Quick Wear: I and the Female Match Share the Battle Shirt

Chapter 243: If you are not called Qingping, you can’t be happy (12)

Li Shibin is a man with a dull mind and is greedy and violent, but he has one good point, which is that he knows himself well.

I know I am stupid, so I can’t make decisions on my own when faced with big issues.

If they had met a smarter boss, such as Xia Sui, Jinming Village would not have been lost so quickly. Unfortunately, they met a cowardly and reckless boss like Fan Yong.

Lu Changqing handed the letter with his own seal to Li Tongpan, asking him to go back to Yanzhou and bring a few carts of silver and money.

Judge Li didn't understand why Lu Changqing did this.

"Every year the imperial court distributes a large amount of grain, fodder, gold and silver to Jinming Village. Why does the deputy envoy need to spend silver?"

Lu Changqing said: "Most of the money from the court went into the pockets of the Li family father and son, but the foreign soldiers in the village didn't see much money."

Li Tongpan suddenly realized that Lu Changqing was trying to win people's hearts.

"If there is no reward for taking the enemy's head, who would charge into battle for merit?"

Li Tongpan was somewhat embarrassed: "What if the Jiedushi comes and doesn't allow us to use the public money?"

Lu Changqing said confidently: "I am the chief of Yanzhou, and I have the final say on Yanzhou's finances. Just go ahead and take it. If anyone dares to stop you, I will detain them for delaying military affairs."

"He is the superior and I am the subordinate. I dare not overstep my authority."

Lu Changqing cursed in his heart, "What a waste! He can't even threaten anyone."

"Then have someone pass on the message to me. I am the governor appointed by the emperor himself. If you don't respect me, you don't respect the emperor. I want to see who is so bold as to not even give the emperor face!"

Judge Li: …

"Oh, right." Lu Changqing remembered something again, "Find me some military books when you come back, and also some enlightenment books like Thousand Character Classic."

"What does the deputy envoy want these books for?"

Of course, it was to teach people to read. Otherwise, if the Song Dynasty really relied on this group of illiterate generals, it would be really doomed.

Lu Changqing didn't really mean to insult anyone when he said this. From the end of the Tang Dynasty to the beginning of the Song Dynasty, which was the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period which was even more chaotic than the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China, due to the demise of the gentry, the social structure changed, and most of the generals who served in the military were from poor backgrounds and had no money to go to school.

However, the social atmosphere at that time was to advocate bravery and despise culture, so there were a large number of illiterate generals.

However, in order to manage the troops and maintain administration, one has to learn to read and write. If one cannot do it himself, one can only hire staff.

By the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the distinction between civil and military positions had become increasingly clear, following the trend of the Five Dynasties that esteemed military power over literature. At this time, the cultural level of military commanders was at most that of elementary school students, and some of them could not even read a single word and only had the level of prenatal education.

At this time, Zhao Da discovered the problem and asked the generals to read more books, but the effect of soldiers reading was too poor and they were not as fast as scholars practicing martial arts.

However, when it comes to leading troops in battle and boosting morale, scholars are not as good as warriors. So at this time, court officials hoped for the emergence of another type of general - a Confucian general who is both civil and military.

For example, Liu Ping mentioned earlier was a Confucian general who was both civil and military, but he was defeated and captured at Sanchuankou and lost his integrity in his later years.

Later, Fan Zhongyan also realized this problem. When he was stationed in Shaanxi, he launched a large-scale literacy campaign with considerable results.

Lu Changqing is also preparing to launch a literacy campaign. If stupid people don’t read, who will be deceived if not you?

Watching Li Tongpan and his men leaving towards Yanzhou City, Lu Changqing went to find Li Shibin and asked him to arrange a place for him to rest.

Lu Changqing's residence was arranged in the courtyard of Mrs. Li Shibin and children.

The houses here are far less exquisite than those in the Bai Mansion. There are no rockery, corridors, bamboos or green pines. But compared with the adobe houses of ordinary people in the village, they are much better.

