Chapter 173: The Foundation of All Ages (2) [Two in One]
"PS: Some book friends seem to be confused. "Learning words" and "learning knowledge" are different."
————The following text————
For the time being, the Wei State does not have the ability to popularize culture across the country.
Based on the overall situation of this era, Zhao Hongrun believes that at least 70% of the people in the country cannot read - they can speak the language of Wei, but if they are asked to write, nine and a half out of ten will not be able to write.
Some people may think that most people in Wei can't read, so what should they do in daily life and buy necessities?
It's actually very simple: rely on your own body.
For example, the word "庹" in the text represents the distance between an adult's hands when they raise their hands side by side. Why is there such a non-standard measurement unit despite the obvious measurement of "Zhang" and "Chi"?
In fact, it is not difficult to guess.
Even illiterate people still have their wisdom.
And among the remaining 30%, about 60% to 70% can only recognize a few or a dozen common characters and can write their own names. Only a very small number, a very small number of people, can recognize more than a hundred characters, or even a few.
A hundred words, able to read books smoothly - these very few people also include royal families, nobles, and ordinary people who are not satisfied with their current social status and hope to change the current situation through reading and taking exams.
situation person.
Among this type of people, considering that those rich children who have the opportunity to read and learn literature may not all be talented, therefore, heroes like Jie Ziu, Zhang Qigong and other ordinary people are extremely precious.
A few days later, in accordance with the request of King Zhao Run of Wei, the Ministry of Rites collected all the surnames from all over the world and compiled a book called "One Hundred Family Surnames", which was more like a thin pamphlet than a book.
This thing can actually be considered a "book"?
When he handed the book "Hundred Family Surnames" to King Zhao Run of Wei, Du You, the Minister of Rites, had his hands trembling, as if he was a little frightened.
What else could he be afraid of? It was just that he, the Minister of Rites of the Wei Kingdom, would actually make up such a thing for the sake of the king's order. If word spread, he would be laughed at by scholars all over the world!
In contrast, Zhao Hongrun was very satisfied with it. The only drawback is that there are only so many surnames in the world, so this booklet is too thin. If it is used as a teaching material, Zhao Hongrun is not satisfied.
How to add some weight?
When he told the ministers in the inner court about this, Jie Zizi immediately smiled and said: "Your Majesty, this is easy, why not just add a few famous ministers and generals of our Wei Dynasty after a certain surname?"
…”
What a great idea!
Whether it was Zhao Hongrun or the other ministers in the inner court, their eyes lit up when they heard this.
Take the word "Zhao" as an example. You can add Zhao Run's deeds at the end. This is also a way to become famous. Although Zhao Run himself doesn't care about fame, the people of Wei should pay attention to it anyway.
Does their king know something?
"Very good, just do as Jiezi said!"
Zhao Hongrun took the matter with a smile.
As a result, the Ministry of Rites began to organize and write it again.
It took two full months to compile the second edition of "Hundred Family Surnames", which added celebrities to the inheritance of many surnames in the world - mainly celebrities from the Wei State. Only when they are really incomparable,
, will choose celebrities from other countries.
Take the surname "Lu" for example. Although one of Zhao Hongrun's imperial guards was named "Lü Mu", and one of the lieutenants of the imperial guard was named "Lü Zhi", these two are not the same as "Qi".
Compared with "Wang Lu Xi", there is a huge difference. Therefore, the Ministry of Rites of Wei did not dare to risk the disapproval of the world as the representative of the word "Lu", so it could only choose Qi Wang Lu Xi.
Similarly, there are also words such as Han, Chu, Qin, and Ying.
After revising it according to Zhao Hongrun's opinions, the Ministry of Rites sent the third edition of "Hundred Family Surnames", which was relatively complete, to King Zhao Run of Wei.
Zhao Runzai read it carefully and found no loopholes, so he summoned the eunuch Gao He and asked the latter to send someone to send the "Hundred Family Surnames" to the Metallurgical Bureau, which would engrave and print it.
