Jingnan was revived and everything was back on track. The 120,000 refugees were all settled in Jingnan, and the Wuxi Miao people also moved down the mountain to settle down. In just two months, the population of Jingnan nearly doubled.
In terms of population size alone, Jingnan County is already the largest county in Taizhou Prefecture.
Well-planned villages are springing up, and reclaimed fields are crisscrossing...
One after another, projects that benefit the country and the people have been put into use in Jingnan, including water conservancy projects, anti-Japanese projects... ...
Jingnan is full of vitality.
Crackling, a burst of firecrackers sounded in Xixi Village, followed by cheers from adults and children.
Behind the cloud of smoke from the burning firecrackers was a private school with three rooms, with its signboard covered with red cloth.
The private school was crowded with people, in the middle were Zhu Ping'an and Liu Dianli from the county government's etiquette office.
After the work-for-relief project was completed and the people were settled, Zhu Ping'an began to encourage education.
Education is the foundation of a century-long plan.
In this feudal hierarchical society, education is almost the fundamental way for children from poor families to rise!
During the reconstruction of his hometown with work-for-relief, Zhu Pingan built one hundred such private schools according to the distribution of villages. After the work-for-relief project came to an end, Zhu Pingan visited Jingnan and invited some of the young men and women in Jingnan to come out of retirement and become private school teachers, taking on the important task of educating people in the surrounding villages.
"County Master, please unveil the plaque for our Xixi Private School."
After the firecrackers burned out, an energetic old man with a white beard stepped forward and bowed to Zhu Ping'an.
The old man with white beard was the teacher of Xixi Private School invited by Zhu Pingan. His name was Wang Gaogeng, an old scholar who failed the imperial examination. He fled to Jingnan with his son's family and now settled in Xixi Village. After failing the imperial examination many times, he had given up on the imperial examination. After Zhu Pingan's invitation, he gladly accepted it.
"Master Wang, as a teacher of Xixi Private School, please join me in unveiling the plaque." Zhu Ping'an nodded and extended his hand to Master Wang politely.
"Then I am very shameless." Master Wang said with a smile. He was honored that Zhu Ping'an invited him to unveil the plaque together.
"Please, old master."
"Please come in, County Lord."
After the two of them politely gave way, one of them pulled one end of the red silk and together they unveiled the plaque of Xixi Private School.
The people around cheered and applauded. Looking at the private school in front of them, they were very excited. They have saved a lot of money in the past two months of participating in work-for-relief. The county magistrate sympathized with us and applied for tax reduction for us. Our lives have become much more affluent. Now, the county magistrate has built a private school for us. He really thinks of us everywhere. I must take my kid to the private school in the future... ... Our ancestors said it well, everything is inferior except reading! If you can read and write, even if you can't catch up with our county magistrate, at least you are not blind like us. As long as you can read and write, you can easily find a good job in the town or county in the future.
After unveiling the plaque, under the chairmanship of Master Liu from the Rites Room, Zhu Ping'an led a group of clerks and common people to worship Confucius, offer sacrifices, and perform a series of opening ceremonies before officially announcing the opening of Xixi Private School.
"Your Excellency, I am so shameless that I have an unreasonable request." After the Xixi Private School opened, Master Wang bowed to Zhu Ping'an.
"Master Wang, please speak." Zhu Ping'an said in a gentle voice.
"Xixi Private School has just opened, but its foundation is insufficient. I would like to ask the county magistrate to give me a piece of calligraphy to enhance the foundation of the private school. Moreover, seeing a virtuous person, we should aspire to emulate him. With the county magistrate's calligraphy, it will also help to inspire children to make progress in the future." Master Wang bowed and said, "I would like to ask the county magistrate to agree to my unwelcome request, otherwise I will not get up."
"Master Wang, your words are too polite. Please stand up quickly. I am doing this for the growth of the younger generation. It is reasonable and logical. How can I not respond?" Zhu Ping'an stepped forward to help Master Wang up and agreed.
Upon seeing this, several discerning people in Xixi Village hurriedly set up the table and brought out pens, ink, paper and inkstone.
All of a sudden, all the people looked at Zhu Ping'an eagerly, waiting to see the county magistrate bestow calligraphy on them.
"Your Excellency, please have some tea." The head of Xixi Village, Yue Zhong, stepped forward and offered Zhu Ping'an a cup of tea with both hands.
He was thinking about Zhu Ping'an. He had also been educated and knew that writing poetry and prose was not like farmers doing farm work that could be done instantly. Writing poetry and prose was a delicate job that required time to conceive.
The reason why Cao Zhi, who wrote a poem in seven steps during the Three Kingdoms period, became famous in history is because he wrote the poem in seven steps.
This has gone down in history, and it took only seven steps. The county magistrate must think about it carefully.
Therefore, the head of Wuxi Village offered Zhu Pingan a cup of tea with both hands. The tea was deliberately hot, with the intention of giving Zhu Pingan more time to think about it. He could write after drinking the tea. The county magistrate always thinks about the people, and we should also repay the kindness.
"Thank you, head of the village. This tea is a little hot. It will be just right for me to drink after I finish writing my inscription." Zhu Ping'an thanked the head of the village, took the hot tea with both hands, felt that the tea was quite hot, and put it aside.
ah
Write the inscription first and then drink tea? !
The village head was stunned and swallowed his saliva. Doesn't the county lord need time to think about it? ! In ancient times, Guan Yu warmed wine to fry Hua Xiong, no, he killed Hua Xiong. Is the county lord warming tea to write calligraphy today? !
Master Wang standing by was also stunned.
After putting the tea aside, Zhu Ping'an picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote on the paper.
Zhu Pingan really didn't need to come up with any ideas! Because he had hundreds of years of historical accumulation. From the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty to the present day, there were countless excellent poems encouraging learning, like the sands of the Ganges. How could Zhu Pingan need any ideas
Speaking of poems encouraging learning, Zhu Ping'an suddenly remembered a poem called "Song of Tomorrow". Tomorrow after tomorrow, how many tomorrows there are... Zhu Ping'an had memorized this poem by heart since elementary school.
It has a profound impact on my student career, acting like a vaccination to prevent and treat procrastination.
So, as soon as Master Wang opened his mouth, Zhu Ping'an wanted to release the song "Song of Tomorrow" in advance.
So, under the gaze of everyone, Zhu Ping'an picked up his pen and wrote the song "Song of Tomorrow" without any punctuation, completing it in one go.
Tomorrow Song
Tomorrow and tomorrow, how many tomorrows are there.
If I wait for tomorrow, everything will be wasted.
If people are tired of tomorrow, old age will arrive as spring goes and autumn comes.
In the morning, watch the water flow eastward; in the evening, watch the sun set in the west.
How many tomorrows can there be in a hundred years? Please listen to my song of tomorrow.
"Good! Very good! The county magistrate is worthy of being the first number one scholar in the Ming Dynasty! He wrote it in one stroke without adding any punctuation! The county magistrate's work is not only catchy and suitable for recitation, but also has profound educational significance, admonishing and exhorting people to seize today and finish today's work today, otherwise tomorrow will be wasted! The county magistrate's work will be spread throughout the Ming Dynasty within a few years. It is a great achievement, far better than building thousands of private schools! On behalf of thousands of elementary school children, I thank the county magistrate!"
When Master Wang saw the song "Song of Tomorrow", he read it once, and was so moved that tears streamed down his cheeks. He bowed deeply to Zhu Ping'an. (To be continued)