Rules are actually a way to ensure order, and order is the most important thing in a country.

Sun Chengzong once said that order is the cornerstone. The entire country needs to operate smoothly on this cornerstone.

Skip-level command seems to be able to convey ideas directly to the grassroots, but the problem is... you don't have the time and energy to manage every grassroots matter.

If the superiors are all thinking about overstepping command, it will cause chaos to the order. And the chaos of order is the beginning of the collapse of a country.

Li Xiao has always regarded Sun Chengzong’s words as a wise saying!

This is the experience gained by a mature politician over many years. It is also one of the secrets to ensure the smooth operation of a country!

But today, Li Xiao plans to make an exception and directly intervene in local affairs!

Li Xiao usually does not interfere in civil affairs.

The so-called "mounting the horse to govern the army and dismounting the horse to govern the people" is something that only those with extremely high talent and self-confidence can do.

There are many successful people in history, such as Tang Taizong Li Shimin, and the very controversial Yongle Emperor Zhu Di.

The vast majority of people failed and it brought serious disasters to the country.

Li Xiao does not think that he is a genius, nor does he think that he can control the food, drink and diarrhea of ​​300 million people.

Leaving professional matters to professional people is the key to getting things done well.

When lay leaders are experts at this kind of thing, good results will rarely come out.

For civil affairs, Li Xiao has always relied on his chief assistant. First it was the wily Sun Chengzong, then he became Zhang Huangyan, who is also called an old fox, and now he has become Sun Yuanhua who likes to work at the grassroots level.

Sun Yuanhua is not in Beijing, but with the help of advanced communication equipment, government affairs are handled in an orderly manner. It must be said that this is a skill.

At least Zhang Huangyan did not have this ability. When he was the chief assistant, he only followed Li Xiao to Liaodong a few times.

The rest of the time, I basically stayed in the capital without moving.

Early in the morning, Shunzi came to report that there was a group of people kneeling at the gate of the Marshal's house, refusing to leave no matter how much they were persuaded, and they wanted to see the Marshal by name.

If this was when the Zhu family was the emperor, it could be basically ignored. Even Shuntian Prefecture would convict them. The emperor is not the chief of your village, and he is someone you can see just by asking?

If Sun Chengzong were here, he would definitely blame Li Xiao for meeting those students yesterday. This gave these people a place to complain. If they want to live a peaceful life in the future, just dream!

Since I met those people yesterday, it seems not good to not see them today. Helpless, Li Xiao could only cheer up and meet with the representatives of those people outside.

I thought it was caused by corrupt officials somewhere who bullied the people, or that the trouble was caused by local powerful people taking advantage of the situation.

Unexpectedly, the people who walked into Li Xiao's office were two skinny children and a woman who looked to be in her thirties.

They were very dirty, and their clothes had large and small patches. The pants they wore were obviously grown-up pants, and the shoes on their feet were actually straw sandals!

"Where are you from?" Li Xiao looked at these three... children with some surprise.

"We are from Niujiazhuang, Yixian County." The woman in the lead said cautiously.

Niujiazhuang, Yixian County...!

Li Xiao looked at the three people carefully again. There was dark dirt on the skin. It was also on the fingernails, and there were calluses on the fingers and palms.

Logically speaking, such thick calluses should not appear on children's hands. But now they clearly appear!

My bare feet are covered with small cuts, and there are quite a few on my calves. This is a characteristic of walking on mountain roads, and I don’t have pants or cloth shoes.

When walking on a mountain road, you may accidentally get scratched on your calves or feet by something.

Since Li Xiao came to power, the economy of Shandong, Liaodong, Hebei, and Gyeonggi has made great progress.

Yixian County is only more than a hundred kilometers away from the capital, but I didn't expect that the countryside in Yixian County would be so poor...!

"Are you the commander-in-chief?" The half-year-old boy in the lead looked at Li Xiao timidly.

"Yes! If you have any grievances, you can tell me."

Needless to say, Li Xiao could guess that this was another case of local officials infringing on the people.

Looking at the whole of Hebei, it is estimated that there is no such poor village. If it were not for the embezzlement by officials, this situation would never have happened.

"The children want to study!" The woman summoned up her courage and opened her mouth to say to Li Xiao.

Li Xiao's heart seemed to be hit by something. This was not a big-eyed girl from later generations. It was one of the most prosperous areas under his own rule.