With the Smelting Bureau's current technology, movable type printing is not a big problem. They can even choose a single iron movable type in one step - of course, since the mold cannot be so fine, manual polishing is often required.
Not long after, the first printed edition of "Hundred Family Surnames" was personally delivered to Chui Gong Hall by Wang Fu, director of the General Administration of Metallurgical Engineering.
Zhao Hongrun read through it carefully and praised Wang Fu with great satisfaction.
The ministers in the inner court were amazed by this printed book - they had never thought before that the classics left by the sages could be printed in this way.
Looking at the "Hundred Family Surnames", which the young monarch called a thread-bound book, Du You, Li Liang, Xu Guan and other ministers of the older generation looked at each other in astonishment.
Immediately, Du You tentatively asked Wang Fu, director of the General Administration of Metallurgy and Manufacturing: "Master Wang, dare I ask how long it takes to print this kind of seal, um, printing technology, such as "Hundred Family Surnames"?"
Although Wang Fu is not a technical official like Chen Dan and Xun Xin who is proficient in craftsmanship, he is well aware of this issue. After all, this is his duty.
So he thought for a while and replied: "Printing is not complicated. As long as you have a movable type mold, it can be typeset in about half a day. Then it will take about a whole day to check for typos and then apply ink for printing."
"All day long?"
Du You, Li Liang, and Xu Guan, the old ministers, looked at each other and smiled unconsciously: This so-called printing technology is nothing.
After all, it only takes them about two or three hours to hand-copy a copy of "Hundred Family Surnames", but the Smelting Bureau needs a whole day to print it.
Zhao Run could naturally see the disapproval of these veterans. He smiled secretly in his heart and asked deliberately: "Wang Fu, how long will it take to print a hundred copies of "One Hundred Surnames"?"
Wang Fu bowed quickly, and after thinking for a while, he replied: "It will take three days to report back to Your Majesty."
"Three, three days?"
The smiles on the faces of the veterans Du You, Li Liang and Xu Guan suddenly froze: in just three days, even if they did not eat, drink or sleep, they could not finish copying a hundred copies of Hundred Family Surnames.
"So, what about a thousand copies?" Zhao Hongrun asked again deliberately.
Wang Fu obviously saw something, and replied with a smile: "Ten days are enough to report back to Your Majesty!"
At this time, looking at Du You, Qiang, and Xu Guan, the three veterans had already looked at each other and were speechless.
"This is technology, my lords."
After looking at Du You, Li Liang, Xu Guan and Zhao Hongrun, they said seriously: "Within ten days, the Smelting Bureau can print a thousand identical books, which is incomparable to manual copying..."
Looking at Wang Fu, director of the General Administration of Metallurgy and Manufacturing, and thinking about the craftsmanship and technology possessed by the General Administration of Metallurgy and Manufacturing, Du You, the Minister of Rites, nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, Du You thought of something: Since the Smelting Bureau can print "Hundred Family Surnames", in other words, they can also print other books?
Thinking of this, Du You immediately asked Wang Fu.
Sure enough, Wang Fu nodded and said, "Of course."
Du You, Li Liang, Lin Yuyang, Feng Yu and others looked at each other and felt a little thump in their hearts.
In this era, compared to common people, literati still have an inexplicable sense of superiority - maybe most scholars have good moral character and will not look down upon those common people who can't even recognize words, but in their bones, it is still inevitable
They will think that they have a higher social status than these illiterate farmers.
Even veterans such as Du You and Li Liang are not exempt from this point.
But now, the Smelting Bureau has used printing technology to have the ability to print a thousand books in ten days. This will inevitably increase the number of books, resulting in the price (not value) of the books being low, which may be even low.
Farmers working in the fields have the ability to purchase.
Although officials such as Du You and Li Liang attached great importance to the farmers who cultivated their fields and believed that they were one of the cornerstones of making the country prosperous and strong, they still could not accept this situation. In their view, only a small group of people were outstanding.
Only those who are qualified to read the books left by the sages - if you are born as a farmer, you should work in the fields honestly, instead of touching the classics left by the sages with your hands covered with soil.
