The conversation between Hu Chuyuan and Rong Hong this time was not pleasant, and both sides were a little dissatisfied.

Hu Chuyuan is very clear.

He knew that from the very beginning, it was a mistake for Yung Hong to be in charge of the deputy position of the Study Abroad Affairs Bureau, and idealistic people often do some wrong things, and people usually don't blame them, only the people on the other side.

Thinking about it from another angle, if Rong Hong was very cautious and pragmatic about this matter, how could things have developed to this point.

In fact, the contradictions and conflicts between the international students and Wu Jiashan have reached a limit, and Wu Jiashan has actually played the "evil deeds" of these students with the Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen more than once, and even Chen Lanbin is full of disappointment with the students.

The state spent so much money to cultivate only a group of new Westerners who had cut off their braids, were completely Westernized, and were undisciplined, which was something that the Qing court officials could not bear at all.

The criticism of these students after the "Declaration" can generally represent the thinking of the vast majority of Chinese in this era.

In the following days, with the help of the Wu family, Hu Chuyuan secretly and smoothly passed the immigration application in the state court in Massachusetts, and also became a Chinese-American, and set up his second private equity fund, Guorui Fund, in Hanhua Bank, and kept 42% of the shares of Wanqi Foreign Bank in the name of Guorui Fund.

This time, he will not make a big move in the United States, but just lay a foundation for investing in the United States in the future and get to know some people.

While handling these things, he is also trying his best to collect information about international students.

Close to the facts and put himself in the shoes of the problem, Hu Chuyuan began to pin his hopes on two aspects, one is to try his best to find a way to restrain the students and not let them continue to be so "radical", and the other is to prepare for the back road, and if it really can't work, rely on his funds to support the back.

It's easy to just replace Wu Jiashan, but what's the use?

Bribery is still somewhat useful.

Hu Chuyuan soon went to Washington to meet with Chen Lanbin, the minister of the Qing court in the United States, and Wu Jiashan, the superintendent of the Study Abroad Affairs Bureau.

For international students, he set up a Hu Guangyong Bursary Fund to provide each student with an additional $20 per month for living expenses.

After a lot of rhetoric and a lot of ideas, he finally established the self-love club, and asked the students to try their best to choose some engineering majors, and if it was difficult to get into those engineering colleges because of the congenital lack of science and engineering grades, then they would first study at other universities and gradually transfer to the University of Virginia San Francisco, which they were preparing.

It was a lot more troublesome than he had imagined, but it was within his power after all.

During his stay in the United States for nearly a month, he has been trying to coordinate the two sides, especially through private "personal relations", and reached an agreement with Chen Lanbin and Wu Jiashan that at least the 15-year study abroad plan should be implemented first, so that these international students can finish their studies.

Some of the more radical students could be disqualified from the official assignment and sent back to the Fuzhou Ship Master School early to continue their studies in the academy - this proposal is a good buffer for both sides.

Hu Chuyuan knows very well that Chen Lanbin and Wu Jiashan's biggest worry is still afraid of the court's blame, in case these students return to China and are not what the court expects, and they have no effective control, and truthfully tell them, I am afraid that the final responsibility will be on them.

With the support of Hu Chuyuan and the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Academy, the situation is much better, it is too thorny, and they can also be sent back to China immediately and handed over to Hu Chuyuan for disposal.

Time passed quickly, and it was New Year's Day in 1880.

After dealing with the study abroad crisis temporarily, Hu Chuyuan had to face another thing that was beyond his ability - the anti-Chinese turmoil.

In this matter, he and Rong Hong and Chen Lanbin all maintain a very high degree of agreement, that is, they must fight as hard as they can.

However, Hu Chuyuan's method is more unique, his idea is to save the country by curves, relying on the protest of the Qing court alone is useless, it is of little significance, and he has to find a way to donate to the Baptist Church and the Presbyterian Church through the Chinese Association in the United States, and find a way to get closer contact with the Russell family and some of the media.

Let's take our time.

The real winner is for the National Association of Chinese Workers to sue the United Pacific Railroad on behalf of all Chinese workers, and the whole matter must be handled secretly, and even if it cannot be sued, it will make the Republicans feel jealous.

Of course, for those bigwigs within the Republican Party, you must also get in touch with them through former President Grant and political donations.

If the Chinese Exclusion Act is bound to pass, then reduce the threat as much as possible.

It was not until mid-January 1880 that Hu Chuyuan left the United States and returned to England.

This time, he chose to go directly to London.

London, the world-famous fog capital, is beyond doubt, especially in the second half of the 19th century.

Because the fog was so heavy that it filled the city and the port, the Taichang had to stay outside the port for two hours before slowly sailing into the port at noon.

During his stay in the United States, Hu Chuyuan kept in touch with RS Butterfield, Ye Fu, and Wu Dezhang through telegrams.

Three days before his arrival in London, everyone arrived in London one after another.

