The mountain chief said: "Our school lasts for two years and does not charge tuition, so there is no such thing as not being able to pay tuition. The main reason for our investigation is that these children also have to work at home, and if they come to school, they will reduce the family's income. ”

Zhu Youxiao said angrily: "Little children, how many things can be done, at most it is just to look at the cow, this little thing, adults can do it a little bit, why prevent them from going to school, don't they know the role of going to school?" ”

The mountain chief didn't dare to speak again, and Wei Zhongxian said beside him: "Holy Lord, the children of poor families are not as simple as looking at cattle, they are used as labor. ”

Zhu Youxiao looked at the mountain chief, and the mountain chief nodded, indicating that this was indeed the case. Zhu Youxiao asked in disbelief: "Such children have to be squeezed, is this still what parents should do?" ”

Wei Zhongxian replied: "Holy Lord, if the children don't do things, those poor families will be even poorer. They don't want to oppress their children, and there's no way to do it. ”

Zhu Youxiao still didn't believe it, but he wasn't ready to dwell on it anymore, so he asked: "Even so, it's just a poor family, is it possible that except for more than a hundred people here, the other families are all poor families?" ”

The mountain chief was silent, and Wei Zhongxian was silent. Zhu Youxiao understood, and didn't ask anymore, so he asked instead: "Are there any girls who have the desire to go to school?" ”

Ke Shi covered his mouth and looked at Zhu Youxiao in disbelief. The mountain chief said: "When we were divided, the Normal School did mention the issue of enrolling girls in school, and proposed that a special girls' school could be opened, because we only have three people now, so the matter of the girls' school has not yet been put on the agenda, but we have tried it with others in a joking way, and everyone thinks it is funny, so I am only afraid of the matter of the girls' school, which is difficult." ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded, in fact, he also knew that it was almost impossible to open a girls' school outside the capital, and the first women's school in Beijing was now under construction, but through the investigation, there were very few people who were willing to enroll, let alone in a place where male students accounted for a very small proportion.

He asked, "How's the matter of the good people of the academy going?" "The so-called good people in the school, refers to the people who donate money and materials to the school in various ways, Zhu Youxiao feels that others have made contributions, of course, there must be a return, then set up a good people association in the school, and include them in the supervision system of the school, which can not only improve their social status, but also make suggestions on all aspects of the school, and will definitely attract many rich people to donate enthusiastically.

The mountain chief replied: "This is going well, six families have already expressed their willingness to donate money and materials to the school, and some people have proposed to provide students with a lunch, so that more people can come to school." ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "Why can more people come to school by providing lunch? ”

"Some families will let their children skip breakfast and then come to school, and when they are full at noon, they can eat enough for the morning and evening, which is equivalent to saving a day's food," said the mountain chief. ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "Use a meal to attract students to school? How poor is this, is it not enough to eat? ”

The mountain chief whispered, "Your Majesty, farmers generally only eat two meals a day. ”

Principal Zhu You sighed, and then realized that he still did not estimate the poverty of the peasants enough.

He waved his hand and said tiredly: "Okay, let's stop here today, you guys are doing well, keep working hard, I hope to see a more prosperous Qinghedian Academy next time." ”

After speaking, he stood up and walked out, and said to Wei Zhongxian as he walked: "Go find an inn and rest first." ”

Wei Zhongxian replied: "Shengshang, the best inn in Qinghe is the restaurant where we ate first, I have seen it there, the conditions are not good, do you want to let the slave maid go to find a new gentleman's house?" Dongchang borrowed their house to live, and they didn't have time to like it. ”

Zhu Youxiao snorted and said, "I'm afraid it's too late to be afraid, just stay at the guest house and don't disturb the place." ”

Wei Zhongxian didn't dare to make a sound, and the group came to Qinghedian Restaurant. Zhu Youxiao entered the room and said to Duan Ying, "Bring my pen and paper." Duan Ying took out a stack of paper and a quill pen.

Zhu Youxiao was still accustomed to using a hard pen, and he used a quill pen to write down the following words on paper: poverty, ignorance, religion, corruption.

The fact that a family needs a child to support the family shows that poverty has become a widespread problem. If the majority of the people in a country are poor, it means that the country is also poor.

Industrialization is one of the most important ways to solve the problem of poverty, and the peasants use the most primitive tools to do heavy labor, but the result is still poor.

If we change our thinking, on the one hand, we can build a large number of new agricultural tools, and on the other hand, we will start the process of industrialization, which will fundamentally solve the problem of peasant poverty.

In fact, the problem of ignorance is closely related to poverty, and people can't even eat enough, so where do they have the energy and time to learn cultural knowledge. Therefore, we must first get rid of poverty, and then we can improve everyone's cultural level.

The problem of corruption is a long-standing problem, even in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, under the severe punishment of Zhu Yuanzhang, it could not be completely banned, and even intensified in the end. The most important reason is that the number of supervisors is too small, and the people's level of education is too low, so they are not suitable supervisors at all.

Although religion is good for the rulers, it is even more ignorant for the people. The fact that a large number of temples possess a large amount of land and do not pay taxes must be changed.

The most important of these four problems is the problem of poverty, so we must start from this point first, some people say that poverty is the original sin, and Zhu Youxiao agrees with this view. Buddhism says that stealing a heart produces poverty and cheapness, and kindness produces wealth. Zhu Youxiao felt that it should be said the other way around, poverty begets stealing hearts, and kindness begets wealth.

Some people in later generations believed that the poor were the kindest, which Zhu Youxiao did not dare to agree with. It's hard for you to expect it to help others when you can't eat three meals yourself.

Duan Ying saw Zhu Youxiao frowning, and said distressedly: "Your Majesty, just by planting crops will not make them rich. ”

Zhu Youxiao shook his head, he at least knew that the grain problem in the Ming Dynasty was the most important reason for the fall of the Ming Dynasty, so he didn't dare to let the peasants plant other crops, so as to seize the grain cultivation area.

He smiled and said, "Now we can only focus on food, and if we don't have food to eat, we will die in the end." Poverty can only lead to the appearance of people, at least not all at once. ”