This is the inherent prejudice of the literati of this era and cannot be eradicated.
"His Majesty!"
Suddenly, Du You shouted loudly and bowed his hands to Zhao Hongrun, which shocked the latter.
"Du Qing?" Zhao Hongrun asked in surprise.
I saw Du You cupping his hands and saying with a serious face: "Your Majesty, please be sure to hand over the machinery for printing books in the Smelting Bureau to the supervision of our Rites Department."
Zhao Hongrun understood it as soon as he heard it.
Obviously, Du You was worried that after the Smelting Bureau had this ability, it would print thousands or tens of thousands of copies of all the books owned by the Wei State and distribute them widely among the people. The consequence of this would be that the royal family and the nobles would no longer have a monopoly.
Books, in the next twenty years, their status will be seriously affected by the children of common people.
Secondly, it is said that rare things are valuable. Once books become popular, even if they are books left by sages of the previous generation, their price and value will inevitably be affected. This is intolerable to Du You.
Zhao Hongrun nodded slightly. He also understood Du You's worry: if the books of sages became so common that ordinary people used them as toilet paper, this would not only violate his original intention of printing books, but also insult the sages who wrote these books.
However, he had already considered this matter: "Don't worry, Du Qing, I will not sit back and watch the classics of sages become proliferated due to the emergence of printing. Even if I want to teach the people how to read, I will only allow the Metallurgical Bureau to print images like "
I will not let enlightenment books such as "Hundred Family Surnames" for literacy and books written by sages spread among the people."
On the one hand, he made such a decision to appease the royal family, nobles, and nobles so that they would not panic; on the other hand, it was also because he felt that Wei State was not yet at the stage where it could print those sage books in large quantities.
He also understands the dangers of pulling seedlings to encourage growth.
After hearing Zhao Hongrun's words, Du You felt relieved, but he still asked Zhao Run to send someone to keep the secret of printing - not only for the upper class of Wei, but also for the aristocracy of other countries in the Central Plains.
However, Zhao Hongrun didn't think so, because he knew that although printing was a cross-generational technology, if this thing fell into the hands of Han Wangran and Chu King Xiong Tuo, these two people would definitely put it away and would never abuse it.
The reason is that the influence of printing is too far-reaching. It has mixed advantages and disadvantages for the country in the current era. It is by no means the kind of technology that can make the country rich and powerful in one fell swoop.
"Let's do this, Wang Fu. When you return to Yecheng, ask someone to sort it out and hand over the printing equipment to the Ministry of Rites."
After thinking about it, Zhao Hongrun decided to let the Ministry of Rites be in charge of this artifact. After all, the Ministry of Rites itself is an institution in charge of rituals, which of course also includes the education of the people.
"Yes!" Wang Fu bowed his hands and bowed.
"Your Majesty is wise!" Du You, who was over sixty years old, saluted Zhao Hongrun deeply.
Zhao Hongrun waved his hand and reminded with a smile: "Du Qing, I gave this artifact to your Ministry of Rites, but I don't want your Ministry of Rites to shelve it... I think you also understand the principle of giving up eating because of choking, and you must not do it because this thing will cause...
Unrest, and ignore the deviations it brings, for example, the Ministry of Rites used it to print some newspapers, or printed some books, and only circulated them among the officials of the imperial court. This is not a problem."
"I accept my instruction," Du You said, cupping his hands.
Indeed, if only a few hundred books were printed and circulated only to court officials such as county magistrates, governors, and captains, this would not be a problem in Du You's view. After all, those people themselves also belonged to the gentry category.
"Next, let's discuss the school affairs."
Zhao Hongrun clapped his hands and said.
Since the textbooks for popularizing literacy are already available, it is natural to consider how to popularize education - of course, this education refers to popularizing literacy, and Wei State is not yet capable of truly popularizing education.
The best way to popularize education is of course to open schools.
In fact, before this, there were similar schools in the Wei State. There were palace schools in the palace dedicated to teaching the princes. The clan also had schools to train the children of the clan and clan guards. Even in the court, young officials were trained - to be sure.
