…
"Your Majesty, the royal family and the scholars govern the world together, which is the foundation of the previous dynasty. Do you really want to eliminate all scholars in the world from official careers before you are satisfied?"
"You are worrying too much. I didn't say we don't need scholars. Not only do we need them, we also need to use them to a great extent. What we don't need is just you, the scornful scholar who ruins the country with empty talk and grovels."
"What I learned is the way of the sages. Why do you want to insult my sage disciples?"
"The way of the sages? The way of the sages teaches you to seek peace from the enemy. The way of the sages teaches you to treat the soldiers fighting on the battlefield as ordinary men? The way of the sages teaches you to trick me into severely punishing meritorious ministers? The way of the sages makes you watch the children of the Han family helplessly. Have you suffered all the humiliation of the barbarians?
Wang Daofu, I really regret having been with you for a while today. Do you know how much time you have wasted by showing off your words in this hall?
I advise you to go back and reflect on yourself. At your age, you may not understand the overall situation as well as the civilians on the street. At least they know that our Han soldiers are fighting passionately to protect their homeland.
I won't be as indiscriminate as you, putting the cart before the horse and boosting the enemy's ambition. Leave me now. I don't want to see you again. "
Liu Ce scolded him, and Wang Daofu no longer looked as arrogant as when he was scolded. Finally, under the leadership of Wang Xiaoyu, he left the palace with a decadent face.
When he came out of the palace gate and saw the expectant students, Wang Daofu felt ashamed and angry. He wanted to hit the stone lion at the gate of the palace to death, but at this time he no longer had the courage.
He failed and was ashamed of himself. Even the careers of these students were completely ruined because of his recklessness.
Thinking of his heartache, Wang Daofu knelt down in front of the students in the street and burst into tears: "I'm sorry for you, I'm sorry for you~"
The students were shocked and hurriedly stepped forward to help and persuaded in a good voice: "Teacher, what are you doing? Get up quickly!"
But Wang Daofu refused to get up despite saying anything: "I was wrong and I harmed you. Students, I was confused and made a big mistake..."
The students were overwhelmed by the tears and they just urged Wang Daofu to get up and talk quickly.
Wang Xiaoyu looked at the scene in front of him, raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and said in his heart: "These corrupt scholars are really ignorant. Your Majesty's trick is very cruel. Instead of severely punishing this Wang Daofu, it is better to hinder his students' career and kill people. This is really better than punishing this Wang Daofu severely." It would be uncomfortable to kill him.”
"Grandpa~ What's wrong with you?"
At this time, a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl wearing a Suzhou embroidered silk green shirt ran to Wang Daofu and exclaimed.
This girl is very delicate and refined, with skin like gelatin, hands like catkins, a peach blossom face, bright eyes and white teeth, and long black hair that reaches down to her tender waist muscles. She is said to be a jade from a small family, but she still has the dignity of a scholarly family. , is a rare beauty.
As soon as Wang Daofu saw the girl, he immediately grabbed her hand and cried: "Xu'er, grandpa is wrong. Grandpa should not have come to the capital to see His Majesty. What should we do now?"
This girl is Wang Daofu's most beloved granddaughter, Wang Zhaoxu.
Wang Zhaoxu also came to Chang'an with Wang Daofu and his party a few days ago. Unlike Wang Daofu who came with a purpose, as soon as she arrived in Chang'an City, she was immediately attracted by this prosperous yet simple city.
Everything in Chang'an City was something she had never seen before in her life, the hard and smooth cement streets, the bright glass, the smooth and bumpless four-wheel carriages, the various industrial supplies sold in the east and west markets, and the things that women were attracted to. The refreshing perfume and the refreshing ice cream made him feel fresh.
Of course, compared with these physical visual impacts, Wang Zhaoxu is more interested in the newly-established schools in the city. The teachers in these schools are not teaching the Four Books and Five Classics, but mathematics, Chinese, history, nature and physical skills. and elective art subjects, which opened her eyes.
She saw a map of the territory of the Han Dynasty for the first time in school. The map was carefully drawn by professionals and marked with the names of various places. The names of states, prefectures, counties and even villages were all written on the map in detail.
Wang Zhaoxu had never thought that the Han Dynasty where he lived was so vast, until Yansheng reached the end of the Western Region, and for the first time he felt an inexplicable emotion in his heart, and was extremely excited.
This feeling is called glory or pride, but she doesn't know it yet.
It was also the first time in school that Wang Zhaoxu heard about the theory of a round earth, which states that everyone lives on the surface of a sphere.
At first she argued that if the earth was really round, then people on the other side of the sphere would fall. However, his answer was met with snickers from students eight or nine years younger than her, who told her what gravity was. , and used the ball to fall to the ground as an experiment, which made her completely unable to argue.
She still has an elementary school subject called "Natural Science" in her bag, and wants to go back and study it carefully. Unfortunately, she has to study it secretly, because her grandfather will never allow these "weird theories" to appear in her home.
Today, she continued to go to school to learn new things as usual. Unexpectedly, she encountered her grandfather acting gloomy in front of the Daming Palace on Zhuque Street.
Seeing that more and more people were watching, Wang Zhaoxu immediately helped Wang Daofu up with kind words and said: "Grandpa, this is not the place to talk. Let's go back to the inn first."
Wang Daofu nodded, and finally, with the support of Wang Zhexu, he walked step by step towards the inn where he stayed.
…
In the Weiyang Palace, after Wang Daofu's incident, Liu Ce continued to discuss important matters with the six ministers.
"I heard that your various ministries have been quarreling over the allocation of funds for more than half a month, and it hasn't stopped for a day, okay,
I'm here to seek justice for you. Everyone talks about their sufferings, don't hide it, it's not just a day or two since we all got to know each other, just tell them the reason for asking for money. "
Xu Wenjing heard this and immediately said: "Your Majesty, you know the situation of the Ministry of War very well. Let's not mention the battle at Xuanwu Pass.
Nowadays, the construction of the Western Region Protectorate and the recruitment of soldiers and horses in the Zhechong School Lieutenant Mansion require money and food support. According to the calculation of the monthly salary of a Han soldier in the Western Region Protectorate, two silver dollars and five hundred yuan.
Including food and clothing expenses totaling three silver dollars, the two governments are currently full of 50,000 people. The monthly military salary expenditure will reach 150,000 silver dollars, which is 1.8 million silver dollars a year.
This does not include the money spent on soldiers and horses. Therefore, I believe that on the day when the autumn tax is paid, an additional 20% should be allocated on the original basis. It is not excessive. "
As soon as Xu Wenjing finished speaking, Ye Bin immediately replied: "Your Majesty, Xu Shangshu's words are evasive and trivial. Among the six ministries, the Ministry of War is probably the richest at present.
Just a year ago, the two generals Bai Qi and Duan Juan plundered hundreds of millions of gold and silver from various parts of the Western Region, as well as countless cattle, sheep, and horses. Even if they turned over 70% of it and returned it to the national treasury, they would still be very wealthy.
At this time, Xu Shangshu reached out for money again and said something ugly. The appearance of eating was too ugly. The Ministry of War now eats meat every day.
Are we going to ignore the leftover soup in the pot of our Ministry of Etiquette? The minister believes that the Han Dynasty is facing a lot of waste and needs new things. The only top priority is to train more teachers and build more schools for the common people to study.
Therefore, Your Majesty, I believe that an increase of 20% from the original quota to the Ministry of Rites is really not much at all. After all, education is the foundation of the country. "
