Chapter 87 Liaodong Students In the academies in Liaodong, the sound of reading aloud is like a passionate and magnificent piece of music, which makes people intoxicated and their thoughts drift along. Tian Ze stood quietly by the window, looking at the students in the classroom with focused eyes. They were dressed in plain clothes, sitting upright, holding books, and each of them was concentrating. Among them were not only common people from farming families and scholars from poor families, but even some children from aristocratic families. The Yellow Turban Rebellion was like a violent hurricane, bringing great disaster to the world. In order to seek peace, countless scholars fled everywhere like frightened birds. The place they visited most often, apart from the three states of Jing, Yi and Yang, was the seemingly remote Liaodong. These people who originally just wanted to avoid disaster temporarily had never expected that after the failure of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Rebellion would continue for so long, plunging the entire world into turmoil. What they didn't expect was that Liaodong, which they regarded as a bitter and cold place, was actually like an isolated paradise. Tian Ze did an excellent job of keeping secrets. There was no trace of the hidden households in the mountains, most of the troops and other people who could not be seen in the world in Liaodong. But the strength displayed on the surface alone is enough to make people jaw-dropping and shocked.
The four counties have a population of more than one million people, and the people work hard in the fields. Their faces are filled with satisfaction and hope, and they have almost reached a state of having no worries about food and clothing. Although the fields are not fertile, there are neither severe droughts nor floods or locust plagues. In addition, the climate and rainfall are extremely suitable for farming, as if it is a special gift from God. The most important thing is that most of the land belongs to the government and is distributed to the people for cultivation. In addition, taxes are extremely low, allowing the people to truly enjoy the fruits of their labor. Tian Ze's people had already spoken with one voice. Although everyone was aware of the actual system in place, they were all covered in the guise of the imperial court and had not stepped out of line at all. Everything seemed to be in order. For example, in terms of taxes and corvée labor, local governments would directly collect 30% of the farmland output, but once scholars from other places asked about it, they would begin to patiently settle the accounts for them. The land tax of 1% of the tax rate, the not-so-low head tax, various corvée conversion taxes, etc., all added up, the final result is exactly 30% of the per-acre yield. If you ask again, it's just a coincidence. We are charging according to the court's requirements. The price is neither high nor low. What can we blame? That matter-of-fact tone made it impossible to refute. With the mathematical skills of the officials under Tian Ze's rule, it is really difficult for ordinary scholars from other places to compare with them. They cannot find any major problems after calculating for a long time. Anyway, local governments have the power to set personal income taxes, so what if I collect more or reduce some? Although some tax revenues suffered losses, a lot of them were directly used in Liaodong. However, the taxes collected from the people were not heavy, and the taxes paid to the court were also considerable. Both parties were satisfied and there was nothing to blame. The same is true for issues such as the division of labor among officials. It is normal for someone to hold the title of Jin Cao but do the work of the Ministry of Commerce, or to hold the title of Duyou but do the work of the Ministry of Discipline. I just added a nickname and refined the division of labor a little bit. What's the problem? What happened in the academy made these scholars even more frustrated. It's okay for the sons of poor families, but when will the sons of farmers be able to study and become officials? There are colleges and academies everywhere, with clear levels and hierarchy. It is obvious that they have formed their own complete education system. The government is more confident about this. Our Han Dynasty has always advocated the popularization of education, and Confucianism even advocates "regardless of background, only talent is promoted". Is there anything wrong with doing so? These children from noble families were suddenly speechless. That’s what you say, but you can’t actually do that!
