I

The first place Milton visited was the "Xi'anmen Street Primary School" in Nanjing.

The most prosperous places in Nanjing are Nanshi and Beishi.

Most of the wealthy businessmen live in the south, located southwest of the imperial city and under the jurisdiction of Jiangning County.

Most of the dignitaries lived in the north. Their addresses were located to the west and northwest of the imperial city and belonged to Shangyuan County.

Xi'anmen Street Primary School is located near the area where dignitaries live. No matter what the emperor thinks, the teachers in this school must be the best.

Even if they are not excellent at the beginning, after a few years, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty will make them excellent!

Milton and Marvel walked all the way. Except for Xi'anmen Street, the rest of the streets were relatively narrow and could even be called alleys. There are deep mansions and courtyards on both sides. It doesn't look like much from the outside of the wall, but when you enter, you will find a different world.

It was now afternoon, and Principal Yan Bangqi received them personally.

"How many teachers and students are there in this school?" Milton asked.

Yan Bangqi replied: "There are 32 teachers (including principals and other administrative staff) and more than 600 students."

While they were talking, everyone had already arrived near the playground, where two classes were having physical education classes.

When Milton saw girls on the playground, he was surprised and said, "Coeducation?"

"Not bad." Yan Bangqi smiled.

Rich families like to send their daughters to girls' schools. But Xi'anmen Street Primary School is different. The students here are either rich or noble, the teachers here are all famous people, and the girls are not yet the age of first love. A daughter from a wealthy family can definitely attend the school.

Therefore, the ratio of boys to girls is almost 50:50.

Milton asked again: "Why are they wearing the same clothes?"

Yan Bangqi introduced: "This is a Confucian shirt, the uniform of scholars. His Majesty has ordered that primary and secondary school students are not allowed to wear silk clothes, so these students wear cotton Confucian shirts."

Milton looked carefully again and asked, "What are they wearing around their waists?"

"Jade pendant, a gentleman is like jade." Yan Bangqi explained.

A translator from Honglu Temple said: "Those are ornaments made of jade. In ancient China, only philosophers with high moral character were qualified to wear jade. This is to encourage students to develop excellent moral character."

"So that's it." Milton nodded.

In fact, students must wear a jade pendant around their waists, which is the first requirement of Jinling University.

The jade pendants at Jinling University are all medicinal jade, which is also colored glass. The pattern is also the school emblem, and a jade pendant hanging from the waist is equivalent to wearing the school emblem.

Xi'anmen Street Primary School quickly imitated, but in a more advanced style. It's not glass here, it's all real jade, and it's very valuable. You'd be embarrassed to wear cheap Xiu jade. If you can’t compare with others when wearing clothes, then change to a jade pendant for comparison!

"Are they practicing their combat skills?" Marvell said, pointing to the students in physical education class.

Yan Bangqi replied with a smile: "The students are practicing the sword stick, which is the "Sword Classic" handed down by Yu Wuxiang Gong. It can exercise the body and can also be used in combat. When fighting, you can use a stick or a sword instead. At the end of every month, students will go to the Chengdong Racecourse to practice riding for half a day. If there is heavy rain, they will practice indoor archery at the end of the month."

The general translator of Honglu Temple said: "More than a hundred years ago, there was a victorious general in China, Yu Dayou. He left behind a set of fencing skills that can be practiced with wooden sticks and can be replaced with real swords at any time. This is for students. Physical education classes, at the end of every month, we also practice riding and archery.”

Swordsmanship, riding, archery?

Marvell immediately understood that this was an aristocratic school. In Europe, only nobles can learn these. Firstly, it is a secret that is not passed down by the family. Secondly, common people do not have the financial resources to learn.

Yan Bangqi stroked his beard and smiled: "Your Majesty said that gentlemen in ancient times had six arts. Nowadays, scholars can't just study hard, but also practice martial arts to strengthen their bodies. Schools in all provinces across the country have arranged physical education courses. However, only Our Xi'anmen Street Primary School has just invited experts to teach swordsmanship, riding and archery. The students who come out of this school, both male and female, are both talented in both civil and military skills!"

When the general secretary of Honglu Temple translated it, he simply omitted half of it without saying that these were unique to this school.

Milton's educational point of view also believed that schools should have sports content. He praised: "China's education is the best in the world, and all schools should have physical education classes."

Go around the playground and come to the classroom area.

The quality of teaching here is also reflected in the class size. All are small classrooms, and the number of students in each class must not exceed 28, so as not to overwhelm the teacher.

Yan Bangqi pointed to the window and said: "Except for the imperial palace, the window glass here is the most transparent, just like the government office and Jinling University."

The sunlight shines on the window glass and penetrates into the classroom. The children are studying in the bright classroom.

Milton looked at it in a daze. Only the big nobles in Europe could afford such expensive glass, and even the small nobles did not have the financial resources.

In fact, China is similar, and the technology for making glass is not yet mature.

One is that it is relatively brittle. If the glass is made too big, it will break easily, and the window glass can only be made into many small squares.

Second, there are many impurities. The window glass of ordinary houses and schools is more or less light green, and the light transmittance of the glass is not very good. Glass like the one in front of you is a top-notch product. Not only is it expensive, but the annual output is not large.

In the classroom, a math class is taking place, teaching single-digit multiplication.

Milton looked at the calculations on the blackboard and suddenly became confused. Because although the equal sign was invented in Europe, it was not popularized. At this moment, even Descartes is still using "=" to represent "±", and the equal sign is represented by double quotes.

