Chapter 18: Target Country's Imperial Son

  That Jin doesn't understand military affairs, but he can hold a high position and handle matters, purely because his family is a Manchu noble.

  At the end of the 19th century, the Eight Banners' sons were increasingly incompetent and became a group of spoiled brats. The Qing Empire was in crisis, and these Eight Banners' sons were really unable to bear the responsibility of saving the country. However, the imperial court did not trust Han Chinese officials, especially dared not hand over the army to the hands of the Han people. Having no choice, they had to pick the best among the worst, promoting Manchu sons who were slightly better in character to key positions.

  That Jin was a Confucian scholar by origin, and completely inept in military matters. However, he had two advantages: first, he was loyal to the Qing dynasty; second, he always acted as if he were a representative of Confucianism, strictly demanding himself according to Confucian norms, and he was extremely concerned with saving face. Although he was somewhat pedantic, his moral character was guaranteed. Therefore, the imperial court appointed him to this crucial position at the Academy.

  That Jin can't manage military education, he's not interested in it either. He has no idea about the following situation: he doesn't know that Zhou Xuanzhang is trying his best to be a mediocre student, nor does he know that the officials of the school are artificially inflating Zhou Xuanzhang's exam scores for his sake. Anyway, from the transcript, Zhou Xuanzhang this student is really not making an effort!

  He regretted it afterwards, feeling that he shouldn't have impulsively accepted such a disciple. But the die had been cast, and everyone in the world knew that Zhou Xianzhang was Nuo Jin's disciple who had kowtowed to him, and Zhou Xianzhang's poor performance was proof of Nuo Jin's incompetence as a teacher!

  That Jin was very good at saving face, but Zhou Xianzhang had lost him all his face. That Jin thought and thought, and came up with a good idea.

  That Jin was a scholar from a family of scholars, and he was well-versed in the classics and history. He could be considered one of the great Confucian scholars of his generation. His disciples may not have been skilled in military affairs, but as long as they achieved something in their studies, they would not bring shame to him.

  So, Jin decided to take a different approach and open a small study for Zhou Xuanzhang to make up for his lack of classical education. He wanted to cultivate Zhou into a Confucian scholar!

  According to the rules, Zhou Xuan Zhang had to go to his study every evening, where he personally taught national studies, from Three Character Classics and Hundred Family Surnames, these enlightenment readings, to Analects of Confucius and I Ching, these Confucian classics, as well as poetry, lyrics and fu, comprehensive teaching.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang followed the Jin state to study national studies, originally more than a hundred times harder than studying military affairs. He hadn't even read the Three Character Classic or the Hundred Family Surnames, and suddenly he was learning the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, which were too difficult for him.

  But Zhou Xuanzhang's national learning achievements made rapid progress, which made Jin Dawai very pleased.

  There are two reasons for this.

  Firstly, Rui was a great Confucian scholar, he was not good at military affairs, but teaching national studies was easy for him, and his methods were appropriate.

  Secondly, Zhou Xuan Zhang saw that the officials in the school were protecting each other, and it was difficult to eliminate them. He thought of another trick - to improve the national studies results, making Jin Yi happy, and transferring him from Tianjin Military Academy to Guozijian as a student leader, which is equivalent to saving the country through a detour.

  So, Zhou Xuan Zhang studied national studies with extra effort. His brain was not stupid to begin with. Before long, Zhou Xuan Zhang's national studies had some small achievements and he could even sing a few lines with Jin Chang.

  Thus, Zhou Xuanzhang became a two-faced person. In military affairs, he was extremely proficient, far surpassing those top students in the academy, but his transcript was a mess, and everyone thought he was a military fool, except for two people - Feng Guozhang and Ai De.

  In national studies, he was only a mediocre scholar, but the students in the academy were all from military backgrounds, and compared to them, Zhou Xuanzhang's national studies could be said to be quite profound.

  After a long time, everyone thought that Zhou Xuanzhang had entered the wrong profession and should go to Guozijian instead of staying in the Military Preparatory Academy.

  Even Jin had the same feeling, planning to send Zhou Xuanzhang to Guozijian and giving him some hints, letting him prepare for going to Guozijian.

  This made Zhou Xuanzhang extremely pleased, as long as he went to Guozijian, he would be much freer. Zhou Xuanzhang made up his mind that as soon as he left the Tianjin Military Academy, he would immediately escape back to Xiangxi and let Guozijian go to hell.

  Of course, going to the Imperial Academy is not a matter of one's own will. Zhou Xuanzhang had no official rank or title, and was just an ordinary person. The Imperial Academy was the highest institution of learning in the Qing dynasty, and even if someone had connections, it wasn't something that could be easily arranged.

  But with Jin's promise, Zhou Xuanzhang felt much more at ease.

  Eight months have passed, and Feng Guozhang has not mentioned the beheading bet. The situation between China and Japan is calm and peaceful, with no signs of war in sight. As time went by, the beheading bet was gradually forgotten.

  Time will wear away people's memories.

  Now, Zhou Xuan Zhang has become a loyal subject of the Qing Dynasty. He even starts to believe that he was born as a person of the Qing Dynasty. As for the 21st century's Xiangxi mountains and new barracks, Zhou Xuan Zhang is more and more convinced that they were just a dream.

