Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Shen Zheng had an idea.

She remembered that in her previous life, pinyin only became popular in modern times, and it was several decades later that schools officially began to use pinyin in teaching.

However, the results of teaching with pinyin are also particularly remarkable. After the efforts in the first ten years or so, we basically achieved unity in educational enlightenment.

The benefits of Chinese Pinyin are obvious.

For printing houses, if they annotate each movable type with pinyin and then arrange them in order, their typesetting efficiency can be greatly increased when selecting movable type for typesetting.

For the enlightenment of literacy - learning literacy with the help of the pinyin system can quickly enlighten people and also enable them to quickly master characters that they did not know before.

Finally, from the perspective of the Great Zhou Dynasty, to put it in a broader sense - any action taken by a country, as long as it involves the word "unification", will definitely be a big move.

The introduction of pinyin was equivalent to unifying the characters, correcting the pronunciation of various characters, and integrating hundreds of dialects in the Great Zhou Dynasty into a "Mandarin".

If this policy is implemented properly, it can greatly integrate the people from all over the Great Zhou and enhance national cohesion.

Language unification is also the foundation for a dynasty to last forever, isn’t it?

Although everything has two sides, with advantages and disadvantages, even the final unification of pinyin and characters in the past took decades.

But Shen Zheng wanted to try.

"Why haven't you spoken for so long?" Yu Shizhang saw that she was thinking seriously, and couldn't help but speak, "Thinking about how to start a competition? That's not easy, call Li Hongmao over and talk to him directly. After the movable type on the shelf is dried, start a competition at the county school and tell those boys that the top three will receive rewards."

"As for the reward for first place..." He picked up the brush on the table, rolled up his sleeve with his left hand, wrote with his right hand, and wrote the three big words "Yu Shizhang" on the straw paper in a very casual manner.

"Whoever gets first place will be rewarded with an inscription written by Ben himself."

Although the calligraphy written by Yu Shizhang himself cannot be said to be worth a thousand gold coins, it is still highly praised among literati and poets.

Judging from what happened on the day the plaque was unveiled at the county school, if those boys knew the news, wouldn't they be so happy that they wouldn't know which way is which?

"This..." Shen Zheng forced out a fake smile: "Are you going to take action now?"

Although his calligraphy is indeed rare, isn't it too high to use this spiritual encouragement as a reward...

"You girl! What do you mean by that?"

Yu Shizhang saw the expression on her face and immediately got furious. "It was you who said that my calligraphy is only found in heaven and it is an honor to look at it! It was you who used sweet words to trick me into coming to the printing house to write the inscription! It was you who now thinks my calligraphy is not worthy of being rewarded! So you were just trying to flatter me before?"

"I am innocent! My Lord, the judge is wise!" Shen Zheng quickly stood up and stepped forward, punching Yu Shizhang's shoulder with his fist.

"What I mean is that you are the Earl of Yongning. How can you use your calligraphy as a reward for such a small competition? Isn't it a loss of face? And, what do you want to..."

All kinds of nice words came out of her mouth as if they were free of charge, and finally calmed down Yu Shizhang's anger.

Diwu Tanwei showed admiration and secretly gave her a thumbs up.

There was clearly some disdain in what Lord Shen said just now, even she could hear it...

Yu Shizhang was obviously still a little unhappy, and pouted and said, "Then tell me, if we don't use Ben Bo's calligraphy as a reward, what should we use?"

He wanted to see what other tricks this girl Shen Zheng had up her sleeve.

This question really caught Shen Zheng's attention. She had only been thinking about the competition and pinyin, and had never thought about what the reward would be.

She laughed dryly and said, "You can reward the students with anything that is practical for them... pens, inkstones, various books, or just silver... that's not impossible, right?"

"There is one more thing!" Shen Zheng said, and then she thought of another idea: "For students, there is another huge expense."

"What's the cost?"

Diwu Tanwei thought for a moment and then asked, "Travel expenses for the exam?"

"That's right!" Shen Zheng snapped her fingers and sat back on the stone bench, saying, "Whether going to the mansion to take the exam or going to the capital to take the exam, the travel expenses and food and accommodation are all expensive expenses for the students. Even for ordinary families, it is simply unaffordable."

She was not lying. The more remote the area the students came from, the higher the cost would be for them to come to Beijing to take the exam.

First of all, travel expenses are a problem.

For example, if you set out from Tongan County, ride a horse at full speed on the official road, and change horses at every post station, it would take more than ten days to reach Shangjing.

Not to mention that the family backgrounds of most students could not be described as "superior". Those who had connections that allowed them to travel to Beijing by boat, and those whose families had money to rent or buy horse-drawn carriages, were the best choices.

As for students from slightly better-off families, they had to spend some money to rent a stubborn donkey, and then compete with the stubborn donkey in wits and courage, and pull the donkey all the way to Shangjing - old donkeys were not worth renting, not to mention their stubborn tempers, and if they died on the way, they would have to pay compensation.

To put it bluntly, if you don't pass the exam, you will have to pay for it when you come back...

The sky is falling.

Finally, there are students from poor families - their families have already spent all their savings on their studies, and passing the imperial examinations carries the hopes of the entire family.

After studying for several years or even more than ten years, wouldn’t it be a waste if you don’t take a trip to Beijing?

Therefore, most of these students have only two choices.

One is to bring some dry food and wait for passing caravans on the road. If you meet a kind caravan, you can do some work for them along the way and then follow them into Beijing.

But this depends on luck. A kind-hearted caravan may not necessarily go to Shangjing, and a caravan going to Shangjing may not necessarily have good intentions.

So there is only one worst option left - drive away a few months or even half a year in advance and walk all the way there.

The result of this method of entering Beijing is obvious. Having to sleep in the open air along the way and getting physically exhausted is no big deal. The biggest worry is encountering danger along the way and dying - this situation is not uncommon.

Thinking of this, Shen Zheng sighed.

The TV dramas in my previous life still beautified this matter. Not only could the poor scholar ride in a horse-drawn carriage when going to Beijing for the imperial examination, but he could also always save the daughters of rich or official families halfway through. Isn't this just a dream?

But now, the students in her Tongan County no longer have to suffer such hardships.

"The journey to the exam is very expensive, and now the Tongan Wharf is under construction, so I would like to use this as an additional reward for this competition. What do you think?"

Yu Shizhang groaned when he heard this, blew the foam in the teacup and said, "You are so thoughtful. It's true. If the biggest problem hasn't been solved yet, what's the use of my calligraphy?"

Shen Zheng's scalp tightened again when she heard this. "Don't say that. Your calligraphy is too valuable to them. So it won't be too late to reward them after they pass the imperial examination."