Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 685 Inspection
After telling the Third Prince that he wanted to go to Ciqing Palace once every three days instead of every other day, Zhang Shou got up early the next morning with a memorial that he had finished writing overnight. He planned to stop by the Ministry of Public Administration to submit the memorial on his way out of the city to the public school. However, after washing, changing clothes, and eating breakfast, when he said goodbye to Mrs. Wu and was about to go out, he found the familiar team of guards in front of his door.
This is not a temporary measure, but a plan for a protracted war?
When such a group of people appeared yesterday morning and seemed to have been guarding all night, he was still suspicious. But when he went to Ciqing Palace to give a lecture, he heard the fourth prince say that the second prince might have died in a shipwreck. He felt that this arrangement should be the emperor's good intention. But now looking at this situation, it seems that they plan to stay for a long time, which he finds very strange.
And when he was about to get on the car and set off, another group of people came galloping over. When they were almost in front of him, the leader shouted, and he and the people behind him jumped off their horses, then quickly came up to him and saluted. He couldn't help but feel that it was ridiculous.
"Master Zhang, I am Han Lie, the commander of the Sharp Cavalry Battalion. I am ordered to serve as your escort from now on."
Zhang Shou was really confused. He was not a particularly important person, so wasn't this treatment a bit excessive? He glanced at Ah Liu beside him, and saw that he looked as if his job had been taken away from him - of course, it was difficult for others to detect the clues from the boy's face, so he smiled and said, "That's really hard work for you. But, these other people in front of my house are..."
The next moment, he got an expected answer: "These are also people from the Ruiqi Battalion. Since the night before yesterday, the Dukes, cabinet ministers, and other important officials in the capital have had additional guards at home. Starting today, they will also have escorts when they travel. From the guards at home to the escorts, the total number of guards ranges from 20 to 40. The emperor specifically ordered last night that the second prince's ship sank for no reason, so the safety of the important officials is of utmost importance and cannot be neglected in the slightest."
But I don’t seem to be such an important official… Zhang Shou really wanted to say this in his heart, but when the words came to his lips, he felt that this was a bit against the emperor’s good intentions, so he could only thank him politely again.
As the emperor's personal army, the Ruiqi Battalion was said to be well-trained. When he went out yesterday, he asked his family to send him hot soup and tea, but no one was willing to accept them, let alone reward. Therefore, even if there were only ten people following him at this time, Zhang Shou, sitting in the carriage, still felt that he was really showing off.
And when he went to the Tongzhengsi and submitted the memorial, and then left the city and arrived at the public school, the Prince's Secretary Liu Zhiyuan went to Ciqing Palace to be a teacher for the third prince in the morning. Lu Wan happened to bump into him when he got off the car. The two looked at each other and saw the ten mighty guards behind each other. They couldn't help but look at each other in surprise.
One is the retired former Minister of War and current Chief Academician of the Public Academy, and the other is just a lecturer in the Imperial Academy, but the guards accompanying them are exactly the same!
Of course, although they were surprised, the two people, who were a generation apart in age, tacitly did not discuss this issue. Lu Wan greeted and went in first, letting his carriage go to collect and transport books. Although the Lu family father and son were both very wealthy, after Lu Sanlang waved money and bought up a large number of bookstores in the capital, Lu Wan simply used his carriage to transport books, leaving a good reputation.
Compared to those mathematical classics, the first three volumes of Zhang Shou's "Ge's New Mathematics" which were used as an introduction to mathematics sold very well. Even if you don't want to take the Jiuzhangtang exam, it's a good idea to give your children some mathematical enlightenment. Especially now that both the father and son generations of emperors are very interested in mathematics, for a well-off family, this kind of investment that doesn't cost much is very beneficial.
The Lu family's carriage left. Zhang Shou saw that Ah Liu was about to send the coachman to the stable at the back to store the carriage. The team leader Han Lie actually sent four people out and planned to go with them. He couldn't help but be stunned.
The other party seemed to see his doubts and explained solemnly: "Historically, assassins either use unexpected means or hide in unexpected places. Among them, the chassis of the carriage is very easy to hide people. In addition, they can tamper with the chassis of the carriage, or tamper with the horses to scare them when the carriage is moving, or break the shaft and chassis..."
Zhang Shou listened to the other party talking about security tips in a daze. He felt that this was similar to checking whether there was any tampering in the car and eliminating the possibility of various mechanical failures and bombs. Faced with this professional knowledge, he nodded without hesitation and said, "Then I'll leave it to you, Ah Liu, you don't have to go, they will just keep an eye on it."
