The war was raging outside the gate, but there was a song and dance inside the gate.

The Manchu government had intended to send troops to assist Japan in its fight against Russia. It was the young and militant faction that put forward this proposition, especially several young and vigorous Manchurian nobles such as Tie Liang and Pu Wei, who hoped to send troops to Manchuria. Pu Wei has just passed twenty and has just inherited the title of Prince Gong, but he is just a gentleman who eats the food of his ancestors. However, Tie Liang, the squire of the military department, has already entered the political arena early, and has been a member of Ronglu's staff for a long time, and has long been known as a soldier. He participated in the formation of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang New Army. He was the main assistant and supervisor of Yuan Shikai in the formation of the Beiyang New Army, and won the trust of Cixi. Last year, I went to Japan to inspect the military and went around a circle, and I had a first-hand experience of Japan's military strength, and I firmly believed that Japan could win this war. Now that you are participating, the benefits are sure to be great. In addition, taking the opportunity can also really seize the military power of the Beiyang New Army and capture it in the hands of the Manchurians.

Northeast China is the birthplace of the Manchus, and Tsarist Russia's ambition to occupy the Northeast is clearly exposed, and now the Japanese have actually sent troops to fight Russia, which is a godsend. The imperial court has reorganized the six towns of Beiyang, and this force is not big or small. Why don't you pull out the pass to show the strength of the imperial court? They seem to have forgotten the pain that Japan had inflicted on China, and now they have to pay off the huge debt they owe Japan every month as a result of the defeat in the war.

However, many more ministers felt that they were not strong enough to participate in the competition between Japan and Russia. Cixi, the top decision-maker, had already suffered a great loss in the great changes four years ago and was frightened. Where do you dare to get involved in the struggle for hegemony among the great powers? And the de facto Allied Army, Japan, did not need the Manchu Qing to "help in the war" at all, it only needed the Manchus to cede territory.

So Chaoyang brazenly declared "partial neutrality". The east of the Liao River was drawn as a war zone. Diplomatically "begged" the two warring countries not to cross the line. As for the safety of the people in the vast area east of the Liao River, the imperial court does not care, and everyone should settle their destiny.

When this decree came out, it immediately aroused the scolding of those forces in the country who were dissatisfied with the imperial court. Xu Wenfu, the general office (president) of Shandong University Hall, is one of them.

Xu Wenfu is pure Confucian, and he is forty-three years old. His ancestral home is Suzhou, his family is honest, and he became a talent at the age of thirteen, and is known as a prodigy. After the Hongyang Rebellion, under the leadership of a group of Western-style officials represented by Zeng Guofan, the country gradually opened. Learning from the West to the East. There are more and more officials and those who stay abroad at their own expense. He believed in the theory of education to save the country, and believed that in order for China to become rich and strong, it was necessary to broaden the wisdom of the people and vigorously promote compulsory education. So when he was thirty years old. Leaving behind parents, wives and children. Go abroad to study at your own expense. That's 11 years. He studied at the University of Leipzig, the Ecole Supérieure d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, and the University of Oxford, where he received two doctorates in education and political science. In 1901, he returned to China due to his father's funeral and met Zhou Xuexi, who was keen on business. The two have similar interests and become close friends. After Zhou Xuexi's recommendation, he succeeded Zhou Xuexi as the general office of Shandong University Hall in the second year after returning to China, which can be regarded as finding a place to practice his own education and rejuvenate the country.

Zhou Xuexi recommended Xu Wenfu to replace him to preside over Shandong University Hall, which was not only public, but also mixed with private thoughts. He likes to run an industry more than a school, and he has long been itchy about the booming industrial group in Lunan. And he thought that his level of running a school was not as good as Xu Wenfu, so he replaced himself with Xu Wenfu. His father, Zhou Fu, was in charge of Shandong, and he was quite open-minded in politics, and he talked with Xu Wenfu once, thinking that he was a rare talent. It happened that Long Qian invited Zhou Xuexi to Huayuan to take charge, so Xu Wenfu successfully sat on the throne of the president of the university.

Xu Wenfu is the general office, and he is determined to build Shandong University into a first-class university in China, and one day, it is his hidden ambition to build Shandong University Hall into a famous school comparable to Oxford. After taking office, he rectified the school rules and regulations as formal, recruited famous teachers to enrich the teachers, and did some practical things.

But running a school is the most expensive. The meagre tuition fees for students are not enough. The provincial funding is limited, thanks to Zhou Xuexi, who became the president of Huayuan Industrial Group, to win several donations from Huayuan to Shandong University Hall, which made the school expand rapidly after Xu Wenfu took over, in addition to teaching facilities, professional settings, and the number of students have made great progress compared with the original.