It is true that we advocate universal education and encourage private schools, but is that for these peasants? Private schools can only be run by wealthy families with educated people. Even if they recruit students from outside, they have to be children from poor families at least! Ordinary people cannot even afford tuition and cannot read or write. How can they be qualified to study? Liaodong officials said, we have money and can afford to send people to school! And how could an official in Liaodong not attach importance to Confucianism? He also had to take exams on all sorts of random things. Officials from Liaodong said, we are poor and cannot afford to support useless officials! Anyway, these officials were appointed through the official channels of the court, and the so-called assessment is just a "reference". We still select and appoint according to the standards of filial piety and integrity. If it were in the Central Plains, Tian Ze and the officials under his rule would probably be scolded and attacked by everyone, and even cause public resentment. But, this is Liaodong! In terms of theory, even if these scholars could win the argument over local officials, they would be blocked by the phrase "the order of the prefect." You talk your way and I do mine. If you hear a single word from me, I lose. The local officials didn't care about them at all. Their salaries and promotions were all controlled by Tian Ze. The powerful families had no influence on them. They wanted to cause trouble, but they found that the people in Liaodong knew a lot and were not so easily fooled. A few scholars stood on the street and began to express their cynicism and criticize the local government passionately, but they did not receive any applause. Most of the local people looked at them as if they were fools. When they talked about Tianze or some sensitive issues, unidentified objects would fly over, blindfold them, and then they would be beaten up by the people in justice. The chaotic scene was truly horrific. Many Liaodong residents said they felt much better after participating in the beating. The satisfaction and joy on their faces gave people a different feeling. The people of Liaodong are naturally brave and aggressive, and fighting was commonplace in the past. But ever since Tian Ze arrived, due to the strict laws, they hadn’t fought for a long time, and their muscles were a little uncomfortable. Now that they have a legitimate opportunity to take action, they will naturally not let it go. After all, in theory, the government arrested these troublemakers, so they can be regarded as eliminating harm for the people, and they may even get a reward. Finding that the people could not be fooled, these scholars wanted to incite the local nobles, but they found that there were very few powerful people in Liaodong. Almost all the original powerful people were wiped out by Tian Ze, and most of the remaining ones were small families and were unwilling to mess with them. For the first time, these children from aristocratic families felt deeply powerless. In the Central Plains, they had the final right to interpret Confucian classics and the right to recommend and evaluate officials, and all officials and people had to act in accordance with their rules. They controlled a large amount of land and tenants, and the people had to act according to their wishes. Therefore, they can unscrupulously label people, control the government, and bully others by taking advantage of their power. But in Liaodong, they found something completely different. No one in Liaodong, from officials to common people, bought into this at all. If you have the ability, take him out for a walk. Can you farm better than me? Can you know more than the village official? Or can you make sure the people in the area have enough food and clothing? As Envoy Tian said, we must seek truth from facts and proceed from reality in everything. No matter how well you study, how noble your moral character is, or how famous you are, what’s the use if you can’t make the people live a good life? Tian Ze knew very well that these powerful families had always been both athletes and referees in the world. It was impossible to take advantage of their rules. They could turn black into white. If you were to argue with them, you would definitely fail.
So Tian Ze simply stopped playing with them and set up his own system. No matter how eloquent you are, the money, food, people and the final right of interpretation are all on my side. What can you do to me? In order to give someone a taste of his own medicine, Tian Ze directly used the methods used by the aristocratic families to defeat the aristocratic families. I can't control things outside Liaodong, but in Liaodong, I have the final say. After encountering countless setbacks, many of these children from aristocratic families in the Central Plains completely collapsed. Many children from aristocratic families would rather risk returning to the Central Plains than suffer such humiliation. But there were still a few children from aristocratic families who stayed. Some of them just wanted to avoid disaster, and seeing that they could no longer call the shots, they simply closed themselves off and lived in seclusion. But there are also some people who really have the heart to help the world and serve the country. Seeing the prosperity of Liaodong today, they can't help but yearn for it. With the idea of joining if you can't beat them, he was admitted to various major academies and colleges, ready to compete with these poor children and common people. Seeing this, those local warlords in Liaodong who had managed to survive finally understood the situation clearly. As long as Tian Ze is still here, they should forget about restoring the old rules. Having given up hope, they no longer resisted and sent their young men to study in various academies and colleges. Tian Ze was happy to see this. He has always been committed to education under his rule and has trained many capable officials and generals. In the army, in addition to famous generals such as Guan Yu and Zhang Liao, many tunchang and quchang were capable generals trained by Tian Ze and were extremely capable. Especially the two hundred guards who followed Tian Ze at the beginning, they would have no problem serving as lieutenant generals, making the entire military system very sound and as indestructible as the Great Wall of Steel. However, in the government, most of the people trained by Tian Ze were just minor clerks who could do their jobs, rather than officials who could coordinate the overall situation. Because the time is too short and the common people's foundation is too shallow, most people can only become minor officials after several years of training and do not have the ability to stand on their own. There was a relative shortage of middle-level officials in Liaodong, and most of them were from poor families. The smooth development of the province was entirely due to the hard work of Chen Gong and others. Ten years of trees, a hundred years of trees. If we want the common people to be able to occupy a place among the middle and upper-level officials, it will be impossible without more than ten years of hard work. Because their foundation and comprehensive abilities are far inferior to those of the wealthy and poor families. The aristocratic families and powerful people of this era were not fools, and Confucianism was not as weak as it was in later generations. The education that the poor people from wealthy families receive is systematic, extremely complete and comprehensive. It is not just about all that stuff. Their practical ability should not be underestimated. So in the short term, Tian Ze still has to rely on these people to support the situation. It's just that the balance of the low-level officials prevents Tian Ze from being bound by them. After all, although middle and upper-level officials are very important, they are not irreplaceable. Grassroots officials can still be capable after being promoted, they just do a slightly worse job.
If these people really want to secretly resist or quit, Tian Ze can just overturn the table. I have enough people anyway. But it is always a good thing to have better candidates. Tian Ze had no prejudice against these scholars from aristocratic families, he was just dissatisfied with the current aristocratic class. (End of this chapter)