Hearing Li Junxian's worries, Xiao Rui couldn't help laughing.
"Fifth brother, since I dare to use this cunning villain, I am not afraid of him causing trouble for me."
"Letting aristocratic families open academies all over the country is indeed a plan to weaken the Qin Dynasty. If it is not done well, it will become what Korea was back then, and it will be ruined."
At the beginning, South Korea sent water engineer Zheng Guo, proposing to help Qin build a canal, which could solve the irrigation problem of the Guanzhong land and add thousands of miles of fertile fields and thousands of hectares of fertile land to Qin. The original intention was to make the Qin State waste its people and money, and to weaken Qin.
But no one expected that the Qin State spent ten years building the Zhengguo Canal and spent the same ten years recuperating. After the completion of the Zheng Guo Canal, the strength of the Qin State increased instead of decreasing, and its national strength surged several times. The combined national strength of the six countries was far worse than that of the Qin State. This started the path to the destruction of the six countries.
Zheng Zihe's plan is similar now. On the surface, he wants all the aristocratic families to waste their time and money by establishing academies. But if the aristocratic families take advantage of the plan and really turn these academies into back gardens, which in turn steals the limelight from the court, then Xiao Rui's literacy plan is really a mess.
Li Junxian asked: "Sir, what should I do? I know it's poisonous, but do I still use this strategy?"
use! Why not?
Xiao Rui said confidently: "It is never possible to achieve great things with conspiracy. Real masters make good use of conspiracy. Let them build academies. The Tang Dynasty will bloom everywhere. What's wrong with having all the people literate?"
"But students who teach them will naturally have a family background and a teacher-student friendship. In the future..." Li Junxian was puzzled.
Xiao Rui snorted coldly: "Can the friendship between teachers and students be used as food? Learn martial arts and sell your goods to the emperor's family."
“If everyone is literate, isn’t it because they want to be officials in the end?”
"Aristocratic families cultivate people and attract talents. How do they win over them?"
Li Junxian mused: "Usually relying on fame, that is, promising to help him rise to the top in the future. Relying on the big tree of the aristocratic family, he will probably be able to rise to the top of the officialdom in the future. There are really those who are particularly outstanding, and there are also those who are attracted by marriage."
Xiao Rui nodded: "That's right. Let's not mention the marriage alliance for now, how many daughters are enough for the family? This is nothing."
"The key is the promise of the future."
What's going on? Any questions?
"The problem is huge. Promise of official positions? How can empty talk be more tempting than His Majesty's direct appointment and dismissal?"
Li Junxian retorted: "But nowadays, which official in the court is not from aristocratic family? Although the appointment and dismissal of officials are subject to the laws of the court, people still have to make the decision. They have direct power in their positions."
Xiao Rui nodded: "Yes, so we don't have much time. We need to slowly replace these worms before the talents are trained."
Li Junxian was surprised and said: "You mean..."
"Yes, it takes time to teach and educate people. It also takes time for us to compete with them in the court. The real war has just begun."
"When we decide the outcome in the court, there will be countless scholars in the world. No matter who trained them, won't they eventually be trapped by fame and wealth?"
"To put it bluntly, they will follow whoever can give them future fame and fortune."
Li Junxian was stunned and nodded numbly, "Yes, if we can really replace the powerful families in the court with our people within a few years. Then they are really opening the academy now for We are making wedding dresses."
Having said this, Li Junxian no longer paid much attention to the future court battle, but was worried about another thing.
"Sir, according to what you said, we spent so much money to train countless scholars, but in the end they turned out to be a group of fame-seeking people?"
"If we rely on a group of fame-seeking people to govern the world, can the people achieve good results?"
Xiao Rui stared at Li Junxian seriously, and after a while, he said with emotion: "Fifth brother, you are really a benevolent gentleman with the world in mind."
Li Junxian said humbly: "Young Master is ridiculous, you are a truly benevolent gentleman."
Xiao Rui's face turned red, "That's not me. I'm a cunning person with no bottom line. After all, I can't escape the prison of fame and fortune."
After a moment of silence, Xiao Rui explained: "Fifth brother, no matter how high our level of teaching and educating people is, we can't erase human nature."
"What is human nature? Seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, desire, greed...etc. Those who have no desires and no pursuits, except for saints, are immortals who have accomplished Taoism."
"In this world, as long as people still have desires, they will have weaknesses. Whether it is fame or fortune, or power, or beauty, or wealth... there is always a kind of cage that can trap you."
But……
Li Junxian wanted to refute, but Xiao Rui waved his hand to interrupt and continued: "What we can do is not rack our brains to eliminate human nature and pursue everyone to be a saint. This is unrealistic."
"Then we can only face the problem squarely and realize that everyone is just a mortal, not a saint."
"What we want is for them to work hard one by one, govern the place well, protect the environment and the people, and ultimately achieve national peace and security. That's all."
"As for achieving our goal, do we need education and moral restraint? Or do we need the supervision and deterrence of the court? Or do we need the encouragement of the court's title, fame and fortune?"
"It doesn't matter. What method is suitable for what kind of person depends on each person."
"As long as they can manage the territories under their jurisdiction in an orderly manner and the people praise them without violating national laws, then they are good officials. Is there any loss of personal ethics outside of this? Insufficient personal cultivation of character, etc..."
"Is it still important? Is it important to the court? Or is it important to the people?"
Li Junxian was speechless. Yes, it didn't matter anymore. Deficiencies in personal ethics, personal cultivation, etc., these are only important to him personally and not to outsiders.
"You have learned a lesson, you are the master of conspiracy!"
Xiao Ruifan'er track: "I am just an idle doctor. These things are what the prime minister should consider."
Li Junxian laughed loudly and said: "The doctors at the top will help the country, and the doctors at the bottom will treat the diseases. Young Master, you have all the rights upstream and downstream. If you want to be the prime minister, I'm afraid Song Guogong and others will rush to make room for you."
"Ahem, don't talk nonsense. I want to be an official and let my father retire? Let's forget it. It's good for him to have a job to keep busy. If he is free, he will focus on educating me all day long."
"Let's go, let's not talk anymore, let the boy at Guankou do the trouble. We can still relax and fish and drink tea."
In the Wang family's mansion in Chang'an City, Wang Jishan frowned as he listened to Wang Si's story, "Uncle, whose idea was this? Have you come to a conclusion after deliberation?"
Wang Si said: "It was said by a servant of the Lu family during a casual chat. The people of the Lu family heard it and took note of it, and then brought it to the table for discussion."
"What? Is there something wrong with this strategy? It shouldn't be. The students we train will definitely be our own disciples in the end. If we run a school, it will definitely be of a higher level than the government-run school... It is cost-effective no matter how you calculate it. Alas, it's just a pity. We have each inherited our family knowledge for thousands of years, and it is time to spread it widely."
Wang Jishan fell into deep thought.
