A gathering of gentry, where some people are happy and some are sad.
Regardless of gains or losses, all the gentry dispersed as noon approached. After all, the stingy King Yan had no intention of hosting a banquet.
There are still many procedures to be completed for purchasing land certificates, and the gentry from all over the country still have to stay in Gusu City for some time.
They were all wealthy people, and even if King Yan did not entertain them, there would be no problem with food and accommodation. After leaving the Confucian Temple, they began to call their friends and wander towards various famous buildings and shops in the city.
As a paradise on earth, Gusu City not only has beautiful scenery and prosperous humanities, but it is also a good choice for eating, drinking and having fun.
In the days that followed, they had a lot of banquets and entertainment, enjoying the beauty, beauty, and beauty, which could be regarded as a contribution to Pingjiang's economy.
Zhao Mengqi also wanted to take advantage of the fact that the ladies were not around to conduct an in-depth investigation of Gusu City's style industry, and send the deepest humanistic care to the hard-working girls in the brothel.
Unfortunately, Wu Qian, who had no eyesight, did not give him this opportunity and took him to Fu Xue Middle School.
After having lunch in the Fu Xue dining hall, Wu Qian and the Fu Xue professor accompanied Zhao Mengqi to visit this No. 1 university in the south of the Yangtze River.
The temple and the academy were integrated into one, the Eastern Confucian Temple and the Western Fuxue, covering an overall area of 200 acres. The area of the Fuxue was even larger than that of the Confucian Temple, about more than 60,000 square meters, which was similar to the main campus of Soochow University in later generations.
Like the Confucian Temple, the Fuxue is also laid out with five courtyards facing north and south. The Confucian Temple is centered on Dacheng Hall, and the Fuxue is centered on Minglun Hall. Each forms a central axis. The left and right buildings are symmetrical, and the front and rear buildings are densely distributed.
The main entrance is on the south side, and there is a huge semicircular pool in front of it, called Panshui, so the entrance to the school is usually called "Panshui" at this time.
Then from here to the north, it can be divided into five courtyards, Limen, Yimen, Minglun Hall, Jingyi Pavilion, and Sutra Pavilion. Pavilions on the left and right are scattered in an orderly manner, including lecture halls, study rooms, examination rooms, and fasting rooms. In between, there are ponds, rockeries, streams, flowers and trees.
The layout of the entire government school is rigorous, with majestic palaces, temples, and beautiful garden buildings, which also reflects the emphasis on learning in the Song Dynasty.
Putting aside the "martial arts" that has been criticized by later generations, the Song Dynasty has always done a good job in "civilian governance", and its economy and culture have been highly developed.
Social life, technology, institutions, art and other fields are at the highest level of the same era. Agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce are far ahead of the world. The culture is even more brilliant and magnificent. It has a unique style. It has extraordinary achievements in literature, history, philosophy, medicine, mathematics, geography and other disciplines. Achievement.
These achievements provided good conditions for the development of education, complemented each other, and relied on each other, making the material civilization and spiritual civilization of the Song Dynasty reach the highest peak in the feudal period. It is no exaggeration to say that it is unprecedented.
Education in the Song Dynasty was developed, and various official and private schools were numerous and prosperous. In all aspects, official schools accounted for the largest proportion. Chinese website
Not only did the government schools not charge tuition fees, but they also provided students with room and board and subsidies. At the peak of the school's establishment, there were "200,000 well-educated scholars" across the country.
Different from the previous dynasties, the local government schools in the Song Dynasty had basically no restrictions on the admission qualifications of students by status. In principle, regardless of the status of the students, including the children of merchants and craftsmen, as long as their moral character and intelligence met the requirements, they were over fifteen years old. Those who are eight years old or above can attend primary school. Even orphaned and poor children living in nursing homes can go to primary schools to listen and read if they can be taught.
Pingjiang Mansion is the most wealthy in the world. Although the number of students in this school is not as high as that of Taixue, there are still nearly 2,000 students.
The mansion is so big that I spent most of an hour on a general tour. Zhao Mengqi is no longer sick, he is in great shape, and he doesn’t feel tired even though he is wearing forty or fifty kilograms of armor. But Wu Qian is old after all. Years old, some are too much to bear.
Zhao Mengqi supported Wu Qian and said, "Mr. Wu, let's go to the pavilion in front and take a rest."
Wu Qian did not refuse, but just sighed, "It seems that you are really old. I walked around Taihu Lake last year and didn't feel that it was hard. Now I am out of breath after just a few steps..."
"Ha, Mr. Wu, are you blaming me for burdening you with too many things and exhausting you?" Zhao Mengqi laughed and teased, helping Wu Qian to sit down on the stone bench.
Wu Qian knew that King Yan was very unruly at times, so he gave him some advice at first, but later he got used to it and became more casual.
"Your Majesty, you are right to say that. These days you go to Taihu Lake to play and don't care about business. Aren't you all the old ministers doing the hard work?"
Zhao Mengqi showed no guilt at all. Instead, he said with a matter-of-fact expression, "Those who are able should work harder. I'm just an ignorant schoolboy. I can't handle government affairs, so I have to leave it to you."
"I'm used to talking nonsense." Wu Qian blew his beard and glared, "If Your Highness is ignorant, wouldn't those gentry lose unjustly!?"
Zhao Mengqi shrugged, "Haha, that's because they are too greedy. Besides, I just said it, isn't it all you who are doing it?"
"That's right. Open your mouth at the top, but break your legs at the bottom. This is my life."
