The Manchu officials were old oilmen who would not immediately take a stand when they encountered anything. Chen Ke proposed that He Ruming preside over the production of honeycomb coal, and He Ruming's immediate reaction was not to think that he was going to make a fortune, but to consider whether Chen Ke's doing so was a trap. The so-called "nothing to be courteous, either a traitor or a thief." Chen Ke has no reason to give himself such a wealth and dignity. And Chen Ke looked at his frank expression, and his encouraging words made He Ruming alert.

"Wen Qing doesn't have to worry." He Ruming's face immediately appeared with the kind of prevaricating smile that is characteristic of officials.

As soon as Chen Ke saw this look, he knew that He Ruming would never let go easily. He could understand this mentality, so he also smiled and said, "This is me Meng Lang." I ask for your forgiveness. ”

"Wen Qing came to Beijing this time, I don't think it's for this honeycomb coal thing, right?"

"Ordered by Yan Fu, I went to Beijing to meet with several division commanders."

Hearing this, He Ruming's eyes lit up, "Can Wen Qing tell me and see what I can do for Wen Qing." ”

What officialdom wants is all kinds of relationships. He Ruming is also new to Beijing to take up his post, and if he can help Chen Ke, he can also take some new lines along the way. He won't let go of such a thing that benefits him easily.

"Mr. Yan asked me to visit Mr. Gu Hongming in the hall of Beijing Normal University first."

"Haha, Wen Qing has written so many thick books, I think it should be very well written, don't think about it, Mr. Gu must like it tightly." He Ruming talked about Chen Ke's works for the first time, "I haven't had time to read Wenqing's book yet. After receiving Mr. Yan's letter, I was preparing to come to Beijing to take up my post, but I was very busy. ”

"I don't know what your position is now?"

"Be a five-rank official in the Ministry of Rites. Nothing. By the way, how did I hear that Wen Qing and my housekeeper were so unhappy, I don't know what's going on. ”

"It's all a misunderstanding, nothing remarkable. He doesn't have to care. ”

"When is Wen Qing going to visit Mr. Gu Hongming?"

"I'll be there this afternoon."

"Can you use me to send a car to send Wen Qing over?"

"Thank you, Lord He, I'm going to walk over."

"Why is that?"

"Whenever I go to a place, I definitely go there on foot, and I can see the customs of Beijing."

"Listening to Wen Qing's accent, aren't you from Beijing."

"How could it be. I've never been to Beijing. ”

"I've been to Beijing before, and it's changed a lot in the past two years." He Ruming said with a smile. Then he talked about his story.

Because the roads in Beijing are mostly dirt roads, the road area is very thick with sediment and dust due to the age, "when the weather is fine, the sand is buried deeply, the dust is fine, and the rain is full of sludge, and the smell is steamy." These sediment dusts come from the weathering of the road surface itself; second, residents dump garbage; The third is the serious wind and sand, "several times a month or more than a dozen times, or even a month", "whenever the wind rises, the dust atmosphere shadows, the sky and the sun", a year Beijing city will fall an unknown amount of loess dust and sand.

In addition, the middle of those traffic arteries was originally a chariot road. The emperor came out once, to spread the loess on the chariot road once, the days are long, the chariot road gradually rises above the ground, Xia Renhu said in the "Old Beijing Trivia": "Beijing City before the road is built, there are Yongdao in the center of its thoroughfare, the width is less than two zhang, three or four feet high, the rain and mud are slippery, often overturned, its situation is very dangerous. The hometown of inquiry, the cloud this original road, its first drive must be paved with loess. The original and the ground are flat, and over time, the ashes of the residents are also accumulated, and the time goes on worse, until it becomes a high cloud. ”

The corridor is higher than the ground, and there is also a factor of "residents' furnace ash is also evenly accumulated". It turned out that the residents of Beijing in those years dumped all the garbage from the courtyard of their homes on the pavement outside the door, and as a result, "the ashes of the stove and the crumbs of porcelain were piled up like a mountain", so that not only the pavement of the traffic arteries was three or four feet higher than the ground, but even the front of the house "the street was higher than the house, and the people were going down the steps, like falling into the pit valley". ("Yenching Miscellaneous")

From this, we can imagine the extent to which the street environment of Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty has become!

