With the promotion of the Mo Journal, Teacher Li spared no effort to provoke hatred in Chang 'an and disgust his former opponents. The influence of the Syllogism in Chang' an gradually increased.
As the capital, Chang 'an could be said to be the place with the highest level of education in the Tang dynasty. There were countless academies. Moreover, every year, a large number of scholars came here to study and wait for the triennial imperial examination.
Although the Tang dynasty opened the imperial examination, unfortunately, the number of people admitted was too small. Only a dozen people were admitted in three years, and some of them didn't even take the examination. It could be said that thousands of soldiers and horses were crossing a single wooden bridge.
However, these scholars failed time and time again, and still thought of themselves as noble and virtuous, and were not willing to lower themselves.
"There are tens of thousands of scholars, but how many of them are officials?"
"When people are 15 to 25 years old, their memory is the best. It is the best time to enter the academy. After 30 years old, memory and energy will gradually decline."
…
Zhou Chen put down the Mo Journal in his hand and felt very conflicted. He had participated in the imperial examination four times in a row, but unfortunately, he failed again and again. He was already over 30 years old, but he still had not achieved anything. He didn't even pass the examination of the county scholar.
Moreover, he clearly felt that his energy was declining. Coupled with the various family affairs, he was even more powerless.
"Husband, is there something on your mind?" Mrs. Zhou asked worriedly.
Zhou Chen shook his head. Mrs. Zhou's hair was already gray at a young age. When the family was poor and couldn't get by, she endured the supercilious eyes of her family. Only then could the family barely survive.
"I want to give up the imperial examination!" Zhou Chen said in a low voice with all his strength. He didn't even dare to look at his wife's expression because Mrs. Zhou supported him the most. At this moment, giving up almost made Mrs. Zhou's previous efforts go to waste.
Unexpectedly, Mrs. Zhou did not have a strong reaction. Instead, she felt relieved.
"Husband, no matter what decision you make, I will support you!" Mrs. Zhou said gently.
"Wife, you are not angry?" Zhou Chen asked in disbelief.
Mrs. Zhou shook her head and said, "I don't care whether you become an official or not. I just saw that you were obsessed with the imperial examination, so I naturally helped you. Now that you have decided to find another way, I will support you. Husband, have you thought of other plans?"
"I have decided to run a school!" Zhou Chen said firmly.
"Run a school?" Madam Zhou frowned and said, "My husband doesn't have any scholarly achievements. I'm afraid that not many children from other families are willing to come to school!"
"No! My preaching is not for the sake of obtaining scholarly honors, but to eradicate illiteracy! "Zhou Chen said.
"Illiterate!" Mrs. Zhou was surprised. Although she didn't go out of the house, she was also famous for the word illiterate. After all, this word was too sharp and bitter, and it was penetrating deeply into the wood.
"Although some poor families are willing to study, I'm afraid they can't afford the tuition fees!" Mrs. Zhou said worriedly.
It was not easy to live in Chang 'an, and the tuition fees had been rising year after year. It was said that Old Man Tong of Taiping Square had taught ten Juren. Every student he took in had to pay the tuition fees every year.
"Of course, I won't take that much. A hundred coins for half a year. I will only teach two subjects, literacy and arithmetic!" Zhou Chen said as he handed two books to Mrs. Zhou.
Zhou Chen had already prepared the books. One of them was the Thousand Character Classic, which was commonly used in children's education. The other was the first mathematics book written by Shen Hongcai. Although it was a new book, the content was very simple. It was the common addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division operations. This was not a problem for Zhou Chen.
He knew how to read and count! In addition, the price was cheap. Zhou Chen believed that there would be many poor people who would be willing to learn.
The couple discussed and decided to empty the largest room in the Zhou family, which was Zhou Chen's former study, as a school. They began to recruit students.
The famous Zhou Luodi was going to run a school! This caused a lot of commotion in Qu Chi Square! After all, to be unable to pass the Xiucai examination for so many years, he was considered famous in the area.
"A hundred coins! If you ask me, Zhou Luodi is not only a failure in learning, but also a failure in business. A hundred coins is probably a loss! "
"If you ask me, Zhou Luodi's knowledge is probably only worth a hundred coins. Luckily, he knows his own limitations and only teaches people how to read and write. Otherwise, I'm afraid he will mislead the children!"
…
Amidst the ridicule, Zhou Chen's school finally opened.
To everyone's surprise, the Zhou Family School was surprisingly popular! A total of more than sixty people were recruited!
"Sir, my son is very naughty. If he dares to be disobedient, feel free to teach him a lesson."
"Sir, I'll leave it to you. My family doesn't have any other requests. As long as you can teach him a few words, teach him arithmetic, and let him do business with me!"
"I'll be illiterate for generations, but my son can't be illiterate!"
…
…
…
Zhou Chen stood at the door of the converted school in his courtyard. Looking at the sincere eyes, he felt that his decision was correct.
Holding a total of six strings of money, Mrs. Zhou was so happy that she cried. In the Tang dynasty, six strings of money was a huge sum of money for ordinary people. Moreover, this was only for half a year of tuition.
In the school, Zhou Chen looked at the pens in the hands of the students and fell into a dilemma.
"Teacher, this is a pencil! It's a free gift when we buy mathematics books. "
"But when it's used up, we'll have to buy it again. A coin for one!"
"And a penknife! Just one turn will do! "
…
Looking at a log as thick as a chopstick, there was a thin ink stick in the middle! A pencil! Being familiar with Mo Jiazi's journal, he knew that this was the brush used by Mo Jiazi's new painting technique. It was said that there was a conch in the middle. How could it be so cheap?
Zhou Chen did not know that after persevering, the Mo Family's village finally produced a ink stick! And the cost of production was shockingly cheap. This time, in order to help Shen Hongcai promote mathematics, it was directly sold.
"Teacher, this is a gift from mathematics. Is it the Thousand Character Classic?" A student asked timidly.
Zhou Chen looked at the students whose clothes were covered in patches and nodded his head vigorously.
A pencil directly replaced the ink and inkstone. Moreover, it only cost a coin and could be used for more than a month. In addition, it could write very small words and could even save a lot of paper. This was a great blessing for poor students. From now on, the cost of learning would be reduced to the lowest point.
There were many advantages of a pencil, but the biggest drawback was that it was too soft. It was easy for the sleeves to smudge the words. In order to avoid smudging their sleeves, the students practiced writing little by little from top to bottom and from left to right.
Zhou Chen looked at the students' wrong writing order and wanted to correct them several times. However, he gave up in the end. After all, the biggest need of these students was to be literate. They did not participate in the imperial examinations and could write essays. Spending the least money to learn knowledge was the biggest reason.
Soon, schools like Zhou Chen's spread quickly in Chang 'an City and spread to the Guanzhong area at an alarming speed. The pencil also spread and was used by more and more poor students.
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