It was raining outside the window, and at night, from time to time cars drove under the front porch of the U.S. Embassy, and the Star-Spangled Banner on the flagpole in the embassy courtyard would have drooped down. The rain trickled down the brims of the sentry guards' hats and down their cheeks, but the Marines stood up straight, oblivious to the rain on their faces.

The NV guests of the US Embassy crowded at the entrance, and from time to time the NV guests let out bursts of laughter, and the embassy counselor who greeted him under the porch agreed with Mr. Roger, with a mustache on his lips, which drooped slightly, and his pale face was full of wrinkles, with a look of weariness, and only when he greeted the guests, would he show a professional smile.

This was a reception banquet held by the U.S. Embassy, on the one hand, to deepen ties with the Chinese Foreign Ministry and other political institutions, and on the other hand, it was also to maintain ties with the ministers of various countries in China, almost since the founding of the Chinese Empire, the United States has hurt the interests of some countries in China to some extent in many aspects, and now the embassy staff believe that it is this kind of political posture shown by the United States. This makes it possible for the United States and China to coordinate further.

But this is not something that all countries are happy to see, especially for countries like the United Kingdom, which also have the most interests in China and also have "traditional" influence.

After welcoming the French Minister and Counsellor to China, Roger turned to Henry beside him.

"Well, what do you think of His Majesty the Emperor of China?"

Colonel Henry, the new naval attaché at the embassy who had been appointed just two weeks earlier, and who had been received by His Majesty the Emperor himself and the Empress, was somewhat surprised in the sensitive outer world to receive Colonel Henry for His Majesty the Emperor.

"I was very impressed. He speaks English very fluently. ”

In response to Roger's question, Henry answered his own opinion of the emperor, who was a young and somewhat surprising emperor, in a way, seemed to be a legend to Henry and many others.

"He's fluent in English and he's not just English."

Roger shrugged his shoulders and smiled slightly as he looked at the rain curtain.

"Huh? I think His Majesty the Emperor is better at inventions."

Looking at the dozen or so cars parked in the parking lot of the courtyard, Henry said truthfully that on the cruise ship from the United States to China, he had carefully read the official information of the emperor and the reports of the people.

From merchant to emperor

For Americans, the experiences and changes of the emperor himself have a fantastic legend, but if you put all that information together, it is a real legend.

"Composers, successful merchants, improved automobiles, invented airplanes, and heard that there was a courtyard in His Majesty's palace, which was invented by His Majesty, and even the front-loading mortar, which was widely used in the Chinese army, came from the invention of that Emperor."

"Really? Well, it seems that His Majesty the Emperor's hobbies are very extensive. ”

"Do you know?"

Counselor Roger smiled slightly.

"When you face him, to put all this aside, you have to take into account that he doesn't have the brains of businessmen, artists, inventors, but ...... The brains of politicians. ”

When Henry was slightly stunned, Roger wiped his nose that was slightly larger than ordinary people, when he was a teenager, his nose was the key point of ridicule by others, even now in Nanjing's outer jiāo world, everyone knows the "big nose" waijiāo official, but most people don't know his name.

"Didn't you and your wife talk to him for a long time, Colonel Henry? Henry, what did you all talk about? ”

"It's nothing, it's just some interesting things about His Majesty the Emperor in the United States."

Shrugging his shoulders, Henry did not answer, after all, the conversation between the two later involved some sensitive topics, and those topics could only be reported to the ambassador himself and the US Naval Intelligence Service, and eventually to President Roosevelt.

Henry didn't answer, and Roger didn't pursue any further questions. 、

"His Majesty has lived in the United States for more than ten years, and even pretended to be a foreign student to audit university courses in many universities such as Massachusetts, Yale, and Harvard."

These stories Henry himself had told when he met the emperor, and even mentioned some interesting things that happened on the college campus, and he himself felt the most regrettable thing that those university professors and even his classmates had not noticed him as an Asian, yes, who would notice the Asians on the college campus? ,

"Indeed, I said that he should probably send a check to Massachusetts, Yale, Harvard to cover his tuition."

"And how did he answer?"

Roger was curious about the question.

He said, "I will be exempted from tuition, so I should take advantage of them, but I am not in vain, this year, China will be ready to send no less than 2,000 students to the United States, which is a kind of return at that time", but ......"

Thinking of a pleasant chat with the Emperor himself, Henry couldn't help but smile.

"In my opinion, his goal of sending a large number of students to the United States may be because he admires the American way of education, after all, he has the corresponding study experience in the United States, right?"

Looking at Colonel Henry with a smile on his face, Roger didn't say anything, but when he took a step forward, he turned around and spat out a sentence.

