Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 107: Set Sail Now (Part 2)
"I am Li Guojun from Xiuning County, Huizhou Prefecture. I am the newly hired arithmetic teacher of the school. I am here to meet Brother Zhang and Brother Huang."
"Hmm." Although he was still only a scholar at the age of 40, Zhang Wenhua thought it was not shameful to fail the imperial examination in Suzhou Prefecture, where the literary style was the most prosperous. And this Li Guojun ? He didn't even call himself a "student". Although Huizhou Prefecture was also a strong prefecture in the imperial examination, since the other party was not a scholar, he had the right to despise him. Therefore, in the face of Li Guojun's respect, Zhang Wenhua just cupped his hands and said "hmm".
"Haha, Brother Li is finally here! My surname is Huang, my name is Zhigang, and I'm from Daxing, Beijing. After following the Crown Prince to the south, I was ordered by the Crown Prince to come to Fangshan School to serve as an instructor. From now on, the second grade class 38 will only have three of us! We have to work hard and strive to be in the top three in the comprehensive evaluation of each monthly exam."
"Humph, even though there are three people in the first place in the imperial examination of my Ming Dynasty, but when riding a horse in the parade, only the top scholar can walk in the front!"
After coldly interrupting Huang Zhigang, Zhang Wenhua handed Li Guojun a roll of writing materials: "Teacher Li, this is the class schedule for this semester and your textbooks. Every school day, the morning is half liberal arts and half mathematics, and in the afternoon, Teacher Huang is responsible for the exercises. Although the Grandson has suggested that second-year students can have one day off every six days of class, I mean that starting from this semester, all the rest days will be cancelled. At that time, Teacher Li and I will each give free make-up lessons for half a day."
"Brother Zhang, this isn't a good idea. The kids have worked hard for six days before they can rest for one day. Shouldn't they be allowed to relax a little?"
"Teacher Huang, the Crown Prince has already said that, except for your afternoon exercises and his evening teaching time, the other times will be decided by the three of us. If it weren't for the Crown Prince's kindness, these children would either starve to death or become miners or prostitutes. They are able to study here, but they don't appreciate the Crown Prince's kindness and study hard, and they still want to play? It's really absurd! In short, this is what I mean. Cancel the rest days and focus on teaching. This semester, we must surpass the Zhao in Class 3!"
At that time in the Ming Dynasty, the emperor and officials only had 15 days of vacation a year, so Li Guojun was not opposed to the daily schedule of working six days and resting one day. But when he heard Zhang Wenhua's proposal to not rest for the entire semester, he was not very willing to do so.
He was thirty years old this year. His father was a minor official in the household department of Xiuning County, and he was only in his early fifties. His father had worked in the Xiuning County government for more than twenty years, and he was considered a person of some status in the county. With this little experience and a little power in his hands, the old man not only made a lot of black money, but also kept a concubine. Therefore, the old man had no intention of stepping down and letting him take over.
Not only that, the old man was still bewitched by that little fox and was prepared to hold on for another twenty years to make it easier for his concubine's son to take over... Therefore, as soon as Zhu Youdong's order to recruit mathematics teachers arrived in Xiuning County, Li Guojun took the initiative to go to the county government to sign up.
In June, he received the news and signed up. During the selection in his own county, the old man helped him with all his strength, allowing him to pass the selection and go to Nanjing smoothly. Relying on his family background and his natural sensitivity to numbers, he competed with various mathematical geniuses selected from Nanjing and the four provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, and finally entered the top 100 among more than 300 candidates... Now in August, he has finally officially started his job.
But the two colleagues had just started working and they already had a disagreement, which was not easy to deal with.
"Well, my two brothers, what I think is that it is better to have six and a half days of classes and let the students rest for half a day. Children at this age are most fond of playing and having fun. It is not good to completely lock them up in the dormitory."
"Hmph, Teacher Li, you just arrived, so you may not know the rules of our Fangshan School. There are monthly exams and semi-annual exams. In addition to the tuition, all teachers can also receive a reward of 100 taels of silver. Of course, as a scholar, we don't care too much about money. The key is that the teachers of the top three classes can have the honor of being given a banquet and served wine by the Crown Prince himself!"
"Hahaha, Lao Zhang, I was wondering why you were so strict with these kids this year. It turns out you were stimulated two months ago. It's okay. Our class ranked fourth in average last year, only half a point behind third. If we work a little harder this year, we'll move up."
"Hey!" Zhang Wenhua stamped his feet fiercely: "Teacher Huang, we have worked hard this year, and the teachers of other classes have worked harder, haven't you also attended the night banquet two months ago? Nanhua Palace, we sat outside the palace gate, watching the Zhao and His Royal Highness chatting and laughing... His Royal Highness is so encouraging, all teachers will work hard from the beginning of this semester! And you know the situation of our class. Twenty-one students, three of whom are girls, are naturally weaker in physical education than other classes. If we don't work harder in liberal arts and mathematics, let alone the top three, we may not even be able to keep the fourth place last semester!"
