When I came to the Yamen of the Huguang Governor's Mansion, I saw that the door of the house was wide open, a large row of errand guards stood left and right, on the steps of the gate, there were more than ten people standing, for one of them wore a flower feather, the official uniform was a pearl, although the figure was not high, but the look was bright, and a long white hair under the chin, hanging down to the chest, it was Zhang Zhidong. Bayi Chinese ≥=.

Rong Junye, who accompanied Qin Zheng, was also secretly taken aback, this is quite a grand welcome ceremony, although Zhang Zhidong advocates a false name, a good joy, a lack of practicality, and more than bold, but also open-minded, informal, and grandiose, elegant and elegant, to deal with the general celebrities, even if there is no fame, but will also treat each other with courtesy, not to put on an official stand, but this posture is still out of Rong Junye's expectations, because this is almost a case of incense, otherwise it is to welcome the minister, I didn't expect Zhang Zhidong to value overseas Chinese so much。

Although Rong Junye judged that Zhang Zhidong would reach an agreement with overseas Chinese, he still underestimated how much Zhang Zhidong attached importance to overseas Chinese. In fact, after receiving the letters from Li Hongzhang and Zhang Peilun, Zhang Zhidong's heart was ecstatic. Because with the rise of overseas Chinese's fame, Zhang Zhidong moved his mind and hoped to make friends with overseas Chinese.

By this time, anyone with a discerning eye could see that overseas Chinese had become a decisive force in China's political arena, and it was impossible not to establish relations with overseas Chinese if they wanted to mix in officialdom again. In this regard, Zhang Zhidong's response has always been very sensitive, when the reform faction made a fuss, Zhang Zhidong took the initiative to find the new faction, not only accepted Liang Qi, the second person of the reform faction, as a disciple, but also sent 5ooo two silver as a subsidy when Kang Youwei founded the Qiang Society. And also let his disciple Yang Rui join the Restoration, when Emperor Guangxu's teacher Weng Tonggong also joined the Qiang Society, so from time to time there is "Changshu (Weng Tongxiao) inside, and Nanpi (Zhang Zhidong)" said, Weng and Zhang have also become the two pillars of the Qiang Society. Later, Yang Rui was appointed as the military machine Zhang Jing with the rank of Sipinqing, participated in important politics, became a member of the reform faction, and was also one of the six gentlemen of Wuxu who was beheaded by the imperial court after the failure of the Wuxu Reform.

However, as a senior bureaucrat, Zhang Zhidong's friendship with the reformers is only a political investment, and he does not really agree with the political ideas of the reformers or the changes of Kang Liang, at least not completely, so in addition to making friends, Zhang Zhidong also deliberately kept a certain distance from the reformers. Later, Kang Youwei did the "New Learning Pseudo-scripture Examination" and "Confucius Reform Examination", and advocated the idea of civil rights, which not only did not conform to Zhang Zhidong's ordinary academic purpose, but also violated the taboo of the Qing court, so he stopped donating to the Qiang Society, and also wrote "Persuasion of Learning", putting forward the famous "middle school as the body, Western learning as the use" view. Later, the Wuxu reform failed, although there was Zhang Zhidong's disciple Yang Rui, but Zhang Zhidong was not implicated.

However, the overseas Chinese are not comparable to the white-faced scholars of the original reformers, and in terms of momentum, they have repeatedly defeated the Eight-Nation Alliance, seized Tianjin, captured Weihai, occupied Qingdao, and restored Beijing, and their military power is unprecedented, which has not been seen by the Qing court in the past 60 years; in terms of strength, some overseas Chinese have guns and warships, and have occupied many places, so they are much stronger than the original reformers in all aspects. What's more, Li Hongzhang had already taken the lead and got in touch with overseas Chinese, and he also visited Tianjin, and became the spokesperson of overseas Chinese in the Qing court, which made Zhang Zhidong even more unbearable, and this time he fell behind Li Hongzhang.

Zhang Zhidong and Li Hongzhang have competed for most of their lives, but they have always been pressed by Li Hongzhang, and finally waited until Li Hongzhang lost his position due to the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, Zhang Zhidong also had a bad feeling, and now Li Hongzhang has caught up with the overseas Chinese, maybe he will return to the peak of power with the merit of recruiting overseas Chinese.

