December.
Clark Township.
Not only is Mianxiong City, this town is also the territory of the tribe, so Ma Shao will come here in person every once in a while to participate in the development of the town.
Clark Garment Factory is still developing strongly. Jeans are one of the most popular clothing in later generations. With the current sales volume of the garment factory, it is still far from reaching the development bottleneck.
It can be expected that Clark Garment Factory will maintain good growth for at least the next few years and will become the largest garment factory in the Midwest.
Driven by the garment factories, Clark Town became increasingly prosperous, with a continuous influx of immigrants and continued growth in tax revenue.
Despite this, the town hall's financial situation was stretched.
After all, the town's finances are controlled by the tribe. In addition to maintaining the daily operation of the town office and the garrison, the remaining taxes will basically be transferred to Sleeping Bear City, and there will be no surplus.
It was not until recently that Ma Shao decided to take out some money to build public facilities for the town of Clark.
The so-called public facilities are actually health clinics and public primary schools.
The reason why Ma Shao decided to build a clinic and a public primary school for the town was mainly because Mianxiong City had finally cultivated a group of "modern shamans."
The so-called modernized shaman refers to a shaman priest who believes in spiritualism and has certain scientific knowledge, which is different from the old shaman who performs rituals.
The new shamans no longer perform shamanic rituals, nor can they get something for nothing. Instead, they have to engage in various practical jobs, mainly mental work, such as doctors and teachers.
With such a group of shamans, Ma Shao was able to set up a clinic and a primary school in Clark Town...or to a certain extent, it can also be said to be a spiritual oracle church disguised as a clinic and a primary school.
The shamans sent to Clark Town had to not only be modern, but also be proficient in English and able to communicate with the townspeople.
This condition is still very strict. In fact, Ma Shao could only find two and a half such people in Mianxiong City.
One of them is naturally a rainy day, and Ma Shao will definitely not send a rainy day to the town.
So he sent the remaining one and a half to the town. The reason why they were called "one and a half" was that although one of them could be considered a modern shaman, he was not proficient in English. He could speak English for daily conversations but was unable to give lectures.
"Wushe, you will be the principal and teacher of Clark Public Elementary School, and also the director of the 'Medical Education Bureau'." Ma Shao ordered. Wushe was the shaman who was fluent in English.
Wushe was a young man in his twenties with long hair. For some reason, his hair always shone softly as if it had special effects. Hearing this, he said, "Am I the only teacher in the school?"
"That's it for now," Ma Shao said. "When Shuzhi's English is good enough to teach white people, he can share some of the teaching work with you. When there are more shamans who know English in Mianxiong City in the future, I will ask them to come and help you."
"Remember your main task - to transform white students into civilized people," he emphasized again.
"Yes." Wushe is a shaman with a high level of awareness. If he were not so unskilled in riding and shooting, he could also be a war shaman.
But he also had doubts in his heart: "But, Chief, how can I get the white people in town to send their children here? I don't think they would be willing to let an Indian be their children's teacher."
"You're right." Ma Shao nodded. "Rich people really won't do that. They can find better teachers, and they don't have children - their children are already in Sleeping Bear City."
The twenty white families whose children were taken to Mianxiong by Ma Shao are now the wealthiest and most powerful people in Clark Town.
They were originally wealthy families, and after their children became hostages of Mian Xiong, Ma Shao deliberately supported them, turning them into a large comprador group in a sense.
These people are white residents of Clark Town and control all the important businesses in the town, but they are deeply dependent on Mian Xiong, and their interests and children are held in the palm of Mian Xiong's hand.
"But the target of public elementary schools is not these rich people." Ma Shao continued, "Our target is the poor people in the town, the poor who have a hard time supporting themselves."
"In the past, in order to raise children, these poor people needed to consume a lot of energy and labor time, and the result of raising children was nothing more than creating a new poor and illiterate person."
"Now that there are public elementary schools, they only need to pay a low fee to outsource all the worries of raising children. By the way, they can also teach their children to read. When the children grow up, they may have the opportunity to go to university. Do you think they are willing to do this?"
Wushe nodded thoughtfully, his eyes gradually brightening.
Ma Shao: "They must be willing, at least some of them must be willing. Poor people send their children here, and we teach them knowledge, ideas and even self-identity..."
Wu Tongue suddenly exclaimed: "This is a win-win-win business!"
Ma Shao was unable to react for a moment: "What do you mean by win-win-win?"
"The poor have increased their welfare, we have gained more believers, and the world is one step closer to light and truth!" Wushe was a little excited, "This is a great cause!"
Ma Shao nodded casually: "Ah, indeed. So, Wushe, do your best."
As if swearing an oath, Wu Tongue said solemnly: "Don't worry, Great Chief, I will definitely spread your sacred glory throughout Clark Town and even the entire white world!"
Ma Shao looked at his fanatical expression and was silent for two seconds: "Wushe, you are one of my earliest students, you should know my point of view very well. Everything should be analyzed from a rational perspective, rather than appealing to the sacred."
"I understand." Wu Tongue looked even more fanatical.
Ma Shao ignored his expression and changed the subject: "Although you are the only teacher at the moment, you can hire a few female workers to help you take care of the younger students. It's not easy to deal with crying children."
After talking about the public elementary school, he looked at the other shaman and said, "Branch, the work of the clinic is now handed over to you. Not only do you need to practice medicine, but you also need to make use of the language environment here to improve your English."
"Yes, Great Chief." Branch replied, and then asked, "Am I the only one in the infirmary?"
Ma Shao: "You can recruit a few white doctors."
"White doctor..." Branches obviously looked down on the medical skills of white people.
This contempt was not entirely blind. Although shamanic medicine was not very good, the medicine of that era was not much better.
What's more, the shaman medicine of Sleeping Bear City has been transformed by Ma Shao. All the complicated and useless things have been deleted, and some simple and harmless things have been retained, such as several most cost-effective placebos. A large number of simple and effective first aid methods, as well as basic medical knowledge and scientific ideas have been introduced.
As an outstanding student of this new shamanic medicine, Shuzhi is qualified to look down on those quacks who only know bloodletting therapy.
But before Ma Shao could say anything, Wushe criticized Zhizhi's attitude: "Zhizhi, have you forgotten what the "Learning Chapter" says?"
"The Chapter of Love of Learning" is an important chapter of "The Oracle", which mainly discusses the importance of being humble and studious. Qualified shamans must recite the chapter in full.
The branch lowered his head quickly: "I will reflect on myself..."
Ma Shao waved his hand and said, "That's enough. You don't need to review it. Let me ask you, do you know ether?"