At that time, there was still a bad habit of open defecation in the capital. According to the "Yanjing Miscellaneous Records", since Jiaqing, there have been paid public toilets in Beijing, and "those who enter must be paid a penny". However, people still openly defecate in the streets, and the residents dump their toilets on the streets, plus the cow dung and horse urine from passing cattle carts, resulting in some streets being "dirty streets on the side of the dung walls", and the streets and alleys are filled with a foul smell. At that time, Tong Ren Tang in Dashilan was a well-known pharmacy with a thriving business every day, but the front of the door became a "place for street people to gather and defecate". The famous factory, when people were in the big shadow wall opposite the Lu Zu Temple, "you can defecate at will". Due to the filth of some streets in Beijing, such a "medical prescription" was circulated in those years: "Renzhong Huang (dung), Renzhong Bai (urine), Niu Pu, Ma Bo, and hearth soil, each divided into equal parts, rootless water (rain and snow) is evenly mixed, dried in the sun, the wheels are crushed into fine powder, and the northwest wind is sent into the nose to serve it, so that the heart of fame and fortune will be naturally eliminated." Although the irony is very spicy, it vividly reflects the street environment and the city's appearance and sanitation in Beijing at that time.

At that time, the city of Beijing not only had a bad street environment, but also the traffic was chaotic. On the traffic arteries in the city, not only the Yong Road is high above the ground, the road is high and narrow, and there are more stalls on both sides to sell goods, and the cars, horses and pedestrians flock to the road together, once the traffic is jammed, often unable to walk for half a day. In addition, "in the middle of summer, there is a scene of running a hot car, and the prince of Guijie is happy to gallop", "Those who are caught off guard will die in the road". ("Yenching Miscellaneous")

The alleys and alleys in the city are also disorderly. "The coachman is accustomed to being ashamed of giving way", so he quarreled and scolded, and for more than a long time, no one could move between pedestrians and cars.

After the implementation of the "New Deal" at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the above situation has undergone considerable changes, and the factors of modern road administration management have appeared.

First of all, in order to change the situation of "road management" and "management of the street office" and "only documented", the Inner and Outer City Industrial Inspection Bureau was established to be responsible for street management and inspection affairs. In 1905, the Inner City Road Engineering East and West Bureaus and the Outer City Road Engineering East and West Bureaus were established to be responsible for the construction of the streets and roads in the capital. Since 1904, more than a dozen gravel pavements have been repaired one after another, especially in 1909 for the funeral of Cixi, when the road was built in the area of Haigan, it was first filled with gravel, then poured lime water, and then rolled flat with steam. At that time, this paving method was called "sawwork". This kind of road surface is smooth and strong, and has been well received by both the government and the opposition. ("Jinghua One Hundred and Two Bamboo Branches")

When Chen Ke arrived in Beijing, it was already October 1905, and the gravel pavement that had been built since 1904 had already been completed, especially the construction of the main road. The cityscape of the capital has been greatly improved. The biggest improvement is the establishment of a modern police system. He Ruming, who was transferred from Tianjin, praised Yuan Shikai's achievements in building a modern police system. Between the words, Yuan Shikai was touted like a flower.

The establishment of the police force at the end of the Qing Dynasty was the result of the reform of China's traditional political structure. Its appearance shows that the old-style system of protecting armor and catching fast has been difficult to meet the needs of social development...... This generation does not plough and eat, does not weave and wear, idle, has no permanent industry, coercs its deceptive tricks, and runs rampant among the markets...... All because there is no patrol and arrest in the urban and rural areas of the mainland...... The gentleman often defended it, and the errand servants were more interconnected...... However, there are so many cases of robbery and robbery that cannot be prevented in the first place, but the reward is paid afterwards, and it is still difficult to solve the case despite the cost of a lot...... And the disadvantages of errand service accumulate and it is difficult to return. "It is precisely in view of the shortcomings of the old-style public security system that the establishment of the patrol police system has become the general trend." It is rumored that Yuan Weishuai has recently been harassed by the scribes of various prefectures and counties, and he is deeply hated, so he plans to immediately recruit the fourth battalion of patrol police to the nearby prefectures and counties to suppress the localities and take charge of civilian cases. ”

The police system has shown its unique superiority since its inception. "Yuan Gongbao selected and sent patrol police battalion soldiers to patrol day and night inside and outside the city, clean up the streets, interrogate traitors, and change shifts on time at night, especially cautious. "Jinbu five miscellaneous places, the most difficult to clean up, since the establishment of the patrol police for four years, have to have the current situation, although not the road is not forgotten, the night does not close the door, and the thief benefits the traces of Lu Yan, and should know the effect of the patrol police." Not only the Chinese praised it, but foreign newspapers also commented: "After the handover of Tianjin, the patrol police have been more reorganized and the roads have become cleaner, which is really unexpected.

