I

  Chapter 445 Chapter 443 [Exploration team and pig tail]

  Hunan, Hengyang, Changning.

  Jiangxi's veteran mining craftsman Cao Jin, travel expert Xu Xiake, East India Company explorer Abel Tasman, the exploration team led by the three have been working for several years.

  The places where people often pick up dog head gold have been explored in two or three counties. A few gold veins have been found, but they are all low-quality. It is estimated that the gold dug out can barely recover the mining cost.

  The only work result is that Xu Xiake wrote several travel notes, recording the mountains, rivers, topography and customs of those counties.

  Until last year, the exploration team finally discovered high-quality gold deposits in Changning County, Hengzhou Prefecture.

  Historically, this gold mine was discovered in the Qing Dynasty. It was mined secretly by the people at the beginning, and it was nationalized at the end of the Qing Dynasty. In the 1980s of New China, the second exploration of the old mine was carried out, and the largest gold mine in the country was discovered at that time!

   As a reward, both Cao Jin and Xu Xiake were given land, and they served as the principal (seventh rank) and the deputy (eighth rank) respectively in the Prospecting Institute of the Ministry of Industry.

  Abel Tasman also obtained Nanjing household registration, and Zhao Han also negotiated with the governor of Batavia, ordering him to send Abel's wife and children here. As a result, the East India Company sent a letter saying that Abel's wife had remarried... and agreed to send Abel's son along with him when trading horses next time.

   When this guy was sad, he married a village girl in Changning County.

  The village girl's family still looked down on him, thinking that he was too ugly with red hair and green eyes, and he had no official status and no land.

  Abel had no choice but to write a letter to Zhao Han, requesting that he be given an official status, which can be regarded as an advance payment for the next reward. Zhao Han didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and felt that this person was useful, so he gave it to a low-level official from the ninth rank.

   "Dang Dang Dang!"

  The workers of the prospecting team are digging earth and rocks with shovels.

  This time it was Xu Xiake who discovered the related plants, and Cao Jin and Abel determined the excavation site.

  A piece of broken stone was dug out. Cao Jin, an old craftsman, picked it up to observe, and then struck at the knife in his hand. He said happily, "It's a magnet. There is either copper or gold underneath!"

   "Guanzi·Dishu Chapter": "There is a magnet on the top, and copper and gold on the bottom."

   This is a prospecting method used in China for two thousand years, and it is useful for vertical ore bodies. Some kind of ore in the outer layer is called "mine seedling" or "mine lead", which has an indicative effect on the minerals in the inner layer.

   In addition, plants can also be identified, some plants absorb minerals and change color or shape.

  Conceited and experienced explorer Abel Tasman, although he brought a set of European prospecting methods, he learned more in China.

   Prospectors continue to dig below, and the next step is to try their luck.

  Good luck, rich mines, everyone is happy; bad luck, poor mines, nothing.

  The workers were doing physical labor, while the three leaders sat by to rest and observe.

  Abel skillfully took out the Chinese tobacco rod, stuffed the shredded tobacco into the pot, and said in Chinese: "Old Cao, borrow a fire."

  Cao Jin had already smoked it, and handed over the unextinguished fire.

  Xu Xiake is also puffing. He should have died last year. He suffered from foot disease while traveling in Yunnan, and was carried back to Jiangsu by the chieftain.

  Cao Jin asked: "Lao An, how old is your son?"

  Abel Tasman, whose Chinese name is An Siwen, replied: "Nine years old, living in Lao Xu's house, and still learning to speak Chinese."

  Cao Jin proudly showed off: "My eldest grandson is fifteen this year. Yesterday, I received a letter from my family saying that more than 300 people passed the provincial examination."

  Jiangxi was the first to open elementary and middle schools. It has the largest number of students, the highest quality of students, and the most difficult exams. It is already very impressive to be able to take more than 300 exams.

   After all, it is the land of Longxing, and there are many candidates, so the top 100 students in Jiangxi this year can go to Nanjing to study as official fee students.

