Chapter 308: Long-Term Considerations (Seeking Subscriptions and Favorites)

Moved by the fact that the Ming Dynasty's illiteracy rate was as high as over ninety-nine percent, Zhu Youjian decided to launch a literacy campaign within Ming territory in a planned and step-by-step manner.

This batch of disgraced officials, as well as future officials who committed crimes, as long as their crimes did not constitute a capital offense, would become an important source of teachers for the literacy campaign.

The disgraced officials and their families from the four prefectures of Jiangnan would be sent to Xi'an Prefecture, Pingliang Prefecture, and Fengxiang Prefecture in Shaanxi Province, to participate in the local government-organized literacy education for school-age children.

Last year, Zhu Youjian had entertained the idea of starting a newspaper, but this thought was quickly shattered by the cruel reality.

In this era where illiterates were everywhere, most commoners had not yet solved the problem of food and clothing—if you started a newspaper, who would read it? Only scholars would read newspapers, and literacy was precisely the privilege of the gentry class. For those who placed their own and their family's interests above the nation and the people, if you printed newspapers and then preached patriotism and loyalty to the sovereign and love for the people on them, do you think they would listen?

This move was undoubtedly casting pearls before swine.

Only after the problem of food and clothing was solved, and the people's literacy rate was gradually raised to a certain level, would the foundation for running a newspaper exist, and only then could the concepts of patriotism and nationalism be slowly instilled into the people's minds.

Haste makes waste; everything has a process of gradual progression. One cannot expect to accomplish it in one stroke or solve it once and for all.

This batch of implicated lower- and mid-ranking officials were basically scholars who had no hope of passing the imperial examinations and had ultimately used connections to enter the yamen to seek practical benefits. Although their learning was not profound, it was more than sufficient for literacy education.

These people all possessed rich practical work experience, and it would be a pity to kill them. Since the property they had obtained through corruption or bribery had already been confiscated, rather than beheading them, it was better to make use of the waste and let them contribute what residual value they had.

Literate people in the Ming Dynasty were truly too scarce.

Zhu Youjian felt that the method he had thought of was truly excellent.

The literacy campaign required a large number of literate people, but the vast majority of these scholars harbored the aspiration of passing the imperial examinations and bringing glory to their ancestors, striving fiercely on the path of the civil service examinations. If you asked them to give up their examination careers to teach commoners to read and write for a long time, even if you offered them high salaries, very few would likely be willing.

Because passing the examinations and gaining office meant that when one person achieved the Dao, even his chickens and dogs ascended to heaven—it also represented enormous benefits for that person's status and family interests. How could these be compared to a paltry salary?

As for the tangible resources such as farmland and shops obtained from this confiscation, the Four Seas Trading Company would select the best and occupy a portion of the shops, while most of the shops would be sold off to encourage more people to participate in the manufacturing and circulation of goods, using points to drive the whole, stimulating the stability and prosperity of commercial activity in the local area and its surroundings.

The farmland would be handed over to the local government for management as public fields, rented at twelve percent of the harvest per mu to impoverished landless farming households. Apart from a portion of the income being allocated for yamen expenses, the remainder would go into the official granaries to meet unforeseen needs.

This work required strict supervision to prevent the clerks handling it from manipulating matters for their own gain, ultimately turning good governance into bad governance. The heavy responsibility of supervision naturally fell to the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The ever-arrogant guardsmen would never pay any mind to those clerks. Even if someone tried to bribe them to look the other way, the officers cared nothing for such trifling sums of silver, while capturing corrupt officials could become capital for promotion—so on this point, Zhu Youjian was quite reassured.

The edict concerning the disposition of those involved in this disturbance and appointing Left Censor-in-Chief Li Banghua as imperial commissioner with full authority to handle the related matters was sent by Li Erxi to the Grand Secretariat, after which it would soon be urgently delivered to Li Banghua, who was in the Jining Prefecture area.

For the meritorious personnel of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who had properly handled the market-closing actions of several prefectures, promotions and rewards were only fitting.

Li Ruolian was promoted to the rank of Left Commissioner-in-Chief, advanced to Assistant Regional Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, while still concurrently serving as Provost of the Northern Town Prison.

After this promotion, Li Ruolian became the number one figure in the Embroidered Uniform Guard second only to Luo Yangxing—indeed, his power was even greater than Luo Yangxing's, for the Provost of the Northern Town Prison controlled investigation and the Imperial Prison.

