A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

The right of way of the Guangdong-Han Railway was taken back, but the project was too large and the procedures were cumbersome, so Zheng Guanying was appointed as the person in charge of the Guangdong-Han Railway Land Purchase Company.

Zheng Guanying was one of the four major compradors in the late Qing Dynasty, and once served as the general manager of the Shipping Merchants Bureau.

But he was full of ups and downs, coupled with the two major defeats of Jiawu and Gengzi, and he was exhausted physically and mentally. In his later years, he finally understood the corruption of the Qing court and began to pay attention to education.

Lin Zexu was called "the No. 1 in seeing the world with open eyes", so Zheng Guanying was the "No. 1 in seeing the world in an all-round way" in the late Qing Dynasty.

His most famous one is "Words of a Prosperous Age".

This book had a great influence on modern Chinese history. The reformers, Zhang Zhidong, Cai Yuanpei, and the early leaders of our party were all influenced by this book.

In particular, this book was published in 1894, just before the Sino-Japanese War.

Immediately afterwards, there were two failures that could be called national disasters, which let everyone know that what Zheng Guanying said was "dangerous talk", not "sensational".

The word "prosperity" in front is also very ironic.

Zhang Zhidong spoke very highly of this book, "Using it to assist the world at the top can be used as a prescription for good medicine; to store talents with it at the bottom can be used as the cure of golden needles."

It is said that Emperor Guangxu also issued an order to print [-] volumes and distribute them to his ministers and workers for reading.

It's a pity that after the Reformation, although Zhang Zhidong still tried his best to recommend this book to the Qing court, the Qing court could not accept it.After all, the Aixinjueluos at this time have already broken their cans, and they can't think of many ways to govern the country except betraying the country.

Although the betrayal of the country has indeed allowed Aixinjueluo to stand firm for decades, but it is really coming to an end, and there is nothing to sell.

——Almost all the tariffs that can be mortgaged have been mortgaged. If they dare to cede land, they will really quit.

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Huang Feihong chose the famous Taipingguan restaurant in Guangzhou. The owner of this restaurant is very skilled. He used to be a chef in a foreigner's restaurant, and he is good at cooking local Cantonese cuisine. He combines Chinese and Western styles, and the business is very good.

This store has also been passed down to later generations, and it is a century-old brand.

At the beginning, Premier Zhou and his wife held a wedding banquet here.

The location of the store is quite good. It is located in the bustling Beijing Road Pedestrian Street in Guangzhou. The owner is good at management. He created the earliest music restaurant in Guangzhou very innovatively. Later, during the Republic of China, he even set up a nightclub dance hall on the second floor. Can it be popular?

Li Yu, Xie Yuxi, Huang Feihong, and Liu Yongfu arrived at the hotel early, and Zheng Guanying rushed over after a while.

Huang Feihong stood up and said, "Master Zheng!"

Zheng Guanying waved his hand: "I won't be an adult in the future, I'm tired of the officialdom. My position as the head of the Guangdong-Han Railway Land Purchase Company was only accepted after the strong demands of the gentry and businessmen from the three provinces."

Huang Feihong introduced him: "This is Mr. Li Yu, the emperor's teacher and science master."

Zheng Guanying clasped his fists and said: "I have admired the name of the emperor for a long time, and I am very lucky to see you today!"

Li Yu said: "I have also read Mr.'s "Words of a Flourishing Age", which can be called a good medicine to warn the world."

Zheng Guanying sighed: "Master Huang understands the principles of medicine, but my medicine is still a bit weak after all."

Liu Yongfu said: "Master Zheng is of course a good doctor, but if the prescription is correct, if the patient does not take the medicine, there is nothing he can do."

Zheng Guanying said: "The general is right."

Liu Yongfu said again: "This commander has also seen through the current situation and has the intention of retiring."

Although Liu Yongfu is still in charge of the Black Banner Army, he has long "obeyed the tune and not the announcement" of the Qing government's transfer order, and promised that he would not do anything to suppress bandits at all. After all, he himself was from the rebel army.

No matter what, he knew about "Water Margin". Fortunately, his fate was much better than that of Liangshan heroes.

Zheng Guanying said: "I would like to go back to the mountains and forests to write a book, but the current situation forces me to escape."

Li Yu said: "If everyone quits, the situation will probably get worse."

Zheng Guanying said: "I have such an idea, so today when I heard that the emperor's teacher arrived in Guangzhou and wanted to run a school, I was very grateful and decided to come to the banquet in person."

Li Yu said: "Education should be a major national event."

Zheng Guanying said: "I think it will be an excellent school run by someone like the emperor who really understands Western learning."

Huang Feihong said: "In the future when the school is well established, I will definitely send my son to study."

