Great Zhou Empress

From the moment he became the Son of Heaven, Xue Zhijing began to feel that his shoulders suddenly became heavy.

Thousands of miles of rivers and mountains and 8000 million people were pressed on her like a substance, and she became the pillar of this vast land in an instant. From then on, her every move, every breath, and every breath will be connected with the entire national destiny. She must be cautious and walk on eggshells.

The status of a leader brings not only glory, but also responsibility and commitment.

She spent a long time thinking about what kind of dynasty she wanted to build.

Xiao Liege often saw her sitting on the promenade outside Jianzhang Palace in the study and living room, as if she was relaxing.

Several large palaces such as Jianzhang Palace are built with loess as their foundations, and long strips of stones are built, which are several feet higher than the surrounding palaces.

Sitting on the promenade of such a high palace, you will naturally have a wide view, which is especially suitable for emptying.

Xiao Liege would also take a tray, put a pot of tea and a stack of snacks on it, and come over to sit with her for a while.

"I want to be a compulsory education."

"?" Xiao Liege looked puzzled.

Xue Zhijing picked up the snack and took a bite. When he thought about it, the blood supply to his brain was insufficient. This snack came just in time.

After living in the palace, Xue Zhijing just asked people to clean it up, and at the same time let Shenjiying guard the palace tightly. As for the number of palace people inside the palace, there was no increase. Everything in the palace remained the same, and even most of the harem The area is locked, and there are not so many people living anyway.

Xue Zhijing felt that she and Xiao Liege lived in the palace now, more than 200 palace people, no matter what, it was enough.

As for eunuchs, let alone, the appearance of eunuchs was basically invented by the male emperor because he was worried that the children born in the harem would not be his own, so he naturally didn't need them.Moreover, it is best not to do such a thing that harms the human body in the future.

No matter where Xue Zhijing was, he didn't want anyone to follow him.Therefore, the current imperial palace is very casual, unlike the previous palace, which had many rules and complex structures.

As for danger?

The Shenji Battalion of thousands of people surrounded the palace tightly. If there is any danger, what can the few maids around you do?

Xue Zhijing stuffed the snack into his mouth, took another sip of tea, and then said, "Compulsory education means that children must come to receive education. The current education is basically voluntary education, and each family will have ethnology, or each family will be educated. There will be some private schools built by old scholars in the township, and they will provide children with enlightenment education. Then when the children grow up, they can go to study in academies established by some famous scholars, or go to my current Royal Comprehensive University to study.”

Xiao Liege nodded, expressing that he knew.

"Under such circumstances, only those children from families with leisure and wealth can get education. About one out of a hundred people can be counted as one person. In this [-]% probability, most of them can only read roughly, after all The teaching ability of teachers is uneven, and among them, only [-]% of them can try to take the imperial examination, and the imperial examination is also one in a hundred."

Xue Zhijing said, looking into the distance, "I want to popularize basic education for children across the country. All school-age children must participate in it. The age is between five and 12 years old. However, it will cost a lot of money. I did a preliminary calculation. At most It can support three years of compulsory education. That is to say, if compulsory and free elementary education for children is universal, I can only force children between the ages of five and 12 to study in school for three years."

However, Xiao Liege asked strangely, "Is it necessary? What's the point of everyone having to study for three years? Literacy has always been the privilege of nobles and important servants. Nobles need to govern the country, and noble servants need Help the nobles manage their property. But for those with a large number of people, such as the herdsmen of the Liao Kingdom and the farmers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, they don’t need to read and write, so what do they learn to do?”

Xue Zhijing smiled, stretched out his index finger and tapped her forehead, "You, thinking is still limited, but let's not discuss this, let's use words you can understand. Since Cangjie created characters in ancient times, the thinking of predecessors There is a carrier for culture and culture. We no longer need to record history in the way of singing. We can learn from the experience accumulated by our predecessors from the text, and then stand on their experience to continuously expand the boundaries of knowledge and culture. To Now, after many improvements in papermaking and printing techniques, it has been possible to reach the level where the plays rehearsed today can be printed in large quantities tomorrow for more people to see.”

"But these carriers are so easy to display knowledge and culture, but very few people can understand it, what a contradiction." Xue Zhijing spread his hands and sighed, "All those amazingly talented people are all People who have read poetry and books, they have achieved such achievements by standing on the shoulders of their predecessors. The Great Zhou Dynasty had a population of 8000 million, and more than [-]% of them were illiterate. No matter how talented they are Isn't it a pity that I can't show my talents in my whole life?"

