Investing in education is something that you can't rush to do. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Don't look at the fact that John has now invested in three universities, four technical schools, and many more primary and secondary schools and preparatory schools in China, but if you add up all the students in school, it is actually less than 10,000. This is because he opened his school in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which has always attached importance to education, and because of Shanghai, it is easier to accept Western concepts, and if it is placed in other places, I am afraid it will not be so optimistic.

For example, Yale University chose the Hunan region.

A purely Western doctor, and a Western medicine clinic run by a blonde foreigner, met with understandable resistance in Changsha - no one would go to him for medical treatment. Therefore, in the first few months, in addition to "soliciting" on the streets, Hu Mei wrote several letters to John complaining that his scalpel was rusting. John, of course, was kind enough to persuade the other party to be patient and convince the local residents with facts.

At the same time, John also accelerated the construction of the public library.

According to his plan, at least 1,000 libraries will be built in China in the next five years -- not the kind of university libraries that John could not afford. What he wants to build is the kind of public library with two or three rooms, one manager, and a thousand books. Rent two rooms, ask a local to take care of them, and then take five books from the Huntelaar publishing house, and calculate that a library really doesn't cost a few dollars.

As for how much it can help, John has no bottom in his heart.

Although the imperial examination has been abolished in the Qing Dynasty this year, it is still a little difficult for other cities to get those scholars to take the initiative to read the books of "foreign devils" in other cities, except for places like Shanghai and Guangzhou. Therefore, John also has the attitude of knowing the destiny of heaven as much as possible, and is ready to slowly build these libraries, so that people who are interested can read these books. It's just a few hundred thousand dollars of investment, what if anyone wants to look at it? And when the libraries are built, there will be people from the three universities and many technical schools, right? As long as these people develop well, they will naturally be able to drive more people to learn these books......

The matter of China can only be said to be as hard as possible, but the result is beyond control.

But in the United States on the other side of the Pacific, there are too many things that John can control, especially some things that are good for China, which John must strive for......

One day in early September 1906, John received a telegram.

After receiving this telegram, John immediately called his Chinese chef and said in a deep voice: "Su Li, you are ready to leave for Shanghai next week!" ”

"To Shanghai?"

Su Li's brows twitched twice, and he asked respectfully, "Sir, do you need me to see Mr. Rong Hong?" ”

"Hmm."

Nodding, John said indifferently, "There is something very important that you need to tell Mr. Rong...... Of course, more importantly, I need you to go to China and tell me what's really going on there! ”

"Yes...... I understand. ”

After taking a deep breath, Su Li nodded vigorously.

Of course, he understood what Mr. Huntelaar meant, and that it was nothing more than to let himself go to China to see if the things in those telegrams were true, and whether Mr. Huntelaar's money was really spent where it should have been—Su Li had been Huntelaar's eyes all these years, always helping him keep an eye on everything that was happening in China.

To put it simply, Su Li went to inspect.

In recent years, as the Huntelaar consortium has more and more industries in China, especially the cooperation with Rong Hong in education, Su Li has returned to China more and more times. As a Chinese, even if he had already obtained American citizenship with the help of John, his natural advantages could never disappear, and he was more comfortable dealing with Chinese. And as the chef of the Huntelaar family, he is also one of John's most trusted people......

John was always very cautious about trusting people's hearts.

Yung Hong is very famous in history, but just like many historical celebrities have many shortcomings, John will not treat him 100% as the kind of selfless person. Therefore, in addition to letting the people of Huntelaar Bank supervise, Su Li will also go over from time to time to learn about the first-hand situation.

"Sir, there is one more thing you just said......

After hesitating for a moment, Su Li asked.

"Oh, yes."

Blinking, John said lightly: "The U.S. government has just informed me that they have agreed to return the excess of Gengzi's compensation to China from next year......

"Really?"

After hearing the news, Su Li was immediately overjoyed.