   It will not work next year. Nanchang University will be completed soon. From now on, Jiangxi’s government-funded students can only study in Nanchang.

  Cao Jin asked Xu Xiake again: "Does Mr. Xu's family also have children taking exams?"

   Xu Xiake flicked the shredded tobacco with a dead branch, and replied: "The eldest grandson and two grandnephews are all taking the provincial examination this year, and I don't know how much they passed."

  Cao Jin said with a smile: "It happens that the reward silver hasn't been spent yet, so it's all used to pay for grandson's tuition. I've heard people say that Jinling University is the Imperial Academy of the previous dynasty. As long as you go to study, you will be a good husband."

  Hubei was occupied relatively late, and now there are only primary schools, and secondary schools will be established next year—the first batch of primary school students will graduate.

  The areas north of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces are similar to the situation in Hubei. This time, all the students who participated in the provincial unified examination were students from the south of the Yangtze River, and all of them were grade skippers. This is also the case in Jinling Prefecture and Fujian Province, because normal schooling is not enough to graduate from middle school.

  As for Sichuan, Henan, and Shandong, they have even begun to set up primary schools.

   Therefore, this provincial unified examination, only Jiangxi, Hunan, and Guangdong participated in the provincial unified examination.

  Self-funded students pay thirty taels of silver tuition per year, which is beyond the reach of most low-income families. Many wealthy families can afford it, but not everyone is willing.

  The first class of students of Jinling University is estimated to be only seven or eight hundred people.

  Jinling University, like Daming Guozijian, adopts the credit system and has mid-term and final exams, but cancels monthly exams (Guozijian has monthly exams). You must earn enough credits to graduate, and you can stay in school for at most three years. If you don’t earn enough credits during your stay, you can only get a diploma.

  Easy entry and strict exit, graduation is difficult.

  Scholars in the world are very familiar with this set. Except for the different subjects, everything else is the rules of the Imperial College. Although Guozijian has no grades, it adopts a promotion system. How many credits are completed, you will be promoted to a higher-level class, and you will be able to graduate after completing all the credits.

  The system of the Imperial College of the Ming Dynasty was still very advanced, but it was a pity that it was abolished in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.

  Zhu Yuanzhang placed high hopes on Guozijian, invited famous teachers to teach Confucianism, and trained many officials.

   But gradually, the imperial examination system kicked the Imperial College away.

  Educated people are reluctant to be teachers in the Imperial College, because only management positions belong to officials. Teachers all want to be officials, so why would they want to teach in the Imperial College?

  In the middle of Ming Dynasty, all the teachers of Guozijian were from Juren background, and they belonged to the kind who couldn’t get into Jinshi by themselves.

  The teacher is not only worrying about the quality of teaching, but also has no intention of teaching. He either studies hard to prepare for the Jinshi exam, or participates in literary clubs to make friends with colleagues.

  In addition, you can donate money and food to serve as supervisors, and the quality of the school's students is also rubbish. As a result, there were tens of thousands of supervisors in the late Ming Dynasty, but they didn't go to the Imperial College at all.

Xu Xiake leaned on the tree trunk to smoke, and said: "This Jinling University is indeed like the Imperial College of the Ming Dynasty. What your Majesty did is exactly the same as the Ming Taizu. Sigh, just wait and see, as long as the imperial examinations are restored, within a few decades, Jinling Universities will be abolished like the Imperial College.”

Cao Jin laughed and said, "It's different. Your Majesty doesn't set up lowly households. My ancestors have been artisans for generations. Where can I study and take exams in Daming? Everyone says that Your Majesty is a Bodhisattva who came to save the suffering. We, craftsmen, have finally turned around." Yes, there is hope for this life. Don't count on the sons, and the grandchildren may be able to become officials."

  Xu Xiake remained silent. Sixty percent of his family's property was divided, and life was getting worse day by day.

