29. Western Books

Some wealthy families in the south would not only hire a teacher to teach elementary education, but also another teacher to teach classics and crafts. Read

М

Bailu Academy is a county school in the county, and only provides education for students in the county. The so-called students are usually called scholars. Therefore, other students are generally not admitted here.

Otherwise, with Mr. Zhu's knowledge, Bai Jiaxuan would definitely persuade his two sons to join Bailu Academy and listen to Mr. Zhu's teachings, and would never let Xu Xiucai teach...

However, with the invasion of foreigners into the Qing Dynasty, the Qing court was forced to make concessions on some systems.

Many old academies have been converted into schools.

For example, Guanzhong Academy, one of the four major academies in Guanzhong, was also the place where people became students who received stipends. Now it has been renamed the First Normal School of Qin Province. It not only recruits students, but also begins to add practical studies. However, those who study practical studies do not need to become students...

(Enter the Pan, "Book of Rites·Wangzhi": "The Imperial College is in the suburbs. The emperor calls it Biyong, and the princes call it Pan Palace." The name of the Imperial College has existed since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, but during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Imperial College was established as the highest institution of learning. Pan Palace was the local (prince) official school, so these students' enrollment is often called "entering the Pan."

Zishui County is poor and remote, and the new school has not yet been reformed, so Bailu Academy is still called Bailu Academy, and some non-students can be enrolled.

…

When Bai Jiaxuan left in a hurry just now, Bai Gui immediately realized that this should be the gift that Bai Jiaxuan went to buy to become a teacher. As Bai Jiaxuan is a person, he will definitely prepare a gift for them when he buys them.

They were not formally worshipping the master, but only wanted Mr. Zhu to teach them the art of making, so they only needed to buy some gifts, and did not need to prepare any additional gifts.

But...

Bai Gui had tasted the benefits of respecting the master.

If it were not for the comparison between his five liters of refined rice and five liters of brown rice, Xu Xiucai would not have been so impatient to cook for him even if he was loyal to the master.

For Xu Xiucai's status, five liters of refined rice was nothing, he did not lack this little food and clothing.

But what was lacking was respect.

"I suggest that with the money we have, we don't need to buy the most expensive gifts for the master, we can pick some pens, ink, paper, or books to give to the master, which is also a token of our own thoughts as disciples..."

Bai Gui swallowed a mouthful of noodles, sipped a mouthful of hot soup, and said.

"This is a good idea."

Several people agreed.

"I know what my uncle likes. When my dad comes back, we will go to the bookstore to pick something." Bai Xiaowen thought about it and took the opportunity to say that he was happy that his uncle was valued by his classmates.

After a while, Bai Jiaxuan, carrying a lot of bags, walked into the food store.

"What? You use your own money to pick some gifts for Mr. Zhu. This is good. You are worthy of being a good kid in our Bailu Village." Bai Jiaxuan smiled. Whether it was from the heart or not, it was good to realize this.

In everything, we judge by deeds, not by heart.

On the way to the bookstore.

After knowing that this was Bai Gui's idea, Bai Jiaxuan also praised Bai Gui a lot, thinking that he set a good example for them, and took out a snack for them to share.

Bai Gui went to the bookstore in Bailu Town several times to buy paper and pens. The bookstores in the town only have the most widely circulated Four Books and Five Classics, as well as Zhu Xi's "Four Books and Annotations". Some current affairs essays, as well as medical books are extremely scarce.

The bookstore in the county is called Wenchang Bookstore, and the gold-painted plaque is upright.

Standing at the door of the bookstore near the Confucian Temple, you can smell the incense in the Confucian Temple.

"Across this street to the west is the Shanxi Guild Hall, and the Shanxi Province is to our northeast." Bai Jiaxuan narrowed his eyes and glanced at the tall courtyard wall of the Shanxi Guild Hall, which stood out among a group of low buildings.

Looking at the surrounding buildings, the Shanxi Guild Hall must be the first to attract attention.

