Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 197 Knowing 'People'

Teng Yi looked up and found that he recognized the word.

A stroke on the left and a stroke on the right, isn't that the word "人"?

A word that couldn't be simpler. When Teng Yi saw this word, he couldn't help but guess in his heart that Yang Chen originally said that he would use Pinyin, a symbol he had never seen before, to educate. Now it seems that he wanted to start the education from the Three Character Classic: "Man is born good."

This is his subconscious perception.

Because when Teng Yi was young, he also started learning to read from the Three Character Classic.

To be precise, this is how most people came to be in the Ming Dynasty.

Listening, speaking, reading and writing rely on rote memorization.

This is why Teng Yi was confused and puzzled by Yang Chen's behavior. Logically speaking, the other party is so smart and should know the disadvantages of doing so. Why would he choose the old path?

Fortunately, Teng Yi did not ask the reason. Maybe if you listen more, you will know the answer.

In Yang Chen's classroom, many rough guys began to look around and scratch their heads. Some were eager to try, but did not dare. Some lowered their heads for fear of being called out, just like some students sitting in the back row in later generations, or trash can guardians.

For half a day, Yang Chen didn't say anything and just waited like that, except that he used the ruler in his hand to draw circles on the money from time to time.

They were not stupid and knew that Yang Chen was tempting them with money.

But, I just don’t understand, no matter how hard I try.

"You can discuss it and think it over."

Soon, the rough men's discussion began to sound.

"I think the word seems to be 'ru'. I used to work for a young master and I saw him say that with my own eyes."

"Bullshit! I think it's a person. I remember the account book in the military camp very clearly. This word is "person"!"

"Then why don't you tell me? You can get the money if you tell me."

"Me! I'm not sure either, otherwise how could it be your turn!"

"Tsk! You still don't recognize this word. You thought you were so powerful. You pretended to be able to stick a green onion through a pig's nose. Are you pretending to be so good?"

We are all uneducated people, and we speak our minds almost without hesitation. Yang Chen has nothing to be shy about.

He had seen chaotic scenes before, so this was nothing.

But in the next room, Zhu Yuanzhang heard the noise and couldn't help shaking his head and began to feel sad for Yang Chen.

"What we're saying is, is this kid too arrogant? They're in such a mess, can they understand and learn?
I had to calm down to learn to read in the beginning, but now this group of guys are more troublesome than the other. I'm afraid it will be difficult for this bastard to seduce them with money alone."

It's normal that I'm not gloating, but am genuinely worried about Yang Chen.

Facing everyone's discussion, Zhu Chong also wanted to say a few words.

Because he had witnessed Yang Chen's evaluation of the current culture with his own eyes.

The Ming Dynasty had been peaceful for a long time, but in terms of literacy, it was not even one-tenth of that of the Song Dynasty.

I vaguely remember that when the first imperial examination was held after the founding of the country, the top scorers from the south occupied the entire Ming Dynasty, while no one from the north passed the exam.

Later, after investigation, we found out that the north had been ruled by the Yuan Dynasty for too long, and only a small number of people could read, but being able to read does not mean that they can write.

The most terrifying thing about the Ming Dynasty’s literacy campaign was that the people could only speak but could not recognize words. Everyone could tell what was on a piece of paper, but they just didn’t know which word they were saying and could not match it at all.

It is normal for my father to be so anxious about this.

After all, the Ming Dynasty was built from ruins.

Compared with the economically developed Song Dynasty, where the literacy rate of the people reached 30%, the Ming Dynasty could not even reach 30%.

In such an atmosphere, the crowd who had originally been concerned about whether Yang Chen could come up with a good method to teach the rough guy to read and write began to worry again.

Some people even thought that Yang Chen might be deceiving them?

People who have such thoughts quickly shook their heads and threw away all the inappropriate thoughts.

What a joke! Unless Yang Chen didn't want to live, how could he possibly deceive Zhu Yuanzhang? Not to mention, everything that happened in Zhenjiang Prefecture was visible and tangible, so there was no deception.

On the podium, Yang Chen slowly picked up the cup of water on the table and took a sip of water. He seemed not to care about the discussion of the crowd. He was already accustomed to such things and had done it once some time ago.