After some questioning, Milton finally understood the formula.

Then I walked to the next class, where a Chinese class was being held, and bursts of recitation came from the classroom: "It's noon on the day of hoeing, and the sweat is dripping from the soil..."

Hearing that the students were reciting poetry, Marvell quickly asked the general officer to translate.

The general manager said with some embarrassment: "I can't write poetry in Latin, so I can only translate the general meaning. The farmers weeded the seedlings under the scorching sun at noon, and the sweat dripped down and wet the soil under the seedlings. Who knows the meal on the plate? , every grain is full of farmers’ hard work?”

It is a pity that two famous British scholars were not much touched by this poem.

It is true that they are all "democratic fighters", but the classes they represent are nobles, landowners, businessmen and small citizens, and they also bring with them some yeoman farmers. Who cares about the life and death of the real poor farmers in Europe?

Milton politely commented: "The author of this poem should be a man of high moral character, who would even care about the hard work of farmers."

Tongshi said: "The author is a prime minister in ancient China."

The two British guys had nothing to say. In their minds, it would be considered merciful if the prime minister of a country did not exploit the farmers too harshly. How could he care about the situation of the farmers after running out of money?

At this time, agricultural planting technology in Britain was developing rapidly, almost catching up with China's Tang and Song Dynasties. In order to increase agricultural output, while introducing Asian farming techniques, land is being encircled for large-scale production. These are consumables that farmers must have but are occasionally redundant.

After walking around again, Milton said to the general: "Sir, can you take us to the school in the poorest neighborhood in the city?"

"Of course." Tongtong smiled.

The poorest neighborhood in Nanjing is in the northwest corner of the city. There are many mountains in that area, such as Qingliang Mountain, Stone Mountain, Lion Mountain... there are all kinds of them, and they are separated from the Qinhuai River by the city wall. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there were even farmlands.

If the common people at the bottom who have no house to live in want to build a few dilapidated houses to live in, they can either live outside the city and build a house near the mountain in the northwest corner of the city.

Gradually, lower-level neighborhoods formed in the northwest of the city.

People walked along Xi'anmen Street, where shops were dotted with various advertising signs.

Stores often don't have unique names, but rely on product content to attract customers. For example, the signboards of those stores often read: Northwest Liangkou Leather Goods, Sichuan-Guang Groceries, Fu-Guang Sea Food Fa Ke, Beijing-style Boots and Shoes Store, North-South Fruits, etc.

There are also those who are loud, making long tricks and writing: We have all the goods from the East and the West.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were already terms such as Eastern and Western, and various advertising signs looked very modern. For example, for those who sell clothes and belts, their trick is "top-quality official belts." Another example is the bank store. The motto is "Wanyuanhao Tongshang Bank Store·Fair entry and exit".

Milton liked this lively atmosphere. The streets were full of people. He didn't know why Nanjing citizens had so much leisure to go shopping.

After walking along West Chang'an Avenue, continue west along Shichengmen Street to reach the Shicheng Gate of Nanjing City. It is next to the Qinhuai River and is considered a prosperous wharf. Many goods are shipped out of the city and transported to the Yangtze River along the Qinhuai River. On the other side of the river are Mochou Lake and Nanhu Lake, which are picturesque, so Shichengmen Street is also relatively prosperous.

To the north of Shichengmen Street, there are many large and small hills, which are also slums in Nanjing.

During the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing's military warehouses and military camps were also located in this area. Zhao Han did not demolish it and used it as a military warehouse and school ground for the imperial guards. As for the rest of the army in Nanjing, the military warehouses and school grounds were located outside the city.

As more goods were shipped to sea, the area along Jinchuanmen Street near the military camp in the city became more and more prosperous. From Jinchuanmen Street, you can transport goods directly to the Yangtze River Wharf for loading. In the past, I used Shitoumen Street and had to transfer a boat from the Qinhuai River. Large ships could not pass at all.

The advantage of opening up the sea is that in the northwest urban area of ​​Nanjing, along Jinchuanmen Street, the nearby civilians are becoming richer and richer. Their homes are more valuable, there are more jobs available to them, and the business atmosphere along the street has become stronger.

The real slums are between Jinchuanmen Street, Dinghuaimen Street, Qingliangmen Street and Gulouwai Street.

The houses here are built very densely, and wherever there is a gap, poor people will build shacks. There are densely packed residential houses, but there is no two-story building. The houses are also built with rammed earth and bamboo strips. The window is just a hole in the earthen wall with a few wooden strips embedded in it.

Compared with the city center, it seems to be two different worlds.

The general of Honglu Temple said: "For the people in this area, most men work as coolies at the docks, and most women work in textile factories outside the city. Although their income is not high, as long as they are willing to work, they don't have to worry about food and drink. This is Nanjing House prices are too expensive and they can’t afford a good house.”

Milton nodded repeatedly after hearing this. This is right. If it were all like the city center, China would be too scary.

The general manager of Honglu Temple smiled and said: "In recent years, the imperial court has not collected excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and even the people here have been living better and better. Look, you two, the few houses in front are obviously newly built. The homeowner must have saved some money.”

Those few houses really stand out among the slums because the exterior walls of the houses are plastered with plaster.

The people at the bottom only have a few dreams, work hard, live frugally, save money to live in better houses, and it is easier for their sons to find wives.