The so-called Gengzi indemnity is naturally a huge amount of indemnity owed by China after the Eight-Nation Coalition entered Beijing. At the beginning of this year, Edmund James, president of the University of Illinois, sent a memorandum to President Roosevelt, asking the U.S. government to accelerate the attraction of Chinese students to the United States. According to him, influencing a country first and foremost affects its elite, that is, the international students. On March 6 of the same year, the American missionary Ming Enpu went to the White House to meet Roosevelt, and he suggested that the president return part of the Gengzi indemnity money from the Qing government of China to open and subsidize schools in China.

Finally, in 1907, the U.S. Congress approved the proposal.

Of course, in reality, the willingness of Americans to return this money is not so simple, and it is definitely not for the purpose of helping the Chinese. Because in the past two years, there has been a vigorous anti-American movement in China, because in 1904 the Americans extended the Chinese Exclusion Act, and even included students and diplomats in the list, which caused great indignation among the Chinese and set off a boycott of American goods.

The Chinese revolt cost the Americans so much that they had to make changes.

In addition to the introduction of preferential policies for China and the dispatch of high-level delegations to China, the return of part of the Gengzi indemnity is also one of them......

"Hehe, what's there to be happy about?"

Facing the excited chef Su Li, John sneered sarcastically: "It's just a refund of the part that exceeds the war losses, and the interest will be deducted...... In fact, it is to take out part of the money that blackmailed the Chinese, and there is another precondition: that is, this money must be used to invest in education, and it must be American-style education! “

"Uh...... Does this make any difference? ”

Shaking his head, Su Li didn't quite understand what Mr. Huntelaar meant.

"To put it simply, to use our own money to do what is good for the United States!"

Taking a deep breath, John even forgot his identity, and said in a deep voice: "Just return the part that exceeds the loss, and then let Chinese be grateful to Dade for coming to the United States to study, not only to spend the money again in the United States, but also to cultivate a large number of pro-American elites...... Isn't it a good deal? ”

"Huh?"

After hearing John's words, Su Li, who was originally very excited, was suddenly stupid, "This...... Sir, are we still going to accept this money? ”

"Hehe, why don't you accept it?"

Looking at Su Li's stunned look, John couldn't help but shake his head.

Whatever the Americans' intentions, one thing is certain: the money will benefit China!

You know, that's a lot of money in the tens of millions of dollars!

In the original history, the Chinese used this money to send thousands of international students, built Shanxi University, and gave birth to Tsinghua University, which is a real benefit.

And......

"I've agreed with President Roosevelt!"

Knocking lightly on the table, John said lightly: "The use of this money will be handed over to our Huntelaar China Foundation, and the supervisor of the Chinese side is Mr. Rong Hong!" What I mean by calling you here today is to ask you to come to Shanghai again, to inform Mr. Yung of the news, and to ask him to start preparations for the construction of a new university...... As for the location, let's settle in Beijing for the time being. In addition, please ask him to add 100 students to the United States every year starting next year! ”

"Yes, sir!"

Hearing John's command, Su Li immediately agreed.

"Hoo ......"

After waving his hand to let Su Li go down, John suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that he has traveled into this world, John certainly won't wait for other Americans to make this proposal. With his personal relationship with Roosevelt, he naturally gave serious consideration to this idea after it was put forward last year, and then submitted it to Congress for adoption this year -- a full year earlier than the original history.

And most importantly, under Roosevelt's operation, the Americans gave the power to use the money to the Huntelaar China Education Foundation, which John had established a few years earlier, and used it for two years!

That said, refunds will be available next year.

The annual payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars is enough for Rong Hong to send hundreds of more people to study in the United States, and he can also build two more universities in China. Perhaps for China's current turmoil, these talents or universities are a drop in the bucket, but don't forget that everything is accumulated bit by bit, and so is the progress of a country......

"Jingle Bell ......"

Just as John was pondering how to make the most of Gengzi's refund, the phone on the table suddenly rang.

grabbed the microphone casually, and after greeting him, John smiled and said, "Paul, there should be some good news if you call me so late today, right?" ”

"Of course!"

There's some murmur in the mic, but Paul? Ehrlich's voice was clear, and he exclaimed excitedly, "John, please come to school tomorrow!" ”

"Oh?"

Hearing Ehrlich so excited, John straightened up and exclaimed, "What can make you so excited...... It won't be ......" (To be continued.) )