Although in one city, Xu Wenfu had no intersection with Long Qian, the governor of Shandong and the commander of the fifth town. Long Qian once went to the Shandong University Hall, which was being expanded, accompanied by Zhou Xuexi, but did not see Xu Wenfu.

Xu Wenfu didn't come forward under the pretext of something, and Long Qian just walked around the campus. Zhou Xuexi was a little embarrassed, feeling that his friend, who had been gnawing on foreign bread for more than ten years, did not give face. Face is the most important thing for Chinese people, and not giving face is a very serious matter. What's more, they are also the benefactors of the university hall.

Afterwards, Zhou Xuexi complained about Principal Xu. Xu Wenfu said, a bandit-born martial artist, what kind of university does he know? What are you doing in my school? It's simply vassal, elegant, vulgar.

Zhou Xuexi knew that Xu Wenfu had misunderstood. immediately told him that General Long Qian was not an ordinary ringing horse, he was a Chinese born and raised in the United States, and he said that people were vassals and elegant. Moreover, Shandong University Hall can have the current atmosphere, thanks to the strong support of this person.

"What does he support?" Xu Wenfu was taken aback. Unexpectedly, the admiral, who was rumored to be a bandit who was a courtier of Cixi, turned out to be a Chinese American who grew up in the United States.

Zhou Xuexi told Xu Wenfu the secret of Huayuan Industry. Without Long Qian's approval, where would there be Huayuan's huge funding for the school? In Fei County, Yizhou and Yanzhou, the Admiral was extremely enthusiastic about running a school and it was very effective.

"Pure Confucian, don't think of him as a martial artist, this person has a splendid chest, it's really hard to describe what if. I also came to Huayuan, and I knew that the two major industries in Lunan were all from his hands. From fund-raising to the introduction of technology, from personnel recruitment to the establishment of internal rules, it is all up to this person. ”

"How so?" Xu Wenfu was shocked. Although he is obsessed with education, but he also very much agrees with the industry to save the country, after coming to Jinan, he has witnessed the process of Huayuan and Zhongxing's growth, but he has never heard anyone say that it is actually the martial artist who supports the army and respects himself.

Xu Wenfu thought that if what Zhou Xuexi said was true, maybe he was really a Chinese returning from the United States. It is difficult to imagine that a reckless person born in a loud horse can run such an industrial group. This led to President Xu's curiosity about Long Qian, a returned overseas Chinese. How could he have risen to the high position of commander of the new army and governor of a province in just a few years? It is not difficult to understand this, and Zhou Xuexi can solve his doubts. After listening to Zhou Xuexi's introduction, Xu Wenfu regretted the rude of hiding from the school that time.

It wasn't until Huayuan moved to Jinan and merged with the Machinery Bureau, involving urban planning, that Long Qian suggested that he seek Xu Wenfu's opinion that he met this martial artist who held military power and was famous in Shandong for the first time.

That was a "symposium" convened by Ding Yuji, the prefect of Jinan, on the site selection of the new Huayuan factory, which was attended by Xu Jianyin, Zhou Xuexi and others. He talked about his views on the construction of the new plant and urban planning. Xu Wenfu was greatly admired. He thinks that he, who has lived overseas for more than ten years, does not have such a deep understanding. The understanding of industrial construction, the relationship between factory construction and urban layout, and the relationship between the protection of old cities and the construction of new cities. For the series planning of supporting facilities. The issue of environmental protection was even raised. It is in Britain, Germany, France and other powerful countries. I haven't heard of environmental protection either.

At that meeting, I got to know this military general who was in charge of the military power of a province. After the meeting, Governor Ding made the east and invited the participants. Xu Wenfu's seat happened to be next to Long Qian. Because of Long Qian's speech, Xu Wenfu has changed his opinion of this general. He took the opportunity to express his gratitude to Huayuan Group for helping the school. Long Qian smiled and said that it was completely deserved, education is a major matter related to the future and destiny of the country and the nation. All strata of the Shinong, industrial, and commercial strata should pay attention and care, and should have the money to contribute and make a strong contribution, and should not rely only on government funding. Of course, the main responsibility should be borne by the government. What does the government do? Aren't the main ones two things: national defense and education?

This surprised Xu Wenfu again. It is the first time that the responsibilities of the government have been explained so succinctly and clearly. That's really the way to think about it.

"It is said that the Admiral grew up in the United States, so he must have learned how to run a university well. Why not give me a word or two? ”

"Don't dare. Mr. Xu is a senior, just call Long by name. You are a doctor of education, how dare you make an axe? However, the way of the university is nothing more than eclectic, open and inclusive. Only with freedom of thought can there be academic results. ”

"Eclectic, open and inclusive......" Xu Wenfu chewed on these eight words, deeply appreciative.