In fact, Zhang Zhidong didn't think about sending people to Shanghai, After all, Zhang Zhidong has his own concerns, overseas Chinese are different from the original reformers, although the original reformists took advantage of the momentum of the bus to write on the bus, on the surface of the momentum, but in fact they are just a group of powerless scholars, in fact, they need the support of the DPRK and the central government, so Zhang Zhidong only needs to show them a little goodwill, you can immediately get a relationship with the reformers, only 5ooo two silver, you can get the title of president of a strong society from Kang Youwei, and now the overseas Chinese are in full swing, no matter how Zhang Zhidong shows goodwill, it is just the icing on the cake, not carbon in the snowBesides, the overseas Chinese have already established a relationship with Li Hongzhang, and it is unknown whether they still need to be Zhang Xiangshuai themselves, and if they stick to the cold ass of overseas Chinese with their hot face, wouldn't it be boring to be self-deprecating?

In addition, Zhang Zhidong is not at ease with Li Hongzhang, the two have not looked at each other for decades, and now that Li Hongzhang has established relations with overseas Chinese, will he still let himself get involved in it? Therefore, if he goes to contact overseas Chinese, will Li Hongzhang make a stumbling block for himself? Zhang Zhidong thought about it again and again, but he didn't make up his mind, and the result has been delayed until now.

It's just that Zhang Zhidong didn't expect that Li Hongzhang would take the initiative to call him, introducing overseas Chinese who wanted to visit Wuchang and wanted to buy some weapons from Zhang Zhidong. Zhang Zhidong also realized that the opportunity had come, he had what overseas Chinese needed, and Li Hongzhang could not give it, and if it was really negotiated, it could also solve the financial dilemma he was currently facing. As for the Qing court, Zhang Zhidong really didn't take it to heart, the current Qing court is very self-preservation, so it can still manage these things.

And knowing that overseas Chinese will send Qin Zheng to visit Wuchang also made Zhang Zhidong very satisfied, because he also collected a lot of information about overseas Chinese, knowing that this is the number two person among overseas Chinese, and overseas Chinese are just like this to Li Hongzhang, which shows that overseas Chinese still attach great importance to themselves, and they are tied to Li Hongzhang.

Seeing Qin Zheng arrive, Zhang Zhidong immediately took the lead in walking down the steps and greeted Qin Zheng in person. And Qin Zheng didn't dare to slack off, although Zhang Zhidong put on an enlightened appearance of a corporal Lixian, but he didn't play Zhuge Liang, there was no need to pretend to be tall, and Zhang Zhidong liked to be famous, and he still had to give him face, so he also took a few steps ahead and went up two steps, but he didn't let Zhang Zhidong completely walk down the steps, clasped his fists with both hands, and said, "I've seen Xiangshuai." ”

Sure enough, Qin Zheng's actions made Zhang Zhidong very happy, and he hurriedly arched his hand and said, "Political Commissar Qin, you don't have to be polite, this is not the place to speak, the old man has prepared a reception banquet for the political commissar, go in first and talk about it." As he spoke, he took Qin Zheng and walked into the yamen of the Governor's Mansion together.

A round table has been set up in the back hall, Zhang Zhidong is seated in the chairman, Qin Zheng is seated in the second seat, and six other people are seated, making a total of eight seats, including Rong Junye, and the other five people are estimated to be Zhang Zhidong's staff.

Sure enough, after taking a seat, Zhang Zhidong introduced to Qin Zheng one by one, and the first seat on Zhang Zhidong's right hand was a middle-aged man about 45 years old, with a thin figure, but his eyes were shining, and at first glance he was a witty person, and Zhang Zhidong introduced to Qin Zheng that this person was his staff Zhao Fengchang.

