Chapter 106 Pingyang County? Pingyang Prefecture?
The long street is lined with buildings on both sides, and countless pavilions and towers block out the clouds and hide the horizon.
In the distance is the Jishuitan Lake. In spring, summer, and autumn, countless boats pass by.
In winter, the only ships on the river are the mansions and merchant ships that can provide heating stoves. Even so, there are still dozens of large ships on the lake.
This is the prosperity unique to the imperial capital, with buildings reaching the clouds and gold everywhere.
Now, the entire imperial capital is filled with cold winds.
The pedestrians looked back at the eastern sky and found that dark clouds were pushing towards them, so they trotted home.
The clouds advanced very quickly, half of the sky was covered by dark clouds, and the sound of knocking on cloud boards came from a high platform in the distance.
The Ti riders galloped wildly with their dragon-blood horses, leaping dozens of meters at a time, but the dark clouds were chasing them even faster, and the air was filled with a thick mist.
Just as the dark clouds were about to catch up, the Tiqi finally verified their identities and entered the imperial city.
The heavy door closed, as if to keep the dark clouds out.
The entire imperial capital was shrouded in fog, but the imperial city was not affected at all, only the air became more humid.
Another hour later it was evening. A maid passed by the Qinzheng Hall holding a burner burning incense. She seemed to hear a roar, which then stopped. A long and deep voice came from the hall.
"Call the Grand Secretaries of Zhongji Palace, Jianji Palace, Wuying Palace, Wenyuan Pavilion, and Dongge Palace to come over!"
A moment later, several old men in dark blue official robes hurried in, entered the hall, flipped through the documents, and were horrified.
"It is too heinous to describe in words! The Shuimu Cult actually did something so outrageous that it angered the heavens and the people! Six thousand eight hundred people were sacrificed in blood, more than one hundred thousand people were killed or wounded, and nearly one million people were displaced. We must destroy them! We must destroy them!"
"Master Su called the Ghost Mother Sect the Water Bath Sect. Could it be that he is still thinking of the glory of Daqian?"
"You are slandering me! I just read more books and have a deeper impression of the old name!"
"Not necessarily?"
"Shut up! Yunying sent a message saying that the Tiqi led the Dragon Blood Horse to run for twenty days without a rest, and he is still unconscious. Was it to wait for you to start a verbal fight here?"
The five university scholars all knelt on the ground, silent as a mouse.
"stand up!"
The invisible force spread out and lifted up all the university scholars.
"Tell me what you think."
The university scholars looked at each other in bewilderment.
"The Ghost Mother Cult is already a stubborn disease. The previous emperor did not complete his mission. It was not because of the war, but because of the lack of national strength. Now that the country is rich and the people are strong, we should wipe it out in one fell swoop like the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves!"
"Grand Scholar Xu's words are more beautiful than singing. Now the Western Army and the Northern Army are fighting against the Barbarian Kingdom. The Great Wall is being built, which is very expensive. The three prefectures in the northwest are suffering from drought, and Lanzhou is going to dig a canal. Where can we get the money to send troops to wipe out your fallen leaves?"
The two scholars started arguing with each other.
"Your Majesty, I have something unclear."
"What's the matter?"
"On the map, why are there so many large counties, but only the towns and villages under Chaojiang County have not been disturbed at all, as if they were surrounded?"
Another secret report was thrown in front of everyone.
"So that's how it is. It's a blessing to have a veteran general in the country! There will be a big reward for this!"
"Does the name Liang Qu sound familiar to you?"
"Oh, he's just a small fisherman. Why does Grand Secretary Su sound so familiar?"
Mr. Su rolled his eyes, too lazy to pay attention to the criticism, and turned around and said.
"I have a good friend who is a fellow Jinshi with me. He also has a good friend who is a mountain chief in a town. We often exchange letters. A few days ago, Yu handed me a letter saying that there is a method of literacy invented by a country fisherman, who said that it is very effective after learning it.
I found it quite interesting. My granddaughter had just reached the age of learning to read, so I taught her a lesson. The effect was very good. After about a year, she could recognize most of the characters. "
Everyone was slightly shocked.
