jdhmnovel Chapter 759 Li Shanchang: None of you shall live! (Part 1)
Chapter 759 Li Shanchang: None of you shall live! (Part 1)
Emperor Zhu looked at Liu Bowen with anticipation, but Liu Bowen turned to Yang Shaofeng, cupped his hands and asked, "May I ask, Your Highness, do you intend to use the community school to promote literacy, and at the same time have craftsmen teach so that more young men can learn a trade?"
"Besides that, does Your Highness plan to open another school specifically to teach those students who are not good at their studies, so that they can learn various skills?"
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Liu Bowen with some surprise and nodded in agreement, "That's right."
After getting the answer from Yang Shaofeng, Liu Bowen stroked his beard and laughed.
now it's right.
Although Yang the Madman is mentally unstable, he would not act recklessly when it comes to matters concerning the people's livelihood.
Therefore, his idea was to enable all people to read and write, and then to help them master a skill that would allow them to make a living.
In other words, his current idea is to start by splitting up the county school, allowing those who excel to continue their studies, and those who don't to switch careers and learn a trade.
That's it.
As for other changes, or rather, the changes that arise from them, and the turmoil that result from those changes, I'm afraid Yang Dianfeng has already prepared himself for them.
Liu Bowen bowed to Emperor Zhu again and said, "Your Majesty, in my opinion, the functions of the various provincial administration commissions do not actually need to be too clearly defined."
"Or rather, it is far too early to clearly define the division of functions among the various provincial administration commissioners."
"After all, our Great Ming Dynasty only has the five small industries proposed by the Prince Consort. The steam engine is not yet perfected, and the water press has not been fully implemented."
"Or to put it more bluntly, our Great Ming Dynasty is currently lacking in everything and has not enough of anything."
"We are short of coal, iron, various materials, and manpower."
"However, the only thing our Great Ming Dynasty has in abundance right now is food."
"Even if a large number of artisans leave farming due to the demand for steam engines, railways, or other reasons, there is no need to worry about food shortages."
"As the saying goes, food is the most important thing for people. As long as there is enough food, the rest of the problems can be solved."
Li Shanchang opened his eyes and glanced at Liu Bowen, then closed them again.
Liu Bowen, you old fool, you were wise all your life, but you were still foolish for a moment!
On the surface, Liu Bowen's analysis seemed to be flawless.
The Ming Dynasty is indeed not short of food at present.
Because of the existence of the Dengzhou border market, the Ming Dynasty could demand that its vassal states make their people suffer and squeeze food from the mouths of the vassal states' people to supply the Ming people at any time.
This would allow the Ming Dynasty to focus on developing various industries.
But is it really that simple?
The people of the Ming Dynasty needed to eat grain, and so did the people of the vassal states.
If the people of the Ming Dynasty cannot survive, they will rebel; similarly, the people of other vassal states will not sit idly by and wait to die.
To put it bluntly, coordinating grain from vassal states might work once or twice, but doing it too often could easily provoke resistance from those states.
Therefore, food security is a red line that cannot be crossed.
And this is only the first issue that needs to be considered.
Moreover, it's a relatively easy problem to solve.
What's truly troublesome are the so-called scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.
From the perspective of the officials, the division of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants was of course not a problem.
But what if we look at it from the perspective of ordinary people?
My farmer ranks high, but he earns the least money and lives the worst life. Is that reasonable?
Unless all people can earn money by working while farming.
Then the problem is coming.
Just as farming depends on the timing of the weather, so too does the work in the workshop depend on the timeframe.
Just as poor farming will lead to a poor harvest, poor workmanship will also result in quality problems.
Is it possible for someone to farm while also wanting to work, to have their cake and eat it too?
What if quality problems arise because both cannot be achieved simultaneously?
The others are alright, at most it's a question of whether they can be used or not, but what about steam locomotives?
This thing is related to the fate of the entire Ming Dynasty!
Extending this further, what if the problem lies with the weaponry and firearms?
Including what Lao Liu just said, let students who don't do well in their studies learn a trade.
Is that to teach people a skill?
That damn thing cut off their path to becoming officials or clerks, and ruined their chance to earn a living from the government!
Although there are still some older young adults who have not received formal education, as community and county schools expand, such young adults will become increasingly rare.
The Ming Dynasty law stipulated that if a child who was eight years old or older was not allowed to attend school, his father would be punished.
The person who took power dug a huge hole for himself!
Thinking of this, Li Shanchang couldn't help but shake his head slightly.
Old Liu is indeed very capable in a single aspect, but when it comes to issues that require comprehensive consideration, he always falls short by a little bit.
Besides, do you think I didn't see the problem that you, Lao Liu, noticed?
I was just pretending to be dead, you bastard!
Now that you've jumped out, I have absolutely no way to hide anymore!
You old man!
After some careful consideration, Li Shanchang bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that what Marquis Chengyi said is correct, and many things can be prepared now."
"First, we must make every effort to eradicate illiteracy."
"After these two years of special examinations, a large number of students have actually been expelled."
"Originally, I thought of having local officials take these people in as clerks, but now it seems that we should select some of them to be teachers and fill the local schools so that they can start to teach literacy."
"Secondly, the prince consort will first be given the title of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Rites will send some officials to Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture to complete the preliminary book compilation."
"Then there's the Ministry of Works. They first subdivided the various units of measurement, and then began to promote the standardization that the Prince Consort mentioned."
"In addition, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works should also re-determine wages and corresponding taxes."
"It's unacceptable that ordinary people have to pay taxes for farming, while workers don't have to pay taxes for their work."
"And what about the contracts between workshop owners and their employees? How should the government handle disputes between the two parties?"
"We can start preparing for these issues now, so we won't be caught off guard at the last minute."
"..."
Li Shanchang was completely going all out.
Since I can't escape it anyway, then none of us should live!
Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Works, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Personnel—get them all moving!
Let's all die together!
Seeing Li Shanchang gradually descending into madness, Yang Shaofeng was completely dumbfounded.
What the hell!
What the hell!
What the hell!
Is this the full-force power of the founding prime minister of the Ming Dynasty?
Compared to Li Shanchang in this state, Liu Bowen sitting next to him seems like a naive and innocent fool!
And then there's Old Deng, who now looks even more like a silly roe deer, so adorable!
Huh?
Wait a minute, what is that old scoundrel Liu Bowen laughing at?