Ball Ball Cultivation

"The climate here is pleasant, suitable for retirement, the land is fertile, it is spring all year round, the peach blossoms bloom for a month without fading, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, only the north is connected to a foreign tribe, let your uncle lead the troops to conquer it and incorporate it into the territory of Da Qi. You can also go out to sea to find a new continent. I have read a travel article that said there is a fairy mountain in the southeast of the island, which is tens of thousands of miles away! It is called Penglai Fairy Island! It sounds like a place as beautiful as a fairyland! I have never been interested in the throne, so I think it is better to be a free and easy prince and find a beautiful princess, to develop a base where I can have complete control, with pleasant scenery and a stable life until old age!" As he spoke, he shook the queen's hand.

"Alas, your brother the Crown Prince won't be able to enjoy this, but you can still inherit my will! But the prerequisite is that our Great Qi Kingdom must be stable and peaceful. If the Great Qi Kingdom is no longer our Xu family's, you will have to worry about being hunted down even if you hide on the island!"

Seeing the three fooled people, Qiuqiu felt a little proud. These plans were perfected based on many of Xu Jin's ideas. Qiuqiu was standing on the shoulders of giants, and many of the implemented plans were influenced by the imperial examination system!

Soon, an imperial decree was issued: 100 unmarried men and women under 20 and over 13 were to be selected from across the country to pray for the Emperor and Empress in the palace for 100 days. They must be from poor families, with good family backgrounds and good deeds, and able to independently copy the scriptures. The selection process was to be completed within one month, with the Ministry of Rites conducting the screening and the Imperial Guards overseeing the process.

This was a great opportunity for many students from poor families to meet the Emperor, and many people were vying for the spot. However, with the Jinyiwei supervising, no major incidents occurred. Qiuqiu took the opportunity to recruit nearly a hundred students from poor families who had been secretly trained by Xu Jin, as well as a dozen Dragon and Phoenix Guards.

Finally, they separated the dozen or so spies sent by the aristocratic families and began publicly copying Buddhist scriptures. Then, they added the clever servants of the Emperor, Crown Prince, Empress, and Prince Xiao to their ranks for secret instruction! Within a month, they taught them addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of Arabic numerals, the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, and translated Buddhist scriptures into phonetic alphabets. They also taught them new bookkeeping methods and the use of crop observation and recording forms. They also provided practical instruction on growing high-yield potatoes, sweet potatoes, and drought-resistant corn. Putting learning into practice!

Qiuqiu taught these to the Crown Prince, Empress, and Prince Xiao, allowing them to learn through practice and cultivate their prestige. As the Emperor, he would only appear when there was significant progress, and most of the time he was drugged and asleep.

The Crown Prince's abilities were undeniable, and Prince Xiao was truly a foodie, possessing a natural talent for numbers. He even took the various treats Qiuqiu mentioned with particular interest! The Empress had regained her vitality, her body, which hadn't made much progress after taking the detoxification medicine, had now fully recovered!

Three months passed in a flash. The hundred men's prayers were complete, and the Empress' health had improved, but the Emperor still suffered from intermittent comas. They announced: "The Emperor received a dream from the late Emperor, saying, 'My son is born weak, and he has great difficulty shouldering this heavy responsibility. He finds it difficult to take even a single step!' These two hundred men must be dispersed to the hundred most needy areas of the country. They must enroll ten thousand students on behalf of the Emperor, educating the people for free for a thousand days. Their meritorious service will bless the Emperor's health!"

Even the emperor's dream was mentioned, so no matter how strong the opposition was, it was useless! Moreover, these disciples of the emperor were not well-educated and were sent to remote and impoverished cities, so there was no need to worry at all. The spies he had planted didn't find any tricks.

Qiuqiu and the prince looked at the map and picked out one hundred places based on the local agriculture and cultural customs. The places strictly controlled by the aristocratic families were distributed to spies from the opposing families, and the areas where new grain planting needed to be promoted would be where the talents they liked were sent.

Li Dafu was a second-generation rich kid from the lowest social class. His family ran a cloth and dyeing mill. He'd come to join the ranks, hoping to meet the current emperor so he could brag to his friends about how lucky he must be to pray for him. He'd been a bright student since childhood, but when he grew up, he inherited his parents' profession and continued his business career. What good was his academic prowess? He wasn't from an aristocratic family, nor did he have a great scholar as his teacher or be recommended for officialdom. Gradually, his passion for books faded, and he delved into miscellaneous books. Unexpectedly, he became a disciple of the emperor. The teachings of the Crown Prince and Prince Xiao were truly concise and practical. I heard the Empress taught the same thing, even formalizing the accounting system!

Li Dafu was assigned to a large cotton and linen plantation, and needed to establish a college there to teach over a hundred peasant children free of charge. Zhu Li, who was with him, was also to teach a hundred free female students. They were accompanied by a Dragon Guard, a Phoenix Guard, and a eunuch.

Students were to be from farming families, primarily taught what they had learned in the palace, along with a bag of corn seeds, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. The palace training took just over three months to complete, and the remaining time involved teaching common characters, promoting new crops, and keeping records. Success would earn rewards from the emperor. Failure to implement these instructions, or even leaking them to those who shouldn't—such as enemy nations, unfriendly aristocratic families, or unscrupulous local landlords—led to the arrival of the Dragon and Phoenix Guards, who would be no pushovers.

Driven by a keen businessman's intuition, he approached the eunuchs and learned that these hundred people were also considered disciples of the Emperor. Over the next three years, their achievements would be evaluated, and the Emperor would hold an imperial examination to select a select group of talented individuals from among these ten thousand! Those who needed to study hard should continue to study hard. Female students could also take the examination to become court ladies, directly under the supervision of the Empress, which was considered a great achievement! Because the Empress was the daughter of a military commander, she was also proficient in horseback riding and archery, and she was very good at managing the household and directors!

During this dynasty, class divisions were clearly defined. Those from modestly wealthy families and those who cultivated and studied were taught to use the abacus and learn a few common characters. Officialdom was only possible through the recommendation of aristocratic families and the great scholars of the time! Those without these connections were destined for a life of relative obscurity, living comfortably as sons and inheriting their father's legacy. Eighteen-year-old Li Dafu saw hope for success. Leaving the capital for Linzhou County, he returned home with ten thousand taels of silver. As the only son of a wealthy second-generation, he saw hope for a chance at officialdom!

It was the eunuch Li Gonggong who gave the tip and provided the books needed to study for the imperial examinations.

After a two-week carriage ride, we arrived at the relatively prosperous Linzhou County. The county magistrate personally escorted us and even provided us with two large, interconnected courtyards near the county school, free of charge! One was a women's college, the other a men's college, with a public horse ranch. Best of all, there was even an open space in the back where we could grow the new grain we had brought!

Before the enrollment even began, many farmers brought their children to recommend themselves, saying they were supposed to teach the people on behalf of the emperor and become his disciples! As a major cotton and linen county, the textile industry was relatively developed, and women had the skills to weave, so women had a relatively high status, and many women still came to apply!