Among the three Tang dynasty schools that Ang Lee had prepared, the largest, Tanar School, could only gather a dozen teachers. Half of them were from the Tang dynasty, and the other half were language talents from the Lion Kingdom and South Tianzhu. The number of teachers was extremely weak.
With such a weak number of teachers, it would be difficult to realize a large-scale school without many years of accumulation. However, people learned very quickly, especially some talented people, who could quickly learn obscure languages and continuously expand the number of teachers.
"Why, you can only find these people? Can't you think of a way to find more qualified teachers? "
Ang Lee was quite dissatisfied with the ability of his subordinate. He felt that the number of talents his subordinate found was too little. If there were more, the scale of the school could be much bigger and it would look more decent. Otherwise, it would be too shabby with only a dozen teachers and more than a hundred children. It would be like a village primary school in the future, too boring.
"Assistant Minister Li, I also have my difficulties! Among the merchants from various countries, there are many who know the language of the Lion Kingdom. Although they only know the basic language, it is enough. However, the merchants value profit more. They can earn a lot of money by doing business, but the money they earn as teachers here is very little. No merchant is willing to give up his own interests and stay here to be a teacher. The few teachers from South Tianzhu and Lion Kingdom who know the language of the Tang dynasty came to sign up because they don't know how to do business. The few merchants from the Tang dynasty who agreed to stay are also frustrated businessmen who failed in business. "
His subordinate reported the situation truthfully.
Ang Lee naturally understood that what his subordinate said was the truth. People lived for the pursuit of profit. The profit from engaging in business activities was very great, and the salary of a teacher was very limited. In this case, as long as one was not a fool, he would choose to be a merchant.
The reason why merchants knew so many languages was naturally because they needed to do business. If there was a language barrier, it would bring a lot of obstacles to doing business. In addition, in many important ports, there were specialized translators who specialized in translating the prices of goods for merchants who didn't know the local language, so that the merchants could do business smoothly.
Of course, the most reassuring thing was to master all kinds of languages by oneself. After all, translators were sometimes unreliable. If the translator lied to both sides and became a shameful middleman, the merchants' interests would be greatly damaged.
Many merchants had to do business in more than one area, and the language in each area was different. Ordinary merchants might not be very qualified, so it was still very stressful for them to learn the languages of many places. However, if they wanted to do big business, they had to go to several places.
Therefore, many powerful merchants would have many subordinates who could speak various languages. In this way, when they went to different places, they could let different subordinates be in charge of business.
In addition, even if it was a very ordinary sailor, as long as they went to a place often, they would more or less learn the local language and understand some of the most basic common languages.
Therefore, the development of business led to the learning of languages, so many people had the ability to speak many languages. It also created the conditions for Ang Lee to open a school.
Especially in the future, when the Tang dynasty wanted to fully operate the Maritime Silk Road, it had to establish overseas territories in various important places, and frequently conduct business with many small countries along the way.
In this case, the demand for translators was very large, so comprehensive preparations must be made in advance to avoid language barriers to the Maritime Silk Road.
Of course, Ang Lee had a bigger idea, which was to promote the Tang dynasty language all over the world. He would open schools of the Tang dynasty in all countries, so that children in all countries would learn the Tang dynasty language and the history of the Tang dynasty as the most basic knowledge that the scholars in their country must master.
Of course, this would require long-term efforts to achieve. It had to be achieved step by step. It was impossible to achieve in a short time.
"Forget it! We can't give the teachers a sky-high salary! We have enough people now. In the future, there will be more and more teachers. This official was too impatient. "
Ang Lee said helplessly.
At this moment, there was no better way than to accept reality. He couldn't kidnap a few people to be teachers! A forcibly picked melon was not sweet, and Ang Lee was not willing to do so.
"Assistant Minister Li, the location of the school has been chosen. This is the school plan drawn by this subordinate. Please correct it, Assistant Minister Li."