Wu Qian's mouth seemed to be complaining, but his eyes were full of relief. This time King Yan's strategy really impressed him. He strategized not only solved the food crisis, but also attacked the powerful, advanced the economic world, and laid the foundation for the governance of Taihu Lake. , accomplish multiple things with one stone.
"Hey, you have to take good care of yourself. There will only be more and more errands in the future." Zhao Mengqi also sat down beside him, and then greeted the accompanying academic officers, "Professor Zeng, Secretary Shu, Assistant Professor Liu , you all sit down too, don’t be too restrained.”
"Your Highness gave me this gift. I dare not refuse. I am being rude to my subordinates."
Several academic officers saw that the old man and the young man were getting along very harmoniously and casually, and they felt like a monarch and his ministers got along well with each other, and their mood became more relaxed with this atmosphere.
Zhao Mengqi looked at the academic officers and said casually, "You invited me here, but what difficulties did you encounter? Let's talk about it."
The professor is the highest official of the university, the treasurer is commonly known as the money and grain officer, who manages logistics and finance, and the teaching assistant is mainly responsible for teaching.
The three of them made eye contact, and then Treasurer Shu spoke, "Your Highness, it's like this. This flood has caused the school fields to be harvested, and the government has also decided to waive rent. This is right, but this income is missing, and it is the imperial examination year. Expenditures have increased significantly, and the school's funds are inevitably stretched. Wu Gong said that the treasury cannot allocate money and food for the time being, so we have to ask His Highness for help."
No money in the treasury? Can't?
Zhao Mengqi looked at Wu Qian suspiciously, only to see that he was asleep with his eyes squinted, as if he didn't hear anything.
Then a flash of inspiration occurred, and Zhao Mengqi realized what he was doing and said with a smile, "What you are concerned about is actually the reform of government land, right?"
The three academic officers smiled and said, "Your Highness is wise!"
Funds for official schools were initially allocated directly by local governments. Sometimes the schools themselves would raise part of the money through the sale of printed books, and occasionally private donations would be made to aid students.
However, as the size of the school continues to expand and the number of students increases, the funding required becomes larger and larger. It is no longer possible to maintain the school with these unstable incomes, and it often fails to make ends meet.
Then in the first year of Qianxing, an official from the Imperial College petitioned the imperial court to grant Yanzhou Prefecture ten hectares of school land for the purpose of providing food for the school. From then on, the school land system was started.
Before the Song Dynasty, the measures taken by previous dynasties to solve education funding were temporary and expedient, without establishing a relatively stable guarantee mechanism. However, the emergence of the school land system provided a good material foundation for the popularization of culture and the prosperity of education.
Of course, this school land is not farmed by teachers and students themselves, but rented to tenants for land rent.
At the beginning, it was allocated from local official fields. Usually ten hectares were allocated to the state capital, five hectares to the general state capital, and two hectares to the county school.
This income is relatively stable, but one hectare of land is only one hundred acres, and the land rent received is not much, and it gradually cannot support it.
For local officials in the Song Dynasty, education was the greatest political achievement. Therefore, local officials began to work hard to collect money to support scholars, often awarding land from extinct households or with unclear property rights to schools. In addition, they also confiscated temple land and converted it into other forms of public land. Wealthy households donate money, or use local fiscal surpluses to buy land. Sometimes schools also raise their own funds to buy land.
As a result, there were more and more school fields, becoming the largest public land. The Pingjiang Prefecture School alone had more than 31,000 acres, and the annual rent was 50,000 guan.
Officials with formal grades such as professors are paid by the imperial court and generally do not study.
Withdrawal from school funds.
There are two main types of expenditures for official education. One is student food expenses and allowances. Food accounts for the vast majority, and allowances include lamp oil money, salary money, money for textbooks, etc. to ensure students' living needs.
The second is miscellaneous expenses, including daily maintenance costs, wages of ungraded academic officers and handymen, purchase of book collections, various administrative expenses, etc.
The academic field is the main source of these funds. It can be said that without the academic field, the school cannot survive. Therefore, the academic officials are naturally very concerned about it.
The school property of the official school essentially belonged to the imperial court, and the academic field was also part of the official field, and was naturally included in Zhao Mengqi's restructuring plan.
After the restructuring, the school lost the management and control rights of Xuedian. Whether it can still ensure stable income has become a problem.
In the opinion of the academic officials, it is best to maintain the status quo, but Zhao Mengqi obviously disagrees. However, if it is not handled well and cannot satisfy the students all over the world, then the vast majority of scholars will become opponents of his administration.
After Zhao Mengqi thought about it repeatedly, he slowly said, "In Gu's opinion, the school land system is good, but now there are many shortcomings and hidden dangers. Like other official land, due to its scattered distribution, it is easy to cause lack of management and be invaded and occupied. Things like this happen frequently, and because Xueda doesn’t need to pay taxes, it’s easy for people to send it under false names.”
"I believe that the most basic principle to prevent hidden tax evasion is that all the land in the world must be taxed, even the imperial land should be the same. Only by eliminating the existence of privileged land can we prevent cunning women from taking advantage of the loopholes. Of course, this First of all, we have to strengthen grassroots management and put all the land under the control of the government, which means increasing the number of officials, which will undoubtedly increase administrative costs."
After hearing this, Professor Zeng was very surprised and couldn't help but question, "Your Highness, Sanduan is the biggest evil in our dynasty. It is well known to everyone. Countless wise ministers and capable officials have worked hard to eliminate it. Why does Your Highness still do the opposite?" What about exacerbating the disadvantages of redundant officials!?"
