hu said: "If you don't learn some real skills, then you can only be in the company of wild beasts all day long, and there is no day to get ahead." ”

Yan Leopard said, "My father said it. ”

"Oh, that's right. Do you have any plans for the future? Wang Qiang asked.

"I don't have any plans, but with knowledge, I can do more for the township." Yanlong Road.

Yan Hu continued: "Anyway, we don't want to be officials, and we don't want to contribute to the government. ”

"Oh? Why don't you want to be an official? Wang Qiang asked.

"This, don't hide it from adults, we feel that the government is only responsible for collecting taxes and oppressing the people, and the Qing army will flee as soon as it comes, regardless of the life or death of the people, so we are unwilling to contribute to the official family." Yanlong said honestly.

Yan Hu said: "Of course, the officials we are talking about do not include adults, we have heard that adults are great heroes who really cherish the people and resist the Qing army." ”

Yan Leopard said: "We admire it very much. ”

Wang Qiang said with a smile: "Hehe, you have won the award, but I also want to cultivate students who can do things for the people and can really resist foreign aggression. ”

A few people chatted for a while, Wang Qiang arranged for the entourage to lead the three brothers to the study house to report, and then he continued to ponder the matter of the speech, just now the conversation with the Yan brothers gave him a lot of inspiration, he felt that the students want to be officials to do things These ideas are not bad, the key is why to be an official, if being an official is to make a fortune for themselves, then these people can do anything, should set up a lofty ideal and common goal for everyone, and use this thing to inspire and unite everyone, It was like the communist ideal put forward by the Red Army in those days. "Strengthen the country and enrich the people"! Yes, these four words are the most suitable for use in this era, most of these students are born in poor or ordinary families, and their homes are in the north, and they have been deeply harassed by the Qing army for many years, so everyone will have the desire to strengthen the country and enrich the people in their hearts, and the school will use this slogan to call on and educate these students, which is loud and simple, and can also reflect the will of the people. With the theme idea in hand, Wang Qiang's speech was quickly drafted.