"Do you know what kind of department is the organization that decides to send international students? It's the Imperial Ministry of Education"

The rain was still falling, and the rain washed away the dust from the branches and leaves of the trees and leaves between the green walls and tiles of the Imperial Ministry of Education, one of the few state administrative institutions in Nanjing that did not have a new office building, but the Imperial Ministry of Education, which still used the Manchu Jiangnan academic and political offices, won a reputation.

"It takes 3 million yuan to build a building, since the current house can still be used, then continue to use it, 3 million yuan, enough to send three or four hundred students to study abroad, and the cost of returning from school is more than the building, China still needs college students more."

As the Minister of Education, Cai Yuanpei's remarks were praised by the people of the whole country, and even His Majesty the Emperor himself took out 7 million yuan, saying that he wanted the Ministry of Education to send some more outstanding students to study abroad, and the business gentry in various places were even more generous, and the 3 million yuan spent on building the Ministry of Education building last year eventually became the 30 million yuan special fund for studying abroad in the "Education Fund", and 3,000 students got the opportunity to study abroad, which was even sent again under the premise that the first batch of students sent by the Ministry of Education had not yet enrolled in school.

"Seeking Knowledge in the World"

For China, which has lagged behind the world for a hundred years, only by seeking knowledge from the world can the country become rich and strong one day, and in the eyes of foreigners, China's large-scale dispatch of students has always been just a little bit of China's intention to revitalize the country through education.

But is that really the case?

"The God of Independence, the Thought of Freedom"

In the former Jiangnan Xuezheng signing room, on the north wall of the current Minister of Education and the Minister of Education's office, a powerful central hall hangs on the wall, and such a sentence hangs on the middle wall of the Minister of Education's office, instead of the portrait of His Majesty, which always makes people feel a little strange.

And this difference shows the difference between the Ministry of Education and other government agencies.

Although it was late and it was time to get off work early, Cai Yuanpei was still flipping through the letters, which had just arrived in the evening, were more than a dozen letters sent from all over the world, and his office was no different from that of most officials - the area was not very large, and the wall was a steel filing cabinet full of all kinds of documents and materials, and a large bookcase with a large number of books.

This office has a window that looks out onto the small garden. Every day, when he feels tired, Cai Yuanpei stands by the window, looking out at the garden, relaxing his heartstrings, and like everyone's office, this office is filled with a faint scent of ink, and this ink fragrance is exactly the unique smell of Chinese offices.

"Zhihui, you see that this letter was sent by Ambassador Liang Cheng to the United States."

As he spoke, Cai Yuanpei had a smile on his face, he had been waiting for the letter sent by Liang Cheng, and he had actually been waiting for half a year.

Last year, after the silver depreciated again, Britain, France, Italy and other countries did everything possible to force China to pay the Gengzi indemnity with gold, and when the then ruling Ministry of Foreign Affairs was negotiating in Nanjing, the embassies and legations in various countries were also holding talks with them in order to open a breakthrough, and in early December last year, Liang Cheng, the minister to the United States, held negotiations with US Secretary of State John Hydon on the question of whether the Geng money should be repaid in gold or silver.

During the conversation, John Hai revealed that "the Gengzi compensation case is really too much ......" This information was immediately captured by Liang Cheng, and he realized that the US government had discovered that its relevant department had reported the loss of Gengzi Zhiluàn, and there was a phenomenon of "floating and false reporting". Liang Cheng immediately changed his negotiation strategy, no longer entangled with John Hymers about whether to use gold or silver for the indemnity, but took advantage of the gap to return the lost profits, and it was impossible for the Americans to take out the money in their pockets, but he could change the way to let them take it out. ,

The reason why he put forward this opinion is because his judgment is that the US government and the people will support this plan, and Cai Yuanpei, as the Minister of Education, naturally does not object to this opinion, and naturally tries his best to promote this matter, and there is no need to promote it, and His Majesty, who has not yet ascended the throne, approved this matter as soon as he got the report.

Later, after Liang Cheng obtained the full authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he conducted direct negotiations with John Hai in the United States on the refund of the school, and since the beginning of the negotiations, Cai Yuanpei has been paying attention to the results of the negotiations, and today's letter is the most encouraging news after so many days of waiting, even more exciting than the negotiation table, John Hai agreed to "return" half of the US Geng's money of 10,785,286 US dollars, year by year, month by month, more exciting.

"In the first four years, at least 300 students will be sent to the United States every year, and since the fifth year, at least 400 students will be sent every year, until the refund is used up.

"Geng international students are matched with government students, ten years later...... Ten years from now, my country's education will be very different from today."

"Heqing, don't be happy so early"

Wu Jingheng directly interrupted Cai Yuanpei's words and said.

"Your Majesty may not be very happy."

Compared with others, Wu Jingheng believes that His Majesty may not be happy to see Chinese students studying in the United States, although the Ministry of Education's educational policy of "loyalty to the monarch and patriotism, military education and strengthening the people, including the great ceremony, covering all families, freedom of thought, and inclusiveness" has been approved by His Majesty, and even in that "turmoil", although there are university professors involved, the university is a talisman for the professors, and they just say some "free words" under the educational policy of "freedom of thought and inclusiveness". So they weren't hit at all.

