God, what's the matter, can't you see a good family living a good life? Because the good times did not last long, disaster fell from the sky, and on February 26, 1884, Li Chaoyang suddenly fell ill and died. Suddenly fainted and never woke up, and he didn't even leave a word when he was dying.

Li Yuanhong was in the Water Master Academy at the time, and when he heard this sudden bad news, he almost fainted. Thinking of his father, he has endured hardships and hardships in his life, and has joined the army twice to support his family. As the eldest son on his deathbed, he couldn't wait by his side, and he couldn't help but feel like a knife and tears like rain.

The death of his father made the burden of life for the family fall on Li Yuanhong's shoulders. And he only has four taels of silver a month, so he can only find a way to save and save as much as he can to take home. In order to do this, every time he came home on holiday, he walked.

Four taels of silver, even if you don't spend anything, it is difficult to take it all home to support the life of the whole family. Fortunately, this is a family that is used to living a hard life, Wu Jingjun sews and mends for others, and the income from washing and washing can also supplement the family.

People have to live, life has to go on, and there is always a way before the car reaches the mountain. Although life is hard, it is comforting that the family is harmonious, respectful, loving and considerate of each other. No matter how difficult it is, no matter how difficult it is, what Li Yuanhong keeps in mind is to bear the burden of life left by his father.

Tianjin Beiyang Naval Academy was founded in 1881 by Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili.

The school was officially completed in August 1881 (July 14 of the 6th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty) by Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang, for the approval of the imperial court.

The school site was chosen next to the East Machinery Bureau in the east of Bali, east of Tianjin, and northeast of Dazhigu. During the founding period, Wu Zancheng was ordered to serve as the general office of Tianjin Water Master School, because of his poor health, when the school was about to be completed, Li Hongzhang recommended Wu Zhongxiang to take over as the general office of Tianjin Water Master School. In the same year, the famous Enlightenment thinker Yan Fu responded to Li Hongzhang's move and was transferred from the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau to Tianjin Sailor School as the chief teacher. Yan Fu also had a great stain in his life, and was one of the "six gentlemen" who shouted for Yuan Shikai's restoration of the imperial system.

At the beginning of the establishment of the school, a detailed and strict charter was drafted, and specific provisions were made on the recruitment conditions, study period, treatment, rewards and punishments.

One year after the school opened, the number of places was not full, the results were not obvious, and there were "few outstanding talents" among the students recruited. Li Hongzhang revised the original articles of association and announced it to the people.

There are two key points in the revised charter: one is to improve the salary, and change the original "monthly allowance for students to four taels per month". This means that once a student is selected for the school, even a few families will have a guaranteed life. The second is to increase the rewards, in the words of Li Hongzhang: "If the students here are outstanding and successful, the minister will definitely give the merit award and make an exception for hiring."

After the revision of the charter, the appearance of the school gradually changed, and the number of students who wanted to enroll in the school gathered. The duration of the study is five years, mainly for the purpose of training naval personnel for the Beiyang Navy Division and reserving technical strength. The main disciplines are driving and wheel management, namely ship driving and engine management.

The school has Chinese and foreign teachers to teach, English is the main subject, and the courses offered are geography, algebra, geometry, water, heat, astronomy, climatology, drawing, surveying and gun drills, fish. Thunder, the use of mechanical instruments, etc.

The purpose of studying the Chinese scriptures two days a week is to "teach the scriptures to clarify the great righteousness, to teach the literature to understand people, to reduce their spirits, that is, to cultivate their roots." ”

At the end of the course, students will go on board for practical practice, in order to integrate theory with practice.

Beiyang Naval Academy is the first naval school in northern China. Many of the students who graduated here became the backbone of the Beiyang Navy, many of them sacrificed their lives for the country in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, and some became celebrities in later generations. For example, Xie Baozhang, the father of modern female writer Bingxin, and Mr. Zhang Boling, a well-known famous patriotic educator and founder of Nankai University, also studied at Tianjin Sailor School. Of course, the more famous one is Li Yuanhong, who is now studying here.

At that time, in addition to the Sailor School, there was also the Army Academy in Tianjin, that is, the Tianjin Military Academy. Li Hongzhang is a well-deserved head of the Beiyang Army, and these two military academies were established by him, and they are also the pride of his life.

Li Yuanhong seems destined to have something to do with the Beiyang system in his life, and the source should be this school.

Speaking of which, he should also be regarded as a Beiyang predecessor, an authentic Beiyang background.

Li Yuanhong cherished this opportunity to study, and the children of poor families are always willing to pay more hard work and effort than others. Li Yuanhong is also smart because of his hard work, and he is also among the best in all studies.

His most prominent subject is engine driving, and Li Yuanhong is particularly interested in engine repair and maintenance. If other students don't understand anything, they all ask him for advice. For China, which is still basically an agrarian society. Machines such as warship engines are still very cutting-edge technology.

