On the tenth day of September, Beiping City welcomed a team of 100 people from Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi. Dozens of them were well-known gentry from various provinces, who came to inspect constitutional autonomy, and there were nearly 50 students. , came to study in Beiping City.
All provinces sent people, but the central government of the Ming Dynasty has always been unpopular. Wan Lei not only failed to restore diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty, but also refused the Ming Dynasty envoys to go north. This was clearly to support local forces and plunge the Ming Dynasty into trouble. In the state of separatist rule and division, these separatist forces even took the initiative to leave the Ming Dynasty and join the Republic of China.
Visitors from Zhejiang and other provinces all came on warships of the Peking Army, and took a train to Peiping ashore at Dagu Military Port. As the saying goes, hearing is believing, seeing is believing. These people saw the Peking Army with their own eyes. The navy is powerful, and I have personally experienced the prosperity of the North Parallel Province. If you have such a thick thigh, you would be a fool not to hold it.
Therefore, when these envoys saw Wan Lei, they all expressed their willingness to cooperate with the Republic of China. Some of them were even smarter and expressed their willingness to go back to persuade the army and people of their province so that the province could be integrated into the Republic of China and share the blessings of peace.
But it’s no wonder. These envoys all know that the Republic of China is a republic. Anyone who has made special contributions can be elected as the president. Even if he does not become the president, he still has the opportunity to become a member and can still share power. Assisting in the management of state affairs is what a scholar-bureaucrat should do.
Therefore, even if the Republic of China "surrenders", their power will only increase rather than decrease, so why not? Only a few dreamers who dream of carving out territory and becoming kings will refuse to surrender, but the Peking Army is powerful With the strength of the military, such delusional people will soon wake up. Even if they persist in their obsession, they will not be able to achieve success alone.
In the middle hall of Huayuan, after Wan Lei met with the envoys from various provinces, he walked to the overseas students who were sent to the north. He saw that among the more than forty people, some were young talents, tall and handsome, and more He is a child of about ten years old, but he is well-educated and looks very smart.
"You have traveled thousands of miles north to study, and your behavior is commendable. However, I want to ask you here: why are you studying?"
"Returning to His Majesty the President, Zhang Hengqu, a great scholar of the Song Dynasty, said that reading should be for the sake of heaven and earth, for the sake of life and for the people, to carry on the unique knowledge of the past saints, and to create peace for all generations." All the students said almost in unison. They have been studying since they were young. There are four books and five classics, but those who use exercises are all Neo-Confucianism, and the words of the sage are naturally just spoken.
However, Wan Lei was very dissatisfied after hearing this and said sternly: "I didn't ask you what the great Confucians said, I want to listen to what's in your heart."
"The words of the great Confucian are the precious lessons for our generation." said a scholar who looked about ten years old.
"Song Zhenzong said: 'A rich family does not need to buy fertile land, there are thousands of bells of millet in the book; there is no need to build a high hall to live in peace, there is a house of gold in the book; don't hate having no one to follow you when you go out, there are so many carriages and horses in the book; don't hate getting a wife An unscrupulous matchmaker has a beautiful face in the book; if a man follows his life's ambition, he reads the Six Classics diligently to the window. 'What do you think?' Wan Lei looked at these people with a half-smile but not a smile.
"Yi Zai persuades people to read. He uses simple words and easy to understand, and his words are rough and clear." A scholar said.
"Good words but rough reasoning." Wan Lei laughed and said, "Only four sentences in this poem have some truth, and the rest are all falsehoods."
"This, this." All the students looked at each other, and a **-year-old child whispered: "I don't know why His Majesty the President said this. Please enlighten me."
"Books are the ladder of human progress. Reading has many benefits, such as acquiring knowledge and increasing knowledge, cultivating sentiments and improving self-cultivation. You may be able to find ways to grow millet and build a golden house in books, but there are definitely no Yan Ruyu and Wushamao. If you want to use studying in Beiping City as a stepping stone to becoming an official, you are making a big mistake."
Wan Lei glanced at these students and said: "Our large, middle and primary schools in Beiping City teach practical knowledge of economics and economics. They do not teach the Four Books and Five Classics. Don't think that you can achieve good results by memorizing and writing poems. We There is no need for nerds here. Every student must combine knowledge with practice and apply what they have learned, so you'd better throw away all your old reading habits and concepts immediately, otherwise you will definitely not be able to keep up with the teaching progress of our school."
Seeing that the students below were a little confused, Wan Lei added: "If anyone is afraid, or if anyone can't bear the hardship, you can withdraw now, because we don't want lazy people here."
All the students looked at each other in confusion, but in the end no one stood up because they were all elites selected from each province. They did not represent themselves and were burdened with the expectations of the clan. If they were sent back, not only would they lose face, but the whole family would also lose face. No light.
Seeing that no one was retreating, Wan Lei nodded with satisfaction and said: "Everyone is determined to study, which is good. I have sent people to set up a special preparatory class. You can go in and study. After completing primary school in one year, you can advance to middle school. Two more years Those who complete their studies in 2018 can enter university. I hope you will not miss this rare opportunity."
"We will work hard to learn and live up to our expectations." The students hurriedly said, but they were very nervous. After all, they had heard that Beiping primary and secondary schools not only teach Chinese language, but also teach mathematics, physics, chemistry and other miscellaneous subjects. But their weakness.
"Okay, very good." Wan Lei nodded with satisfaction again and said to the special agent on the side: "Take them down, give each of them a copy, and have a two-hour time limit to read. The selection test will be held at three o'clock in the afternoon."
