Chapter 2588
When the three of them returned to their residence that night, they found that Dai Yingda had quietly ordered someone to deliver a batch of gifts. Bai Letong was naturally not very interested in this, so Ning Zi took the gift list and checked the contents of these gifts.
"This Dai Yingda is quite generous!" Ning Zijing took a look and knew that these things were valuable: "Most of them are antiques, calligraphy and paintings by celebrities, it seems that a lot of thought was put into them!"
"Let me take a look!" Tao Hongfang also became interested after hearing this and took the gift list from Ning Zijing's hand.
"He is probably worried that yesterday's argument will offend us, so he wants to do something to save it. He must also know that we are not interested in gold, silver, jewelry and other properties. This is just another trick to please us. Happy!" Bai Letong obviously lacked affection for Dai Yingda, and there was no expression on his face when he said this.
Dai Yingda already knew the true identities of the three of them, so he would naturally avoid offending these "princes" from Sanya. Yesterday's meeting could be said to have ended on bad terms, which may have been a small setback for Dai Yingda, who wanted to curry favor with Haihan's senior management. In order to save the situation, he took the initiative to show his favor to them. These gifts were a stepping stone.
This is not the first time that the three of them have received gifts delivered to their doorsteps since they arrived in Hangzhou. However, their meeting with Dai Yingda yesterday was not pleasant. They need to decide whether to accept this gift or not.
Of course, Tao Hongfang and Ning Zijing don't particularly mind this. It mainly depends on Bai Letong's wishes.
"Letong, what do you say? Should you accept these gifts or return them?" Tao Hongfang asked proactively.
Bai Letong hesitated for a moment before responding: "The overall situation is more important, so just accept it. Don't make trouble with him!"
The actual value of these gifts is certainly not a detail that Bai Letong cares about, but if Dai Yingda's offer of release is rejected, it may affect the cooperative relationship between Yangzhou salt merchants and the local government, and then affect the cause of moving the capital. The gain outweighs the loss. What's more, the matter of the imperial examination has been fully explained by Shi Diwen, and Dai Yingda is not the one who leads the matter. There is really no need to continue to vent his anger on him.
After Bai Letong finished speaking, he seemed to think of something again, and immediately added: "I guess Dai Yingda has also been paying attention to our movements. He confirmed that we visited Uncle Shi today, and then sent a gift to show his attitude."
Tao Hongfang smiled and said: "Maybe Dai Yingda will know the result after we talk with Uncle Shi. Don't forget that Shi Chengwu and Dai Chengrong are acquaintances. Any news will probably reach Dai Yingda soon."
Ning Zi respectfully said: "Even the matter of sending gifts here may have been prompted by Uncle Shi."
The three of them learned a lot this time, and soon imagined various possibilities. However, as Bai Letong said, it no longer mattered to them whether they accepted the gift or not. However, considering the overall situation, even if they knew that the gifts in front of them had a strong purpose, they could only accept them first. .
However, after this battle, Bai Letong's enthusiasm for the rural examination was greatly reduced, and he even lost interest in going to the provincial examination to sit in the office. He wholeheartedly wanted to promote the use of test questions in the provincial examination that were more relevant to Haihan's situation, but since Shi Diwen had already made arrangements for it, changing the test questions was naturally impossible. There were also dedicated people in charge of other preparation matters, so he did not need to worry about it. Now that the sense of participation in the rural examination has seriously declined, instead of going to the rural examination office and being an idler with nothing to do, facing faces like Peng Yushan and Lu Qiu all day long, Bai Letong would rather spend his time in other areas. Fortunately, the jurisdiction of the Donghai Region is quite large. Hangzhou alone has many scenic spots to kill time, so he doesn't have to worry about running out of places to go.
As for whether being absent from work for a long time would cause trouble, Bai Letong didn't need to worry. Those in the rural trial office would probably just breathe a deep sigh of relief when they saw him disappear out of thin air, and no one would care about his absence.
"I've been in Hangzhou for so many days and I haven't even found time to take a tour of the local area. Let's hire a carriage and horses tomorrow and have a good time for a few days before we start!" After Bai Letong put down the burden on his shoulders, his motivation suddenly relaxed. For a while, I had no other plans except traveling around the mountains and rivers.
Tao Hongfang and Ning Zijing looked at each other and understood that their brother was too frustrated and couldn't adjust at the moment. They needed to change the environment and mood first, and they both agreed with his plan.
However, the plan could not change as quickly as it did. The next day, while Bai Letong was still packing his personal belongings to take out, he heard someone outside calling his name loudly, and the voice was very familiar. He put down what he was doing and went out to see, but it was Ha Jianyi who was back.
"Letong, I just have something to ask you!" Ha Jianyi skipped the pleasantries after seeing Bai Letong and went straight to the topic: "Does the Ministry of Culture and Education have arrangements for training teachers every year?"
Although Bai Letong didn't know the purpose, he still nodded and replied: "The Ministry of Culture and Education has a special teacher training program that recruits people from schools at all levels for special training so that they can become teachers. In-service teachers will also receive corresponding further training. Training to improve their knowledge and teaching abilities. Why are you asking about this? ”
Ha Jianyi did not respond to his question, but continued: "This means that we will continue to train new teachers and provide them to schools everywhere, right?"
Bai Letong said: "Currently, the main focus is on training primary school teachers, so that more schools can be opened in various places, so as to maximize the literacy rate of the people. I don't think I need to explain the reason in detail. Right? ”
For an agricultural society, the level of literacy does not seem to have a significant impact on the improvement of social productivity. However, if Haihan wanted to industrialize in the seventeenth century, a large number of industrial workers would be needed, and this would require practitioners to have a certain level of literacy. Base. Especially for positions with certain technical requirements, you may even need to master some mathematical, physical and chemical knowledge to be competent.
In order to meet such needs, Haihan's cultural and educational industry has also listed literacy as one of its educational goals. To achieve this goal, a large number of basic education institutions and education practitioners are one of the necessary conditions. Therefore, the Ministry of Culture and Education spends a lot of resources every year on training teachers, and then through these teachers to achieve literacy education for the people.
In areas where related activities are well carried out on Hainan Island, such as central cities like Sanya, the literacy rate of the people has even exceeded 50%, based on the reading of 500 Chinese characters, which is the highest in the era, even higher than that of literati The ratio is much higher in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas where there are many people. The results and impact achieved by this are far beyond just literacy.
(End of chapter)