After a closer look, Sun Yuan had more questions: it was already mid to late May, Shanghai was located in Jiangjiangnan, and it was early summer during the festival, so ordinary people had already taken off their spring clothes and changed into long shirts. And this Chen Qiansheng is still wearing a jacket, and the cuffs and collar are shiny because they have not been washed for a long time. I didn't wear socks on my feet, so I put them directly into my shoes. Cloth shoes with mille-feuille soles have always been known for their durability, and they have been ground out of a hole the size of a fingernail on his foot. The upper of the shoe was so stained that it was no longer visible in color.

Although Sun Yuanqi is not a cleanliness addict, he also pays great attention to personal hygiene. In schools, bathhouses, toilets, and laundry rooms have always been key service facilities. The Student Code repeatedly requires students to wash and change their clothes frequently. Now that he saw Chen Qiansheng unkempt, he was suddenly quite unhappy in his heart.

“…… This time, Chen returned from Japan and was overjoyed to hear that Mr. Sun had been appointed as an envoy to Hubei, and felt that there was still hope for Chinese education. So I took the liberty to come here and wanted to follow Master Sun and learn some knowledge. Chen Qiansheng finished speaking at this time.

Sun Yuanqi was noncommittal and looked at the next place.

The young man sitting in the second seat got up, raised his eyebrows, and said, "Student Liu Shipei, Uncle Shen, Jiangsu Yizheng." Born in the 10th year of Guangxu 4), 28 years (19o2) in the middle of the lift. I have read the textbooks you have compiled, and I have personally compiled some textbooks for elementary and middle schools. Although the textbooks of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and other Western studies written by adults are well-known all over the country, I am confident that the textbooks I have compiled and studied classics and Chinese studies are also good at them. If students are fortunate enough to live under the curtain of adults, they will definitely live up to the motto of their predecessors."

Sun Yuanqi nodded secretly: The master who is worthy of the age is indeed grandiose and high-spirited. Zeng Wenzhenggong said: "If you are not crazy at the age of 20, you are useless, and if you are crazy at the age of 30, you are also unproductive." "In this way, this Liu Shipei is a character

Zhang Shizhao didn't wait for Sun Yuanqi's orders, and then got up and introduced himself: "Student Zhang Shizhao, strict in words, was born in Changsha, Hunan in the seventh year of Guangxu. He has studied at Wuchang Lianghu Academy, Nanjing 6 Teachers School, Shanghai Patriotic Society, and Tokyo Regular School. A little talent and fame are not worth showing ugliness in front of Lord Sun. It's just that the students have a little experience in ancient texts, and if there is a job of writing and writing letters under the adult's curtain, Xiao Ke will definitely be able to do it."

The introduction of the three was finished, and the servant served tea. Taking advantage of this gap, Sun Yuanqi thought a little: these three young people rushed over from nowhere, and if they refused, it seemed unkind; If you pick the fat and pick the thin, the students who come and go will be disgraced; If you accept them all, a sloppy person like Chen Qiansheng will go around him every day, but his heart will be panicked

Recruiting staff is similar to today's two-way selection of talents, the staff selects the proprietor, and the proprietor also selects the staff. The most common is to interview first, meet and chat, whether you have a similar temperament; After that, there is a written test, usually to write an official document to see if the staff is competent. After recruitment, there was no written contract between the two, and it was entirely a verbal agreement. If the owner is not used to it, he can be dismissed at any time; If the staff feels unhappy, they can resign and leave at any time.

Sun Yuanqi said: "Compared with the three virtuous brothers, Sun Mou is a few years older, so he calls himself a brother." The main purpose of Brother Yu's visit to Hubei this time was to reform the school administration and establish a school. At present, the imperial court has just abolished the imperial examination, changed the academic administration to the education envoy, Hubei new-style schools have not yet been established on a large scale, the province's education is still dominated by private schools, and the overall situation is very grim. Today, I would like to ask you to write a notice for me, which explains your understanding of the current education in Hubei and the future reform plan. ”

The written test is also the proper meaning of the question, and the three of them did not panic. After bringing the four treasures of the study, they sipped tea and meditated; Or write straight without thinking.

It was almost noon, and Sun Yuan was afraid that they would be hungry, so he asked the servants to bring pastries; I was obsessed with a chemistry journal and was fascinated by it.

Liu Shipei, who was the first to submit the papers, was indeed a newborn calf who was not afraid of tigers. Sun Yuanqi hurriedly took his manuscript paper and looked at it carefully: Although he was the first to hand in the papers, his handwriting was neat, and he had a good impression of the beautiful small block letters. The prose is very clean, and there is a strong flavor of "Spring and Autumn Left Biography". It's just that there is nothing new in the views in the article, mainly encouraging the gentry to establish schools, giving priority to the establishment of normal schools, promoting and popularizing excellent teaching materials, and sponsoring students to study abroad at official expense.

Then there is Chen Qiansheng. The moment he approached, Sun Yuanqi held his breath and quickly took his manuscript.

As the saying goes, "Words are what they are." "It's really very appropriate, I saw that the manuscript paper has both true, line and grass, and the dot painting is not limited to rope and ink, and it has a delicate and wild meaning. If the article is not written as expected, it will be broadly brushed; In some places, words should be added, and they should be made up on the edges, and written straight to the feet of the heavens and the earth. What's even more terrifying is that he wrote in the vernacular: "Hubei mentions the school envoy Sun, and warns the students at the bottom of the province to ......" In the article, he put forward several novel ideas, such as local tax and financial subsidies for schools, training private school teachers to change their concepts, which is enough to make Sun Yuanqi's eyes shine.