Now that he is doing it again, he is now familiar with it and knows best how to teach.

While I was thinking, someone began to reach out.

Yang Chen looked over and found that it was a young man, probably in his teens, or twelve to be exact.

His name is Sanxi.

Yang Chen was deeply impressed by this boy.

At the beginning, he also followed the disaster victims to wander outside the gate of Zhenjiang Prefecture. Compared with other people of the same age, he was relatively mature and knew how to stay away from crowded places and avoid being in a dangerous space.

In order to survive, he even lied about his age, hoping to get a chance to work in a factory. His appearance here was just a coincidence.

Zhu Chong was originally resting well in the dormitory, but then he went to pick someone.

Just say there is a learning opportunity and it will be beneficial if you go. He is the most active among the young people.

He appeared in front of Zhu Chong in a flash and became the youngest among the young men.

He was also the one who said it was a 'person' just now.

Sitting in his seat, Sanxi did not argue with the other rough guys about what the word was, because he was rejected by others before he had even said two sentences.

This made Sanxi realize that it would be better for him not to get involved in this dispute as much as possible.

At the same time, he just glanced accidentally and suddenly saw Yang Chen's eyes were also staring at him, which made him feel a little worried at the moment.

Not knowing why this happened, he quickly turned his head to look elsewhere, but he was called out by Yang Chen again.

"Sanxi, please stand up and tell me why you thought this word was a person?"

The moment he opened his mouth, the whole room fell silent, and everyone looked at Sanxi who was huddled in the corner.

"Hey! Lord Yang is asking you a question! What are you standing there for? Hurry up and stand up and answer!"

"That's right, you are so lucky that you can be summoned by Lord Yang in person. Why don't you get up quickly!"

Faced with the continuous noises, Sanxi had to muster up his courage and carefully get his butt off the stool.

He plucked up his courage and explained in a mosquito-like voice:

"My mother used to be a wet nurse in a family of a wealthy man in Jiangnan. I grew up with the young master. When the young master went to private school, I would wait outside the door. I once heard the teacher point to the characters on the book and read the names, so I knew people."

This was also the first time that Yang Chen knew about Sanxi's background. He didn't expect that the other party had stayed in a wealthy family.

But he didn't know what happened to Sanxi's mother that she left him, and he didn't intend to find out. It was not a good thing to expose other people's scars.

"I see. Then do you know why I want to teach you this character?"

After getting permission, Sanxi sat down quickly, and it took him a while to calm his nervous heartbeat. It's not like he hasn't seen rich families before, as the man he lived with when he was a child was a local rich farmer.

It was just that some time ago, many wealthy people from the south of the Yangtze River appeared in Zhenjiang Prefecture. Sanxi clearly remembered that the man from his family bowed to a wealthy man in order to get his approval.

Unfortunately, the man from Sanxi's family was ignored.

Now, the once arrogant rich man can’t even rank in Zhenjiang Prefecture.

Sanxi had never been to school, but he knew that Censor Yang of Zhenjiang Prefecture was the ceiling above the most powerful person he had ever met.

He could only respond to this with the most diligent attitude, as no one knew what Mr. Yang's temper was like.

He heard about it from people around him, so Sanxi could only deal with it as if it were the worst case scenario.

"I know Sir Yang. I guess you want to teach us to recite the Three Character Classic, right?"

"Three Character Classic? So Lord Yang wants to teach us this. I can recite it. When I was a guard in a wealthy family, his children read it to us. I have heard it so many times that my ears are callused."

The originally quiet classroom became lively again in such an atmosphere, but Yang Chen was neither hurried nor slow, still maintaining his current actions.

"No, I don't want to teach you the Three Character Classic, I want to teach you how to read and write.

And today, I will begin to teach you about this ‘person’.”

As he spoke, Yang Chen began to add a few special symbols on the basis of the original character "人".

"rén".

He even mapped out a few sounds.

After it was finished, everyone looked at Yang Chen in confusion, wondering how could he write something that looked so ignorant?
Until Yang Chen continued to ask Sanxi.

"Lai Sanxi, can you tell me what human beings mean? What do humans represent in the world?"

Sanxi tried his best not to have a bitter smile on his face, but how could a child hide his emotions? A helpless look soon appeared on his face, making him look very funny.