In all fairness, Yuan Shikai did play a considerable role in the establishment of the police system, and his political achievements were remarkable. Beginning in 1904, Beijing also gradually introduced a police system. Chen Ke saw police officers on the street this time to maintain social order. It's just that Chen Ke naturally doesn't care too much about such things. No matter how good these police are, compared with the police system that Chen Ke has seen in the 21st century, they are just pediatric things.

He Ruming said some words of praise, but seeing that Chen Ke was just listening attentively, he did not mean to be moved in the slightest. I felt that Chen Ke was really a little unbelievable. The look on his face was a little angry.

Chen Ke saw it and hurriedly said, "Lord He, I have been overseas and will not be long after returning to China. I really don't know anything about domestic affairs, thank you Lord He for teaching me. ”

Hearing this, He Ruming didn't want to say anything more, he smiled lightly, "I see." After speaking, he picked up the teacup, "Two, drink tea." ”

Chen Ke knew the number of gifts for serving tea to guests, so he got up and said goodbye. The housekeeper sent the two to the door, watching the two return to the opposite yard, the housekeeper was very surprised, it was just an ordinary courtesy meeting, but he didn't expect the two to be able to talk so deeply with their master. It wasn't until the opposite gate closed that the butler glanced at the opposite gate a few more times, and then turned around and went back to his yard.

"Wen Qing, why don't you talk about honeycomb coal first." Chen Tianhua asked with some dissatisfaction as soon as he returned to the house.

"I didn't plan it for a long time, but I remembered it suddenly." Chen Ke replied.

"Why?" Chen Tianhua was a little strange.

"I want to develop our party members in Beijing, and it is better to find someone else than to find a Westerner. Without a greeting gift, it is very difficult to get to know the Westerners. This honeycomb coal is my greeting gift. ”

"If honeycomb coal can be made, those Westernists are afraid that they will not revolutionize." Chen Tianhua replied with a slight frown.

Chen Ke looked at Chen Tianhua seriously, "Tianhua, believe me." If the Westernists don't take the honeycomb coal thing, they won't make a revolution. If the honeycomb coal thing really happens, they will revolutionize it. ”

Looking at Chen Tianhua's puzzled expression, Chen Ke took out a pen and paper, "I'll tell you about this matter in detail." ”

When Chen Ke and Chen Tianhua were discussing the future development, He Ruming had already called the housekeeper in front of him and asked him to explain how he knew Chen Ke and tell him the truth.

Seeing that the master looked very serious, the housekeeper did not dare to hide it, and met in Tianjin, Chen Ke laughed very rudely, and then met by chance in Beijing, and he looked at the arrogant appearance of these two guys, and the housekeeper finally did not hold back, and let the coachman whip Chen Ke. The ins and outs of these things are recounted.

The butler was still a little worried, and the master would scold himself for it. Unexpectedly, after listening, He Ruming repeatedly confirmed whether he had seen Chen Ke before. After thinking about it, the housekeeper said with certainty: "Before I met in Tianjin, I really didn't see these two people. ”

"You listen to the accents of these two people, where the hell are they from?" He Ruming asked.

"This ......, Chen Ke, I really didn't hear anyone. What he said was neither Beijing nor Tianjin. But I've never heard an accent like this. The housekeeper said embarrassedly, "It's that Chen Xingtai, it should be from Hunan." ”

He Ruming recalled today's meeting again, and there was nothing else. However, Chen Ke's suggestion to make honeycomb coal was much more than He Ruming expected. Chen Keneng cooperated with the British, and he was not incompetent. Not to mention being recommended by Yan Fu. Listening to Chen Ke's benefits of honeycomb coal, it is also quite exciting. But He Ruming has worked in the Tianjin Machinery Bureau for more than ten years and knows the efficiency of the imperial court. If it were for the imperial court to do this, it would take years just to convince those adults. When you get the money and start doing it, you don't know how long it will take. And the person who handles the money wants to ...... the card, thinking of this, He Ruming only felt a little headache.