The subordinate handed a drawing to Ang Lee and said.
Ang Lee looked at it and said, "It's too complicated. It will cost a lot of money! We don't have enough teachers now, and we can't recruit many students. We should save as much as we can! Expanding the port, helping the people get rich, building irrigation works, etc. All of these require money. It will cost a lot of money. You don't know the cost of firewood because you don't manage the household! "
"Yes, yes, yes. Assistant Minister Li is right. This subordinate was negligent. Please correct me, Assistant Minister Li."
The subordinate said hurriedly.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said, "The scale of the school is still very small for now. Let's just build a temporary school. Bring me a pen and paper."
During the industrialization process, Ang Lee had already invented the pencil. This thing was very easy to invent. It only needed wood and graphite. These two things were not difficult to manufacture. Therefore, the pencil was invented long ago. This time, he brought a lot of them with him to the south for convenient use.
Ang Lee casually drew a few times and the map of the school was displayed. The school was square, and the gate was in the middle of the south direction.
After entering the gate, there was a large open space that could be used as a playground. A few huts were built on the left side of the wall for the school to eat and cook.
In order to increase the attractiveness of the school and make the people willing to work in the school, the school provided a free lunch for all teachers and children. It was on the left side of the gate.
In addition to eating and drinking, a person also needed to go to the toilet. On the right side of the gate, there was a toilet room. Moreover, it was a relatively advanced water toilet instead of a backward dry toilet.
The reason for using water to flush the toilet was naturally for hygiene. The dry toilet was too dirty. If the school promoted the use of water to flush the toilet, it would gradually affect the local people. Perhaps, after many years, the local rich people would also use water to flush the toilet. Then, it would gradually affect the poor class.
This large playground could be used for teachers and students to exercise. It was also a good choice to do exercises during recess after class.
Behind this large playground, there were four teaching buildings. There were two on the left and right sides. There was also a large open space behind. If there was a need in the future, another teaching building could be built.
Of the existing four teaching buildings, one could be used as the teachers' office and dormitory, and the rest could be used as the teachers'. If it was not used up, it could also be used as a warehouse. In short, it was good to have a few more rooms.
After a brief explanation, his subordinates understood. They took the drawings and prepared to recruit manpower to start building the Tanal School. The other two schools were also built according to this idea.
Although the specifications of the school did not look luxurious, the quality had to be up to standard. It could not be built into a low-quality building. Otherwise, the reputation of the Tang dynasty would be ruined.
Although Ang Lee had already developed the building artifact of concrete, the speed of the spread of the technology was still too slow. The buildings in the Lion Kingdom were still made of the most primitive stone and wood. It was very time-consuming and not sturdy enough.
Ang Lee wanted to build the Tang dynasty school to educate the local people. No matter how simple the school was, it had to be sturdy and safe. It had to let the local people see the technology and ability of the Tang dynasty.
All the houses and courtyard walls had to be built with concrete technology. This was Ang Lee's minimum requirement and also necessary to ensure safety.
However, the local people did not produce cement, nor did they have concrete technology. This made the construction officials of the Tang dynasty very difficult.
In other words, if they wanted to build a sturdy school, they had to solve the problem of concrete first. Stone was still very easy to make, and the difficulty was very small. They could just get some sand from the seaside. However, the most important cement was not easy to make. This was a problem that troubled everyone.
In order to speed up the progress, the officials of the Tang dynasty temporarily organized forces to break stones and sand. They quickly collected a lot of small stones and a lot of sand.
"Assistant Minister Li, there is no cement in the Lion Kingdom. What should we do?"
The subordinate was helpless and began to ask Ang Lee for help.
"Why, the Lion Kingdom is such a big island, and you can't even find a lime mine?"
Ang Lee said unhappily.
"No, we have asked. At least, we haven't found one yet."
The subordinate replied.
"This is troublesome. Cement is not an ordinary commodity. The price is too low. If it is transported from far away, the cost will be too high. Therefore, we can only get the local materials. However, will there be a lime mine in the South Tianzhu?"