But on the other hand, the "independent gods, free thoughts" in the current campus all benefit from His Majesty's "grace", and what if one day His Majesty could not tolerate all this? And it is this problem that Wu Jingheng has always been worried about, in that turmoil, people have seen His Majesty's iron fist, thousands of people were arrested, followed by prosecution, and when prosecuting, in the face of the evidence listed by the prosecutor, although the defendant did not admit it, but in the face of sufficient ironclad evidence, the Chinese judicial system successfully maintained the dignity of the empire.

And what about Your Majesty? In the end, he generously pardoned some elders, or some "prisoners" with good social reputation and good influence, in their gratitude, His Majesty was praised by all the people, and even when more than 1,000 people were acquitted due to lack of evidence, in the face of the prosecutor's questioning, foreigners instead fell in this series of "against the prosecutor's subjectivity, actually for the political pressure" After the verdict, China's legal system gradually became trusted by European and American countries, and it was through some comments from foreigners, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has only just begun to discuss the abolition of extraterritoriality.

"Although, you and I don't know what Your Majesty thinks in your heart, but compared to the United States, which advocates "freedom", Your Majesty prefers Germany, although the constitution is not yet decided, but you and I both understand that the Chinese constitution will eventually be drawn from the German constitution, not the British constitution, Your Majesty ......."

With a wry smile, Wu Jingheng did not continue, the constitution is His Majesty's commitment, but what about the constitution? What kind of constitution will be made, and although in the end jiāo will be considered by the Senate, what kind of constitution will be considered by the Senate? For those councillors who aspire to the title of "noble", it is nothing new that they will submit to imperial power.

Silence, in the face of Wu Jingheng's question, Cai Yuanpei chose to be silent, although he cared about the school and the students, but ...... There are some things that always need to be done.

After being silent for a moment, Cai Yuanpei looked at Wu Jingheng in front of him and didn't say anything, but stood up and walked slowly towards the window, looking at the garden in the rain, and looking at the branches and leaves swaying in the wind and rain like a sigh.

"We all know that when the people chose the emperor, we were worried that because of the fear that the imperial power of China would be much greater than the civil power because of the fear of this new bottle of old wine, maybe"

With a long breath, Cai Yuanpei finally said what he had been thinking all along.

"In China, from the prime minister, down to the mayors and county magistrates of cities and counties, and even the affairs officials, the officials are directly appointed by the emperor, and there seems to be no difference from the past, it seems that we have walked a circle and gone back to the original path, but at least, we should also see the progress of China now."

Cai Yuanpei's voice was not loud, but there seemed to be a suspicion of exculpating the emperor in his words.

"At least now the Senate has the power to revoke cabinet decrees, and the cabinet also has the power to dismiss the emperor's decrees, and of course they can also question the cabinet and ministry officials, and in the local councils, they can directly impeach local officials, which is an unprecedented step forward in China."

"Yes, this is progress, but you and I both understand that this is just a compromise, compared to the original promise, these fulfilled powers are a kind of compromise, didn't Mei Enping say it in court?" The Consultative Bureau, the Consultative Bureau, consults, discusses, and does not decide, so consult, what is the use of it""

The last few sentences, Wu Jingheng did not continue, he will always compromise with reality, just like after returning from studying in the United States, he chose to be an official in the capital, he may desire something in his heart, but reality is reality, and the current one is not so much nagging, but not a piece of speech caused by warning Cai Yuanpei.

"As Your Majesty once said, there is never an ultimate goal, there is only social progress"

"This is also a kind of progress, so it is worth believing in progress itself, and this is what we have to do, or what they are going to do, once a person tastes freedom, he naturally wants to enjoy the air of freedom. A bird that is imprisoned at birth and does not feel the scent of the forest. But once he is allowed to stretch his wings to fly, no amount of luxurious confined space can stop his desire to fly to the free sky, even if it is stormy."

After saying such a thing, Cai Yuanpei looked back.

"That's why I want them to go to the United States, the god of freedom, not only academically, but also from academics to personality, spiritual freedom, a lot of things are changing little by little...... Just like society, it is also a little bit of progress."

Hanging his head slightly, Cai Yuanpei didn't know if he was still a competent "imperial political official", what he had done...... Those international students may not change anything, but what about the future? In the next ten or twenty years, they will become the pillars of this country, and at that time, their juniors, students, will be in the prime of their life, and finally under their push, the country will change for the better.

"I don't agree, but I ......"

Hearing these words, Wu Jingheng, who understood what Cai Yuanpei was thinking, spit out a sentence.

"Your Majesty once said that any power is to be earned, not given by others, do you think that one day, when people will fight for power from him for progress, he will give up power?