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There are not many good things on the stalls, there are homemade cloth shoes, homemade wonton wrappers, homemade jelly and so on.The customers are all poor people nearby, who pass by after work and buy some as they go.

Most of the stall keepers are old women, and their clothes are full of patches.

Cotton cloth is easy to wear out, and it will have several holes in a year or two. It is not as strong as chemical fiber cloth.For civilians, clothes always need to be sewn and mended, and after a few years of wearing, they will become heavily patched.

Milton passed by a stall. The old woman who kept the stall seemed to have never seen foreign devils before, and looked at them curiously.When her eyes met the old woman, the old woman immediately smiled and said, "Does the customer buy vermicelli? I don't know how to make sweet potato vermicelli. My daughter-in-law is still in the city."

(City Center) will.My vermicelli is very delicious. In winter, I stew it with Chinese cabbage. After eating it, my whole body is full of energy. I can carry a few more bags when I go to the pier. "

After Tong Shi translated, Milton also laughed, and actually paid for a handful of vermicelli.

The old lady at the booth next door saw it and immediately yelled: "Panniang candy, panniang candy. The candy taught by Pan Guifei (rumour) in the palace, come and have a look!"

The panniang candy sold here is obviously not authentic.Because sucrose is very expensive, the old lady was reluctant to add more, so she only used a little brown sugar to fool her.

Milton bought a few pieces of potato floss and walked while eating.He soon discovered that even in slums, the streets were very clean. Residents along the streets were allotted lots, and the first thing in the morning was to sweep the streets.

This is in stark contrast to the messiness of the London slums!

Walking near the school, Milton unexpectedly found a stationery store.

The printing of the books is of poor quality, and the paper and ink are of the worst kind.The writing brush is even more outrageous, and there are even burrs that have not been scraped clean on the bamboo pen holder.

But in the slums of Nanjing, stationery shops did appear, and there were more than one!

The school here is called "Xishan Primary School".

The school doesn't even have a wall, and there is a road up and down the small hill. Walking up the mountain road is the school.

The houses are also very low and simple, but the classrooms are very large. There are five to sixty students in a class, and the students sit close together.Moreover, the raw supplies are also very poor, there is no serious inkstone, and all use small clay bowls to grind ink and write.

There are no uniform Confucian shirts, and the raw clothes are all patched and worn out.

"Why are the teachers here so young?" Milton asked.

The principal is also very young, only in his 30s.He pointed to a teacher who was giving a lecture: "This teacher's name is Yu Gui, and he was born this year. He didn't pass the entrance examination as an official in the county, and he didn't want to be an apprentice. He came to this school to be a mathematics teacher within two years after graduating from primary school." .”

Teacher, and only a junior graduate...Compared with the noble schools in the city center, the judgment is judged!

Milton turned around and asked Tong: "Is the course content the same for this school and the school in the city center?"

The general officer of Honglu Temple replied: "Except for physical education, the rest of the courses are all the same. The students here, as long as they have good grades, can also be promoted to officials."

As soon as this remark came out, Milton felt strongly shocked, even the most shocked after coming to China.

Commoner schools in the UK only teach reading, writing and accounting in English. To put it bluntly, they train migrant workers.In British aristocratic schools, courses such as Latin will be taught.Only those who know Latin can be truly educated and have the ability to understand more advanced books and official documents.

Feeling someone coming outside the window, all the students in the classroom sat upright and listened attentively.

As soon as Milton and the others left, the students in the rows behind immediately fell asleep on the table.As long as they don't fight, the teacher doesn't bother to care about them, and those who really love learning have already been transferred to the front position.

The classrooms here are too big to install translucent window glass, otherwise it would be difficult to see the blackboard on rainy days.

The windows are just a few very big holes, allowing wind and rain to flow in, and those who live by the windows may catch a cold.

For the bastards in the back row, if they survived for a year, they would be relieved.I can write my own name, and I can add and subtract. This is called being able to write and count. I will not be afraid of being cheated by the foreman when I work as a coolie in the future.

Graduated in three years?

