lady, please calm down

Chapter 285: There is a great scholar who will argue for you
"Five barrels~"

"West Wind."

At the end of the afternoon, Cai Mansion warms the pavilion.

Cai Yuan, Xu Bang, Chen Jingyan, and Ximen Gong were sitting around the table.

Next to him, Chen Chu and Chen Jing'an were talking about playing chess.Chen Chu is a bad chess player, and his understanding of Go is limited to knowing the rules. However, Chen Jingan believes that playing Go can enhance people's ability to consider the overall situation, so he invites Chen Chu to play a game when he has time.

In the New Year, the nerves that have been tense for a year need to relax a little. The five golden flowers naturally have to gather together. Things agreed in casual chats will often be implemented as policies soon.

So much so that there are rumors outside that all major events in Caizhou are decided at the card table.

This was the first time for Chen Jingan to be invited to participate in such an event, and it was considered that he had officially entered the core of the Tongshan Department.

"I have invited nine people including Wang Jingrao, the editor-in-chief of Daqi Qiyao Magazine, and Zou Zhengdao, the deputy editor, to come to Tongshan, around the Lantern Festival, in the name of the Newspaper Industry Promotion and Development Foundation."

Chen Jing'an dropped the ball and said casually.

The two of them had discussed this matter in Tokyo last year. They wanted nothing more than to invite these people who controlled the newspaper public opinion to come to Caizhou to eat, drink, have fun, and then ask them to write a few calligraphy and paintings to be run by the Sihai Auction House. , give the other party some property decently.

In the final analysis, it is about cultivating mouthpieces.

"Whiteboard."

On the mahjong table, Chen Jingyan, who had heard about this incident, threw out a card and interjected: "That's right. Last time, the gentleman spoke nonsense and was really annoying."

After the Junziyan incident, everyone paid more and more attention to the power of public opinion.

Chen Chu raised his head and asked, "Third brother, has Sun Changhao been quiet recently?"

"No. I have been staying in the official residence honestly and haven't gone out much during the Chinese New Year." Chen Jingyan replied.

Chen Chu nodded, but Ximen Gong said with a smile: "Sun Changhao is just a dog with a broken spine. As long as we have soldiers in our hands, no one can do anything to us. But when will the conscription prepared by Yuan Zhang start? What about the commander of the Jing'an Army? What should we do with Zhu Da?"

Now, under the Caizhou Remaining Department, the Huai Suppression Army, which was supposed to have an actual strength of 500 people, has more than doubled to [-].

The Wuwei Army and the Ningjiang Army each have an actual strength of [-], and the three armies total more than [-] people.

These troops would be more than enough to defend Caizhou alone.

However, Chen Chu currently controls the three prefectures of Cai, Ying, and Shou plus Huaiyuan County of Suzhou, and his military strength is already stretched thin.

In addition to these three armies, Chen Chu also supported Xiao Xin to form the Flying Tiger Army for self-protection of the villagers in Yingzhou, with a strength of 2000 people.

The Flying Tiger Army's food, pay, and weapons all depend on the allocation of the Caizhou Left-behind Department, and Xiao Xin's heart is towards Brother Chen, so the Flying Tiger Army can be regarded as a non-direct lineage of our own.

The status of the other two Xiang armies, which were nominally under Chen Chu's jurisdiction, was somewhat embarrassing.

One is Zhu Da, and the other is Guo Tao'er, the governor of Yingzhou.

What Ximen Gong said about "how to deal with Zhu Da" was vaguely like the original "dealing with" Ma Maoxing, the commander of the Ningjiang Army.

Under Chen Chu's rule, Kou Shizhong, the former commander of the Wuwei Army, was beheaded for "rebellion", and Ma Maoxing of the Ningjiang Army died at the hands of "thieves".

If Zhu Da dies unexpectedly again, it will be too explicit.
While he was thinking about it, Cai Yuan spoke up, "Since Yuan Zhang came to Caizhou, Commander Zhu has been very polite and respectful. He can no longer destroy people's lives at will. Otherwise, no one in the future will dare to surrender to him." ?”

"What do you mean, brother?" Ximen Gong asked. After all, being able to give the commander of the First Army to one of his own would mean an additional [-] soldiers. How could the Tongshan Group, which was in the midst of rapid expansion, not be jealous.

Cai Yuan said: "Well, Zhu Da is very rich. His wife's family has become the Northland agent of our Sihai Trading Company, and they have made a lot of money recently. Since he loves money, we will give him the agency rights for a few more good things."

"Even if he loves money, he won't give up his official position as commander easily, right?" Ximen Gong asked back.

"I gave Tianzao, but also let him see our stick! Nowadays, the Jingan Army often interacts with the Zhenhuai and Wuwei armies. They can see how much our soldiers in the three armies are paid and how well they live. Jingan There are many lower-level officers and soldiers in the army who want to join our armed forces, or who want to force Zhu Da to raise his military salary. The pressure on him is not small.
Zhu Da is a businessman at heart, and businessmen value losing money most.Knowing that he can't do anything, he won't bear the burden of being an official to protect his worth and his life.Yuan Zhang only needs to assign a deputy to him. If he is willing to hand over power smoothly, he can continue to make a fortune with us, and he can keep his title of commander to protect his dignity."

"What if he doesn't hand over power?" Ximen Gong asked again.

"Why does he have it? There are not as many people as we have, and the officials are not as big as Yuan Zhang. If you keep carrying it on, sooner or later you will be beaten. I think he can think clearly."

