With each passing day, there is perhaps no better way to describe the changes in Tianjin. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoIn just five months, Tianjin seems to have been revitalized overnight, and changes are taking place everywhere. The paved gravel asphalt roads are replacing the city's dilapidated roads, and even the addition of public toilets on both sides of the road, and the police patrolling back and forth are also giving the city a greater sense of security.

Whether it is for the people in Tianjin or foreigners, they all deeply feel the changes in the city. And almost everyone attributed all this to the tall and burly Beiyang minister in the Beiyang Yamen, and to Li Hongzhang.

"Terumi, look at how similar Tianjin is to Tokyo in the early Meiji era!"

Through the carriage window, Hiroyuki Kato looked at the Tianjin street outside the window and said with emotion.

Outside the car window in Tianjin, you can see a lot of yellow people in suits, they may be Japanese. But there are also many Chinese wearing horse coats and robes with short hair, and I don't know when people in Tianjin are cutting their braids. Although many more wore Manchu-style robes with ugly Manchu-style braids. But for Hiroyuki Kato, a bureaucrat who lived through the shogunate and Meiji era, this is precisely the time when the old and the new are changing, and soon the ugly braid will be removed from the back of the Chinese's head, and what does this mean? Isn't it the awakening of the consciousness of the Han nation?

When the Han nation was no longer willing to be ruled by the Manchus, Li Hongzhang, who enjoyed a high reputation in China, was able to bring down the Manchu government in Beijing with a single stroke of his arm. At that time, under the leadership of Li Hongzhang, will China be like Tianjin, showing its vitality everywhere?

"Everywhere you go, you can see the old and the new. You can feel the breath of the New Deal everywhere! ”

"What's the point?"

Terumo Kato muttered to himself with some dissatisfaction, obviously he couldn't see the expectant side like his father.

In his opinion, perhaps Tang Haoran was more suitable for the future than Li Hongzhang, not because he was young, but because he was the most Westernized figure in the Qing Dynasty, and he also commanded a powerful army. Even his new army defeated Li Hongzhang's Huai army on the battlefield.

That's why. He couldn't understand why his father insisted on coming to Tianjin, and even regarded Li Hongzhang as the defender of the future Oriental world, which seemed to be for his father. Tang Haoran, as the winner, is not worth mentioning, but Li Hongzhang, who is the real hero.

But through letters from some friends, Terumi Kato is full of affection for Tohoku. It's not just because of Tang Haoran. Rather, it is because the Northeast is more bold in employing people than in Tianjin, and many of his friends are highly regarded in the Northeast, both government officials and senior employees of companies.

On the other hand, Li Hongzhang, who was regarded as a great man by his father, can even be said to be extremely difficult to see him now, even if his father begged him today, he also made an appointment in advance.

"This time when the old and the new are alternated, it is the time for men to make achievements."

sighed at his own encounters back then. Hiroyuki Kato turned his head to look at his son and said.

"Zhaolu, I know, it's hard for you to understand, why I chose Li Hongzhang instead of Tang Haoran, maybe, you think that Tang Haoran has a strong army of 100,000, and he is even more comprehensive and enterprising in the Northeast, establishing a large number of factories, which is far younger than Li Hongzhang, in contrast, Tang Haoran symbolizes the future of China, as for Li Hongzhang, he must be a figure who will be eliminated, right?"

His father's rhetorical question made Terumi Kato nod and say.

"Yes, father, Li Hongzhang is a figure of the old era, just like the shogunate, sooner or later he will be eliminated! It is now known that China under the Manchu rule was inevitably becoming impoverished and weak, but compared to Guannai, the Northeast was strong, not only with a strong military, but also with a large number of factories! I heard that in the next four years, 1,000 kilometers of railways will be built in Northeast China a year, and the steel used in the railways will be produced by themselves......"

His son's point of view made Kato Hiroyuki shake his head and sigh, if it was in the past, maybe he would agree with his son's point of view, but the tragedy that happened to Japan made him have to reflect on all this, especially the determination to westernize like Tang Haoran.

"Well, why, you still don't understand?"

It's not just that I don't understand, but how many people in the whole of Japan can understand?