"People are the most important resource of a dynasty, what a pity to waste it. If there were three years of compulsory education, the worst among them would be able to understand the edicts issued by the imperial court and the newspapers printed by Lichun Court. The better ones can do some ordinary jobs, and even make these ordinary jobs more efficient. The better ones may be able to go to the Royal Comprehensive University. By then, the university campus that can accommodate hundreds of thousands of students is estimated to be full. gone."

Xiao Liege looked at Xue Zhijing's excited face, and poured cold water on her, "But, do you know how much this free three-year compulsory education costs? Well, I finally know why you are so money-hungry Yes, there are too many places to spend."

"Yeah, I got a lot of money. Not to mention anything else, those teachers have to be supported by the imperial court." Xue Zhijing stood up and smiled, "But I've made up my mind, I'm going to add a little income to the imperial court. The profit will be used as a special fund for education, and if the fund increases in the future, maybe the three-year compulsory education can be increased to four or five years."

Soon, Xiao Liege knew what Xue Zhijing meant by making a living.

What?The feces of the whole city have been brought back to the country?The poor will be recruited to form a excrement team, and each household will pay a monthly cleaning fee. The excrement team will go to each household every three or five days to empty the excrement pits, and then transport them outside the city to sell them to farmers outside the city. farmers and vegetable growers.

The water supply of the whole city has also been brought back to the country?The water supply is divided into daily water and hot water, one price for daily water and one price for hot water, and the water supply team supplies water throughout the city every day.

Fuel is also nationalized?

Xiao Liege felt that Xue Zhijing of her family really had a different mind than ordinary people.

How did she keep these trivial matters in her mind?

Especially when she followed Xue Zhijing to a mine outside the city, this feeling reached its peak.

When he took her there, Xue Zhijing told her that he was going to an interesting place, but it turned out to be a coal mine.

Xiao Liege said strangely, "There is quite a lot of charcoal in our Liao country, but it is rarely used in other places except Nanjing City. It is more convenient to burn firewood, saving time and effort."

Xue Zhijing held a piece of charcoal in her hand, it was so black that her hands were already dirty, she smiled and said, "There is no way, Dazhou has a large population, most of the plains need to be developed into farmland, and there are very few forests. Yes, but people need fire in their daily life, so what to do, this is a substitute.”

Coal is coal.

"The palace and the nobles use charcoal, which is made of wood. The charcoal is smokeless, long-lasting, and some have a fragrance. The charcoal has smoke and dirty hands, but it is already like the city of Bianjing. The most convenient fuel available to urban dwellers.”

The mine the two came to was an underground shaft with a wide mouth, and there was a strange large iron machine at the mouth of the well, which was making noise and emitting black smoke.

When the two of them approached with a group of guards, a person came out from behind the large machine. She seemed to be in her early twenties, wearing a colorless cloth, her hair was wrapped, and her face was dark.

Xiao Liege thought it was a boy, but when the other party spoke, it was a female voice.

"His Majesty!"

Xue Zhijing greeted her with a smile, "Gong Xuyang, how are you?"

With that said, Xue Zhijing turned his head and introduced to Xiao Liege, "This is Gong Xuyang, a student of Ayila's engineering school, and her technical ability is not inferior to Ayila's. This steam engine was improved by her reproduction."

Xiao Liege nodded, looked at the so-called "steam engine", and didn't understand what was going on for a while.

Xue Zhijing introduced to Gong Xuyang, "This is Mr. Xiao, she leads a polo team at the Royal Comprehensive University, but you probably haven't seen it before."

"Mr. Xiao, hello!"

"Hello."

Xiao Liege felt a little weird, although this Gong Xuyang spoke more politely, she seemed to be afraid of meeting people, her eyes were always dodging, and when she spoke, her right hand was placed beside her, and her fingers were trembling constantly.

"Let's go down into the well and have a look." Xue Zhijing said to Xiao Liege with a smile.

Xiao Liege naturally had no objection.

A tall shed was built at the wide mouth of the well to keep out the rain, and beside it was the weird "steam engine", and then a huge cage-like thing was hoisted up, and the thing that lifted the cage was actually a "steam engine".

Seeing Xiao Liege's strange expression, Xue Zhijing explained, "In the beginning, there was only one blueprint for this steam engine, which was bought by Ayila from a big food merchant. A prosperous country in the west of Dashigen. I went to the Engineering College some time ago and found that Gong Xuyang was actually in the laboratory and reproduced the steam engine on this blueprint. I immediately gave her a sum of money. Let the good steel and charcoal be supplied to her, no, it can be used.”

