Chapter 1401 Daqian Public School!

Surrounded by hundreds of children, Ye Mingsheng asked his first question.

"Children! Why do you come to school here?"

"There's food here! You can get free meals every day!"

"There's food here! My parents sent me here!"

These children all started chattering, and basically all of them said that they came here to study because there was food here. This answer was what Ye Mingsheng expected, but when he heard all of these children give this answer, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
However, feeling the children's desire for candy, Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and signaled Zhang Hu to distribute the candy to everyone. The children who received the candy immediately made a sound of surprise, then happily opened the wrapping paper and put the candy in their mouths.
Just then, amidst the noisy voices, Ye Mingsheng heard the answer he was expecting.

"There is food and drink here, and you can also learn to read and write here!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng immediately looked over and saw that the person who was speaking was a timid little boy. The boy's clothes were all patched and he was wearing a pair of straw sandals. At this moment, the little boy felt Ye Mingsheng's gaze and lowered his head timidly, not daring to look Ye Mingsheng in the face.

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng also took a piece of candy from Zhang Hu's hand, handed it to the little boy himself, then touched his head and asked with a smile:

"What's your name, kid?"

After the little boy received the candy, he seemed to feel Ye Mingsheng's kindness. He finally mustered up the courage to look up at Ye Mingsheng and said seriously:

"Zhang Shen!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and then warned:

"Remember your answer!"

After asking the first question, Ye Mingsheng asked the second question.

"What did you learn in public school?"

Because they had just received candy, the children were more enthusiastic about answering questions and answered:
"I learned to write my own name and my parents' names!"

"I have learned the multiplication table and can add, subtract, multiply and divide!"

"I can recite the Analects. Isn't it a pleasure to learn and practice it from time to time?"

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Hearing these answers, Ye Mingsheng felt a little comforted. No matter what the original intention of these children was to come to the public school, at least they learned something here, which would definitely be helpful to their future lives. These public schools that he had squeezed out money to establish had value and meaning.

Just when Ye Mingsheng wanted to continue asking questions, the class in the east classroom was over. Suddenly, the small playground was filled with students who were having get out of class. At the same time, the school supervisor Wang Hui and several children came to the playground carrying several large wooden barrels.

Seeing this, the children on the playground immediately gathered over. Supervisor Wang Hui carried a large iron spoon to serve food to everyone while shouting loudly:

"Line up! Everyone gets a share! Don't push!"

"Put the bowl back after you finish eating. Be careful not to break the bowl!"

Hearing Wang Hui's call, Ye Mingsheng also moved over curiously. He really wanted to know what meals the public school provided.

Soon Ye Mingsheng knew the answer. There were only two things in these wooden barrels, black steamed buns the size of a child's fist and porridge.

Ye Mingsheng was not surprised by this. Although Cui Shan used the word "simple" in a euphemistic way when introducing it to him just now, Ye Mingsheng knew very well that seventy taels of silver a year to support so many children must be very shabby, otherwise it would be impossible to support it at all...
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng came to Wang Hui, looked at the black steamed bun and porridge carefully, and then according to the configuration of those children, he also served himself a bowl of porridge, took a black steamed bun, and started eating while standing on the roadside.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng eating this, everyone present was very shocked. The county magistrate Cui Shan wanted to stop him immediately, but he didn't know how to start. He could only look at the scene in surprise.

After Ye Mingsheng took a bite of the black steamed bun, he felt choked and immediately drank a mouthful of porridge to wash it down.

After taking a bite, Ye Mingsheng looked at the food in his hand with some complicated feelings. It was not the first time he had eaten black steamed bun!
When fighting in the palace, as the commander of the imperial guards, he actually had white steamed buns to eat. However, in order to demonstrate his friendly image and create an image that he shared weal and woe with ordinary soldiers, he also ate black steamed buns a few times.

