Chapter 62: Bowen Academy
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After settling the two hundred or so individuals, Xiao Ming had Chen Wenlong register Lu Tong and the others the next day, officially enrolling them into the Equipment Department.
Out of the 231 strong and young individuals who stayed, most were between the ages of thirteen and twenty. The older ones, likely having families, had chosen to leave.
“Does anyone here know how to read?” Xiao Ming asked, wanting to assess their literacy levels.
The room fell silent.
Xiao Ming immediately understood—none of the two hundred or so individuals were literate. This was expected, as this was an era with an extremely low literacy rate.
This also meant that training these individuals would be a long process. Teaching them overly complex techniques now would be futile, as they wouldn’t be able to comprehend them.
Although the technology crystal could transmit knowledge, presenting technical steps in their minds through images and other forms, the application of this knowledge required real-world practice.
For example, blast furnace iron smelting and coke production were skills that Chen Qi had mastered only after many failures. Xiao Ming had only provided the technical knowledge, and it was through practice that Chen Qi truly understood and mastered the techniques.
However, there was one comforting aspect of the technology crystal: it allowed the recipients to easily remember the knowledge Xiao Ming imparted. While it didn’t grant photographic memory, it enabled them to retain about 80% of the information after a single session, greatly enhancing the efficiency of teaching.
“Since that’s the case, the first thing I’ll teach you is how to read,” Xiao Ming declared.
These individuals would become the core technical backbone of Qingzhou in the future, and illiteracy was not an option. However, Xiao Ming didn’t plan to teach them traditional characters. Instead, he would teach them simplified characters.