Chapter 189 – Extra 2
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Early in the morning, the common people gathered in front of the government office with their children, creating a lively scene.
It was November, and the weather in Luoyang was still chilly. People were dressed warmly, their hands tucked into their sleeves, and their faces flushed from the cold as they chatted and laughed.
Children of all ages were wrapped in layers of clothes, and sweat glistened on their foreheads.
“I wonder when it will snow this year,” a few farmers chatted, “Hopefully, we’ll get a good harvest from the auspicious snow.”
“Yesterday, the official’s newspaper mentioned something… called a weather forecast? It seems to have said that there won’t be any snow for the next seven days,” someone else joined the conversation.
Once the newspaper was mentioned, more people joined the discussion, and groups gathered to talk animatedly about the news. The newspaper, “Great Wen National Report,” was something the Emperor had introduced last year, a weekly publication that recorded events happening all over the Great Wen Empire. It covered everything from imperial decrees to the good deeds of people who returned found silver to the authorities.
The “Great Wen National Report” was a hit and widely appreciated by the common people, opening their eyes to the wider world.
Though the common people couldn’t read, it didn’t matter. The Emperor ordered officials to read the contents of the newspaper to them every seventh day at a fixed time. Over time, more and more people gathered in front of local government offices to hear the readings.
As they frequently listened to others reading the newspaper, the common people unwittingly learned more and more, understanding the laws of Great Wen and the principles of propriety and integrity.
Not only did the common people enjoy reading the “Great Wen National Report,” but the high-ranking officials in the court also never missed an issue. The scope of the newspaper covered everything, something only the Emperor’s Liangliao Institution could accomplish. Liu Jixin had once exclaimed that it truly allowed one to know about the world without leaving their home.
The reason the common people were waiting in front of the government office so early in the morning was that the newspaper had mentioned that the government would start census registration from today. Families with children of the appropriate age could have their names recorded and send their children to the official school.
Originally, government officials were supposed to visit households for the census registration, but after hearing the good news in the newspaper, the eager common people couldn’t wait for the officials to come to them. They took the initiative to come to the government office with their families to register.
When they spoke of this matter, they couldn’t help but feel delighted, “Who would have thought that our children would have the opportunity to go to school and learn to read? I’m already this old, and I only learned to write one, two, three, four in the last couple of years, not to mention other characters!”
“Indeed,” others chimed in, “Luckily, these children were born late, and they are in the right time. They never experienced prolonged hunger from childhood to adulthood. Now they can go to school, which is much better than what we had in the past!”
That’s right.
The group of people nodded in agreement, full of emotion.
“It’s all because the Emperor cares about us,” someone said, “In just five years, we can eat and drink our fill. A few months ago, my wife got pregnant again. If it were five or six years ago, we wouldn’t have enough food to feed the child. We wouldn’t dare to have children at all. Now, we can safely have them. My neighbor next door has added three children in the last five years!”
As they talked about this, the crowd became even more excited, discussing their own families’ improved grain harvests in recent years.
They were sincerely grateful to the Emperor. In just five short years, they had forgotten about the previous North Zhou Dynasty and fully embraced themselves as citizens of Great Wen.
Except for a few scholars, the traces left by the Northern Zhou Dynasty over three hundred years were rapidly dissipating. The common people became happier as they discussed the scene of dragons and phoenixes over Luoyang city back then.
A curious little child tugged at his father’s clothes and asked, “Father, what is going to school?”
The father lifted him up and wiped his nose, “Going to school is a good thing, it means you’ll learn to read and write.”
The child was puzzled, “What can I do after learning to read?”
The father didn’t know either, and he sternly replied, “Why do you ask so many questions? It’s a good thing, so you better learn properly!”
An elderly person with missing teeth hobbled over with a cane and touched the child’s face, mumbling, “Study well, it’s a good thing, a very good thing…”
The child obediently responded.
