Although Zhao Hanzhang was disappointed, she still went to Zhao Hu’s house to bring back those books.

Because she needed them too.

Books were extremely difficult to purchase in this era, even simple primer texts were hard to come by.

Generally, bookshops in county towns sold more writing implements like brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, while books themselves were the scarcest items.

At least when Ji Yuan went to buy them, he hadn’t been able to find many books suitable for beginning students.

Zhao Hanzhang’s collection of books was considerable, but she had no spare copies. Even though she considered herself generous, she was reluctant to let these books be used by people just starting their education.

So the only option was to copy books!

For such an important task, Zhao Hanzhang assigned it to the elder and younger brothers she had just recruited.

Zhao Hanzhang distributed the paper she had just retrieved from Zhao Hu’s house. “Elder brothers, I know you all want to find answers as soon as possible. I feel the same way, so why not start searching for answers right now?”

Receiving the paper and books Zhao Hanzhang handed them, the young men looked confused. “What is this?”

Zhao Hanzhang replied, “The books you need to copy.”

The young men were even more bewildered. Looking down at the books in their hands, they asked, “The Quick Reference Guide, the Training Compilation, and the Exhortation to Learning—aren’t these primer books? Why do we need to copy them?”

Zhao Hanzhang said with a serious expression, “Are you elder brothers looking down on these three books just because they’re primers?”

She continued, “You should know that these three texts replaced the Three Sections of Cangjie that were revised and supplemented by Yang Xiong, Cai Yong, and others.”

The young men straightened up. Zhao Kuan immediately said, “We’re not looking down on these primer books. We just don’t understand what relationship they have with the answers we’re seeking.”

“Although these three are merely primers, they are also the foundation of the hundred schools of thought. They encompass everything and contain allusions and principles involving all the schools. If you want to know whether mathematics is truly the mother of the hundred schools, then start your research from here.”

Zhao Kuan said, “We’ve already memorized them all.”

Zhao Hanzhang replied, “But only through copying can one contemplate the meaning of each character more deeply. Besides, we agreed beforehand that once you entered the county office, you would follow my arrangements. Right now, I’m telling you to copy books!”

The young men asked, “How many copies?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Let’s start with ten copies of each.”

The young men’s vision darkened. Zhao Kuan, as their representative, asked, “…Each person?”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “Each and every person!”

In other words, each person had to copy thirty books…

Zhao Kuan was about to protest when Zhao Cheng walked out from the pavilion and directly ordered, “Hanzhang is right. Although these three are primer books, they contain many principles. You’ve read many books over the years and have traveled extensively, but you may not remember the principles learned during your early education, much less practice them.”

“As the saying goes, reviewing the old helps you learn the new. You should indeed reread these primer books carefully.” Zhao Cheng said, “Start copying tonight. Submit one section each day—I’ll be checking them.”

The young men couldn’t help but groan, all regretting their decision. If they had known, they wouldn’t have made this bet with Zhao Hanzhang.

There were many ways to find answers—why did they choose the one method they had the least control over?

Now that she had people to copy the books, Zhao Hanzhang finally felt at ease. After the mutton feast, she returned to the county town with Fu Tinghan.

Zhao Erlang remained at the fortified estate to continue enjoying the company of his elders, planning to return tomorrow.

He had made friends with eight-year-old Zhao Zheng, and the two seemed to get along well, so Zhao Erlang had no objections to being left at home.

Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan rode their horses back slowly, taking the opportunity to discuss confidential matters while Qiu Wu and the others followed at a distance behind them.

“Are you planning to have Zhao Cheng teach all the children in the charitable hall?”

Zhao Hanzhang shook her head directly. “That’s unrealistic. First, I’m not that wealthy right now. Second, Zhao Cheng may not agree to teach large classes without discrimination.”

The four words “teach without discrimination” sounded simple, but in this era, very few people could truly practice them.

Among the children in the charitable hall, some had decent family backgrounds but lost everything when the city fell. Others came from commoner families, including orphans who had been at the hall even before the city fell. There were even beggars who had lived on the streets since childhood.

Currently, even becoming an official required first determining one’s rank, and the nine-rank system looked first at family background.

So she wasn’t sure whether Zhao Cheng would be willing to teach these children without discrimination.

Until she understood Zhao Cheng better, she didn’t plan to act in areas that might cause conflict, lest she lose this talented person.

Fu Tinghan nodded. “Education is very important, but it must proceed step by step. My suggestion is to first train the clerks and officers in the county office and the squad and section leaders in the military.”

“Great minds think alike,” Zhao Hanzhang said excitedly. “When I saw Zhao Cheng and those brothers of mine, it was like seeing a group of teachers.”

“Besides the clerks, officers, and low-ranking military officers, we can also select some older, clever children from the charitable hall to study,” she said. “My requirements aren’t many—as long as they can read through these three primer texts, recognize thirty percent of the characters, and know simple addition and subtraction.”

Although this might only be equivalent to third-grade elementary school knowledge, it would still be useful. Many simple county administrative tasks could be assigned to them.

Zhao Hanzhang was severely short-staffed right now.

Fu Tinghan asked, “Have you thought about compiling your own primer textbooks?”

“You mean the Thousand Character Classic and the Three Character Classic?”

Fu Tinghan nodded. “Don’t you remember them? I can still recall most of them. With Teacher Zhao’s memory and understanding of literature and history, you should remember even better.”

“I do remember,” she said. She just had never thought of it this way.

Zhao Hanzhang rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “It’s certainly feasible. I’ll write them when I get back, then use both sets of primers together to see which produces faster literacy rates, and finally determine the best one.”

That’s what she said, but both Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan knew in their hearts that the Thousand Character Classic and Three Character Classic should be able to defeat the Training Compilation and the other three texts.

After all, they had been validated by a thousand years of history.

“It’s a pity that after I write them from memory, we can only disseminate them through hand-copying. We don’t have a printing workshop.”

Fu Tinghan mentally calculated the resources the charitable hall might consume in the future and shook his head. “If we want to expand education, books are essential. Relying solely on hand-copying is too difficult. A printing workshop, though challenging, must be established.”

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang’s interest, he asked, “Should we go straight for movable type printing?”

Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Forget it. Right now, there aren’t many literate people in the entire county, much less literate craftsmen. Developing movable type printing would probably require the entire city’s resources.”

“Food is also very important right now, so we can’t monopolize labor needed for farming,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Let’s research woodblock printing instead. If we’re only printing primer books, woodblock printing is the cheapest and most convenient to operate.”

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