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

Chapter 242

In the Qing Dynasty, Jinshi can continue to study, which means that they can climb to a higher position in the future. Those who do not have good grades will go directly to become officials. Therefore, those who can enter the Imperial Academy or the Shixue Hall of the Imperial University are basically famous. characters.

In particular, many of the 80 people who came to the Jinshi Hall will be sent to Japan to study in the future, and they have played a certain role after returning to China.

But Li Yu obviously didn't come to give them lectures, after all, they are all Jinshi.

Fortunately, Li Yu is also an "honorary Jinshi" now, and everyone can still communicate normally when they sit down.

Those who can give them high-level lectures and convince them can only be important officials in the court. After all, except for a very small number of Jinshi candidates, they basically want to become officials.

Although Rong Qing's current official title is the same as Zhang Baixi, another Minister of Management, Rong Qing also holds the important position of Minister, so he was the one who spoke first.

When these Jinshi took the Guimao scientific examination, Rong Qing was still the deputy examiner.

In the auditorium, Rong Qing said: "You will be colleagues with me in the future, and we will discuss the affairs of the country together."

To say this is actually to show that in the future, they are all their own people. In the feudal dynasty scientific examinations, those who passed the Jinshi would often be regarded as the examiner's protégés, so being an examiner in the feudal dynasty is a super good job.

Rong Qing also said: "Being able to enter here shows that the imperial court attaches great importance to you. From now on, you should do your best in the imperial court to enter a more important position."

"..."

Rong Qing Balabala talked for a long time, basically from a personal point of view, let them learn to be an official, in order to get a higher position.

These are exactly what Jinshi want to hear most, it can be regarded as a shot of stimulant.

Since then, Zhang Baixi, another Minister of Management, has a different perspective. He said: "Everyone is already a Jinshi, but since you have come to the official school, you still have to continue studying. From the time when I was in charge of the university hall , You have a lot to learn. You will be important officials in various ministries and halls in the future. If you really have your heart for the country, the court, and the prosperity, then you can even be said to have just begun to learn.

"I can tell you here that the imperial court will set up many new departments in the future, learning from Western systems such as Japan and England, such as the police department, business department, postal department, etc. The new departments naturally need people who understand Western learning , The imperial court also meant that many talents with such talents were needed to set up a Jinshi hall in the university hall. However, even I only have a half-knowledge about the knowledge of the new department, or even a half-knowledge.

"Most of you don't know Western learning even if you think about it, if you really want to be a minister in the future, this is absolutely undesirable.

"Therefore, you should try your best to devote yourself to new knowledge here, and don't look down on Western learning, let alone be afraid of Western learning. Because there is a successful case in front of us-Li Yu, who has already made a very difficult science in Western learning. The extremely high achievement has made foreigners admire it. So I think the Chinese can do it, you have to have such determination, learn to understand the knowledge of foreigners, that is, learn to understand the knowledge of prosperity.”

It can be seen that Zhang Baixi still wants the Imperial Academy to make some achievements, and also hopes that Jinshi can grow into experts in Western learning.

Although in his heart, the location of the Jingshi University Hall is somewhat in the form of the Hanlin Academy borrowed from the framework of Western learning, at least there is nothing wrong with his thinking.These Jinshi can win the imperial examination room where thousands of people cross the single-plank bridge, so at least they will not be too weak in learning ability.

Li Yu didn't expect Zhang Baixi to mention himself at the end, could it be that he really wants to set himself as a benchmark.

Afterwards, Yan Fu, Ding Weiliang and other chief lecturers of the Imperial University gave the Jinshi students their future study direction and subject setting in turn.

It is very different from the Hanlin Academy, because in the Jinshi Hall, Jinshi has really never touched a lot of things learned.

Considering that they will basically enter the officialdom in the future, the subject setting is biased towards the direction of politics and law.Later, when I studied in Japan, most of them also majored in this field.

It's just that no matter how well most of them learn, they still can't understand the real core of reform or revolution in politics and law.

