Tianjin is not an ancient city, it is said that it is only 500 years old, and it was built in the second year of Yongle. Although the city is young, it is now the economic, industrial and cultural center of the entire north, especially the advantage of being close to Gyeonggi, so that many pro-noble ministers often set foot in Tianjin, and Tianjin's nine-nation concession is equivalent to a country within a country, and some shady things and improper money are gathered here, so that the city has a different kind of prosperity.

Due to the siltation of the Haihe River, the boat docked at Tanggu Wharf, and then took a small boat directly to Zizhulin Wharf. At twelve o'clock in the afternoon, Yang Rui arrived at the British Concession. Without a sao bag, he went to stay at the Li Shunde Hotel, nor did he go to the Longmen Inn under the Fuxing Association, Yang Rui settled down in a small local hotel. Bai Yayu, the person in charge of the Tianjin Education Association, was not present at this time, only one of his female students, Zhang Yibao, arranged a qiē.

After everyone was settled, Yang Rui felt that when it was dark, Bai Yayu arrived. He is a native of Nantong, Jiangsu, in his thirties, with a wide forehead, although he is a scholar, but he has a heroic spirit.

Bai Yayu has read a lot of articles about President Yang Rui in the monthly newspaper, but this is the first time Bai Yayu has seen Yang Rui, he stepped forward and stretched out his hand and said, "I really shouldn't have waited, let Mr. wait for a long time." ”

Seeing that he was polite, Yang Rui smiled and said, "No, the journey is tired, and everyone just took a rest." Brother Yayu, you are older than me, so you can make me a good person. ”

Bai Yayu was not a restrained person, and after shaking hands, he said, "I became a brother." ”

Yang Rui felt that he didn't look like a southerner at all, to like a northern man. Say it openly, act steadily, and be unrestrained. No wonder Wang Jitong sent him over, and he followed his example and said, "Brother Yayu." ”

The two revolutionary parties were polite and polite, and everyone immediately laughed. After the two finished laughing, they only felt that each other's personalities were quite suitable for their appetites, and they talked happily for a while. As the person in charge of the local area, Bai Yayu reported to Yang Rui on the situation in Tianjin and the entire north.

"The revival will establish itself in Tianjin, and it started in May last year. First, the Tianjin Branch of the China Education Association was established, and the Tianjin Law and Politics School was established, and then the Longmen Inn was also opened. In addition to the development of the education association in Tianjin, the branches of Zhili, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places are also gradually formed, but the north and the south are different, and our education associations in the provinces have less appeal to the gentry in each county. It doesn't get their full approval. Therefore, except for a few counties that have been deliberately penetrated, the education association is only based at the provincial level at most, and it will be very difficult to go further down. ”

Yang Rui understood what he meant by the deliberate in-depth counties, which were all mountainous areas and would be the base areas of the guerrilla areas in the future, and that the guò education associations would be stationed first, and then the guerrillas and other armed organizations would be developed after the personnel training was completed, and this actually had a military purpose. However, according to the one-line principle, none of this can be explained to him. Yang Rui had no choice but to fork it and said: "The budget for education last year and this year is still too low, and when I go to Shanghai, I will discuss with you about increasing education funding." When the time comes, we will be able to build more schools even if the local gentry do not donate. ”

Bai Yayu was overjoyed, because it was the first time to come last year, and because he wanted to build a school of law and politics, the funds given by Shanghai were enough, but this year is a whole year, and the construction of schools in various places has been rolled out, and the money is suddenly not enough. I applied to Cai Yuanpei for an increase in funding last time, but the year's funds have been used up, and I only got him 30,000 taels after scraping together, and I can only survive until the end of next month. I wanted to take a step to talk to Yang Rui about the funding, but I didn't want Yang Rui to speak now.

