My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 313: Real Cattle and Horses
In order to realize the idea of ​​combining the steam engine and the electromagnetic generator, Li Min selected a group of people from the school and industrial institute who were responsible for researching and improving the steam engine to specifically study the steam generator.

Steam generator was the name he gave to the generator he conceived.

This group of researchers he selected, like other students, started from scratch, listened to the lectures of the teacher in the video, and mastered the most basic knowledge of mathematics and physics.

So, these researchers appointed by Li Min began to study together with other trained teachers.

At the same time, the first batch of new schools were established in Yingtian Prefecture and the surrounding areas of Jiangnan and Huainan.

The new schools, including primary and secondary schools, all followed the standards set by Zhu Yuanzhang based on Li Han's suggestions. Primary schools had a five-year system, while secondary schools had a four-year system.

This standard was set after detailed discussions between Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Min, Yang Siyi, Wu Daoxing and others, taking into full consideration the actual situation of the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Children start to start school at the age of six. After finishing primary school, they are eleven years old and have basic literacy and arithmetic. If their family is in financial difficulty and cannot afford it, they can go out to work and help the family earn money.

You know, after nearly a hundred years of turmoil in the Yuan court, very few Han people have ever been to school. Even now, in the sixteenth year of the Ming Dynasty, the number of literate people is still very small. It is considered good if twenty out of a hundred people can read.

This was the case in Yingtian Prefecture and the wealthy areas of the south of the Yangtze River. If it were in remote areas such as Shuzhong, Yunnan and Qian, there would be even fewer people who could read.

As for the four years of middle school, students can study natural sciences such as physics and chemistry, as well as some basic technical training. After four years of study, at the age of fifteen, they will be skilled workers that the Ming Dynasty urgently needs. If they cannot continue their studies, they can directly enter the factory and engage in labor production.

Of course, since it takes nine years to complete the entire process from primary school to middle school graduation, in order to cope with the emergency, middle schools also recruit students from private schools or literate teenagers of appropriate age. As long as primary school and middle school can be effectively connected, they can enter the regular system.

As for universities, there are currently only two in the entire Ming Dynasty, namely Imperial College London and Ming Normal University.

In the absence of high school students, the only option was to recruit students from the public. The conditions for admission were much stricter than when the Beijing Academy of Artisans was first established.

The two universities are mainly for aspiring young people who need further studies in factories, as well as students in local academies, or people who have certain skills and can read and write. They have to pass assessments before they can be admitted.

It was impossible to establish new schools throughout the Ming Dynasty all at once. Zhu Yuanzhang knew that was unrealistic. Moreover, all new schools were official schools, and the Ministry of Revenue did not have that much money, so it could only be done step by step.

What no one expected was that when the new school started recruiting students, the people were excited.

As long as the family is really hard-pressed, everyone wants to send their children to school.

All of a sudden, the gates of Yingtian Prefecture’s ten primary schools and five middle schools were crowded with people, and every household wanted to send their children to school.

The same situation also occurred in the Jiangnan and Huainan areas. The popularity of the new learning not only stunned the reformers, but also stunned the conservatives.

In fact, the people's minds are very simple and plain. Entering the new school to study can help them learn faster and have a good outcome. Compared with studying for ten years or even a lifetime of studying for the imperial examinations but still not being able to pass the exams and win a title, the new school is obviously much more practical.

After nine years of schooling, children could enter factories and receive government subsidies. These were tangible benefits. Moreover, once they entered university, they would become officials, with a higher status than the candidates who passed the imperial examinations. Even the scholars were not as good as them. Many rural children were sent here by their families just to enter the university and have a good family background.

Witnessing the booming enrollment scene with his own eyes, Yang Siyi couldn't help but wonder if the tuition fee was set too low and whether it should be higher.

At the same time, the construction of the first railway project in the Ming Dynasty was also proceeding in an orderly manner, and the prisoners of war rarely caused trouble since they were reorganized.

After nearly 100,000 laborers were effectively organized, their work efficiency was greatly improved. Coupled with the temptation of performance, many prisoners of war worked very hard.

As for national hatred and family feuds, at this moment, they have almost disappeared. After all, in front of a piece of meat, those intangible things are nothing.

If you perform well, the food provided by the Ming Dynasty is better than what you ate when you were a soldier in Annan.
Even the officials of the Ming Dynasty were considerate enough to provide white wine and frosted sugar to those with high performance ratings. They had never even seen such precious things when they were in Annan.

Sometimes they even had the illusion that they were not captured because of a failed battle, but came to the Ming Dynasty to work and enjoy themselves.

Some people even want to stay in Ming Dynasty forever, if for no other reason than that they can have enough food and drink by working here. How can they have such a good life in Annan?

If I had known that the Ming Dynasty was so good, why would I risk my life for Li Jisun? It would have been better to surrender early on. It's a pity that so many brothers died on the battlefield. Humph, it was all because of that bastard Li Jisun!

In order to stay and make a living, many people began to secretly learn the official language of the Ming Dynasty.

And recently, the officials organized a group of people with the highest performance appraisals to watch something called a movie. They didn’t understand what a movie was, but since it was a reward for the best performers, it should be some rare good thing.

However, when the people who had watched the movie came back, in the eyes of the other captives, they were all absent-minded, some looked infatuated, and some were fascinated, as if they had had an extremely wonderful dream.

Did the official take them to a brothel?

Under the questioning of other prisoners, these prisoners finally woke up as if from a dream, and then proudly told others what they had seen and heard.

As for the other captives, listening to their stories, it was as if they were listening to a fairy tale. It was simply unbelievable that there was such a magical sight in the world.

The people in the painting can move and talk, and there is also a steam engine. I can’t understand the steam engine, but the people in the painting can move and talk. Isn’t this a monster?

But after hearing what they said, the other captives became even more curious. They really wanted to see such a wonderful sight!
Novel news like this spread more and more widely, and within half a day, the entire prisoner camp knew that there was a magical thing called movies, and if you did your job well, you could go and see it.

So in order to see the movie, the captives began to work harder, which made the Ming Dynasty supervisors wonder if they were crazy.

I asked you to work hard, but I didn't ask you to work so hard. Do you really treat yourselves like beasts of burden?
(End of this chapter)