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

The preparatory class for young children studying in the United States has evolved for many years and is today's Guangdong Experimental Middle School, which is also a top-notch middle school in Guangdong.

Zhan Tianyou studied here for a period of time as the first group of young children studying in the United States.

There were four batches of 120 children studying in the United States. The first batch was almost the most successful, because the study time was relatively long and the most people entered the famous American schools.

At that time, the United States had a very good attitude towards these Chinese students. 22 of them entered Yale University, which is very difficult to get into among American private universities, 8 entered MIT, 3 entered Columbia University, and 1 entered Harvard University.

They are all well-known universities in the United States. It can be seen that the American education community welcomes this matter very much, and it can even be called friendly.

It's just that this very meaningful move to study abroad was stopped by the Qing court in 1881, and all the young children studying abroad were forcibly recalled.

Counting from 1872, it was less than ten years. The original plan was to study in the United States and travel for 15 years. In such a short period of time, only Zhan Tianyou and others completed their studies and obtained formal university degrees.

It's hard to imagine what will happen if everyone successfully completes their studies, even if they can't have too much influence on the general situation, at least there will be dozens of beautiful waves.

As for the reason for the recall, it is because the children studying in the United States were too young when they went to the United States, which is equivalent to growing up in the United States. The braids were cut.

The poor Manchus only have this ridiculous bottom line, after all, it is the strongest means they use to control all Han people.

So the Qing court couldn't bear it anymore, and if it failed, they would all be called back to me!
After returning to China, the young children who studied in the United States were not only ignored at all, but even condemned by all walks of life.

"Declaration" directly published an article saying: "The country does not hesitate to spend a lot of money to condemn all apprentices to go abroad. Unexpectedly, after going abroad, they will not know what to do. The first time China went abroad, there is no old family. The son of Duozhuilu, his skills are very mixed, how can such a person be able to learn from Yan Xi, how can he be able to compare with Yan Saishi's art of war."

At that time, Yung Wing had a lot of trouble gathering young children studying in the United States. Many of them were unwilling to go out at all, so they chose only children from civilian backgrounds. Unexpectedly, they became a point of scolding.

The public opinion and Shenbao scolded them like this because they felt that these people came from humble backgrounds, they must have no ethics and cannot be used for much.

For a long time, only some Han ministers and frontier officials such as Yuan Shikai, Zhang Zhidong, and Li Hongzhang were using them.It was not until the Qing Dynasty was gone that they could really shine, but it has been too long.

Huang Feihong took Li Yu to inspect the dormitory where the pre-school class for young children studying in the United States is located. After 20 years, the place has become very deserted, and the place is obviously not big enough.

After all, there are only 30 children in each batch of children studying in the United States, and not all of them are in Guangzhou. For example, there are such preparatory classes in Shanghai.

Since it is called a preparatory class, and the students are all relatively young children, so only English is taught, so naturally there is no need for a large school building.

However, Li Yu said that this place is very meaningful, "In the future, the school run by the foundation will send a group of students to study in the United States. Choosing this place also means inheriting it."

Huang Feihong asked: "I heard that the strongest countries are in Europe, England, France, etc. Why don't you go there?"

In the opinion of many people now, the strongest empire in the world is the empire on which the sun never sets, "bringing the British".

The United States lives alone in the Americas, and is still in the stage of making a fortune silently, focusing on industry.When it emerges in military affairs and world disputes, it will be after World War I. At that time, a few loud slaps also initially woke up most of Europe.

Li Yu explained: "Of course the education in Europe is very strong, and the scientific research is also very strong, but the education and scientific research environment in the United States is not bad now, and learning only English in foreign languages ​​will also help to streamline the curriculum. As for Europe, it is too scattered and strong countries Too much, if students are asked to spend time learning French and German, it will be a bit too time-consuming.”

Liu Yongfu said: "What the emperor said makes sense. I have fought against the French before, and they speak differently from the British."

Huang Feihong came to a sudden: "So there is still this consideration."

Li Yu said with a smile: "These are objective reasons, and the most important one is of course that the funded foundation comes from the United States."

Xie Yuxi is also quite satisfied with this place, but it is indeed a bit small, obviously unable to play a role.According to their expectations, the schools in each city must exceed one hundred acres, and there is enough land.

According to previous estimates in Tianjin, limited by the difficulty of building high-rise buildings, 6 mu of land, or more than 100 square meters, can only enroll 200 to [-] students each year under the premise of ensuring the number of students.

