Wang Ci couldn't refuse, thinking that no matter what the thieves' intentions were, it would always be good for the family. He stood up and said, "The student would like to thank them here." After saying this, he bowed deeply.
"Haha, you're welcome." Seeing his softened attitude, Xiong Buyou thought that the plan was about 70% certain. Of course, whether this sour guy is willing or not will not affect the final result, but with his participation
, things will go more smoothly once things are done. To win over the indigenous intellectuals, it is best to have the help of his county magistrate.
The Executive Committee originally did not value indigenous intellectuals - their own knowledge structure and system far exceeds that of any scientist in this time and space, whether Chinese or foreign. These small intellectuals who only have a few books on the Four Books and Five Classics are the greatest value in the eyes of the time travellers.
It's just word recognition.
But over time, the executive committee's view of indigenous intellectuals has changed to a certain extent due to the feedback of social information continuously collected during work. After all, no matter how poor intellectuals are, they are theoretically the ones who have knowledge, and they are still in the bureaucracy.
reserve army. Therefore, they still enjoy considerable status and prestige in society.
In this way, indigenous intellectuals have been elevated from available manpower to a class that needs to be attracted. In ancient societies where knowledge was scarce and illiteracy rates were extremely high, literate people not only had the right to speak, but also the ability to judge right and wrong.
Power. The attitude and background of this group of people can affect many ordinary people.
In addition, from the incomplete list of students and children they collected, it can be seen that in addition to some poor scholars from small civilian households, many scholars are actually the children of gentry and landlords. Being able to win them over is tantamount to a disguised form.
Won over the local gentry class.
Therefore, the Foreign Commerce Committee began to launch a special project to win over scholars in the county - code-named "Moli Xuan" work. In addition to students, candidates, and Jinshi, children without merit were also included in the plan.
After a period of investigation and research, the Foreign Commerce Committee has generally grasped the entire cultural situation of Lingao.
Overall, the level is extremely low.
Of course, this extremely low level is said in the general environment of the Ming Dynasty. If we look at the main island of Hainan Island, Lingao's cultural construction is still among the best in Qiongzhou Prefecture. After all, Lingao is also a thousand-year-old county, and there is always some accumulation.
of.
However, due to the sparse population, the proportion of scholars in the county is also low. There are about 30 students in the county who have registered in the county school, and about 60 or 70 students have taken the county examination.
There is a quota for the number of students in a county. The most valuable ones are naturally the junior students, who can receive six dou of rice per month, usually thirty for large counties and twenty for small counties. The quota for junior students in Lingao is twenty.
There are additional quotas for growth, epiphysis, and the like, but there is no subsidy. There are many such people in areas with a strong literary style, but there are only a few dozen or so in Lingao.
The county has financial difficulties, and the income from the school fields is almost non-existent. Even the students have been unable to get rice for many years, let alone others. Of course, many scholars have well-off families and do not care about this little money and rice, but for the poorer people,
As a human being, life is very difficult.
After generally understanding the situation, it happened that Wang Ci asked Tiandihui to help cultivate the academic fields. The Foreign Business Committee felt that this was an excellent opportunity to get involved in Lingao's education career.
Xiong Buyou stood up, walked around the hall, and looked at the desolate situation in the courtyard from the corridor. He shook his head and said, "I didn't expect that the Confucian Temple in this county is so desolate!"
Wang Ci blushed: "It's always the students' incompetence..."
"I can't blame you for this," Xiong Buyou said carelessly. "The county has not given you a penny or a grain of rice in the past few years. It is already very difficult to support you to this point. For the sake of Lingao's generosity, Wang
The teaching is really worthy of the painstaking efforts and dedication.”
When these words came out of Kun Zei's mouth, Wang Ci's eyes almost turned red.
What a pity! He thought, I came to Lingao, a small county in the south of the country, to teach, and I was running around every day. I thought of all the ways I could think of, and went around looking for donations from the gentry. Several pairs of shoes were broken, and they were robbed by bandits. I almost lost them.
He lost his life, encountered a hurricane at the seaside, and almost died in the belly of a fish. After seeing enough of the cold faces of the gentry, he could barely survive until now. The county magistrate only said "Thank you". Unexpectedly, it has only been more than a year since I came from overseas.
The Australians could see it so clearly. Suddenly, I felt like a confidant.
"I don't dare take this seriously." Wang Ci calmed down, "Since I have become the magistrate of this county, I have to do my best." He sighed, "I just want to have a clear conscience."
"Good, but I hope you have a clear conscience!" Looking at his expression, Xiong Buyou knew that the bowl of rice soup was effective. Before coming, everyone discussed how to impress Wang Jiayu. After the discussion, this aspect irritated him more.
Itchy spot. After trying it for a while, it turned out to be true.
He then deliberately sighed: "It would be great if all the officials in the Ming Dynasty could have a clear conscience!"
