In late January, approaching mid-spring in February, the vast and undulating Mount Tai has changed from the original mosaic of emerald brown and overlapping pale yellows to now the mountains are covered with jasper and dyed with layers of forests.

The team slowly came from south to north, and they could already see the huge city standing on the horizon from a distance.

Cao Cao looked around. In addition to the vast Taishan Mountains near Linzi City, to the east is the vast Jiaolai Plain area, with fields, mulberry forests and beautiful bamboos. The fish in the ponds are splashing in the waves, and you can see a thousand miles of prosperity at a glance.

Farmers are working in the fields, young children are playing in the countryside, and villages are thriving. Everyone's face is full of smiles, like spring flowers blooming against the morning sun.

What made Cao Cao feel a little strange was that there were many people coming and going, but there were no children over six years old and no young people under thirty years old.

Young people are easy to understand. After all, we are fighting. There is a shortage of young people all over the country, but what about children?

Does Qingzhou even recruit children over the age of six?

With such doubts in mind, Cao Cao turned to Chen Mu and said, "Zi Gui, why do I see so many children with yellow mouths, but not a few with gray hair?"

Children with yellow mouths refer to children under the age of ten, while children with crotch hair refer to children aged four to five to eight or nine years old. At this age, children do not need to tie their hair, so it will hang down and hang on the head.

Chen Mu explained with a smile: "Qingzhou implements a compulsory education system. All school-age children over six years old can go to academies and be supported by government subsidies."

"Is there anything else going on?"

Cao Cao was shocked, and Guo Jia, who was accompanying him, also showed a surprised expression.

Chen Mu said: "Actually, this job is still very difficult to do now. Many people don't want their children to go to school. There are many school-age children in Qingzhou, but less than one in ten enters school."

"Isn't ten less than one? You have to spend a lot of money every year."

Cao Cao and Guo Jia were both speechless. Even one tenth of the number would be outrageous.

Because these days only aristocratic families and poor families can afford to read, and even many rich and powerful people may not be able to study. For example, some poor families have ancestors who were rich and left behind dozens or hundreds of volumes of bamboo slips. These are worth thousands of gold, but no one

Will sell.

The families of down-and-out nobles like Liu Bei were no different from poor people. If Lu Zhi had not happened to return to Zhuo County to start teaching, and his uncle had helped him, the famous Emperor Zhaolie might have been illiterate.

Now that the situation in Yanzhou and Xuzhou has calmed down for the time being, Cao Cao and Lu Bu fought hard and both were injured. While both of them were licking their wounds, Cao Cao came to Qingzhou in the name of visiting Xi Zhicai.

He had only heard of Qingzhou's wealth before, but he didn't know how rich it was. Now seeing is believing, and it was only now that he saw with his own eyes how rich Qingzhou was.

We can actually implement compulsory education and let children study for free.

For a moment, Cao Cao felt ridiculous.

If all this money was used for military expenses, Yuan Shao might not be able to hold on for so long and would have been defeated by Liu Bei long ago.

Chen Mu did not hide anything, and introduced with a smile: "It doesn't cost much, how many children of this age are there in Qingzhou? And they won't be supported for a long time."

"It doesn't cost much..."

Cao Cao was even more speechless.

Maybe one or two won't cost much, but with so many school-age children going to school, the family will lose a lot of labor, reduce productivity, and have to bear the burden. In the end, the loss to a base area will be huge.

Guo Jia next to him couldn't help but said: "Letting children study may be useful in the future, but now the big men are fighting everywhere. Is there anything more important than pacifying the world?"

"hehe."

Chen Mu laughed: "Fengxiao, do you know what is the fundamental measure of whether a country is strong and whether it can stand in this vast world for a long time in the future?"

Guo Jia pondered: "For example, King Qin conquered the six kingdoms and Emperor Xiaowu Shizong conquered the Xiongnu. Having a strong army is the foundation of a country."

"wrong."

Chen Mu shook his head: "What a big mistake."

"oh?"

Guo Jia asked in confusion: "Doesn't even having a strong army count as a country's prosperity?"

"Of course not."

Chen Mu smiled slightly: "If this is the case, where is the Qin Dynasty? Where is the Han Dynasty?"

Guo Jia frowned and thought for a moment: "Money, only when a country has money can it stabilize the world and control the world."

"wrong again."

Chen Mu raised his eyes and looked into the distance: "Back then, the State of Qi boiled sea salt and became richest in the world. There were so many people in Linzi City who got rich doing business. They were much richer than Qin, Chu, Zhao, Yan, Han, and Wei. But what happened in the end?"

"Forehead......"

Guo Jia thought for a long time, but did not think of anything other than the army and money as the basis for measuring the country's strength, so he was unconvinced and asked: "Brother Gui, why don't you tell me what is the foundation of a country."

Chen Mu pointed to Taishan Academy in the distance and said, "Young man!"

"juvenile?"

Guo Jia and Cao Cao looked at each other, confused.

Chen Mu rode on his horse and looked at the huge school palace stretching for dozens of miles in the direction of Mount Tai. He said calmly: "Yes, it is the young man. A strong young man will make a country strong, a young man wise will make a country wise, and a young man will be rich. If a country is

If all the young people are homeless, then this country will have no future."

