Ten years ago, the imperial court sent an imperial envoy to the south of the Yangtze River to investigate the salt industry, but eventually, they all returned without success. Now, whether Zhou Maohe could find something or not,  would depend on his own abilities.

Zheng Yi felt that Zhou Maohe should be able to find  something out. After all, compared to the previous imperial envoys, Zhou Maohe was much more courageous in picking up a fight.

After making the decision, Zheng Yi breathed a sigh of relief and simply found someone to send him to Hexi Village. He planned to talk with Jiang Zhen and tell him about Shen Anxin at the same time.

When Zheng Yi went to Hexi, Jiang Zhen was watching his men register  students in the newly built school hall.

Nearly all boys of the right age in Hexi were  here,  no one was left behind. Most of these children were illiterate, and their parents were also the same. Some could not even remember their full name, hence in the end, Jiang Ping had to keep going through the village’s family register next to them, to make the registration process go smoothly.

Jiang Zhen came over to take a look and found that the names of the people in this village were quite interesting and particularly simple. At the same time, he also found that there was not a single girl between these students.

He and Jiang Ping said that all age-appropriate children could come to study, but in the end, only boys came. Not to mention girls, there were not even gers.

Jiang Zhen was stunned, but not surprised. In modern times, the patriarchy would be criticized, but in this place, everyone  thinks that women and gers were inferior to men. Only men can carry the family line and support the family.

Jiang Zhen simply had no way to change other people’s way of thinking. 

Jiang Zhen took a look and saw some girls from the village standing not far away, looking at them enviously.

There were people in the village who were nice to their daughters and ger sons, but obviously, no one thought that women and gers should also go to school.

“A total of four classrooms have been built, and they are all quite big. But only with these children, there should be one classroom left . . .. I have some gers and women who sew clothes, weave, and do embroidery work for me. Find them and let the girls and gers from the village learn some crafts from them,“ Jiang Zhen suddenly said.

“Girls will learn too?“ Jiang Ping was a little surprised.

“Well, I’m going to open a ready-to-wear clothing store, so I will need to find someone to raise silkworms and weave cloth,“ Jiang Zhen said.

After Jiang Zhen brought the  women and gers whom he had rescued from the pirates to Hexi, he had asked these people to make clothes and paid them for it. The people of Hexi also knew about it.

Now, hearing Jiang Zhen say something about it . . . After his daughter learned how to make clothes, she might even be able to make money working for Jiang Zhen, which would be very good!

“Like boys, girls and gers between the ages of seven and fourteen can also sign up,“ Jiang Zhen said.

“These girls and boys are different. Families are basically counting on these teenage girls for all the work at home, and they have to take care of other people, so most of them can’t come out to study.“ Jiang Ping said to Jiang Zhen and then talked to the villagers.

Soon many girls and gers came to sign up. As Jiang Ping said, those thirteen or fourteen years old did not come, so most of them  who came were young.

Jiang Zhen didn’t care. He took the girls and gers and wanted to find someone who was literate to teach them from the women he saved from pirates. But after asking, he found that the women and gers who followed him to Hexi, their thinking were particularly rigid. 

They were simply unwilling to teach these children to read and write in public. That is to say, those who were willing to do so only read the four books geared for females at home and could only teach this.

Letting these women teach the girls of the village, he did not know what they would teach them in the end . . . Jiang Zhen thought about it and let Zhao Jinge teach them for the first two days. Anyway, Zhao Jinge was already  experienced.

When the villagers heard about it, they obviously had no problem with it.

Currently Zhao Jinge was definitely the most successful ger in the village . They all admire him very much and let him teach  their own children, which would be a good thing for their children. They were all from the same village, so things were done very quickly.  After a while, all of them were registered, and these children were   taken to the classrooms.

The village children seem to be aware of the need for discipline. They all sat straight  fearing that the people in the school would think they were misbehaving and would kick them out.

Their parents have said that if they were kicked out, they would be spanked! The boys were very well-behaved, but the girls and gers were even more obedient.

Zhao Jinge grew up in Hexi and knew the minds of these children, so it was much easier for him to communicate with them. But he had only taught others how to do math before,  after being put on the spot, he did not know what to teach first. He might as well teach them the numbers first.

“Jiang Zhen, didn’t you say you will teach these girls how to make clothes?“ Jiang Ping and some parents who were hanging around the school, saw this scene and  became a little confused. How could the girls be taught to recognize words?

Jiang Zhen was standing outside with Zhao Mingzhu in his arms, observing Zhao Jinge’s class.. after hearing their words, he said, “We can’t teach them to make clothes when they can’t even count the number of clothes they have to make , right?“

That was true. The people around nodded, after hearing his explanation.

Meanwhile, Jiang Zhen was thinking about going to Qingfeng House to borrow a few people to teach these children how to read . . . Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi have good knowledge, so if they  took turns teaching every few days, there should not be any problem. Of course, he also has to find a way to find a few suitable women and gers to teach long term.

Jiang Zhen was thinking about this matter when he saw Zheng Yi coming .

Zheng Yi looked at several classrooms with a thoughtful expression and was even a little surprised after finding that a group of girls and gers were sitting in one of the classrooms.

“Jiang Zhen, you are going to run a school?“ when he saw Jiang Zhen, Zheng Yi asked.

“Hmm.“ Jiang Zhen nodded. “I plan to train some manpower.“

“That’s a good idea,“ Zheng Yi said. The Zheng family would also train the children of their servants. If Jiang Zhen really wanted to expand his business, he really should train more manpower.

Since Zheng Yi came here especially,  he should also have something to say. Jiang Zhen simply took him to his study.

There were not many books in Jiang Zhen’s study, but they were all very practical. It was also obvious that he had read all of them. Zheng Yi glanced around and then said, “Jiang Zhen, I have already asked someone to do what you said before. But even if we stir the muddy water, in the end, no one knows if we can get our hands on  it.“ 

In the area of salt, not everyone can intervene . . .

“We just need to make some preparations early,“ Jiang Zhen said. In fact, what he valued was not salt but the vast ocean outside. However, in Hexing Prefecture, everything related to the sea could not bypass the Hongjiang Salt Farm.

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: Xiao Hua

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