In the end, Li Xiu did not tell Princess Pingyang about Li Chengdao's ship back, but instead used the excuse of thinking about the school and barely scattering it. A few days later, the school finally began to formally recruit students and was preparing to start school after the Lantern Festival.

Early that morning, Li Xiu came to the school to take charge. Today is the tenth day of the lunar month, and it is also the day for the school to formally recruit students. The enrollment information had been spread during the Chinese New Year. A few days ago, he formally sent someone to notify the surrounding villages. In the past few days, the villagers around him were also discussing their children's schooling.

Tian Chou has also taken office and officially served as the chief of the school. In addition to him, there are more than a dozen newly recruited scholars, who are the first batch of teachers in the school. Most of these scholars are not young anymore. Many of them have participated in the imperial examinations several times, but they are all lost. This makes them feel that there is no hope of the imperial examinations. Li Xiu happened to recruit teachers here and the salary is good, so before the New Year, these teachers had already recruited them.

After breakfast, Tian Chou and his men moved the tables out and lined up in the open space in front of the school to welcome the students who came to sign up. In addition, Li Xiu also gave the school a very suitable name, Xinzhu Primary School. After all, this place was originally Xinzhu County. Of course, the key to giving such a name was that Li Xiu was lazy. After all, it was enough for him to name his daughter last time.

At the beginning, there were quite a few students coming to register. There were a lot of people around the table. Most of them brought their children to register. The registration format was very simple. You only need to register which village the students were in and what their names were. However, most of the parents of these children had no education and had all kinds of names, such as Ergou and Niuzi. Tian Chou and others didn't care about it. In fact, many children from poor families didn't have any serious names. When they went to a private school, the private school teacher would give them a formal name.

Li Xiu also kept observing the children who came to register today, but found that all the children who came to school were boys and could not even see a girl. This made him shake his head helplessly. Although he asked someone to inform him before, he said that both men and women could come to school, the atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty was still not as good as that of later generations, and no one dared to send his daughter to school. After all, in the Tang Dynasty, this could be called a traitor.

In fact, this is not surprising. The status of men and women in ancient society was originally very different. Even the Tang Dynasty, which claimed to be open, was the right to receive education always in the hands of men. Although some noble women also received some education, it was mostly to cultivate their character, not to make achievements in the future like men.

It was during the Republic of China that women truly enjoyed the right to receive education, and it was the Central Plains that were in a great change that had not been seen in a thousand years and were impacted by foreign thoughts, which improved the social status of women. The Tang Dynasty is now stable and strong, and it is extremely difficult to make major changes in society. Li Xiu alone cannot change the atmosphere of the entire society in a short period of time, so he has no choice.

However, these people who registered did not last long. Many people visited the school after registering, and then left. As a result, the registration team became smaller and smaller. By the time it was almost noon, there were not many people who came to register, which surprised Li Xiu. Then he went forward to Tianchou and asked, "Chief Tian Shan, how many people are there to register now?"

"Your Majesty, there are 376 children who have registered now, but it's a bit strange." Tian Chou reported the report immediately, but at the end he showed a puzzled expression.

"What's strange?" Li Xiu frowned when he heard that there were only more than 300 people. There were at least dozens of villages around him. Although these villages were not big, there were only a dozen families in Lijiazhuang, and there were only one or two hundred households. However, with so many villages combined, I'm afraid there would be at least a few thousand children, but now there are only more than 300 people who sign up, which is too few.

"Your Majesty, just look at the registration list." Tian Chou delivered the list he had just sorted out to Li Xiu and said.

Li Xiu took it and looked at it. He found that the name of the registered student was registered on the list. Although the name was messy, it was nothing. However, when he saw the address, he frowned slightly because 700% of the registered students were from Wuzhizhuang, and there were very few students from other farmers who came to register.

"How could this happen?" Li Xiu couldn't help but frown and said, although he had expected that many poor families might not send their children to school, because many children could help with some work at home, in order to attract these children, he not only did not charge money in the school, but also had free lunch. Such generous conditions should attract many children to school?