This time, Ah Liu finally stared at everyone with a bit of dissatisfaction. After the four people escorted the driver with a subtle expression away, he whispered, "I'll check it too!"
Knowing that Ah Liu was talking about whether the carriage had been tampered with, he would also check it carefully. Zhang Shou glared at him and said, "Wouldn't it be easier for you if someone else shared the burden with you?"
But didn't the madman drill the whole family and set up layers of security measures? Is it necessary? As for going out, unless someone uses crossbows... Even if I use crossbows, I may not be able to wipe out all the enemies, but isn't it easy to carry you and escape? There is no need for so many people!
Ah Liu thought so in his heart, and he couldn't help but feel that the remaining six people including Han Lie were in the way. However, when he entered the public school, he saw that the six people stopped immediately and were only patrolling outside the wall. His previous unhappy mood immediately disappeared. After sending Zhang Shou to Jiuzhang Hall, he wandered around the public school as usual.
Except for technical classes such as typesetting classes, students who come here to study are divided into elementary, intermediate and advanced classes. Those who are illiterate go to the elementary class and learn to read and write from the primers "Three Character Classic", "Thousand Character Classic" and "Hundred Family Names".
For those who are proficient in Chinese, they will go to the intermediate class according to their aptitude and progress, and there are only two courses: Chinese and mathematics. For Chinese, in addition to the primer, some relatively simple chapters and entries from the Analects are selected to make them understand the principles, while mathematics starts with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. For those who are proficient in Chinese and have real aptitude, they will go to the advanced class and directly study the entire Analects.
Of course, if someone stands out in the beginner and intermediate classes, he or she can directly enter the advanced class.
Because most of the students in the public school were from the common people or even the poor, and they had to take care of housework or farm work on weekdays, so they only had one day of class every seven days. The fourteen classes of the elementary classes with a total of 700 people and the seven classes of the intermediate classes with a total of 140 people were undoubtedly the mainstream of the public school. So every day there were two elementary classes and one intermediate class, with a total of 120 people attending class.
As for the advanced class, the number of students was not less than that of the elementary and intermediate classes. The reason was simple. Although there was a rigid standard of being under 15 years old, there were many people who were too poor to afford education but had learned to read and write in private schools or from their elders, and had also read some classics and history books, but had difficulty continuing due to lack of money in the past. The entire capital actually recruited two classes of 80 people!
Because classes were held every day, and lunch was provided for free, and the premise was that they would be tested every half month, and those who failed would be expelled, the eighty people still studied hard regardless of the weather, and they were actually the most diligent group in the entire public school. And their goal was also what Zhang Shou sighed when he talked about it privately with Liu Zhiyuan and Lu Wan.
Because almost everyone in the advanced class had worked hard and vowed to pass the county and prefectural exams, pass the exams to become a student, and then take the imperial examinations in the future! Although Shuntian Prefecture has always had more places for scholars and juren, it is much easier than the imperial examination devil provinces of Nanzhili and Jiangxi, but this ease is also relative. The three did not think that the free classics and history courses in the public school could be better than the teachers of wealthy families.
After all, if Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan didn't teach them personally, it would be difficult for them to surpass those scholars from scholarly families unless they were gifted. Therefore, the three of them were very cautious about their future in the imperial examinations.
Ah Liu was only able to read and write, so he had no interest in the advanced class that taught the Four Books. He also couldn't understand the lectures in the typesetting class, statistics class, and law class, so he stayed in front of the intermediate class that taught basic mathematics for a long time. Because Xiao Cheng and Xiao Huasheng were also here.
The one who was taking classes here today was none other than Lu Sanlang. Renhe and Qi Liang took turns to be the tutors in the East Palace, answering questions for the Third Prince and others when Zhang Shou was not around, but when it came to explaining to ordinary people, the fat guy was not so patient.
Someone who had maxed out his talent in math, faced a group of people who had trouble reciting the Nine-Nine Song, and he was like a teacher hitting the podium with a stick. His fierce look made even Ah Liu, who was just watching the fun, look sideways. When he saw that Lu Sanlang had called on several people to recite, and two of them were stumbling and couldn't recite, he bent his fingers and started counting.
Sure enough, when he counted to three, he saw Lu Sanlang suddenly became furious: "You are not six or seven-year-old children. The youngest is eleven or twelve, and the oldest is fifteen or sixteen. You can all recognize words. It's such a simple thing that you can learn after listening to it once, but you went back to review it for seven days, and some of you still can't memorize it? Did you really put in your effort?"
