My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 442 A Seed

"primary school?"

They were both stunned. What kind of school is an elementary school?
Looking at the children who kept walking into the school gate, the two seemed to understand that this was a place for children to study.

However, there actually are schools specifically for children in the Ming Dynasty, and they seem to be quite large, such as the First Primary School, and it seems that there is more than one such school.

Seeing their confusion, Ali smiled and said, "In the Ming Dynasty, when children reach a certain age, they will start to learn to read and write. In the past, scholars who failed the imperial examination would open private schools, and then children from ordinary families could go to private schools to study after paying a certain fee.

But now, the Ming Dynasty has unified all the private school teachers, and then the court has opened official schools to recruit students, unify education and management. "

During the time he returned to Ming Dynasty, Ali also learned about the development of Ming Dynasty over the years, and even he was shocked.

Especially the education system of the Ming Dynasty, which even he, an expert on the Ming Dynasty, felt like a bolt from the blue.

His last name is Said, and his ancestors were nobles. Although he is down and out now, he is still well educated and knows what it means to be able to receive an education in Europe!
Although there were guild schools in Europe, it was still very difficult for common people to receive education. Secular educational resources were almost entirely controlled by business elites and aristocrats. Of course, if common people wanted to receive education, there was only one way to go, and that was church schools.

But that would mean that the child would have to stay in the church and become a monk, and there would be one less labor force in the family.

Therefore, unless the family is extremely poor and can barely make ends meet, they will rarely send their children to church schools.

But the situation in the Ming Dynasty was completely different. When Ali had been in the Ming Dynasty, he had already learned that here, except for the descendants of criminals, almost everyone could receive education, as long as the family could afford it.

Moreover, as early as more than a thousand years ago, education began to be secularized and popularized in China.

This means that education in China is no longer a privilege of the nobility, but a right that everyone can enjoy.

Now that he has returned to the Ming Dynasty, he is even more surprised to find that the imperial court has set up official schools to allow more children to receive education. This shows that the Ming Dynasty will be the most civilized and enlightened country in the world!

"Mr. Sayyid, are you saying that all the children in these schools can receive education?"

Makaros couldn't believe his ears. "Isn't education something for the nobility? How can commoners have this qualification?"

"Hahahahaha, my Lord Earl, your thinking is too limited. This is Ming Dynasty, not Europe!"

Ali laughed and said, "You can't look at the Ming Dynasty from the perspective of Europe. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty believed that all people in the world should be educated, otherwise they would be barbaric and uncivilized. In ancient China, a saint once said that there is no distinction between people in education, which means that everyone is qualified to receive education!"

"But, but they are all civilians!" Makaros muttered. At this time, the two guards behind him were unhappy!
"Why, I am also a commoner, so I can't read and write?" a guard said fiercely. Makaros shrank his neck and was a little surprised. He thought the soldier guarding him was at least a knight.

As if he saw through Makaros's doubts, Ali shook his head. This little European nobleman was still uncivilized and had no vision!
"There is a saying in the Ming Dynasty that a hero does not care about his origin. Here, no matter where you come from, as long as you have a heart of progress, you can be promoted to a high position. A scholar can become an official through imperial examinations, while a warrior can make achievements on the battlefield and be awarded a title of general and a noble rank."

Makaros was silent. He still couldn't understand why ordinary civilians could get promoted through this form of "scientific examination". This was completely inconsistent with the worldview he had always accepted.

"Scientific expedition" should be some kind of assessment. Makaros tried hard to understand this concept with the poor oriental knowledge he had learned.

But isn’t it too lax to become an official through the form of “imperial examination”?
For a long time, only nobles have been qualified to receive education and govern the country or territory. This has been a long-standing rule. Since the ancient Roman Republic, whether it is the senators in the Senate or the municipal officials, who is not a noble?
As for the current political system of European countries, the king rules the country through local nobles, and the local areas are ruled by lords, while the mayor and the municipal council are responsible for city management.

Of course, the mayor and the elders in the municipal council are all aristocrats. In order to enter politics, many big businessmen spend a lot of money to become small aristocrats and then enter the parliamentary circle. Then, they are often ridiculed by the old aristocrats as country bumpkins. As for commoners becoming municipal officials or parliamentary elders, that is simply a fantasy!
Therefore, he could not understand this move of the Ming Dynasty, which shocked him more than the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty itself.

However, he couldn't tell what was wrong, but this incident had left a deep mark on his heart.

He decided to study Chinese culture and history carefully to find out why this land had a political system that was completely different from that of Europe.

……

As the number one imperialist leader of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang did not know at this time that the European captives brought back by Zhu Laosi and others were in the midst of a fierce ideological confrontation. He gave full authority to Xu Da to educate Makaros and Antonio.

The overall policy is the same, using both kindness and severity!

At this moment, he still had more things to do. Mao Xiang had already sent the Jinyiwei to Yunnan. At the same time, he and Liang Fu had secretly restarted the investigation of the Guangjiku theft case. However, this old matter would not produce results for a while, so he had to wait and see.

Therefore, the most important thing on his hands was to speed up the construction of the railway network in the Jiangnan region. For this purpose, Li Min gave up his beloved generator research work and took officials from the Ministry of Industry and researchers from the research institute to Jiangnan for a field investigation.

The railway from Yingtian Prefecture to Songjiang Prefecture has been completed and is ready to open to traffic. The new shipyard in Songjiang Prefecture has also begun trial production and was named Jiangnan Shipyard by Zhu Yuanzhang.

According to the plan, the Longsheng and other shipyards in Yingtian Prefecture will build 5,000-ton civilian ships and warships, and cooperate with the Industry Department to develop and improve new ships. The shipyards in Songjiang Prefecture, because of their excellent natural ports, will be responsible for the construction of larger ships of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to the successful completion of the Jiangnan Shipyard, a supporting steel smelter is also under planning. The construction of the railway will enable the iron ore to be transported from the mine to Songjiang Prefecture in a steady stream.

(End of this chapter)