If you have read the Western science books translated in the late Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China, you will deeply understand how difficult it is for Western science to be introduced into China and how difficult it is to popularize it in China.

The most typical example is that people like Song Biao can't read these books, and the only reason is that his foundation in Chinese culture is insufficient.

Most of the books translated by Shu Gaoli belong to the textbook subjects of junior high school and secondary school students in Britain and the United States, and belong to popular reading materials in Europe and the United States, but they have become special education in elite education in China.

Therefore, in the early period of the Republic of China, especially before the establishment of the Nanjing political axe, there was basically no so-called universal education in China, and after the establishment of the Nanjing political axe, it was not until the Anti-Japanese War period that China had a real universal education.

In the entire history of the Anti-Japanese War, the first major item in the political axe expenditure of His Excellency Jiang Zhongzheng is military spending, and the second major item is education, the latter achievement is very outstanding, called the educational miracle in the Anti-Japanese War, such as secondary education, before the Anti-Japanese War, the number of students in secondary education in the country was 520,000, but at the end of the Anti-Japanese War it reached 1.26 million. In fact, it was not until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War that the national political axe began to establish national middle schools in various provinces, opening the first page of national universal education.

At this stage, universal education is not compulsory education, but it has at least cultivated a large number of outstanding scientists, technical engineers, technicians and normal talents for New China.

Song Biao and Yin Chang said a lot of things when they talked about the New Deal in Northeast China, which can be summed up in five things: first, to establish a financial system in the three provinces and control financial power; the second is to develop agriculture and industry, attract capital to start a business, and achieve a trade surplus; the third is to establish a new policy axe system to effectively implement and promote the new policy; the fourth is to reclaim the northeast and expand the population; Fifth, it is necessary to establish a national education system and a wide range of specialized education, and to create the best university education.

Song Biao has made some progress in the first four things, but he has not made any progress in the fifth matter, and he has always felt that in order to do a good job in popularizing education, it is first necessary to do a good job in teaching materials.

As for the textbook, what he said was very correct, but it was inevitably a little embarrassing for Shu Gaoli.

Song Biao looked at Shu Gaoli, and when he saw that he was embarrassed and silent, he continued: "The key to the new deal is to promote national education, and the so-called national education, I think it should be like Britain and the United States, where everyone can read. I suggest that we adopt a grammar that is closer to ordinary people's speech, plain and straightforward, the more simple and popular, the more everyone can read it, only in this way is the real universal education and national education, not the education of gentlemen, not the education of scholars, not the education of national elites, not the reading book of Jinshi Xiucai to understand Western studies. China has a population of 40,000,000, and if we expect all of us to finish six or seven years of ancient language education and then study Western studies, we will probably not want to popularize Western science in another 1,000 years, and there will be no so-called universal education and national education in another 1,000 years, and if there is no real universal education for the whole people, our nation will not want to be on a par with Europe and the United States in another 1,000 years. ”

Shu Gaoli felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, he always felt that his thirty years of hard work had been in vain, and he had not received the evaluation he deserved, but he also knew in his heart that what Song Biao said was not wrong.

After pondering for a moment, Shu Gaoli sighed: "What the Governor said is very true, fortunately, the old man is still in good health, and he can still have a life of ten years, so I will try my best to rewrite the bibliography of the books translated in the past, and all of them will be in the vernacular that is easy to understand." ”

After a pause, he continued: "Wuxi Qiu Tingliang said in "On the Vernacular as the Foundation of the Restoration" that the vernacular has eight benefits, saving power, avoiding misreading, facilitating early learning, refining the heart, facilitating the poor, learning from the West, promoting the advancement of the people, and being good at change. Since the adult's vision is so long-term and clever, the old decay can show its strengths. ”

Song Biao nodded slightly, and said: "Qiu Tingliang should still have some meaning, if Shu Lao knows, you might as well write a letter to invite him over, just say that I want to invite him to the "Northeast Yuebao", so I will use the newspaper as a forum to advocate the movement of vernacular literature, promote the modern vernacular of grammar, sort out the grammar and word specifications, and determine the modern Chinese that can be used throughout the country without hindrance." ”