Huang Feihong's son is not very old now, only five years old, and he is indeed going to school soon.

Li Yu also hoped that these celebrities' children would come over so that they could gain popularity, so he said, "I will definitely live up to the great love and support."

It is said that the Thirteenth Aunt in the later movies has not yet met Huang Feihong, and Mo Guilan, the prototype of the Thirteenth Aunt, is only 11 years old at this time.

Zheng Guanying said: "The emperor's teacher is far away in the capital, but he went to Guangzhou to run a school. It really makes us Guangzhou natives feel ashamed and surprised."

Li Yu said: "The land of China is too big, and there are outstanding talents everywhere. I can only build schools in a few provincial capitals and radiate as much as possible. At that time, they will all have the opportunity to enter the colleges I set up, and they will also be able to participate in the university." There are opportunities to study abroad.”

Zheng Guanying wasn't too sure about going abroad, so he asked, "Do you have to go abroad to study?"

Li Yu said: "Of course! If you want to learn something real, you must study abroad."

Zheng Guanying had been in the officialdom before, and he said doubtfully, "I'm afraid there will be intrusions from revolutionary ideas, and what should I do if I don't come back after I go out?"

When the young children studying in the United States were recalled before, some people openly defied them and stayed in the United States to continue their studies.

Li Yu said with a smile: "I don't want my children to be caught by wolves. After all, there are people who are willing to return to China to serve."

Even in the 21st century, developed countries, especially immigrant countries like the United States and Canada, still have a great ability to siphon talents from developing countries, and a large number of outstanding graduates will choose to stay in the United States and Canada.

But there is no need to blame this kind of thing, after all, it is a free environment, as long as someone is willing to come back, it will be beneficial to us.

Game is the most cold-blooded game of international relations. If you don't give the other side benefits, how can they let your students in.

So it seems to be a state of equilibrium.

Zheng Guanying said: "The emperor's master once traveled around the world. Since you said so, I am relieved. Like Zhan Tianyou, the chief engineer of the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway, I really want to recruit such a person to build the Guangdong-Han Railway, but he is the only one. Human beings are really short of skills. It is conceivable that we are short of talents now, and there are very few people who know how to build roads."

Li Yu said: "So we must vigorously build education, so that there will be more Zhan Tianyou."

Zheng Guanying said: "What the emperor said is absolutely true."

Li Yu then told Zheng Guanying the location of the land he had set his eyes on and the locations of the two abandoned schools, "I hope Mr. Zheng can help introduce Mr. Cen Chunxuan, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi."

Zheng Guanying said: "Master Emperor, don't worry, I will definitely persuade Cen Zaotai to allow enough time."

Huang Feihong said: "Don't just talk about things, the food in this restaurant is excellent. There are not only fried steaks from Guangzhou, but also fried steaks from foreigners. It tastes very good when paired with foreign wine."

Cantonese cuisine is indeed quite good in terms of taste, after all, Cantonese can eat it~ Most Chinese restaurants abroad also mainly serve Cantonese cuisine.

Within two days, Zheng Guanying came to tell Li Yu that he could go to the governor's mansion to see Cen Chunxuan, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

In fact, according to the official system of the Qing Dynasty, the highest official in Guangdong and Guangxi should be the General of Guangzhou, with a higher status than the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

It's just that since the Opium War, the Eight Banners Army's rotten combat effectiveness has been fully exposed, and the official order it carried has also fallen apart, and the status of Guangzhou Generals has declined day by day.By the beginning of the twentieth century, it was completely unable to be compared with the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Zheng Guanying took Li Yu and Xie Yuxi into the Governor's Mansion.

"Hello, Mr. Cen!"

Cen Chunxuan was a little dissatisfied when he saw Li Yu cut his hair: "Why does the emperor look like a foreigner?"

Zheng Guanying said for him: "The emperor is now a foreign academician of the Royal Society of England, and his status is detached. In order to meet the requirements of the Royal Society of England and participate in international scientific research, naturally he has to look like a foreigner in all aspects."

Cen Chunxuan was dubious: "If you don't cut your hair, you can't learn?"

Li Yu brought out Timothy Li, who had a good relationship with Cen Chunxuan: "Zhatai must have met Bishop Timothy, just like him."

Cen Chunxuan is still very loyal to the Qing court. He has always been grateful for Cixi's "kindness to know you", so he said: "You are not a revolutionary party, are you?"

Guangdong's current revolutionary party is indeed too common, and cutting hair is a symbolic action.

Li Yu said: "I'm only here for education. If I were a revolutionary party, how could I teach the emperor Western courses?"

Cen Chunxuan thought about it for a while and it was true. After all, Lafayette didn't say anything, so he didn't need to ask.