As for so many children from Wuzhizhuang who came to register, Li Xiu was not surprised. At first, Wuzhizhuang was all veterans of the retired army of the Women's Army. They all worked with the caravans, and they did a lot of money and did not have to farm to work. Therefore, the children at home were idle, and it was worry-free and labor-saving to go to school. Of course, this also had a lot to do with Ma Ye's help. After all, as long as Ma Ye gave his order, almost all the children of the right age in Wuzhizhuang were sent.

"Mr. Prince Concubine, why are almost all the children who come to register from the same village, and there are very few students who come to register from other villages?" Tian Chou had just taken office for a few days and was not familiar with the surrounding situation, so he asked Li Xiu strangely.

Li Xiu was also considering this matter at this time. He smiled bitterly and explained it to him, which made Tian Chou realize it suddenly. At this moment, Li Xiu suddenly saw Boss Liu bringing more than a dozen children to register. Li Xiu knew all these children, all of whom were from the Li family Zhuangzi. It seemed that the entire Zhuangzi children were brought by him.

"Uncle Liu, why are you here so late? I thought you were not here just now." Li Xiu immediately stepped forward and said hello when he saw Boss Liu.

"Master, you are doing a great thing for us tenants. How can I not come? Look, I brought all the children in the whole village!" Liu said, pointing to the children behind him and said, of course, these children are all boys. In the eyes of Boss Liu and others, girls will sooner or later marry others, so they are not considered people in the village. Even if they live a good life now, girls can only eat and wear warm clothes, and it is impossible to go to school.

Li Xiu immediately arranged for the registration of these children, but then he pulled Liu Da aside and asked, "Uncle Liu, I built this school mainly for the tenants at home, but most of the people who came to register today are from Wuzhizhuang, and there are very few real tenants. What is the reason?"

Just now, Li Xiu realized that he was thinking too simple. He thought that the school could attract the children of tenants to go to school with free school, but he didn't expect that reality slapped him in the face. This made him finally remember to ask Boss Liu for advice. Although Boss Liu is not short of money now, his thoughts are no different from those poor tenants, so he can definitely give himself an answer.

"It turns out that the master wanted to ask about this. In fact, if it weren't for the school you built by the master, I'm afraid I wouldn't have dared to send the children in the village." Boss Liu smiled at this time.

"Why? The school not only costs money, but also provides a lunch, which can read and read here. Why don't they want to come for such a good thing?" Li Xiu asked in confusion when he heard this.

"Master, you are wrong. It's because it's so good that they dare not come..." Boss Liu smiled bitterly and spread his hands, then explained to Li Xiu, which finally made him understand what these tenants think.

It turns out that most tenants dare not come because the school conditions are too good, and they don’t charge money and still take care of food. This makes the tenants feel that there is no such good thing in the world? In contrast, if Li Xiu collects some tuition, more people will be willing to send their children.

"It's because of this?" After hearing Boss Liu's explanation, Li Xiu said with some amusement. He didn't expect that the school's conditions would scare people.

"It's more than that. The master, you built this school with a kind intention. You want the tenant's children to read and write, but studying takes time. The tenant's children can support half of the adults at home. These children do the work of cutting pig grass and picking up firewood. If they go to school, there will be fewer people working at home."

When he said this, Boss Liu smiled embarrassedly, and then continued: "There are many people who think that our tenant family's children should have the strength to farm. Studying is not something we can do. In fact, I thought so before, but that day Su Niang scolded me, so today I sent all the children in the farm."

After listening to Boss Liu’s explanations, Li Xiu finally understood. In fact, summing up Boss Liu’s words, there are only three reasons why the tenants are unwilling to send their children to study:

The first is that they distrust the school and cannot believe that such a good thing will hit them. The second is that they want their children to help their families with their work. The third is that they do not pay attention to knowledge. In other words, they are ignorant. After all, their ancestors have never read books for generations. There are very few people who truly understand the saying "knowledge changes destiny". Of course, there are not none, such as those few families who sent their children.

Thinking of the above, Li Xiu couldn't help but smile bitterly, but then asked Boss Liu again: "Uncle Liu, I really want the children of tenants to come to study. In the future, it will be beneficial to the Tang Dynasty and themselves. I wonder if you have any way to let the tenants send their children to study?"
Chapter completed!