Don't talk about it, leave after one year of reading, work early to earn money to subsidize the family!Although I am too young, it is still possible to paste paper boxes for the shop.

The students sitting in the front two rows are all good children selected by the teacher.Even though they were born in poverty, they all have a high-minded heart, staring at the teacher and the blackboard for fear of missing a word.

The teaching conditions here are so shabby that there is only one dictionary per class, and students have to queue up and take turns to look up the dictionary.

In fact, it is not bad. In the remote mountainous area, there is only one dictionary in the whole school.And it will be kept by the principal, and it must not be damaged in the slightest. When the student looks up the dictionary, the principal will be watching from the side the whole time.

During recess, the children flocked out to play in the mud playground.

Milton stopped a boy whose clothes were particularly baggy.It is probably worn by the elder brother in the family, the patches are heavy, and I don't know how many years it has been worn.

"What's your name?" Milton asked.

Sheng looked at the foreign devil curiously, after listening to the officer's translation, and knowing that he was a foreign envoy, he bowed his hands together: "The boy's name is Yuan Zongru, and Mr. Xiao helped to change it.

Milton asked again: "What do your parents do?"

Yuan Zongru replied: "My father is a cargo shipman on the Qinhuai River, and my mother is paralyzed in bed and does some needlework on weekdays.

Milton asked, "How many years have you been studying?"

Yuan Zongru replied: "It's been three years, and I'm graduating this summer. Many of the students here can't graduate. If they fail the exam, they can only get a certificate of junior high school. The boy's family is poor and his parents work hard, so he works hard, and he will definitely get a junior high school graduation certificate." If God blesses you, you may be able to go to high school at public expense, and the boy’s family will be able to get rid of poverty.”

Today's schools at all levels are liberal in entry and strict in exit.

The graduation exam is not organized by the school, but organized and proctored by government officials.The passing rate of the elementary school graduation exam is less than 50%, and half of the students who take the exam can only get a professional certificate.And the proportion of the public fee increase is even less than one percent.If you have a small graduation certificate and are not eligible for public funding, you can only study at your own expense.

Therefore, children from poor families are not very motivated to study. Don't go to school at public expense. They may not even get a small diploma.

As far as the imperial court is concerned, the small graduation certificate must be strictly held.Because he has a small graduation certificate, he is eligible to take the county official examination, and cats and dogs cannot be mixed in.

Poor children like Yuan Zongru, if they can go to middle school at public expense, get a high school graduation certificate and they will skyrocket.Even if you only get a business license, you can find a job in Nanjing, and many businesses and factories will rush to get it.

"What is your ambition?" Milton asked.

Yuan Zongru replied: "Studying at the public expense, after graduating from the middle school, you can go to the military academy. It is too difficult to take the university entrance examination, and it is also difficult to test the officials in the government. It is easy for the middle school graduates to go to the military academy. After graduating from the military academy, you can be assigned to be an officer. This is the teacher's request." .”

This kid is probably going to be cheated by the teacher. It is easy to enter the military academy because all graduates of middle school think highly of themselves.Even if you can't get into college,

It is also possible to take the examination of officials in the government, but very few apply for military academies.

But because the exams are too tough, more and more people apply for the military academy. When Yuan Zongru graduates from high school, the difficulty may already be second only to the university entrance exam.

In the evening, Milton went back down the mountain.

Lighting the oil lamp at night, Milton began to write a dissertation entitled "Revisiting the Problem of Education".

"Education is the cornerstone of a country's strength, and public education for the common people is the inevitable direction of educational development..."

"China's education is undoubtedly the most successful in the world. The children of the poor here, except for physical education, are the same as the children of the rich. In terms of culture, as long as they are willing to learn, they can theoretically learn from the rich. They go hand in hand. Moreover, Chinese officials obtain their positions through examinations. The Chinese civil service system is a good system with mobility..."