After so many years of vigorous development of education, almost all children of school age in the capital go to school.

Nowadays, many of the first batch of children to go to primary school have already gone to junior high school. There are even many junior high school graduates who have gone to various vocational schools.

The first batch of children have now graduated and entered all walks of life, becoming knowledgeable fresh blood.

Li Xiao originally thought that almost all of Hebei had at least universalized primary school education. However, he did not expect that there was still such poverty in a place only a hundred kilometers away from the capital.

"You still don't have enough to eat?" Li Xiao looked at the woman and said.

"Thanks to the Marshal, I have been able to have enough food and clothing these days. I am not afraid of your jokes, Marshal. I have never seen anything but one pair of trousers before. Whoever goes out wears it. Many people work at night.

Not because I want to be cool at night, but because I can work naked at night.

Over the years, government taxes have been reduced by 70%. We can still have enough to eat, but we are still very poor.

There is no way, the land in the mountains is thin, and the food produced in a year is limited. If the court had not reduced taxes, and there were no landlords to collect rent, I would not be able to survive."

"Oh, do your officials there raid people?"

"No, the imperial court has given little corvee and low taxes. It has given the greatest benefit to us common people."

"Oh!" Li Xiao felt a little relieved when he heard that it wasn't officials raiding the people.

Although cities have now reached preliminary prosperity, people in remote areas are still very poor.

Solving poverty is a long-term matter and cannot be achieved overnight. In later generations, it took a full seventy years to solve the problem of food and clothing for the whole country.

This is such a huge empire that nothing can be accomplished overnight.

"The country will continue to develop, and schools will soon be built there. The children will have books to study and learn, and they will become useful and promising people to the country in the future."

These days, there is no problem in building rural primary schools in the mountains. But the problem is that there are not enough teachers!

You have to eat the meal one bite at a time, and walk the road step by step. If you take long steps, it is easy to pull off the eggs.

"Thanks to your blessing, Commander-in-Chief, our village already has a primary school. Two young students from the city came to teach the children how to read and write.

What I'm saying is, let girls go to school."

"Girls go to school?" At this moment, Li Xiao was a little stunned.

Since the beginning of Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism, women have been firmly confined at home. Even if they help with the family's business, they will be looked down upon if they show up in public.

It has been hundreds of years since Zhu Xi began. The strong habits formed over hundreds of years cannot be easily changed.

Therefore, Li Xiao did not dare to easily try to let girls study in the capital.

Unexpectedly, a woman came from Yi County, more than a hundred kilometers away, and told him that she wanted girls to go to school.

"Commander, as the saying goes, it has been a virtue for a woman to be without talent since ancient times. But Marshal, you have to know that nowadays, men are busy outside. We women have to do all the things at home.

Just like when it comes to educating children, we women cannot read a word, so how can we know so many principles to educate our children?

Marshal, girls can read. In the future, they can also teach their children to read, and their children’s children to read..."

Li Xiao was dumbfounded when he looked at this woman. He didn't expect that such a country woman could understand so many truths.

Of course Li Xiao knew how much impact a literate mother would have on her children's education.

"Are you literate?" Li Xiao felt that the woman in front of him should be literate, otherwise she would never be able to say such reasonable things.

"A commoner woman knows a few words. My father taught her in a private school when she was young," the woman said in a low voice.

"Oh, did you have a private school at home?" Li Xiao was a little surprised. Yixian County was poor enough, but a village in the mountains actually had a private school.

I can’t even eat enough, can I still go to private school?

"My father is a scholar!"

"Oh! I didn't know that the old gentleman is now...!"

It is not easy to create a scholar in the countryside, and it is even more difficult to run a private school in a poor mountain valley.

"My father died of hunger more than ten years ago!" The woman's tone was filled with sadness.

Li Xiao knew that this was definitely a sad story. This rural educator taught private school in a village where food and clothing could not be guaranteed.

Starving to death is absolutely normal!

Cangjie knows enough about etiquette!

The ancients even knew that having enough food is the first priority.

How can you expect people who don't have enough to eat to still think about the principles of the Four Books and Five Classics?

They don't know that people who don't have enough to eat are far less interested in knowledge than food.

There is a golden house in the book!

There is beauty in the book!

There are many chariots and horses in the book!

...!
To be continued...