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

Chapter 499 Solvay’s Invitation
In the year when the Qing Dynasty was about to die, it really buried a lot of soil for itself.

According to the constitutional process, forming a cabinet is a very important step. The Qing government finally released the list of members of the first cabinet.

The Prime Minister is Prince Qing Yikuang, the super money-greedy little master we are familiar with.

It would be fine if there was only one member of the royal family like him, but looking carefully at the list, there were actually 7 members of the royal family!More than half!
There are also two Manchus, both of whom are very close to the royal family: the first is Natong, whose surname is Yehenala; the other is Yinchang, the Minister of Army, who is also the nominal head of the national army.

There were only four Han ministers: Xu Shichang, Liang Dunyan, Sheng Xuanhuai, and Tang Jingchong.

Anyway, the list looks strange. The number of royal family members is ridiculously high, so it is called the royal cabinet.

Even Prince Qing Yikuang himself was dumbfounded after seeing it.

The regent Zaifeng really likes to make decisions with a slap on the forehead. The old youtiao Yikuang just wants to make money safely. Doesn't this push himself to the forefront?

Therefore, he asked the regent Zaifeng to take back his order because he was not qualified to be the prime minister of the cabinet.

Zaifeng thought that Prince Qing was showing off his humility several times, so he decisively rejected Yikuang's application for resignation.

Yikuang could only find Zaifeng in person again and said earnestly: "Prince Regent, now is the critical period of the establishment of the constitution. You must not let the royal cabinet serve as a starting point to live up to the high hopes of the emperor, the queen mother and the people of the world. The royal cabinet is not good for the world. , which is even more harmful to the royal family."

Zaifeng didn't take it seriously: "I have made a decision, and I will definitely not revoke it. And isn't what the constitution emphasizes the equality of all people in the world? Why can only Han people be cabinet ministers, but not members of my royal family?"

Yikuang heard that future generations were dumbfounded. What kind of logic is this!

Suddenly started talking about fairness again?Aren't you deceiving yourself?
Yikuang still wanted to speak, but Zaifeng interrupted him: "Prince Qing, your consideration now should not be about whether to be a cabinet minister, but to discuss with Sheng Xuanhuai as soon as possible the matter of nationalizing the railway. This is the first step in the establishment of the cabinet. If a big thing is accomplished, what else can be questioned in the world?"

Yikuang had nothing to say, so he could only accept the order: "I understand."

He was too lazy to call himself a "slave" in front of Ci Xi like before.

Then, Zaifeng summoned Tang Jingchong, a Han nationality among the cabinet ministers, and said to him: "The implementation of compulsory education should be accelerated. Do you have any countermeasures?"

Tang Jingchong said: "Prince Regent, today's national treasury is empty and the money for education is huge. I think it is still necessary to adopt a system of local self-government."

Zaifeng didn't want to hear the word "local autonomy". During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the imperial court allowed local autonomy to organize team training, which led to the rise of Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and others.

But thinking about it carefully, he felt that it could be done in the same way as "taking back" Beiyang: let the local government handle it first, and then replace important officials with his own?

Smart!
Zaifeng was very proud of his idea. He felt that governing the country was not difficult. It was just like "ruling a big country is like cooking small delicacies". He let the place simmer on a low fire first, and then poured it into his own big pot.

After thinking about it, Zaifeng said to Tang Jingchong: "Just follow Aiqing's wishes."

Tang Jingchong was just an honest official, and could even be regarded as a cabinet quota for Zaifeng to take care of the Han people.

Tang Jingchong had been an academic administrator for many years, but had no experience in running modern compulsory education, so he decided to recruit talents from various places to establish a Chinese Education Association and adopt an indirect management strategy.

The people he selected were very accurate: Zhang Jian, Li Yu, Yan Fansun, Tang Wenzhi, etc., almost including a group of people who knew the most about New Learning education in the late Qing Dynasty.

Zhang Jian had to rush over from Shanghai, while Yan Fansun and Tang Wenzhi arrived in the capital the next day. They were all old acquaintances and gathered together at Li Yu's residence first.

Li Yu was quite surprised by this appointment and asked, "Why is the court so anxious all of a sudden?"

Yan Fansun stretched out his fingers and counted and said: "According to the original plan of the constitution, the national literacy rate must reach 5% of the total population, or 2000 million people, in six years. But last year, the Ministry of Education conducted a statistics and found that the national literacy rate in schools that year must be The number of students is no more than 100 million, and including those who are illiterate in society, the number is no more than 300 million, which is too far from the goal."

Tang Wenzhi said: "To achieve industrial development, a literacy rate of 5% is already a very low limit, otherwise it will be more difficult to promote other constitutional measures."

