Zhang Fan originally thought that his introduction of the imperial examination system would usher in fierce resistance and criticism from the scholars and gates, and he prepared various countermeasures to wait solemnly, but found that he was still nervous.

Although the process was indeed not smooth sailing, at most it was thunder and rain, and the resistance of the scholars was much weaker than expected. Of course, this is also related to Zhang Fan's one-time move of the top wealthy families into Huiji City, of course, there is actually another factor that Zhang Fan didn't expect before......

What is it?

It is the monopoly of knowledge by the ancient aristocratic ruling class.

You must know that in this era, although Cai Lun has invented papermaking. However, due to the high cost, the mainstream writing tool is still bamboo slips. Even the relatively inexpensive bamboo slips were not consumed by the common class......

Coupled with the unsmooth dissemination of information caused by objective factors and the degree of cherishing of books, the aristocratic class has a monopoly on knowledge. Even if modern people have to pay sky-high tuition fees to get an education, let alone in the Han Dynasty, where the literacy rate was low?

In ancient times, the labor force was low, and it was not easy for ordinary people to support their families, and if they wanted to study and get an education, it was really not something that ordinary families could support - so even if the imperial examination system was used to select officials now, the vast majority of those who could pass the examination for a long time were the children of the scholar clan, which was the main reason why they did not resist fiercely. Although there are many visionary and intelligent people who are already worried, there are still a few people who can see the future clearly......

But this situation is enough for Zhang Fan. The meal should be eaten one bite at a time, and the road should be taken step by step. In fact, this is not necessarily all bad for him, at least at present, the implementation of the imperial examination system is proceeding step by step, and everything is going well.

As the saying goes, a good start is half the battle. No matter how far the distance is, as long as you take the first step, you will be one step closer to the end.

But Zhang Fan was not reconciled, although he made such steady progress, perhaps the situation would be greatly improved after one hundred and eighty years, and the court would no longer allow the clan to dominate. But Zhang Fan couldn't wait that long.

At present, his territory is only Jiangdong, and it is very reluctant to control it all, and the officials and officials are stretched. But in the thirteen states of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he only accounted for less than one-eighth of the area, and there was still a vast land and a huge population waiting for him to conquer and rule, just in such a predicament, wouldn't it take twenty or thirty years to clarify the whole country?

No, it's too slow, it's unacceptable.

After thinking about it, Zhang Fan felt that the implementation of the imperial examination system alone was not enough, and it could not have an immediate effect at all, and it would not help to improve the current situation. By the day the results are released, maybe he will already be a handful of loess!

Well, the literacy rate should still be improved!

Let more children from poor families have the opportunity to learn knowledge, even in the theory of probability, these people will emerge a lot of "national talents", which will greatly alleviate Zhang Fan's "employment shortage".

However, if you want to improve the literacy rate, you have to run a school, but there are three problems: school funds, teaching materials, and teachers.

This is the obstacle that needs to be solved urgently in front of Zhang Fan. First of all, the funds for running schools, even if it is modern, education expenditure is still the "big one" of national financial expenditure, according to statistics, the annual investment in education in 2016 was 3.8 trillion yuan, what a terrifying figure!

If Zhang Fan proposes a plan to run schools in various counties now, it is estimated that the current Finance Minister Zhang Zhao will be the first to resign and leave, because the concubines really can't do it!

Indeed, the economic situation of Zhang Fan's territory is indeed much stronger than that of other princes. However, the main reason is that the development time is still short, and the population and economic activity are not comparable to those of the old areas. After all, the Jiangdong region belongs to the Yangtze River Basin, and before the Song Dynasty, China's economic, cultural and political center has been in the Yellow River Basin, which is also the origin of the Yellow River Basin region is generally called the "Central Plains".

In fact, since Zhang Fan became the owner of Jiangdong, he has been committed to supporting the development of industry and commerce in the territory, setting up commercial inns, dredging transportation, and promulgating laws to protect private property. Now the Central Plains is full of beacon fires, and the princes from all walks of life are singing and I am on stage, and people's brains are eager to be beaten into dog brains, which makes the miasma of smoke and miasma, and the people are not happy.

Only under the rule of Zhang Fan, Jiangdong became more and more stable, commerce flourished, and the people were peaceful, so many big businessmen from Henan, Yan, Qingdao, Yong, and Hebei moved to Yangzhou with their families and mouths, and the injection of these foreign capital greatly revitalized the local economy.

However, due to the poor foundation, although the fiscal revenue has increased significantly, it is a pity that the total amount is still limited. And Zhang Fan can't impose heavy taxes on them at this stage, which is tantamount to killing chickens and taking eggs, which is a short-sighted approach. However, it was a war year, and military spending could only increase year by year, and it was impossible to reduce it, so Zhang Fan's financial situation was not optimistic.

There is no money, but things cannot be left undone. Zhang Fan had no choice but to summon Zhang Zhao to see what he could do.

As expected, Zhang Zhao strongly opposed Zhang Fan's school-running plan, believing that now is the critical moment for hegemony, and good steel must be used on the blade! Whether it's expanding the army or expanding the territory, there are still too many projects that cost money to take precedence over running schools. The plan to run the school can only be postponed for the time being, and it will be said until the economic situation improves.

But Zhang Fan still didn't give up, he thought about it and said:

"Zibu, I understand your difficulties, and I know that now is not a good time. However, if you don't run a school, this imperial examination system will be a tree without roots and a ping without water. Moreover, this training of talents is a long-term and meticulous work, and it is not possible to make contributions overnight, of course, sooner rather than later, and the sooner the better. This...... I can't wait! ”

In the face of the lord's soft words, Zhang Zhao was also very helpless, and he was not blind to the benefits of the imperial examination system, but he still thought that Zhang Fan was too persistent in this and was a little in a hurry. But since the lord has something to ask for, he can only try his best to share his worries:

"It's better to ...... Collect donations from the merchants in your realm! ”

"Fundraising?"

Zhang Fan touched his chin, he didn't expect Zhang Zhao to give him such an idea. Do you raise funds to run a school...... It's a good strategy. In later generations, many schools were built with donations, but could it have been possible a thousand years ago?

Zhang Zhao analyzed: "My lord, you have been committed to the development of industry and commerce, and the status of businessmen has been greatly improved, so you have a lot of prestige among them, and those people have made a lot of money, this is your first time to raise donations, and it is impossible for them not to be generous." ”

"Secondly, imagine who is the person who has benefited the most from your promotion of the science and technology school? Isn't that the businessmen? Even if you run a school, how many of those farmers from ordinary families are willing to come to the class? Aren't most of those who have the conditions to study still the sons of businessmen? In that case, why should they not pay? ”

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