Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 7 Elementary Education
Zhao Xing followed Gu Yankai's instructions and practiced for about an incense stick before being stopped by Gu Yankai.

"Your Highness, you should practice gradually at the beginning and not practice for too long. Today's time is enough." Gu Yankai said.

He thought Zhao Xing would not be able to hold on for long and would complain, but he did not expect Zhao Xing to be so tenacious.

Zhao Xing stopped his movements after hearing this and said with a smile, "Thank you for your hard work, Marquis Ningyuan. You can go back first. Young Marquis Gu, please wait here. When I come back from paying my respects to my mother, you can go to class with me."

"Yes!" Gu Tingye and his son responded quickly.

……

Zhao Xing returned to Mingren Hall, paid his respects to Queen Cao, then went back to Yongning Hall and took Gu Tingye to Zishan Hall.

"Young Marquis Gu, do you have a courtesy name?"

Zhao Xing did not take the sedan chair, but asked as he walked.

"I haven't chosen a courtesy name yet." Gu Tingye bowed.

As the son of a lord, although Gu Tingye is still young, he holds a military official position and can naturally call himself a minister.

"How about I give you a courtesy name?" Zhao Xing said with some evil taste.

"It would be my honor if Your Highness could give me a name!" Gu Tingye said excitedly.

A person's name is usually given by parents or elders. Although Zhao Xing is young, he is a prince and may very likely become an emperor in the future.

Zhao Xing gave him a name, no matter whether it sounded good or not, it was a matter of honor for the family.

Zhao Xing pretended to be silent for a while and said, "You are the second child, so let's call you Zhong Huai. The Gu family is not only a noble family but also a military family. Our ancestors have made many military achievements. I hope you will not bring shame to your ancestors' reputation, care about the world, and be loyal to the country!"

A general is not necessarily a lord, and a lord is not necessarily a general.

The military generals from whom Emperor Taizu gave up their military power with a toast were all nobles. However, after Taizu took away their military power, none of their descendants entered the army in successive generations, and those people were left with only a title of nobility.

However, there were many nobles in the court who were awarded titles for their merits during Emperor Taizu's campaigns and unification of the country.

Some of these families had already fallen into decline and had lost their influence in the military.

There are also some families where people have served in the military for generations and held high official positions.

The Zhang family and the Gu family are among them. Therefore, the Gu family is not only a noble family, but also a general family, and has a high prestige in the army.

Zhao Xing values ​​Gu Tingye not only because of his abilities, but also because of his family background.

As long as the Gu family firmly supports him and the Duke of England is his future father-in-law, it will be much easier for him to control military power after he ascends the throne.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for the gift of a certain name. I will definitely live up to your expectations!" Gu Tingye knelt on one knee, his voice loud and excited.

Gu Tingye is only ten years old now. Even though he is smart, he doesn't have so many twists and turns in his mind.

In addition to the education that the ancients received since childhood, and the name given to him by Zhao Xing, he had the urge to become a scholar and die for his confidant.

It is difficult for people in later generations to understand the concepts and ideas of the ancients.

Some favors may seem like small favours to people in later generations, but even when people know that the other party is doing the favour out of deliberate intent, many people still remain loyal to them until their death.

Zhao Xing didn't realize that just by giving a word of courtesy, Gu Tingye was so moved. When he saw him kneeling down, he quickly helped him up.

"Zhong Huai, there is no need to perform such a grand ceremony!"

Kneeling was not a popular etiquette in the Song Dynasty. Even when servants met their masters, they would just bow as a sign of respect.

When the two arrived at Zishan Hall, Qi Heng had already arrived.

Qi Heng, who was only five years old, was surprised to see Gu Tingye and Zhao Xing coming in together. He quickly stood up and saluted, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness."

"Don't be so polite, cousin." Zhao Xing smiled and gave him a light support.

After Qi Heng stood up, he bowed to Gu Tingye again and called him "Second Uncle".

The Qi and Gu families were related by ancestry, and Qi Heng was one generation younger in terms of seniority.

Gu Tingye was surprised to see Qi Heng there, but he quickly reacted. Considering the relationship between Princess Pingning and the emperor, it was normal for Qi Heng to come and study with her.

Zhao Xing and Qi Heng chatted about family matters in an attempt to improve their relationship.

The two had met several times before, but the elders were all there at that time, and Qi Heng was very well behaved.

