Chapter 156 Attracting Attention, Invitation from Guangdong Academic Affairs
Half a month after Li Qiwei returned to China, his news gradually spread, attracting the attention of interested people.
There are people talking about his deeds in newspapers, pubs, gatherings, schools and other places.
Compared with the previous "Declaration" report that Li Qiwei won the Nobel Prize, his other identity is more topical.
That was his British knighthood.
Countless people talked about it and admired Li Qiwei.
When the news reached the Qing Dynasty, it already caused a sensation.
Now that this foreign nobleman from the Qing Dynasty has returned to China, there will be even more fun to watch.
Everyone only cares about one question: Does Li Qiwei still need to kneel down when he sees a Qing Dynasty official?
What to do if you see the emperor.
"My dear, I heard from the gossip that Lord Li is very likely to be an official directly in the court."
"It is said that he was nominated by someone above."
"Tch, you The news is too late. Li Qiwei will be named Minister of Rites, and will also be in charge of the country's education. "
"Nonsense, how could I remember that Li Qiwei will soon be the emperor's teacher, teaching physics to the emperor. .”
“.”
The common people completely regard Li Qiwei as a topic of after-dinner conversation, and they can arrange it in any way they want.
However, in the real circle, his deeds are no longer a secret.
Emperor Guangxu made Li Qiwei the deputy minister of management and education at the court meeting.
This move has been approved by the Empress Dowager Cixi and many big shots in the government and the public, and will be issued in a formal document soon.
The news was so explosive that the low-level officials were stunned.
I studied hard in Hanchuang for more than ten years, and worked hard in the officialdom for more than ten years. In the end, I was worse than a young boy.
Is this justified?
Many officials secretly scolded Guangxu and Cixi for being stupid and incompetent when no one was around, and the Qing Dynasty would be doomed sooner or later.
Before Li Qiwei did anything, the Qing Dynasty lost the hearts of the people.
However, complaints are complaints, but few people take Li Qiwei to heart.
After all, as an official, he is only responsible for education.
To put it bluntly, he is a technical official with great power, but it is all over things, not people.
And reaching a high position at a young age may not be a good thing.
Chinese people pay attention to the fact that it is too easy to break, and too much is not enough. Many people are waiting to see Li Qiwei's joke.
However, in the eyes of officials in the education system, Li Qiwei was the hot potato.
Well-informed officials already know that the New Deal has also brought great reforms to official positions.
Many governor-level bosses have already reported to the court that in addition to the traditional six departments, several parallel departments will be added.
Among them, education is likely to be singled out and claimed to be one.
In the future, perhaps Li Qiwei will be able to become an official in charge of national education.
Building good relationships now is equivalent to multiple connections.
This is always the case in officialdom. You never know who is a minion today may be a big success tomorrow.
At the same time, the importance of education can also be seen.
Even today, officials in the education system are very noble in the Qing Dynasty.
This is especially true in local provinces.
The local officials of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were mainly divided into the following levels.
The first level is the governor and governor.
The governor generally manages two or several provinces and is responsible for civil and military affairs.
The governor only manages the internal affairs of the province or several governments.
Although nominally, the governor is half a rank higher than the governor, there is no strict superior-subordinate relationship between the two.
This is also the central government's policy of checks and balances, in order to prevent the feudal officials from becoming bigger.
Governors and governors are appointed by the emperor and can go directly to Tianting.
For example, the current Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Cen Chunxuan, is responsible for all important affairs in Guangdong and Guangxi, and holds a high position of power.
He was one of the eight governor-level feudal officials in the Qing Dynasty.
Historically, many times the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi also served as the governor of Guangdong.
But there are exceptions. For example, the current governor of Guangdong is Zhang Renjun, not Cen Chunxuan.
After 1905, the governor of Guangdong will be permanently abolished and the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi will serve concurrently.
Below the governor, there is the second level: the chief envoy, the inspectorate envoy, and the provincial academic administration.
Although the chief envoy is the local chief executive in name, due to the existence of the governor and the governor, in practice he has been reduced to a subordinate of the two, and his powers have been seriously eroded.
Moreover, the governor and governor also have the right to recommend candidates for the chief envoy, which aggravates the situation.
Both the governor and the governor have no direct officials, that is, they have no subordinate departments, they are just errands. The chief envoy has direct subordinate officials, and there are subdivided yamen below according to different government affairs, so it is an official position.
This is the biggest difference between the chief envoy and the governor-general.