This time, instead of renting in the suburbs, Hu bought a noble mansion called Belize House at the junction of Trafalgar Square and Rosenbergland Avenue on London's Riverbank Street, which had been the residence of a certain earl in the mid-eighteenth century.

After a large number of British aristocrats moved from Riverbank Street to Xicheng District, the mansion was sold to merchants and converted into hotels, and due to the failure of the merchants' investment, the property was auctioned off again, and after several turnovers, Hu Chuyuan got it for a high price of 210,000 pounds.

Even in London, £210,000 is a staggering sum of money.

It is a Gothic Revival building, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, and its overall character is close to that of Oxford's Tomburg, completed in 1732, with more than 100 rooms, and a central dome tower with a height of 35.6 meters, which offers a panoramic view of most of London – if the fog in London is not very large.

Before Hu Chuyuan arrived in London, Ye Fu and others had already moved in.

In fact, Hu Chuyuan just wants to show off his wealth, and it is just the beginning.

Riding into Belize Province in his own carriage, Hu Chuyuan saw some unfamiliar faces as soon as he got off the car, except for a foreigner in his forties, the rest were young people under the age of 30, wearing long robes and horse coats.

Ye Fu and Zheng Xitai were responsible for picking up people at the port, Deng Shichang and Wu Dezhang and others stayed in the mansion and waited.

"Raise your lord!"

"Raise your lord, it's been a good journey!!"

Everyone greeted each other, and Ye Fu introduced the foreigner in his forties to Hu Chuyuan more cautiously, it turned out that this person was the former chief superintendent of the Fuzhou Ship Administration Yamen, and the former chief instructor of the school.

This is a Frenchman who had begun to lose his head prematurely, with a thin build, a thick beard, and a sophisticated and friendly glint in his green eyes. After returning to France, he continued to work for the Harbour Master's Yamen, responsible for the study abroad of the Harbour Master in France.

Because he has a very good reputation and influence in the Ship Master Yamen, Hu Chuyuan respects him very much, nods slightly, shakes hands with him and says, "Thank you very much for coming, Mr. Yige!" ”

He said, "It's my honor, and your father and I can be regarded as friends." ”

This one......!

Hu Chuyuan didn't answer, just smiled.

Ye Fu introduced other young people to Hu Chuyuan, who were those people Hu Chuyuan felt unfamiliar with, namely Wei Han, Chen Zhaoao, Zheng Qinglian, Lin Yiyou, and Yang Lianchen, who had been studying in France for many years.

As soon as he heard that it was these people, Hu Chuyuan paid special attention to it and looked at them one by one.

Wei Han is very tall, thirty years old, with a steady expression, Chen Zhaoao and Zheng Qinglian are only twenty-six or seventeen years old, and they still look a little hurried in front of Hu Chuyuan.

These people are the future pillars of the shipyard yamen, and Hu Chuyuan was very happy to see them, so he invited everyone to enter the mansion together.

Among these five people, Wei Han and Chen Zhaoao came to the earliest and studied for four years at the French National Naval Engineering School, the former also studied law and obtained a doctorate degree in law, and the latter specialized in boilers and steam engines, as well as related power systems, and has a doctorate degree in engineering.

Zheng Qinglian, Lin Yiyou, and Yang Lianchen only came two years ago, and after the study period expired, they wanted to come to the UK to continue their studies.

Sitting down in the large living room, Hu Chuyuan first held a tea and fruit party, and relaxed with everyone to drink tea and chat about recent events.

But as soon as he sat down, Yige said to Hu Chuyuan with some eagerness: "Lord Tiao, I heard that the Harbour Master Yamen wants to buy the most advanced warships in Europe, which makes me extremely happy, in fact, I often lobby Lord Shen for this, but due to the funds and the decision-making of your imperial court, I have not succeeded for a long time. ”

Feeling that he had more to say, Hu Chuyuan asked with a smile: "Then what kind of advice do you have for this matter?" ”

Yu Yige carefully twitched his throat and said: "Like these students of mine, I also recommend purchasing separately in Britain and France, in order to effectively transfer and absorb new technologies from Europe, it is best to focus on France." Before I came here, officials from China's Admiralty had talked with me, hoping that the Fujian Navy Division would continue to focus on cooperation with France, and that we would increase our efforts in terms of equipment transfer and technical guidance. ”

He did make a lot of efforts and was very conscientious for China's Fuzhou Shipyard, but he was always a Frenchman.

Hu Chuyuan can understand Yige's position, and without the shadow of the imminent outbreak of the Sino-French war, he may agree.

He just nodded slightly, and continued to talk to Yige, without agreeing or vetoing.

After lunch, Hu Chuyuan invited Wei Han and Chen Zhaoao into his study alone, and asked their opinions, which made Hu Chuyuan both a little surprised and satisfied, although he had a good personal relationship with Yige, Wei Han and Chen Zhaoao still felt that they should buy better ironclad ships from the British, especially the planned 5000-ton displacement ironclad ships.

