It is far from enough to do these tasks alone. Since this era comes, we must consider the national conditions of China in the 17th century. This national conditions are that gentry holds the power of public opinion, or scholars holds the power of discourse.

Although the education of Xiangshan County is the best in Guangzhou prefectures, it does not mean that ordinary people have a high literacy rate. The tradition of China over the past thousand years, the right to interpret words and discourse is in the hands of scholars, and the success among scholars is mainly those who have achieved fame and fortune, in other words, gentry.

Zhou Shixiang had to admit that the gentry who had privileges in the official position and dominated the countryside basically represented the people. They could say a word to the government and say a hundred words. Now the Taiping Army has become the government government that dominates Xiangshan, so if ordinary people want to accept the propaganda of the Taiping Army, they must obtain the help of the local gentry.

Unfortunately, for more than a month, except for Guo Shao, the salt patrolman who surrendered by Liang, no scholar in Xiangshan has taken the initiative to surrender to the Taiping Army, let alone organize villagers to join the Taiping Army.

The main reason for this situation is that the Taiping Army had too shallow foundation in Xiangshan and was under the threat of the Qing army in Guangzhou. The local gentry was not optimistic about the prospects of the Taiping Army. The scholars who dared to resist the Qing army rose up as early as the Qing army entered Guangdong, and the typical ones were Zhang Jiayu, Chen Zizhuang and others.

As the backbone of Xiangshan's anti-Qing forces, Zhang Jiayu and others' resistance to Qing Dynasty certainly gave a certain blow to the Qing army, but it also ruined all the scholars who were eager toward the Southern Ming in Xiangshan area under the butcher knife of the Qing army. Those who escaped the Qing army's capture and killing did not dare to return to Xiangshan again, but mostly went to Yunnan and Guizhou to follow the Yongli court.

Therefore, the remaining scholars in Xiangshan area either shook their tails and begged for fun at the Qing Dynasty, or they were afraid of the Qing army but wanted to preserve the so-called moral bottom line in their hearts and were unwilling to become a clean official and avoid living in the countryside.

This kind of scholar who hides in the countryside as the remnants of the Ming Dynasty has a worse impact on the local people than those who surrender to the Qing court as traitors, because their control of local public opinion and dominance in the countryside made the local people as numb, making the Ming army unable to gain a foothold in the local area, and after the Qing army came, they obeyed. With the rise of each other, the Ming army in Xiangshan area naturally could not last long.

In response to the words of the great men of later generations, the wrong route. The more knowledge they are, the more reactionary they are. Whether they are actively traitors or blind people who open their eyes to cover up their ears, the gentry in Xiangshan area is essentially speculators who only seek to protect their own interests and ignore the dangers of the nation and the country. In their mouths, the teachings of saints are just tools to whitewash their shameful behavior.

Zhou Shixiang absolutely does not want such scholars. However, there are too few intellectuals in the Taiping Army, so he needs scholars to come forward to help him. This is a very contradictory thing.

In the ten major towns of Xiangshan, except for Tieyi who cleaned up local gentry in Yongle, Changning and other places, the Taiping Army in other places adopted a gentle attitude towards local gentry. First, it was because Zhou Shixiang had instructions. Second, it was because the Taiping Army, which was participated by ordinary people, still respected scholars. Just like Zhou Shixiang, a scholar, was also respected and envied by neighbors in Xinhui City. Throughout history, scholars have understood the great principles and are still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Meng Dayuan and Liu Guodao, two Jinshis from the Chongzhen period, ran away before the arrival of the Taiping Army. A large group of Juren masters ran away with them. There were more than a dozen Juren masters who were still in Xiangshan and escaped from the Taiping Army's purge. There were also dozens of scholars and dozens of scholars.

These juren have families and property in the local area, and they are basically big landlords. The family background of scholars is much worse than that of them, and most of them are not much better than ordinary families. They are juren who have family property but have not escaped and have never acted as an accomplice of the Qing army. Zhou Shixiang's attitude was to not move them for the time being, but they wanted to deprive them of the local voice. The scholars and Zhou Shixiang asked Liao Ruixiang, the magistrate, to contact them, hoping to convince them to come out and work for the Taiping Army.

There are three main instructions from Zhou Shixiang to Liao Ruixiang. First, we must strive for these scholars to come out to work for the Taiping Army; second, let them do things but cannot give them the dominance; third, we must immediately rebuild Xinhui County Schools, and at the same time build villages in each township to cultivate their own scholars for the Taiping Army.

Liao Ruixiang was puzzled. He understood that he had asked scholars to do things for the Taiping Army. Without the help of scholars, he was quite a clever magistrate of Xinhui, but what does it mean to let scholars do things without giving them the dominance?

In this regard, Zhou Shixiang used a very inappropriate description. He said, when ox plows the land, should we let the ox cultivate according to the owner's instructions, rather than pulling the plow according to the ox's own wishes.

Liao Ruixiang understood this sentence, but felt very awkward. As one of the scholars, he was a little dissatisfied with Zhou Shixiang comparing scholars to Niu.

"We have many things to do, and many things may not be in the interests of those scholars, or they are not attracted by their eyes. But we do not have enough people to do things at the moment, so we must rely on these scholars. But how can we make the scholars feel uneasy and not do good things into bad things when doing things? The key is that we have to put a trap and hold them, otherwise the scholars' intestines will be enough for us to bear it."

"After Qianhu said this, the officials still understand. The officials immediately went to do the tricks for scholars. There were already county school and township school in the county, and the teachers were all ready-made, but how should the children of the school choose?"

"There are many dolls in the back battalion of our Taiping Army. All of these dolls have to study, and the children of the people also have to study. Let's dolls that don't have money. All dolls who go to school are managed by our Taiping Army. Food, drink, clothing and expenses are paid from the public treasury. After three years of study in the township, those who have excellent academic performance will enter the county school, and those who are not outstanding will be accepted by the various workshops. The school does not teach the Four Books and Five Classics. I will immediately compile some textbooks, astronomy, geography, and arithmetic handymen. Well, after the textbook is compiled, I have to start teaching the scholars and teachers first, so that they can understand it first, otherwise they will be taught by blindly and cannot become a material."

"To study is to gain fame and fortune, but thousands of households have to teach some miscellaneous studies, for fear that their children will not want to."

"My school is not expensive. I welcome the children of the people. But if they refuse to study, then let them go to the original private school. I will not cut off their way of fame and fortune. But my Taiping Army children must learn as I teach. If I learn well, I will reward them. If I learn poorly, I will punish me! ... Don't look at me with this strange expression. We are conquering the world now, not sitting in the world. We need talents who can do practical things, and we are not nerds who only know the knowledgeable people. Do you understand!"

"I understand, understand, the official understand!"

"Just understand. You should do the things about county and townships immediately. You can't delay it. If you have any shortcomings, you can adjust them from the county government. If there are any local people who don't cooperate, let the garrison tell them the truth. In short, this matter is related to the survival of our Taiping Army, and no one can do anything bad!"

After combining the scholar's work with county and township education and township education, Zhou Shixiang wanted to solve the right to speak in the countryside. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!