"If Britain wants to become stronger, it must introduce the Chinese civil service system. The premise of introducing the civil service system is to carry out extensive civilian education

"200 years ago, the UK broke the church's monopoly on education. But it was not enough. In the future, education in the UK should be run by the government instead of charities. Charities are often run by businessmen. They only teach ordinary children to read, write and calculate accounts. These children are then recruited as employees. This education system cannot produce real talents, and they cannot even read official documents in Latin..."

"The English Revolution, which has killed the king, has established the English Republic. It is the duty and duty of the Republic to allocate funds for the construction of more schools,

Let more common people receive real education.As long as we persist in running it for 20 years, we will continue to expand the scale of running the school.Then 20 years later, the UK will become the cultural center of Europe, and the UK will have the most people in Europe.”

Milton wrote this article with full expectation, but it was obviously in vain. He was really naive.

When he returns to England again, he will find that his republic is gone, and Cromwell disperses the parliament and proclaims himself Lord Protector.

The Republic is gone, and you still want the government to pay for education?

Chapter 722 [Heilongjiang Capital]

The first assistant Song Yingxing, the second assistant Fei Chun, the cabinet ministers Liu Ziren, Yuan Yunlong, and Chen Maosheng.

This time the cabinet gathered together to discuss the country's major affairs with the emperor for the first time after getting acquainted with the affairs at hand.

Song Yingxing was the first to speak: "With the full collection of taxes in Shandong and Henan provinces, the annual tax revenue has increased a lot. The industrial and commercial taxes and tariffs of the provinces, especially in the coastal areas, are also increasing, but the treasury has not. Too filling..."

"One is due to the sharp increase in military expenditure. Each division has 1 people, which has increased to 1000 people, and new cavalry divisions are still being formed. The navy is continuing to build ships, and these will cost money."

"The second is to increase the salaries of officials and increase the tax withheld by the localities. One decrease and one increase, the fiscal revenue of the imperial court has disappeared a lot out of thin air."

"Third, education expenditures are increasing year by year. Thanks to His Majesty's blessings, the world is peaceful now, exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes are exempted, and the number of children in various provinces has increased sharply. Although free lunches have been cancelled, new schools will be built when there are too many children, and teachers must continue to be recruited. Governments all over the country There is not enough money, which is also the reason for the increase in local retention. Small and medium-sized places are spending, while the provinces are large, but they are directly allocated by the treasury. The number of big ones is increasing day by day, and the number of teachers and students is also increasing. The annual expenditure is really not high. few."

"Fourth is immigration expenses. This is a cliché. Last year, there were 25 official immigrants. Vehicles, boats, food, seeds, quilts, cattle... There are so many things, and the immigration expenses exceeded 200 million taels."

"Fifth is water course management. Yellow River improvement is the most expensive, and the existing river course needs to be constantly reinforced. Zhang Shangshu (Zhang Guowei) is also digging and dredging new river courses in Shandong. Funds have to be allocated every year, and I don't know when it will be completed."

"I suggest that after the formation of two new cavalry divisions, the number of troops should not be increased. There are too many troops in the north, while the troops in the south are empty. One division should be transferred to Sichuan, two divisions should be transferred to Minyue, and two divisions should be transferred back to Nanjing. Regarding immigration, the number of people can be appropriately reduced, and 5 people per year are enough.”

Zhao Han nodded: "Song Aiqing's words are reasonable. After the formation of two new cavalry divisions, the army should not expand any more. But there are still battles to be fought in the north, so there is no need to send so many troops to the south. Let's transfer one division to Chengdu. Take precautions against Tibet. Send another division back to Nanjing, which will be enough to defend the capital."

Zhao Han thought about it again: "As for immigrants, the total number of immigrants this year should be reduced to 15. Among them, 5 people will emigrate outside the Great Wall of Liao Dynasty to fill the population emptiness after the destruction of the Tartars! Or immigrants from remote places, all have to be given preferential treatment. Prepare more clothes and food for them, and the more cattle the better.”

"Your Majesty is wise!" Song Yingxing cupped his hands and said.

