Chapter 68 Re-entering the County
The last time Su Ze came to Nanping County in early April, he came with Lin Xianyang to pay the fine for fighting with weapons.
Today is April 15th, which is the day agreed with Hai Rui to go to the county school in the middle of the month.
After Su Ze used an article "The Story of Yueyang Tower" to dissuade Hai Rui from resigning last time, he immediately began to reform Nanping County School.
There are a total of three schools in Nanping County, two official and one private. Yanping Academy is a private school, but it has produced the most outstanding students and is famous throughout Fujian. Scholars from other counties will go to Yanping Academy to study. The mountain leader Chen Moqun is also well-known in Fujian. Great Confucian, although this monarch did not hold an official position, he was also a Jinshi. It is said that he was the same age as Xu Ge, the current second minister in the cabinet.
Yanping Prefecture is located at the foot of the West Mountain outside Nanping City. The funding for the prefectural school is more abundant than that of the county school, and it is open to all scholars in the prefecture. In recent years, five people have been successful in the examination, which can be regarded as a prosperous academic atmosphere.
This is the only school in Nanping County. The rich scholars all go to Yanping Academy, and those from average families find ways to go to the government schools. Before Hai Rui came, most of the junior students didn't even come to study, and they only received salary in name.
When Hai Rui rectified the county school, these students were afraid that they would not pass the national examination and would be deprived of their qualifications as students by Hai Rui, so they voluntarily left the county school.
Hai Rui used the money he had freed up as a junior student and added his own salary to finally build a county exam training class for local children from poor families.
On the 1st, 2nd, 15th and 16th of each month, students come to the county school to read and answer questions. The county school pays for writing and ink writing expenses and provides accommodation and meals. It also gives these poor scholars a place to exchange reading experiences.
Hai Rui donated all of his salary. His salary was meager for his humble teaching. If Hai Rui's mother and wife hadn't come with him to take up the post, and still stayed in their hometown in Hainan to farm, Hai Rui would have been able to support himself by doing so. No home.
In order to subsidize the county school, Hai Rui also reclaimed three acres of wasteland behind the county school. A dignified teacher from the county actually grew his own food, which became the biggest news in Nanping County recently.
Chen Moqun, the headmaster of Yanping Academy, criticized this very much, thinking that Hai Rui insulted the elegance of scholars.
However, Hai Rui didn't care about the outside world's evaluation at all, and still went his own way, farming and teaching at the same time.
Students like Zhou Xiucai who stayed in the county school soon discovered that Hai Jiaoyu was indeed serious and responsible in class.
The previous edicts all used this position as a stepping stone. They only touched upon it briefly and then moved on to serve as officials elsewhere.
They had no interest in teaching in county schools, and one professor never even gave lectures to county students.
Although Hai Rui was only a candidate, it was enough to guide these talents. Zhou Xiucai also felt that he had made great progress these days and was no longer afraid of the upcoming national examination.
It's just that the poor scholars in Nanping County all have a wait-and-see attitude towards Hai Rui's training class.
The news that Hai Rui refused to kneel down to welcome the new prefect had spread in the county. Some scholars were afraid that the prefect would hate Hai Rui and harm them.
After all, the relationship between teachers and students is still very close. If you take Hai Rui's class, you will be regarded as his student. It would be too bad if the prefect gets angry.
In addition, Yanping Academy itself also has a work-study program. Local talented students from poor families who do not have the money to study at Nanping Academy can also be admitted to Nanping Academy for free. After enrolling, they can work for the academy to earn money to support themselves.
Therefore, in the past half month, Hai Rui, including Su Ze, had only recruited four children from poor families who were willing to study.
Hai Rui was not discouraged by this result.
Su Ze had a guide from the Changning Guards and a document issued by the county school. When he entered the city, he was not exploited by the city's tax collectors.
The county school reported in the afternoon that it was not yet noon, so Su Ze first came to the candy shop where he bought candy last time.
The short boss still held the bamboo stick and drove away the insects flying around the candy.
Seeing Su Ze enter the door, the boss put down the bamboo stick in his hand and greeted him warmly.
"My dear husband, how do you like the candy you bought last time? The shop is honest and honest. It is authentic Fujian and Guangzhou brown sugar." Unexpectedly, in the past half month, this store owner still remembered Su Ze.
Su Ze said: "It's authentic. I don't know what the store's surname is."
"Even if your surname is Ruan, my husband is still here to buy candy?"
Su Ze smiled slightly and said, "No, shopkeeper Ruan, I'm here to sell candy. "
Selling candy?"
The shopkeeper looked at Su Ze with squinted eyes, only to see Su Ze unpacking the baggage he was carrying, opening the baggage to reveal the white sugar he had just made.
"Icing sugar!"
The shopkeeper hurriedly stepped forward, but when he saw Su Ze's white sugar, he shook his head and said, "This is not icing sugar. It turns out to be ground rock sugar."
Su Ze asked, "Isn't this just icing sugar?"
The shopkeeper said He shook his head and said: "The icing is as light as dust, as fine as frost, and as white as snow. It's not like you."
Su Ze then understood that the icing in this era refers to the kind of "sugar powder" in later generations.
This is formed when the sugary foam that precipitates on the surface dries when sugar is boiled. It is not actually sweet in taste, but it is highly sought after by literati and doctors because of its whiteness and flawlessness. They believe that eating this sugar can make you a noble person.
Especially after the rise of Xinxue, those literati often talked about "enlightenment" and even developed a set of diet recipes for understanding the way of Xinxue, which was as outrageous as the qigong masters who were dancing around with demons in those days.
The white sugar made by grinding crystallized rock sugar yourself is not the icing sugar that Fuzhou Prefecture can sell for a sky-high price.
Su Ze asked: "Shopkeeper Ruan, how much are you willing to pay for this pack of rock sugar?"
The shopkeeper calculated that, generally speaking, the price of this kind of ground rock sugar is not as good as Fuqing rock sugar, but Su Ze's white sugar is dense and white in color. It's slightly yellow, but it's of high quality.
The rock sugar of this era is not the single crystal rock sugar of later generations, but the yellowed old rock sugar. Su Ze's bag of crushed sugar is even better than the ones sold in the store.
Shopkeeper Ruan looked at the scholar Su Ze's dress. He was tall and majestic, and wanted to have a good relationship, so he said, "How about one pound or two of silver?" Although the price in his heart was not as good as Su Ze's expectation, it was still worth it
. Since what you are making is not icing sugar, and the cost of making a pound of white sugar is less than three cents, you can make four times the profit.
Nowadays, there are many places to spend money, so this time it is better to cash out as soon as possible, so Su Ze said:
"I have twenty kilograms here, and the price is twenty-six taels of silver, how about it?"
Shopkeeper Ruan calculated it, and found that the sugar is of good quality and should be sold. After going out, he nodded and said: "Then it's a deal!"
After inspecting and weighing the goods, shopkeeper Ruan took out the silver, and Su Ze finally pocketed the largest amount of money since time travel.
Su Ze was almost in tears when he thought of his fellow time travellers, who were willing to make big deals worth millions of dollars every time they opened their mouths. Why was it so difficult to make money these days!
With the courtesy of shopkeeper Ruan, Su Ze left the sugar shop. He bought a piece of Hu biscuit on the street to satisfy his hunger, and then walked directly to the county school.
(End of chapter)