Qing Yao

Chapter 184 Have I Become a Slave?
Yangzhou.

During Committee Member Zhao's "hospitalization," the examination work was fully overseen by Jiangsu Governor Fusong. With the joint efforts of all staff members of the Prefectural School, the last major event of the year for Yangzhou's education sector was successfully completed.

The exam results were very impressive. Yangzhou admitted 104 students, almost double the number from previous years, ranking second in the province, only behind Suzhou Prefecture in Jiangnan with 126 students.

Many students burst into tears of excitement after the exam, only to find out later that the professor's intensive exam preparation activity had paid off, accurately predicting the essay questions for this year's college entrance exam.

This further boosted the prestige of the principal, who was unable to attend the exams in person to cheer on the students due to "hospitalization."

It has increased by at least 20%.

The top scorer in the provincial examination was still Guan Ming, a "minor triple champion" appointed by the Yangzhou officialdom.

On that day, the governor reported to the court the good news that the Qing Dynasty had finally produced a Manchu "Little Three Scholars" since its founding. The only regret was that the "Little Three Scholars" did not emerge during the Emperor's birthday celebration, otherwise it would have been even more fitting.

When the Salt Administration learned that the Salt Commissioner's son had achieved the highest honors in the imperial examinations, the Salt Commissioner's office was filled with excitement, with a long line of people coming to congratulate him.

Lord Ah is very generous; he gives a minimum of ten taels of silver to anyone who comes to offer their congratulations.

As a result, the staff of the Salt Administration secretly mobilized their relatives and friends to fleece the Salt Administration officials.

Fortunately, Master Ah is a god of wealth and doesn't care about such small amounts of money.

His son becoming a "minor top scholar" could effectively solidify his position in the salt administration.

Although the number of admitted students increased significantly this year due to the special imperial examination, in the words of the governor, Yangzhou still achieved a high level and high quality in this year's examination. If this continues, Yangzhou may give the entire education sector a big shock next year in the provincial examination.

As soon as the results came out, Vice Principal Ma rushed to the principal's house to share the good news.

The principal is now able to sit in a chair to receive guests, but he can't sit too heavily or for too long.

I suffered quite a bit; I even had to stop having sex for several days. There was no other way; I couldn't stick my butt out.

She had to lie down to sleep, which broke Chunlan's heart.

The wife was unaware of her husband's accident; the couple kept it a secret, only saying that their grandson-in-law was busy with the imperial examinations and couldn't come home.

"They recorded 104, second in the entire province?"

Zhao An nodded in satisfaction. Although he hadn't managed to get first place in the province, second place was still good. He would try his best again in next year's provincial examination.

No one can get fat just by eating one bowl of rice.

Although there was some cheating involved in this provincial examination, the fact that the Yangzhou student admission rate broke records proves that his reforms at the prefectural school were successful.

This lays the foundation for the province-wide rollout of the policy on temporary enrollment next year, and can effectively refute officials who have doubts about temporary enrollment.

If it weren't for studying on a temporary basis, could Yangzhou have achieved such good results in the exam?
We must vigorously develop educational resources; we can't just sit on a money tree and not know how to make money from it.

"Everyone has seen what you've done for the academy, sir. Without your foresight..."

Vice Principal Ma attributed all of the school's great achievements to the principal's effective leadership, without mentioning his own contributions at all.

"You can't say that. A hero needs three helpers. What use would I be if I did it all by myself without your contributions?"

Zhao An smiled and gestured for Vice Principal Ma to sit down and talk.

“When the students do well on the exam, we, the officials in charge of education, are happy, and the students’ parents are happy too. So, you can take some money from the account and give each student who passes the exam twenty taels of silver, plus ten catties of pork, ten catties of mutton, a bag of flour, and a barrel of oil, so that the students can go home and have a good New Year. After the New Year, they can come back and focus on preparing for the provincial exam.”

At this point, Zhao An remembered something and hurriedly instructed Vice Principal Ma, "Students who didn't pass the exam should also be taken care of. We won't give them the money, but we'll give them the same things. They can try again next year. Confucius said that failure is the mother of success. We can't negate a student because of one or two failures."
Those of us in education must always remember one thing: as long as students are willing to pay tuition and as long as they are willing to study, neither we, as education officials nor teachers, can give up on them!

As I was speaking, I thought I should get up and stretch a bit.

"Yes, yes, sir, rest assured, the school's motto is to educate all without discrimination."

Vice Principal Ma nodded repeatedly. When he saw the principal having difficulty getting up, he quickly stepped forward to help him. At the same time, he wondered in his heart which book the sage had said that failure is the mother of success.
I need to go back and revisit the classics, otherwise I won't be able to keep up with the principal.

Zhao An quickly waved his hand, indicating that there was no need for such treatment. He was still young, and a few minor injuries were nothing to worry about.

After pacing around the room a few times, he asked Vice Principal Ma, "By the way, when does the Governor plan to go back?"

Zhao An planned to take some silver notes to pay a visit to the governor.

It's a rare treat for the Governor to come all this way. Although I've already chosen to side with the Grand Secretary, I don't want to cause any conflict with the Governor. I also hope that the Governor can understand my predicament and not make things difficult for me, this "sandwiched" person, in my work.

In order to successfully complete the tasks assigned by the Grand Secretary next year, Zhao An plans to present the Governor with a generous gift—the construction of school district housing.

Build residential complexes next to prestigious schools and renowned academies throughout the province, and then link these residences to students enrolling in these "famous schools."

In other words, if you want to study at a prestigious university, in addition to paying a transfer fee, you also have to buy these residences; otherwise, you won't be allowed to attend.

