"Sir, rest assured, I have thought about this matter for a long time. In fact, the investment is far less than you imagine! This is a plan I drafted myself. If you are interested, sir, please take a look!"
As Han Mo spoke, he took out another booklet from his sleeve and handed it to Li Gang.
"You've come prepared, you rascal!"
Looking at the booklet Han Mo handed over, Li Gang couldn't help but laugh. This fellow was clearly here to scheme against him.
"This is just a small thought of mine, please excuse my forwardness, Uncle."
Han Mo did not hide anything and readily admitted it.
"I'll take a look at your plans first, and then we'll talk about other things!"
Li Gang spoke as he opened the booklet Han Mo had handed him and began to read seriously.
When Han Mo did things, he always considered practicality. For feasibility reports like this plan, he was naturally more proficient. However, Li Gang found it a bit awkward to read.
Han Mo's language in writing these things was very direct, but many of the words were brought from his previous life. Although Li Gang could understand their meaning with a little thought, the reading process was still a bit slow.
However, after he got a little used to it, Li Gang felt that this document was more straightforward and easier to understand than the memorials written by court officials.
In fact, in the Great Song dynasty, there was no shortage of elementary education or teachers. However, most of these teachers were hired by influential families, and their students were all the children of these families.
Han Mo's idea for these elementary schools was to persuade them with reason and emotion. The government should take the initiative and send dedicated personnel to negotiate with them, inviting them to accept some children from impoverished families within their capabilities.
As for the tuition fees for these impoverished children, the government would directly allocate funds after annual verification by dedicated personnel. Additionally, those who accepted a certain number of students could be directly awarded plaques by the government.
For these influential families who were well-off, the subsidies from the local government might not be a concern. However, if they could receive plaques from the government, the situation would be completely different!
Although this could be considered an abuse of power, Li Gang didn't want to argue with Han Mo on this issue when he thought that just a few plaques could allow more children to study.
As for the private schools, although their fees were already very low, they were still difficult for ordinary people to afford.
For these private schools, Han Mo suggested that the imperial court provide them with spacious venues, and then allocate more money and grain to these teachers annually based on the number of children they taught, turning the original private schools into semi-official ones.
As a benefit for these teachers, local governments could also organize literary gatherings periodically, with all travel and accommodation expenses covered by the government.
In this way, on the one hand, it would provide a means of livelihood for scholars who failed the imperial examinations, allowing them to live more decently, and also show the people of the empire that even if studying did not lead to an official position, they could still live comfortably.
On the other hand, through these regular literary gatherings, it could provide a platform for these private school teachers to communicate, which would not only allow them to improve themselves but also enhance their teaching quality.
Most importantly, this would greatly increase their enthusiasm.
If calculated in this way, the trouble of re-establishing elementary schools and recruiting teachers everywhere could be solved, and expenses could be greatly reduced.
As for industrial and vocational education, Li Gang did not pay much attention to it, as such schools were similar to vocational training in later generations.
It was not a new thing for the imperial court to establish schools for industry and mathematics in various places.
With an investment of funds and annual salaries for the teachers, the cost would not be very high.
What impressed him the most was the academies Han Mo planned to establish in Mingzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou, whose students would directly participate in the imperial examinations!
Although Li Gang was unsuccessful in his official career, seeing that this young man, Han Mo, was willing to allocate two hundred thousand strings of cash annually to three academies, he really felt an urge to resign and become a teacher!
It should be known that in this era, even the financial affairs of an entire province would not allocate more than tens of thousands of strings of cash to education annually.
After being skimmed off by corrupt officials at various levels, the amount of money and grain that finally reached each city and each student was truly meager!
Now, these three academies alone could share two hundred thousand strings of cash every year. What would the level of the teachers be...
While money might not guarantee success, a lack of it certainly would. In this world, there were plenty of scholars who wanted to teach everyone, but in the end, they were forced to compromise due to the lack of money, only being able to teach two or three disciples in remote mountains, and often enduring hunger.
"What do you think, Uncle?"
Seeing that Li Gang had finally put down the booklet, Han Mo dared to ask.
"Are you sure you can afford to produce so much cash every year, you rascal?"
Li Gang spoke as he pointed to the booklet in his hand.
"You can rest assured about this, Uncle. If no one else is willing to pay this money, I can bear it all myself!"
Han Mo did not care about this at all. As long as the Maritime Trade Department existed, the influential families who depended on it would not dare to disrespect him.
The situation might be slightly better in the next two years, but once the East India Company's formidable ships and cannons began to dominate the seas, if they still dared to disobey, they would have to consider whether their own fleets could continue to sail.
The matters of Japan and the South Seas had already bound Han Mo and the seven major merchant families together in a common cause. The more stable Han Mo's position was, the safer their interests would be.
Even for their own sake, they would not be stingy with such a small sum of money.
Moreover, whether it was the spice trade or the gold and silver mines in Japan, they were essentially businesses with no initial investment!
With these two money-making hens, they would not care about a few hundred thousand strings of cash!