Before the Meiji Restoration began, Yukichi Fukuzawa constantly preached that the way to Japan's prosperity and strength lay in comprehensive Westernization, and that in the future, it would break away from Asia and join Europe. However, they all ignore one point, the Japanese are also yellow people, no matter how Westernized, they can't change their skin color, and when we were fully Westernized, we almost abandoned some, including the thousand-year-old Sinology, with the West as a teacher, while we learn Western science, we also intend to follow the West to implement overseas expansion, and even as early as 30 years ago, Fukuzawa Yukichi advocated attacking China. Originally, compared with the Chinese, the Japanese were too arrogant, and the morality and ethics of Sinology keep us vigilant, when we abandon Sinology, we also abandon that trace of vigilance, and this is the root of the destruction of Japan, it is that arrogance that destroys Japan! ”

The fall of empires is always a painful lesson, and for Hiroyuki Kato and many other Japanese, they reflect on Yukichi Fukuzawa's ideas in the context of their country's catastrophe, as well as on Japan's enlightenment.

In contrast, the Qing Dynasty, which was in the era of great changes in East Asia, was most fortunate to have such a great figure as Li Hongzhang, who chose a completely different path from Japan, and he almost single-handedly led the Beiyang Group and opened the curtain of China's industrialization. He did not care about the reputation, held negotiations, built railways, built factories, and organized a navy, but the ultimate goal was to hope that under the premise of maintaining social order, he would cope with the great changes in China that had not been seen in 3,000 years, so we saw the conservatism of the Qing State in the Qing State, and saw their lack of progress, but in fact, their lack of progress reduced the impact of the change on the society to the greatest extent, so that the society of society entered the era of change. ”

In Kato Hiroyuki's words, he was full of admiration for Li Hongzhang. But who can know that many years ago, when Ito Hirobumi returned to China with Tianjin, he called Li Hongzhang "aware of the general trend." He also laughed at Ito, but now the drastic change in the fate of Japan has made him understand the greatness of Li Hongzhang.

Even the "lack of progress" in the past few decades is correct in Kato's view, and now the changes are taking place in Tianjin and other places. It is precisely the greatness of Li Hongzhang that the change has not had an impact on the people, because they have slowly accepted all this.

In contrast, Tang Haoran seems to be successful. When he was in charge of Korea, he overthrew almost everything and established a completely Westernized Incheon Special Zone, which was very much lamented by the Japanese that Inchon was like a Western. In fact, Incheon is the future of Tohoku. In the future, Tohoku will become a completely Westernized region, but what will this radical change bring to Japan? Isn't it true that you still don't understand this from the perspective of Japan today? ”

His father's warning made Kato Terumi's brows lock, is Westernization really wrong? And Hiroyuki Kato continued to explain as if he understood the doubts in his son's heart.

"There is nothing wrong with Westernization, and there is nothing wrong with learning from the West, but the key is the way. When Japan learned from the Tang Dynasty, it was like an uncivilized primitive. There is no civilization, and naturally it will not reject the Chinese civilization, so for the next 1,000 years, China was the teacher of Japan, and we tried to imitate everything in China, because we did not have a civilization ourselves, and what about Japan now? We have inherited the Chinese civilization in its entirety, which is the pride of Japan, but we ignorantly want to abandon everything overnight in order to learn from the West, and this kind of impact is devastating for Japan......"

With a long sigh, Hiroyuki Kato, who seemed to be lamenting the fate of Japan, glanced out of the car again, and was already almost at the Beiyang Yamen, about to meet the greatest figure in the East.

This is what Li Hongzhang admires, Li Hongzhang is a real reformer, not a defender of the old order, and he will not destroy everything like Tang Haoran, although Li Hongzhang's modernization plan has many flaws, but it is in line with the reality of China today. And we...... This is the most admirable thing about Li Hongzhang! ”

The carriage finally arrived at the Beiyang Yamen, when the carriage stopped, looking at the Beiyang New Army wearing new military uniforms outside the Beiyang Yamen, Kato Hiroyuki's heart couldn't help but be excited, in the past, Li Hongzhang's reform was heavily constrained by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and at this time, without that heavy constraint, the entire Zhili is undergoing earth-shaking changes, and this is not the time when he and those Japanese in exile in China are icing on the cake?

