Not long ago, Shandong expanded its army again. As for how much it expanded, the court knew nothing about this. The spies sent by the Jinyiwei of the imperial court to Shandong were often found out.

This made Sun Chuanting a little doubted whether anyone among the Jinyiwei was bribed by Zhao Yan, but the Jinyiwei did not fall within his scope of intervention.

Therefore, Sun Chuanting sent his spies to Shandong to spy on military information.

As a result, when most of the spies were lost, Sun Chuanting really obtained some useful military intelligence. The spy entered Shandong by disguising himself as a merchant, and the result was extremely smooth and basically did not receive much investigation. Shandong attached great importance to business at this time and was welcomed by merchants from all over the country. It would be better to be able to engage in commercial activities in Shandong for a long time.

The reason why Sun Chuanting's spies were able to escape the defense line of the Intelligence Department was mainly because the Intelligence Department did not obtain intelligence. The Intelligence Department was mainly guarding against the spy of the Jinyiwei, so there was an inside line in the Jinyiwei. Most of the actions of the Jinyiwei could be understood, but Sun Chuanting was not in this range.

Furthermore, the spies sent by Sun Chuanting did not have a system of superiors and subordinates, and they did not know each other. Although some of them were captured by the intelligence department during the spy, there were still some fish that missed the net.

These fish that missed the net did not send too much information to Sun Chuanting, but it was very useful to Sun Chuanting.

Regarding the current military strength of the Shandong Army, no specific figures were found, but the spies found out that the Shandong Army had recruited a large-scale military force at the beginning of the year.

Take the village as an example. The spies visited hundreds of villages by selling goods. On average, about 1/5 of the young and strong people participated in the army in the three western prefectures. The number of soldiers in the three eastern prefectures even reached 2/5.

You should know that Shandong has a large agricultural population. Sun Chuanting calculated through the taxes paid by the East Three Prefectures the previous year that there were at least one million young and strong people in the East Three Prefectures conducting agricultural production.

According to this speculation, the number of Shandong troops has expanded to at least 500,000, while the imperial court has only 100,000, and the Shandong army has 5 times that of the imperial court.

At the same time, young and strong people in every village will practice regularly, so there is no need to spies to inquire about this, you can learn from the Shandong instructors who have been transferred.

In other words, once there is an emergency, Zhao Yan can arm hundreds of thousands of young and strong men to the battlefield at any time.

Originally, the imperial court trained 100,000 new troops, plus 50,000 Xuan soldiers and horses, and could form a 150,000 army. As a result, Lu Xiangsheng suddenly went to conquer Tufan.

This forced Sun Chuanting to pay attention to Shandong.

Lu Xiangsheng ignored the dispute between the royal family and Zhao Yan, and must have seen something. After all, Lu Xiangsheng and Zhao Yan have a very close relationship.

This sight really scared Sun Chuanting. With Zhao Yan's current strength, he was fully capable of carrying out the transformation, but he was obsessed with expanding his territory.

Moreover, after years of war, Shandong's production has been destroyed, and it has become stronger and stronger, which has forced Sun Chuanting to sigh at the strength of Zhao Yan.

He is indeed a wise ruler in the prosperous era.

However, the king's kindness was so great that Sun Chuanting took a different choice from Lu Xiangsheng. Lu Xiangsheng chose to escape, expand his territory and do the business he liked to do.

But once the battle starts, how should this battle be fought? But it is a worry that Sun Chuanting is not allowed to win. Once the two sides fight, the royal family has no chance of winning.

Therefore, Sun Chuanting believes that maintaining constitutionalism is the best way to preserve the royal family, the premise is whether the emperor can be settled. Once the emperor is restless, constitutionalism will be impossible.

Sun Chuanting wrote a letter to Lu Xiangsheng to discuss the current situation. However, Lu Xiangsheng's reply was unsolvable, and the current situation was irreversible.

It was precisely because Lu Xiangsheng saw Chongzhen preparing for his troops and looking ambitious that he completely left behind. Even though Chongzhen was unwilling to accept it, there was no way to talk about constitutional establishment.

At the same time, Lu Xiangsheng could completely see through the strength gap between the two sides. This was a war that Chongzhen was destined to be unable to win.

Shandong's system is so tight that it is simply impeccable. It is basically useless to deal with Zhao Yan with ordinary means. It is like luring Shandong generals to turn against each other. There is no possibility of success at all. The Shandong army has an unusual form, and the soldiers of the entire Shandong army only obey Zhao Yan's orders.