"Hmph!" After all, he was born a warrior, so his temper was not very good after all: "Teacher Zhang, I am not happy if you say that to Old Huang. Those three girls' physical training is not so good, but they are assistants to Lord Xu, Lord Li, and Lord Yang, and their performance is extremely excellent. They have made up for all the physical training points with their conduct points, and they can still earn more. But you have always protected those weak boys who did not let me, Old Huang, punish them! They did very badly in the exams last semester, which seriously lowered the average score of the class! Do you think I, Old Huang, don't want to sit in the palace and drink with the crown prince? But I miss you and I had a good cooperation last semester, and I don't want to make a fuss among colleagues, so I endure it!"
"You bastard~~!"
"Hey, brothers, you are both seniors. One teaches liberal arts, and the other teaches martial arts. The discord between liberal arts and martial arts is a big taboo. Why don't you listen to my advice and try it for six and a half days first, then see how the students react and see how other classes do it. How about that?"
“Hmph~~!”
Not to mention that the ordinary teachers of Fangshan School were all excited because of Zhu Youdong's intentional stimulation and were ready to work hard in the new semester. The culprit who caused all this was now listening to Cao Sanxi's scolding helplessly.
"Since Your Highness has asked me to be your housekeeper, I must be responsible for your property! Your Highness, you spend money too fast! If you keep asking me for money, one day I will not be able to pay you."
"Well, Sanxi, I haven't bought any new clothes in these years except the clothes given by Grandpa Emperor and Ciqing Palace. I am still growing up, you see, these sleeves are really stretched."
"I deeply admire your frugality in personal life." After bowing, Cao Sanxi's face turned serious: "I also followed your Highness to the Yellow Book Library, so I deeply agree with your aspirations. Not to mention that I have a ten-year agreement with your Highness, before your Highness revives the Ming Dynasty, even if your Highness wants to drive me away, I will not leave. I know that your Highness has a big vision, but in many things, your Highness is too hasty."
"Well, Sanxi, tell me, what did I do wrong?"
"First, it is right to let Admiral Li (Ruzhang) dismiss the ruffians, disabled, sick, old and weak soldiers in the Yangtze River Navy in batches. After all, this navy is the key to whether we can unify the Yangtze River freight in the future. But Your Highness, you are too kind-hearted. You gave a hundred taels of resettlement fee to dismiss a useless person at one time? Do you know how much the land price is in my Ming Dynasty now? Ordinary land in Northern Zhili is only two or three taels per mu, and the best irrigated land is only five or six taels. In the south of the Yangtze River, the land in Huizhou Prefecture is the most expensive, but the best paddy field is only twenty taels per mu. You gave too much!
Secondly, this Fangshan School, I know that this is the foundation of your highness's future work. But the monthly tuition for each teacher is as high as five taels! Zhang Yicheng is the top scholar, so when he made the rules, he certainly treated the scholars well, but five taels a month is really too high! Now that the school has more than a thousand orphans newly bought by Cao Gonggong, the school has reached 215 classes. Calculated as three teachers per class, the monthly expenditure alone is 3225 taels of silver! That's 38,700 taels a year. And this is just the normal tuition for the teachers. The school covers the three meals a day for students and teachers, as well as the students' clothes, school bags, textbooks... and all kinds of weapons for training. If this continues, in less than a year, the annual silver consumption of Fangshan School will exceed 100,000 taels!
Third, Fangshan Laboratory. That is a real money-eating beast! I have a special account book here. Since the laboratory started operating in March this year, it has only been August now, and in five months, 230,000 taels of silver have been consumed! Limited by authority, I cannot verify what the silver has been used for, and can only reimburse as much as Lord Xu says. Your Highness, these expenses will certainly not make the purse in my control completely empty, but I still have to prepare a sum of money for Li Dan, Yan Siqi and others. I also have to store a portion of silver every year to prepare for your highness's currency reform in the future. Your highness has such a wide range of hands, it is really difficult for me to do it!"
"Haha, are you done?" Looking at the heartbroken Cao Sanxi, Zhu Youdong felt greatly comforted: Which leader in the future would not like to have such a chief financial officer?
"Sanxi, when we do things, we need to look further ahead and see more. You see, if the old soldiers in the Yangtze River Navy are not properly resettled, unrest will occur. Once unrest is triggered, it will not only take up a lot of our energy, but the officials in Nanjing will also rise up to attack us. The emperor in Beijing will also doubt whether we can do good things. So, this is buying peace with money.
Secondly, Fangshan School is the fundamental guarantee for whether our business can have successors in the future. I tell you, these children are still young now. Starting from the third grade, they will have more things to learn and the expenses will be greater! But I don’t care, because when they become talents, the rewards they bring to us will be hundreds, thousands, and millions of times!
As for the laboratory, Mr. Xu has very detailed account books that he submits to me every month. Don't worry, he has no behavior of embezzlement. Just wait and see, they will soon produce results!"