The Jingcha Envoy is in charge of judicial, criminal and prison affairs, and his functions are relatively centralized, headed by the Chief Envoy.
As for the last province’s academic administration, it is more interesting.
The highest officer is called Xuezheng, the full name is Admiral Xuezheng or Inspector Envoy, commonly known as Xuetai.
In the Qing Dynasty, the academic administration of a province was mainly responsible for the scientific examination and education work of the province and the management of local official schools.
Essentially speaking, academic administration is the same as governors and governors. They are envoys and have no direct subordinate officials.
Academic administration is also held by people directly sent by the imperial court, and their levels vary depending on personal status.
In ancient times, academic administration was the Qingshui Yamen. The affairs it was responsible for had little material income, and promotion was relatively difficult.
So under normal circumstances, new scholars are reluctant to serve as academic administrators.
Therefore, the imperial court would assign those who ranked last in the imperial examinations or were older scholars to be academic administrators.
This is why academic administration is called noble status.
Qing is because he is poor and will never make any money in his lifetime.
Gui Ze is nominally at the second level of academic administration, but he is on an equal footing with the governor.
Governors, governors, and envoys are not qualified to order academic affairs. Matters related to education are basically discussed.
So it seems that academic administration is very noble.
This is easy to understand. Only those who are poor and humble would be willing to become academic administrators.
The third level of local officials is the prefect, prefect, etc.
But between the third level and the second level, there are actually various ways.
River roads, grain storage roads, salt transport envoys, separate patrol roads, separate road guards, etc.
Some officials may look small, but they are very powerful, and they even have intricate connections with the capital city behind them.
So generally speaking, there were only five civil servants at the provincial level in the Qing Dynasty: governor, governor, chief envoy, inspector, and academic administrator.
As for generals and admirals, they are military attachés.
Of course, the above are simple situations. The real officialdom is often more complicated, and the various power checks and balances are simply incomprehensible to laymen.
Now, one of the five big guys is interested in Li Qiwei.
The new academic administrator of Guangdong was Yu Shimei.
Yu Shimei also just took office. His successor was Zhang Baixi, who is now the Minister of Management and Education and has been promoted to a Beijing official.
Yu Shimei, who turned 50 this year, was already preparing to retire in this position.
But the appearance of Li Qiwei gave him a glimmer of hope, and the old tree regained its second spring.
Perhaps, I can build a good relationship with the future Vice Minister of Management and Education and seek opportunities in future education reforms.
Li Qiwei will definitely have intersection with him in his future work, and he can be considered as many friends.
And the other party happens to be in Guangzhou, so I have the advantage of being close to the water and getting the first-come-first-served advantage.
So he asked his servants to send invitations to Li Qiwei, inviting him to gather at his house.
At this moment, Li Qiwei, who was at home, was already so busy that he was dizzy.
He did not expect the sensation caused by the news of his return to China.
These days, people keep coming to visit, most of them are business partners of the Li family or friends of Li Tingzhao.
The purpose is self-evident, just to see the Li family's Qilin'er, the first British nobleman in the Qing Dynasty.
Li Qiwei had no choice but to show up, return the favors one by one, and do his best to treat guests.
At this time, suddenly a boy came to report that it was the Guangdong Academic Affairs Master who sent someone to deliver the invitation.
Li Tingzhao did not dare to neglect, and went to accept the invitation in person, and also sealed the visitor with a 50-tael thank-you gift.
No matter how poor he is in academic affairs, he is still a high-ranking official in the province. His status is not comparable to that of ordinary people, and he must be polite and polite.
At the same time, he was also proud of his son. What more could a husband ask for when he gave birth to a son like this.
When Li Qiwei saw Yu Shimei's invitation, although there was no surprise, he was ready to accept the invitation.
Academic administration can give direct advice to the emperor.
I just have a plan that I want to throw out, to test how muddy the water in Manchuria is.
Since he wants to be the Deputy Minister of Management, he should do it well and let everyone see Dr. Li's ability.
Without impressive results, he will not be in office for long and will inevitably be impeached numerous times.
So on the ship returning to China, Li Qiwei conceived a domestic education reform plan.
Put it through the hands of Yu Shimei and send it to the top management of the Qing Dynasty to see the other party's reaction.
If you can follow your own ideas, then the deputy minister of management is still necessary.
Li Qiwei will also play its role well and give the Manchu Qing an advantage.
(End of this chapter)