The continuous autumn rain has made the city of Tianjin Weicheng look cleaner, the asphalt road that has just been paved has been washed black and shiny, everything is wrapped in fine rain, and everything seems to be vigorous with a new breath. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Indeed, now it seems that everything in Tianjin has a new atmosphere. As far as China is concerned, Tianjin is not just an acropolis of the capital, as the residence of the governor of Zhili, it is not just a base for the Beiyang forces led by Li Hongzhang. And now when people talk about the word "hub", it does not refer only to the capital, but to some extent must include Tianjin. Because Tianjin is not just a port, but half of the capital. In the past, this was because the Minister of Beiyang was in charge of foreign trade and trade affairs, but now it is because Li Hongzhang, Minister of Beiyang, is the "Minister of Parliament" of the Council, and this Council is now the place where "major national affairs" are decided, and the position of "Minister of Parliament" is naturally very important.

In the name of the "New Deal," the ministers of the Parliamentary Council pulled power up from the "Council" to the localities, and at the same time, Li Hongzhang, who had been restrained by conservative forces for many years, launched a series of new policy measures for the direct subordinates.

Without the restraint of conservative forces, under the impetus of Li Hongzhang, Tianjin and the entire Zhili area became a demonstration place for the new policy of the Qing Dynasty due to fate, and according to Li Hongzhang's plan, the new policy measures including rectifying the administration of officials, reforming the imperial examination, revitalizing industry, and strengthening armaments were implemented. The various new policy measures implemented by it in Zhili have made Zhili a "land of public opinion for the new regime", which has attracted the attention of the whole country. And even, to some extent, completely replaced the light of the Northeast.

Unlike that "nouveau riche" in the Northeast. Li Hongzhang, who enjoys a high reputation and prestige at home and abroad. However, it has only just been implemented as soon as its new policy is introduced. It has attracted the attention and praise of the world, all of which seems to be taken for granted, after all, Li, in the past few decades, it is Li Hongzhang and his foreign affairs that have supported the dignity of this empire, and now there is no bondage, and the re-rise of this empire is naturally just around the corner.

From military production, to coal and iron mining. From railway transportation to new-style education, in less than five months, under the implementation of Li Hongzhang, and of course, more importantly, with the support of a loan of 10 million taels, Tianjin has made all-round efforts in almost all fields, leading the national trend, far surpassing Shanghai, and even surpassing the Northeast, which has not yet implemented a new policy.

When the new policy of Zhili attracted the attention of the world, the Beiyang Yamen attracted more and more attention from the world. The door of the study in the back hall of the Beiyang Yamen opened, and a tall figure walked out of the study. The burly body stood in the hallway. The light in the study cast his figure into the dark courtyard, and he stood still on the side.

The autumn rain would always be blown into the corridor by the wind from time to time, blowing on his body, the autumn rain wet his cloth boots, the rain stained his cheeks, and the old face seemed to have some worry on it, and his brows were lightly locked from time to time.

"Quan Shuai, it's cold this night, let's go into the floor, don't get cold!"

The voice behind him made the old man turn his face, and through the light in the room, he could clearly see that this was the "Oriental politician" Li Hongzhang, who had attracted the attention of the world because of the implementation of the New Deal.

In the eyes of Westerners, Tang Haoran in the Northeast is just a "warlord", and only Li Hongzhang, who was once praised by them as the "Bismarck of the East", is a real politician and a real pillar of the empire!

"Youqiao, you say, what is missing from this Peiyang University Hall we run?"

Just a few hours ago, Li Hongzhang went to the Peiyang University Hall, which was a modern "Western-style university" built in imitation of the Tongwen College founded by Tang Haoran in Incheon, which was built in the old barracks of Dongjuzi, but after going to the University Hall today, he always felt that something was missing.

Li Hongzhang, who had never been abroad, did not know what a Western university was like, but in Tianjin, in addition to the church schools run by foreigners, there was also the Tongwen Hall run by Tang Haoran -- Xuetang, which specially provided talents for the Tongwen College, and one-third of the 300 students in the first phase of the Peiyang University Hall were from the Tongwen Hall.

"Quan Shuai, I heard that the Gu of the Tongwen Academy is mainly foreign!"

Zhang Peilun said another unknown thing, people only know that Tang Haoran founded Tongwen College with the aim of cultivating talents, but they don't know that he is using foreign talents to educate talents.

"Oh? Where did you hear about it? ”

"The scripture mentioned it once earlier, and the scripture also questioned Ziran in person because of this, asking why he is mainly foreign!"

Zhang Peilun said casually, unlike Li Jingfang, who is now bent on the new policy, the second young master has no intention of the new policy.

"Oh, how do you answer?"

