Four large tiled houses form a huge courtyard, which is the school in Taoyuan County. Behind this courtyard, a moon door leads to rows of wing rooms, which is the dormitory of the school students.

"Taoyuan County is different from other prefectures and counties. If there are too few people, there are even fewer dolls. So we gather all the children here, and the primary and secondary schools are put together." Ben Kuan explained: "Some children are too far away from home, so we provide accommodation here."

Cao Yun stared at the school with clear and clean windows, and looked better than the buildings of some government offices that he had just passed by. Through the window, he could see that the children who were reading and writing were all wearing uniform clothes. Some houses were chanting, some were writing, and some were actually fiddling with some objects. Although there were books, they were different from the reading that Cao Yun imagined.

"What are they?" he asked, pointing to the children in the house. The children in the house are already half-old. In Qi State, children like this in ordinary families are half-labor.

"Oh, that's right. All children of the age must read the law of our Ming Dynasty, but reading still requires some talent. Some of them have finished school, which is not a material for reading, so they learn something else, mainly to teach them some living skills, which is also a way out for them." Ben Kuan smiled and said, "Now, our Ming Dynasty scholars, craftsmen, and doctors, their biggest hobby is to edit their own knowledge into books and teach the world, so these children are not worried that there is nothing to learn."

Cao Yun was silent for a while and said, "The secrets of those craftsmen are their foundation. Are they willing to make it public?"

"Why don't you want to make it public?" Ben Kuan said: "In the Ming Dynasty, there will be no disciples who will teach you to starve the master. It will be a dead end to cherish it. If a technology is disclosed, more people will learn it, and then they will propose better improvement plans to make this technology more mature. In this regard, our Ming Dynasty has tasted the sweetness. The Ming Dynasty has rewarded those who have disclosed their secret skills, and the Ming Dynasty is even more rewarding. This is also a way to gain access to our Ming Dynasty!"

"Li is this kind of liberty, but it is not easy to do it!" Cao Yun couldn't help but feel a little sigh, thinking of the bad things in Da Qi. Some things that were taken for granted in the Ming Dynasty, but now it doesn't work in Da Qi.

"It's hard to start!" Ben Kuan said: "When our Ming Dynasty implemented this policy, there was a lot of resistance, but wasn't it done? In our Ming Dynasty, if children of appropriate age were not sent to school, the tax would be heavier. This law was originally entangled with the Political Affairs Hall for a long time before it was promulgated." Ben Kuan said: "Old Xiao is so old that he can't stand it in front of all the Political Affairs Halls! After a few years of implementation, he is now trying to send children to school. It is easier for children who go out of the school to find things and pay higher."

"It costs a lot to bear a child to go to school, right?" Cao Yun asked.

"Elementary schools are not expensive, they are all raised by local governments, and middle schools start charging fees. However, for ordinary Ming families, this is not a problem at all. Of course, there are problems like our Taoyuan County, but the court has subsidies for places like our Taoyuan County, and can barely support them." Ben Kuan said.

"What a huge expense!" Cao Yun frowned slightly. Maybe a primary school student won't use much, but it's probably a terrifying number to put it across the country.

"So, our Ming Dynasty government is the poorest, and we are often in debt, and the court is even more so. Our emperor often says that we are the poorest emperor in history." Ben Kuan laughed: "But now it's better, and many wealthy merchants have also begun to donate money to places like the school, which is also a considerable income."

"The poorest emperor ever!" Cao Yun murmured.

"Yes, the poorest emperor, our emperor has no own manor or property. The eunuchs and maids in the palace are pitifully few. Every year, they receive their own salary from the Ministry of Revenue. When Old Man Su was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he would deduct it at any time. After Geng Jingming took office, His Majesty the Emperor asked him to raise his salary because he could hardly even get the rewards he gave to his ministers on weekdays!" Ben Kuan laughed loudly, looking a little gloating.

