Can adding an education department make the people live a prosperous life? This is obviously impossible. Even if you are well-educated, you can't make a penny if you have nothing to do.

Next, Zhu Cijing continued: "To make the people live a prosperous life, learning alone is not enough, but also a way to make money. Learning skills must also be used to develop the skills. Therefore, business must be developed and merchants from the Ming Dynasty must be cultivated, so that the people will have more opportunities to make money."

This question seems very simple to say, but it is not that simple to do. Everyone present is full of solemn faces. How to develop business and cultivate merchants is really a big problem. No one here dares to answer the conversation.

Zhu Cijing also knew that it was difficult to find professional talents in this field at this time, at least it was difficult to find out among the people present. Maybe his mentor Xu Guangqi has this ability, but Xu Guangqi is so old, how dare he bother him again?

The candidate in his mind was Sun Quan, the eldest son of Sun Chengzong. After Sun Chengzong passed away, Sun Quan inherited the title of Duke Zhenguo. However, he had no requirements and stayed honestly in Duke Zhenguo's Mansion in Guanning and ignored anything. It would be a pity that such a loyal and honest person would not be used.

As Duke Zhenguo, Sun Quan must have enough prestige. In addition, he has the reputation of Jinshi, and the Sun family is in charge of the Royal Machinery Industry Group of the Ming Dynasty, and has rich experience in doing business. It should be no problem to let him take charge of business development.

However, Zhu Cijing did not directly present Sun Quan, but said with expectations: "Next, I am preparing to set up a business department to specialize in commercial development and the cultivation of Ming merchants. Have you volunteered to take on this burden?"

No one dared to answer this. The Ming Dynasty has always emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce. Although the business development of the Ming Dynasty has been very rapid in recent years, except for the Ministry of Revenue, other officials rarely pay attention to it. Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce are the lowest industries. Everyone here is the court official, so who would pay attention to it!

Cheng Guoxiang, the Minister of Revenue, had long said that he would divide the business area, so he naturally would not be able to contact him. Therefore, the entire venue was silent and no one dared to take on this burden.

Zhu Cijing had guessed this result a long time ago, and he pretended to be embarrassed and asked: "Are everyone interested in this errand?"

The answer to him was naturally silent, and the discussion was almost done here. There were enough yamen to form two equal six ministries at a time. If there were more, it would affect the operation of the court.

Zhu Cijing directly made the decision: "Okay, I will consider the candidate for the Minister of Commerce. Let's discuss it here today. We will discuss the additional departments in the future next time. Let's go back and work hard. Youxuan, please stay."

When everyone heard this, they quickly got up and left, leaving Huang Daozhou sitting there dizzyly, excited.

The second-rank Shangshu may not be so excited about him, but the functions of the Ministry of Education are at his heart. He is indeed a bit unreasonable to manage enlightenment education, skills education, imperial examination teaching and Chinese studies promotion. Now, it is better to be just a Shangshu, just right, and many things are much more convenient to do.

The reason why Zhu Cijiu stayed him was mainly to mention that he focused on skills education. The population of the Ming Dynasty now exceeded 200 million, and officials only survived by more than 100,000. To benefit the public, it mainly relied on skills education. If you still only focus on the imperial examination, it would be a misleading child.

There are more than 200 million people, at least 50 million people need education. If they all squeeze into the single-plank bridge of the imperial examination, 99% of the people will be squeezed down. What is the point of promoting education?

After everyone left, Zhu Cijing asked directly: "Youxuan, do you have any ideas about the newly formed Ministry of Education?"

Huang Daozhou was still dizzy at this moment, so he could only follow Zhu Cijiu's thinking: "Weichen is preparing to form four Qing officials to be in charge of enlightenment, skills, imperial examinations and promotion of Sinology."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cijing nodded and said, "Yeah, right, so where are you going to focus on?"

Is this still necessary to ask? Huang Daozhou said without hesitation: "Of course it is the imperial examination."

As expected, Zhu Cijing was not angry, but continued to ask: "How many people are you planning to train to participate in the imperial examination?"

Huang Daozhou roughly estimated it and said vaguely: "At least tens of millions of candidates should be trained."

Zhu Cijing continued to ask: "Do you know how many officials there are in the Ming Dynasty now?"

Huang Daozhou was stunned when he heard this. He really didn't know the specific number. He could only guess: "It's about 100,000."

Zhu Cijing nodded and said, "Well, what are you going to let the remaining nine million candidates do? Are you going to take the imperial examination directly until you die?"

Huang Daozhou really didn't think about this issue. He couldn't help but think about it when he heard this. Gradually, his face became increasingly ugly. Even if the scale of the imperial examination was expanded, the number of people who could get fame and fortune would definitely not exceed one million. Wouldn't the remaining nine million people be hung on the tree of the imperial examination? That's more than nine million people. I don't want to know it, but I was really shocked when I thought about it.

When Zhu Cijing saw his expression, he did not blame him, but taught: "It is nothing wrong to attach importance to the imperial examination. After all, the entire Ming Dynasty has to rely on officials selected from the imperial examination to manage it. However, there are only so many officials in the Ming Dynasty. No matter how many people train to take the imperial examination, the positions will not increase. Therefore, I think that cultivating one million excellent candidates is enough. The rest should be taught them practical skills so that they can become rich."

Huang Daozhou was struggling in his heart. In his original thought, studying was to get fame and serve the country, and everything else was not doing his job properly!

However, after so many years of personal experience, he also knew that officials only account for a very small part, and most people still have to rely on other things to make a living. They can't let nine million students waste their lives for the sake of the imperial examination.

He struggled in his mind for a long time, and finally faced the reality: "Thank you for your teaching. I understand that I will still focus on skill education in the future."

Zhu Cijing nodded with relief and said, "Yes, in the future, we must select appropriate talents based on elementary education and cultivate them to take the imperial examination, so others can only let them learn skills."

Huang Daozhou is not a fool. If he wants to talk about his IQ, he is naturally not low. He is the kind of person who can be easily understood. He directly suggested: "Prince, is it that a school is established in all the prefectures?"

Zhu Cijing shook his head and said, "No, not only in the prefecture, but all counties must establish schools, and they cannot only build one, nor can they only concentrate in the county town. They must be dispersed according to the population distribution."

When Huang Daozhou heard this, he was shocked and said, "Master, wouldn't that require a lot of money?"

No matter how poor you are, you can’t be poor in education. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty is not poor now. Zhu Cijiu said generously: "How much does it cost, please carefully calculate it, draw a memorial, and I will criticize it for you!"
Chapter completed!