By truly revitalizing education, we can generate revenue for the Qing Dynasty's national treasury and the emperor's personal coffers. This method is definitely a quick way to make money, because in any dynasty in China, as long as it's not a chaotic era, parents all hope their children will become successful.

The saying "Of all professions, only studying is noble" is deeply ingrained in the Chinese psyche.

Vice Principal Ma said that after the provincial examination, the governor went to the prefectural government office, seemingly to discuss the canal with the prefect.

The impact of the canal's shutdown is growing, with thousands of boats forced to stop at both the north and south ends, and the negative impact on Yangzhou is also increasing.

Many merchants have already formed teams to file complaints against the canal gang at the prefectural government office.

Huang Juntai, representing the eight major salt merchants, requested the governor to mediate between the canal gangs and the canal transport authorities to restore traffic on the canal as soon as possible.

The Salt Administration has also sent people to Huai'an to contact the Grand Canal Administration, both hoping that the Grand Canal shutdown can be resolved peacefully, rather than the Grand Canal Administration taking strong measures that would escalate the situation.

After all, there are tens of thousands of canal workers in Yangzhou alone. If a real war breaks out, it is hard to say whether canal workers from other places will come to Yangzhou's aid, especially since there are as many as 100,000 canal workers in Huai'an.

Fu Song, the Jiangsu governor who was acting as the Viceroy of Liangjiang, was inclined to mediate between the two sides, because if the situation escalated to an irreversible point, not only would the Grand Canal Governor be in trouble, but he, the Jiangsu governor, would also be implicated.

Two years ago, several thousand members of the canal transport gangs from Fengzhong and Zhongshan surrounded the government office of the grain transport route for five days. At one point, rumors of a canal transport gang rebellion spread. He Yucheng, the former governor of Anhui, was so frightened that he stepped in to coordinate a wage increase for the canal transport workers, and the incident was finally quelled.

Why did He Yucheng dare not take strong measures to disperse the canal gang?

It was because they were worried about forcing the canal workers to rebel and causing a major disaster in the area.

Fu Song is now facing a situation almost identical to that of He Yucheng, who died on his way to Beijing to celebrate his grandfather's birthday.

Anyone with a modicum of rationality wouldn't want things to escalate.

The problem was that the Grand Canal Administration was still at odds with the canal workers, probably because of "face" reasons. Just when the provincial examination was being held in Yangzhou, the Grand Canal Governor Guan Ganzhen, upon hearing reports from his subordinates, once again dispatched two battalions of canal guards to forcibly "open up" the canal.

As a result, a fierce battle broke out between the soldiers and the canal workers in the Gaoyou section. More than a thousand canal soldiers equipped with weapons were driven back by more than three thousand canal workers wielding bamboo poles. Both sides suffered casualties in the incident.

Five people died on the canal boat side, while more than a dozen were injured on the canal boat side.

It was obvious that the grain transport units under the jurisdiction of the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner were no match for the grain transport workers. Therefore, the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner Guan Ganzhen had to mobilize the Green Standard Army troops stationed in Yangzhou and Huai'an to help suppress the grain transport workers.

But this requires the approval of Jiangsu Governor Fu Song.

Fu Song would certainly not send troops to suppress the rebellion; he would only symbolically request the Yangzhou prefect to negotiate with the canal workers to "restore" the canal or allow some merchant ships to pass.

Ding Jiu, who was directing the operation on behalf of Zhao An, refused to agree and insisted that the canal transport authorities settle the outstanding freight charges before he would "go to work".

On the surface, the canal gangs would never admit that they deliberately "paralyzed" the canal.

Zhao An emphasized this point to Ding Jiu again and again: everything was an accident.

Seeing that the canal gang insisted on getting money from the canal transport government, Prefect Fang was helpless. At this time, his subordinate, Ding Chengen, the magistrate of Ganquan County, stepped forward and said that he was willing to go to Huai'an to negotiate with the canal transport government on behalf of the canal gang.

Prefect Fang was naturally eager for this opportunity.

Old Ding set off for Huai'an yesterday, having visited Zhao'an beforehand.

Zhao An also submitted a memorial to the old master as an observer. In the memorial, he did not mention that he had been beaten. He only said that the canal transport office owed the canal workers transportation fees and failed to pay them, which caused the canal workers to have no money to celebrate the New Year. He put all the responsibility for the canal interruption on the canal transport office.

"Could you find out when the governor is leaving? Also, could you use public funds to buy me some presentable gifts so I can pay him a visit?"

While Zhao An was making arrangements, Instructor Tong arrived, looking travel-worn, with another person.

He is Manager Shi of Hengli Money Shop.

"Lord Zhao, congratulations! News has come from the capital that the Emperor has granted you the title of Bondservant of the Imperial Household Department. From now on, you are one of our people!"

Shopkeeper Shi was genuinely happy for Committee Member Zhao, because from now on, Committee Member Zhao would truly be one of their own.

"A bondservant of the Imperial Household Department, from the Chinese?"

Zhao An stood there, stunned. Where did this ID card come from?

"grown ups?"

Vice Principal Ma thought the principal was overjoyed. Not knowing who Manager Shi was, he took out a few taels of silver as usual and stuffed them into the man's hand as "good news money."

Instructor Tong was also all smiles. The principal had been registered as a bondservant by the Imperial Household Department, which meant his future would be much smoother.

The bondservantes were a rank higher than the Han officials.

Shopkeeper Shi was also taken aback for a moment, but he smiled and accepted the money for the good news. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Committee Member Zhao spit out a "pui" and curse, "Damn it, have I become a slave?"

(End of this chapter)