It is said that it is a school for advanced training, under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Academy.
A few years ago, the State of Wei established a military school in Daliang to train military officers and train those brave generals and military princes into commanders who could read and understand the art of war.
However, the imperial court had no schools for the common people.
Among the people of Wei State, most of the wealthy families still hired teachers to teach their children, while poor children had almost no opportunities to learn.
Many ambitious young people rely on working for wealthy families. Only after winning the favor of their masters do they have the opportunity to read books.
However, the possibility of this is too small. In most cases, these young people’s families must have some money.
For example, Zhang Qigong, the right captain of Tiance Mansion, was also born as a commoner, but his father was a jailer in Huangchi County. With some gray income, he might be able to find a way to get some books for his son.
Another example is Zhou Min, the military advisor of the First Army of the North. He was born into a minor noble family.
The same goes for Luo Yao.
Another example is Fenyin Ling Kou Zheng. Although he was a poor commoner, in his hometown, there was "Shang Xun", a teacher from the old clan, who taught him his studies.
The possibility of a truly impoverished civilian child wanting to get in touch with books is extremely low, almost negligible.
Therefore, it is not only the royal family, nobles, gentry, and landlord class that can produce talents, but the common people have no possibility of giving birth to talents. In the final analysis, the children of common people are only limited by poverty - common people account for nearly 90% of the total population of Wei State.
Jie Zeng, is there really no one with outstanding talent?
This is unrealistic!
Of course, this is only Zhao Hongrun's inner thought, and he dare not reveal it, otherwise, it will definitely arouse the joint resistance of the royal family, nobles, and nobles - even if these people dare not violate his royal order, they will definitely take advantage of this matter.
To make sure that their status and everything they have will not be replaced by civilians with a talent spurt, or in other words, new gentry.
"...I have decided to open schools in the name of the Ministry of Rites in several large counties in each county, enroll children of several years old free of charge, and teach them how to read and write..."
After hearing Zhao Hongrun's first words, the ministers in the inner court had no trouble in their hearts.
Because Zhao Hongrun's first step was very small and very cautious.
At present, there are eleven counties in the Wei State: Hetao, Hexi, Sanchuan, Hedong, Shangdang, Hanoi, Yingshui, Shangshui, Liangjun, Songjun, and Handan.
Among these nine counties, there are not many that can be called large counties. Take Sanchuan County as an example, there are only two at present, one is the royal capital "Luoyang" which is still under construction, and the other
One is "Luocheng".
As for Hedong County, there are only "Fenyin" and "Anyi", plus a barely adequate "Linfen".
Even though Yingshui County has developed the fastest in the Wei State in recent years, the only major counties that can be called are "Xinzheng" and "Anling".
In addition, "Sanyang" from Hanoi County, "Handan" from Handan County, "Shangshui" and "Yanling" from Shangshui County, "Xunshi" from Shangdang County, "Dingtao" from Song County, and "Suiyang"
"Basically, within each county, there are only one or two, or at most three, that can be called large counties.
Therefore, we conservatively estimate that there are about thirty cities.
Zhao Run hoped that the Ministry of Rites would open a school in each of these thirty cities to recruit young students free of charge.
These about thirty private schools can be called "national private schools" for the time being, because they were fully funded by the imperial court and were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites.
To be honest, with Wei's current financial resources, building these thirty schools is not a problem.
"Are we only recruiting young children?"
Feng Yu, the minister of the inner court, asked in surprise, because the majesty in front of him initially said that he wanted to popularize literacy among Wei people across the country.
After listening to Feng Yu's words, Zhao Hongrun said seriously: "No, recruiting young children refers to formal students. Older people can also attend if they are willing to study. However, the school is not responsible for them.
Food and accommodation.”
The ministers in the imperial court understood immediately upon hearing this: this was to prevent some local ruffians from going to the school to cheat on food and drinks in the name of learning calligraphy.
"Those young children, do schools just teach them how to read?" Lin Yuyang asked tentatively.