This is the same as the result of Qin Zheng's guess, although Zhao Fengchang did not hold any important positions, but in the old time and space of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, he was a pivotal figure, in the Wuxu Reform, Southeast Mutual Protection, "Su Bao" case, Xinhai Revolution and other major historical events, have played a decisive role, is a legendary figure in modern Chinese history with great influence, known as "Zhuge of the Republic of China". The original advocate of the Southeast Mutual Insurance was Zhao Fengchang, and participated in the planning, implementation and negotiation process of the entire Southeast Mutual Insurance. Therefore, Qin Zheng also arched his hand and said: "When I was in Shanghai, I had already heard the name of Mr. Zhujun (Zhao Fengchang's character Zhujun), and I didn't want to be able to respect Xiangshuai here for a while. ”

Zhao Fengchang also saluted: "Political Commissar Qin has spoken. ”

Zhang Zhidong smiled, and then introduced the person sitting next to Zhao Fengchang, and said: "This Gu Hongming is proficient in Western studies, and he is still an old man. ”

Qin Zheng nodded, this is another big-name historical celebrity, this guy is known as the "late Qing Dynasty monster", proficient in nine Chinese languages, and obtained 13 doctorates, is the first person in China who is proficient in Western science, language and Oriental Chinese studies in the Manchu Qing era. And when it comes to Gu Hongming, the most impressive thing is to have braids, in fact, when Gu Hongming studied in the UK, he had already cut off his braids, suits and leather shoes, and looked Western. After Xinhai, he kept his braids back and swaggered around. And the reason why Gu Hongming has braids is also a matter of opinion.

However, Gu Hongming's main achievement is not in the political arena, but in terms of ideological education, which is a translation career, but unlike the popular translation of foreign books in this era, Gu Hongming's translation career is mainly to translate Chinese ancient books and classics into foreign languages, and is keen to promote the culture and spirit of the East to Westerners, so that Westerners can understand and respect Chinese culture.

In Zhang Zhidong's staff team, Gu Hongming's position was a foreign copywriter, mainly responsible for translation, and education, and vigorously planned and prepared for the establishment of Hubei Ziqiang School (the predecessor of Wuhan University).

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "We are in Qingdao, but we have heard of Mr. Gu's name for a long time. ”

Gu Hongming was stunned for a moment, because Qin Zheng's words were a little strange, and he had heard of his reputation, so it was not strange, but why was he in Qingdao? He had never been to Qingdao, so he couldn't help asking: "What did Political Commissar Qin say about this?" ”

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "Marshal of the German State Wadsee, who claims to be an old friend of Mr., has always respected and respected Mr. for his knowledge, so we heard Mr.'s name from him. ”

Gu Hongming was stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "When I said goodbye, I thought that from now on, there would be no day to see each other, but I didn't want to meet again in China. ”

Qin Zheng smiled slightly and said, "Welcome Mr. to visit Jin Island and meet old friends." ”

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Regarding the relationship between Gu Hongming and Wadsey, the general statement is: When Gu Hongming studied in France, he lived in a prostitute in Paris, and there was a German peddler who ran errands for the prostitute every day, who was illiterate but ambitious, so Gu Hongming taught the peddler German at the request of the famous prostitute, and the latter also knelt down and bowed to him to bow to the teacher, and this peddler was the later commander of the Eight-Nation Alliance-Waldesi. During the negotiations between the Qing court and the Eight-Nation Alliance, Gu Hongming appeared to suppress Wadsey, and finally concluded the "Xinchou Contract" in favor of the empire -- if it were not for Li Hongzhang's temporary betrayal of the agreed plan, the Qing Empire's indemnity could have been reduced by at least 200 million taels according to Gu Hongming's plan! This story comes from a memoir by Gu Hongming, which was later basically included in all Gu Hongming's biographical books.

However, Gu Hongming was born in 1857, and Wadsey was born in 1832, judging from the birth time of the two people, Gu Hongming was born nearly 25 years later than Wadsey, and Wadsey joined the Prussian General Staff at the age of 35 and became an officer of the General Staff. Therefore, it is impossible for Wadsey to worship Gu Hongming as a teacher, and in addition, Wadsey was born in a noble family, and his father and grandfather were both generals, so since he grew up in this kind of family, the statement that Wadsey worked as a hawker in France cannot be established.

Judging from the life experiences of the two men, Gu Hongming went to Paris to study between 1878 and 1879, while Wadsey was 45 years old and was serving as Germany's ambassador to France, so the two may have crossed paths during this period. But that's all, not to mention that it is impossible for Wadsey to worship Gu Hongming as a teacher, even if it is true, it is impossible to affect national interests because of personal relationships.