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

Chapter 474 The listener is interested

The progress of new learning in Beijing is indeed a big step behind Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Wuchang and other places. At present, children in Beijing have a lot of trouble if they want to learn new learning. They can only go to some church schools and there are no new primary schools.

As a senior official of the Capital University, Yan Fu took over the task of running a new primary school in the capital.

Taking into account the large population of the capital and the large east-west span, Yan Fu quickly selected two locations: one was Shihuma Street (today's New Culture Street) where the Capital Women's School was located, and the other was not far away from Dongchang Hutong where Li Yu lived. Shijia Hutong in the distance.

The Capital Girls' School has a lot of houses, but the enrollment is not very large. It happens that some of the idle houses are used to build elementary schools.

There are some educational institutions in Shijia Hutong, such as the American Travel Affairs Office, which is responsible for reviewing students studying in the United States.Since the Foreign Studies Affairs Office has acquired a larger piece of land in Tsinghua Garden, some houses in Shijia Hutong are also vacant.

The famous Shijia Primary School in later generations in Beijing was originally associated with the Office of Travel and Tourism Affairs.

Six-year-old Ling Shuhua attended this primary school and became associated with Shijia Hutong.

According to Cixi's request, Lu Bicheng became a female instructor.

Although she is already the head teacher of Tianjin Beiyang Girls' Public School, the atmosphere in the capital is not as open as that in Tianjin. Even though it is only a primary school with little influence, it has become a talk on the streets of the capital.

In the teahouse, several idle bannermen were drinking tea and chatting.

"What an eye-opener! A girl actually became a tutor! It's the most ridiculous thing in the world!"

"She is a talented girl from Beijing and Tianjin. You may not have as much ink in your belly as she does."

"Tch! A bitch is a bitch! If you want me to listen to a bitch pointing fingers at me, you might as well kill me!"

"I heard that not only is he talented, but his appearance is also extraordinary."

"Then the student is still in the mood to listen to the lecture? It's an insult to politeness!"

Cui Laosan, the man with the melon skin hat, snorted and said, "Stop talking nonsense. Miss Bicheng is now Li Yu's wife. Does Li Yu know that she is the emperor's master?"

"So what if the Imperial Master is just a Han Chinese?"

Cui Laosan sniffed: "I now live in the government office of Rongzhongtang. Rongzhongtang is a person who is regarded as the prime minister. Let's look at you."

"Prime Minister's Mansion? How dare he live there?"

"It's for rent," someone said. "He, Cui Laosan, is a dental dealer, specializing in renting houses."

The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was intentional. The man thought about it for a moment, and suddenly his eyes flashed, "I thought of a wonderful way to make a fortune."

Others asked: "What kind of way? Chang Dazui, how many farts do you usually make, but none of them come true."

"It's accurate this time!" Chang Da Zui said proudly, and then asked Cui Laosan, the tooth merchant, "Is the Imperial Master Li Yu really living in the Prime Minister's Mansion?"

"Is there still a lie?" Cui Laosan said, "The contract is written in black and white. But I heard that when it expires, Prince Chun's Palace wants to take the house back."

"Why do you want to go back again?" Chang Da Zui asked.

"Then I don't know. The prince is rich." Cui Laosan said.

Cui Laosan didn't know, but it was actually because Prince Chun's palace had already received some news: Cixi wanted to establish a crown prince. Although the candidate has not yet been decided, it is likely to be Prince Chun Zaifeng or Zaifeng's son Puyi.

Thinking about it carefully, there really is nothing else more suitable.

The two princes who have the closest relationship with Cixi are Prince Chun and Prince Qing. Prince Qing's Yikuang bloodline is a bit far away, so he can only be chosen from the lineage of Prince Chun.

Puyi's mother, Guarjia Youlan, was Ronglu's daughter.

Chang Da Zui quickly asked: "Where is the Prime Minister's Mansion?"

Cui Laosan said: "Of course it's Dongchang Hutong."

Chang Dazui said: "Listen to this name!"

He grabbed a hat, put it on, and ran out.

Cui Laosan peeled off a peanut and said contemptuously: "I have never seen the world."

-

Chang Dazui came to Dongchang Hutong, grabbed a person and asked, "Is that the former residence of Rongzhongtang, where Li Yu now lives?"

The person who was pulled was Zhao Qian. He said, "Yes, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Chang Dazui walked to the door, took a few glances, nodded secretly, and then left.

He walked for a long time and came to the outside of the Jingshi Police Department. He said carelessly to the two patrolmen wearing new black police uniforms at the door: "I want to report to the police! Beat the drum!"

The patrolman at the door sneered: "To report to the officer, you have to go to the Yamen. This is the patrol hall."

"Isn't the patrol admiral the Japanese Mr. Kawashima?" Chang asked.