  He no longer believes that there will be war between China and Japan.

  No matter whether it's the 21st century's Diaoyu Islands or the 19th century's First Sino-Japanese War, they are all just his dreams. In reality, none of these things have ever happened and will not happen in the future either.

  He began to worry about Feng Guozhang's head.

  As soon as he thought of Feng Guozhang, Zhou Xuanzhang's heart was filled with mixed emotions.

  Originally, Feng Guozhang had bet his head, which made Zhou Xuanzhang extremely dissatisfied. So when he first entered school, Zhou Xuanzhang gave Feng Guozhang a distant respect - such an elder brother is not good, the younger brother will not accompany him!

  Zhou Xuan Zhang was idle in school, pretending to be crazy and stupid. Feng Guo Zhang didn't mind at all, anyway, he knew that Zhou had inner talent.

  Feng Guozhang had only one requirement for Zhou Xunzhang - to learn Japanese well.

  Feng Guozhang firmly believed that a war between China and Japan was inevitable. As an officer of the Qing Empire, he had to know himself and his enemy, and in order to do so, he had to master the language of his opponent.

  Feng Guozhang's Japanese was not bad, it was self-taught, so he took the initiative to become Zhou Xuanzhang's Japanese teacher. He forced Zhou Xuanzhang to learn those Kanji characters. Every now and then, he would personally test him, if he didn't do well, Feng Guozhang would make him face the wall in contemplation. When others faced the wall in contemplation, they were facing a blank white wall, but when Zhou Xuanzhang faced the wall, it was a map of Japan.

  After a long time, Zhou Xuanzhang's Japanese level has greatly improved, and he is also very familiar with the map of Japan.

  In his leisure time, Feng Guozhang would often visit Zhou Xuanzhang in the mountains, sometimes with Ai De and sometimes alone. Each time he came, he would bring wine and meat, and engage in grand discussions about the world's great trends.

  Zhou Xuanzhang was angry, but Feng Guozhang was after all a teacher at the school and an elder who had been bowed to, so it wasn't good to confront him directly. He could only use the cold treatment, letting Feng Guozhang talk loudly while he himself lowered his head to drink wine in silence, giving Feng Guozhang a silent treatment.

  Ke Na Feng Guo Zhang, however, was not affected by Zhou Xian Zhang's coldness and continued to talk to himself, getting more and more excited, singing loudly, "A man should wear a Wu hook, take over the 50 states of Guan Shan", "Big snow fills the bow knife", with great momentum, as if no one else was present.

  As time went on, Feng Guozhang's indignation infected Zhou Xuanzhang. Sometimes, Zhou would add a sentence or two to what Feng was saying. When Feng saw that Zhou was responding, he became even more excited and put his arm around Zhou's shoulder, talking about England and France, Russia and America, the world powers' aggressive expansion and the Qing dynasty's decline. The Qing had been defeated in battle year after year, and when they spoke of the tragic state of affairs, Feng pounded the table and clapped his hands, bursting into loud sobs. Zhou also shed a few tears of sympathy.

  Gradually, Zhou Xuzhang and Feng Guozhang really cultivated a brotherly affection.

  In fact, if it weren't for the beheading appointment, Zhou Xuanzhang still quite approved of Feng Guozhang. Feng Guozhang was a straightforward person who said what he thought, without any pretenses, unlike other Qing officials.

  The only drawback is that Feng Guozhang likes to be an official too much, always talking about the glory of his ancestors and the prosperity of his descendants, and he has a high self-esteem, not putting the officials of the Qing Dynasty in his eyes, often sighing at his bad luck and pitying himself.

  In Feng Guozhang's eyes, the officials of the Qing dynasty, from the imperial court to local officials, were all mediocre people who occupied the toilet without doing their job. He, Feng Guozhang, had the talent of Guan Zhong and Lü Shang, able to bring peace to the country through literature and stability through military power, yet he was reduced to a humble teacher who had not even entered the official ranks! The times were unfavorable, and heroes were short of breath!

  Actually, Feng Guozhang looked down on others, and it was reasonable. He indeed saw further than the officials of the Qing dynasty at the same time, with a broader vision.

  The Qing Empire has been passively beaten for years since the Opium War, which woke up some people. Many court officials had to admit that Western guns and cannons were indeed more powerful than traditional Chinese weapons. They began to adopt Western affairs, learn advanced Western technology, set up factories, and manufacture Western-style guns and cannons.

  But even those who handled foreign affairs and were considered enlightened, believed that although Western technology was beneficial, their national system and institutions were inferior to those of the Celestial Empire by countless degrees. They firmly believed that the national system and moral standards of the Great Qing Empire were the most superior in the world, and Confucian culture was the most perfect culture under heaven.

  So, they proposed the Chinese learning as the body and Western learning for use. In other words, the clever techniques of the West can be learned, factories can be set up, and railways can be built, but it is necessary to firmly adhere to the ethical norms and social system of the Qing Dynasty, and integrate Western advanced technology under the ethical norms of the Qing Dynasty.

  As Comrade Twenty-one said, it is to unswervingly follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics!

  Yehe Nara Jin was a representative of this view.