Chapter 211: Wang Ci

Not only did he have ice, but just like the monthly allowance, the ice tickets were also given to the county yamen according to rank. However, no one else in the county seemed to have his worries. Wu Ya, who dealt with the kūnzéi ones the most in the county, ate and drank in the yamen every day. This old fox actually drank the kūnzéi ones’ “langmu” wine. Wu Ya had taken a liking to this wine and its strange way of drinking after a trip to Bairen City. It was mixed with some hissing and bubbling sour water, plus crushed ice. Sometimes a few mint leaves were added. It was said that drinking it was very comfortable for relieving summer heat and quenching thirst. He had recommended it to him several times. Wu Mingjin felt that this way of drinking, with water and fire intersecting, and ice and fire attacking each other, was not in line with the way of health preservation, so he politely declined.

As for the county registrar, it was even more incredible. Wu Mingjin thought angrily: I don’t know whose official he is. The registrar lived in the yamen and was at the beck and call of the kūnzéi ones. He was busy running errands for them. When the kūnzéi ones went to Nanbao to open a mine, the registrar led the yamen runners to clear the way, busy running errands. If they said to prepare documents, he would prepare documents. If they said to make land deeds, he would make land deeds.

Why weren’t you so diligent in the past! Wu Mingjin thought resentfully. From the increasingly comfortable food and clothing of the registrar’s family and his trip to Dongmen Market every “week”—this was the kūnzéi ones’ way of calculating—it was true that money can make the devil push the millstone.

Wang Ci, the county’s educational official, was the most upright scholar. Wu Mingjin did not expect that he would also ask the kūnzéi ones for help. Now the hundreds of mu of school land outside the West Gate had changed hands. He secretly watched from the city wall several times—the appearance of the school land had greatly changed, which made him both happy and worried. He was happy because he had always wanted to support the literary atmosphere of Lingao, but had never been able to come up with the money. Now that the school land had been rectified, the county school’s funds were secured. He was worried because the kūnzéi ones, with this move, would inevitably interfere with the scholars.

Wu Mingjin was not very concerned about the thoughts of the common people. Although he also knew sayings like “the people are precious and the ruler is light,” “water can carry a boat and can also capsize it,” and “the hearts of the people,” the attitude of the scholars was his biggest worry. If the people who read and understood reason also had a good impression of the kūnzéi ones, and even a few traitors who betrayed the teachings of the sages appeared, it would be difficult to manage the hearts of the people. Although the ancients did not have a clear theory of “ideology,” they still understood the basic principles. So he had always been very worried about this.

Wu Mingjin had not read too many history books, but he had always read things like the “Zizhi Tongjian.” Whenever there was a rebellion, once scholars were involved, the poison and harm would be a hundred or a thousand times greater than a few peasants rising up.

There were not a few examples of scholars becoming rebels in ancient times. It was said that there were also quite a few scholars among the fake kūnzéi ones—what a disgrace to the literati! Wu Mingjin suddenly became alert—would this Educational Official Wang also be unable to resist the temptation of the kūnzéi ones? This was a major event! Lingao was a small county town, and the quota for students in the whole county was only thirty. If only a few xiucai sold themselves into service…

Wu Mingjin simply dared not think about it anymore. A xiucai becoming a rebel, it seemed that there was no precedent for this in this dynasty. Thinking of this, he was restless and hurriedly ordered someone to find Educational Official Wang.

At this moment, Wang Ci was just entering the city from outside the West Gate—he sighed from time to time as he walked.

He was going to offer condolences. A “fuxue” student in the county had just passed away. As a teacher, it was a must for him to go. Fortunately, the road built by the Australians was good now, and this family was not far from the main road. It only took one day to go back and forth. In the past, he would not have been able to return to the county until the next morning.

Although the road was easy to walk, Wang Ci’s mood was very heavy. The deceased student was only in his early forties. When he went to offer condolences, the deceased left behind a pair of orphans and a widow who were very pitiful. The family’s situation was very bad—originally, they only made a living by opening a private school and teaching a few children to read. The county’s allowance for scholars had not been issued for many years—if there had been money and rice to supplement, perhaps he would not have died.

Here in Lingao, the literary atmosphere was already weak. Now another one had died. Although the quota was vacant and someone would naturally be admitted to fill it, there were not many scholars in the county in the first place…

Generally speaking, in ancient times, those who embarked on the road of studying for the imperial examinations would not be in a state of extreme poverty at home. In the countryside, they had to be at least middle peasants or above. But once a person started to study, the family would lose a strong laborer. If the family was small, or if they encountered some disasters or illnesses, it was easy to fall into poverty.

There were quite a few scholars in Lingao County whose economic situation was not good. Not only were the xiucai poor, but the tongsheng who were not entitled to receive the allowance were even poorer. During the last county examination, many tongsheng were in rags, looking like beggars—besides the xiucai who needed relief, the tongsheng were the root of the scholars, and they also needed some subsidies.