Yang Rui actually did not say that he wanted to increase education funds in order to give him a good impression, but when he was in the Northeast, he thought about it for a long time and found that the most important thing in this revolution is talent: scientific and technological talents, legal and political talents, economic talents, and military talents, these four are indispensable, the more you understand this era, the more you understand the low literacy rate of this era, Yang Rui can't figure out how the later generations who claim that the literacy rate of the Manchu Qing Dynasty is tens of percent, and the literacy rate of the Republic of China is lower than that of the Qing Dynasty. He only understands that according to the statistics of the Revival Association in the past year, only 2 million of the 45,000,000 people are literate at most, which is less than 0.4 percent in terms of population.

"Brother Yayu, how much is the cost of education here?" Yang Rui's thoughts drifted away for a while, and soon came back.

"Cost?" Bai Yayu was not surprised, cost accounting is basic common sense in the Fuxing Society, and any department must do cost accounting, he thought for a while and said: "The school building, the primary school hall and the middle school hall cost the least, which can be ignored, because many places will donate ancestral halls and temples to make school buildings, that is, the university hall is expensive, when the Fazheng School was first built last year, it cost 100,000 taels to buy land and build a house, which is too expensive." ”

Until now, Bai Yayu feels that it is not worth spending so much money to build a university hall with only a few hundred people, it is too expensive. Yang Rui said with a smile: "This money has to be spent, and the school will become bigger in the future, and when there are thousands of students, tens of thousands of students, Brother Yayu will not think that the money is not worth it." ”

"Just like the Tongji University Hall in Shanghai?"

"Yes. Just like Tongji, it cost 300,000 taels and is still under construction. Yang Rui's concept of university education is completely beyond Cai Yuanpei's expectations, the primary school hall and the middle school hall are not exquisite, once they get to the university hall, there are many problems, and it is a library, a large playground, a vagina, and an apartment building, and the money is like flowing water.

Bai Yayu secretly spoke, skipped this section, and continued: "In addition to the school building, it is the daily expenses, the biggest of which should be the food and clothing of the students, as well as the salary of the teachers. The price of grain in the customs is quite high, and after two hundred and seventy days in an academic year, students of all sizes need about two stones of grain. According to the grain price in the Guannai, even if you don't necessarily eat all the rice and wheat, plus the vegetable money will also cost six taels to two dollars, plus this year's war between Japan and Russia, the price of grain has risen a lot, and I am afraid that the food cost will be more than eight taels. As for wearing. According to the regulations, every two years, half a horse of foreign cloth and homespun cloth (note) and two and a half catties of cotton are required, and one or two dollars are required here, and six dollars per year. ”

Speaking of which. Bai Yayu said: "Although the school uniform is made by the factory, the cotton in the padded jacket is always stolen by the students' families. ”

"Why steal cotton?"

"The padded jackets we give to students are all new cotton, and the parents of the students either can't afford cotton at home and want to make a jacket for other children, or they just think that two and a half catties of cotton are too heavy, and it's okay to take some off." Bai Yayu sighed after speaking, because the students eat and live for free. There are also clothes and jackets, and I don't know when the first semester begins, and the school is crowded with people when the second semester begins. The children of the seven villages and eight villages have been brought over by adults, and the entrance examination for the school is extremely strict, not about family background, only on intelligence, and there will always be a resolution. That is, the children of poor families shall not be less than eighty percent. As a result, many children from poor families naturally entered the school. The school always takes good care of the students, whether they are rich or poor, which makes the students often take the things from the school home. This is often a difficult thing to handle, students bring their own things, and they do it out of family affection.

Yang Rui thought for a while and said, "Let's discuss this matter at the next meeting." The students' food and clothing are all calculated, and a reduction will be detrimental to their growth. Our education is equivalent to saving people, and we have little money in our hands, so we can only save a few people. But since you have saved these people, you must love them. Don't give it to you halfway because you haven't eaten or dressed......... Let's discuss it then, it's really not possible to add some cloth and cotton to the scholarship. ”

As I said, both of them have heavy hearts, and the education association's annual funding of one million taels looks like a lot, but in fact, it is completely insufficient, even if the gentry's fundraising is added, it can only save 200,000 students at most, and the 200,000 yuan is divided into each grade, primary school, middle school, and ten years of study, and there will only be 20,000 graduates at most a year, which is really too little.

