Training the Heavens

Chapter 387 Talents Hidden in the Mountains

After staying in Guiyang for a few days, Zhang Xingjiu went to Pingyue County to the east of Guiyang. It was the same as Zangke County in the Han Dynasty, belonged to Bozhou County in the Tang Dynasty, and belonged to Yelang County in the Song Dynasty.

When you see the name Yelang, you know what kind of environment this place is. However, there is a university in such a place now.

In 1896, the Beiyang Railway Official School was established in Shanhaiguan. It was later moved to Tangshan and renamed Tangshan Railway and Mining School. It was renamed many times afterwards, and was successively named Tangshan Industrial College of the Ministry of Communications, Tangshan School of Jiaotong University, Tangshan University of the Ministry of Communications, Tangshan Jiaotong University, Second Jiaotong University of the Ministry of Communications, etc. It is now called the Guizhou Branch of National Jiaotong University, but teachers and students are still accustomed to calling it Tangshan Jiaotong University.

According to the original history, the excellent test scores of Mao Yisheng, a graduate of the class of 1916, at Cornell University enabled all students of Tangshan Jiaotong University to obtain admission to graduate school without taking an entrance exam. Since then, Tangshan Jiaotong University has gained international fame and was hailed as the Cornell of the East.

Later, this school evolved into the famous Southwest Jiaotong University, which is also one of the four most famous transportation colleges in the country.

At present, there are several talented people who can be regarded as national heroes studying in this school located in a small town deep in the mountains. Zhang Xingjiu came here from afar, one to donate some books and equipment to Tangshan Jiaotong University, and the other to bring these talents to Southwest United University so that they can study in a better environment and make greater contributions in the future.

When he arrived at the campus, Zhang Xingjiu was warmly welcomed by all the teachers and students. He first gave a speech on the playground, encouraging them to overcome difficulties, persist in teaching and research, and contribute to the rise of China.

He then went to the conference room to ask the principal and some teachers and students about the difficulties they were facing. As long as he could help, Zhang Xingjiu would do so without hesitation. The teachers and students were very grateful.

Finally, Zhang Xingjiu asked, "Who are the outstanding students in your school right now? I'd like to meet them."

Everyone also knew that Zhang Xingjiu liked to promote talented people. Tang Feifan, Zhao Zhongyao, Fan Yuanrang, Hou Debang and others could be the best among them. Now that such an opportunity was in front of them, they immediately began to introduce outstanding students of their school to Zhang Xingjiu. If he could help cultivate a few talented people like the above-mentioned people, it would be of great benefit to expanding the influence of Tangshan Jiaotong University.

A teacher from the School of Engineering immediately replied, "Yao Tongbin from our school was accepted by seven universities simultaneously when he took the college entrance exam: Wuhan University, Hunan University, National Chung Cheng University, Xiangya Medical University, and the Tangshan Institute of Technology of Jiaotong University. Since entering, his academic performance has consistently ranked among the best. He can be said to be one of our school's most outstanding students in recent years."

Yao Tongbin was born into a poor family. He relied on his father and brother to run a small grain business to finish elementary school. He dropped out of junior high school for a period of time. He saved some money by setting up a stall to sell cigarettes, matches, socks and other daily necessities, and worked as a mailman, tutor and odd jobs to continue his studies.

When his savings were all spent, he borrowed money to study. He ranked first in the total score of high school graduates' examination in Jiangxi Province, and was awarded a scholarship. This allowed him to go to Hengyang and Changsha to take the entrance examinations for various universities. For two months after the examinations, he made a living by working as a handyman in the tool room of the repair shop of the Hengyang Xianggui Railway Bureau's Locomotive Department.

Because of his passion for mining and metallurgy, he chose to move to Tangshan Institute of Technology of Jiaotong University in Pingyue, Guizhou. After entering the school, his grades were always ranked first in the school, so the teacher called out his name first.

Later, Yao Tongbin became an expert in metallurgy, aerospace materials, rocket materials and process technology. He made outstanding contributions to the research and development of the "Two Bombs and One Satellite" and was awarded the "Two Bombs and One Satellite" Medal of Merit.

Another teacher quickly added, "Chen Nengkuan from our Department of Mining and Metallurgy is not bad either. He studied at the famous Yali Middle School in Changsha. He was admitted to our school without taking any exams after graduating from high school. His performance after entering the school was equally outstanding, comparable to Yao Tongbin." This is another hero of the two bombs, who later made great achievements in the fields of metal physics, materials science, engineering physics, etc.

The teachers called out the names of several outstanding students. Zhang Xingjiu asked them to call these students over and talked to them one by one. The other students were fine, but these two were truly patriots. Not only did they have outstanding academic performance, but they also had a sincere and patriotic heart.

Zhang Xingjiu gave some small gifts to the other students and let them go back. These students were quite regretful. When they left, they looked back every few steps, and their eyes were full of envy at Yao Tongbin and Chen Nengkuan.

Their heartbeats began to speed up and their mouths became dry. What did Mr. Zhang want to do by keeping us here?
Zhang Xingjiu didn't let them suffer for long, revealing the answer immediately. "Through your teacher's introduction and our recent conversation, I have a basic understanding of your academic performance and talents. You are indeed very outstanding. However, considering the current simple teaching conditions at Jiaotong University, especially the lack of various equipment required for research in science and engineering, if you continue to study here, you will probably have to work harder to catch up with your outstanding classmates in Europe, America, and Japan."

"So I'd like to invite you to Kunming and transfer to Southwest Associated University. The conditions there are a bit better, and they have all the basic lab equipment you need to study. What do you think?"

"Sir, I'm willing to go! But...but..." the two people answered in unison.

Southwest Associated University is the best university in the country today, and it has masters like Zhang Xingjiu to teach it. Any college student would be tempted by such an opportunity.

Their only concern now is that Tangshan Jiaotong University has trained them for so long, and it is indeed embarrassing to suddenly leave.

"It doesn't matter. I'll talk to the school. I think your teacher will be happy to see you have a better learning environment." Seeing that they had no objection, Zhang Xingjiu immediately went to find the principal and teacher.

They were indeed very supportive and even helped Zhang Xingjiu persuade the two of them. "There are many great masters teaching at the United Nations University. Their abilities are much greater than ours. You will definitely improve your academic level if you go there. If you can become a great scholar like Tang Feifan or Hou Debang in the future, you will be the pride of Tangshan Jiaotong University. So don't worry too much."

"Yes, it's a great honor to be invited by Mr. Zhang himself. What are you worried about?"

Hearing this, they finally felt relieved. "Please rest assured, teachers and leaders, we will not bring shame to Jiaotong University when we go to Southwest Associated University. We will strive to achieve something as soon as possible."

Zhang Xingjiu muttered to himself, the future achievements of the two of you will be incredible.

(End of this chapter)