Unnoticed by anyone, a group of people stood across the street from the government office, observing the commotion among the common people. Yuan Li and Chu Hechao were dressed in plain clothes, quietly watching the scene. Seeing the clothes the people were wearing and their rosy cheeks, Yuan Li couldn’t help but smile.
Chu Hechao stood with his hands behind his back, his lips curving as he looked at the crowd. “In the end, your efforts in these five years were not in vain.”
“Yes,” Yuan Li felt a sense of contentment, feeling that all the hard work over the past five years had been worthwhile. “It wasn’t in vain for me to fight against the noble families for so long.”
When the New Dynasty was established, it was the most vibrant period, especially after the turbulent times when various feudal lords were at odds with each other. The deeply rooted noble families in Youzhou, Bingzhou, Xuzhou, Luoyang, and other places were all completely uprooted due to the disasters caused by the famine and wars. The noble families suffered a heavy blow and were far from being as powerful as during the Northern Zhou Dynasty. The defeat of Chen Wang also greatly weakened the support of the noble families in Jiangdong, making them lose the ability to challenge Yuan Li.
Since ascending the throne, Yuan Li had been dealing with these long-standing noble families. The scholar class monopolized knowledge, which consequently gave them power. The continuity of a noble family was more stable than even the imperial throne and dynasties. Yuan Li clearly knew that if he wanted the common people to have a chance to rise and reach the pinnacle, he needed to do two things.
Firstly, establish more official schools to spread knowledge among the people. He needed to turn the cultural resources held by the noble families into resources for everyone, providing the common people with the opportunity to learn. Secondly, he had to implement the imperial examination system, the fairest way to select talents, replacing the previous system.
Yuan Li also understood that to completely suppress the noble families, these two measures were not enough. He needed to go further, like in the future, by making the academic records and standardized punctuation public.
Only those who studied in official schools could have academic records, and only those with academic records could participate in the imperial examinations and become officials. This would truly put the noble families’ descendants and those from poor families on an equal starting point, forcing the noble families’ descendants to also study in official schools and cutting off their private tutoring.
Implementing standardized punctuation meant unifying the interpretation of texts, providing consistent answers. It would allow poor students who couldn’t afford private tutors for “sentence reading” to learn knowledge more conveniently, breaking the monopoly of various noble families on the interpretation of classical texts.
Both of these measures deeply encroached upon the interests of the noble families. Those who had academic records were eligible to participate in the imperial examinations, which meant that the resources accumulated by the noble families in the past were in vain. They now had to compete with children from poor families.
Implementing standardized punctuation meant that noble families couldn’t use correct sentence reading and interpretations of texts to attract followers anymore. They couldn’t have the previous situation of “one noble family, and thousands of followers all over the world.” Moreover, Yuan Li required them to make the books they taught to their descendants and passed down from generation to generation available to everyone.
Available to everyone for learning.
This is impossible! The noble families immediately began to resist.
Their resistance was expected by Yuan Li, but as an emperor holding hundreds of thousands of soldiers, he was not as weak as the last emperor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. The noble families’ resistance was fierce, but within three years, Yuan Li completely suppressed them with force.
After subduing the noble families, Yuan Li promptly summoned renowned scholars from all over the country and forced them to present their punctuation systems. Together, they discussed how to use standardized punctuation and applied it to all existing books in history. Thanks to the already existing papermaking and printing techniques, these books were soon reproduced and distributed throughout the country, preparing for the establishment of official schools.
The lands and estates taken from the noble families were redistributed to the common people.
Because of these measures, in just five years, the Great Wen Dynasty experienced its first population explosion.
Therefore, Yuan Li ordered a re-counting of the population.
This was the first census of the Great Wen Dynasty. As soon as the emperor’s decree was issued, various agencies worked tirelessly to notify the counties and prefectures in the thirteen provinces of the empire.
Conducting a population census was essential, as the number of registered citizens represented the tax revenue the government could collect. Despite earning a considerable amount from fine salt, white sugar, soap, and livestock trade, tax revenue remained a significant source of the country’s economy. More importantly, registering each person’s household information ensured stability and order throughout the land.