Even as a member of the Japanese House of Nobles, when he asked to see Li Hongzhang, Kato Hiroyuki still waited in line like a bystander, in fact, even if it was like this, it was already lenient, if it was replaced by an ordinary person, I was afraid that even the qualification for this queue would be gone. And as an outdated Japanese parliamentarian, it is already a very face-saving thing for him to enjoy this kind of treatment, even if it is the current general office of the Tianjin Manufacturing Bureau, he waited in the yamen for three days just to see Zhongtang.

After waiting for nearly two hours, a clerk walked in, made a polite salute, and then said.

"Mr. Kato, Lord Nakado, please come in!"

When the teacup was put down, two Japanese men in suits walked in the door, and the two of them bowed 45 degrees in front of Li Hongzhang, and then introduced themselves without humility or arrogance:

"Hiroyuki Kato, President of Tokyo Imperial University in Japan, pays a visit to Nakado-sama."

Hiroyuki Kato did not use his status as a member of the House of Nobles, and he believed that this status might be better used in front of Li Hongzhang.

In fact, as he guessed, in the past six months, there have indeed been many Japanese officials who have come to the Beiyang Yamen to ask to see Li Hongzhang, and it is difficult for a member of the House of Nobles to attract Li Hongzhang's attention, but he still politely received these people, and even prepared some places for them to settle down in Tianjin, but if there are no professionals available, it will be limited to this. It was not so much leniency, but in reality, it was based on the most basic etiquette, and Li Hongzhang did not know how Westerners treated these exiled officials, but at least Chinese tradition led him to take the initiative to treat them well.

Carefully look at Hiroyuki Kato in front of him. The other party's occupation made Li Hongzhang's heart burst with joy, and he said to Kato Hiroyuki closely:

"Long admiration, long admiration, no formality, please sit."

Li Hongzhang's word "long admiration" is not a polite word for ordinary literati to meet, he has indeed heard of this person Kato Hiroyuki for a long time, after the establishment of the Peiyang University Hall, dozens of Japanese professors have been hired to teach at the school, and from the mouths of those people, he naturally knows the name of the president of Tokyo Imperial University, and he was originally annoyed by Li Hongzhang, who was the sponsor of the Peiyang University Hall and turned the school into a yamen. At this time, seeing that the former president of the Imperial University found his door, he would naturally look very happy.

When Li Hongzhang looked at Kato, he was also looking at Li Hongzhang, and sure enough, as rumored outside, Li Hongzhang was extremely tall, even if he was a Westerner, he was not necessarily as tall as he was, it was this person who almost single-handedly supported the huge Chinese Empire, and his ability was trusted by the world. Standing in front of him made Kato feel a burst of unprecedented pressure, and even his waist was bent several times.

"Thank you, Your Excellency!"

Kato Hiroyuki, who was born as a feudal scholar, read the relationship between Han and Xueshu when he was young, so the Nanjing official dialect is quite fluent, and Li Hongzhang himself also speaks fluent Jianghuai official dialect, so there is no problem with the two of them communicating, after they sit down, the two of them are polite, if it is a Westerner, it may be difficult to adapt to this oriental politeness, but Kato, as a Japanese, is naturally comfortable with this, neither of them mentioned the right thing, nor even mentioned the current situation in Japan, but Li Hongzhang asked if he was used to it in Tianjin, Kato replied, It also compliments the development of Tianjin. After being polite like this for almost half an hour, when Kato Hiroyuki drank a cup of tea halfway, Li Hongzhang said.

"Mr. Kato's family lives in a trading company, so naturally there is a lot of inconvenience, so I will move to Peiyang University Hall tomorrow! It's convenient to go back and serve in the hall of Peiyang University, well, as for Ling Gongzi......"

Li Hongzhang, who had a Hefei accent in his voice, looked at Kato Terumi on the side, and from his occasional expression, Li Hongzhang knew that this person probably had no intention of staying in Tianjin for a long time, but his father was determined to stay here, so he ordered.

"Since Ling Gongzi is a doctor, he can work in the hospital before him, I wonder what Mr. Kato thinks?"

After saying that, Li Hongzhang smiled and looked at Kato waiting for his answer, but surprisingly, Kato Hiroyuki did not get up to say thanks, but silently picked up the teacup, drank the tea and stopped talking, as if Li Hongzhang was not what he ordered.

(Speechless is now forbidden to burn in the countryside, eating and living in the township 24 hours a day, so that there can only be one shift a day, I hope everyone can understand, tears run...... Try not to break the change! (To be continued.) )