The promotions and rewards for the other meritorious personnel could be left to Li Ruolian.

At present, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was divided into three factions: Regional Military Commissioner Luo Yangxing and Assistant Regional Commander Liu Yingxi formed one faction; Assistant Regional Commander Qi Changguo and Assistant Guard Commander, Provost of the Southern Town Prison Huang Fu, formed another; while Li Ruolian stood alone as his own faction, also the faction with the least strength within the Guard.

Zhu Youjian was taking this opportunity to let Li Ruolian win people over, expand and strengthen his own power, so as to better contend against the other two factions.

A three-legged Embroidered Uniform Guard was easier to control. This sharp blade could not be allowed to become a one-man show. The mutual checks and balances among the three factions were most advantageous to Zhu Youjian.

On the third day after the edict was issued, Chen Qiyu, who had been relieved of his posts as Governor of Fengyang and Governor-General of Grain Transport, arrived at the capital and immediately submitted a memorial to the palace requesting an audience.

Standing before the vermilion gate, Chen Qiyu clasped his hands behind his back, his heart filled with a myriad of emotions.

Ever since the failure at the Chexiang Gorge campaign had led to his arrest and imprisonment, he, disheartened and as good as dead, had sighed endlessly in the depths of many nights. While he hated those petty men who, covetous of the bandits' money, had instigated and beguiled him into letting the enemy return home, he also bitterly regretted the heedless arrogance he had shown in his moment of self-satisfaction.

While in the Imperial Prison, he had already imagined his fate—either being beheaded by imperial order as a warning to others, or being stripped of office and sent home as a commoner.

And compared to losing his post and becoming a common citizen, Chen Qiyu would rather be beheaded by the Emperor's order before the public.

With his inner pride, he simply could not accept the gloating looks and gossip of his neighbors and fellow villagers upon his miserable return home. The moment he thought of spending the rest of his life as a member of the same class as those rough men who scratched a living from the soil, the overwhelming shame drove him to thoughts of suicide on countless occasions.

Heaven have mercy—he had never imagined that His Majesty would possess such magnanimous breadth of mind and boldness of vision. Not only had a special edict pardoned him and released him from prison, but He had also bestowed upon him the high position of a second-rank official, and in His oral instruction had admonished him to learn from his mistakes and render new meritorious service. Such grace of rebirth was something he, Chen Qiyu, could never repay even if his body were ground to dust.

"Third Brother, everything in the residence has been properly arranged. You have endured a long and tiring journey—please enter the residence to bathe and rest. Your younger brother has already arranged for the cook to prepare a meal. It is now around the hour of shen; by the time Third Brother has bathed and changed, it will be just the right time to eat!"

After receiving the edict to return to the capital for duty, Chen Qiyu had sent Chen Qizhi and Chen Qifan ahead to the capital to make preparations in advance.

Chen Qizhi was responsible for renovating the imperial-bestowed residence in the capital, adding furniture, hiring servants and maidservants, and other such trivial matters.

Meanwhile, Chen Qishen was to return to Baode in Shanxi to fetch Chen Qiyu's elderly mother and family members, which also included the household of his younger brother Chen Qifan.

Chen Qiyu had already made up his mind that after retiring from office in the future, he would remain in the capital and not return to his hometown of Baode. When a suitable opportunity arose, he would move his father's grave there, and when his elderly mother passed away in the future, she would be buried alongside his father.

From then on, the second branch of the Chen family would spread its roots and branches in the capital, returning to Baode only for ancestral sacrifices and otherwise having no business there.

His own younger brother Qifan had served their elderly mother at home for many years without ever taking office. Chen Qiyu was determined to secure a good position for his brother, as a way of expressing his guilt and gratitude toward him.

As for the arrangements for his two clan brothers Chen Qizhi and Chen Qishen, first he needed to consult their opinions, and second, he needed to find the right opportunity. The two had followed him through his postings and accumulated considerable property; there was no rush in arranging official positions for them.

Chen Qiyu had considered the matter many times. At present, the various provinces within the Ming realm had generally stabilized. If nothing unexpected happened, after this return he would likely not be dispatched to the localities again by the Emperor. Having just passed fifty, he still had at least ten or twenty years to spend in the capital—of course, all of this presupposed that he did not commit a grave offense.

"Hmm, has the memorial requesting an audience been submitted or not?"

Chen Qiyu asked as he stepped up the stairs and entered his home through the wide-open main gate.

"It has already been submitted to the palace. Rest assured, Third Brother!"