"I'm sorry to trouble you, but this is the only condition we have. I hope you can forgive me." Hu Miao stood aside stiffly.

"No, ma'am. Thank you for taking the trouble to clean up. I am flattered to be treated like this." Lu Changqing also followed suit.

Hearing a noise coming from outside the door, Lu Changqing looked over and found three heads stuck on the door frame.

Hu Miao caught Lu Changqing's gaze, looked behind him and saw that it was his daughters. He scolded them, "Who told you to come out? Why don't you go back?"

"Hey, wait a minute!" Lu Changqing stopped Hu Miao from scolding her and waved to the three girls, "Come over to your sister."

The three girls, who had just been scolded by Hu Miao, did not dare to move. They looked at Hu Miao and saw her nod before they stepped over the threshold and walked into the house.

"Ma'am, are these your children?"

Hu Miao nodded and pointed at the youngest of the three children and said, "Zhi Su Niang is my biological daughter, Qiao Niang and Da Lang are the children of my elder sister who passed away earlier, and Hui Niang is the child of Aunt Zhou. There are too many children in the family, and I can't take care of them all by myself, so I raised them all together."

Hu Miao said this, feeling a little embarrassed.

Lu Changqing looked at Li Qiao and asked, "How old are you this year?"

Li Qiao stood straight and straight, and answered in a loud voice: "Twelve."

"What about you?" Lu Changqing asked Li Hui again.

"Eight years old."

"I'm six years old." Li Su shouted out loudly before Lu Changqing asked.

"Suniang, please don't be rude." Hu Miao smiled at Lu Changqing and said, "Deputy Envoy, the child doesn't understand these things, please don't mind."

"Nothing." Lu Changqing took Li Su's hand and asked, "What were you looking at outside just now?"

"My eldest brother said that a female official has come to our village. My sisters and I want to see what she looks like."

Li Su swallowed her saliva and said innocently, "Sister, you look so young. You look younger than my brother. You don't look like those old men who came before."

Lu Changqing laughed, "Yes, because my sister is fifteen years old this year, so she looks much younger than those old men."

Li Su let out an "Oh" and his mouth was so full of surprise that a small egg could fit in it.

"Smaller than my big brother!"

Lu Changqing scratched Li Su's nose. This child looked outgoing.

Li Qiao looked at Lu Changqing in his official robes and asked curiously, "Deputy Envoy, can women in the court serve as officials now?"

"Yes, but most of the time we can only stand behind the scenes. If we want to stand in front of people, we must be several times better than men."

"Like you, the deputy envoy?"

Lu Changqing admitted shamelessly, "Yes, as good as me."

Li Su asked: "If I am as outstanding as my sister, can I also become a high-ranking official?"

Lu Changqing nodded and said, "Of course."

Li Su scratched his head and said, "Sister, who is better, you or my father?"

Seeing that Li Su's words were getting more and more out of tune, Hu Miao was afraid that Lu Changqing would be angry, so he pulled Li Su to apologize to Lu Changqing and said, "Children's words are innocent, please don't take it to heart."

"Madam said that children's words are not to be taken lightly. I naturally don't mind. This child is very good and is not shy about strangers."

Li Su tugged at Lu Changqing's robe and said, "Sister, it's a good thing you didn't tell me who is better between you and Dad."

Lu Changqing patted Li Su's head and said, "My official position is higher than your father's. Who do you think is better?"

Li Su's eyes lit up, "Sister is better! Second sister knows more characters than father. Second sister is better than father. Then can second sister also become a high-ranking official like you?"

Li Qiao glanced at Lu Changqing embarrassedly and said, "Little sister, don't talk nonsense. To be an official, you need to take the imperial examination. It's not that anyone who knows more characters can be an official."

Lu Changqing looked at Li Qiao in surprise. After all, Li Shibin himself was illiterate. She didn't expect that he would let his daughter go to school. She felt that this was not something that such a rough man would do.