Training the Heavens

Chapter 312: French School

A young man in his early twenties walked in and bowed to Zhang Xingjiu, saying, "I, Li Yuying, greet Mr. Zhang."

"Please take a seat, Stone Monk." Zhang Xingjiu quickly returned the greeting, and then the host and guest sat down.

Li Yuying was the son of former Grand Councilor Li Hongzao. He later changed his name to Li Shizeng. He was one of the four elders of the Kuomintang and a representative figure of the French-educated group during the Republic of China. From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, several waves of studying in France were triggered by him.

By the way, Li Hongzao and Li Hongzhang are not brothers. One was born in Hefei, Anhui, and the other was from Baoding, Hebei. The similarity of their names is just a coincidence. In fact, the ranking of Li Hongzhang's generation is Zhang, not Hong. His brothers are named Li Hanzhang, Li Yunzhang, and Li Fengzhang respectively.

Li Hongzhang is not a clan name, but a name used in the family to indicate the generation level. His clan name is Zhang Tong, and his brothers are Zhang Bo, Zhang Jun, Zhang Quan, Zhang Zhao, etc.

After a few pleasantries, Li Shizeng told his story. Two years ago, when the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing, he trekked over a thousand miles and fled to Kaifeng, Henan. After this ordeal, he decided to do something. Considering the decline of China and the rise of European powers, he planned to study in France.

This man was somewhat similar to Cai Yuanpei, with both progressive and reactionary sides. However, studying abroad was ultimately a good thing, so Zhang Xingjiu took the initiative to ask, "Has Shiseng decided which university he wants to attend? I have some reputation in France, so perhaps I can help recommend him for admission."

Li Shizeng politely responded, "Thank you for your kindness, Brother Zhouping. However, please do not bother me with this matter for the time being. I have some connections with Sun Baoqi, a former attaché at the embassies in Germany, Australia, and France. I heard that the court is interested in appointing Mr. Sun as the minister to France. I plan to go to France with him. I will try to find a suitable position myself first. If I can't find one, it won't be too late to ask Brother Zhouping for help."

"He is not an outsider. My father-in-law and Minister Sheng are old friends, and Mr. Sun and Minister Sheng are in-laws. So there is no need for Shi Monk to be so formal with him." Zhang Xingjiu said with a smile.

Zhang Xingjiu himself came from an ordinary family, but Ma Xiangbo was different. He had been engaged in diplomacy and foreign affairs for many years and had friendships with many bigwigs in the court. These bigwigs had various relationships with each other, such as fellow villagers, in-laws, and classmates, so it was easy to establish connections with them.

Sun Baoqi had 5 wives, 8 sons, and 16 daughters. He had many in-laws. His daughters married the sons of Prince Qing Yixin, Sheng Xuanhuai, Yuan Shikai, and Zhang Peilun. Among them, Zhang Peilun's son was Zhang Tingzhong, and Zhang Tingzhong had a daughter named Zhang Ailing.

With this relationship, Li Shizeng suddenly felt closer to Zhang Xingjiu, so he asked about the customs and culture of France, as well as the universities there and the differences between these universities. This was the reason why he made a special trip to Shanghai to visit Zhang Xingjiu. When it comes to understanding French universities, there is probably no one in the whole of China who knows better than Zhang Xingjiu.

Seeing that it was time for dinner, Zhang Xingjiu invited Li Shizeng to his home. After dinner, he took him to the study and introduced the situation in France to Li Shizeng while drinking tea.

He was fascinated by Rousseau's theories, the films of the Lumière brothers, the microbiology pioneered by Pasteur, and the Eiffel Tower, the tallest building in the world. He couldn't help but exclaim in praise, "Hearing what Brother Zhouping said, the vibrant energy of France is almost before my eyes. Looking back at my Qing Dynasty, it seems rather decadent. I'm going to France this time, and I must achieve as much as you did."

"There are so few people like you who are willing to open their eyes and see the world. I should fully support you in this idea. When you go to France in the future, no matter what troubles you encounter, you can send me a telegram! If the matter is urgent and you are afraid that telegrams will delay the time, you can also go to the Sorbonne University to ask Professor Lippmann, the Curies, and Lang Zhiwan for help. I will write you a letter later. When they see the letter, they will know that you are my friend and will definitely be willing to help." "I also have a house in Paris. Brother Shiseng, you can go and live there. I will make arrangements with them in advance. If there are other Chinese people going to France to study with you, they can also live there."

Li Shizeng did do some wrong things in the future, but he also made indelible contributions to promoting Chinese study in France. Feifei, Xixian, 501, Qian Sanqiang and others were able to study in France thanks to his pioneering spirit. Now that Zhang Xingjiu has met him, he must help.

If he went to other places in the country, Li Shizeng would not need Zhang Xingjiu's help at all. Relying on the connections left by Li Hongzao, he could travel all over the country without a penny and would be treated as a distinguished guest wherever he went. But it was different when he went to France. His father's face was not useful among foreigners, so after hearing what Zhang Xingjiu said, although he was a little conflicted, he hurried to thank him.

Li Shizeng stayed at Zhang's house for a few days and learned a lot about France. He also attended a few classes at Aurora College. Seeing that French was taught at the school, he simply applied to audit the class, intending to take this opportunity to learn French well.

A few months later, news came from the capital that Sun Baoqi had been appointed as the minister to France. He quickly took his leave and returned to Beijing to make preparations, and then traveled across the ocean to France with Sun Baoqi.

When he arrived in France, he was quickly attracted by the country's vigorous vitality and came up with the same idea as Zhang Xingjiu, which was to let patriotic young people in the country come to France to learn advanced Western science and technology.

After staying in France for a while, Li Shizeng entered the Montargis Agricultural School to study agricultural knowledge and began to study soybeans. In 1908, he obtained a patent for modern tofu technology and published an academic monograph "Soybeans" in Chinese and French. He proved that the nutritional value of soy milk is no less than that of milk.

After obtaining the patent, he opened a tofu factory in Colombes, a small town on the outskirts of Paris, and recruited a group of rural youths from his hometown of Gaoyang County, Hebei Province as workers. In order to improve the cultural literacy of the workers, Li Shizeng personally wrote teaching materials, teaching Chinese, French, mathematics, physics, chemistry and even moral education courses, working during the day and attending classes at night.

Inspired by the night school of Chinese workers, he, together with Cai Yuanpei and Wu Zhihui, launched a work-study movement, recruiting young people with financial difficulties but ideals to go to France to work and study.

What he didn't expect was that this movement to study in France changed the fate of many people and rewrote the course of Chinese history.

It was for this reason that Zhang Xingjiu provided so much help to Li Shizeng. With this relationship, he would not forget himself when he launched the movement to study in France in the future, and Zhang Xingjiu could also take this opportunity to get to know Feifei and others.

Of course, these are all things that happened more than ten years later. What Zhang Xingjiu needs to do now is to continue to engage in education and scientific research.

(End of this chapter)