Wang Shoupeng, the No. [-] Scholar of Guimao Branch, asked after hearing the direction of diversion, "Are we all going abroad?"

Yan Fu had been abroad before, so he replied: "It's best, because if you don't go out, you won't know what other people are like."

Wang Shoupeng said: "Could it be that you can't learn practical knowledge here?"

Yan Fu said: "Unfortunately, at least the learning is not complete. Although we are called a university, there is still a big gap between us and the universities in Japan or Europe and the United States."

Wang Shoupeng asked again: "So after we go out, we still have to enter the university of foreigners?"

Yan Fu nodded: "That's right."

Zhu Guozhen, a second-class Jinshi, also asked: "Are there many such students in the foreigner university hall?"

Yan Fu nodded again, and said a little seriously: "A lot."

In fact, in the two scientific examinations in 1903, one of the Guimao Zhengke and one of the Special Economics, the champions were all changed.

Originally, the champion of Guimao Zhengke was Zhu Guozhen, who ranked No.1 in the imperial examination of Baohe Palace.

But when the list was sent up, our Lafayette Cixi held up a monocle and looked at it: "This name is not good!"

The surname is Zhu, that is the surname of the former emperor!Moreover, the acquisition of the name seems to have the meaning of making the Zhu family's country prosperous, and it is quite a metaphor for seizing power.

Turning to see Wang Shoupeng's name, hey, this name is good!

Cixi happened to have her [-]th birthday, which means "longer than Peng Zu".

Well, it's really good!

In addition, Cixi also likes the feeling of being a champion, because as long as she mentions it in the imperial pen, this person must be grateful to herself.

Mixed with unwarranted reasons and political considerations, Zhu Guozhen and Wang Shoupeng switched positions because of their names.

One is the fault of the name;
One is the blessing of the name.

One is happy and one is sad.

Zhu Guozhen must be extremely disappointed when the number one scholar in his hand is lost.

Not only him himself, but officials from Hubei also complained about him, and collectively stopped the court for a day in protest.

There are also many people in the society who expressed doubts about the authenticity of this matter, and public opinions abounded, unable to agree on what to do.

Wang Shoupeng, the number one scholar in the new division, wrote a doggerel for this purpose:

Some people say that I am accidental, and I say that it is very difficult to be accidental.

Even if there are accidents in the world, how can they be accidental and then accidental.

It's just that Wang Zhuangyuan has been quite mediocre since then, and he hasn't made any achievements.

The only thing worth mentioning may be that when the warlord Zhang Zongchang came to power and ravaged the great Shandong, he suddenly thought that there was another fellow who was the number one scholar, so he asked his subordinates: "What official did Wang Zhuangyuan serve in the Qing Dynasty?"

The subordinate replied: "Hubei Tixueshi is equivalent to the director of the Hubei Provincial Department of Education."

Zhang Zongchang waved his hand and said, "Then let him come to Shandong to be the director of the Education Department!"

So Wang Zhuangyuan came out again.

He suggested to Zhang Zongchang that the original schools should be merged to form Shandong University.

Because in 1914, when the national government established university districts across the country, universities were only set up in the central cities of each district. Since the Shandong University Hall was affiliated to the central city of Beijing, the University Hall was abolished.

It is said that this so-called university district system has been implemented once more than ten years later, and it is a bad game anyway.Later, the reform of the university district made it even more chaotic, and Cai Yuanpei and others almost left in anger.

But when the warlord Zhang Zongchang heard it, he felt that the number one scholar was different, and he caught the root of it as soon as he caught it. After such a merger, at least the realm has improved.Therefore, Wang Zhuangyuan was appointed as the first president of the provincial Shandong University, and he was also the only one among the champions who served as the president of the university.

However, after all, Wang Shoupeng was the number one scholar in the old era, and he knew nothing about modern university education. He still followed the feudal era, requiring students to wear robes and jackets, and to bow down to the sage Confucius, which made the students very dissatisfied: Please, now It's the 20th century, and we go to universities, not private schools!