Cai Yuan analyzed it carefully. Chen Chu thought this method was good. He couldn't help but smile and said, "Master Cai, what about this?"

"Well, I'll look for an opportunity to persuade him privately." Cai Yuan seemed to know what Chen Chu wanted to say, so he directly accepted the task.

Xu Bang, who had been unable to get a word in, laughed and said: "There are no outsiders here. Why does Lao Wu call eldest brother an official? Just call him eldest brother." This old boy is here to cause trouble again!

Knowing that the names between the old and the young brothers are complicated, they still mentioned this matter.

Chen Chu rolled his eyes at Xu Bang angrily and said, "It's true. My second brother and I are also sworn brothers. From now on, why don't your second brother follow me and call Mr. Cai 'father'?"

"Pfft~" Ximen Gong laughed out loud immediately.

Cai Yuan, who was unhappy, chuckled, took out a red envelope from his sleeve pocket and put it on the table to give to the juniors. Then he looked at Xu Bang with a loving look on his face, as if he was really waiting for him to call "Dad" .
Xu Bang, who was asking for trouble, blushed and shouted: "Play cards, play cards"

After a short interlude, the conversation between Chen Chu and Chen Jingan continued.

"Yuanzhang, I heard that the first batch of Lanxiang Academy students have graduated?"

"Yes."

"Yuanzhang, although schoolchildren have been in school for two and a half years, they know thousands of words, and can memorize a few Chu and Tang poems, but the world's knowledge is so deep that it cannot be learned in more than two years? If you want to use these people in the future, Their knowledge is far from sufficient."

Chen Jingan advised that Chen Chu also knew that the children in the school were not knowledgeable enough, but the two had different perceptions of 'knowledge'.

The knowledge Chen Jingan talks about is the collection of Confucian scriptures, and the knowledge Chen Chu wants is mathematics, physics and chemistry.
For more than two years, the schoolchildren have learned basically nothing except literacy and simple arithmetic.

On weekdays, Chen Chu also took time to write down some important knowledge points of junior high school physical chemistry. Although it is not as systematic as the textbook, it can still be used as a physical and chemical enlightenment.

What Chen Chu thought was that the first two years or so were only regarded as compulsory education to allow school children to develop reading and writing skills, but then it would develop in a more refined direction.

Those who are interested in physics and chemistry can specialize in studying physics and chemistry courses.

If you like raising small animals, you can study veterinary medicine with Uncle Yao.

Chen Chu, who likes to play with crops, personally wrote courses to teach some modern agricultural knowledge.

However, he had never mentioned this idea to anyone. After all, the school did not study Confucian classics, but instead studied farming and raising cattle. The scholar class would definitely regard him as an evil heretic.

Unless Caizhou can rely on its relatively strong local economic strength to form a strong cultural centripetal force.

Throughout history, the culture of economically developed places has become more aggressive, and it is easier for them to occupy the minds of people in other places.

For example, in the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties, there were the Ganer Bangzi Country and the Licking Neon Country in East Asia.

For example, some clothes in later generations will always have some inexplicable English words printed on them, and certain classes of people will always mix English words into their speech.
Are the letters really more beautiful than Chinese characters, or more accurate than Chinese expressions?

In fact, this is not the case, but the economic strength of the West will make people feel that letters are more "foreign".
Just like the word "foreign style", in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it would never be a complimentary word.
From this, Chen Chu brought up another matter, "Sir, how are the preparations for the Huaibei Institute of Literature that you have prepared?"

Speaking of this, Chen Jing'an couldn't help but smile and said: "It's all thanks to Yuan Zhang's generous investment that the site for the College of Liberal Arts has now been selected. It is on the bank of the Ru River in the southeast of the city, facing the water and facing the mountains. I have initially drawn up a list of the first batch of academicians of the College of Liberal Arts. , I’ll show it to you after it’s loaded.”

"it is good."

Chen Chu laughed.

At the end of last year, Chen Chu planned two colleges, one was the Huaibei Academy of Engineering Sciences. The team led by Maoer's uncle Qin Yongtai was famous for creating the escapement mechanism that is essential in clocks, and the blacksmith Yu Dameng led people to make sand from the Yellow River. They discovered more ductile and elastic manganese iron sand and were elected as the first academicians of the Academy of Engineering.

With this title, the salary and benefits are equivalent to those of a magistrate in the same county. The whole family does not pay taxes, and they can also directly make suggestions to Chen Chu.

The other college is the College of Liberal Arts.

The School of Liberal Arts invites all the great scholars from all over the world, and the treatment is very generous.

Not only do you get a high stipend, but you don’t have to work, you just have to come to Caizhou a few days a year to hold seminars.

If you want to stay in Caizhou, it’s better. Food, clothing, housing and transportation are all included.
But the so-called great scholars generally have a certain evil nature, and even Chen Jingan is not sure that he can invite all the people on the list.

But Chen Chu is not in a hurry. Take your time. As long as you can attract a few celebrities to endorse the liberal arts college, and your influence slowly accumulates, you will eventually become world-famous.

Just like the Nobel Prize winner, his early recognition was not very high, and in the end it did not attract the global attention.

This matter would definitely cost a lot of money, but Chen Chu didn't feel bad.

Because Chen Jingan said something deep in his heart, as long as the fame and fortune he is given are generous enough, even if Yuan Zhang deviates from the classics again, there will be a great scholar to argue for you.
Speaking people's words is the cultivation of public knowledge.

(End of this chapter)