"How's the teacher?" In silence, Yang Rui asked.

"The teachers are all sent from Shanghai, and each person is eighty taels a year, which is not low. Thirty students and one teacher, counting books, stationery, and scholarships, will cost three taels a year. This adds up to a total of nine taels and eight dollars per person per year. ”

"Nine taels and eight dollars per person per year, this is more expensive than Liaodong. But the key is that the grain over there is cheap, and the wheat is only one or two or eight or nine dollars, and the sorghum is even cheaper. It's just ......" Yang Rui still shook his head, "no matter how cheap it is, it can't be shipped inland, and the freight will be more expensive than grain at that time." Let's do it first. ”

After the cost was finished, Yang Rui said again: "Patronizing the cost, I don't know how many schools and how many students there are in North China now?" ”

This is what Bai Yayu wanted to report from the beginning, but Yang Rui turned the topic to cost, he said, "Now there is a university hall with 800 students, 10 middle schools with more than 8,000 students, and 20 primary schools with more than 3,000 students. There are 31 schools with 13,100 students. ”

"Why do you have so many more students in the middle school than in the primary school?" After all, Yang Rui is not an education club, and he can't understand the number of people.

"Oh. This is the explanation of Brother Xiaomin, he said that if you want to run a primary school, it will take a lot of time and become a slow talent, so it is better to run more middle school students, so that it costs less money and becomes a fast product. ”

"It turns out that this is how the people do business." Yang Rui didn't expect him to have such a way before, so he laughed and asked again, "Can this middle school still be expanded?" ”

"It is difficult to expand, and those who can be admitted to the middle school hall have actually studied more or less earlier, and there are some foundations, and our enrollment is mainly for the poor, and the poor can let their children read until they can be admitted to the middle school, or in the minority." Bai Yayu has been in Tianjin for a year, and has been to Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and even Gansu, and is constantly thinking about how to learn this and how to save money.

"I'll also write this down, and we'll discuss it when we meet early next year." Yang Rui said that he only felt that after more than two years of development, it was time for a conference to make a thorough adjustment.

After the education thing is finished, the next thing is the newspaper, which is also the content of Bai Yayu's management. Bai Yayu said: "The newspapers in Tianjin are different from those in Shanghai, they are all concentrated in the No. 6 Street of the French Concession, and the most influential is Ta Kung Pao, which is run by the people. ”

When Yang Rui heard that Ta Kung Pao was actually run by Manchurians, he smiled and said: "Is that Manchu scolding the court, or is the court scolding Manchu?" ”

Bai Yayu also smiled and said, "It's neither." This Ta Kung Pao only opposes corrupt officials, not the imperial court, and only opposes the evils of the times. Not to mention revolution. It should be regarded as a small scolding and a big help. For example, last month, when the revolutionary party bombed the five ministers, they bitterly criticized the revolutionary party in the newspapers, saying: "The matter of going abroad to inspect politics has the most important bearing on China's future, and those who have a little patriotism should take their deeds seriously and congratulate them." The crimes of such thugs are truly unreprehensible', hey, when will the whole press now go abroad in public opinion? The China Times, which we run, can only respond to this scenario. It's very passive. ”

"There is nothing to this, the key is to make the newspaper recognized by the target group, especially those who will influence the government. This is the most critical. "Unlike the China Times in Shanghai, the China Times is mainly aimed at dignitaries, and most of what they say is a national affair because of the Russian-French alliance. The official did not put it in the French Concession. Instead, it was placed in the British Concession.

Bai Yayu understood what Yang Rui said, he nodded when he heard this, hesitated for a moment and then asked: "Brother Cheng, do you think this Manchu constitution can be achieved?" ”

The Manchu constitution was only paid attention to in the past two months, and Yang Rui had a lot of work in the northeast, so he did not write articles to criticize and analyze, and Zhang Taiyan, Cai Yuanpei, etc. did not understand whether this constitution could really save the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the articles they wrote only focused on the fact that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was a fake constitution. He just wanted to take a progressive stance, and Bai Yayu also knew that the Manchu Qing was very likely to be a fake constitution. But what if it's true? That's why he asked.