Shu Gaoli praised: "Okay, this matter is very good, but this person has founded a number of righteous schools in Wuxi, especially in Sicheng Primary School and Wuxi Primary Normal School, it is said that there are more than 2,000 students, I don't know if he is willing to come." ”

Song Biao said: "New school, you can do it anywhere, I want to run Fengtian Primary School and Fengtian Primary Normal School, ask him to come and preside, the original Wuxi Primary Normal School, I can also contribute money every year." For the benefit of the country and the people, there are big and small things, Shu Lao wants to persuade him to take the big as the top and do his best for the country and the people! ”

Shu Gaoli bowed his head solemnly and said, "What the adults said is very clever." ”

Song Biao has always been a person who lifts weights lightly, the so-called weightlifting is to be able to shoot things for others to be resolutely sent to others, he immediately said to Shu Gao: "Well, in addition, I don't have much advice on the Far East Press and the Far East News, as we have discussed before, everything is aimed at promoting new learning and publicizing the new policy. I will entrust these things to you, Mr. Shu. ”

Shu Gaoli bowed his head quite cautiously, and said: "Please also rest assured that the old man should do his best, and he will never live up to the trust of the Lord." ”

Song Biao smiled, and seeing that the time was almost up, he got up and prepared to leave.

He was about to leave, Shu Xuan entered the main hall with refreshments, because the new army has rules, non-soldiers are not allowed to wear military uniforms, and all military doctors and other positions can only wear military uniforms without titles, she has hurriedly changed into a new dress, but it is a little thin.

Entering the main hall, Shu Xuan brought a plate of exquisite local refreshments from Ningbo to the table, turned over slightly and asked Song Biao to say goodbye: "This is the local refreshments that my family brought in the south, and I invite the governor to taste them." ”

Ningbo's refreshments are not as good as Guangzhou's, but they still have some characteristics, especially the square cakes, mung bean cakes and glutinous dough are quite interesting.

Song Biao picked out a mung bean cake and tasted it, feeling a little sweet, but he still smiled: "It's delicious, I don't usually like sweets, and it's really delicious to eat it once in a while." It's a pity that I'm very short of time here, if you don't think I'm greedy and rude, then I'll bring this box of refreshments back. ”

Shu Gaoli said with a smile: "If the adults like it, the old man can't ask for it, Shu Xuan, you can wrap up this box of refreshments and let the adults take them back to taste the tea." ”

Shu Xuan laughed playfully, agreed, and hurriedly went to get a pastry box, packed the refreshments, and deliberately went to the kitchen to pick out some mung bean cakes for Song Biao to pack together.

After taking someone else's box of refreshments, Song Biao solemnly thanked Shu Gaoli, and then got up and left the Shu family's courtyard.

Back in the office of the military department, Song Biao continued to deal with the official documents to be approved accumulated a few days ago, and after a while, he still remembered Shu Xuan, and always felt very interesting, so he picked up the phone of the military department and called Shu Fangde over.

Shu Fangde was busier than Song Biao, and he basically didn't have time to go back to Shu's courtyard at noon, and he had been in the second staff department from morning to now, running back and forth between the logistics office and the teaching office, and hurriedly entered Song Biao's office and saluted straight first, saying: "Military seat!" ”

Song Biao asked him to sit down, and asked quite suddenly, "You still have a sister?" ”

Shu Fangde was stunned for a moment and replied: "There are two, the sixth sister is the daughter of Erniang, and the ninth sister is the daughter of Sanniang." ”

Song Biao asked, "The big one is called Shu Xuan, right?" I met her at your house just now, she sings very well, can you find a way to do some work back and transfer her to the art troupe, I think she is very talented in this area, and she should be able to make some achievements. Well, talent is rare. ”

"...... this?"

