Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

Chapter 214: Setting up a School

In early November, Gao Shun's battle report was delivered to Jinyang, along with Guo Tai's head, which was still open after his death.

"Zi Yan really lived up to my expectations. It took him less than a month to completely deal with Guo Tai." After reading the battle report, Lu Bu said with great satisfaction.

Du Ji smiled and said, "A strong general has no weak soldiers. My lord, every battle is victorious. Captain Gao is naturally no slouch either. Now that Guo Tai is dead, the bandits in Linfen have all surrendered. Yang Xian in Xiangling can also be captured. Then the other small bandit groups can all be persuaded to surrender. We should be able to completely eliminate the bandits in Hedong County before the beginning of spring."

Lu Bu nodded. With Guo Tai's death, the Baibo Army was leaderless and each general fought on his own. With sufficient food in Bingzhou, it would not be difficult to recruit these people. As for Yang Feng and others in the south of Shangdang, he would send a letter of surrender to them first. It would be best if they were willing to surrender. If they did not, he would have to wait until next year's autumn harvest to deal with them.

"After clearing up Hedong County, will you take charge of Hedong?" Jia Xu asked.

Lü Bu smiled bitterly. "Bing Province hasn't been completely rectified yet, and I don't have many capable men. How can I govern Hedong?"

Jia Xu said, "Although difficult, it's not impossible to govern. Hedong enjoys the strategic advantage of the Taihang Mountains. We can march westwards directly into Guanzhong, taking it if we advance and defending the hinterland if we retreat. Eastwards, we can enter Heluo via the Taihang Chiguan Pass and Taihang Xing Pass. During the reign of Emperor Gaozu, numerous military outposts were established in Hedong and Henei regions along the north bank of the river to effectively monitor and guard against the various states in Guandong. If you occupy Hedong County, it will be much easier for you to take Hongnong County, Henan Yin, Henei County, and even the west."

Lu Bu also knew that Hedong was important in terms of military and political location, but he really couldn't spare the time to manage Hedong at the moment.

Jia Xu continued, "In fact, I have been considering this matter since the Lord made the plan to suppress the Baibo Rebellion. Although Hedong is large, it does not have any influential powerful families. After the Baibo Rebellion in the past two years, the major families in the area have basically moved away. Unlike Taiyuan and Yanmen, the Lord can fully implement a series of new policies in Hedong as long as he can eliminate the Baibo Rebellion. This can be regarded as a test. If it works, we can slowly implement it in Xihe and Taiyuan counties."

"Who should we send, and how should we govern?"

In the dream, Lu Bu had served as the governor of Yanzhou and Xuzhou, but had never put any effort into governance and knew nothing about it. Since coming to Bingzhou, he has been studying almost every day, and now he barely understands some things. However, without Du Ji and Jia Xu, he still can't do it.

Jia Xu sighed resignedly, "If you trust me, my lord, please leave this place to me. However, I hope Captain Gao can come to Hedong to garrison there. I feel more at ease with him around."

Du Ji asked, "What about Taiyuan? Who will defend it?"

Jia Xu rolled his eyes and said, "Isn't it that the Lord is personally in charge of Taiyuan? Which scoundrel dares to invade?"

"My lord, can you defend an entire county by yourself?" Du Ji rolled his eyes.

Jia Xu said, "We are about to accept the surrender of the Baibo bandits. My lord, you should select a group of capable warriors, form a team and train them. Together with the Feixiong Army, it will be more than enough to defend Taiyuan County."

Lu Bu nodded. "I intend to select some of the surrendered soldiers to join the bandit-suppressing army. I will have Gao Shun, Song Xian, and Li Li stay in Hedong Commandery for now. I will hand over the new recruits to Cao Xing first. If there are any capable and outstanding generals among the Baibo surrendered generals, I will promote them when the time comes."

After Lu Bu finished speaking, he said to Jia Xu, "Mr. Wenhe, please go there as the governor of Hedong. I will send Wang Ling to assist you. You should set off soon! I will send the appointment memorial to Chang'an tomorrow."

Ever since the battle between the Guandong heroes and Dong Zhuo, the local lords have been ruling on their own, and the appointment and dismissal of officials no longer requires the court's approval. Sending a memorial is just a formality. Not long ago, Yuan Shao had just recommended Cao Cao as the governor of Dongjun, so everyone did the same thing, and no one would accuse Lu Bu of exceeding his authority.