"If the fishermen think that their boats are broken, can they change the fishing boats into ships according to the appearance of foreigners' ships?" Yang Rui directly made an analogy, since the Manchu constitution was established, he has constantly thought about the possibilities of the Manchu constitution, and finally one day he suddenly thought that the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which is corrupt, autocratic, and ignorant, even if it is a true constitution, will not be effective.

"The foreigner's ship is made of steel, but the fishing boat is made of wood, how can this be turned into a ship?"

"That's right. No matter how hard the wood is, it is not hard with steel, and besides, his wood is still rotten wood, and the constitutionalists see that the foreigners' ships are easy to use, so they wish that they would also turn wooden ships into steel ships, and the dictatorship into a constitutional government. But if it is to be changed, that is, to throw aside the original rotten wood and replace it with steel plates, but they don't want to offend the powerful and are afraid of bloodshed and sacrifice, so in the end, they are still the current princes and ministers. As the so-called selling dog meat on the head of a sheep, it is just a matter of changing the soup and not the medicine. The purpose of our revival is a measured and planned revolution, and compared with the constitutionalists, we are more thorough and iron-blooded. Compared with the revolutionary party, we are more rational and more serious. As a matter of fact, we, the constitutionalists and the revolutionary party all have roughly the same goal, which is to make China rich and strong. However, since Tan Sitong and Tang Caichang, there have been few people who have shed blood for reform, one is more afraid of death than the other, one is more cowardly than the other, and what is even more tragic is that they shouted constitutionalism and prosperity in the audience, and when they came to power that day, it would not be any different from the behavior of the previous group of magnates, counting on the constitution to save the country, no matter how the country was saved, it would be the same; As long as the revolution succeeds, they dare to sell any interests and dare to do anything, and what is even more terrible is that they never thought about overthrowing the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and when the Manchu Qing Dynasty falls, the whole country will be shattered, and it will be ...... The great misfortune of the nation. ”

Yang Rui shook his head, the reason why he revolutionized was because he was afraid of seeing the warlords fighting after the fall of the Manchu Dynasty, such a China made Japan gain an inch, and finally launched a war of aggression against China. There are many patriots on the side of the League, and there are also many people who dare to sacrifice for the country, and a man and a woman who died in Beijing some time ago are found to be from the League, and their courage is commendable but they have no brains, which is really a pity and a pity. Although Zhang Shizhao, who is not a member of the alliance, has been writing to Wang Jitong, Cai Yuanpei and others hoping to cooperate with the two associations, Yang Rui has not replied to the letter.

When Yang Rui thought about the Alliance, Bai Yayu once again understood Yang Rui's theory of revolutionary reform, of course, there was no such statement in the meeting, only about revolution, but in Bai Yayu's understanding, the Revival Association is a revolutionary reformist - first to eliminate the ills and implement reform. However, the constitutionalists only shouted reform and had no courage to eliminate it, while the revolutionary party blindly abolished it without the slightest strategy for construction, although there were people in Tokyo who introduced the program of the League, saying that "the Republic of China should be found, and all the people should be equal in order to participate in political power", and what they said that "the land rights should be equalized, and the land price of the world should be approved, and the original price should be owned by the landlords, and the increased price should be owned by the state." ”

This is really a big joke, China has the most peasants, just pull a peasant, does he care what to participate in the regime or not, he doesn't even know the words, how to refer to it, is every peasant with a document? Then there is the theory of land rights and land prices, not to mention that land rights are difficult to equalize. Even the land price is difficult to verify, the original price can be verified, how to verify the price increase? Many times there is a situation called a price but no market. A yard is about to be sold to know what the current price is, but if it is really sold, then where does the family live? Bai Yayu has read the materials of the Alliance, and always feels that their various theories have picked up the wisdom of Westerners and pieced together, not to mention whether they are suitable for China or not, but that there are many things in this theory itself that are self-contradictory.