Shu Fangde was stunned again, and after a long time, he asked slightly embarrassed: "Junzao, are you sure?" ”

Song Biao asked with a serious expression, "Am I joking with you?" What kind of shit the art troupe is running now, I don't even bother to scold you and Jiang Fangzhen. ”

Shu Fangde became more and more embarrassed, but he felt that he had not guessed wrong, so he took the initiative to take out a pack of French cigarettes, gave one to Song Biao, and specially lit it for Song Biao, and carefully reminded him with a smile: "Military seat." In previous years, we were half bandits, half Russian army, and it was normal not to talk about marriage, but now that you are the governor of the three provinces, it is time to find a lady who crushes the village. I'm not talking about my sister, I'm just talking about this, you have to hurry up and set up a family first, and then start a business. As for whether Shu Xuan, this little girl, will go to the art troupe, I really can't say, but I will definitely try my best to convince her and her parents when I go back. I just listened to my mother said, she only graduated from the United States in the middle of the year, there are a lot of people who come to the door to propose, our fellow villagers in Ningbo probably know that she has the appearance of a closed moon shy flower, and she graduated from Winstrwolf Girls' School in the United States, quite talented, even Yu Qiaqing's fourth son has come to the door to propose, if it weren't for my father's insistence that the children's affairs should be self-determined, this marriage will almost be decided, at least the second room wife is strongly in favor, and I can't wait to hang myself to force marriage. Junza, I'm just talking to you about family life, nothing else! ”

Song Biao nodded silently, knowing that he didn't mean anything else, so he said: "I suggest that you deal with the affairs of the art troupe as soon as possible, in this matter, I am very dissatisfied with you, and I have no other meaning, you understand?" ”

"Commander, subordinates understand!"

Shu Fangde smiled bitterly, looking quite embarrassed.

He just needs to understand.

Song Biao didn't want to talk nonsense, so he waved his hand and asked Shu Fangde to go out to do errands.

Song Biao really didn't mean anything else, he just felt that it was too aggrieved for such a good girl to marry a wealthy son, and he still had to go to the art troupe of the Northeast New Army to train for a period of time, increase his experience, and maybe he would be able to find suitable revolutionary comrades in the army.

As for his own marriage, he is not in a hurry for the time being.

He now has only one goal in life, that is, to quickly and neatly overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty as the emperor before the Xinhai Revolution, and implement a constitutional monarchy in accordance with the will of the people.

At this time, Miss Shu Xuan was embarrassed in the courtyard of the Shu family, and she could vaguely feel that Governor Song seemed to have ulterior motives for her, which made her quite embarrassed.

She prefers life in Connecticut and the warm moments at Connecticut Women's College than in China, but unfortunately it has passed, and at this time she has returned to a strange land, covered with ice and snow and everything around, and is in an army non-commissioned officer school where all non-commissioned officers are students.

I have always heard that Governor Song was a military expert who returned from studying in Russia, but he didn't know what kind of world the distant Russia would be.

She thought about these chaotic things in a messy way, and she didn't know whether she should go to the art troupe of the Northeast New Army, which sounded like a place for literary and artistic work, performing dramas or musicals, but she didn't understand why the army needed such work.

She thought of the ceremonial bands of the army, and unfortunately, although she knew the piano very well, she did not know much about percussion and cornet.

Just when she couldn't figure it all out, her fourth brother Shu Fangde hurriedly came back from outside, wearing a very beautiful black and blue senior officer's uniform, she suddenly seemed to have thrown away all her worries, and she was very playful to learn those non-commissioned officers and students to salute and say with a smile: "Oh, how can the fourth brother have time to go home at this time?" ”

Her salute was not in accordance with the rules at all, and it was very playful when it was crooked.

Shu Fangde looked at her with a smile and teased: "Why, you decided to go to our New Army Art Troupe so soon?" ”

"What, what a pot can't be opened, I'm worried!"

Shu Xuan was unhappy again, and her cheeks were puffing up, looking really distressed.