"What's the use of this?"

The country further west that Xue Zhijing mentioned was ancient Greece, and the world's first steam engine was invented by a mathematician in ancient Greece.

Someone opened the door of that cage, Xue Zhijing smiled and said to Xiao Liege, "Come on, let's ride the first steam elevator of this era with me."

With some uneasiness about the unknown, Xiao Liege stepped into the rickety cage with Xue Zhijing. She looked up and saw that there were many thick ropes hanging from the top of the cage, and those ropes were wrapped around a large iron cage on the top. The iron rod is connected to the steam engine.

Xue Zhijing, Xiao Liege, Gong Xuyang and two guards stood in the cage.

Xue Zhijing was laughing, Gong Xuyang was expressionless, and the two guards seemed relatively calm, if their trembling hands were ignored.And the one who looked the most terrified was Xiao Liege, almost as soon as the cage moved, she would grab the guardrail next to the cage and hold on tightly.

Xue Zhijing pressed her hand and comforted, "It's okay, this steam lift has been used for a while, and it has always been safe."

Xiao Liege looked at the bottom, there was a black hole, and it seemed that there was faint light shining through it. He didn't know how deep it was, so he swallowed his saliva, "Well, I seem to be a little afraid of heights."

Xue Zhijing: "..."

Coal was shoveled into the bottom of the steam engine, the flames were blazing, and the inside of the machine was rumbling, driving a ball inside to roll, and through a mechanical connection, it drove the iron rod with the rope to rotate, and the cages that everyone sat on creaked. It began to descend crunchingly.

Xue Zhijing embraced Xiao Liege's shoulder with one hand, and held her hand with the other, trying to comfort her, Xiao Liege held her hand back, tightly...

Xue Zhijing's expression remained unchanged, and he whispered in her ear, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."

Xiao Liege seemed to be really scared, his voice trembled, "The more I shake it, the more scared I feel."

"It will arrive soon. It's really all right. The shaking is normal."

It was the first time Xue Zhijing knew that her princess Raging Fire was afraid of heights.

But yes, there are no high-rise buildings in this era, the tallest is three floors, and people can't feel the height at all. Many people rarely face heights, and naturally feel fear.The two guards didn't look very calm either.

Thinking about it, Xiao Liege didn't climb mountains very much on weekdays.

The mine shaft is more than ten feet deep, and it will soon end.

The bottom was naturally wet and muddy. When the lift was opened to go out, Xue Zhijing helped Xiao Liege thoughtfully. Xiao Liege was probably a little arrogant, not wanting to look so weak, so he deliberately shook off her hand.

The bottom of the shaft is quite spacious, and there are four tunnels around it. The tunnels are all framed with wooden slats, oil lamps are hung, and there are some wheelbarrows and some other items around them.

In the distance, the sound of knocking and beating can be heard deep in the tunnel.

"Your Majesty, Mr. Xiao, I'm digging here today, and I'll take you to see it." Gong Xuyang is not so mellow socially, he walks ahead and takes a few people there, expressing everything in a rather rigid manner.

But Xue Zhijing didn't take it seriously, occasionally asked Gong Xuyang something, but she couldn't answer, and didn't care much.

The tunnel was stuffy and the lights were dim, Xue Zhijing turned around and held Xiao Liege's hand, this time she didn't deliberately shake it away, Xue Zhijing smiled at her and blinked his eyes.

Soon, they reached the end of the tunnel, where many miners were working.

They tapped the coal with a very primitive hammer, then put it into a frame, and pushed it away with a wheelbarrow. If there was water, they put it in a bucket and pushed it away with a cart.When they reach the tunnel wells, they are all pulled to the ground with steam engines.

Xue Zhijing asked Gong Xuyang about the daily output of this mine, and Gong Xuyang accurately recited yesterday's output, the day before yesterday's output, and the day before yesterday's output...

Xue Zhijing interrupted her with a smile, "I see, this output is not bad."

Gong Xuyang replied firmly, "It would be great if the steam engine could be used for mining, but unfortunately, it can't be done."

"It's not necessarily impossible," Xue Zhijing said, "A mine like this may be more troublesome, but there are other coals, which are very close to the ground. There may be a hillside, and a layer of ground is dug out, and there is a thick layer of coal underneath. Coal from a mountain. Back then, with a steam engine, wouldn’t it be possible to dig out the coal directly?”