Ang Lee asked.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. We can only go to the South Tianzhu to ask. I will send someone to investigate."
The subordinate responded.
In addition to cement, a lot of wooden pillars and wooden windows were needed to build the school. These materials were all being prepared in an orderly manner. Many coolies had begun to dig the foundation, arrange the wood, and build wooden windows.
Ang Lee personally went to the construction site of the Tanal School to inspect and personally guided the coolies. Now, everything was ready except for the core material, cement. If the cement could not be obtained within three days, the project would be delayed.
The area of South Tianzhu was larger than that of the Lion Kingdom and richer in resources. Sure enough, as soon as the Tang Dynasty official went to ask, he learned that there was indeed a lime mine in South Tianzhu. Moreover, it had been contracted by a businessman of the Tang Dynasty half a month ago. Now, cement had begun to be produced, and there was a backlog of products.
The reason why the businessman of the Tang Dynasty chose to open a cement workshop was that many other businessmen of the Tang Dynasty wanted to make large-scale investments in South Tianzhu. They needed to build houses and workshops. In order to build stronger and more durable buildings, they needed cement, which was a better building material. Therefore, the businessmen of the Tang Dynasty cooperated with him to open a cement workshop in South Tianzhu. Only when a large number of businessmen of the Tang Dynasty worked together could they get what they needed and gain the greatest benefits together.
Seeing the cement workshop in operation and the large amount of cement stock in it, the Tang Dynasty official was naturally very happy and immediately asked to buy the cement to support the needs of several Tang Dynasty schools such as Tanal.
When the businessman of the Tang Dynasty heard that Ang Lee wanted to build a school of the Tang Dynasty, he naturally did not dare to oppose. He smoothly sold the cement that should have been sold to other businessmen first. Moreover, he sold it at a relatively favorable price to show that he was a businessman with a conscience.
The distance between South Tianzhu and Tanal was not too far. The cement was quickly transported to the harbor of Tanal. After unloading, it could be quickly transported to the construction site of the school by vehicles.
Ang Lee was very happy that a large amount of cement was obtained so smoothly. He asked his subordinates to personally supervise the construction of Tanal School and make it a beautiful local scenery of the Tang Dynasty.
Small stones, sand, and cement were mixed together to form solid concrete. The progress of the construction was obviously much faster than using traditional construction methods. The appearance of the concrete was different every day. It could not be more appropriate to describe it as "changing with each passing day".
The courtyard wall had been built on the second day. It was very strong. Ang Lee personally kicked it and there was no reaction at all. This made Ang Lee very satisfied. The quality was reliable.
In order to prevent people from climbing over the courtyard wall at will, some thorns and broken glass that could easily hurt people were fixed at the top.
Because the specifications of the kitchen and the toilet were relatively small, they were only a little taller than a person. Therefore, these two buildings were completed one after another on the fifth day.
The kitchen stove and other facilities were all available. The dining room next to it was very large and could accommodate many tables. However, these tables had not been built yet.
Looking at the huge kitchen space, Ang Lee was very satisfied. He praised all the people involved in the construction and affirmed the results of their work.
The toilet did not seem to have a large area, but it was definitely a lot of investment. In order to build this toilet, a water tower was specially built. The top of the water tower was filled with water and could continuously supply water to the water tank of the toilet.
Of course, in order to save water and avoid frequent pumping of water to the water tower, the pipe from the water tower to the water tank of the toilet was very thin. It would take a long time for the water tank to be filled with water.
There was a buoyancy device in the water tank to ensure that the water tank could only be suddenly released after it was full of water. This made use of the potential energy of a large amount of water to wash away the feces in the toilet.
The urinal of the toilet was made of concrete. There was no doubt about its sturdiness. However, the concrete was not smooth enough. If feces stuck to the concrete, it would be difficult for the water to wash it away.
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