Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Abducting the scholars was a long-term plan. It was also a means of analyzing the world, and the academy was the root of it.
The academy finally opened again on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar year after the lantern-grabbing festival.
“You did a good job the previous time.” Ren Baqian patted Lin Mengsheng on the shoulder and smiled.
Today, there were aboriginals, Jing Tribe people, and Yun Nation people in Dayao. All parties were required to abide by the law, and this was what Ren Baqian had hoped to achieve.
At the very least, he could neither allow the aboriginals to be the superior class nor relegate the Jing Tribe and Yun Nation people to be the inferior class.
This had to be clear regardless of whether it was the enactment or enforcement of the law.
However, Ren Baqian also knew that this would take time. After all, the aboriginals would always resort to violence. Furthermore, the entire imperial court was filled with their own people. It was impossible to have equality for everyone.
Just like this time, even if Hong Bao killed that kid, he wouldn’t receive a punishment that was too heavy. He would only be punished because he didn’t act according to the empress’s instructions, not because he killed the warlord’s son at will!
If he could do this to a warlord’s son, then what about the commoners?
Therefore, not only must the people and officials be restrained by the law, everything must be done in accordance as well. In order to achieve a more balanced situation, the other two ethnic groups must be supported and given the power to speak up.
Yes, balance.
“Thank you for your compliment, Your Highness,” Lin Mengsheng replied with a smile.
“How is your progress in learning Chinese and mathematics?” Ren Baqian asked.
“I have already mastered the basics of the language. As for mathematics, I have studied the [Xia Court Calculus] before and many of its contents are similar. I have done a comparison of both and have learned a lot from them.”
“You shall teach these two subjects to this group of freshmen,” Ren Baqian added.
It was yet another group of freshmen, and they were the fourth group of students. In fact, Ren Baqian only taught the first group of freshmen throughout their entire term. From the second half of the second group of students onward, almost all of the lectures were taught by robots and the senior students. He only managed to teach the third group for two months after he came back from the Sixty Thousand Mountains.
Next up, he would be placing his focus on the second and third groups of students.
There would be two classes and a total of 100 students in this new group. He had to rely on Lin Mengsheng, the senior students, and the robots to educate these newcomers.
This group of students included his apprentice Zhan Caixian and 14 other youngsters from the Jing Tribe. The rest of the students were comprised of the children of the lower-ranked officials as well as some commoners.
“I’ll do my best!” Lin Mengsheng immediately replied resolutely.
Ren Baqian nodded.
He explained some matters to Lin Mengsheng and left him there to wait for the freshmen while he went back to the office.
There had been some changes in the school over the last two weeks.
The most significant change was that all of the door sills had been removed and flattened with cement. This way, it was easier for the robots to move about.
Ren Baqian brought back eight new robots this time. All of them had been fitted with new internal and external information sensors, computer chips, and programs that were more advanced compared to the older models.
This set of robots could retain simple memories, such as remembering the faces and names of people. They were able to talk to people and show various emotions in different situations based on pre-programmed settings. They even had different personalities.
Of course, the most important thing was their teaching ability, which had improved a lot compared to the older models.
Moving forward, these eight robots would be crucial to the academy. Having different personalities made them behave like different people as they taught the students different subjects.
…
After the students arrived, Ren Baqian ushered them into a large lecture hall that could accommodate hundreds of people and then gave a speech. After that, the students from the second group entered the hall for a mock examination.
Two days later, his face was gloomy as he held a test paper.
This was a single-digit paper. Even though this student only earned a score in the single-digits, Ren Baqian had to admit that they were very imaginative.
Take a mathematical question for example. How would seven kids share three fruits?
This student drew four knives and chopped four of the children to death, leaving only three children with three fruits… What a genius.
“Perfect! Absolutely perfect!”
Ren Baqian looked up at the girl in front of him. She was Zhu Hua, a beautiful, yet wild-natured, girl.
He was very impressed with her. She had a fight with Qing Lian within two days of starting school and then with Tong Lan. She also participated in the lantern-grabbing contest two days ago and had gotten quite a bit of limelight.
She was a typical aboriginal girl with all brawn and no brains.
Zhu Hua originally stood there feeling a little apprehensive. After hearing what Ren Baqian said, she was immediately exultant and asked, “Is it really perfect? I didn’t expect this! I just casually wrote it.”
He smiled and replied, “It’s perfect, but I have a piece of unfortunate news to tell you. You will study with the new group of students this semester.” (TLC. If she’s repeating a year, wouldn’t she be studying with the third group of students instead of the fourth group?)
“What do you mean? Why?”
“Simply put, you are repeating a year in school! As for why? Your highest score among the four subjects is nine marks, and you are asking me why? Is your IQ nine points?” Ren Baqian groaned.
He didn’t expect Zhu Hua to hesitantly ask,” Is nine points for IQ high or low?”
She made him so mad that he almost laughed before answering, “An ordinary person’s IQ is 90 to 100 points.”
She scratched her head and messed up her tidy ponytail.
“Principal, I know I’m not smart, but I’m not that bad either, right? Also, can I not study with the juniors? My younger brother will then be at a higher grade than me…”
“I’m formally informing you that you are repeating a year in school! Not to even mention that your younger brother will be at a higher grade, you won’t even be able to graduate at this rate! Go back! You will join the juniors starting tomorrow!” Ren Baqian waved his hand and drove the gloomy Zhu Hua away.
He then heaved a sigh.
He had indeed given this group of students too little attention. Their grades were worse than the first group, and most of them failed.
Of course, the most outstanding one was still this person who only scored nine points.
However, this also had something to do with going to the Sixty Thousand Mountains for more than a year.
It wasn’t only the second group. The third group was the same as well. Ren Baqian had to focus more effort on them in the future.
A small tree wouldn’t grow straight if it wasn’t straightened up, and a person wouldn’t turn out proper if he wasn’t corrected.
In the future, he would teach them what learning was all about.
He would give them at least one set of test questions per day to let them understand what the Five Year Series was.
…
It wasn’t hard to make paper, and Ren Baqian had already prepared it long ago. It was just that the demand was small, so he hadn’t increased its production. From that day onward, he ordered an increase in the production of the test papers.
Similarly, a movable type of printing wasn’t something difficult to achieve. He managed to achieve it within one week. He even specifically built a small printing factory outside the city to print test papers and some books.
A week later, students would see stacks of test papers being sent to the school every day before being distributed out to them.
The faces of the students from the second and third groups changed when they saw this.
The freshmen shuddered after seeing this as well and worried about their future.
While gloating, the first group of students started to revise their homework as well.
This was because Ren Baqian had already set his sights on them.
Writing test questions could become addictive.