Yan Fansun said: "Since the abolition of the civil service examination system, the academic system has not been completely transformed in so many years. People everywhere are boiling with dissatisfaction, and even many provinces have long been disloyal."

Li Yu said: "Actually, in the past few years when I have set up schools, I have never heard from the school department, let alone support."

"That is to say, we run it ourselves," Yan Fansun said. "The academic department can no longer order local governments, and some provinces are preparing to set up education federations on their own initiative. Because of this, the academic department feels that its authority is under a huge threat, and in order to reverse the passive situation , hastily established such a Chinese Education Association."

Li Yu understood a little bit: "It just wants to imitate the Japan Higher Education Association. It is actually a government-run organization and a consulting agency for the academic department."

Tang Wenzhi said: "The imperial master saw clearly that this institution is in the same line as the royal cabinet. It is an absolute joke! The imperial court wants to delegate power to local autonomy, but is not willing to be a complete bystander."

Li Yu asked: "Then why do you still come to the capital for a meeting?"

"The decree has been issued, we can't not give any face," Yan Fansun said, "I'm just pretending to be pretentious, mainly because I want to meet Brother Shucai and have a chat by the way."

Li Yu smiled and said: "It's not easy to chat. I will install more phones for the two schools in the future."

Yan Fansun said: "The telephone is a good thing, and it couldn't be more convenient when combined with the telegraph machine of Brother Shucai."

Tang Wenzhi went on to say: "Since Mr. Yuan returned home due to illness and Mr. Zhang Zhidong passed away, the court's decisions during this period have become more and more like armchair talks, without considering the actual situation at all. The academic department only knows about assigning tasks, and does not even understand 'single-level professors'" Fa', are you saying it's ridiculous?"

The "single-level teaching method" means mixing different grades. It is an effective means of alleviating the serious shortage of teacher resources.

When Li Yu recruited Dutch teachers, it was also because the Dutch teaching system requires one person to teach many subjects and grades, and the level is relatively high.

Historically, this system was just introduced from Japan around 1909, and it was relatively suitable for early domestic use.

In short, the teaching contents of the schools run by Li Yu, Yan Fansun, and Zhang Jian are relatively modern.

However, the academic system set by the imperial court is not like compulsory education at all, but more like "rights education."The content of enlightenment education is not much, but a lot of ideological content about loyalty to the emperor and foolishness and filial piety.

Most of the local education providers are knowledgeable people and will not adopt this system at all.

Tang Wenzhi said: "The establishment of the Chinese Education Association by the imperial court is not a big deal, but this cabinet system is unacceptable."

Yan Fansun said: "Brother Shucai has stayed abroad for so long and has been appointed as an academician by the academies of sciences of many countries. He must be familiar with Western countries. Do you think it is reasonable?"

Li Yu said: "Of course it's unreasonable! Even in a constitutional monarchy, the king's power is only ceremonial and has no substantive significance. In other words, the emperor's appointment is not the emperor's decision.

"The emperor only makes announcements based on the decisions of the parliament and cabinet, thus making these political appointments sacred and supreme." Even if they are as powerful as the Kaiser or the Tsar, it is impossible for one person to have the final say. "

Yan Fansun sighed: "The truth is such a truth, but I don't know why the regent just doesn't understand it. He is simply provoking the entire constitutional trend."

Tang Wenzhi said: "I have also inspected various countries. Not only did the imperial court's constitutionalization not reduce the emperor's power, but the cabinet now established has so many members of the royal family, which is unheard of. Royal relatives are not allowed to hold important government positions under a constitutional monarchy. It is an inevitable requirement, and the Imperial Family of Japan is a typical example.”

In the late Qing Dynasty, after the Sino-Japanese War, they had studied Japan for more than ten years and regarded Japan as a model to learn from. The lovely Xinjieluo family did not know how to learn from the practices of the Japanese imperial family.

The truth is clear. The royal family not holding important positions is actually a win-win situation and protection, which can prevent the royal family from being dragged into certain political scandals by their relatives.

To maintain the mysterious, supreme, and role model function of the royal family, it is necessary to ensure that the system ensures that the royal family members only do good things and not bad things. For example, the royal family members can engage in certain charities; any substantial and important official positions are absolutely not allowed. .

The citizens can fully support all members of the royal family, so that this special family will not have any scandals that affect the people's faith.

This is not only the most typical example of the Imperial Family of Japan, but also in all countries with constitutional monarchies. It is the minimum requirement for a constitutional monarchy.

In fact, in the previous Qing Dynasty royal family, it was rare for the royal family to take on so many important official positions. The initiator should be Xianfeng's younger brother "Xiao Liuzi" Yi.