"Do you want to see Mr. Kawashima?" the patrolman asked.

"I have something important, report it quickly!" Chang Da Zui said.

"Only you?" The patrolman looked him over.

"Young dog, you look down on others!" Chang Dazui suddenly became angry, "I am serious about wearing a blue flag!"

The patrolman sneered: "Inlaid with a blue flag? Go back and collect the money. Don't mess around with me here."

Xianglan Banner has the lowest status among the Eight Banners, and none of the bannermen are willing to enter.

Chang Dazui said angrily: "You nigga! How dare you talk to me like that!"

"Nikan" is the Manchu name for the Han people.

The patrolman laughed: "If you don't leave, I will detain you for disturbing the court."

Chang Dazui was unconvinced and was about to rush in. The patrolman kicked him to the ground. Chang Dazui immediately got up and struggled with him.

However, he was no match for the patrolman. His face was bruised and bruised within a few moments.

"What's the fuss about?" someone suddenly yelled.

After hearing this, the patrol officer immediately lowered his eyebrows and said, "Supervisor Kawashima."

Chang Da on the ground covered his mouth and said: "Master Kawashima, I have information to tell you."

Kawashima Naniwa asked doubtfully: "Information?"

Chang Dazui said: "I overheard you talking to your subordinates that day. I hope to get some evidence related to Li Yu. I can provide it."

"Do you understand Japanese?" Kawashima Naniwa asked in surprise.

Chang Dazui said: "I have studied in Tongwen Hall for one year before, but... I only studied for one year, so I can understand a little bit."

Kawashima Naniwa said: "Tell me, what's the reason?"

Chang Da Zui said: "I have gone to see it. The government office where Li Yu lives now is the one of Rong Zhongtang. You may not know that it is very inappropriate for him to live in this house. It is a crime punishable by exile."

"The charge of exile?" Kawashima Naniwa finally became a little interested.Although Japan's intelligence agencies cannot penetrate the United States and Europe, they have learned about Li Yu's patents through public information, which is too fascinating.

They won a great victory on the Japanese-Russian battlefield because of radio, and they definitely hope to get rid of Li Yu.

But at this time, the Japanese had very strange ideas and tried every means to control it.

Chang Dazui swept away the dust on his body and said: "Li Yu's mansion has beasts on the eaves and the steps in front of the door exceed two feet. These are regulations that can only be adopted by officials of the second rank or above."

Kawashima Naniwa was a little confused after hearing this. The etiquette system of the Qing Dynasty was very complicated. Even though he had stayed in Beijing for so long, he still didn't understand many things, so he asked: "Is it serious?"

"The serious thing is yet to come!" Chang Dazui continued, "There is actually a stone for dismounting horses at his door! According to the etiquette of the Qing Dynasty, only clansmen above Bei Ziye can use it. This is called trespassing!"

Kawashima Naniwa asked: "You mean?"

Chang Dazui clenched his fist and said, "You can definitely take him!"

Kawashima Naniwa wanted to find a reason to hold Li Yu's hand, but was defeated by the people below.

This time it sounds like there is more trouble. When the time comes to mediate, Li Yu will definitely be able to admit defeat, and then his attitude will turn pro-Japanese.

Kawashima Naniwa threw him a 50-tael banknote: "Let's go."

Chang Dazui obviously felt that it was a little short. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Kawashima Naniwa had already entered the room.

Chang Dazui glanced at the two menacing policemen at the door, shrunk his neck, turned around and walked away, but when he came to the corner, he couldn't help but turn around and spit at them, and then ran away.

-

Zhao Qian is a smart man. He followed Chang Dazui after he discovered his sneaky appearance. Unexpectedly, he actually found a Japanese.

Although I didn't hear it clearly, it didn't look like a good thing, so I hurried back and told Li Yu.

Zhao Qian said: "The boy looked at the gate and went to the patrol supervisor with a happy face. The patrol officer beat him at first, but in the end the Japanese supervisor gave him a silver note."

After hearing this, Li Yu sneered: "Now there are scoundrels."

Zhao Qian asked: "Sir, what should we do?"

Li Yu came to the gate, walked around in a small circle, and found the problem: "So that's it! There is indeed a flaw."

Zhao Qian was puzzled: "What's the flaw?"

Li Yu pointed to the dismounting stone and said, "I'm probably going to be sued for trespassing."

In the Qing Dynasty, trespassing in etiquette was actually quite common.Normally it doesn't matter, no one reports it.But if he is targeted by someone with intentions, or commits a crime, it will be a real crime.

A typical example is Heshen. When Jiaqing ransacked his house, he listed twenty major sins, two of which were transgression.