This remark smacked of criticizing current affairs. Although Wang Ci was a small preacher, he was not a frog in the well. What he saw and heard on the way to and in office, and the letters he exchanged with his family, friends, and classmates made him feel the current situation.
It was going downhill day by day. He didn't want to comment on this in front of the thief, so he just kept silent and just sighed.
Xiong Buyou felt that the heat had come. He said: "I saw that the Moli Xuan next to the county school is in dilapidated condition. If it is not repaired, it may collapse, and this good story in the Lingao literary world will be wiped out..."
"Why don't students want to renovate it?" Wang Ci has also been worried about this matter. He is not from Lingao County, but if this important relic of Lingao literary world is destroyed on his watch, what will the county annals write about him a hundred years later?
?Thinking of this, he felt restless.
"I also begged the county magistrate, but the warehouses in the county were empty and there was no extra money or rice. Even if a few migrant workers were recruited to work, they would still have to be fed. Furthermore, carpenters and bricklayers would not come if they were only given food to eat.
"Wang Ci was at his wits' end. Repairing a house is not a small sum of money. It requires hiring workers, buying wood, bricks, and lime. It costs a lot of money.
"Since the county has no money, we can help repair Moli Xuan." Xiong Buyou took the opportunity to make a request.
"You guys are repairing it?" Wang Ci glanced at him in surprise. What was this thief planning? Why did he help repair the house for no reason? What good would it do to them.
"Exactly, not only Moli Pavilion, but also here." Xiong Buyou pointed outside, "Your Confucian Temple and County School must be repaired. Otherwise, it will be really unsightly."
"This -" Wang Ci was confused for a moment and murmured, "I can't afford this, I can't afford it."
"Hey, there's nothing I can't afford. I've already said that since I've settled down in Lingao, this is my hometown. There's nothing I can't afford to build a Confucian Temple and County School for my hometown. It's called benefiting my throat, hahaha."
Wang Ci couldn't think of anything to refute these unreasonable words, but he instinctively felt that this was a weasel paying New Year greetings to a chicken. It must have some intention.
"Okay, that's it. Just listen to the good news." Xiong Buyou didn't wait for him to react, stood up, cupped his hands, and left.
"Hey - eh - please stay -" Wang Ci felt something was wrong and wanted to discuss it again, but how could his footsteps compare to Xiong Buyou? He chased him out of the house, but Xiong Buyou had already left the courtyard.
I had no choice but to go back to the house first. I thought it would be best to report this matter to the county magistrate first. Otherwise, I would be acting arbitrarily and something would be serious.
"Master——" The doorman came again.
"What's up?!"
"Master Xiong left two boxes of gifts, do you want to carry them in for you?"
"Gift?"
"Yes, this is the gift list." Menzi presented the gift list.
Wang Ci opened it and saw six colored gifts listed on it: three hundred catties of brown rice, two jars of sherbet wine, a thousand sheets of fine white paper, a hundred various brushes, a hundred tablets of pine smoke ink, and fifty books.
Volumes and meters are replaced by circulation coupons of equal amount.
The gifts are not very heavy, but they are very affordable. Except for wine, everything else can be used to support poor scholars. No matter whether paper making, pen making, ink making or printing here in Lingao, they are all blank. There are no pens, inks, paper, inkstones or books.
Don't smuggle it from Fucheng. The journey is long and the price is naturally high, which becomes a huge burden for scholars.
"And there are books?" Wang Ci wondered. Do they think that they are like the mud-legged people and want books that are full of vulgar characters and have no understanding of literature and science?
"Yes, there is a box."
"Throw it away!" Wang Ci said without hesitation, "No, use it to light the fire!"
"Ah?" Menzi is illiterate, but he also knows how valuable books are in the local area, "Sir, this-"
"If I tell you to burn it, you will burn it."
"Yes, sir." Menzi retreated.
Wang Ci quickly got dressed and went to the county government office to ask for an audience with Magistrate Wu.
The yamen servant soon spread the word: please meet him in the flower hall.
Wang Ci came to the flower hall and saw Magistrate Wu wearing a Ge robe and sitting on a new "Australian-style" rattan chair. Next to him was a huge wooden basin with a large piece of ice in it like a crystal mountain.
There was white smoke coming out. As soon as I walked into the house, I felt the whole room was cool.
"Your Majesty, I'll pay my respects——"
"Okay, okay, the weather is hot. This false courtesy can be dispensed with." Wu Mingjin waved his hand, "Come on, Lao Wang, please take off your clothes and sit down too!"
"Don't dare to lose your etiquette in front of the superior." Wang Ci said respectfully.
Wu Mingjin secretly cursed: "Sour rot!" He said, "Then please invite the old man to sit down. Someone, give the old man a bowl of iced sour plum soup!"
"Go back to the master," the footman said, "The plum juice is gone. I sent someone to Dongmen City to buy it. I have the new kvass sent by Master Xiong at home..."
"Just take this and tell the kitchen to bring some crushed ice." Wu Mingjin nodded.