Fruit trees often brought some troubles to the owner, and the benefits that the family could get from the fruit trees were relatively small, even negligible. This was the main reason why there were fewer and fewer fruit trees in the small mountain village that Ang Lee lived in in his previous life. From a village full of fruit trees when he was young to almost no fruit trees when he grew up, the change was really huge.
Ang Lee still preferred a village full of fruit trees. Such a village was more suitable for the people to live in. Living in such a mountain village, people would be happier. A village that only focused on economic benefits and destroyed the beautiful environment was not a good village.
In Ang Lee's memory, after he grew up, in addition to cutting down most of the fruit trees in the mountain village, many polluting factories were built near the village. The ditches that used to be full of fish and prawns were now lifeless and smelly ditches. It was impossible to catch fish and prawns in the ditches. Almost all the sick animals were poisoned to death.
Seeing such a beautiful and quiet village in front of him, Ang Lee felt very comfortable. The village should be like this, and the mountain village should have such a beautiful environment. The villagers should not damage the environment for the sake of pursuing money. Money could be pursued at any time, but once a beautiful village was polluted, it was difficult to control. It was very easy to pollute a village, but if one wanted to control a polluted village, it would take several times more effort. This investment was not something that ordinary people could afford.
"Old man, your small village is really beautiful! The fragrance of flowers is everywhere. Living in this village is too comfortable. "
Ang Lee looked at the beautiful surroundings and said.
The old man said with a smile, "That was your first time here. If you stay in the mountain every day, you won't feel how beautiful it is. This old man still thinks that the county town is better. There are more people and more liveliness!"
It could be seen that this old man was a person who liked to be lively. It was probably because he had been in the village for a long time, so he had a yearning for the county town with more people. If this old man stayed in the city for a long time, he would also miss the quiet days in the village.
People were like this. They always felt that it was best to not have something, and that what they had was not worth mentioning. The old man had lived in a beautiful village for a long time, so naturally, he did not feel that there was anything strange about the beauty of the village. His yearning for liveliness and crowds made him like life in the city. He felt that living in the city was more comfortable.
Ang Lee did not need to explain these principles to the old man, because the old man might not understand. This was just an ordinary old man who focused on farming and picked herbs in his spare time.
People in the village were more timid, at least most of them. As soon as Ang Lee and his group entered the village, many people hurriedly hid in their houses. Some children hid behind the adults' legs, and then secretly revealed a pair of small eyes, looking at Ang Lee and his group with vigilance and curiosity.
As it was not time for dinner, there were almost no young men in the village. They were all working in the fields. Those who stayed in the village were basically the old and weak, women and children. They basically had nothing to do. The women could take care of the vegetable garden, but the children were fooling around in the village. There was no private school in the village, so these children who should have gone to school long ago could only stay at home and fool around. Perhaps this village should have a school long ago, but the size of the village was too small. There were too few children of suitable age, and the people were not rich. With so many children's families, they were afraid that they could not afford a private school. If it was possible to go to school, then they could only go to the county town. However, the county town was a little far away, and it was not realistic to send them to school every day. Accommodation and school also required a lot of money, and the people here could not afford it. Moreover, their ancestors were illiterate, so they did not feel that it was impossible. If it was completely free, the school could also be free of accommodation and food, just like the school opened by Ang Lee, these parents would probably be very happy to send their children to school. Unfortunately, the number of schools in Central Sichuan was still somewhat insufficient.
Although the imperial court had already issued the order, the popularization of education was not so easy to complete quickly. Now that they were too busy repairing the roads, the construction of the school could only continue to be delayed. They had to take care of the densely populated areas above the county town first. As for the mountain villages, they really could not care about them. Anyway, the imperial court officials who came to inspect rarely went to the countryside. Basically, they went to places above the county town.
"Old man, is there anyone in our village who is literate? Even if they have gone to school. "
Ang Lee suddenly asked.
The old man thought for a long time and shook his head. "There is really no one who can read. There is no choice. We are too poor. The children can't afford to go to school. How can there be anyone who can read?"
As he spoke, the old man looked a little helpless. If there were conditions, the old man would obviously like the younger generation to be literate. At least they would not be blind. But there were practical difficulties. Their village was too poor, and poverty was the root cause of their ancestors' illiteracy. Illiteracy would lead them to continue to be poor, and they would never be able to get out of this mountain. From then on, they would be reincarnated and could only live in this small area forever.
"There are still too few children in this village. It is really unrealistic to set up a school here. We can only go to other schools."
Ang Lee said.
The old man nodded and said, "That's right. However, the nearest school is in the county town. It will take four hours by mountain road. It's too far away, and the children are too young. I don't feel at ease living there, and I have to pay for it. Adults live in the county town. They can't even afford the rent, so they have no choice but to not go to school. "
In fact, the best way to deal with the situation in this village was to send a teacher to occasionally teach the children a few words. For these people who had too few teachers, this kind of mobile education method was the most convenient. Although the teaching level was certainly not good, it was better than no education. The children did not need to learn too much, as long as they could recognize words. As long as the children could recognize words, they would have a lot of choices in the future. At least they could understand the newspaper of the Tang dynasty. When they went to the county town in the future, they could learn about the world's events from the newspaper of the Tang dynasty. Thus, they could seize all kinds of opportunities to change their fate and make themselves richer. It was even possible for them to completely change their fate and turn themselves from poor to rich.