"I heard Mr. Zheng said that it is a good thing that you want to run a school in one piece of land. I agree, but the land is too big, right?"

Li Yu explained: "I want to build a relatively large school, so as to benefit more people and provide more talents for the country."

Cen Chunxuan said: "Need more than 100 acres?"

Li Yu said: "It is very common for foreign schools to have this scale, because there are more facilities for running schools, not just for studying in the classroom."

"Really?" Cen Chunxuan asked again.

Li Yu said: "If you don't believe me, you can ask this Ms. Xie from the United States."

Xie Yuxi said: "My lord, this is indeed the case. The new-style school teaches many subjects, and there will also be physical education courses. It must occupy a large area."

"Sports?" Cen Chunxuan said, "I'm confused, are you running a literary school or a martial arts school?"

Xie Yuxi said: "In Western-style schools, students need to do physical exercise so that they can develop in a balanced way."

Cen Chunxuan said: "It turns out that the new school is run in this way. It just so happens that you come from the United States and run it to set an example, so the governor can continue to implement it."

Li Yu quickly praised: "The people who govern Taiwan care about education, and this is an act that benefits the country and the people."

Cen Chunxuan said: "The governor also ran a school when he was in Shanxi, and he knew the advantages and disadvantages, but if he thought about it, if he only set up a university hall without a new-style elementary school, he could only use the university hall as a small school to teach, which is not appropriate. "

Li Yudao: "It is precisely because of this concern that I want to make the small school larger, so as to provide a source of students."

Cen Chunxuan said: "Since this is the case, the governor has no reason to refuse, but you must remember that if I preach revolution, I will not turn a deaf ear to it."

Li Yu said helplessly: "My lord, it doesn't mean that learning something new will turn you into a revolutionary party. These are two different things."

Cen Chunxuan said: "This is the best."

There is no concession in Guangzhou now, and the land price is much lower than that in Shanghai and Tianjin, and the location is not much developed, only 50 taels per mu.

Calculated to a total of 130 mu, a total of 6500 taels, Cen Chunxuan does not charge favor fees, so it is quite cheap.

If you are looking for local officials in Guangzhou, I am afraid that the favor fee will be more than twice the land price.

With the seal of the Governor's Mansion of Guangdong and Guangxi, it is much easier to handle the following matters. Although Li Yu and Xie Yuxi are not good at dealing with officialdom, Zheng Guanying has been an official and can handle these matters.

Li Yu also understood the key, and gave Zheng Guanying some money as a fund for activities. Fortunately, Cen Chunxuan is now fighting corruption very hard, so he can't spend too much.

Zheng Guanying also recruited a person to assist Li Yu in handling school-related matters.

This man was called Qiu Fengjia, and he was a famous anti-Japanese patriot, patriotic poet, and educator.

After the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" not only paid compensation, but also ceded Treasure Island to Japan. Qiu Fengjia resolutely refused to accept it and organized forces on the island to resist.

But without the support of the Qing court, they were ultimately outnumbered and defeated.

At that time, he also wrote a poem to express his inner resentment: "The prime minister has the power to cede the land, but the lonely minister has no power to return to the sky. Bian Zhou went to be a son of Yi, and looking back, the rivers and mountains feel sad."

It is said that Prime Minister Li Hongzhang has the power to cede land.

But in fact Li Hongzhang is also a pawn.

After Qiu Fengjia returned to Guangzhou, he began to focus on education. He was first in Shantou and just came to Guangzhou this year.

As the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Cen Chunxuan respected his deeds in protecting Taiwan. After three years, he will be promoted to the inspector of the Guangdong and Guangxi Academic Affairs Office and the supervisor of the Guangzhou Fuzhong School.

Qiu Fengjia admired Li Yu quite a lot. He had fought against the Japanese and understood the strength of Japan. He also knew that Japan was once a backward country, and it was possible to make it to today by constitutional law and education.

There is no way to talk about the establishment of a constitution. The Qing court could not make up its mind until the day before its demise, so there is no hope.

But there is still work to be done in education, especially when it comes to new learning.

According to the estimates of most people now, it takes at least one generation of education to grow up to compete with Japan.As for the European and American powers, it is not within the scope of consideration.

In other words, most people now feel that the great powers are unimaginably powerful and invincible.

But the Japanese country around me used to be a subsidiary country, a small country in Japan.Even though Japan is strong now, the Qing government sent overseas students to study, and many systems are also learning from Japan, but they are still not convinced, especially the scholar class.

Of course, people who have been to Japan, such as Zhang Jian, have a much clearer and more sensible understanding of the gap in strength between the two.

Li Yu didn't expect that Zheng Guanying would directly find such a competent person. If he was not in Guangzhou, Qiu Fengjia would be in charge of school affairs, he must be a very good candidate.