"Although the public school doesn't charge tuition, no one will subsidize the income you would have earned from farming or working on the day you come to class! If you didn't come here to study today, your family would have an extra strong laborer, but now that you are here, you'll have no income for the day! Without this money, other people in your family will have to work to make up for it. Do you have the nerve to not study hard?"
Ah Liu originally thought that Lu Sanlang would be furious and yell at him, but when he heard someone trying to be reasonable in such a rage, he couldn't help but smile slightly, and thought of the time when Zhang Shou taught those naughty kids in the village.
Dozens of children in the village memorized Tang poems, the Nine-Nine Songs, and learned to read and write, but in the end, only Qi Liang and Deng Xiaodai caught Zhang Shou's eye. Even so, most of the children in their teens learned the simplest reading and writing, and everyone could write a hundred or eighty characters besides their own names.
For this, Zhang Shou even asked him to cut two bamboos, split the bamboo joints and bamboo tubes, and make a lot of literacy cards with the bamboo plates.
The words that Lu Sanlang used to teach people this time were exactly the same as what Zhang Shou used to teach the village naughty kids. Of course, every time Zhang Shou scolded them, the adults in the village would grab their children and beat them until they cried for their parents, and for the punishment and reward, the naughty kids would often bite the bullet and learn - of course, they would cheat.
He did not continue to see how Lu Sanlang punished the students, and quietly left. Countless naughty children in the village had been punished with a ruler for reciting the Nine-Nine Song, and he was no exception. He did not want to go through that unforgettable experience again.
Although the classroom was warmer, after walking around, Ah Liu was sure that the classes in the two classes of Jiuzhang Hall would probably last a long time as usual, while those in Banshan Hall welcomed their first teacher, Mr. Tang, who was rarely attending the class seriously under the pressure of Lu Wan who was attending the class in person. So he slipped out quietly without disturbing the patrolling guards.
However, he did not act rashly and look for opponents in the outer city or subdue all kinds of people as he did a few months ago. Instead, he stepped on the walls and roofs of the nearby houses and shops to make sure there were no suspicious signs. He then went to the arithmetic school which was still under construction to check on the progress, but found several scholars who were asking questions.
As for what he was inquiring about, it was exactly the book borrowing system that Zhang Shou had previously spread the news about in the Imperial College.
The supervisor was an old family member of the Lu family. Perhaps because there were too many people asking questions these days, he pointed impatiently at the notice board next to him and said unhappily, "It's all written on it. How it will be operated in the future and how to borrow books are all written clearly on it!"
He was about to put on airs, but suddenly he noticed a young man not far away looking at him quietly. It was Ah Liu. He recognized him and sweat broke out on his forehead. His originally arrogant attitude changed a lot, and he said earnestly: "The master generously donated money to build such a mathematical library, and will also lend out a lot of classics and history essays. This is all because of Mr. Zhang's face..."
Not interested in listening to people praising Zhang Shou, Ah Liu turned around and left. After going to Xinglong Tea House, he finally returned to the public school at almost noon. During this routine inspection, he not only listened and watched, but also filled his stomach with two steamed buns, three dumplings and a bowl of soy milk. However, he missed his lunch.
Well, originally there was a kitchen in the public school, but now the only function of the kitchen is to heat food. The small restaurants in the food street near Xinglong Tea House have already taken over the meals of the teachers and students in the public school. The students' meals are all steamed buns, dumplings, and flower rolls, which are delivered to them and steamed and heated.
The teachers, including Lu Wan, Liu Zhiyuan and Zhang Shou, had one meat dish, one vegetable dish and one soup. This was stipulated by Liu Zhiyuan. The rich guys in Banshan Hall could order according to the menu. But only he... could enjoy the double portion of food for both students and teachers.
However, when Ah Liu arrived at the gate of the public school, he met not those who came to deliver food, but a large group of guards from the Ruiqi Battalion in bright armor. Compared with the guards of Zhang Shou and Lu Wan before, there were dozens of them now. And in the middle of these people was a carriage that looked very low-key. But Ah Liu recognized it at a glance.
That was clearly the carriage that the Third Prince, the Crown Prince, rode in when he came to attend the open class last time!
He walked forward with a frown on his face. His face that could pass through the palace unimpeded was also successful this time. He came to the carriage very smoothly, and before the curtain was opened, he asked suspiciously: "Didn't His Royal Highness say that he would not leave the palace often to avoid wasting manpower?"