Ziran replied, what about foreigners? Since it is to seek knowledge in the world, even the country's important military can also seek education in the West, why can't education be achieved? Everyone says that China's moral articles are the best in the world, but the Western ship is strong, and it is not moral articles, but science, and he wants to use Chinese people as teaching affairs, but the question is who is competent? Who can teach civil engineering, mechanics, chemistry, engineering, so that their professors can only be hired from other countries,"

Zhang Peilun's words made Li Hongzhang nod his head thoughtfully, in the past, whenever he did foreign affairs, those people always said that China's moral articles were the best in the world, but they didn't care about the reality that foreigners' ships were strong and not morals could be controlled, even if they wanted to start a new school, they could only do it in the name of landing sailors, even so, they were also hindered by all parties.

In this way, most of the professors in the Tongwen Hall are foreigners, and the Tongwen Faculty has a Senate as the highest legislative body of the whole university, with the president as the chairman, and the Senate composed of the president, the deans of science and some professors. It is composed of seven professors, including professors, five professors, and professorial councillors elected by the Professors' Council...... And outside of the Senate, there is also the Professors' Council......"

It doesn't matter if you understand it, or if you don't understand it, but when Li Hongzhang explained the powers and responsibilities of the council and professors' council of the College of Liberal Arts from Zhang Peilun, he was surprised to find that although the college cost millions of dollars from the government, the government had no restrictions on it, and even the "official positions" such as the president and the provost were all elected by the professors, and it was still a government-run school.

"This Tang Ziran ......"

I don't know whether to praise or sigh when the words came out of Li Hongzhang's mouth, I heard him say it again.

"Isn't he afraid that the school will be controlled by those Western professors, and then enrich his own pockets and cultivate some useless people?"

After so many years of doing foreign affairs, Li Hongzhang, who has dealt with foreigners a lot, has encountered this kind of person, and even almost turned the Qing Navy into a "foreign admiral" of the British Navy, so naturally it is impossible to talk about using foreigners freely.

"Quan Shuai, according to Tang Ziran, when they were hired, they signed a contract, stipulating their salary, benefits, and corresponding terms, since they have carte blanche to entrust them with all disciplines, then they must ensure the pass rate of the students they teach, and they can go to the designated position to do things smoothly, if the pass rate cannot pass the standard, in addition to dismissal, the other party also needs to pay a huge fine, and ......"

After a pause, Zhang Peilun said in a rather admiring tone.

"And they will publish a "dismissal statement" with the mainstream newspapers and magazines in the country where they hired the professors, and they have dismissed more than a dozen foreign professors who tried to eat and drink with the same faculty of letters, which not only caused them to pay huge compensation, but also made them notorious in the Western academic circles, so naturally no one dares to eat and drink with the Faculty of Letters......"

However, Zhang Peilun did not talk about the essence of the problem, compared with any university, even European and American universities, the newly established Tongwen College of Liberal Arts, which mainly focuses on engineering, has no own rules and regulations in teaching, and is an educational institution dedicated to disseminating practical technical knowledge of engineering in Western Europe. The textbooks were all foreign books, the lectures and examinations were synchronized with those of Germany and the United States, and the journals of various societies were occupied by reports on returning home and excerpts from foreign magazines. To put it bluntly, it is completely synchronized with the world engineering system. Although it is very difficult for students who have only studied in Tongwen School for half a year to learn foreign languages, it is precisely this kind of education model of open knowledge, practical operation and experience synchronization that makes the fledgling higher technical education of Tongwen College directly make use of the engineering system that has just been formed in Western Europe, and smoothly bypass and save the centuries-old exploration history and exploration process of Western Europe.

Although Zhang Peilun couldn't see some of the things behind the school, he learned from Li Jingshu's mouth what the biggest difference between the Beiyang University Hall and the Tongwen College was - the official mansion! As with foreign affairs in the past, inadvertently, Li Hongzhang turned the university hall into an official mansion, but obviously Li Hongzhang did not continue to think about this, but said after a moment of silence.

"This Tang Ziran's strategy is of course interlocking, but after all, this dynasty is different from North Korea, and Tianjin is different from the Northeast, if we run the school like this, we will be reprimanded by others, and besides, today's world is ......."

Although there is no official constraint now, let alone the court, Li Hongzhang still has his concerns, after all, the resistance is not all in the court, and some things cannot be done at least now.

"What we need now is someone who works, as long as this Peiyang University Hall can breed this person, it will be enough!"

In Li Hongzhang's view, the business of the Beiyang Office needs those technicians who can work and are proficient in foreign affairs, and others are secondary.

"Well, there is also the matter of this university hall, Youqiao, you can ask in person, although it can't be completely imitated by the West, but you can't let those people make it a yamen like a martial arts academy, as for the foreigners...... When it's time to use it, you can also use a little! ”

Seeing that Lord Zhongtang had already decided, Zhang Peilun hurriedly put what he thought in his heart, and turned to the peak of the conversation and said.

"Yes, Peilun must handle this matter well, I don't know if Quan Shuai knows, what is Tang Ziran doing in the Northeast now?" (To be continued.) )