The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 605 Your Highness, Let's Start a School

Money makes the world go round. From kings and generals to ordinary people, no one is immune to the allure of money. When it comes to wealth, everyone only wants to gain it and never lose it.

So when Liu Shen heard that Zhang Sheng didn't need to rebuild the royal tombs, but only needed to change the positions of the past Changsha kings, he excitedly exclaimed that he was an expert.

But the kings of Changsha throughout history probably felt differently. If they knew that their descendants were so unfilial, they would probably regret taking so much money to their graves. It was just inviting thieves to their deaths.

Seeing that Zhang Sheng remained silent, Liu Shen assumed that he was trying to raise the price, and decisively said, "Daoist, if this matter is successful, I will give you ten percent."

This matter is inseparable from Zhang Sheng. Without Zhang Sheng's endorsement, he would not dare to start construction. The reason is simple: the right to interpret feng shui is in the hands of the Taoists.

But Zhang Sheng couldn't take such a big blame for nothing; the only way to get him to work hard was to offer a heavy reward.

Zhang Sheng's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. The accumulated wealth of the eight generations of Changsha kings was an astronomical figure, and it seemed there was no reason not to accept it since it was practically offered to him.

After a moment's thought, Zhang Sheng gritted his teeth and said, "I'll take this job. You tell me when to set off."

Liu Shen was overjoyed and said, "Daoist Master, you should go back and rest first. I'll go and make preparations now, and I'll come back to find you when I'm ready."

After saying his farewell and leaving, Zhang Sheng saw him to the door and then returned to his seat to leisurely sip his tea. However, just as he brought the tea to his lips, he heard someone outside the tent calling out, "Wu Shang, the head of the Wu family in Changsha, requests an audience with the Daoist Master. Is the Daoist Master at home?"

Zhang Sheng immediately spat out a mouthful of strong tea, because he had guessed Wu Shang's purpose in coming.

The ancestor of the Wu clan of Changsha was Wu Rui, the King of Changsha. He was the only non-royal king who was not dealt with by Liu Bang after the oath made at Baima. The title of King of Changsha was passed down for five generations until Wu Rui's great-great-grandson, Wu Zhu, died without any heirs and was then removed from the title.

Note that Wu Zhuo, the last King of Changsha, only had no sons, not no nephews. Although Wu Zhuo died without an heir, the Wu family of Changsha continued to exist.

Zhang Sheng invited Wu Shang into his tent and learned that the boy's purpose was indeed the same as Liu Shen's: he was afraid that Liu Chan and Guan Xing would dig up his ancestral graves, so he wanted to dig them up in advance under the pretext of relocating the graves. Zhang Sheng agreed to send him away and, after thinking for a moment, went to report to Guan Xing.

He has the authority to interpret feng shui, but he still needs to tell Guan Xing about this, lest no one speaks up for him if something goes wrong in the future.

He was thinking of reporting to Guan Xing, but Guan Xing also wanted to see him. He hadn't walked two miles when he met Zhu Chao, the commander of Guan Xing's personal guards. He learned that Guan Xing had sent him to invite him to a banquet, so he quickened his pace and went to Guan Xing's residence with Zhu Chao.

At this moment, the members of the tomb-robbing gang had basically gathered at Guan Xing's residence, except for Zhang Sheng.

After exchanging pleasantries around the table for a while, Liu Shan couldn't wait to ask, "Anguo, you've received your share of the profits, right? How do you plan to spend it? How about we cooperate to build another sugar factory?"

Guan Xing shook his head and said, "Let's wait until the rebellion is quelled before discussing this matter. Right now, we have more important things to do. I'm planning to build a school. Would Your Highness be interested in being the principal?"

"Uh..." Liu Shan asked in surprise, "Building schools doesn't make money, why did you think of building this?"

Guan Xing explained, "After His Majesty issued the decree to encourage private investment in factory construction, the major clans responded actively to the call, rolled up their sleeves and put in their best efforts to invest in factory construction. Although the enthusiasm was there, new problems also emerged, namely, there was a serious shortage of people with professional skills, which would seriously hinder the speed of development."

"Take a sugar factory for example. One person can handle a small amount of sugar production, but if you want to produce on a large scale, you need sugarcane farmers, production technicians, sales merchants, and managers to connect all the production lines and ensure the factory runs smoothly."

