Chapter 1418 - 1327: Education (Part 3)

Those who can read try to read the words, those who can’t try to understand the images, then listen carefully as the village chief explains, writing notes and comparing them against the manual.

Furthermore, households with children show the manual to them, asking them to teach the adults the words, or have the children read aloud to them—striving to memorize even if they cannot read, to fully grasp the knowledge in the book.

In the civilian population, there is the "Common Doctor Manual," and within the army, there is the "Military Doctor Manual," learned in units.

Learning within the army is much more convenient than among civilians, and also more detailed. Besides the class leader teaching, there is a major lesson every ten days where the entire army listens to lectures directly from military doctors.

This equates to battlefield first aid knowledge; learning this ensures that even if military doctors can’t arrive in time during battle, comrades can save each other.

Zhao Hanzhang has already decided to equip the entire army with medical kits. In subsequent battles, soldiers will carry simple medical kits for self-help and helping others.

With the materials in place, the focus now is on learning knowledge.

A wave of learning medical skills sweeps the nation, and soon, a new manual is distributed by the court—this time, it’s the "Ministry of Agriculture Manual," personally compiled by the Emperor with Ministry of Agriculture officials.

It provides detailed instructions on crop selection, seedling cultivation, planting, weeding, and pest control.

The manual is divided into three sections: the first covers crops like grains, the middle section covers livestock like cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, and fish, and the last section covers miscellaneous topics such as composting methods, fruit tree cultivation, vegetable gardening, common timber planting notes, seedling nurturing, etc.

The village chief and town leaders find they have more to learn; they are now taking two days a week to go to school, all while still receiving modest salaries.

But do they care about the money?

For Your Majesty, for Hua Country, for the children’s future, they would work hard even if they go bald!

But it’s truly difficult!

With solemn faces, the village chief and town leaders felt tears inside.

Zhao Hanzhang prints books as easily as drinking water, distributing books even easier—just a casual gesture, catching aristocratic families aiming to improve recruitment tests completely unprepared.

They can only delete the draft papers and rewrite them, believing the current court has set teacher requirements too low—just five years in school with satisfactory graduation grades means one can teach in elementary schools, which they view as misleading children.

Thus, they hope to strictly select and increase recruitment test difficulty.

They believe not only are the recruitment tests for schools too simple, but also county, state, and national exams issue overly simple questions, leading to talent selection being mixed.

Zhao Hanzhang agrees with their reasoning but only adopts their points, not agreeing to their additional conditions.

Many aristocrats keenly sense the changes of the era, adapting to these changes, seeing them as a departure from millennia of chaos and appreciating a peaceful, prosperous world without conflict after a century of turmoil.

They enthusiastically contribute their family book collections.

Zhao Hanzhang was delighted, and personally wrote for everyone who contributed books.

The Emperor’s calligraphy is naturally precious, pleasing every receiver, only to find their neighbors also have it...

Across the country, nearly a thousand households received such calligraphy.

Scholars: ...

They began to doubt whether it’s truly the Emperor’s calligraphy.

Indeed it is, for which Zhao Hanzhang now writes two pieces during work breaks each day, and adds another half hour of writing after work, extending morning writing practice after exercise into calligraphy sessions...

The diligent Zhao Hanzhang can write fifty to eighty pieces a day, sending them to recipients via post stations, ensuring delivery.

Consequently, far too much of Zhao Hanzhang’s calligraphy remains for posterity; despite her significant achievements, her calligraphy is deemed less valuable due to abundance.

Acquiring numerous collections unveiled rich content ranging from rare knowledge to Mo School analyses regarding the wooden ox and flowing horse, detailed with diagrams.

Fu Tinghan even discovered thin hand-copied pages, some incomplete, of Hua Tuo’s manuscripts, causing frenzy at the Imperial Hospital as they contained procedures for treating brain ailments and performing abdominal childbirth surgery, along with remedies for three epidemics: typhoid, plague, and another unnamed.

The Imperial Physicians barely contained their excitement, delicately turning each page, and after transcribing this volume, petitioned the Emperor, expressing the desire to assist in organizing donated books, seeking other medical texts themselves.

Zhao Hanzhang agreed, leading them to devote themselves sequentially.

Likewise, several officials joined in, and even Ji Yuan and Ming Yu couldn’t resist immersing themselves, volunteering post-work time within the palace.

Once organized, some books would be printed for sale or sent to schools for children to read;

Others would be printed in limited copies and stored in the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial Palace.

These typically pertain to technology or ideologies potentially dangerous, thereby unsuited for public circulation.

However, Zhao Hanzhang differed from past emperors by not hoarding books within the Imperial Family alone, permitting copies in both the palace and the Hanlin Academy.

She instructed Zhao Ming, He Xun, and Xun Fan to categorize books by levels, reserving the most dangerous at the top, important works beneath, and ordinary ones lower down, allowing officers of different ranks or purposes to access specific works.

The nation’s knowledge broadens due to these collections, enriching students’ worldview and expanding learning opportunities, fulfilling Zhao Hanzhang’s sense of achievement even as her finances dwindle.

Half of the World Book Office belongs to Zhao Hanzhang, the other half to the court and local governments.

Most paper workshops nationwide also fall under Zhao Hanzhang, yet due to simple paper-making processes, initial attempts failed to produce paper as cheap and varied as the Imperial Workshop.

Gradually, as production methods leaked, external producers gained recipes, covert attempts led to open establishment of paper mills.

Upon learning this, Zhao Hanzhang publicly endorsed their innovative spirit via newspaper, commending their efforts, and revealed several paper-making formulas.

The newly opened paper mills rejoiced, publicly embracing the process.

Acknowledging the rising literacy demands, Zhao Hanzhang knew solely relying on the World Book Office and Imperial Workshops was insufficient; hence, she welcomed newcomers to the industry.

Especially in paper workshops, she wished to control merely the main publishing line, leaving other aspects to benefit the populace.

Yet, in the short term—at least for five years—the majority of available paper and books derive from her publishing house and workshop, thus the cost of mass-printing books like the "Common Doctor Manual" and "Ministry of Agriculture Manual" heavily burdened Zhao Hanzhang and the court.

Even though the "Military Doctor Manual" got funding from the Ministry of War, the financial cycle still somehow returned to Zhao Hanzhang and the court.

Hence, she truly felt both pained and joyous.