This was also the lowest level of education designed by Ang Lee. It was also the cheapest and easiest way to achieve. In many backward areas in later generations, this method was used in many backward areas. In some backward countries, many people had no chance to go to school at all, and illiterates who could not read found it difficult to do some technical work. For this reason, the method of occasional teaching was adopted. In this way, at least most of the people in this country could read. As long as they could read, they could do the most basic work and understand words, thus learning a lot of knowledge.
"Didn't the county arrange for a teacher to occasionally come to teach the children to read?"
Ang Lee asked.
The old man shook his head and said, "How can there be such a good thing? No teacher has ever come to teach the children how to read. Teachers have to be paid. The public schools in the county are funded by the imperial court. Our small village doesn't have any money, so why should the teachers come here to teach the children how to read? This is something that can't be helped. However, our ancestors have been illiterate for generations, but they still have a good life. They can also live a good life. "
The old man's mental fortitude was quite good. He quickly thought it through. He felt that it was fine if the children did not have the chance to learn how to read. After all, their ancestors had been poor for generations, and they could all live well for the rest of their lives.
It would be best if they could read, but the village was full of poor people. There was no way that they could not read. They could not sell their family property to support their children's education. The parents of later generations had this courage, but the hometown of the Tang dynasty in this era did not have this courage. This was because studying in the Tang dynasty was actually risky. If the family was not rich and forced the children to study, it was very likely that the children's study would drag down the family. However, the expected effect was not achieved.
For example, many scholars spent all their family's wealth, but in the end, they did not pass the imperial examination. In this era, if the scholars could not pass the imperial examination, then they basically studied in vain. Although they could learn a lot of knowledge, if the knowledge could not be converted into money, then what was the use of the knowledge learned? It was very not cost-effective.
Therefore, the people of this era would not take risks, especially those who were relatively poor. They would not take risks. If they did not study, they could still farm. If they could not study, they would lose the qualification to farm at the same time. Then, they would not be able to survive.
Studying would inevitably lead to weakness. If a weak person could not be an official in the end, then he could not go back to farm. This was because in the process of studying, he had already weakened his body. When he went to farm, he would find that his physical strength could not keep up, so he could not farm well. He could only go to the county to find a very miserable job of writing. If he was lucky, he might find a job as an accountant. If he was unlucky, it was possible that he would become a beggar.
It was precisely because there were too many uncertainties in studying that the general poor people did not dare to casually support their children to study, especially those who supported them day and night. The people who were supported in that way were too weak. Once they failed to study, the consequences would be very tragic. If they only learned a few words, then it would not be too big of an impact.
Ang Lee did not intend to blame the person in charge of the county for not occasionally sending teachers to the village to teach the children. The situation in Central Sichuan was very tense now. The most important step was to repair the road. When the road was completed, the pressure on Central Sichuan would be reduced a little, and the counties would be able to draw more people to arrange for education. There was nothing to be anxious about. Everything could be done slowly.
The construction of the railway had not yet reached Qingcheng Mountain, but the route passed through the vicinity. Therefore, the villagers here also had the obligation to help build the railway.
"Old man, have you heard that the railway is being built? Has anyone in your village gone to work? "
Ang Lee asked.
The old man nodded and said, "I have heard about it. However, there are still some details of our route here that have not been confirmed. The county is busy. When it is completely confirmed, the strong men in our village will have to work on the road. I heard that it will take more than a year. The road is full of iron that is thicker than an arm. How much will it cost? "
Obviously, the old man had heard about the railway. The use of iron to pave the road was beyond the old man's understanding. After all, in the Tang dynasty, iron was still very expensive. It was really difficult to understand that such expensive iron was used to pave the road, especially for this kind of old man. It was even more difficult for him to understand.
"It is indeed very expensive. The railway is very valuable, so destroying the railway is punishable by death."
Ang Lee said with a smile.
Now, the old man and the people in the village could still relax a little. When the road construction officially began, they would have to work. It would definitely be very difficult. If the manpower shortage was too large, even the half-grown children and the old man would have to help. No matter how much they worked, as long as they worked seriously, it would be fine.
"Old man, what do you think of the railway? Do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing?"
Ang Lee asked.
The old man smiled and replied very seriously, "It's a good thing, of course it's a good thing. I heard that after the railway is repaired, it will only take more than a day to go from here to the capital. Some people in our village have also been to the capital. It takes two or three months to go there, and it takes a year to go back and forth. I heard that the ticket is not expensive. It won't cost much. Is this true? "The old man seemed to be very excited.
It was no wonder that the old man had never been to the capital in his life. He heard that the capital was very prosperous, and he really wanted to take a look. However, it would take at least half a year to go back and forth from the capital. The travel expenses on the road were too much. As a poor farmer, he did not have so much money, so he could only give up this idea. But now it was different. As long as the railway was built, he could reach the capital in one or two days. The ticket price was not very expensive. This gave the old man who wanted to go to the capital to take a look. At least, he must go to the capital in his lifetime to see how lively that bustling metropolis was. He was a very lively person. If he could go to the most lively capital in the world, he would have no regrets in his life.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Of course it's true. As long as the railway is built, it will only take one or two days to go from Mount Qingcheng to the capital. Moreover, the ticket price is expensive and cheap. Even ordinary people can afford it. You will definitely have a chance to go to the capital."
"What's the cheapest ticket price? From Mount Qingcheng to the capital. "
The old man asked curiously.
The ticket price had not been finalized. Ang Lee could not be sure. He could only say roughly, "Probably a few hundred copper coins! I'm not sure yet. "
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