For a long time, people have been calling the engine the engine, the valve the valve, the motor the motor, and the machine the horse god. This is actually transliterated from English, and sometimes people who are experts use such words to communicate, which makes outsiders sound like they are incomprehensible.

Among the classmates who studied together, Li Yuanhong was not considered an elder, but even those who were older than him were used to seeing him as an elder brother. He is the backbone of everyone, everyone likes to find him for anything, and he also tries his best to help everyone, which makes him gain a high prestige among his classmates.

There are often conflicts between classmates, and sometimes students who can't argue will come to him for comment. This is a difficult thing to do, because everyone thinks that they are justified and that they have been wronged. Looking for Li Yuanhong on the surface to ask him to comment, but in fact he moved the rescuers to find helpers. Because, Li Yuanhong is a person that everyone trusts.

When encountering such a thing, Li Yuanhong never chose to escape, always rose to the challenge, patiently understood the reason, moved the emotion, so that the opposing sides could finally be convinced. In many cases, it can even untie the knots between the two sides of the contradiction, so that the contradiction can be eliminated.

As an official, no matter how big or small the official position, one of the basic skills is to coordinate all aspects of the relationship, especially the relationship between people. Now, this is also known as ideological work and organizational leadership. Such abilities need to be learned and accumulated. And Li Yuanhong can become a good official in his later life, and he has benefited a lot from this experience.

Due to his outstanding academics and excellent performance in all aspects, Li Yuanhong also won the favor and attention of Wu Zhongxiang, the general office of the school, Xi Yanfu, the chief teacher, and especially the orthodox Xi Sa Zhenbing, who had more contact.

In 1887, Li Yuanhong went to the training plane for training. Because all the skills can be mastered quickly, it has won the favor and affirmation of the intern teachers, and he has received a special award after the internship.

In the spring of 1988, Li Yuanhong graduated with honors. Through the school's application, Li Hongzhang rewarded Li Yuanhong with six products.

After graduation, students will do an internship on a warship of the Beiyang Navy. Li Hongzhang summed up the coaches and students with particularly outstanding performance and sent them to the Navy Yamen for registration, and the Navy Yamen selected the best ones from them and gave them reuse. What Li Yuanhong got was - "make up for it first", which was a very high treatment, and as a result, Li Yuanhong became a member of the Chinese Navy.

At that time, the Qing court was expanding its navy, and in addition to the existing Beiyang navy, the Nanyang navy and the Guangdong navy were also being prepared.

In 1890, Li Yuanhong was transferred from the Beiyang Navy's "Laiyuan" to the Guangdong Navy's "Guangjia" as a third engineer. It is mainly responsible for the engine engine starting, care, engine maintenance and repair, and is also responsible for fuel storage and management.

The cruiser Guangjia is an iron-wedged wooden-hulled ship built by Fuzhou Shipmaster in the 19th century, and is the sixth ship of the "Weiyuan" class. On 24 November 1885, the then Minister of Shipping, Mr Pei Yam-sum, presided over the commencement of construction. Due to the defeat in the Battle of Majiang, the Qing government. The government decided not to build dual-purpose ships and to build warships with all its might. On the basis of the design of the fifth ship "Henghai", further optimization was carried out to increase the width of the ship and increase the power of the main engine.

The cruiser Guangjia has a total length of 67.66 meters, a width of 10.27 meters, a cabin depth of 7.71 meters, and a displacement of 1,300 tons.

The ship is equipped with three 150-millimeter 'Krupp' main guns, with a maximum firing range of 11,000 kilometers. Two of them are located in the ear stands on both sides of the middle of the warship, and the gunner has bulwarks for limited protection, and the other is located at the stern of the ship, with an inch of shield protection, with a rate of fire of one round in two minutes, and a total of 300 rounds of ammunition; Four 120-mm Armstrong guns, a number of ammunition in reserve, and bulwarked guards. Four 37-mm five-barreled 'Hatch Cars' rapid-fire guns, located on both sides of the compass bridge and on both sides of the engine room, had a rate of fire of 60 rounds a minute, and the gunner was unprotected. Even more advanced than the fifth ship "Henghai" is that the ship is equipped with two fish. Mine tubes, which can impact enemy ships.

The engine is the heart of the warship, and the third engineer is an important post on the warship.

The Guangdong Navy, also known as the "Yueyang Naval Division," was built by Zhang Zhidong in 1984 when he was the governor of Liangguang, but due to the limitations of military spending, manpower, and technology, it has not been able to form the expected scale.

The main task of Li Yuanhong's "Guangjia" ship is to patrol the southeast coast.

In various exercises organized by the Navy Yamen, Li Yuanhong was able to meet many classmates and partners serving in the Beiyang Naval Division. Sometimes, when conditions permit, they also organize some gatherings.

And at this time, like the "character head" who was held by the stars of the cattle herding baby in his childhood, he will become the central figure of the party and be supported by everyone.

In a sea of people, calmly being a mentor, almost every group of people has such a natural leader. It's just that they often don't think that Li Yuanhong is such a person.