Jia Xu bowed in agreement and said, "My lord, you are truly short of people. Why not send out a call for talented people to come and meet us? No matter how talented you are, as long as you can be of use, we will recruit them."

Hearing Jia Xu say this, Lu Bu couldn't help but think of what A Mo once said, that as long as everyone is not too old or too young, they are useful, and only by placing the right people in the right positions can work efficiency be maximized.

The problem is that he has no one around him now. The Wang family did send a few people over, but there is still a big gap. There are only a dozen people in the dozens of subordinate positions under him as the governor. Du Ji and Jia Xu each hold several positions. Now that Jia Xu is going to Hedong County, Du Ji's work will become even more arduous.

Gu Wei issued a call for talented people? Would anyone come to this remote place like Bingzhou to join him? Compared to Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, he seemed to have no other advantages except his fighting ability. However, in the eyes of the literati in the Central Plains, his fighting ability made him a crude warrior.

"Just send it out, give it a try!"

Lu Bu sighed and continued, "I want to set up a school and recruit children from ordinary families. I will pay for it myself to train some grassroots talents. What do you think?"

Schools in the Han Dynasty were divided into official schools and private schools. Official schools were further divided into central official schools and local official schools. But no matter which one, only children of officials could enter official schools. Children from poor families and ordinary people had no chance of getting in.

Private schools are taught by great Confucian scholars who do not have the opportunity to go into politics or become doctors. Some people accept disciples while serving as officials, such as Lu Zhi. Some people are dismissed from office and return home to become teachers. But no matter which one, those who can enter private schools are rich people or those whose ancestors have some reputation. It is a pipe dream for children of ordinary people to want to study.

Lu Buti's school was modeled after the school in Amo's earthen building. It was a private school that gave children from ordinary families a chance to learn to read.

However, Lü Bu's idea was too crude. Jia Xu said, "My lord, your idea of ​​developing education is excellent, but recruiting only children from commoners won't work. These people can't read a single word. They need at least three or four years of training before they can barely serve as the lowest-level village chiefs or village heads. It would be better to hire a great scholar and recruit some children from poor families who have already received enlightenment. After two or three years of training, they can serve as your right-hand men, and should have no problem serving as chief clerks or something like that. What my lord lacks right now is mainly middle and upper-level talent."

Jia Xu paused and continued, "However, for long-term considerations, your lord's private school can be divided into two parts. One part is elementary education, which is to enlighten children, and the other part is dedicated to the study of classics. This way, there will be no talent gap."

Lu Bu smiled and said, "Mr. Wenhe is right. That's the way it should be! I'll have someone select two large houses in the city to serve as a library and a scripture library in the next few days."

"My Lord, you are just saying it's the wind and the rain!"

Jia Xu looked at him speechlessly. "It's easy to find a tutor for elementary school, but who will you let take on the role of Doctor of Confucian Classics? Without a certain reputation, you can't recruit disciples of Confucian Classics. Even I, for one, wouldn't be qualified to be a Doctor of Confucian Classics."

Lu Bu said, "Mr. Wenhe is just not famous enough, not knowledgeable enough. However, I don't want you to take the position. You still need to help me govern Hedong County. I will go to Zhuo County to invite a great scholar."

Zhuo County?

Jia Xu's eyes lit up. "My lord, are you referring to Lu Zhi, who participated in the collation of the Imperial Academy's stone classics?"

"That's right. Mr. Lu is Amo's mentor. He returned to Zhuo County after being dismissed from office. When the Baibo military is in order, I will go to Youzhou in person to invite him over."

"Will he come?"

Lü Bu said, "We'll know if he's willing to come after we go and invite him. If he doesn't agree, I'll invite him a second time, a third time, until he comes."

Jia Xu nodded slightly. "My lord, you are a skilled warrior, you value the people's livelihood and economy, you value talent, and you are respectful to the wise and humble. You are truly a wise leader. I made the right decision to follow you to Bingzhou."

Du Ji laughed and said, "That's right. If Amo hadn't sent someone to kidnap me, I wouldn't know where I would be wasting my time now!"

Facing the two people's praise, Lu Bu smiled awkwardly. If he had not seen the dream life, if it were not for Amo's influence on him over the years, he would not pay attention to these things at all. Thinking of this, Lu Bu couldn't help feeling melancholy. He didn't know where Amo was now?