Yuan Yunlong, Fei Ruhe’s eldest brother-in-law: “The newly occupied territory outside the Great Wall of Liao (Jilin) ​​can be governed by additional civil officials, but it does not have to be placed under the direct management of Liaoning. A capital division should be set up for military management. The first is to prevent the Tartars from making a comeback, and the second is to deter them. Those barbarians in the Northeast."

Liu Ziren: "This statement is reasonable. The land of Nuergandusi in the former Ming Dynasty should also be fully recovered. After being ravaged by the Tartars for many years, Nuergandusi and the local people yearn for China. The capital outside the Great Wall of Liao Dynasty, I suggest that it be located in Jianzhou (Hetuala), governing the vast area from the Great Wall of Liao Dynasty to Heilongjiang."

Zhao Han shook his head and said, "Jianzhou City is too far to the west, how can Heilongjiang be managed? Bring me a map!"

A map of Nuergandusi was quickly placed in front of Zhao Han, which was obtained from the Wenyuan Pavilion Library in Beijing.

Zhao Han carefully examined the map, pointing to Harbin in later generations: "It's best to set up the headquarters of the capital here."

Harbin in the Ming Dynasty was called Laluwei, and it was the name of the Weisuo as soon as you heard it.There is also a post station called Zalanu station.

In the Ming Dynasty, the post road was opened, from Shenyang all the way to Heilongjiang.

The post road passes through places such as Yidonghewei (Changchun), Laluwei (Harbin), Ha Sansuo (Tonghe), Huer Haiwei (Yilan), Zhubang Station (Jiamusi), Futiwei (Fujin) ...following Heilongjiang River to the mouth of the sea, the mouth of the sea is the seat of Nuer Gandusi.

Zhao Han looked at the map and continued: "All post stations set up in the former Ming Dynasty must be restored. This year's immigrants will be sent to the post stations first. The divisions in the northeast should not be idle, and all the abandoned post roads will be dredged. Dredge the post roads. The amount of the project is quite large, and there are not so many civilians in the local area, so it can only be done by Datong soldiers. Follow the past. In this way, the military power can radiate Heilongjiang and Songhua River basins, and even deter Beishan (outer Xing'an Mountains) Jurchens."

"To the south," Zhao Han pointed to the map, "don't continue to nest in Jianzhou. Hu Dinggui will lead me to Huifa City (the east of Huinan County). With Huifa City as the center, immigrants will be resettled and the indigenous people will be educated. The population is large. Get up, when the food is sufficient, you can go to Ninggu Pagoda and wipe out the remnants of the Tartars! Before the population is sufficient, you can go to the mountains every year to sweep. Take away the people under the Tartars, take away, take away Those who don't leave will be killed immediately! Once a year, after a few years, the Tartar population will be empty."

Zhao Han picked up another map: "Xiao Zongxian's troops moved to the north of Liaobei, staring at the Mongols outside the Great Wall of Liao. Xiao Zongxian is not allowed to use troops this year, and Li Zheng, Hu Dinggui and other ministries will consume a lot of food and grass. Wait for the food in Liaodong to slow down next year. Xiao Zongxian can wait for the opportunity to move. You can use any method to win over and split up, to conquer by force, and cooperate with the Hebei friendly army to take back all the land of Duoyan Sanwei!"

Zhao Han continued to search for a map and pointed to the Hetao area: "Last year, there was a severe drought in Shaanxi and Henan, and the local grain storage was exhausted. After the grain storage is restored, immediately let the local officials of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan provinces collect the Changping area under their jurisdiction. For the grain in the warehouse, send troops to take back Hetao in one fell swoop, and get back everything south of Yinshan Mountain!"

The five cabinet ministers looked at each other in blank dismay. The emperor said so much in one breath, all because of his expansion plan in the north.

If all of them are implemented, how much food will be consumed.

It has not been moved in the past few years. It is because the population in the north is empty and a large amount of land is abandoned. To fight a big battle, grain must be transported from the south to the north.After several years of recovery, coupled with the continuous use of food from the south to emigrate, the population of the northern provinces has gradually increased, and food production has also continued to increase.