Moreover, the court cannot do the treatment of the Shandong army so generously. This is not a matter of money. There are many factors to consider.

For example, the court cannot do the logistics supply of the Shandong Army. Once the Shandong Army turns against each other, the loss of Shandong's supply will inevitably lead to a significant decline in combat effectiveness. After all, the court cannot create artillery shells, and even the military rations are not in line with the taste of Shandong soldiers.

At the same time, the Shandong Army's weapons are constantly being updated and its combat effectiveness is constantly improving. No general is so stupid that he leaves this group with unlimited future.

Sun Chuanting knew nothing about many things.

...In the capital, the Supreme Court's trial of Shanxi merchants has basically ended.

In this trial, a total of 39 people were sentenced to death, and more than 2,000 people were sentenced to life imprisonment to more than three years, and it was just a matter of the matter.

Those who were sentenced to death were the main culprits, while those who were sentenced to life imprisonment were the main family members of the main culprits. Others who were sentenced to more than ten years in prison had no circumstances but were related to the culprits.

There is no need to cut off the roots. After ten or eight years of imprisonment, you will basically have nothing after you come out. No normal people will think of any revenge.

After all, they committed the crime, and retaliation of Zhao Yan must be considered as the consequences that need to be borne. The less imprisonment is, the more distant the relationship between the main culprit, where will they retaliate against Zhao Yan when they come out.

Zhao Yan also wanted to start a massacre, and it would be almost done if the main culprit was cut off.

After the trial, the main culprit was immediately taken to the execution ground for firing. He was in the newspaper that day, and there were very few comments in the newspaper that support Shanxi merchants.

The era of Shanxi merchants is over.

The wealth of Shanxi merchants flowed into Zhao Yan's pocket, and the railways could be repaired and education would be carried out next year.

...In the scorching summer day, one semester of schools in Shandong ended, and the school gave students a month of summer vacation.

At the same time, nearly 50,000 students graduated from elementary school.

Shandong's school system is three years of primary school. Graduates have weak writing skills, but it is enough to let them become primary school teachers.

The more than 50,000 students were relatively old. These students were enrolled in the eighth year of Chongzhen. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, the education in the two Denglai Prefectures was only popularized to 12 to 16 years old, but the scale was relatively large, reaching more than 50,000.

More than 50,000 students rushed to Zhaojiabao from all over the country to attend the graduation ceremony.

In the square of Zhaojiabao, Zhao Yan and Shandong senior executives who were able to attend attended the graduation ceremony, which was very grand.

Zhao Yan looked at the energetic young men below and was very excited.

Finally, we have survived the most difficult stage. With the joining of these new forces, everything in the future will be much simpler.

On this day, at the call of Zhao Yan, nearly 30,000 graduates chose to enter the Normal College.

Although they only finished elementary school, they were old enough to be a teacher, and it was not difficult to teach in elementary school. The textbooks used by teachers were explained in detail, and graduated students passed the grades, so they just had to study in normal colleges.

It is much easier for these more than 30,000 primary school graduates to become teachers than those literati who receive Confucian education. Unlike those literati who have to read the knowledge of elementary school almost exactly before learning how to teach.

As long as these primary school graduates know how to teach, they can go directly to work.

...Zhang Wen is one of many students who choose to enter the Normal College. He is now eighteen years old. When he was fifteen, his father had decided to let him go out to learn some skills, maybe he was an apprentice in the military weapon bureau, or a plasterer, or a boatman.

However, at this time, the school was recruiting students, and he was recruited to school. The school’s day was the best place where Zhang Wen lived since he was a child. He didn’t have to work in the school, and the school was responsible for food and clothing, and there was also some small pocket money.

After studying for three years, Zhang Wen had good grades and had passed the ideological and quality performance, so he graduated successfully and was not resigned.

Originally, Zhang Wen planned to continue to study in middle school. Knowledge in Shandong represents wealth. Because knowledge itself can create wealth, this kind of knowledge is different from the traditional Confucianism. The knowledge that Shandong focuses on is more practical and only requires the ability to express words in words.

However, this graduation ceremony changed Zhang Wen's choice.

The general said that they were lucky and just happened to meet the implementation of compulsory education by the two prefectures of Denglai, but for the Han people, more children were unfortunate because they could not go to school.

