Chapter 91 Our Liaodong is thriving!

"So-called miscellaneous disciplines are actually very simple."

Liu Fu gave an example:

“Mathematics and arithmetic, once mastered, are of great use in many areas, such as the construction of a giant palace, a large bridge, or a large ship.”

"If you are a doctor, and if you are truly skilled at treating and saving lives, you can compete with others and be recruited as a talent. Even if you are a carpenter or stonemason, you can enter the miscellaneous disciplines to participate in the imperial examinations. The miscellaneous disciplines imperial examinations will appoint skilled craftsmen and people with miscellaneous knowledge from all over the world as officials and assign them to different departments to do their jobs."

"For example, if you are proficient in mathematics and pass the imperial examination, you can be assigned to the Ministry of Revenue as an official, where you will be more adept at settling accounts."

"If one's medical skills are superb, one can enter the Imperial Medical Academy. Stone carvers and masons with profound skills can also enter the Ministry of Works as officials. This miscellaneous discipline includes all kinds of knowledge in the world. Even if you are highly skilled in slaughtering pigs and sheep, as long as the court needs you, you can become an official."

After Liu Fu finished speaking, Hai Rui was extremely excited, and he now had only one last thought:

"May I ask Your Majesty, are those from humble backgrounds allowed to participate in the imperial examinations?"

Liu Fu replied with a smile:

"Not to mention those from poor families, even beggars on the street can participate in the imperial examinations."

Upon hearing this, Hai Rui's eyes filled with tears, and he knelt down on the ground in complete submission, prostrating himself in worship.

"Your Majesty's actions are unparalleled in the world, truly those of a sage!"

Liu Fu sighed inwardly, "It wasn't easy!"

Hai Rui, a ruthless man who dared to point his finger at the emperor and curse him without batting an eye, is now completely convinced by his own words and even praising himself. It is indeed rare to receive praise from Hai Rui!

However, Liu Fu hadn't finished speaking when he continued:

"Even those who participate in miscellaneous examinations and cannot become officials are classified according to their respective ranks, so that everyone knows what a good stonemason, a good craftsman, and a good doctor are. In this way, with titles, it will be easier for ordinary people to find different people to do different things, and it will also make it easier for those who are unknown but have real skills to make a living. Once the whole society develops in this refined direction, will it become better?"

Hai Rui froze completely after hearing Liu Fu's words.

From Liu Fu's perspective as a modern person, this is simply a good system.

But this is ancient times. Even people like Hai Rui and Zhuge Liang were full of admiration after learning about Liu Fu's idea. Such an idea was extremely advanced in their eyes. People like them, who could not transcend the limitations of their time, would hardly have thought of it.

"There is one problem," Zhuge Liang advised. "If there is corruption in the court, such a good method will become filthy and sordid, and those selected will not necessarily be talented."

Liu Fu nodded:

"That's why I appointed you as Prime Minister. During the years when Zhuge Liang served as Prime Minister, although there were continuous wars with foreign powers, the people not only did not show any signs of suffering, but were also sincerely convinced of his abilities. Why is that?"

"Because your rewards and punishments are fair and just, you can win the hearts of the people. That's why I appointed you as my prime minister. With Hai Rui's integrity and uprightness, as long as you are in the court, there will be fairness and justice here."

Liu Fu had no intention of suppressing all other schools of thought and exclusively promoting Confucianism.

Controlling people with Confucian ethics is useless. If the people are kept ignorant for hundreds or thousands of years, they will eventually end up like those on Earth, being divided and annexed by foreign powers.

If you can truly ensure that the people have enough to eat and wear, they will naturally support you; this has been proven countless times.

It's actually not difficult at all.

The difficulty lies in whether one can maintain their original aspirations, principles, and conscience after becoming arrogant in a high position.

At this time, Liu Fu also handed over the specific matters of dividing these imperial examinations to the small cabinet led by Zhuge Liang, and he himself could now be considered to be free of any worries.

Three days later, the establishment of Kaifeng Prefecture had already resolved more than a hundred cases and restored justice to dozens of people.

Bao Zheng was not only extremely fast in handling cases, but also accurate in his judgments, as if divinely aided.

Working together, Di Renjie and Song Ci solved a major case in three days, exonerating two death row inmates who were about to be executed in the autumn, and arresting the real criminals who were still at large. Along with the prison guards and officials who colluded with them, six or seven people were arrested in one go and were all interrogated and dealt with.

These actions immediately caused a sensation among the people.

At the same time, Xiao He began to post notices everywhere, selecting talented people from Liaodong to serve as teachers in classrooms and teach children various survival skills.

That's right. Liu Fu wants to build schools in large quantities so that the people can at least be literate, recognize basic characters, and learn some basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division algorithms. These are useful in daily life. After being literate, they can then learn a skill to make a living from teachers, depending on their talents.

This skill can be medicine, cooking, craftsmanship, or any other skill.

As everything began to be arranged, Zhuge Liang, as the prime minister, had already led a few people to travel all over Liaodong, personally surveying and drawing up a detailed map of Liaodong, compiling all the mountains, lakes, and rivers.

This task would normally have taken a long time, but with the dragon horse provided by Liu Fu, the time was greatly reduced and the work efficiency was improved.

A month later, Zhuge returned and divided the land in Liaodong into four irrigation areas, preparing to begin constructing irrigation weirs and canals according to different water bodies and terrain.

Why did Chengdu, once known as the Land of Abundance, become a giant granary?

Because during Zhuge Liang's lifetime, he promoted water conservancy projects, greatly improving the Dujiangyan Irrigation System. He also built many irrigation facilities in various places, invented a simple waterwheel, and began to artificially construct several small reservoirs around the area.

With his previous experience in governing Shu, Zhuge Liang was even more adept at governing Liaodong. One of Xiao He's major contributions under Liu Bang was the establishment of the laws of the Han Dynasty.

Now, he has also begun to address the loopholes in the Later Han law and create a completely new set of Later Han laws.

Xun Yu, as Zhuge Liang's deputy, began to implement the measures he had formulated, which were then promoted by Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui.

But gradually, this talent pool began to become insufficient.

Now, another problem has emerged for Liu Fu. He is finally facing the same problem his father, Liu Laowu, had encountered: there is still not enough talent!

The people in this world who can read are really not right. Basically, if you can read a few books, you can become a clerk in the government office. Most of these officials are people who have been serving in this area since the previous dynasty, and the vast majority of them are not good people. Liu Fu has already obtained some evidence of these officials' crimes of corruption and is preparing to take action against them.

These new policies, once formulated, will require continued implementation by someone.

"Looks like I'll have to buy people with points."

Liu Fu had no choice but to call everyone over again and ask them one by one:

"Gentlemen, who else do you think are capable of serving us? Feel free to speak up, and I will recruit them for you to strengthen Liaodong together."