The others were waiting for him, wanting to know how he would answer Yang Chen's question.

After standing up for a long time, he hesitated and said:
"Your Excellency, my former husband said that those who can eat and drink to their heart's content, sing and dance, and throw tantrums are human beings."

After he finished speaking, everyone around him nodded in approval.

On the other hand, Yang Chen said slowly:
"If you can eat and drink enough, sing and dance, and throw tantrums, you are a human being. Then let me ask you, you have experienced the life of refugees before, and many of you must have been hungry and knelt down to others for a meal. Now that you are full, you are human beings, but you were not human beings before?"

As soon as these words were spoken, confusion suddenly filled the hearts of the others.

After a moment, someone else bravely stood up and answered.

"That's right! Lord Yang is right. If you have enough to eat, you are a human being. If you don't eat well, you are not a human being. This is what my former master told us!"

The child who was speaking was very thin. Actually, he was not so thin that he was just skin and bones, but compared to other people, he was considered thin.

It can be vaguely seen that the reason why he has such a muscular body now is because of the food he has eaten recently.

If he leaves Zhenjiang Prefecture, I'm afraid his body functions will be completely exposed and shrunk, and he will become the skinny and bony person he used to be.

Yang Chen's eyes fell on him and he asked in a deep voice:

"Oh? Who taught you to think like that? If you can't eat well, you're not a human being?"

The thin man looked directly at Yang Chen, without any intention of avoiding him, and answered:

"Because when I was working for the landlords, they said that we workers were animals and that it was enough to just have a bite to eat. If we still wanted to live a good life, that was completely a pipe dream.

The landlord also said that those working in the fields were mules and horses, not upright people.

Not only did he think so, but others also began to agree.

"Yes, we are born to suffer hardships, how can we say that we are upright people? People like them who come from the military are still good, but what about us who were once refugees?

I was born naked, while others are born with luxurious clothes and food. The food I eat is probably not as valuable as the silk cloth used to wrap newborn babies in the mansion."

“Who says it’s not true? My family used to have land, but it was eventually taken away by the local county government and rich farmers at a very low price.

In the end I still have to work for other people. Do you think I am wronged?

We are all human beings with one mouth and two eyes, but why are we so different?

If you really count it, the lives of my entire family may not be as valuable as a fan in the eldest young master's hand.

There used to be a servant in the house next door to me who accidentally knocked the master's fan to the ground and was eventually beaten to death with a stick.

Human life is worthless, it should be like this.”

These words moved the people around who heard them.

Especially those military personnel who are in the same classroom.

They had thought about the hard life these refugees had led in the past, but they had never expected that they would know that their fate would be so tragic.

You must know that if you serve as a soldier in a garrison, you will at least have one and a half mu of land, and these lands will not be taken away, at least that was the case during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang.

It was precisely because of Zhu Yuanzhang's protection that the lives of the soldiers in the garrisons were guaranteed.

They didn't expect that the world beyond their sight was so cruel.

Especially the thin guy, who said that his previous life was so busy that he couldn’t appreciate everything around him. Now he understood, it seems that some people are born to endure so much suffering?

No one can give a direct answer.

Many people are busy for most of their lives, but in the end the money they earn is just enough to buy a meal for a rich young master or young lady.

At the moment, if it weren’t for the courage given by Yang Chen, they would still not dare to answer the question of western Zhejiang directly.

Whether it was Skinny or Sanxi, or anyone else, when they thought of their past sufferings, grief welled up in their hearts and they shed tears uncontrollably.

"So Lord Yang, are we considered human beings?"

The thin man wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and asked with a sob.

Yang Chen sighed, and finally looked at everyone with an extremely determined gaze.

"That's a good question, so now I'm going to tell you all!"

He paused, and finally said in a heavy voice:
"You are human! All of you are human! Whether you are the officials who have been in high positions for a long time, or us ordinary people who work hard in the fields, we are all human!"

After these words were spoken, everyone was stunned for a moment.

No one has ever told them that they can compare with the officials in the hall.

Many people have suffered different kinds of abuse since birth.

The landlords would even resort to any means to belittle them, but now, someone told them that all of them were human beings, seemingly ordinary people, but extraordinary people.

(End of this chapter)