Putting everything else aside, the millions of Hans under Xiao Ruxun would definitely be able to fill their stomachs and continue living their lives. They had no other requests other than to live a peaceful life. It would be even better if they could send their children to school.
Xiao Ruxun also wanted to, but there weren't many people under him who could read and write, and there were even fewer who could understand Confucian scriptures. He only had three orthodox scholars under him, the father and son of the Yuan Family, and Chen Longzheng. The three of them had their own things to do, so they definitely wouldn't have the time to teach the children of the common people.
Moreover, even though they could fill their stomachs and not starve, there was still a long way to go before their parents could support a scholar. The Ming Dynasty paid more attention to the imperial examinations than the Song Dynasty, but they only supported 300,000 students.
Scholars needed the country to provide money and food to support them. Those who passed the imperial examinations would receive the country's Lu. Although it was small, when multiplied by 300,000, it would be an astronomical figure.
This was the country's investment, and the scholars themselves also needed to invest. In government-run schools, you could only enter after passing the imperial examinations, but before you passed the imperial examinations, you needed to go to a private school to study. The government wouldn't care about your private school. Private schools were mostly funded by the gentry, or the clansmen would pay to hire scholars as teachers to teach the clan's disciples.
Without exception, these people were all rich. Without money, they couldn't afford to study. A farmer's family was considered a family of three. The father was considered a laborer, the wife was considered half a laborer, and the child was considered half a laborer before he grew up. In other words, there were two laborers. A dozen mu of land was necessary to support three people after paying exorbitant taxes, but a laborer couldn't complete so much farm work.
When the child grew to about seven or eight years old, he would start to help out in the fields. At the age of 11 or 12, he would be a laborer. If you suddenly asked the child to leave agricultural production to study, wouldn't the parents be exhausted?
Therefore, although there were potatoes and corn planted, plus the benefits of three crops a year and six years of no taxes, the farmers' lives were indeed much better. After a stable life, a baby boom followed.
The census officer sent by Xiao Ruxun before the New Year reported that the number of new births had been increasing year by year. Many families had three or four children. In this case, the increase in production was offset by the rapid increase in population.
In addition to the problems of the farmers themselves, Xiao Ruxun did not have enough money in his hands. If he wanted the farmers to accept their children to study, he had to at least provide them with lunch, a school building, a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, a teacher, and a cook. All of these things could not be done without hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
Daming thought that the silver was indeed valuable, but running an education was a matter of burning money. He did not expect any economic returns, but hoped that more scholars would serve the country.
But then again, Burma Town was a military town. The imperial court had never mentioned setting up an official in Burma Town and allowing the residents of Burma Town to participate in the imperial examination. Naturally, the people who studied in Burma Town would take the examination. However, the examination would involve the issue of the official and the scholars, which would inevitably cause them to interact with the civil officials. Xiao Ruxun did not want to interact with the civil officials yet, so the matter of running an education was delayed.
The plan was proposed, but due to economic and political considerations, Xiao Ruxun felt that it was better for Burma Town to continue to be invisible for the next few years. He was not fully fledged yet, and no scholars were willing to rely on him to help him build Burma Town. With Yuan Huang's reputation in his hometown, he only managed to attract Chen Longzheng. One could imagine how much the scholars despised Xiao Ruxun.
Perhaps there would be some scholars who would be willing to come. They would be those old scholars who would never be able to become a Juren in their lifetime. Those old scholars had no hope in themselves, so they would just be a teacher in a social school, teaching to make a living. These people would probably be willing to come to Myanmar to teach. Xiao Ruxun would definitely pay them more. Wouldn't teaching anywhere be the same? The problem was that these people could only teach, and could not do anything else.
However, Xiao Ruxun had thought it through. Even if it was not about nurturing scholars, it was very important and meaningful to let the people under his rule become literate. Hence, a few months ago, Xiao Ruxun had sent people to some of the strong imperial examinations to look for those discouraged old scholars who could not pass the imperial examination in their lifetime. He asked them if they were willing to go to Burma Town to teach the children and teach them how to read. They would definitely be paid more than they were now.
At the moment, there was no news. If there was news, Xiao Ruxun felt that he could start to arrange for the construction of schools in the villages around Bogu City. Step by step, the goal was not to nurture scholars, but to nurture people who could read and write. The literacy rate of the people was a very important indicator. The literacy rate represented the strength of the country's infrastructure.
This is a time for education. Why did I let the Catholics come here to preach and bewitch the people? Why did I do that? Am I crazy? It was not easy to get rid of the scholars from the Confucian school, and now I have to invite the Christians to make things difficult for me? What am I thinking?
Of course, Xiao Ruxun was not happy.
Ricci roughly knew the reason, but he thought that General Xiao, who had been educated in the Confucian school, did not like the teachings of Christianity. This was a kind of ideological confrontation on the religious level. Hence, he had been trying to change Xiao Ruxun. In the end, not only did he not succeed, he almost lost his life.
Hence, Ricci had nothing to say. He could only translate the words to the bishop. When the bishop heard this, his expression did not look good. He was obviously thinking of the people in China who lived and worked in peace.
These people were very satisfied with their lives and had no gaps in their hearts. They were the least likely to be bewitched by religious ideas. A person could only be bewitched by religion when they were at their weakest. Hence, religion was always deeply rooted in war-torn areas. In peaceful areas, the power of religion was always weaker than the power of the government.
As for the peaceful China, the bishop did not know how to persuade Xiao Ruxun. He only knew that if Xiao Ruxun did not allow Christianity to preach here, he would not be able to enter other small countries, not to mention China. With one word from this general, the rulers of the surrounding small countries would tremble.
However, the reason why he was sent by the Pope was because he knew that he could not use religious reasons to fool people. He knew that he should use secular means of negotiation to achieve his goals.
The Pope's price was that as long as the Vatican could afford it, they should agree to the China general. The Vatican needed a base in China and a group of China believers!
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