"Are you kidding?" Cao Yun couldn't help laughing. In the world, could it be the king's land, the shores of the land, or the king's ministers? How could Qin Feng have such a large empire? The centralization of the Ming Dynasty was even more than that of Daqi. Will he be poor? Of course, Cao Yun didn't believe it.

"I'm not joking." Ben Kuan said seriously: "Last year during the Chinese New Year, the ministers ordered the wives to go to the palace to celebrate the New Year to His Majesty. The emperor gave a reward. Everyone took it home and saw that many of the small items were from Chu State and were dowry by the Empress. After conquering Qin this year, our Majesty seriously proposed to raise salaries, because when the country was in a tight financial situation in the past, His Majesty's wealth was lent to the Ministry of Revenue, but after the incident, Old Man Su did not pay it back. He thought that His Majesty had the entire Ming Dynasty and there was no need to repay it. Later, Geng Jingming took office, because this matter was done by his ex, and he didn't know it and refused to repay it. His Majesty had no choice but to ask for a raise salary."

Cao Yun couldn't help but speechless. If the court officials of the Ming Dynasty disrespect the emperor, Qin Feng obeyed the orders in the Ming Dynasty, and everyone was convinced. However, in this way, he opposed the emperor, which made the emperor extremely embarrassed.

"I wonder what the original salary of the emperor of your country was?"

"One hundred thousand taels!" Ben Kuan said, "It sounds a lot, but the royal family spends more money, so, our Emperor, life is always tight."

Is it a lot of 100,000 taels? For an ordinary citizen, this is indeed an astronomical figure, but for an emperor, this little money seems insignificant. The Emperor of Daqi owns his own manor and his own business. He only makes millions of taels per year, and one-tenth of the tax revenue of Daqi will be included in the emperor's inner treasury. Therefore, the emperor of Daqi was actually the biggest rich man in Daqi. But by the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was not as good as a minister. At least Cao Yun spent more than 100,000 taels of silver every year.

Is the Ming Dynasty not rich? Surely not. The Ming Dynasty's army is the most luxuriously equipped among the entire army. The soldiers are paid to the world. They can exempt the people from labor service and significantly reduce the people's taxes. They can provide the little kids with free opportunities to study. They promote water conservancy across the country and build roads and bridges, but the emperor lives so tightly.

This may be the different concepts that Qin Feng mentioned, which will inevitably have different horizons, match different actions, pay different costs, and ultimately lead to different endings. It is precisely because of such a self-restrained emperor that the Ming Dynasty is now prosperous.

But can the Emperor of Daqi do all this Qin Feng can do? Cao Yun shook his head, let alone His Majesty the Emperor, even himself, how can he do this?

Thinking of this, he looked at the thin and small county magistrate beside him. He was not old, but his face was full of wind and frost. His hands were thick and thick. The reason why a scholar had such a pair of hands was probably that he often participated in certain things that required labor. He had only heard of Ma Xiangnan doing everything himself before, but today he saw another one.

Cao Yun was very worried that he was not afraid of one or several such officials in the Ming Dynasty. What he feared the most was a common state of the Ming Dynasty officials, which was too bad for Da Qi.

But would it be surprising if there was such an emperor who had an official like Ma Xiangnan Benkuan under his command?

He suddenly felt that this trip was really right. If he didn't come in person, how could he see these situations from the information collected by the spies?

While thinking, a bell suddenly rang out of the yard. In an instant, groups of children, big or small, surged out of the houses, formed an orderly team in the open space in the middle of the yard. Several veterans walked out of another room and stood in front of the children.

In front of each group of children, a child was making loud orders and tidying up the team, which was exactly like in the army. With the sound of orders, a horizontal and vertical team was soon arranged neatly in the yard.

Only then did a few veterans come forward and start to fist with the children in a stern manner.

"A child of such a young man also needs military training?" Cao Yun stared at these dolls, his eyes filled with shock.

"Where is military training?" Ben Kuan smiled and said, "It is just that in the spare time, let the children train their bodies. Reading can make polite, but these can be used to exercise. Only with a healthy body can they have no worries in the future!"
Chapter completed!