"If all the young people in a country can read and write, and have a stable environment to grow up, then this country will be strong and prosperous for every generation. Because the young people will grow up, become pillars of talent, and become the cornerstone of this country.

.”

"When they grow up, some will become soldiers and form a strong army. Some will become businessmen and bring wealth to the country. Some will become wise men and lead the country to a more prosperous future."

"But the premise of everything is that these children get a good education, let them read and learn calligraphy, and let them understand the principles of the world. Soldiers must learn to fight, businessmen must learn to do business, officials must learn to be officials, and even farmers working in the fields must learn

Only by learning how to farm intensively can we increase food production."

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "If we do not cultivate and let the young people grow like weeds, then when we are hungry for talents in the future, it will be like seeking a millet seedling from the basil and weeds.

It’s difficult. And if we vigorously cultivate them, when we look for talents in the future, the ground will be filled with the fragrance of rice and ears of wheat everywhere.”

The ground is filled with the fragrance of rice and ears of wheat everywhere?

Cao Cao and Guo Jia were thoughtful. After thinking about it carefully, they felt that Chen Mu's words seemed to be thought-provoking words of wisdom.

Because he is right, there are few talents in this world, isn’t it because knowledge is monopolized?

If everyone can read, with a huge base, talents will increase exponentially. By then, won't the country be able to become prosperous very quickly?

Seeing the two of them thinking, Chen Mu also smiled calmly.

At present, the total population of Qingzhou, not counting the newly acquired Langya Kingdom and Donghai Kingdom, is close to the five million mark, and the number of school-age children aged 6-10 is around 13%, almost 800,000.

But just like many rural families in later generations were unwilling to let their children go to school, there were also many people in the Han Dynasty who did not want their children to go to school.

Because the ancients were already half of the family's labor force from the age of four or five. Digging weeds, cutting pigs and grass, going down rivers, fishing for fish and shrimps, going up trees, and digging out bird eggs could all bring some food to the family and provide productivity.

Even many ignorant people think that reading is useless, which makes only less than 70,000 to 80,000 children out of 800,000 actually studying.

But even this is not bad. In the past, how many people in the entire Han Dynasty could study?

In order to enable these children to study, schools were opened in every county. After graduating from Guangtai Mountain Academy, no fewer than two to three thousand graduates entered the school as teachers.

Because those who have teaching experience in primary schools and have no bad records will be carefully considered for promotion.

As mentioned before, Qingzhou is governed by virtue, and "morality" is extremely important in archives. Those with high moral character are often selected as officials.

Therefore, students from all over the country enter Taishan Academy because of its reputation. After graduating here, students who cannot find a suitable place for a while will choose to teach. Firstly, they will have a job guarantee, and secondly, they will improve their "morality", killing two birds with one stone.

certainly.

This can be done now because the population is small, which is in line with Lao Tzu's thinking of a small country with few people, which makes it easier to promote the rule of virtue.

After all, just a few people can spread the word quickly if they do something immoral.

If there were more than a billion people like in later generations, it would be inconvenient to promote the rule of virtue. First, it would be easier to practice fraud and it would be inconvenient to manage. Second, the population base would be too large and difficult to manage uniformly.

Special periods require special policies.

However, it is said to be compulsory education, but in fact it only allows children to recognize words.

Qingzhou will only pay for three to four years of compulsory education for these children. After the age of 10, if they still want to study, they have to pay tuition.

It is definitely incomparable to the nine-year free admission for hundreds of millions of children in compulsory education across the country in the new era.

But in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, this was already a very exaggerated ratio, because it meant that the number of illiterate people would be greatly reduced.

The ancient feudal dynasties always liked to engage in policies that obscured the people, but they did not know that human civilization has needed intellectuals for thousands of years to promote the progress of civilization and social change.

Even in the European Renaissance, although a small group of elites took the lead, it was their efforts to open up the people's wisdom, defeat feudalism, and break the ideological constraints of Catholicism, which finally created the splendid civilization that has existed in Europe for hundreds of years.

Compared with the great changes in history, what Chen Mu is doing now is just an insignificant wave, including his dream, which is just to open the first door of the industrial revolution in his lifetime.

But in the hundreds of years after his death, the process of allowing Chinese civilization to completely move towards glory and take steps toward the entire world must be left to future generations.

Before that, education was the cornerstone of a strong country and a major plan for the next hundred years.

Even though wars are going on everywhere now, education cannot be ignored.

Fortunately, Qingzhou now dominates the world's salt market and makes a lot of money from salt. Coupled with the increase in productivity and sufficient food, it can afford the hundreds of millions of education funds that need to be spent every year. Otherwise, it would not be able to afford such a huge education.

expenses.

Chen Mu led Cao Cao to the outside of Linzi City. At the Spring Breeze Pavilion outside the city, Liu Bei had already been waiting. When he heard that Cao Cao was coming, he came from the front line specially. Because there was a cement road, it only took two days to cover more than 200 kilometers.

The time has come.

"Hahahaha, Xuande!"
To be continued...