"Patriarch, do we have a Shanxi Guild Hall here?"

"I heard that Shanxi merchants are very good at doing business, and it is unlikely that they will open a guild hall here."

Bai Gui asked in confusion.

Shanxi merchants were not only famous in the late Ming Dynasty, but also in the late Qing Dynasty. Shanxi merchants relied on the control of the tea trade of the Qing Dynasty to sell tea to the Rakshasa Kingdom. This was another newly opened tea road after the Silk Road was cut off. During the Kangxi and Qianlong years, Shanxi merchants made a lot of money by selling tea, but with the signing of a series of traitorous treaties such as the Treaty of Aihui, the Qing Dynasty reduced tariffs on Russian merchants, and at the same time, the Siberian Railway was opened. In addition, the Qing Dynasty forced Shanxi merchants to donate apportionment silver. It can be said that the apportionment silver for the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom accounted for 37% of the merchants in Shanxi Province. Shanxi merchants donated more than two million taels of silver, which was seriously damaged...

By the Guangxu period, Shanxi merchants had become lonely.

In addition, Shanxi merchants and Shaanxi merchants have always had a good relationship, and new Shanxi and Shaanxi Guild Halls have been built in various places.

Bai Gui was puzzled that Zishui County was a barren place. If you want to open a Shanxi Guild Hall, it is more appropriate to go to Xi'an City. Of course, there must be a Shanxi Guild Hall in Xi'an City. He just wondered what the Shanxi Guild Hall was doing in Zishui County.

Business, he will also be involved in the future.

Among the most business-savvy people in each province, people from Shanxi Province are definitely in the top three.

"This... This is to collect silk and cloth from us."

Bai Jiaxuan laughed and refused to say more. He often went to the Shanxi Guild Hall, but since Mr. Zhu almost smashed the archway of Bailu Village, he stopped doing this business.

You must not tell the truth to the children.

Since Grandpa Lin banned smoking, although some people planted it, everyone knew that it was a disaster, ruining the fortune of the ancestors and affecting the next generation's business.

You should know that he planted this stuff at that time. After giving birth to Bai Xiaowen and Bai Xiaowu, Bai Wu gave birth to three boys and one girl at a rate of one child every year or two children every three years, but none of them escaped the bad luck of four sixes, that is, the four sixes wind, and the baby died. The process of the death of the four children was exactly the same. They started crying on the fourth day after they were born, and on the sixth day, they rolled their eyes and hung their eyeballs, and died!

It was not until she planted crops again that she gave birth to the third son, Niu Du, who escaped the four sixes wind.

"So that's it."

Although Bai Gui was curious and had some questions in his heart, it was not easy to go into details. What Bai Jiaxuan said was also reasonable. Shaanxi merchants have always been engaged in textile technology, which is quite famous throughout the country and has always been a pillar industry.

But his intuition told him that Bai Jiaxuan must be lying.

But he couldn't ask about it. Anyway, he was in Zishui County during this period, and there would always be a day to know.

Entered the bookstore.

The bookstores in the county are indeed more than twice as lavish as those in the town. They not only have a variety of quality four treasures for the study, among which the jade pens and inkstones carved from jade produced in abundance in Zishui County are the most exquisite and luxurious, but also the top-grade rice paper as white as snow.

In addition to these four treasures for the study, the other four books and five classics, historical books and picture albums are all available.

There is even a special section where translated foreign books are placed, including the current best-selling "Evolution and Ethics" by Huxley, translated by Yan Fu, "New Theory of the Whole Body" by the English physician He Xin, which talks about Western medicine, "Questions and Answers on Astronomy" by the missionary Habaand of Amiens, "A Brief Explanation of Re-learning" translated by Alexander Wylie and Wang Tao, "Outline of World History" translated by Yang Shu and Zhang Xiu, "The Principles of Chemistry" by the Frenchman Bi Li, and so on.