Chapter 971

Pan Yun frowned: “I am no different from Yu Gelao or the ministers who wish to improve official conduct—I merely lack a solution.”

Hu Yuanjie: “To find a solution, you must first identify the root cause. Does the National Teacher intend to begin with official conduct?”

Pan Yun shook her head: “Throughout history, reform has always begun with taxation, then land, with official conduct as a supplement. Every time, it has meant bloodshed—whether successful or not. I’ve wondered: could there be another path, one that reduces sacrifice?”

Hu Yuanjie stroked his beard: “So the National Teacher has been focusing on the Ministry of Works—but no matter where you start, official conduct cannot be avoided.”

Pan Yun nodded, then fixed him with a piercing gaze: “You’ve served as Minister of Rites for years—can you suggest a way to place talent where it belongs?”

“What about the surplus officials?” Hu Yuanjie smiled. “I thought the National Teacher would ask first how to handle them.”

Pan Yun: “To me, aside from the empty salaries being embezzled, there are no useless people in court. So-called surplus officials are merely talent misplaced. Even if they’re useless, they can still till state lands or imperial estates—surely they’re not too lazy to lift a hoe?”

Hu Yuanjie burst into loud laughter, stroking his beard: “Exactly! Talent is only wasted when placed wrongly—there are no surplus officials!”

After laughing, he sighed: “But few think as you do. Those who become surplus officials are not the kind to endure hardship. To place them where their abilities truly belong—they won’t go. If they refuse, and their posts are cut, they’ll pressure more capable, more suitable people into lower positions. Over time, it’s better to simply pay them idle salaries.”

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow: “What if the court refuses to support them?”

Hu Yuanjie looked up at her; their eyes met. In hers he saw determination and resolve; in his, she saw gentle, broad-minded tolerance.

Hu Yuanjie smiled faintly: “Then cut them.”

He added: “There are three hundred and sixty trades—not all must become officials. Beyond the bureaucratic path, many other avenues exist.”

Pan Yun’s lips curved upward: “I agree.”

She ate the remaining half of the osmanthus cake.

Hu Yuanjie fetched a teacup and teapot to pour her tea: “Did the National Teacher come here solely to chat about this?”

He said: “Perhaps you should go east—to the Ministry of Personnel next door?”

Surplus officials are the Ministry of Personnel’s concern—what does the Ministry of Rites have to do with it?

After sipping tea, Pan Yun shook her head: “No. I came to consult you on talent cultivation and basic education.”

Hu Yuanjie’s hand paused mid-pour. He silently set down the teapot, sat back down, and gestured: “National Teacher, please speak.”

Pan Yun wondered why, after seventy years, Ming’s literacy rate remained so low.

Talent cultivation depends on basic education. To obtain the talent she needed, she had to raise literacy—among both men and women.

In certain fields, girls’ creativity was no weaker than boys’. Only by nurturing both could the court cultivate the talent it truly needed.

Hu Yuanjie sighed softly: “In the early Hongwu years, the realm was in ruins. The Hongwu Emperor wished every subject could read and write and serve the state, so he ordered local governments to open community schools. But financial strain and official negligence caused most to decay. Only a few survived, because their founders—local officials and gentry—had jointly purchased permanent land at the outset.”

Pan Yun asked: “How much funding does the Ministry allocate to community schools each year?” Community schools were elementary academies outside the Imperial Academy and prefectural, departmental, and county schools, primarily serving grassroots literacy, located in counties, townships, and villages.

Hu Yuanjie paused, then shook his head: “The Ministry of Rites now allocates its educational funds to the Imperial Academy, prefectural, departmental, and county schools. All students are exempt from tuition, and stipended students receive grain rations. Travel expenses for candidates journeying to the capital are shared between local authorities and the Ministry. The imperial treasury is strained—where would we find money for community schools?”

“Even in poverty, education must not suffer. Even if education is poor, basic education must not be starved,” Pan Yun frowned.

From Hu Yuanjie’s words, she understood: funding flowed from top to bottom.

The Imperial Academy, prefectural, departmental, and county schools—all received funds, yet it was the lower-level academies that needed support most.

Pan Yun fixed Hu Yuanjie with a determined gaze: “Lord Hu, we must revive basic education—bring the community schools back to life.”

Hu Yuanjie rubbed his temples: “But we have no money~~”

Pan Yun grasped his hand, gazing at him warmly: “I believe you can do it. With enough effort, nothing is impossible!”

In another time, Qing’s late-era literacy rate was even lower than Ming’s today. During the War of Resistance and the Liberation War, primary schools and literacy classes…

Even at thirty or forty, the Hongwu Emperor could drag people into classrooms to learn to read—and in the process, they gained practical knowledge. Why not now?

Pan Yun shook Hu Yuanjie’s hand: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way!”

Hu Yuanjie looked at his hand in hers, then at her bright eyes, and smiled: “National Teacher, why not first resolve the surplus officials issue with the Ministry of Personnel?”

Pan Yun winked: “Isn’t that a good idea? The two problems can be solved together.”

Hu Yuanjie’s smile faded slowly, replaced by solemnity.

The two spoke in private for a long time; only when the orange sunset filled the walls did Pan Yun finally leave the ministry office.

Hu Yuanjie sat motionless in his chair until dusk fell, the room darkened, and silence blanketed the outside. Only then did he stir his stiff body and rise slowly.

Hu Yuanjie stepped out of the office, gazing at the empty Ministry of Rites, and shook his head with a wry smile: “Old, old—I’ve grown so numb to time?”

He turned, pulled shut the creaking door, locked it, then walked out with his hands behind his back.

The palace corridors were empty too. Only distant guards turned their heads at the sound, saw it was a Ministry of Rites official, and looked away again.

But Hu Yuanjie stared long at the palace gate ahead, then turned away, murmuring softly: “Still a youth… Youth is good~~”

On the twelfth day of the eighth month of the JingTai first year, Grand Secretary Hu Yong submitted a memorial urging the revival of community schools, listing their importance in enlightening the people and cultivating talent, and requesting greater imperial support.

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Minister of Revenue Chen Xun immediately opposed him, citing one simple reason: the imperial treasury had no money.

Whoever proposed anything now, he’d say the same thing—no money. His greatest hope was that everyone would suggest ways to increase revenue and cut waste, not keep demanding more spending.