For example, the furniture is out of specification and made of nanmu, the structure of the house is modeled after Ningshou Palace, and the decoration and embellishments in the house are all modeled on the layout of the Old Summer Palace.

There are also cemeteries that exceed the standard. Heshen's tomb in Jizhou is equipped with a memorial hall and a tunnel, so that the local people call it "Heling".Generally, only the emperor's tomb can be called a mausoleum.

If you look carefully, you will find that several of the twenty crimes are about etiquette, such as riding a horse into the Old Summer Palace and riding a sedan into the Shenwu Gate.

In short, this kind of thing can be big or small.

Li Yu was a bit simplistic when he rented this house, but at that time it was indeed because the owner of the house had Hualiu disease and it became a hot potato.

But after such a long time of peace and quiet, things changed.

Zhao Qian said anxiously: "Sir, how can you be so stable?"

Li Yu said: "Go and send a letter to the American and British embassies in China, saying that I will hold a party at my house and invite the ministers of the two countries to come."

"What is fear?" Zhao Qian asked.

Li Yu said: "It's just a banquet."

Foreign envoys to China are quite bored on weekdays. There are too many rules in the capital and there are no concessions. They can just wander around the small street of Dongjiaomin Lane and happily participate in any activities.

Moreover, Li Yu is very well-known in both Britain and the United States, and he has attended the White House dinner with the President of the United States. Even though his official position is very low, the ministers of the two countries are still happy to see him.

After receiving the exact answers from the two ministers, Li Yu then set off to find the prince.

Fortunately, Zhao Qian was born as a coachman and had many coachman friends. In an era without navigation, they were living maps.Just like some people in later generations who go to new places and ask taxis where the mysterious places are, they know best.

With the help of friends, Zhao Qian quickly led Li Yu to find a mysterious place.

Li Yu looked at it: "It doesn't look like a casino at all, it's so well disguised."

Zai Zhen has been idle since he was dismissed from all honors due to Yang Cuixi's incident.His hobby is opening casinos - he really inherited the genes of Prince Qing Yikuang, who loves money the most.

At the beginning, he opened a very large casino in Tianjin. The form of gambling was mahjong. Each game had a jackpot of 3000 taels. Moreover, three losers and one win, and the winner could get nearly [-] taels.

Zai Zhen divided the people who came to the casino into upper, middle and lower classes by observing their behavior and expressions. The upper class people were those who lost tens of thousands of taels but still remained calm.

Zai Zhen also set up a banquet with good wine and good food in the casino. As soon as the wine was in his stomach, the losers got mad and spent all their wealth to try to win back; Down the drain.

However, because the gambling was too big, many people went bankrupt, so the matter of opening a casino was brought to the capital and was ordered to close down.

But Zai Zhen was unwilling to be lonely and continued to open a casino in the capital.

After Li Yu entered, he saw Zai Zhen who was drinking tea. He also saw Li Yu, stood up and came to greet him: "Master Emperor, I didn't expect that you also have this hobby?"

Li Yu said: "I'm not here to gamble."

"Great, you'd better not come here to gamble!" Zai Zhen said, "I heard that people who are good at arithmetic must not be allowed into the casino."

Li Yu said speechlessly: "I'm here to invite Zhen Beizi to attend a banquet. Also present are the British and American ministers."

Zai Zhen naturally wanted to have a good relationship with the foreigners: "Master Emperor, this is not the place to talk. Let's go to another room."

They arrived at a luxuriously decorated house through the secret door. Zai Zhen continued: "Where is the banquet? Do you need to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"

Li Yu said: "This is a personal banquet, not political affairs."

Zai Zhen said: "The imperial master is so proud that he can invite the ministers of the two countries."

Li Yu said: "By the way, cowpox and smallpox will also be discussed at the meeting."

What the Manchus feared most was smallpox. Zai Zhen said: "Taking it into account, Zaifeng's child Puyi is just two years old. It's almost time for vaccination. It's time for him to come and listen."

Zai Zhen thought it would be a good thing to meet the ministers of the two countries in private, so he attracted Zai Feng, who was of the same age.

Li Yu said: "No problem, foreign doctors will also be present."

Cowpox has long entered China. More than ten years ago, Lu Xun was vaccinated with cowpox when he was only two or three years old. According to him, he was vaccinated at home in Shaoxing, not at the vaccination bureau. This was "probably very grand." "Meaning"; he still remembers the face of Zou Guan, "fat, round, red, and wearing a pair of large black crystal glasses."

Lu Xun’s recollections illustrate the details of vaccination in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: Vaccination bureaus were common, but they were only located in large towns and were seasonal.

But while people had the option of traditional variolation, cowpox was far from universal.At present, it is relatively common only in Shanghai and the surrounding Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, as well as places with a large number of foreigners such as Guangzhou and Tianjin.

(End of this chapter)