Chapter 702 14. What Happens After Primary School?
"School?"
The judges present here are not unfamiliar with this word, but they are a little surprised.
Shimotsuke Ashikaga School is doing well now. In the past, Kobayata gave the school hundreds of kan of school land for free in order to "invite" the teachers and students there to help Uesugi Kenshin succeed as Kanrei.
Now Kobayata said that he would open a primary school, and everyone can roughly understand what he meant. It is to train the children of the samurai. In the past, it was enough to have reckless men to fight for years. Now it is necessary to rule the country, so it is normal to need some literati who are proficient in writing.
"Simply teach a few hundred words, be able to read and write, and add and subtract a hundred or so." As for elementary school, it was not expected to be anything special.
"It is not bad to educate the descendants of the samurai." Yamauchi Shukei nodded.
"It would be great if we could train a few more koshin who can calculate and write! Hahahahahaha..." Kitabatake University is both a magistrate of the land and a general magistrate of the general, but it is too difficult for them to have too few koshin with culture. So now he made a joke, and everyone laughed.
"I'm afraid you think so too, Koyata." Uncle Tsunayoshi laughed.
As the Kanjo Bugyo and the person in charge of finance, Koyata has always been eager for accountants. These days, anyone who knows how to use an abacus can open an educational institution, which is a good skill to make a living.
"Your Highness's military fortune is prosperous, and his jurisdiction has been expanding again and again. In the future, he will always need some clerks to rule the world." Koyata admitted it frankly without any embarrassment.
Then let's discuss it. First of all, there is the issue of expenses. Since it is hosted by the Yamauchi family, it must be equivalent to only input, and the output cannot be returned in cash. Where does this money come from and how much it will cost.
This problem will not be too big. The Yamauchi family's financial blood-replenishing ability is much better than many current daimyo. Although it will be stretched if there is a real war, it has gradually begun to have the ability to take out short-term low-interest war loans, which is very stable.
Moreover, the main investment in the school in the early stage is the construction of school buildings, and there is no need for extravagance, and normal construction is enough. The land belongs to the Yamanouchi family for free.
Considering the huge territory, Kobayakawa Tai thought that according to the distance, a primary school should be set up in one county or several adjacent counties, and it should be set up in the direct territory of the Yamanouchi family. The boarding system is implemented, with eight days of classes and two days of rest at home every ten days.
In addition, there are holidays during spring plowing and autumn harvest. Ten-year-old boys are already half-laborers at this time. The lower-level samurai families also have to farm and need to take care of both. It is equivalent to replacing summer and winter vacations with spring and autumn vacations, which meets the requirements of agricultural production.
This is simple and easy to understand. Everyone was discussing, and Hosokawa Cainv asked if these children lived in school, they only needed to carry quilts and straw mats to school, attend classes during the day, and sleep on the floor at night. But how to solve the problem of eating? Let the children carry food to school by themselves?
Some people should have some memories of this. At that time, you had to carry rice from home to school, and then pay some vegetable money, and the school would provide meals.
This might be a burden for the lower-class samurai, and they would be less willing to send their children to school. After all, they had to carry 10 or 20 kilograms of food to school every month, whether it was wheat, barnyard grass or beans, they had to carry it out in real terms.
At home, they didn't need, or couldn't eat all the food. As long as they could eat, they would eat anything. In spring, those tender branches and buds were picked and cooked into paste.
Does the school provide meals?
Everyone was a little hesitant when they heard this question from Hosokawa Cainu. If meals were provided, it would mean that they would have to feed thousands of people for nine months a year. Although they were children, their appetite might only be half of that of adults, but it was still a considerable expense.
"From my daily expenses, I will spend 1,000 kan for the meals of the elementary school. My mother also has 15,000 kan of cosmetics and powder in Hachioji, and she is willing to give out 1,000 kan."
Ashikaga Yoshiaki did not discuss it with his mother, but saw that the people sitting under him were worried, so he took the initiative to speak. Xiu Zhini sat aside, and was surprised at first, but soon became approving.
If the sons and grandsons of the Yamanouchi samurai grew up eating the food of my beloved son Ashikaga Yoshiaki, they would definitely be grateful and loyal!
As long as it can establish prestige for her son, increase his bargaining chips for ruling the Yamanouchi family, and win over the hearts of the people, Xiu Zhini will support and allow it.
"Xia Ma is right! I can spend a thousand kan from my cosmetics to be used as food for the elementary school."
"Your Highness's kindness will never be forgotten by the Yamanouchi samurai!" Hosokawa Cainu took the lead and flattered loudly.
After all, he is the figure of a lord. The Yamanouchi family has no secret lords from generation to generation!
Xiao Pingtai sighed in his heart, and then began to ask everyone about the teachers. This is the most important point in running a school. Without teachers, nothing can be discussed.
"According to what you said, Koheita, a primary school only has a few hundred students, so about ten people will be enough, and a few servants will be hired to clean and cook. The gap is not very large..." Yamauchi counted on his fingers.
"Except for the special Fuchu Castle, there are about 6,000 hatamoto and regular soldiers under the castle, and the number of students may exceed 2,000. In other places and counties, the number of students is indeed only a few hundred."
"From the existing magistrates, we can select 30 to 50 people who are of the same mind, and the framework can be set up. The rest of the personnel can apply slowly. Anyway, the domain school will not be established in a day or two." Kitabatake University seems to be the kind of person who does not support religious forces entering education.
"Yes!"
"I think so too."
"Let's do it this way."
Everyone responded one after another, and temporarily spread out the stall.
"Since there is a primary school, is there a junior high school or a university?" Perhaps because her cultural level is not very high, Hosokawa Saijo seems to have a lot of ideas about running a school.
"Junior high school? University?"
"It doesn't seem necessary."
"If there are people with superior talents and both talent and knowledge, perhaps they can be deeply cultivated?" Hosokawa Saijo turned to Ashikaga Yoshiaki.
"Promote them as close relatives?" Ashikaga Yoshiaki's idea is very contemporary. If there are talented people among the Yamanouchi samurai, wouldn't it be better to bring them to my side?
"What Saijo said makes some sense. If there are really smart and good students, why not cultivate one or two."
"How to cultivate?"
"Isn't there a naval training school in Hamamatsu? Fuchu can also establish an infantry training school!"
"Naval and land training school?" Uncle Tsunayo looked at Kobayata, not quite understanding the meaning of this suggestion. Because these days, fighting is a skill, passed down from father to son, and it is really not open to teaching.
"Your Highness can be the principal, and the students can serve as the guards. They can learn to protect the enemy in peacetime and be very useful in war." Xiao Pingtai bowed to Ashikaga Yoshiaki.
"Very good!"