At that time, all kinds of criticisms against Confucianism in the whole country were already very strong, and Wang Zhuangyuan was basically turning back the wheel of history.

Even Zhang Zongchang thinks it's wrong. The old ethics are what other college students want to overthrow. Fortunately, you have been picked up again.

So Wang Zhuangyuan couldn't even be the principal.

But as the number one scholar in the former Qing Dynasty, Wang Shoupeng's handwriting is still acceptable.

When he was the principal, he once told the students of the High School Affiliated to Shandong University that whoever could get the first place for two consecutive semesters would be given a pair of couplets.

The person who got this couplet is the cultural master Ji Xianlin.

At this moment, Wang Zhuangyuan heard that there are so many college students for foreigners in the Peking University Hall, and he was surprised: "So, there are so many Jinshi for foreigners?"

Yan Fu corrected: "You can't say Jinshi, you can only say college students. Moreover, foreigner universities not only have political and legal subjects that you will focus on studying in the future, but also many other subjects such as mathematics, physics, engineering, and mechanics."

Wang Shoupeng asked in surprise: "These knowledge also need to be learned in the university?"

Yan Fu patiently explained: "Yes, they are equally important in foreign universities."

Wang Shoupeng said: "I thought it was just some craftsman's trivial knowledge."

Yan Fu said: "That's not the case, that's why I want you to go out and see what the world looks like. In the world of foreigners, people like Li Yu are also very important, and technology is our major weakness. And what Li Yu said The post of foreign academician of the Royal Society of England is extremely high, ranking at least two levels in the university hall."

Yan Fu knew that only by elevating Li Yu as high as possible could he make them study Western learning more diligently.

Zhu Guozhen, who lost the champion, was very interested: "Is the technology that Master Yan said so important, can it make foreigners so powerful?"

Yan Fu said to Li Yu, "You should explain this clearly."

Li Yu said: "It is indeed very important. It is a very complicated issue for the West to be so powerful. To put it simply, it is largely because they completed the bourgeois revolution, experienced the age of great exploration, and plundered countless resources. The two industrial revolutions once again boosted productivity in all directions.

"To a large extent, it is a coincidence of history and the foreshadowing of the previous hundreds of years. Although this kind of foreshadowing and coincidence is a historical necessity that cannot be copied, the powerful result is obvious. There is nothing to say about victory and defeat, so there are many things worth learning. Like politics and technology.

"The difference with us is that the west is strong in industry, while we are only in agriculture. This is a generational difference. There are many factors supporting the strength of industry, and one of the hidden lines is the development of science and technology, otherwise there will be no progress in mechanics Therefore, foreigners would not have advanced weapons capable of plundering the world; without steam engines, there would be no ships and trains galloping around the world. And the greatness of mechanics cannot be separated from the development of basic science.

Although Li Yu has said it as concisely as possible, even omitting many important details, the Jinshi are still confused.

It is mainly some words that look like common sense to modern people, but they are unfathomable terms in their ears.

What "bourgeois revolution", "productivity", "great voyages", "resource plundering" and "basic science" are difficult for them to understand.

But Zhu Guozhen listened with great interest: "This is the knowledge of managing the world! It turns out that Teacher Li Yu is not only proficient in science, but also understands the principles of governing the country."

Li Yu certainly didn't know much about politics and law. He knew that these were all learned in history and politics classes in junior high school, so he smiled and said, "I only know superficially, and I'm not a teacher. I also graduated from a university."

Zhu Guozhen said: "Then you are the senior brother."

Li Yu said, "In terms of age, I might not be as old as you."

But Zhu Guozhen said: "There is a sequence of hearing, and this call of senior brother is indispensable."

Unexpectedly, this person who was a Jinshi in the court and almost became the number one scholar, turned out to be Li Yu's little fan.

However, Zhu Guozhen was really disappointed with the imperial examinations and the Qing court, and he didn't make much achievements after that. If he could really go to Li Yu, he might be able to do something. When writing him in the future, he might not just say that he was because of The name lost the champion.

(End of this chapter)