As if he had guessed what Lin Yuyang was thinking, Zhao Hongrun said succinctly: "These about thirty schools are just the first level of enlightenment education. After that, I will ask the Ministry of Rites to open higher schools in every county.
There are about ten or so schools. These ten institutions of higher learning are not open to the general public. Only students who have been recommended can enroll, and the best among them will take part in the examinations."
The ministers in the inner court looked at each other in surprise.
They suddenly realized that the decision made by His Majesty before them would undoubtedly greatly broaden the path for civilians to study.
If we look at the longer term, this kind of move has also given the Wei State a stable talent promotion channel. Over time, many talents will emerge and become the pillars of the Wei State.
This move can truly be called the foundation of eternity!
In August of the fourth year of Wei Xing'an, Wei King Zhao Run issued an edict announcing the establishment of national colleges and universities in more than 30 major domestic counties such as Daliang, Luoyang, Luocheng, Xinzheng, Dingtao, Suiyang, Shangshui, Anling, and Yanling.
The elementary school is open to the entire Wei State, regardless of high or low, enrolling young children from about six to twelve years old, and teaches them free of charge, without any penny.
At the same time, in this edict, Zhao Hongrun also identified several books written by the Ministry of Rites, including "One Hundred Family Surnames", as the enlightenment textbooks for these thirty elementary schools.
As soon as this edict came out, it caused a sensation all over the country.
The royal families, nobles, and aristocratic families in the country looked on with cold eyes. After all, this class can almost afford to hire teachers to teach their children, and there is no need to go to such national schools. At most, they are unhappy and unhappy with literacy.
Something that was once monopolized by them, now the court is facing those children with muddy legs.
But dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction. At most, these people dare to complain a few words in private, but they dare not really raise objections. After all, this generation of King Wei is the rumored "Those who follow me will prosper, and those who go against me will perish."
He is said to be the most arrogant and domineering monarch in the history of Wei State.
Not to mention that this monarch also relied on the Tiance Mansion to firmly hold 400,000 garrison troops and 100,000 imperial guards. The royal power was unprecedentedly stable.
Compared with the royal family, nobles, aristocratic families, and noble families, the attitude is relatively objective. They just think that the court should "teach the best" instead of the current method of "teaching to all."
However, compared to these two education methods, the literati among the gentry discussed more about the selection of teaching materials for these national schools. This one said that Confucian scholarship was good, and that the Confucian scholar was good. After a closer look, it turned out that it was okay.
The Imperial Court's Ministry of Etiquette compiled several books of nonsense.
Like the "Hundred Family Surnames", which basically collects the surnames from all over the world, and then adds a few famous people from Wei and the world. Can this thing be called a book? Can it also be used for education?
"It's simply misleading!"
I don't know how many old scholars, after learning about the imperial edict, were so angry that they stamped their feet and beat their chests.
Because of this incident, the Ministry of Rites was heavily criticized, especially Du You, the Minister of Rites and the chief minister of the inner dynasty. In just two months, this veteran received many letters from his former classmates and friends.
Some tactfully warned him in their letters to choose his books carefully and not to mislead others; others simply reprimanded and cursed him in their letters.
Fortunately, Du You himself is a man with a strong character, and with the instigation of a certain monarch behind his back, the veteran minister also took the risk and led the Ministry of Rites to scold those who criticized them from a distance. To sum up, he said:
:You can do it, otherwise stop beeping.
Not to mention, after the two sides scolded each other, many great sages in the government and in the opposition were exposed. The former Minister of Civil Affairs, He Mei, who had already retired, scolded Du You, his former colleague.
, while actually sorting out the Confucian classics, hoping to use them in the teaching materials of the thirty national schools so that Confucianism can flourish.
In addition to Confucian disciples, Taoists, Mohists, Yin-Yangists, famous scholars, political strategists, military strategists, etc. also rushed to Daliang, hoping to take this opportunity to promote their respective schools.
Even literati from other countries came here with their own ideas and books.
This made the literary world in Wei suddenly become lively, far more lively than the initial examination.