It was he who initiated the political participation of members of the royal family in the late Qing Dynasty.

However, Cixi's use of the royal family at that time had some intention of checking the rising Han ministers. Now Zaifeng has gone too far in establishing the royal cabinet, and ordinary people can see that his political methods are clumsy.

Yan Fansun said: "Although the regent feels that most of the cabinet members are his own family members, he is very happy. But I think the people who are even more happy are the revolutionaries."

While chatting, Zhao Qian bought the day's newspaper from the street.

When several people saw it, they all took a breath: "The railway will be nationalized! Such strong words are coming true."

Yan Fansun said speechlessly: "Although this is a good thing, the decision was too hasty and too rough!"

It was inevitable to nationalize the railways, but not only was the decision too hasty, but the Qing government's way of doing things thereafter was even more unsightly.

Li Yu pointed to the newspaper and said: "The Ministry of Posts and Communications stipulated that in the future, the imperial court will borrow debt from foreign banks for railway construction, but these funds will not be used to repay the money already paid by the provinces."

Tang Wenzhi was stunned: "Where is the money that has been used or the company's existing funds?"

Li Yudao: "The newspaper said that all railway stocks will be exchanged and no cash will be refunded."

"Absurd!" Yan Fansun said helplessly.

Nowadays, the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company in Sichuan has the largest amount of company funds, and their money is all the hard-earned money raised by Sichuan people.

The affairs of the imperial court were handled in a manner similar to that of Chiang Kai-shek and the four major families in the late Republic of China.

Li Yu and others were obviously unable to dissuade the royal cabinet's decision.

However, Zhang Jian still wanted to say that the reason why he arrived in Beijing so late was because he stopped by Anyang, Henan Province and had a chat with Yuan Shikai.

Zhang Jian got off the train and ignored the reception banquet arranged by Prince Su and others. He anxiously wanted to find the regent Zaifeng and ask him to cancel the ridiculous decision of the royal cabinet no matter what.

However, Zaifeng did not see him immediately, but only asked Prince Qing Yikuang to meet him briefly.

Zhang Jian then came to Li Yu, Yan Fansun and others with great interest to casually study the affairs of the Chinese Education Association.

This is an empty shell anyway, and everyone has to educate themselves first.

Zhang Jian said to them: "To be honest, I have always wanted to do business and do practical things. This so-called position of president of the Chinese Education Association has no practical meaning at all."

Yan Fansun said: "We have expected it a long time ago."

Zhang Jian said: "Since everyone is tacitly aware of the situation, it is the best. After a trip to Beijing, I am really disappointed. It is better to go to the Northeast to inspect the reclamation."

Li Yu smiled and said: "Then maybe we can still find a way."

Zhang Jian said: "I almost forgot to praise the Shucai brothers for their great achievements in eradicating the plague in Northeast China. Could it be that I still left for this?"

Li Yu said: "The eradication of the plague was mainly due to Dr. Wu Liande, and I was just helping him. But this time my destination is not the Northeast, but to continue taking the Siberian Railway to Europe."

"Going to Europe? Won't you win another award?" Zhang Jian asked.

"How can there be so many awards," Li Yu took out a telegram and continued, "I received invitations from Mr. Solvay, a Belgian entrepreneur, and Nernst, an academician of the German Academy of Sciences, to attend an academic conference."

Zhang Jian said: "You just have a meeting and you travel so far?"

Li Yu said: "This is the first Solvay Conference, which is of great significance. Planck, Rutherford, Lorenz, Poincaré, Marie Curie, Jean Perrin, Onnes, Solvay Mo Fei, Einstein and others will all participate."

Although the first Solvay Conference was not as glorious as the fifth one in 1927, these names are not simple at first sight. They are all famous master-level figures in the history of science.

Zhang Jian didn't know much about them, but he had read Li Yu's article in the newspaper about Madame Curie winning the Nobel Prize. Since their names were put together, they must be top-notch masters in the scientific community.

So he praised: "Brother Shucai is really the pride of our country. Mr. Wu Liande presided over the plague conference of all countries, and you can participate in the scientific conference of Europeans."

Li Yu smiled and said: "As long as it doesn't disgrace the country."

Yan Fansun said: "Not only is it not embarrassing to neglect talents, it actually earns countless faces."

Now that the Siberian Railway is open again, the round trip time is greatly saved.

The Qing Dynasty could still survive for another half year. Li Yu didn't want to get too involved in the political whirlpool, so he simply went to Europe to do some scientific matters that he was better at.

And I have accumulated a lot of things to do, so it’s time to go there.

(End of this chapter)