Zhang Shizhao finally handed in the papers. Despite the cliché, the calligraphy is handsome, the rhetoric is beautiful, and the structure is clear, and the test paper is like a work of art with both content and form, which is hard to put down.

Take it all? I'm afraid I won't be able to feed so many people. Reject one or two? I also feel that talents are rare, and it is a pity to let them go.

Sun Yuanqi weighed it again and again before he said: "The articles made by the three virtuous brothers are admired by the foolish brothers. If you are just a staff member, the foolish brother feels a little pity. Why don't you live under the curtain for the time being, and wait for the Hubei University to raise the embassy and the yamen, or if there is a shortage in the school in the future, and then ask you to fill the public office, how about it? ”

When the three of them heard this, they were all overjoyed.

Sun Yuanqi did not forget to carefully tell them about setting sail tomorrow. At the time of parting, each person gave fifty taels of silver, and Sun Yuanqi repeatedly advised: "A little gift is not a respect." Please take a bath and change clothes with all the virtuous brothers, after all, you have to stay on the river wheel for a few days" I think that a smart person like Chen Qiansheng will not be unable to hear his own voice, right?

The next day, Sun Yuan set up Bellilis, Tony, and two brothers, and stepped on the river ship and sailed up the Yangtze River.

There was nothing on the boat, and at this time, Yang Du shook the paper fan and staggered to the first-class cabin to find Sun Yuanqi. Before he could sit down, he asked out loud: "Baixi, as the saying goes, 'three fires for new officials to take office'." When you arrived in Hubei, what were your plans when you got off the bus? ”

Among Sun Yuanqi's five existing staff, Lin Shu and the three young men can only write and paint, and the only one who can really discuss things and make ideas is the one in front of them. immediately asked: "I still don't know what Brother Hui has to say?" ”

Yang Du closed the paper fan with a "sigh": "Hubei people are not easy to deal with"

Sun Yuanqi was stunned: We came to Hubei to run a school, why don't we have anything to "deal with" them?

Yang Du continued: "Regarding the Hubei people, there is a saying in the Book of Songs that 'stupid barbarian jing, and the big state is the enemy', and Jia Donzhi of the Han Dynasty said that they are 'saints will obey when they rise, and China will decline first', and the folk proverb 'nine-headed bird in the sky, Hubei Yankee on the ground' is even more broadcast in the mouth. These all show that the people in the place are cunning, frivolous and irritable, and it is difficult to convince the king. If we don't prepare in advance, and suddenly let the Hubei gentry come to dismount after arriving at the shore, many things will be difficult to do in the future."

Sun Yuanqi thought to himself: You should be regarded as regional discrimination, right?

A long time ago, when Sun Yuanqi was still studying in school, he heard a classmate from Hubei say a slip of the tongue: "Rape Huangpi, cunning and filial piety, treacherous and cunning is Hanchuan." The three Hanchuan Yankees are not as good as the sky (gate) and the sun (yang). "From this point of view, the people of Hubei are really not easy to mess with

It is also said that among the 13 Chinese delegates to the First National Congress, five were from Hubei alone. From this point of view, the people of Hubei are indeed not very peaceful

"What is Brother Wanzi's opinion?" Sun Yuanqi humbly asked for advice.

Yang Du opened the paper fan and put on a Zhuge Kongming look: "This is the reason why the contemptible people came to harass"

Yang Du and Sun Yuanqi discussed how to discuss it, and they didn't talk about it in detail. The steamer traveled on the Yangtze River for more than a day and finally arrived at the Hankou wharf in Wuchang Province. Before I got off the boat, I heard the noise of gongs and drums on the pier, and I could see a huge banner with the words "Welcome to the Envoy Sun". I think it was the Hubei official in Shanghai who had already informed him of the time of arrival.

For greeting, this is also customary.

According to Sun Yuanqi's understanding, the governor is similar to the provincial governor and secretary of the provincial party committee in later generations, and if he is a member of the Central Committee (that is, the rank of squire of the military department), he is at the ministerial level (Zheng Erpin); If it is a member of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (that is, the right deputy of the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Procuratorate), it is a deputy minister (from the second rank).

Under the governor, there are three vice-provincial cadres:

The first is the political envoy, relative to the executive vice governor in charge of finance and taxation, the vice minister level (from the second rank).

After the restructuring, the envoy ranked second, equivalent to the vice governor in charge of science, education, culture, health and sports, and the ordinary only had the three products, because he lost the aura of the "minister", he bowed his head when he saw the political envoy, and he had to kowtow to say goodbye. Now Sun Yuanqi is going down with the status of a member of the Central Committee (the title of the right attendant of the school) and enjoys the treatment of deputy minister level (from the second grade). Although when arranging seats and reading the list, he was still under the political envoy, but when he usually interacted, he was completely on an equal footing with the political envoy, which virtually saved a lot of trouble.

The third is the inspector, similar to the secretary of the political and legal committee and the vice governor in charge of public security.

For now, if a leader at the level of executive vice governor is delegated from the central government, and the relative of this leader is a scholar of Yuange, vice president of the State Council), who is favored by the top leaders (Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu), can the main officials of the province and city not be greeted at the airport?

Sun Yuanqi didn't know what kind of trouble this group of Hubei eunuchs would make, so he straightened his official uniform, and walked off the ship with Yang Du and his party.