It seems that the place is not small. The stadium occupies more than 1 square meters. Even if the primary and secondary schools add up to nine years, it will reach a scale of 2000 people.

Teaching, canteens, scientific research buildings, libraries, office buildings, dormitory buildings, etc. all occupy a large area.At this time, many schools adopted the boarding system. If the houses were built on one floor, the upper limit had indeed been reached.

Unless the upgrades are carried out slowly in the future, a more reasonable construction of multi-storey high school buildings can only be carried out when the country has a better grasp of reinforced concrete structures.

Li Yu chose Yang Sisheng, Gu Lanzhou and others in Shanghai for consideration, and he had to let them grow up technically as soon as possible.

In short, it is to make use of limited means to make progress in supporting industries as much as possible.

It's just that how to get Yang Sisheng and Gu Lanzhou's construction business into Guangzhou may be more difficult.

Although he didn't know how to solve it for a while, Li Yu is not too worried now, because even if Shanghai construction businessmen such as Yang Sisheng and Gu Lanzhou cannot break the monopoly of local snakes and enter the Guangzhou market, they can also adopt a cooperative approach.This is also more efficient than finding a construction factory from scratch.

After all, Li Yu himself is not a civil engineering major, so Yang Sisheng, Gu Lanzhou and the others can master the skills of reinforced concrete construction as soon as possible.Some things have to be understood by themselves, and it is unrealistic for Li Yu to solve everything.

Besides, from the previous contact, Li Yu felt that the professional level of Yang Sisheng and Gu Lanzhou was still acceptable, at least they could gain a firm foothold in the demanding construction market of the Shanghai Concession.

Most of the development sites in Guangzhou are on the banks of the Pearl River, very close to the port, and the docks are quite powerful and intricate. You must be familiar with the hidden lines, otherwise it is not easy to intervene.

Fortunately, there is a big tree like Huang Feihong, so there is no problem in building a school.

Xie Yuxi quickly finished transferring in this small dormitory, and asked, "Are there any more places available?"

Huang Feihong thought for a while and said, "I don't know much about the school. According to my limited information, there is a Gezhi Academy nearby. It used to be a missionary school, but it was closed after two years of opening. It has been abandoned for more than ten years."

This saved money, so Li Yu and Huang Feihong went to today's [-]rd Road and saw the school building.

In front of you are two two-story buildings with a combination of Chinese and Western styles. The overall look is Western style, but the roof adopts a traditional Chinese-style sloping roof.Perhaps people in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China looked quite foreign, but from the perspective of a modern person like Li Yu, at least the design is a bit nondescript.

But that's just an architectural point of view. The two houses are really well built and usable, and the distance between them is really not far away.

The land in the middle of the key is also in an undeveloped state. If you buy it, you can connect it together, which can reach about [-] acres. Although the shape will appear a bit irregular, it is harmless. Using the existing buildings can save some money. .

Li Yu said: "It looks very good, is it true that no one uses it?"

Huang Feihong said: "This place was regarded as a Christian university by foreigners earlier, but the founders, Haba and his wife, both returned to China due to illness. It was only opened for two years, and it was closed in the 16th year of Guangxu (1890)."

In fact, the Christian Church rebuilt Gezhi Academy in Haizhu District, but the name was changed to Lingnan University.

But the school building in front of me was indeed deserted because of the departure of the Habas. After all, the church did not expect them to leave and never return, and the land was dragged on for too long.

Li Yu said: "For so long in the past, if you want to acquire this piece of land, you must have obtained the approval of the government?"

Huang Feihong nodded and said, "Indeed."

The two pieces of land in Shanghai and Tianjin were bought through the Concession Industry Bureau before, but now it is a lot of trouble to deal with the Qing government.

Li Yu suddenly felt a little headache, and asked, "I wonder if it can be done smoothly?"

Huang Feihong knew Li Yu's concerns. After all, he was an old man who had been in Guangzhou for a long time and knew the local conditions. He said, "It's really troublesome to pass through the Guangzhou government, but I have a way."

Li Yu hurriedly said, "Master Huang, please tell me!"

Huang Feihong said: "As the emperor's teacher, you can bypass the Guangzhou government and directly contact Cen Chunxuan, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. He is a clean and upright official, and he is a person who values ​​new learning. I think he will be very interested in your way of running a school."