"The sugar factory is like this, and so are other factories and industries like civil engineering and water conservancy. In short, we are currently facing a severe shortage of talent, especially in specialized fields. The only way to quickly fill this gap is to build schools and establish educational institutions, and luckily, we have the funds now..."

Education is the foundation.

In the industrial age, the most important thing is talent. The quality of talent doesn't have to be high, but the quantity must be large. At the very least, they need to have a primary or junior high school diploma and be able to read basic data and documents.

Having lived through the industrial age, Guan Xing understood the importance of basic talent very well, so he had long been preparing to establish a school to cultivate talent. However, he had been delaying it because he lacked funds. Now, thanks to the financial assistance of the Marquis of Haihun, he had the start-up capital to establish the school. If not now, when?

Although Liu Shan felt that spending money to build schools was a bit wasteful, he also knew the importance of talent. Besides, Guan Xing was spending his own money, and he didn't have to pay for it himself, so why should he worry about it?

So Liu Shan didn't refute but asked, "Building a school is fine, but why make me the principal? I've never done it before, how would I know how to be a principal? Besides, a principal needs teachers. With our current bad reputation, which renowned scholar would be willing to work under us?"

In Liu Shan's subconscious, a teacher should be someone as capable and prestigious as Zheng Xuan, Lu Zhi, Shi Xie, or Zhuge Liang. They, the "Three Fools of the Han Dynasty," were not worthy of the title of teacher.

Guan Xing said, "You are the crown prince of the current dynasty. What's wrong with being the principal? Besides, the principal is an administrative position. He just needs to keep the school running normally. He doesn't need to stand on the podium and give lectures."

He dared not accept the position of principal, as it would easily invite attacks from the scholar-officials and lead to him being labeled with all sorts of unsavory accusations. Therefore, he preferred Liu Shan, who was the crown prince and was not afraid of being labeled.

Guan Xing continued, "As for the teachers, it doesn't matter at all. We're running an elementary school, the kind of private school in the countryside that teaches illiterate people to read. We can just find a few literate people. There's no need to invite those so-called great scholars."

To be honest, Guan Xing really didn't want to deal with those great scholars. They were constantly fighting amongst themselves and had no time to do anything productive.

Liu Chan pondered, "If it's just for enlightenment, then it doesn't matter. I'll be the principal, but on the condition that I don't contribute any money."

He only received half a share from this trip to Haihun, which amounted to a little over six thousand strings of cash. He was still waiting for Mi Wei to return and rebuild the sugar factory, so he didn't have any spare money to invest in the school.

Guan Xing rolled his eyes. "You're even stingier than your dad."

It doesn't matter, as long as Liu Shan is willing to be the principal, standing in front as a shield to protect him from the wind and rain, so that he can focus on running the school.

After the plan was agreed upon, everyone raised their cups to drink heartily when Zhang Sheng pushed open the tent door and walked in.

Guan Xing immediately greeted him, "Daoist Master, you've come at the perfect time. We've been waiting for you. Let's have a drink together."

Modern Taoists don't observe the rules of eating meat or vegetables as much as in later generations. They eat and drink whatever they want and don't take anything to heart.

Zhang Sheng had no interest in drinking and went straight to the point: "Your Highness, Marquis Shence, the matter is like this..."

After hearing Zhang Sheng's account, everyone present gaped in astonishment. Guan Xing asked incredulously, "What the hell? The descendants of two Changsha kings are planning to move the tombs together? Didn't we say we were going to rob the tombs of the past Changsha kings? Do they distrust us that much?"

Liu Shan chimed in, "That's right, that's right, this is a slander against the three of us brothers."

Zhang Sheng rolled his eyes. Didn't you three know whether you were being slandered?

Seeing the disappointed expressions on Liu Shan and Guan Xing's faces, as if their trust had been betrayed, Zhang Sheng couldn't help but remind them, "Your Highness, Marquis of Shence, why don't you two jointly issue a notice guaranteeing that you will not rob the tombs of the past Changsha kings? That way, the Liu and Wu families might give up the idea of ​​moving the tombs."

Guan Xing quickly refused, saying, "No, this is a good thing. It's better to put money in circulation than to let it rot in the ground."