In this way, it is completely possible to collect grain on the spot and send troops to the grassland to recover the lost land.

If it hadn't been for the severe drought in the north last year that consumed too much stored food, troops could be sent to recover Hetao this year.

Fei Chun asked: "Since the capital of the Northeast has changed its administration, should it still be called the capital of Nuergan?"

Zhao Han thought carefully and said, "Let's call it the Heilongjiang Metropolitan Commander. Li Zheng will not lead the troops himself, and appoint him as the Heilongjiang Metropolitan Commander to take charge of Heilongjiang's military and civil affairs."

Military and civilian affairs are grasped, and its jurisdiction includes Heilongjiang, Jilin, and large areas of Russia in later generations.This power is large enough to certainly no longer give the actual command of the army.

By the way, in addition to buying Northeast military rations from North Korea and transporting them from southern China, some of them even came from Japan.

Famines broke out repeatedly in Japan. Every year, farmers starved to death, but some local lords took the initiative to sell food.These grains were first transported to Ganghwa Island, then transferred to Lushunkou, and finally landed in the hands of the Datong Army—Ganghwa Island, located at the mouth of the Han River, was originally a place where North Korea exiled political prisoners, but now it has become a sea trade between the two countries. It is a trading place, and the Datong Navy has rented a piece as a military port.

Liu Ziren suddenly said: "Your Majesty, according to the Guangnan Provincial Report, after more than a year, most of the officials who went to Guangnan to serve in Guangnan can speak the local dialect and are familiar with the specific conditions of the people in Guangnan. They will play hard this year. Forcing the big clans in Guangnan to split up their land... Maybe, the gentry in Guangnan will confuse the people and incite the people to riot again. The Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War want to slow down. There was a civil uprising last year in Guangnan. If there is another civil uprising this year, I am afraid It is not conducive to winning the hearts of the people in Guangnan."

"What are you afraid of?" Zhao Han sneered, "cut the mess quickly, or when will it be delayed? If there is a civil uprising, the army will be dispatched, just to kill a few more gentry with ulterior motives. As for the people of Guangnan, it is inevitable that there will be casualties during the battle. Since you rebelled with the gentry, you must have the consciousness to die by the sword!"

Now that half of Vietnam is occupied, the division of land must be implemented.

First, this is a national policy of the new dynasty, and second, it took the opportunity to eliminate the influence of the gentry.The land annexation there is so fierce that the common people don't even understand what the gentry are.If the gentry want to rebel, the people will be bewitched, and if they don't deal with it, it will always be a hidden danger.

Only by implementing the policy of dividing land so that the gentry cannot monopolize land resources can the rebellion problem be solved once and for all.

Like Daming, when someone rebelled, he suppressed it, but did not clean up the Vietnamese gentry.Then after the national power declines, the Vietnamese gentry will have a different heart, use the resources and influence in their hands, and bring the people who don't understand anything to chaos again.

The five cabinet ministers dispersed, Zhao Han leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes to rest.

After a while, British envoys were brought in.

"Meet Your Majesty the Emperor!"

"Sit down. How many schools have you visited?"

Milton: "We visited two primary schools, one middle school, and Jinling University. The school education in China is very great, and we admire it from the bottom of our hearts."

"You don't have to admire it, the UK can do the same." Zhao Han laughed.

"When I get back to England, I will submit my proposals to Parliament." Milton.

After a chat, Milton suddenly issued an invitation: "Your Majesty the Great Emperor, on behalf of the Republic of England, I invite Chinese officials to visit the UK."

These words made Zhao Han think seriously, and it seemed that he could indeed send an envoy.

Not only to visit the UK, but also to visit other countries along the way, increasing China's official influence from Asia to Europe.By the way, collect intelligence information along the way, and compile new nautical charts like Zheng He did.

Chapter 723 [Myanmar Invasion]

Zhang Ruifeng, You Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, was summoned by the emperor for no reason.

He guessed that there might be a mission, perhaps to North Korea, or to the Western Regions, but he never dreamed that it would be Europe.

"Are you from Longyou?" Zhao Han asked.