The county naturally could not come up with the money. The donations from the gentry were almost used up. Wang Ci had asked them too many times, and he was really too ashamed to go again. It seemed that he could only wait until after the autumn harvest, when the autumn grain from the school land came down, and the school’s money and rice would be more. Wang Ci thought.

When he walked past the West Gate of the county town and saw the newly renovated school farm, he would wonder—was this step right or wrong?

From the situation in the fields, the appearance of this school land was the best since Wang Ci came to Lingao to take office. The green seedlings, the neat ridges and ditches, the newly built fences in the garden and the pumpkin flowers in full bloom on them, he had never seen such a beautiful pastoral scene in the school land—what he had seen was a large area of barren land and crops that were half-dead.

But looking at the road that was simply built to the West Gate, and the fortress-like houses that had just been erected outside the city gate, these houses were built by the Australians for the tenants of the school land. The houses were very well built—they were actually brick and tile houses! Wang Ci had been in several times. There was a drying yard, a toilet, a livestock shed, and a well. All the living facilities were not only complete, but also the layout was reasonable and the use was convenient, which he had never seen before. Of course, it was not just the tenants who lived there. There were also long-term workers and other people who the Australians had gathered in batches from the mainland, who were also planting the school land.

Although Wang Ci could not see what was wrong, he always felt uneasy in his heart when he saw this small stockade standing brand new less than half a li from the city gate.

As he was thinking, he met Lu Da on the road. The head of the tenants of the school land was pushing a brand-new wheelbarrow on the newly paved machine-plowed road. There were two large wooden barrels with lids on the cart. A strange smell drifted from afar, a bit like manure but much more pungent.

Seeing Educational Official Wang coming, Lu Da hurriedly stopped the cart, stood respectfully by the side of the road, and called out, “Master Wang.”

Wang Ci originally had nothing to say to such a commoner, but he wanted to inquire about the movements of the Australians, so he smiled and said, “Good, are you sending manure to the fields?”

“To answer your honor, this is not manure, but ammonia water,” Lu Da said.

“Ammonia water?”

“Yes, it was transported from Bopu. It is used to fertilize the fields. It is said to be better than manure, urine, and soybean cakes.”

“Is that so?” Wang Ci was no longer surprised by the novelties of the Australians. He thought this was another one of their novelties.

“How are the crops?”

“Very good!” Lu Da’s face bloomed with a smile. “I have been farming for decades, and I have never seen such good crops! It’s amazing!”

Lu Da enthusiastically talked about the many new things about the Australians’ farming, some of which Wang Ci had heard of, and some he had not. He listened with great interest to the various strange ideas of the Australians and their various novel and strange things. Sometimes he felt curious, and sometimes he was surprised by their grand scale.

Wang Ci vaguely felt that the power of the Australians was not only that they had many “strange and ingenious skills” that he did not understand, but also their execution and courage.

Hundreds of mu of school land, they said they would transform it, and they did. The land was turned over, and the ditches were all rebuilt. In just one month, the appearance of the school land was completely new—he estimated that if the county were to do it, even if there was sufficient money and grain, and Magistrate Wu personally supervised it, it would not be done in half a year. As for the road under his feet, it was something he dared not even think about.

Not only did they dare to do it, but they were also able to do it. This point made Wang Ci feel sincere admiration.

“A scholar is useless!” This sentence suddenly flashed in his mind. Whether it was himself, Magistrate Wu, or anyone in the county with a scholarly title, who was not well-read and familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics? Why were there so many things that needed to be done in the county, and so many problems that needed to be solved, but they could never be done? Just the problem of the school land, it had been in his hands for seven or eight years, and he had thought about it over and over again but could not find a solution; as for the bandits and roads in the county, Magistrate Wu had repeatedly summoned the gentry to try to solve them, but they were not solved.

When the Australians came, it was as if a typhoon had blown, and in an instant, it blew all this away cleanly.

A pioneer of a new era. Wang Ci sighed. He had already foreseen that what the Australians were doing in Lingao would not be limited to Lingao.

Wang Ci also inquired about the internal affairs of the school farm. Lu Da said that the children of the tenants in the school land who were under 13 years old had been sent to school. The Australians provided food and lodging. Not only did they have three full meals a day, but also all the daily necessities such as clothes, quilts, and shoes were provided by them. The children basically just had to go with their mouths open.

“What?!” Wang Ci cried out in surprise. “They are running a school?”

This greatly stimulated Wang Ci’s nerves. As the highest leader of the education department of Lingao County in the Ming Dynasty, he was worried about the county school every day. These Australians had actually quietly set up a school—from Lu Da’s tone, it seemed that it was running very well!

“Yes,” Lu Da looked at him strangely. “Didn’t you know, sir? My two little monkeys have been studying for several months.”