Learn most of the characters in one year?
Children usually start learning basic knowledge such as literacy, calligraphy, directions, time sequence, etiquette, etc. from the age of eight.
Then, usually, one has to be 15 years old before he can start to receive systematic education in classics, history, and literature. Of course, this is not entirely due to the fact that one cannot learn to read, but even so, it still takes five or six years to learn to read.
What method can improve efficiency several times?
Everyone was talking to each other, that was their job, but when it came to specific matters, Su Yigeng would never dare to deceive His Majesty, which meant that this was real!
The chief eunuch at the side said, "It's the same person. This method is called the Pinyin method. The Sixth Prince has been learning it a few days ago and it has been quite effective."
Su Yigeng suddenly realized.
"This boy has talent, maybe he can be used."
It is not only useful, but very useful!
Manager Kang glanced at the five scholars and thought to himself.
In recent months, Your Majesty has been thinking about tax reform. The most difficult point is that the imperial power does not reach the countryside, and there is a lack of people to implement policies. That requires tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of literate officials!
The cost of literacy has always been a big problem, but now it seems that there are signs of a solution?
"Not only that, look at this page of the newspaper."
"The life of a long dragon crossing the river?"
Having an extraordinary destiny is a good thing, and it can even be used as capital to brag about in advance in order to attract "investment".
Just like choosing a son-in-law from the imperial examination list, although they have not yet become officials, everyone knows that the best ones will have a bright future.
Yang Dongxiong naturally understood this principle, so when the Yunying Tiqi was looking for someone to talk about, he specifically asked him to write it into the report. Perhaps inadvertently, he could help his disciple gain a future.
"Then you should use him as an important person!"
Sure enough, after hearing this, the scholars changed their tune from perhaps he could be used once to he should be used with great importance.
"Long Jiao's fate is to cross the river, love water, and be good at water. Why not work in a river?"
"There is no need to rush the reward. Now we need to focus on how to deal with the Ghost Mother Cult. If we let him come again and again, it will damage our country's fortune and increase his prestige!"
Xu Xueshi suddenly asked, "Does Chief Kang know how many households there are in Pingyang Town?"
"More than 16,600 households."
"What about Chaojiang County?"
"More than 14,300 households."
One scholar was puzzled: "How can Pingyang Town have such a large population, more than the county town?"
In a family, without plague, war or natural disasters, there are at least six people in three generations of a family!
Chief Kang replied, "Master Yang's two sons died for their country, and he retired and returned home. He left only one son in the Western Army, who has opened a martial arts school for twenty years. Since then, Pingyang Town has been very safe, and the population has gradually increased."
"What does Xu Xueshi mean by asking this?"
"Your Majesty, since we have nowhere to go and the Ghost Mother Cult is coming on strong, why don't we abolish Chaojiang County and make Pingyang Town a county, and then make Yixing City a town?
I have looked at the map and found that Pingyang Town is the center of the county where all the incidents occurred, and it may be the place closest to the Ghost Mother Cult.
There are a large number of warriors in the town. Master Yang and his disciples are all extraordinary. They can be used as a hub. A river port can be set up and the demon hunting office can be stationed here to serve as a bridgehead for the counterattack.
Moreover, after this incident, several counties under the jurisdiction of Huaiyin Prefecture were severely damaged, and there were many refugees. The Huai River is a rich place, and several surrounding prefectures can provide food and money to help Pingyang County absorb more refugees. When the population is fully absorbed, it is possible to replace Huaiyin Prefecture and abolish the county to establish a prefecture. "
He fell into deep thought in the Qinzheng Hall.
What Xu Xueshi said makes a lot of sense.
Throughout the entire Huaiyin Prefecture, only Pingyang Town was able to block the attack.
When you are unable to spare any time, the most appropriate approach is to set up a platform to challenge the Ghost Mother Cult.
The Huai River area is a prosperous place, otherwise, under the Single Whip Law, several prefectures in this area would not be allowed to pay grain to the imperial capital.
It is a win-win situation as we can resettle the refugees without spending any money.
"Can!"
(End of this chapter)