Zhao Xing thought that Qi Heng would be more relaxed now that his elders were gone.

However, Qi Heng was very reserved when facing him. He answered whatever Zhao Xing asked in a very rigid and boring manner.

After chatting for a while, footsteps were heard outside.

After a while, Hai Wenyou walked in.

"Greetings, Master!" Zhao Xing and the other two quickly stood up and saluted.

The ancients emphasized Heaven, Earth, the Emperor, parents and teachers. Even though Zhao Xing was a prince and Hai Wenyou was his teacher, he still had to pay his respects.

However, Hai Wen waited for Zhao Xing to perform the salute and then returned the salute to him.

Hai Wenyou gave a few simple instructions and then officially started the class.

Zhao Xing originally thought that there was no pinyin in ancient times and literacy depended entirely on rote memory.

When I officially started learning, I realized that the wisdom of the ancients should not be underestimated.

Gu Tingye and Qi Heng have both started elementary school. Although Qi Heng has only been learning for a short time, he already recognizes some words.

However, the main target of teaching was Zhao Xing, so he was naturally the main focus.

Gu Tingye and Qi Heng can only listen to what they are taught.

Hai Wenyou’s method of teaching Zhao Xing to read is the direct phonetic method.

The so-called direct phonetic method is to select the simplest character from all the pronunciations to teach, and then use that character as the pronunciation to teach other characters.

Simply put, the pronunciation of "yi" is represented by the character "yi". All characters with the pronunciation of "yi" are marked with "yi". The reason why "yi" is not used is because the Song Dynasty used traditional Chinese characters, and "yi" is still "yi", which has too many strokes.

Of course, this method also has some disadvantages. First of all, there is only one pronunciation, which needs to be distinguished later. Secondly, some uncommon characters do not have homophones, so they cannot be used.

However, this does help you recognize most common Chinese characters.

In one class, a few characters were taught and the meaning of each character was briefly explained. In the second class, Zhao Xing practiced writing.

The same thing happens in the afternoon, learning to read and write.

From that day on, Zhao Xing did this every day.

In the morning, I learn martial arts with Gu Yan for half an hour, and then come to Zishan Hall for classes. I only have one day off in ten days.

The government also began to recruit tutors for Zhao Xing, and more than a dozen people came to the school one after another.

In just three months, the school already had eighteen students, including himself.

These people were all sons of nobles in Bian Jing and descendants of high-ranking or prestigious officials in the civil service.

Ages range from five to twelve.

But apart from Gu Tingye and Qi Heng, Zhao Xing was only close to a few of them, and he didn't bother to care about the rest.

Judging from their usual performance, those people are either mediocre in talent or complete idiots.

Moreover, he deliberately tried to curry favor with him. Zhao Xing naturally had no good impression of such a person.

With the arrival of these people, Zhao Xing's reputation as a child prodigy spread out of the palace and from Bian Jing to the world.

It is said that Zhao Xing had a photographic memory and could learn any word once he learned it.

Zhao Xing smiled slightly when he heard these rumors.

There was no way, he was literate, and although the Song Dynasty used traditional Chinese characters, there was not much difference between most traditional and simplified Chinese characters, and he could recognize them at a glance.

Even though he couldn't recognize it, Hai Wenyou taught him and Zhao Xing remembered it.

It's a bit of an exaggeration to say that he has a photographic memory, but Zhao Xing can almost remember some things after looking at them two or three times.

Perhaps it’s because children have good memories, or perhaps it’s because he was reborn, that his memory has become so good.

However, he was a prince and did not have to take the imperial examination, so he was not very happy about it.

Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, it has been a year since Zhao Xing started school.

By this year, Zhao Xing had finished studying the enlightenment books of this era and had recognized and learned to write most of the common characters.

After completing elementary education, he began to formally study "The Analects of Confucius".

The Four Books and Five Classics are nine important Confucian classics in ancient education. If one wants to take the imperial examination, one must learn the Four Books and Five Classics.

Han Zhang, who had not appeared before, also began to teach Zhao Xing.

Han Zhang is a prime minister, so naturally he doesn't have time to teach Zhao Xing every day. He only comes to give a lesson every other day.

It's about history books.

Li Shimin once said that learning from history can help us understand our gains and losses.

For Zhao Xing, history books are a must-learn.

(End of this chapter)