Chapter 32

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation

Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“No wonder Xia Village has so many special talents. Even the dance hostesses contribute reinforcement.”

Chu Tian realized that he had belittled the life occupations represented by the special talents. Life occupations contributed special reinforcement to the territory or constructions, and the contributions of these talents to Xia Village could not be neglected.

Chu Tian had thought that life occupations like dance hostesses were non-essential, but that did not seem to be the case now.

The academies in Feudal Lords resembled those of the Great Tang Dynasty, which managed artists and performers and taught popular music, serving like the royal musical academies. Despite being of a lowly status, it wasn’t an indecent agency, but a decorous one instead. It could bring about a great deal of reinforcement to the territory.

“You can put your minds at ease, you will be living in Xia Village from now on. There’s no academy in the village at the moment, but rest assured, the feudal lord’s residence will announce subsidies for pending special talents very soon. All special talents who are awaiting employment can apply for those subsidies at the feudal lord’s residence.”

To retain mid-grade special talents, Chu Tian even implemented measures that could be seen in reality. Before the suitable special constructions were built, subsidies could be provided to the special talents in order to support their needs. Every household in the village had its own income, but villagers without income would probably end up as refugees or beggars again.

It would be negligence of the feudal lord’s duty if he allowed two mid-grade special talents to become homeless.

Xiaozhu and Xiaoqing couldn’t help but be moved when they heard about the preferential treatment given to special talents. 

“If that is the case, Lord Village Chief, you really do appreciate talents.”

Warriors die for those who appreciate them. The two girls who could become dance hostesses knew that as well.

“It’s part of my duty.”

Chu Tian began to calculate. There were 112 special talents in the village, most of them already stationed in constructions like farmlands, hospitals, minelands, timber processing mills, taverns, and so forth. Special talents like the two girls, who had no suitable places to go, should not account for a large proportion.

The feudal lord’s residence would dispense a small sum of subsidies every month to retain them, and the effects arising from their presence alone could contribute to Xia Village.

“On New Year’s and other festive occasions, you can put on musical performances to enhance morale and popular sentiment. I hope the two of you won’t decline at that time,” Chu Tian told them, intending to bring their value into play.

Xiaoqing smiled with pursed lips, assuring him, “We will surely be willing to abide by your orders, my lord.”

Chu Tian asked the two of them to go apply for subsidies, then found Li Kui to distribute subsidies to all the registered special talents who had no suitable places to go.

The sum of the subsidy was related to the status of the special talents. Only mid-grade talents were able to apply for great amounts of subsidies.

According to Li Kui’s statistics, there were a total of 17 special talents who were unemployed. Xia Village wasn’t a town after all, a great number of facilities were yet to be installed. For future planning, he could only retain them by investing a small amount of money.

The results were pretty satisfactory. Those talents were very grateful toward Chu Tian and led a content life in Xia Village.

The registration of the population exposed a great deal of other problems, however. Apart from the issue with the unemployed special talents, the schooling of the children also posed a problem.

There were approximately 300 children under 15 years in Xia Village. Among them were 150 children at ages that were suitable for schooling, but a cottage school could only accommodate 50 pupils.

Hence, Chu Tian arranged for two more cottage schools to be built.

Cottage schools were the simplest of cultural buildings, able to be operated with the sole presence of a teacher and serving to enhance popular sentiment. Pupils who graduated from cottage schools had higher chances of becoming special talents.

In order for a pupil to graduate from cottage schools, it would take at least two to three years, but no more than five to six years.

This was a long-term investment. For the continual development of the territory, Chu Tian had to cultivate talents at all times. Besides, talents fostered in the feudal lord’s own territory would be more loyal, which made them less likely to depart.

The expenditure of operating the cottage schools was mainly the teachers’ salaries and the purchase of stationary. The pay rate of a low-grade teacher was about 2 taels of silver per month, and they could teach 50 pupils. Stationary was kept minimalistic as well, consisting of cheap quills and paper.

Being faced with a shortage of money, Chu Tian did not implement free education. A tael of silver would be collected from each pupil on an annual basis as school fees, to compensate for the expenditure of the cottage.

“A tael of silver? No way! If you put up that notice straight away, just like that, your policy will be abhorred,” Xia Tianliang from Xiaozhu Village informed him, shaking her head when she heard about his idea of collecting school fees. “You could put up a notice, asking for two taels of silver every year.”

“You are unscrupulous…”

“Be patient and let me finish my thoughts. Once the villagers complain that two taels a year is too expensive, you could listen to them and adjust the fees to one tael a year. You will get your desired outcome that way, won’t you? The villagers will even be grateful towards you.

“And if a family has more than two children, collect one tael of silver per year from the first child, and half a tael per year from the second child. The villagers will think that they have gained by having more children.

“This way, not only will you relieve the villagers’ burden and encourage them to have more children, the villagers will be more likely to send their children to school. The drawback is that the amount of school fees collected will decrease. As for how to decide what path to choose, that is up to you.”

Xia Tianliang’s analysis changes Chu Tian’s perspective. This fellow was a business prodigy indeed!

Perhaps, most players were illiterate in terms of agriculture, but economical tactics had been deployed for several thousand years. Some players were ingenious in business.

Very soon, a notice was pasted on the dilapidated noticeboard in the village.

A group of villagers gathered around to look, the literate ones among them reciting, “Despite poverty, education should not be compromised. Despite difficulties, children should not be left in misery. The cottage schools of Xia Village are recruiting pupils, and for only two taels of silver a year…”

“The words are simple, but the principle is right. After all, aren’t we working hard for the sake of our children?”

“Two taels of silver is way too expensive! If a family has three children, don’t they have to spend six taels of silver every year? The monthly salary of a light infantryman is just one tael of silver. Six taels of silver is a great sum. In times like this, not starving is a great achievement on its own. We don’t have any extra money to teach the children, do we?”

“Right, right! Two taels of silver is too expensive!”

“But if we don’t spend the money, our children will be illiterate for life, won’t they? If they get an education, they might stand a chance to rise to great heights in the future.”

“Let’s go talk to the village chief and have him collect less fees.”

Just as expected, the notice caused a great commotion among the villagers immediately after it was posted.

The villagers, who loved their children dearly, gathered in a large group and headed for the feudal lord’s residence to request a fee reduction from Chu Tian.

Chu Tian pretended to be troubled, but in the end, he announced with resolve, “Fine, for the sake of the children of my beloved villagers, only one tael of silver will be collected from each child every year. For families with several children attending school, only one tael will be required from the first child. The remaining children can study with just half a tael!”

The villagers did not expect their request to be approved. Additionally, the village chief had decisively deducted the fee by half, which relieved the burden of families with more members. 

They were singing his praises, “Brilliant, village chief!”

Chu Tian continued to speak solemnly, “This is the result of the love and devotion of all the parents. Rest assured, when we select officers in the future, literate individuals will be considered first.”

Chu Tian was implying that the pupils who graduated from the cottage schools could possibly become officers in the future, which excited the villagers even more. How they wished they could send their children to school right away. They might even become scholars one day.

Chu Tian returned to the feudal lord’s residence, content. Through his manipulation, not only did the popular sentiment not decline, it even increased by 3 points!