Chapter 309: The Court's Attention
At noon on November 28, the 28th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (January 7, 1902), Cixi returned to Beijing, ending her one year and five months of exile. This marked the temporary end of the impact of the Boxer Rebellion and the Qing court barely maintained its rule.
This incident was a great blow to Cixi. It was indeed a humiliation to have the capital invaded by the Eight-Nation Alliance, but Cixi was more wary of the Southeast Mutual Protection implemented by local officials such as Liu Kunyi, Governor-General of Liangjiang, Zhang Zhidong, Governor-General of Huguang, Li Hongzhang, Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Xu Yingqi, Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, Kui Jun, Governor-General of Sichuan, Sheng Xuanhuai, Minister of Railways, and Yuan Shikai, Governor of Shandong. This made her realize that the power of the Qing court and local forces had changed.
In addition, the death of Li Hongzhang caused the Qing Dynasty to lose a paperhanger who could reconcile the conflicts between Manchus and Han people. Cixi felt more and more the crisis facing the Qing court. In fact, she no longer had much hope that the court could continue to rule. She only hoped to "imitate the systems of Britain, Germany, and Japan and become a constitutional country" to preserve the "clan society" and avoid being slaughtered like previous changes of dynasties.
She felt that it was better to accept constitutionalism than to be overthrown by others, so when she was exiled in Xi'an, she issued an edict calling for reform. Now that she has returned to the capital, she has begun to plan to select suitable ministers to be responsible for the reform.
In addition to meeting with important court officials such as Yixin, Ronglu, and Lu Chuanlin, and carefully pondering their true thoughts through conversations, Cixi also continued to meet with envoys of various countries in China to discuss the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion. She was really scared.
When the ministers of other countries met, they mostly talked about how to ensure the implementation of the treaties they had signed before. However, the French ambassador to China, Bouvet, was different. When he met with Cixi, he talked about another thing, "Congratulations to the Virgin Queen Mother. Not long after your birthday, a scholar from the Qing Dynasty who once studied in France, Zhang Xingjiu, won the highest award in the scientific community, the Nobel Prize in Physics. This is a testimony to the friendship between our two countries."
Cixi was completely confused after hearing this. She had no idea what was going on and could only deal with it vaguely. After Bao Wo left, she immediately ordered people to collect information about Zhang Xingjiu and what the Nobel Prize was all about.
After a few days, someone finally reported back, "Zhang Xingjiu was originally from Shaoxing, Zhejiang. He was poor since childhood. By chance, he was able to study at the famous Sanwei Book House in Shaoxing. He passed the examination and became a scholar. Later, he went to Shanghai to study at St. Ignatius School."
Hearing this, Cixi interrupted him and said, "St. Ignatius School? This seems to be a school of the Catholic Church in Shanghai? Ma Xiangbo also seems to have studied in this school?"
"The Queen Mother is wise. When Zhang Xingjiu was studying at St. Ignatius's School, he won the favor of Ma Xiangbo. Later, he went to study in France. When he returned to China, Ma Xiangbo recruited him as his son-in-law!" the visitor added hurriedly.
"He had a lot of interactions with Li Wenzhong, Sheng Xuanhuai and others before. If Li Wenzhong were still alive, he could have helped to win over this person. Unfortunately, Li Wenzhong has passed away." Cixi sighed repeatedly. When it comes to the ability to handle international affairs, she may not be up to standard, but when it comes to personnel struggle skills, she has it all.
She talked a few more words about Li Hongzhang. She really felt sorry for Li Hongzhang's death. There were not many useful servants like him now, and one less was one less.
After she finished muttering, she gestured to continue reporting. When she heard that Nobel left behind a huge fortune of tens of millions of taels of silver after his death, and that the Nobel Prize prize was as high as more than 200,000 taels of silver, she couldn't help but frown.
"It's really too presumptuous! How dare he do this, he's just a businessman!" In her opinion, only fame and status can't be faked. Now Nobel has set up awards to evaluate scholars all over the world. This is ill-intentioned! And Zhang Xingjiu used the prize money of more than 200,000 taels of silver to run a school, which is even more for fame. Deep down in his heart, he must have shameful thoughts. If it were any other time, such a person must be severely punished.
But he didn't want to think about it now. The senior officials in the southeastern provinces had already become alienated from the court, and the voices calling for reform were getting louder and louder. If Zhang Xingjiu were to be punished again, it would really incur public outrage.
Moreover, from what Bao Wo had said before, it seemed that France was also very fond of Zhang Xingjiu. If an imperial decree was issued to deal with Zhang Xingjiu, France might be dissatisfied. Therefore, even though Cixi was extremely unhappy, she could only adopt a conciliatory approach.
After thinking for a moment, Cixi made a decision. "Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong and others had previously petitioned the court to send students abroad to study, and grant them honors after they return, so that they can work for the court. Now that Zhang Xingjiu can spread the prestige of our Qing Dynasty overseas, he should be rewarded handsomely. Why not grant him the status of a Jinshi and order him to serve in Beijing!"
She had also thought about where Zhang Xingjiu would go after his death. "The court had already decided to restore the Imperial University of Peking and appointed the Minister of Personnel Zhang Baixi as the Minister of Education. Zhang Xingjiu was previously a teacher in Shanghai, so it would be a good idea for him to work in the Imperial University of Peking now. Since he is good at the science and technology department, let him be the supervisor of the science and technology department and grant him the fifth rank official hat. This way, he can also bring honor to the family!"
The highest person in charge of the Imperial University of Peking today is the general supervisor of the university, who is responsible for managing all the affairs of the university and commanding all students. Under him are the supervisors of the specialized universities, who are responsible for the affairs of the specialized universities. Their rank is lower than that of the general supervisor, but higher than that of other teaching and management personnel.
Cixi felt that it was already very good to give such a high position to a young man who had just entered officialdom. Zhang Xingjiu would surely be grateful when he received the imperial edict and would quickly pack up and report to Beijing. At that time, he could be used to demonstrate the court's determination to implement the new policy.
"The Holy Mother Empress Dowager values Zhang Xingjiu so much. He will surely be grateful and swear to die for the court when he receives the imperial edict." The person reporting the matter hurriedly boasted, and he was also extremely jealous in his heart.
Ordinary scholars who passed the imperial examinations, even if they were the top scorer, would only be granted a sixth-rank position as an editor in the Hanlin Academy. But now Zhang Xingjiu was awarded a fifth-rank position as soon as he entered officialdom, which was even more impressive than being the top scorer.
"Go ahead. Write the imperial edict and have someone send it to Shanghai. Ask him to come to Beijing to take up the post as soon as possible." Cixi waved her hand. After all, she was old, and after talking for a while, she felt a little exhausted.
The people below hurriedly began to follow the procedures. On that day, a eunuch happily took the imperial edict out of Beijing, went south along the Grand Canal, and went to Shanghai to issue the imperial edict. He was dreaming all the way. This was an imperial edict. When Zhang Xingjiu saw the imperial edict, wouldn't he give him a lot of silver? This time he made a fortune.
He was lucky. As soon as he arrived in Shanghai, he heard that Zhang Xingjiu had returned from Europe yesterday and was now teaching at Aurora College. He hurried over with the imperial edict.
I'm dizzy from drinking, but I still have to type. Happy New Year everyone.
(End of this chapter)
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