Moreover, a significant portion of the common people were considered “unregistered individuals” by the government.
These “unregistered individuals” were former retainers, tenants, and servants of the noble families and landlords. When Yuan Song served as a county magistrate, he had thousands of retainers under his command, indicating the potential number of these “unregistered individuals” who were now free citizens.
Today was the first day of the population census, and Yuan Li and Chu Hechao went to the streets to take a discreet look.
After the people started registering their households, Yuan Li and Chu Hechao quietly left.
They didn’t hurry back to the palace and leisurely strolled along the road. Unknowingly, they arrived at a weaving workshop.
Outside the workshop, women were coming and going, carrying clothes or wearing aprons. These women were of different ages, walking together in groups, chatting and laughing, looking relaxed.
Soldiers were guarding the surroundings, preventing unauthorized entry into the weaving workshop.
Yuan Li and Chu Hechao happened to witness a young girl, amidst the laughter of her companions, blushing and covering half of her face with a handkerchief. She ran over to a stern-looking soldier, threw a sachet at him, and quickly ran back, hiding her face.
The soldier who received the sachet was bewildered. He looked down at the sachet on the ground, wanting to bend down to pick it up, but he hesitated, afraid of violating military rules by moving from his rigid position. He seemed itchy all over and his face turned red from embarrassment.
Yuan Li’s smile deepened. He felt incredibly fortunate to have transmigrated to this era, where the persecution and restrictions on women were far less severe than in later times.
Considering the historical timeline, both the Northern Zhou and the Great Wen Dynasty were before the Tang Dynasty that Yuan Li knew about. In the Northern Zhou, widows could freely remarry, and there were even officials urging them to do so. In his Great Wen Dynasty, the restrictions on women were even less stringent.
First, women were allowed to work, and now there were schools specifically for girls.
Yuan Li was not in a hurry. He could take ten, twenty, thirty years… step by step to achieve his goals.
As they passed the weaving workshop, they headed towards the lakeside. Many people were enjoying the beautiful scenery in the early morning. Yuan Li and Chu Hechao quietly walked to the bridge without disturbing anyone.
The flowing water murmured beneath them, and the cold wind on the bridge carried a chill. It was freezing. Apart from them, no one else was there to enjoy the cold wind and the scenery.
Yuan Li leaned on the bridge with both hands, breathing in the chilly morning air, his gaze fixed on the distance. It seemed as if he could encompass the whole world with his eyes, sweeping across the scholars walking leisurely by the lake, the children playing and laughing on the streets, and the homes in Luoyang with curling smoke rising from their chimneys.
People who had finished registering their households were running back with their children in their arms, while others urgently rushed into the public toilets, pulling their belts in a hurry.
An exasperated woman nearby shouted, “Niu, the fire in the stove is about to go out!”
Time passed slowly, and the bare willow branches were blown by the wind, creating ripples on the water’s surface.
Finally, Yuan Li’s leisurely gaze returned from afar, and he turned his head to look at the person beside him. He met Chu Hechao’s eyes, which had been fixed on him all this time.
Unable to contain his emotions, Yuan Li burst into laughter. He reached out his hand and gently stroked Chu Hechao’s face, from the brows to the corners of his eyes, to the bridge of his nose.
Yuan Li’s eyes brightened. Although he was not young anymore, his eyes still held the warm and resolute gleam of his youth, full of vitality, captivating the hearts of others.
“You’ve been looking at me all this time?” Yuan Li teased.
Chu Hechao held his hand and kissed it gently, “You’re good looking.”
Yuan Li’s smile widened, teasingly asking, “After all these years, you still can’t get enough of looking at me?”
A gust of cold wind blew, and Chu Hechao pulled Yuan Li behind him, using his back as a shield against the chilling wind blowing towards them.
“I can never get enough, even in a lifetime…” Chu Hechao’s words were carried away by the wind, passing through the lake and the crowd, as if penetrating through time and cold, flying up into the vast daylight.
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