"Everyone, what do you think?"
After passing around the imperial decree in his hand, Qin Feng said with a wry smile:
"They actually expect us rebels to rescue the Emperor? Has the Han Dynasty fallen this low!"
"Heh heh..."
Hearing Qin Feng's words, everyone who was passing around the imperial decree chuckled.
Indeed!
Even they themselves had never imagined that they would receive an imperial decree for aid from the Han court one day.
How ironic was this?
They were rebels!
It was already considered kind of them not to join the Yellow Turban rebels in causing trouble.
And now they wanted them to rescue the Emperor?
Dream on!
Not only were his subordinates thinking this, but Qin Feng himself was also thinking the same way.
He had no interest in traveling a thousand miles to rescue the Emperor!
If it weren't for the fact that his subordinates were truly insufficient, would the Yellow Turban rebels have had the audacity to be so arrogant?
He would have already conquered the Han Dynasty!
"My Lord~!"
After everyone had finished laughing and chatting, Yue Fei, the commander of the First Army Corps, stood up first.
"Putting the matter of rescuing the Emperor aside for now, I boldly ask, don't you want to gain something from this chaos?"
"Hmm..."
Hearing Yue Fei's words, Qin Feng raised his eyebrows slightly and asked with some confusion:
"Peng Ju, what do you think we need to gain from this turmoil?"
"We do!"
Meeting Qin Feng's puzzled and confused gaze, Yue Fei said with conviction:
"My Lord, You Province is, after all, a harsh and cold land with very sparse population.
"Even if we offer better conditions, we won't be able to attract many talented people to join us!"
"If it's possible, I believe we should take Ji Province and even Qing Province.
"At that time...
"My Lord, with three provinces under your control, are you still afraid of not having talented people join you?"
"This..."
As Yue Fei's voice fell, Qin Feng suddenly slapped his forehead.
He realized he had walked into a mental trap.
He always thought about how he didn't have enough talented people to manage internal affairs.
So, he had been holding back his expansion.
But he had forgotten one thing.
He occupied You Province!
In ancient times, although it wasn't a place for exiles, it was not much different.
Being a local warlord here was fine, but you still wanted to recruit more talented people?
Don't be ridiculous!
A place where you could barely see a person even if you waited, where would you find talented people to manage internal affairs?
Even if he waited for ten or eight years, all he would get would be those he trained himself...
"Hmm?"
"Train them himself?"
Qin Feng, who was planning his expansion, suddenly had a thought.
Why didn't they train their own talented people?
Even if they took longer to become proficient.
But their ability to accept new knowledge and ideas would be much stronger than those of the older generation!
Yes!
They would train them themselves!
Not only could they train these talented people for internal affairs, but they could also set up a military academy like a certain principal.
"My Lord, my Lord..."
As Qin Feng's thoughts began to wander, Li Xiuning's soft call reached his ears.
"Hmm?"
Qin Feng, who had returned to his senses, saw Yue Fei still standing and smiled, waving his hand.
"Peng Ju, please sit down. I was just lost in thought about something."
"Oh?"
Yue Fei, who had sat down, couldn't help but ask curiously:
"May I ask what my Lord has thought of? Is it related to expansion?"
"Yes and no!"
Recalling his thoughts from earlier, Qin Feng asked with a light smile:
"Peng Ju, what do you think about us training our own talented people for internal affairs?"
"Train them ourselves?"
Yue Fei was stunned for a moment, and asked uncertainly:
"My Lord, you mean, we should set up our own schools?"
"That's right!"
Qin Feng nodded affirmatively, his thoughts continuing to spread:
"We not only need to run schools, but also primary schools, middle schools, and universities.
"Even... let all the people of You Province receive an education!"
"Hiss~!"
As Qin Feng's words fell, Yue Fei and the others couldn't help but gasp, their eyes towards Qin Feng filled with shock.
Was this guy a complete idiot?
If the common people all received an education, then who would go to the fields to work?
And how would they rule these people?
You must know that one of the ways ancient noble families maintained their status was by preventing the outflow of knowledge!
If everyone learned knowledge, who would pay attention to them?
Therefore, whether it was the newly emerging noble families like Yue Fei and Guan Yu, or the established noble families like Liu Qi, they all voiced their opposition:
"My Lord, please reconsider. Setting up schools is not as simple as you imagine."
"Yes, my Lord!"
"Let's not even talk about where you'll find so many teachers. Even if you find enough teachers, we don't have enough textbooks!"
"And then there are the students!"
"Not all commoners want their children to study, let alone study themselves.
"In their opinion, working more at home is barely enough to survive.
"But if they study, then it's really uncertain."
Hearing the string of objections, Qin Feng couldn't help but scratch his head.
Was it necessary?
Although the concept he proposed was indeed a little advanced for the time, their reaction was a bit excessive, wasn't it?
Of course!
Qin Feng also had to admit that the reasons for their opposition were indeed practical.
The first issue was teachers. He couldn't go to teach children every day, could he?
And his subordinates were already short on strategists. Should he let Li Xiuning teach them?
That was even more unrealistic!
There were also students.
As someone just said, not all commoners wanted their children to study.
First, it was expensive; second, it was difficult; third, their family would be short of a laborer.
Don't underestimate the role a young man could play.
When it came to working, they were no worse than adults.
If no one helped, they would indeed be overwhelmed by themselves.
Another factor was the small population.
As Yue Fei had mentioned before, the population of You Province was too small, too small, too small.
Out of the fifty million population of the Han Dynasty at its end, You Province, as one of the thirteen provinces,
It only accounted for a little over 1%, less than 2%.
That's right!
According to population statistics from an unknown time, the total population of the eleven prefectures in You Province was only about seven to eight hundred thousand.
It was fortunate that the armies under his command did not need to be supported by the people of You Province.
Otherwise, many would have starved to death.
Let alone recruiting the needed talent from this already small population.
Therefore, their territory was still too small, and their population was too scarce. They needed to continue to expand.
Even if they didn't snatch territory, they had to snatch some population from the refugees.
Thinking of this,
Qin Feng waved his hand at the people who were still discussing and brought the topic back.
"We still need to send troops. Now let's talk about the objective..."
"Should the focus be on taking territory, or on snatching population?"
"This..."
Facing the new question raised by Qin Feng, Zhang Fei, who had not spoken much, weakly raised his hand.
"My Lord, why can't we do both at the same time?"
Qin Feng: "???"