Shu Fangde smiled and persuaded: "Actually, it's not bad to go to the art troupe, your music and skills are good, I heard that you have scored well in piano performance at Winströff Girls' School." Our art troupe does not require us to talk about piano, but to use theatrical performances to stimulate the morale of the soldiers, promote the spirit of patriotism, and ask to arrange some dramas, stage plays, or folk song and dance performances with these functions, as well as some military songs that can be simply sung. Isn't that the right fit for you? ”

Shu Xuan asked suspiciously: "Really, isn't it the kind that wants to sing opera for the generals?" ”

Shu Fangde said: "I can still lie to you, it's really for all the soldiers to see, after you pass, you should be engaged in arranging music and creating dramas and the like, with me working in the New Army Staff Office, who dares to offend you?" If there is anything to worry about, just go to Hua Mulan and Mu Guiying, although this does not seem to be your ambition, but I think it is more successful than being an English teacher, and it is quite interesting, and the income is definitely better. In fact, I am currently in charge of this art troupe, but I really haven't made any achievements, and I have always made the military seat very dissatisfied, so you should go to help your fourth brother. ”

"Okay, I'm going to help you!" Shu Xuan laughed out loud with a slight hint of meaning, as cute and crisp as a silver bell, but she questioned a little difficult: "But I don't seem to agree with what my father meant, although I let me figure it out for myself, but his face is there." ”

Shu Fangde patted his eldest sister Shu Xuan on the shoulder and said, "Hey, I'll deal with the old man's affairs, what's the disagreement, I just can't wipe off that old face." ”

Shu Xuan said again: "Don't you know, your military seat ran over and didn't say a few words, and directly said that the nature books that Dad had translated before were all in Chinese, and even he couldn't read them, and wanted Dad to translate all in the vernacular, which made Daddy's face embarrassed and embarrassed for a while!" It's also true, they all say how powerful your military seat is, why are you talking so harshly. ”

Shu Fangde said with a smile: "Hey, soldiers, it's not as flowery as the old Wen Sour Xiucai to speak, our military seat has always said something, don't tuck, don't hide." Besides, he has to be busy with so many things every day, and he has to squeeze out time to meet with Fengtian Governor Yinchang in the morning, where is there time to waste his tongue here with the old man, just explain the problem clearly in a few words, if the old man does not agree, then he will change to another obedient one. After all, he is the governor of the three eastern provinces, he says one, and the following are not allowed to say two. ”

Shu Xuan sighed: "It sounds like a very powerful person, but it always seems a little scary." ”

Shu Fangde pondered for a moment solemnly, and replied: "It's right to know that you are afraid, only by being afraid of the military seat can things be done well, if the people below are not afraid of the military seat, then how can the military seat manage the three eastern provinces, how can you manage the Northeast New Army of tens of thousands of people." When you go to the art troupe in the future, you have to understand this in your heart, in society and in the army, it is not like being at home, the relationship between superiors and subordinates is very strict, you have to hope that you can achieve something, and if you can be a person who is beneficial to the country and the nation, you must adapt to the rules here. There are many things, let's talk about it later, I'll go to the old man and say a few words first! ”

Shu Xuan nodded with a smile, and quietly sent his fourth brother Shu Fangde into the main house to see the old man in the family, and then, she sat alone in the courtyard and watched the small snowflakes falling slowly in the sky.

It always snows in Connecticut, and it's about the same as here, and at this time it snows very heavily and covers the whole world.

As a Ningbo girl, a girl who has lived in the Shanghai Concession since she was a child, she especially likes snowflakes, likes the snowy and colorful Suyin Zhiye, she gently patted the thick military uniform on her body, as if she had gone to the art troupe, became a female officer, wearing this strange but very beautiful military uniform.

She actually likes this dress a lot, which gives her a special sense of security in this somewhat unfamiliar motherland, warm and thick.

She had also seen the brown-green New Army uniforms, which were said to be autumn officer uniforms, and there were gray-blue and light brown, and it seemed that even the military uniforms had various colors and styles.

If she had the chance, she would also like to design a military uniform that fits her own wear.

She thought that feeling must be wonderful, she just didn't know how everyone would look at her when she returned to the United States in such a military uniform and met her former classmates again, she must be very envious...... Or do you think she's done something stupid?

(To be continued)