That night, Bai Yayu and Yang Rui talked about it at ten o'clock. He only got up to leave when the concession was about to be under martial law, and before leaving, he asked Yang Rui to give a speech to the students of the Fazheng School, and Yang Rui really didn't know what to give a speech to the students. Bai Yayu insisted on the constitution. Yang Rui couldn't shirk it, thinking about it, he also wanted to set things right, and hit the storm set off by the Manchu Qing Dynasty with the help of the constitution, so he agreed.

After Bai Yayu left. Yang Rui recorded what he said. In particular, it is related to the accounting of the cost of education, these are the key points in determining the work of the education association in the future, but there is only so much money, if there are 1 million students, then no matter how much you save, it will need 8 million taels. This is still a primary and secondary school student, college students, in addition to Tongji University Hall, Tianjin Law and Politics School, Shanghai Law and Politics School, Tonghua Law and Politics School, and Tokyo Law and Politics School. I can only focus on foreign countries, and I dare not try more. 100,000 science and technology college students.

100,000 people, according to the standards of the Manchu Academy, excluding Japan, not counting Sichuan capital, treatment costs, and food expenses, a foreign student needs 192 pounds to return to China, Britain needs 192 pounds, France 4800 francs, Germany 3840 marks, the United States 960 US dollars, Russia 1620 rubles, calculated, four years of university costs, the cost of each country is basically about 1500 taels per person, the 100,000 people are 150 million taels. Yang Rui was taken aback when he calculated this number, and counted it anew with his fingers, it was still 150 million taels. His numbers were all taken directly from the school, it could not be wrong, it must be the corruption of Manchu officials, Yang Rui comforted himself, and he took it upon himself to reduce 1500 taels to 1000 taels, and it was still 100 million taels. In fact, 100,000 people are too much, 50,000 is enough, 50,000 is 50 million taels, this... It seems that when the Soviet Union came to the aid of New China, experts sent 20,000 or 30,000 people, so now it is 30,000,000 taels, which is about the same as China's tariffs for a year.

After calculating the tuition, Yang Rui ignored other expenses such as round-trip expenses and installation fees, and thought that these graduates would have internships or further studies, which was a lot of money, so he didn't care about his primary and secondary schools first, and the international students alone would cost 40 million taels, what a cheat, the things of the Manchu School Department were all done by themselves, and after thinking about it roughly, Yang Rui lit a cigarette, thinking about where the 40 million taels should come from.

But he thought about it for a long time, and he didn't think that the treasure was there, and the stock market saw that the United States was going to crash around 1907, not to mention that the money is useful now, even if there is money to spare, it is also dangerous to run so much money to the United States. This is not comparable to speculating in treasury bonds, the victory or loss of the war is certain, and at the same time, no matter how much the treasury bonds are speculated, the governments of Japan and Russia will be damaged, and the bankers are only intermediaries, and Japan and Russia have no time to take care of the loss of 20 million in the war, but the United States is different, even if it can follow the market, but the market is full of Jews, and if they are provoked, the principal will not come out.

There is no partial door, the industry has to wait, the steel plant that is about to invest in is actually not how to make money, a ton only earns ten taels, 100,000 tons is only a million taels, are not as much as a monosodium glutamate factory, but thinking of the importance of the steel industry to the country and the soaring iron price of the First World War, this money has to be invested. Yang Rui thought about it, all he could do was borrow, Rockefeller was a rich man, although he already had a relatively good relationship, but how to speak? Rockefeller will also feel hopeless about repaying the money if he borrows money to buy guns, and there are those who borrow money to run education.

Yang Rui was tossing on the forty million dead knot, he kept thinking about the dawn, and when he saw the morning light coming in from outside, he couldn't help but stand up and take a breath of early autumn air. At this time, there was a knock on the door, and Chen Guangshou came in and said, "Sir, Huanqing called and said that I came to Tianjin this afternoon to discuss something." ”

"Good! I'll wake up in the afternoon, and you can bring him here." Yang Rui said. (To be continued......)

PS: Note: The length of the earliest Nanjing cloth was 5.5 meters, and the later homespun cloth was this length, and the width increased from 32 cm to 64-85 cm.