At the graduation ceremony that day, the general said in a powerful voice: "We in Shandong are not short of money. Even if it costs a lot, we will save it if we tighten our belts so that every child can go to school. But we have no one, we don't have teachers, and the nation needs you."

This sentence instantly infected him and made him choose to go to the Normal College.

At the same time, the general also promised that after becoming primary school teachers, they still enjoy the right to receive compulsory education. If conditions do not allow, the Ministry of Education will issue self-study materials to them every month, and will try to open night schools, and also choose to study during the holidays. If conditions allow, they can choose to go to middle schools and universities.

In terms of salary, the monthly salary has been increased to three taels of silver per month, one syr of rice and wheat, and one tael of silver per month. This monthly salary is already the same as that of Private.

They can continue their studies by reading self-study materials, going to night school, and studying during the summer vacation. After passing the middle school graduation exam, they can choose to enter university or become middle school teachers.

The monthly salary of middle school teachers reaches 5 taels per month, and one stone of rice and wheat is comparable to the military salary of a non-commissioned officer.

This kind of self-study is relatively simple. You only need to study one subject to two subjects by yourself. The test papers are also given separately, and only one subject to two subjects are taken.

For example, if a primary school teacher chooses to study Chinese, then he will only teach Chinese after becoming a middle school teacher. If it is physics and chemistry, in addition to taking one of the subjects of physics and chemistry, the basic expression of Chinese must also be qualified.

In addition, teachers can also make some inventions and creations in schools, and each school will have complete facilities. After all, Shandong's current education method is to concentrate students. Each primary school has at least four or five thousand people, and the school's resources can be concentratedly built, not only perfect, but also better quality.

Such good treatment is very attractive to Zhang Wen. After all, he is already eighteen years old and a big boss must have some income and start a family and start a business. At the same time, this is also a sacred career.

Therefore, after the graduation ceremony, he immediately went to sign up.

...Zhao Yan was very satisfied with the registration results. More than 30,000 students entered the Normal College. The faculty of next year will not be a problem. At this moment, Zhao Yan has already grown up.

In the past, there was a shortage of talents. With his development model, a large number of educated talents must be needed, not only to use the army, but also to use scientific research, but also to use administrative management.

In addition to the official use, those factories and the like also need talents.

As long as these 30,000 students successfully exit the normal college, the scale of education can double, and there will be more graduates next year.

Education has entered the snowball stage, and this snowball will grow bigger and bigger, and will eventually popularize primary school education.

At the same time, Zhao Yan improved the treatment of teachers. Education is a sacred profession and should not be mixed with too many profit-seeking factors.

But this is a requirement for the upper class, not a requirement for teachers. The upper class should be willing to spend money so that teachers do not worry about money and allow them to maintain principles in some choices, rather than letting them lose principles for money because they are not rich.

After primary education is popularized, middle school education can be popularized. After secondary education is popularized, compulsory education can be increased and university education can be popularized.

There is still a long way to go in education.

But if this situation continues to develop, the staff provided in the future will be enough for Zhao Yan to need, and it can also supply people with popular education and culture to the public.

"The Ministry of Education will compile the self-study textbooks for middle schools as soon as possible, so that the explanations should be detailed, but they should be as concise and easy to understand as much as possible." Zhao Yan said to Song Yingxing.

"I understand." Song Yingxing nodded.

"In subjects like mathematics, physics, and chemistry, in addition to the standard self-study textbooks, each knowledge point can be taken out separately to write a book that can be as detailed as possible, and then printed and distributed." Zhao Yan continued to explain the details, and Song Yingxing rushed back to the Ministry of Education for a meeting.

According to the program issued by Zhao Yan, the Ministry of Education decided to comprehensively compile self-study textbooks, from primary school to middle school, and from university level.

Self-study textbooks are divided into two types: standard and detailed textbooks. Self-study people first look at the standard textbooks. If you don’t understand it, go to the detailed textbooks.

But even the standard textbooks are relatively detailed, with not only detailed text explanations, but also illustrations, but the detailed textbooks are as detailed as possible.

Standard textbooks and detailed textbooks will be sold in bookstores, and the selling price will be minimized. At the same time, standard textbooks will be distributed to teachers, soldiers and officials for free.

What Zhao Yan hopes is that more people can improve their cultural knowledge through self-study, not only the next generation, but also the contemporary.

Knowledge can often change a person's life.

(To be continued)
Chapter completed!