Training the Heavens

Chapter 309 The Court's Attention

At noon on November 1902, the 1th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (January 7, ), Cixi returned to Beijing, ending her one year and five months of exile. This marked a temporary end to 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, Li Hongzhang's death caused the Qing Dynasty to lose a paperhanger who could reconcile the conflicts between Manchus and Han people. Cixi felt more and more that the crisis faced by the Qing court. In fact, she no longer had much hope that the court could continue to rule. She only hoped that it could "imitate the systems of Britain, Germany, and Japan and become a constitutional country" to preserve the "national society" and avoid being slaughtered like previous changes of dynasties.

She felt that it was better to accept constitutionalism than to be forced to revolt, 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 from various countries in China to discuss the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion. She was really scared.

When the envoys from other countries met, they mostly discussed how to ensure the implementation of previously signed treaties. However, the French envoy to China, Jean-Pierre Bouvet, was different. During his audience with Empress Dowager Cixi, he brought up another matter: "Congratulations to the Empress Dowager. Shortly after your birthday, a scholar from the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Xingjiu, who had studied in France, won the Nobel Prize in Physics, the highest award in science. This is a testament 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 several days, someone finally reported back, "Zhang Xingjiu was originally from Shaoxing, Zhejiang. He grew up in poverty. By chance, he was able to study at the famous Sanwei Academy in Shaoxing. He passed the imperial examination and later went to Shanghai to study at St. Ignatius's School."

Hearing this, Cixi interrupted him, "St. Ignatius's School? This seems to be a Catholic school 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, he was recruited as a son-in-law by Ma Xiangbo!" 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 help 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. One less slave was one less.

After she finished muttering, she gestured to continue reporting. When she heard that Nobel had left behind a huge fortune of tens of millions of taels of silver, and that the Nobel Prize money was as high as more than 200,000 taels of silver, she couldn't help but frown.

"It's an overstepping of the bounds! How dare he do this, he's just a businessman!" In her opinion, fame and position cannot be faked. Now Nobel has set up awards to evaluate scholars all over the world. This is ill-intentioned!
Zhang Xingjiu used his 200,000-plus taels of silver prize money to establish a school, a move that was nothing more than a sham. Deep down, he must have harbored some shameful motive. At any other time, such a person would have been severely punished. But now, with the southeastern provincial officials already alienated from the imperial court, and calls for reform growing louder and louder, punishing Zhang Xingjiu would truly incur public outrage.

Moreover, from what Bao Wo had said before, it seemed that France also favored Zhang Xingjiu. If an imperial decree was issued to punish Zhang Xingjiu, France might be dissatisfied. Therefore, even though Cixi was extremely unhappy, she could only adopt a conciliatory approach.

After a moment's thought, Cixi made a decision. "Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, and others had previously petitioned the court to send students abroad to study, granting them honors upon their return and allowing them to contribute to the court. Now that Zhang Xingjiu has been able to spread the prestige of the Qing Dynasty abroad, he deserves a generous reward. Why not grant him the status of a Jinshi (Jinshi) and order him to serve in Beijing?"

She had also thought about Zhang Xingjiu's future. "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 previously taught in Shanghai, so it would be a perfect fit for him to serve at the Imperial University of Peking. Since he excels in the science of physics, I'd make him the supervisor of that department and grant him the fifth rank official hat. This way, he would bring honor to our 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 the 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 the officialdom. Zhang Xingjiu would definitely 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 after receiving the decree." The person reporting hurriedly boasted, and he was also jealous in his heart.

Ordinary scholars who passed the imperial examination, even if they were the top scorer, would only be granted the sixth-rank position of Hanlin Academy editor. Now Zhang Xingjiu was awarded the fifth-rank position as soon as he entered the officialdom, which was even more impressive than 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 his post as soon as possible." Cixi waved her hand. After all, she was old, and she felt a little exhausted after talking for a while.

The people below hurriedly began to follow the procedures. That same day, a eunuch happily left the capital with the imperial edict, traveling south along the Grand Canal to Shanghai to issue it. He was dreaming all the way. This was an imperial decree. When Zhang Xingjiu saw it, wouldn't he give him a large sum of money? This time, he was going to make 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 University, so 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)