Gong Xuyang's fingers trembled faster, as if he was thinking quickly, "Then the steam engine needs to be improved, and it can't be done now."

"You can think about it again. I can ask you to meet the officials in charge of carboniferous exploration of the Ministry of Industry to find a carboniferous vein that is easy to mine. At that time, I will provide you with as much money and as many people as you want. As long as you make things come out."

"Let me think."

Finally out of the mine, both of their bodies were stained with carbon black, Xue Zhijing took the cloth towel handed by the person around him and wiped the dirt on Xiao Liege's face.

Xiao Liege asked curiously, "You haven't said yet, what are you showing me here today? You can't bring me on an adventure, right?"

Xue Zhijing couldn't hold back, and laughed, "I really didn't know you were afraid of heights, I didn't mean it. This coal mine is the closest one to the city, and there are many farther away. These coal mines are all for Bianjing City In the future, these mines and pits will be nationalized, and the proceeds will be used as part of the education fund. At the same time, I also want to see how Gong Xuyang’s steam engine has been improved. Looking at it today, it’s not bad.”

"That Gong Xuyang seems a bit weird."

"Her." Xue Zhijing looked at Gong Xuyang, who was looking for things in the surrounding houses not far away, and said, "She has some special conditions, and her way of thinking is different from ordinary people. However, although these symptoms are different from ordinary people, she The daily life is somewhat inconvenient, but it brings her unusual creativity. For example, this steam engine was made by the ancients thousands of years ago and has been lost for a long time, but she reproduced it by herself. A genius."

Xue Zhijing reckoned that Gong Xuyang had Asperger's Syndrome, which was later called savant syndrome, which was one of the entire category of autism. Later generations believed that they had some abnormalities in the cranial nerves.But at this time, there is no doctor named Asperger's name for this symptom, and Xue Zhijing never thinks that abnormality is a disease. Instead, he values ​​the other party's talent and is willing to create suitable conditions for the other party.

Then, Xue Zhijing looked at the various information about this coal mine recorded by Gong Xuyang, and then returned to the city with Xiao Liege.

After returning to the palace, Xue Zhijing merged several relevant departments under the Ministry of Industry and formed a Geological Bureau to go to various places to conduct geological surveys, mainly exploring coal and oil.In this era, the utilization rate of this part of energy is very low, and the amount of utilization is not much. It is enough to find some mines.

In addition to preparing funds for compulsory education, the most important thing in the first year of Shengping at this time is the newly opened Enke.

In this episode of Enke, Xue Zhijing said clearly that women can also participate, and if women want to participate, people from all over the country and the family must not obstruct it.

It's just that Xue Zhijing is very clear that in this era when women have almost no personal freedom and no free property, their restraint is not limited to the fact that they are not allowed to participate in the imperial examination.

So she specially opened a women's courtyard outside Bianjing City, not far from the Royal Comprehensive University, which is specially provided for women from all over the country who come to take the imperial examination.

As long as women who come to take the imperial examination, regardless of age, rich or poor, married or not, they can live for free, and provide basic living expenses on a monthly basis, and also provide teachers for scientific examination counseling. Guarded to avoid all kinds of harassment.

Some courtiers questioned this kind of behavior, whether there will be many reliable women who do not come to participate in the event, and they will go in and live in it, hoping to set some restrictions for this women's court.

Xue Zhijing didn't take it seriously, she didn't want to set up any restrictions for this place, even if there are a few women who really want to take advantage of it, it doesn't matter if they go in, eat and drink, but you can't set up restrictions for this and cause some women to lose the possibility of scientific examinations sex.

The engineering teams who built the houses were all built comprehensive universities before. The construction speed was fast and the quality was good, and soon a women's courtyard with many small courtyards was built.

Information about the Women's Court was also spread along with Lichun Academy's promotional plays, books, and tabloids in various places. Lichun Academy could even provide vehicles and boats for women in remote areas to go to Bianjing City.

But even so, not too many people came, just over 200 people, most of them were teenage girls.

These more than 200 people, compared to the number of people in the national scientific examination, can be said to be just a fraction.

Xue Zhijing attaches great importance to this women's court, and the state treasury only pays a small part of the funds for the women's court. This is done so that officials can pay attention to the women's court. Most of the funds are drawn from Xue Zhijing's own pocket , is enough to show how much Xue Zhijing attaches great importance to it.