"Selection test?" All the students looked at Wan Lei in confusion. They really didn't know that there were so many rules and tricks in Beiping City.
"As the president, I will recruit five to ten students from all over the world every year. If there are particularly outstanding talents among you, you can become one of them through selection and enter Huayuan School together with the geniuses from the Republic of China. Study in the room.”
"Become a student of the President?! Enter Huayuan to study?!" All the students were shocked. Even the envoys standing aside were a little dumbfounded. A student who became the President could still study in Huayuan. Isn't this the legendary disciple of the Emperor?
You know, Huayuan is the famous presidential palace. Senior officials have to queue up to get in. But these students can actually go in and study and see the president every day. This is something that none of the envoys would even dream of. And Wan As soon as Lei said these words, the minds of all the envoys began to be filled with blood: Only talents can do this, this is really a wise master.
Wan Lei wanted this effect. He specially recruited several talented people from Jiangnan as his disciples. The purpose was to win over the hearts of the people in Jiangnan and let the gentry see that the Republic of China did not discriminate against them and they would not be degraded if they joined the Republic of China. As a lower class person. In this way, when the Peking Army moves south, there will be fewer resisters and more obedient people to welcome the king's army.
Those students didn't know Wan Lei's intentions. They only knew that a student who could become the president would definitely be extremely famous, so they all rushed to follow the special agent. Everyone received a thin booklet and raced against time. I studied hard because after all, this test is a test that will determine my life. If I don’t give it a try, I will regret it for the rest of my life.
While these students were studying hard, Wan Lei invited them to come down to attend the "state banquet" held in Huayuan. Although the banquet was just ordinary food and drinks, without dragon liver and phoenix marrow, all the envoys could eat it. I was very satisfied, and secretly thought that this trip was really worthwhile, otherwise I would not have known that President Wan Da was so approachable and not at all like the murderous devil promoted by the Ming court.
After lunch, we drank tea and chatted for a while. The bell rang at three o'clock, and the exam took place in the West Hall of Huayuan. Envoys from various provinces looked nervously at the students sitting there answering questions. , I couldn’t help but be able to take the exam for myself. If the students selected by President Wanda are from my own province, it would be even more honorable to go back.
The exam was very short, only half an hour. As soon as the time was up, the papers were collected, their names were sealed under everyone's attention, and then handed over to several mathematics teachers for correction. All the students were nervously waiting for the results, even before them. I am not in the mood to eat the snacks.
There were not many questions in the exam, and the marking was very fast. After ten minutes, more than 40 exam papers were graded, and the scores were calculated. Wan Lei looked at it, but there was no trace of joy on his face, because these candidates' Their quality was really poor. Simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division were not good enough. Only five people passed the passing mark, and only two people got excellent grades. One was named Yu Tingyi and the other was named Gong Taiding.
Wan Lei put a check mark on each of the two people's names and said: "Post the results and call the two people who checked them over." At the end, he added: "By the way, go to the second floor to do the manager's work. Library, please come down here, Madam and students."
As soon as the test results came out, among the four provinces, there was one person each from Zhejiang and Fujian. Among them, Yu Tingyi was from Zhejiang and Gong Taiding was from Fujian. The envoys from these two provinces were very happy because the prodigies they sent were indeed better than those from Guangdong and Guangxi. It's awesome.
"It doesn't matter if you are not selected. As long as you study hard, you will get the best university education and you will become a pillar of talent in the future. Arts and crafts are only one aspect, martial arts is equally important, so you don't have to take it too seriously." Wan Lei saw. The envoys from Guangdong and Guangxi didn’t look good on their faces, so they comforted them. After all, it is an objective fact that education in these two provinces is underdeveloped.
Soon, two children around ten years old were brought in. Wan Lei looked at them intently for a while and asked Wen Yan: "You two young people are studious and very smart. I wonder if you would like to become my teacher?"
"Master, please bow to me, my disciple." The two children hurriedly knelt down. The apprenticeship was what they wanted, so there was no reason to refuse.
"No need to be polite, just be willing. There will be a apprenticeship meeting later." Wan Lei hurriedly stopped them. At this time, Fu Wei also led more than ten students into the hall, bowed to Wan Lei and stood aside. , Wan Lei stood up and pointed at these students and introduced them one by one.
"Wang Qianzhi, a native of Peiping, second term of Guozixue, is your senior brother."
"Tang Sai'er, a native of Hejian Prefecture, in the first period of Guozixue, is your senior sister. She is usually careless, but she has the best heart. If you don't understand anything, you can ask her for advice."
"Gao Shiyong, a native of Xinghua Prefecture, is in the third period of Guozixue, and is in the same period as you."
"Huang Tingchen, a native of Lanzhou, is in the third period of Guozixue, at the same time as you."
"Liu Dingchang, a native of Peking, is in the second period of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His father is the commander of the navy of the Peking Army. He likes to flip ships and cannons the most, just like his father."
"Zhao Qier, a native of Peiping, is in the third period of Guozixue. His father is the commander of the East China Military Region. He is the youngest and the most proficient in mathematics. He can understand calculus at a young age and is much better than you."
"Zhou Yuanzhi, a native of Peiping, was in the second period of Guozixue. His father was the commander of the Northwest Military Region. He had high attainments in geography and cartography. He drew the mountains and rivers of Beiping Province, which are more detailed than those used by the military."
..
Wan Lei introduced his students one by one. When the two newcomers bowed politely, they couldn't help but feel shocked, because their senior brothers were all older than them, and there were several senior sisters, all of whom were As talented women, they can foresee how fierce the competition they will face in the future.