The officials below all breathed a sigh of relief. Since Guo Zhiyuan did not punish Bai Du, it would be impossible for them to be punished. It seems that the new county magistrate is still easy to speak, so there is no need to worry that his new official will take action against them with three fires as soon as possible.

Wang Demin felt more and more that Guo Zhiyuan was weak and could be bullied. Before Guo Zhiyuan could continue to ask, he rushed to speak: "I am in charge of the county's money, household registration, and money and grain matters. As for household registration..." Wang Demin took out another account book, slowly turned over a few pages, and coughed: "Three years ago, our county actually had 2,625 households, with an average population of 6 people per household. Now our county actually has 1,911 households, with an average population of nearly 4 people per household..."

Guo Zhiyuan frowned even more when he heard this. Although it means that the census work in modern times is far less good than that in modern times, there are many black households, and the data Wang Demin said can only be used as a reference, but only from the data provided by Wang Demin, the population loss in Gutian County is too serious. In three years, more than half of the total household registration in the county have been lost! As for the reason for the population loss, Guo Zhiyuan doesn’t need to ask. He saw it all the way, nine out of ten households are empty, and it must be because of the raging bandits!

Sure enough, before he could ask, Wang Demin continued: "The reason for the loss of population is that the county's loss is that the main reason is that the bandits in this county are rampant. Today, Inspection Chen is not here, so I will tell him on his behalf. It is because of our inability to suppress bandits. These bandits are too cunning and come and go like the wind. It is really difficult to destroy the military farms in this county. In addition, the military farms in this county are lacking in military farms, and even the military pay is repeatedly arrears, and the morale is low. Inspection Chen repeatedly requested additional troops to jointly encircle and suppress, and the military pay is allocated in time. The people who were destroyed by the bandits also provide relief. It just so happened that Lord Guo took office. When asked for support and relief from the prefect's office, he could only ask Lord Guo!..."

Wang Demin was sure that Guo Zhiyuan could not get money and food from the prefectural office, so he kept using this issue to attack Guo Zhiyuan. Of course, Guo Zhiyuan could not get into his trap. He waved his hand expressionlessly and said, "I have just said that I will try to solve the problem of money and food, so I will not discuss it here. Gu Zhiyu, what are the cultural and educational aspects of the county? What achievements can be made in cultural and educational aspects?..."

Wang Demin couldn't force Guo Zhiyuan anymore, so he had to win a glance at the teacher Gu Zhiqian. Gu Tian County is located in a remote area, so education is naturally backward. Not to mention the Jinshi Juren, even scholars are rarely able to pass the exam. People from other places have to be transferred to serve as teachers. Those who have fame think Gutian County is poor, and this teacher is not a fat man, so they are unwilling to come. They can only choose the tallest among the shorts and choose Gu Zhiqian from the local scholars in Gutian to serve as teachers.

Gu Zhiqian was a scholar who was the same as Wang Demin. He was the same year. In addition, he also wanted to use Wang Demin's way of notifying Huang Sihua of the mansion and also to come to Dangdang, so he had been looking for opportunities to get close to Wang Demin, but the teaching had no real power. Wang Demin usually didn't pay much attention to him. Now, seeing Wang Demin winking at him, his heart moved and he quickly stood up and bowed: "As for the words of the emperor, no student has passed the exam in the past three years of the county school. In fact, in this county, there are not even a few qualified students and Meng Tong. Nowadays, almost all those who study in the county school are "official students"..." (Note: There are two sources of students in the Ming Dynasty. One is the students who pass the exam, and the other is the children of hereditary officials. There is no need for the exam. This is the official student. This is probably a special "compulsory education".)

?According to the poor education in the county, Gu Zhiqian should feel ashamed, but he was not ashamed and said with great sarcasm: "The county's culture and education are so bad, it is not because of the slackness of the officials. In fact, culture and education also require investment. I have just said that the salaries of the county's teaching, teaching and professors of the six subjects have not been paid for in two months. Teachers and students are unwilling to study, and even the salaries of the six subjects cannot be guaranteed. How can we make achievements?..."

"It is actually very easy to make achievements in culture and education. As long as the county magistrate is willing to allocate more money and grain, I can invite outstanding children from other places to come as a student. Each child student only needs to make up for 6 dou of rice per month. In the next year, there will be students in the county who will be admitted to the scholar! It is unknown whether they can pass the imperial examination in the future, and it is unknown whether they can pass the imperial examination in the future. According to my official understanding, other counties in Fuzhou Prefecture operate in this way. If the county does not operate in this way, the performance exam will probably be at the bottom again in the next year. Lord Guo, this culture and education is the foundation of the country, and you must not be underestimated!..."

Guo Zhiyuan was stunned. Why did the Ming Dynasty have such operations? But it is correct to think about it. In the modern times he has traveled through time, schools have also offered various preferential conditions for excellent students in order to increase the rate of admission to school. Some not only do not have tuition fees, but also have high scholarships. It seems that this bad habit of education has a long history!

Guo Zhiyuan also knew very well about the purpose of Gu Zhiqian saying this. First, cooperated with Wang Demin to force himself to the palace on the issue of money and food, and second, this way, his teacher would have the opportunity to do his best to get benefits from it. However, Gu Zhiqian was not wrong with one thing. Education is the foundation of the country. If Guo Zhiyuan wants to make achievements in this era, this educational issue must be paid attention to.

But this investment in education is a bottomless pit, and it is never enough. Even in the modern times I have traveled through, my investment in education is always in a state of hunger, not to mention that I have no money or food now, and I have more places to ask for money, so I have no way to pay attention to it!

Thinking of this, Guo Zhiyuan patted his forehead with some headaches and sighed: "It seems that the situation in this county is really embarrassing. It's not a day since the freezing is freezing. Thank you for your hard work. Let's discuss here today. I will discuss with you in detail tomorrow..."

Everyone finally waited for Guo Zhiyuan to announce the meeting, but they couldn't wait to stand up and scatter. Soon, only Guo Zhiyuan, Xu Guangqi, Zhao Shizhen, and the other three were left in the second hall. Guo Zhiyuan looked at Xu Guangqi and Zhao Shizhen, who were also frowning, and sighed, "Two gentlemen, I am now without money, no food, no foundation. These bureaucrats are all incompetent, and they don't have me as a county magistrate in their eyes. It's clear that they want to play the stage show with me. What's more terrible is that we are facing the big problem of rampant bandits. It's really hard to be a county magistrate!..."

Zhao Shizhen sighed at a loss: "I originally thought that there would be intrigues among officials in the capital, and a life-and-death struggle. I didn't expect that a small county government is so complicated. It seems that I am really not suitable to be an official. Young Master, this struggle for power is not my leader, I am afraid I can't help you..."
Chapter completed!