This kind of black steamed bun is made of coarse grain sorghum rice and is not ground finely enough, so it has a very rough texture and is difficult to swallow. At that time, Ye Mingsheng ate it in public a few times in order to build his own image, and he never ate it again.

After many years, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but recall the glorious days of the past. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng also imitated the children on the playground and soaked the black steamed bun in the porridge to let it absorb some of the moisture from the porridge.

Although it is called porridge, it is more accurate to say that it is rice soup. It may be an exaggeration to say that there are only a few rice grains in it, but there are indeed not many, which is better than nothing and serves as an embellishment.···················

Ye Mingsheng soaked the black steamed bun in the porridge and took another bite. This time, with the addition of porridge, the taste of the black steamed bun became softer and it was not so difficult to swallow.

Seeing the emperor Ye Mingsheng eating one bite after another, Cui Shan, Zhang Hu and others, whether voluntarily or not, followed Ye Mingsheng's example and took a meal from the public school to taste.

Members like Cui Shan and Zhang Hu were naturally not used to eating black steamed buns, which were the food of poor families. They looked embarrassed after taking the first bite, but in front of Ye Mingsheng, they could only grit their teeth and swallow it.

These adults could bear it, but the three princes who had always been well-dressed and well-fed could hardly bear it. The first one to take the black steamed bun and porridge was Jingcheng. This kid always loved eating, so when he saw his father eating the black steamed bun, he thought it was a good thing and immediately made himself a portion. However, he just took a bite of the black steamed bun and spit it out before chewing it carefully. However, this child still had a conscience and did not waste food by throwing away the remaining black steamed bun. Instead, he gave it to a student from the public school next door.

Although Jing Cheng looked down on the black steamed buns, the students of the public school regarded them as treasures. These students who were sent to the public school by their parents were all from the bottom of Daqian.

The reason why they come to the public school is largely for the afternoon meal. If they eat at the public school, they can eat one less meal at home, which can be regarded as saving some food for the family...

Now they are at the age of growing up, and their appetite is not small. Although the black steamed bun tastes rough, it is still edible after all. One black steamed bun and a bowl of porridge are not enough. Unfortunately, in order to control costs, the public school only has these for this meal. Therefore, it is naturally very good to have a second black steamed bun now.

Jingxuan was the second one to taste the black steamed bun. He performed better than his third brother. He ate half of the black steamed bun with porridge. But in the end he couldn't eat any more, so he followed his third brother's example and gave the remaining half of the black steamed bun to a public school student next to him.

Ye Mingsheng originally thought that Jingren was the same as Jingxuan, but what Ye Mingsheng didn't expect was that Jingren actually ate the entire black steamed bun with porridge.

After dinner, before it got dark, the public school was dismissed and the children went home in groups of three or five.

Ye Mingsheng also called the school supervisor Wang Hui and several other teachers to the classroom to understand the situation. From Wang Hui's introduction, Ye Mingsheng learned that according to the requirements of the Ministry of Rites, Baishou Public School mainly has six courses.

The first course was Chinese, and the teacher was the old scholar that Ye Mingsheng had just seen. His name was Xue Xishun, and he was a student of the previous Zhou Dynasty. When he was young, he was obsessed with the imperial examinations, but he always failed and did not achieve much.

In the second half of his life, he opened a private school to teach children to read and write for a living. However, because he only had the title of a student and his teaching was mediocre, he had only a few students and lived a very tight life.
Baishou Public School also had limited funds and could not offer teachers high salaries, so it was unable to attract high-level teachers. Therefore, it could only invite Mr. Xue to be a Chinese teacher to teach the children to read and write, and recite Confucian classics such as the Analects of Confucius.

The second subject was arithmetic. The teacher of this course was called Zhang Kai. He used to be an accountant. On weekdays, he taught students the multiplication table, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, as well as abacus according to the requirements of the Ministry of Rites.

The third course was history, taught by a legal advisor to the county magistrate Cui Shan. It mainly narrated some historical events of the past so that students could learn lessons from them.