When he got home, he said to his wife and daughter, "What a small look." Shandong is really fortunate to have such a person in charge. ”

Xu Xue, her daughter who was painting on the drawing board, said, "Haven't you always underestimated him as just a martial artist who suddenly rose to a high position by relying on the Queen Mother?" ”

"There is talent in the recklessness. Besides, people are not reckless...... "he sighed, "and there was prejudice in the past. If you have the opportunity, invite him to come to the school and give a presentation. ”

In order to express his long-term intentions, Xu Wenfu brought his wife and daughter, who were accustomed to living in the southern water towns. Mrs. said that she was a housewife, and it was only natural for him to come to Jinan. The trouble is in the children, Xu Wenfu has a son and a daughter, the son married in the year after he returned to China, and worked in Lu Runzhen's Sulun Yarn Factory, which is quite important. Staying in his hometown in Suzhou can be regarded as guarding his ancestral business. The key is the daughter, because he has been stranded overseas for a long time and has not returned, he has delayed his daughter's marriage a little, Xu Xue, who was born in the eleventh year of Guangxu, is eighteen years old this year and has not yet found his in-law's family. It's no wonder that the wife, after all, the marriage is the final decision of the father.

In fact, in the last two years of Xu Wenfu's stay in the ocean, Mrs. Xu also talked about her daughter's marriage, but her daughter had a rebellious heart under her quiet appearance, claiming that she would never marry if she failed her studies, and hid in Shanghai and refused to come back. What is she doing in Shanghai? He studied fine arts, that is, Western painting, and piano. Xu Xue's uncle, who worked as a comprador in a British foreign firm in Shanghai, was open-minded and supportive of his niece's request to study music and art in Shanghai, so he let Xu Xue live in his own home, and went to his English friend's house every morning to learn piano with the hostess, and in the afternoon went to a privately run art school to study painting.

Xu Wenfu returned to China, Xu Xue followed her uncle back to Suzhou to see her father, and was detained at home by her father. Don't look at Xu Wenfu's more than ten years of staying abroad, but his thinking is quite old-fashioned. Food, clothing, housing and transportation all reflect that they are still intellectuals in the traditional sense cultivated on the land of China, which makes the younger brother who stays in China but has seriously Westernized his thoughts cry and laugh. Anyway, Xu Wenfu didn't allow his daughter to go to Shanghai to learn music with her foreign mother-in-law. In fact, learning piano is still secondary, but he disapproves of learning Western painting the most. Did you hear that you want to practice human body sketching? Her father's fate was difficult to disobey, Xu Xue could only interrupt her beloved studies, followed her parents to Jinan, and entered Shandong University Hall to study Mandarin.

On this day, Xu Wenfu came home from work and angrily threw a newspaper on the table, "It's really shameless!" ”

Xu Xue went home before her father, "What made my father so angry?" When I took a look at the newspaper, it was a "Quancheng Shimbun" published every two days, which published a report on the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War and the imperial court's "partial neutrality" in the northeast.

"Is my father angry at the incompetence of the court? The news has spread throughout the school, and the students are preparing to march in protest. Xu Xue dropped the newspaper and helped her father take off his thick cotton robe. Xu Wenfu stayed abroad for many years, but after returning to China, he rarely wore Western clothes, always in long shirts and cotton robes, no different from ordinary literati in China.

"Nonsense! The mission of the students is to study their homework, not to worry about national affairs! That's not what you should be concerned about. ”

"Didn't the imperial court train the new army of the Six Towns? Don't we have a soldier in front of us? Isn't the army used to protect the people of the country? The great powers are fighting on their own soil, but the court is calling out what partial neutrality! Thanks to those princes of the court who were able to come up with such shameless words. No wonder the students were angry......"

"National affairs, not to mention you, even me, have no right to put their beaks. No demonstrations are allowed! Recently, the imperial court is going to send a prince to lead a team to Jinan to check the formation of the army in the fifth town. If you don't think about it, it will be misunderstood by the imperial court...... "The more Xu Wenfu thinks about it, the more difficult it is, and he must inquire about this matter, so as not to cause trouble to the admiral he admires."

"The Fifth Town Army? Wasn't the Fifth Town an army long ago? ”

"I don't know what it is. This time, however, he invited me to the ceremony. It's in the north of the city. Celebrities from all walks of life in Jinan have received invitations...... "Xu Wenfu knows that his daughter cares about current affairs, and thanks to the fact that there is someone in the family who can talk, if they are like wives who only focus on housework, wouldn't it be boring?"

"It's not interesting to be an army or not. It is only a waste of the country's salary. Have the ability to go to Kanto and drive the Russians out of the city......"

"What is this called? If he can do what he wants, won't he become a warlord? ”

"As long as you can defend the country, a warlord is not bad......" Xu Xue dropped half a sentence and went back to practice. (To be continued......)