Seeing that He Ruming was silent, the housekeeper asked, "Do you want me to inquire about their origins?" ”

He Ruming shook his head slightly, "This person's name is clearly written on it, he cooperated with the British in Shanghai. Again, this man was clearly from the north. How did you get to Shanghai? I'm afraid that there will be a lot of articles in this. He Ruming thought about it again, "Check it carefully." ”

The housekeeper was about to leave, but He Ruming stopped him, "By the way, where did you put the book that Mr. Yan Fu sent last time when you moved." You find it for me and send it to the study. ”

Hearing this, the housekeeper was slightly stunned, "Master, that set of books is now being read by the fourth lady and the eldest lady." ”

"Huh? How could they have remembered to read such books? ”

"The fourth lady saw that it was Mr. Yan Fu who sent the book, and you didn't read it, so she took it first. Later, the young lady was also watching. ”

"Got it, you go down." He Ruming sent the housekeeper away. I walked towards the backyard. He did not go into the main room, but went to the side room. As soon as I entered the door, I saw two girls sitting at the table, but they were the two girls that Chen Ke had seen. There was a stack of books on the table. The older one was looking listlessly. The younger one took an embroidery and sat at the table to work. Seeing He Ruming come in, the young one hurriedly got up, "Daddy, you're here." Is the guest gone? ”

"Gone." When He Ruming saw his daughter, he immediately had a smile on his face.

"He's gone, I can play the piano."

He Ruming's daughter is named He Ying, the eldest daughter, and has two younger brothers below.

"It's going to be lunch soon, what kind of piano are you playing? Your brothers are still reading. More on that in the afternoon. Although he refused his daughter's request, the feeling of caring for his daughter in He Ruming's tone could not be concealed.

"But my aunt played it yesterday." He Ying felt unfair, and there was some grievance in her tone. The aunt she said was He Qian next to her. He Qian is He Ruming's fourth sister and the youngest. After He Ruming's parents passed away, he lived with He Ruming, who was his brother.

Seeing his daughter coquettish, He Ruming was also a little unbearable, "You are about to get married, hurry up and finish the embroidery." Otherwise, if your mother yells at you, I won't care. ”

When He Ying heard this, she sat back on the stool, lowered her head and picked up the embroidery, but refused to continue to do it. Seeing his daughter like this, He Ruming also felt that it was inappropriate, and he whispered: "Your mother went out this afternoon, and before she came back, you can play the piano, but you have to finish today's embroidery." ”

As soon as He Ruming finished speaking, He Ying's face immediately brightened, "Thank you, Daddy." With that, she quickly picked up the needle and continued to embroider.

Seeing that He Ruming finished explaining his daughter's affairs, He Qian put down the book, looked up and asked, "What does the eldest brother have to tell me?" ”

"I'm going to read this book. You lend it to me first. ”

"How did the eldest brother remember to read the books of the revolutionary party?" He Qian said with a smile.

"What?" Hearing this, He Ruming was taken aback.

"This is a book against thieves, doesn't my eldest brother know?"

Yan Fu is actually entangled with anti-thieves? He Ruming couldn't believe this fact. However, in these years, whether it is Kang Youwei's royalists who hope for Guangxu's restoration, or those who shout for constitutionalism, they can actually be classified as anti-thieves. They were all against Lafayette, who was actually in power now. Since the Gengzi Incident and Lafayette's declaration of war on all nations, the imperial court has actually struggled. Ho Ruming's political views are quite conservative, and although he is a Westernist, he is inclined to the back party. In his view, whether it is the imperialist party, the constitutionalists who "play the New Deal", or the more radical revolutionary party, they are all people who have not achieved enough things and have more than enough failures. In comparison, although Cixi made many mistakes, she was still much more mature politically.

Seeing He Ruming's solemn expression, He Qian smiled and said, "Big brother, this person who writes books is quite smart. Those people in the court would never see that he was a thief. I'm afraid that it will be used for help. ”

Looking at his sister He Qian's appearance of directing the government, He Ruming only felt quite regretful. He Qian is more like He Ruming's father, smart and intelligent. He Ruming has three brothers, only this one sister, when the old man of the He family was alive, he was loved by thousands of people, and he didn't raise He Qian as a woman at all. Whatever He Qian wants to learn, the old man of the He family will teach He Qian. After He Qian read the book, she basically did not make a mistake in her judgment of the imperial court. He Ruming firmly believes that if He Qian is a man and the two brothers join forces, He Ruming's achievements will only be much higher than now.

"How's the writing?" He Ruming did not doubt his sister's vision.

"Excellent. After I read it, a lot of things suddenly became clear. Speaking of this, He Qian suddenly asked, "I wonder what the relationship between this author and today's guest is?" ”

Facing his smart sister, He Ruming didn't want to hide anything, "The one who came today is the author of this book." ”

He Ruming also wanted to hear his sister's opinion, and the most important thing was that He Ruming didn't really want to read all the more than a dozen books so thick, since He Qian had read it, it was very convenient to let He Qian tell him about the content of the book.