The fourth course was geography, taught by Hong Daxing, the chief clerk of the county government. It mainly talked about the topography, mountains, and rivers of Baishou County and Youyan.

The fifth course is law, which is taught by the county government's Dianli and the head of the police in turn. It mainly talks about the Daqian law, and warns students to abide by the law. The law is not merciful and one cannot test the law!
The sixth course was physical education, taught in turn by several constables from the county government. The main thing was running as required, and doing horse stance exercises.

The teacher configuration for this course was ordinary, but it was also the result of the County Magistrate Cui Shan's best efforts, so Ye Mingsheng also affirmed Cui Shan's work, and then asked Wang Hui, the public school supervisor:

"Do you have any problems here that I need to solve for you?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Wang Hui's eyes immediately lit up and said:
"Master Ye, the biggest problem of our public school right now is that we lack everything. We lack books, abacus, tables..."

Ye Mingsheng heard this and said:

"I remember that when the public school was established, the Ministry of Rites approved a special fund to purchase books and other teaching aids. Didn't you in Baishou County receive these things?"

Wang Hui nodded and said:

"When the public school was first established, they did give us thirty books, ten tables, and twenty abacuses to use!"

"But we have hundreds of children here, and those things are just a drop in the bucket. Moreover, these things are consumables. These children are also very active, so after a few years, these things will almost be gone!"

After saying this, Wang Hui also said helplessly:

"Mr. Inspector, you have seen the situation of our public school. It is indeed very difficult!"

"Can you go back and talk to the officials in the Ministry of Rites and ask them to approve some more funds to buy us some books, abacus and tables. If we can also get some pens, ink, paper and inkstone, that would be great!"

"Although these children in the public school are a little poor, they are all good children who are loyal to the emperor and patriotic. When they grow up, they will definitely serve the court and His Majesty!"

Seeing the pleading look on Wang Hui's face, Ye Mingsheng nodded calmly and said:
"I will report what you said to the court!"

Wang Hui was also very surprised when he heard this, and immediately bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:

"Thank you, Inspector. You will definitely be rewarded..."

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While Ye Mingsheng was busy investigating the current educational situation of Daqian Public School in Baishou County, Ying'er in the Daqian Palace walked up to Murong Qingwu who had just finished her meal and reported in a low voice:
"My Lady! Ah Da was beaten up!"

Murong Qingwu couldn't help but frowned slightly after hearing this. A'da had worked for her for many years, so she was very clear about A'da's martial arts ability. In her opinion, looking at the world, A'da was already at the top of the personal martial arts world, and there were only a handful of people who could hurt him!
And most importantly, although Ying'er didn't say how seriously Ah Da was injured, Murong Qingwu knew very well that if it was just a minor injury, Ying'er would not report it to her.

Since Ying Er told me this, it means that Ah Da’s injury is definitely not a minor one. Thinking of this, Murong Qingwu asked in a deep voice:
"What's going on? Is it the Coordination Office or the Internal Security?"

"They are not the Internal Guards nor the Coordination Office, they are the Queen's men!"

"The Queen's men?" Murong Qingwu asked in surprise:
Under Murong Qingwu's puzzled gaze, Ying'er nodded helplessly. Seeing this, Murong Qingwu became even more confused. She knew the people under An Miaoyi very well. In her opinion, the people under An Miaoyi were all a group of mob!
Even Zhang Xinjian, the most capable fighter, could not last more than ten moves against Ada!
After sensing Murong Qingwu's surprise, Ying Er continued to explain:

“After San was killed by Zhang Xinjian last time, Da wanted to seek revenge on Zhang Xinjian. Zhang Xinjian took advantage of this incident and set a trap for Da. Zhang Xinjian, Zhao Yuan, the quick-shooter who was a doctor in the Ministry of Justice under An Miaoyi, and a mysterious master, the three of them ambushed Da…”