   Well, I can’t say the same, at least Jiangsu’s water conservancy facilities are improving day by day, and I’m not as afraid of drought as before. In the past years of severe drought, no matter how much land the landlord family had, the land far away from the water source would be left unused. And now the price of food is also stable, even if the price of food has risen sharply because of the war, it is countless times lower than during the reign of Chongzhen.

  It's a pity that the farmers are disobedient.

  Large landlords can keep 20 acres of land per person, how can they grow it by themselves? The master and wife, the young master's daughter, are not suitable for farming.

  Then it can only be rented out, and the rent cannot be set at a high level. If the land rent is higher, no one is willing to plant it, because the farmers themselves have land.

  The southern landlords gradually forgot about the famines and wars as the situation settled down, and also forgot how cruel the bandits were to them. They only remember that in the past, there were countless fields and countless servants, and the tenants worshiped them as gods and Buddhas, and they had to kneel and talk when they met.

  Now there is not much left in the land, and the house slaves have also become hired labor, and the mud legs of the tenants are still proud.

   Landlords hate it!

  They don't remember the good things about Zhao Han, they only remember the bad things about Zhao Han. While letting his children study and become officials, he secretly slandered him, and some even fabricated rumors about Zhao Han.

  The landlord class wants to fight back, but lacks strength and cannot unite. Their resentment is concentrated on the down-and-out scholars—the so-called down-and-out scholars here are not poor scholars, but those scholars who refuse to start from small officials. Their official careers were bleak, and combined with the landlord's resentment, they began to write poems, novels and operas, reminiscing about the benefits of the Ming court.

  Even Emperor Chongzhen has become a holy king, all treacherous ministers are corrupting the country!

  The party struggle of the Ming Dynasty continued to the literary world of the Datong New Dynasty. The Donglin Party and the so-called Eunuch Party abuse each other in writing articles, and they don't directly criticize each other. They are all hidden in operas and novels.

  For example, in a novel, the villain is based on XX.

  Zhao Han also sensed some signs of public opinion, and now he has made a policy. After the food is slightly sufficient, the focus will be on migrating the big families to the north, and the gentry and prominent families must be torn apart!

  The Xu family, which the eldest sister married, has been split into nine shares, and at least one more split is necessary to rest assured.

  The Fei family will also be dismantled, and a few will be dismantled and sent to Shandong and Henan.

  The two royal families have been dismantled, and the rest of the big families dare to chew their tongues?

  It was getting late, Xu Xiake and others went down the mountain to return to the village, just in time to see a group of criminals escorted by officials.

   Xu Xiake was quite surprised, and asked: "At such an old age, you are still fined to be a miner?"

  The officer pointed to the dozen people and said, "They are all big traitors. This one is called Hong Chengchou, and this one is called Zuo Liangyu..."

  Cao Jin spat: "Bah, shameless!"

  Xu Xiake looked over curiously, Hong Chengchou raised his hands to cover his face, but Zuo Liangyu was in a trance.

   "Cough cough cough..."

  Zuo Liangyu suddenly coughed, and when she covered her mouth, her palms were covered in blood. He didn't get the plague, but he was really sick, and he probably died in the mine within half a month.

Pointing to Hong Chengchou's braid, the official said with a smile: "Look at the money rat tail. His Majesty forbids them to cut off the braid. There are people watching all the way. This pig tail is so ugly. I don't know what the Tartars think." of."

  Hong Chengchou covered his face, but he couldn't cover his braids, because his hands were shackles.

  Cao Jin stepped over, grabbed the braid and pulled it, and said with a smile: "It's really similar to a pig's tail."

  Hong Chengchou's head was pulled back, and he felt a great shame in his heart. He was afraid of death, so he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty; he was afraid of death, so he was captured by the Datong army; he was afraid of death, so he was escorted all the way to Jiangxi.

  But now, he finally wants to commit suicide, and find a chance to finish it off.

  (end of this chapter)