Cen Chunxuan is indeed a ruthless person, and his background is very strong. When Cixi fled to Xi'an, he made a lot of contributions, and was regarded by Cixi as "her own family".

Cixi attaches great importance to this point, and he must be one of his own to be valued by him, which can also be said to be "cronyism".

However, Cen Chunxuan is a good official. As soon as he took office in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, he began to vigorously punish corrupt officials, and was even dubbed an "official butcher".

He also attached great importance to reform. As early as when he was the governor of Shanxi, he and Timothy Lee founded Shanxi University Hall, the predecessor of Shanxi University.

Now in Guangdong, where the atmosphere is more open, I spare no effort to promote new learning.

But it seemed that he had to know a little bit to meet him when he came up. Although Li Yu was called the "Emperor Teacher", he didn't have any official position, so it was somewhat difficult to meet a strange frontier official.

But I still have to try, Li Yu said, "Where is the Governor's Mansion?"

Huang Feihong smiled and said, "If you want to see the governor, you need a middleman to connect."

Li Yu said awkwardly, "It's so troublesome."

Huang Feihong said: "But I think this person would also like to see you."

Li Yu asked, "Who is it?"

Huang Feihong said: "Zuo Jiang Dao Zheng Guanying Zheng adults."

It turned out to be him. Li Yu said, "I'd like to invite Master Huang to introduce you."

Huang Feihong contacted Zheng Guanying the next day, and he is still the person in charge of the Guangdong-Han Railway Land Purchase Company.

This company is not a company in the traditional sense.

The construction of the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway is in full swing, Zhan Tianyou is very busy, and the progress is very gratifying. Except for some bridges across the river, most of the lines have been completed.

The construction of the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway immediately stimulated major cities to build railways one after another.

There is a reason why Wuhan is called the thoroughfare of nine provinces, and its location is exactly in the middle of the map. Therefore, Guangzhou requested to build a Guangdong-Han Railway to connect with Wuhan and become an artery running north-south in the future.

It just so happened that the Qing government also had this idea in the capital. Since ancient times, the Guangdong and Guangxi regions have not been controlled very much. The sky is high and the emperor is far away. A modern railway can strengthen the connection.

Of course, there is no technology to build a bridge on the Yangtze River now, and the Guangdong-Han Railway can only go to Wuchang on the south side of the Yangtze River.

The Beijing-Hankou Railway actually goes to Hankou Railway Station on the north side of the Yangtze River.It was not until 1957 that the two were connected via the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, and the name became the later Beijing-Guangzhou Railway.

However, the construction process of the Guangdong-Han Railway has more twists and turns than the Beijing-Han Railway in the northern section.

The Beijing-Hanzhou Railway will be fully opened to traffic in two or three years, while the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway will not be officially opened to traffic until 30, 1936 years later.

First of all, because the Qing court's initial affairs were too naive, they lost the right to build roads to an American company without even thinking about it.

However, the United States quickly resold part of the road construction rights to Belgium. This is obviously a violation of regulations. It is called illegal subcontracting in modern construction law. How could it be possible to divide the main project.

At the beginning, Sheng Xuanhuai, Minister of Railways, borrowed from the United States through Wu Tingfang, then Minister to the United States, on the condition that China repay the debt after 50 years before taking back the railway management rights.

Doesn't this mean that the United States can cut off China's main artery at any time!

The gentry and merchants in the three provinces of Guangzhou, Hunan, and Hubei that the railway passed by immediately quit, and strongly demanded to seize the right to the road.

Speaking of which, now we, including Japan's Shinkansen, have always wanted to develop abroad, and even provide interest-free loans to repair railways for others. In fact, our minds are alive.

Don't think that we are taking advantage of us to build railways in Africa.

But this kind of thing can't be said too much... In short, it's right to make a lot of money.

Zhang Zhidong also stood on the side of the gentry and businessmen in the three provinces, and felt that the Canton-Han Railway could not be handed over to the Americans. It happened that the United States had broken the contract again. After signing the contract, the construction period was delayed again and again.

In fact, they did not have the ability to build, so Zhang Zhidong and others demanded to take back the right of way from the perspective of protecting rights, and finally took back the right of way at a high price of 675 million US dollars.

Although it costs more money, it will definitely benefit in the long run.

At that time, there were not many railways, but everyone knew the importance of railways, and the incidents caused by the road protection movement in the future have been affecting the course of China's history.