The key is the construction characteristics of the Central Ironclad Fort, although France, Italy and Germany have already completed the construction of new warships in the Central Ironclad Fort after the British put forward the concept, but they all have each other's shortcomings, and only Britain can really integrate the achievements of each and make up for the shortcomings of each one.

If it weren't for the fact that the British were too advanced, they probably had their own Central Ironclad Ironclad as early as five years ago.

The second lies in the British's hybrid steel armor technology, their 10-inch hybrid steel armor is equivalent to 12-inch wrought iron armor in terms of defensive effect, which is currently the best ship armor technology in the world before the advent of nickel steel armor.

The first reforms at the Italian Spezia naval steelworks appeared, proposing the latest steel-armored defense. The steel armor is too hard, although the defense effect is strong, once it is hit by a heavy cannon that exceeds the defense level, the steel armor will break, creating a large scale of cracks.

In order to make up for this shortcoming, Britain and France began to experiment with mixed steel armor at the same time, that is, the outer layer is a steel plate, which is slowly cooled by oil cold soaking to increase the hardness of the steel armor to the limit, and then the wrought iron plate is used in the inner layer.

This is a technology that has only appeared in the past two years, and only Britain and France can master it, France uses the Wechsler method, that is, the inner layer of the oil-cooled steel plate is directly cast hot wrought iron, and the British uses the Bo's method, that is, the Bessmersteel steel is blown between the steel plate and the iron plate to form a plywood hybrid steel armor.

According to the results of the experiments of the two countries, it is clear that the latter has the advantage, but its process is too complex.

Finally, there is the artillery system and the power system, in these two aspects, the British also occupy a lot of advantages, although the rest of the countries have a certain advantage in some aspects, only the British are all-encompassing.

The capital ship must be purchased from the British warship, and the overall shipbuilding technology still continues to be learned from France, after all, France still has many advantages and perfect systems for Fuzhou Shipmaster to learn, and it is easier to learn - this is Wei Han and Chen Zhaoao's answer!

Hu Chuyuan was very satisfied.

This idea is consistent with him, compared with Ye Fu and Wu Dezhang, Wei Han and Chen Zhaoao are more proficient in modern shipbuilding technology, Hu Chuyuan asked them to continue to return to France, and Wu Dezhang and Lu Han are responsible for negotiating with the French.

After arranging this matter, Wei Han suddenly said to Hu Chuyuan: "Among the instructors of the French National Naval Engineering Academy, there are several well-known ship designers, among which Mr. Bai Laoyi is the most special, who has studied in the UK for many years and led the design of many warships in France. I think we can hire him to replace Mr. Yige in China, continue to serve as the chief superintendent of the ship, and be responsible for leading a French team to guide us to improve the level of shipbuilding. ”

"So?"

Hu Chuyuan couldn't help but hesitate, the time between the Sino-French War and the Battle of Mawei was less than five years, and it would not be very good to let the French know some of his preparations!

Seeing that he hesitated, Chen Zhaoao also persuaded him: "Promote the lord, although Yige is a very respectful gentleman and chief overseer, he is also a monk halfway, and many courses in the former school seem to be backward. It's not that Wei Han and I are timid and inferior, we have also studied hard in France, and we have no problem teaching in the school, but we have no actual overall design experience. Since we want to transfer technology and absorb technology through procurement contracts, and directly hire first-class legal persons to guide the shipyard yamen, the effect is naturally better. In a short period of three years or as long as five years, the shipbuilding level of the shipyard yamen will definitely be able to rise to a great level, which is enough to compete with Italy and the West. ”

It is estimated that there is still time to maneuver, and their persuasion is reasonable, Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly, and said: "Okay, I will send an invitation to the French Navy in the name of the Harbour Yamen, and you will convey it on your behalf, and tell that Mr. Bai Laoyi that due to the Yamen's funds, the Yamen can only provide him with twice the salary of France, and I will personally provide an additional subsidy, which will definitely satisfy him." ”

Chen Zhaoao said with a smile: "Lord Tiao is indeed the richest man in the world, who cares about the great cause of coastal defense, and does not hesitate to contribute personal funds, and his subordinates admire him very much." ”

Hu Chuyuan did not hide it, so he told them about the private deduction problems in the yamen, and took the opportunity to make up for them again - as long as they worked in the Fuzhou Ship Administration Yamen, he would fund to make up for the income gap between them and normal officials, and he also attached special importance to technical officials.

After listening to Hu Chuyuan's words, and receiving a salary subsidy from him for another year, Wei Han and Chen Zhaoao were overjoyed.

There is no doubt that as long as there is a great god of wealth like Hu Chuyuan sitting in the Fuzhou Ship Administration Yamen, what can't be obtained and can't be done?

As long as you follow him and do everything as a party henchman, are you still worried about the future?

The first time they dealt with Hu Chuyuan, the two were overjoyed and left Hu Chuyuan's study happily.

(To be continued)