Chapter 29 Hidden Worries

  Gu Hongming shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Zu An is indeed a rare talent. This problem has never been thought of before, but now that Zu An has brought it up, after careful consideration, it's indeed the case. I've been working in the Xiang Shuai tent for many years, from the planning stage of this steel mill to its establishment. Xiang Shuai and we have almost gone gray worrying about money. If we had carefully planned and developed according to this order at the beginning, we could have avoided financial difficulties to a certain extent."

  Tan Yanqing comforted him, saying: "The profits generated by the iron and steel industry are far beyond what the textile industry can compare to. After Zhang Jian built this iron and steel plant and operated it for a period of time, the profits generated would be enough to provide follow-up funding for future foreign industries. However, it is certain that there will be difficulties in the next few years. This time I came to Hubei was also to investigate first, and then consider, thinking about opening up foreign industries in Hunan or Fujian, Zhejiang after returning, of course, what Zhang Jian did can't be compared, just trying a little bit."

  Kung Hsiang-hsi asked with great interest: "What kind of modern industries does Tseng Kuo-fan plan to establish?"

  "It's not finalized yet, but there are a few options. Raising funds for the development of modern industries is unavoidable, and I haven't discussed this with my father yet. If he supports it, we can adopt the method of official supervision and merchant management to introduce Western equipment and establish silk reeling factories, spinning mills, hemp factories, and weaving mills. Considering that there are already relatively large-scale weaving mills in Xiangxiang, these will naturally be established in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, while the other three factories can be built in Hunan province. If my father doesn't agree to rely on official power to develop modern industries, then I'll just have to use my own money to build them one by one!" Tan Yankai said with a smile.

  Gu Hongming smiled and said: "Your father will definitely not support you. You know, your father has high expectations for you in the imperial examination!"

  "The matter of the imperial examination is not too stressful for me, I just have to read books. What I'm least afraid of is memorizing books. I've heard that Tang Sheng is an expert in this area!" Tan Yanqian said with a smile.

  "That was when I first arrived in the West, because the language wasn't very familiar, so I used rote memorization to learn a foreign language."

  "No matter what, the silk factory must be established, which will bring great benefits to the country. You know that our neighboring countries have a large share of the raw silk export market and have obtained scarce funds in exchange. I don't believe that even if I use the best machines and silkworms from the two lakes, the cost of raw silk will still be lower than theirs. Suppressing their market share in this area should not be a problem!" Tan Yanqing said seriously.

  "Is our neighbor Japan?" Kung asked.

  "Not bad, after the Meiji Restoration, Japan's national strength has been growing stronger day by day. With its island country footing and scarce natural resources, coupled with frequent natural disasters, its people have a strong sense of survival crisis from top to bottom. A strong Japan will inevitably expand, and it is bound to expand onto the mainland, looking around, the best choice is our great China. So any industry that can strike at Japan, I, Tan Yankai, am interested in doing!" Tan Yankai said solemnly.

  Rumors have it that Gu Hongming was a romantic at heart, married to a Japanese wife and particularly fond of visiting brothels. Of course, his visits to brothels were closely related to his experiences studying abroad in the West. It is said that Gu's foreign foster father deliberately arranged for him to live next door to a famous French courtesan who admired Chinese culture, using the opportunity to teach her about Chinese culture as a way to have her explain real-world politics to him - after all, the people visiting this courtesan were all big shots in the political world. So Gu's first lessons in politics came from this courtesan.

  Gu Hongming's visits to brothels were either truly elegant or truly debased, but this was not important to Tan Yankai. What mattered was that this educational approach also gave him a special feeling - just like Beijing's most famous "red-light district", the Eight Great Alleys, where many high-ranking officials would disguise themselves and enter every night. If one were to befriend a famous courtesan from the Eight Great Alleys, it would be an extremely valuable political resource. Of course, Tan Yankai only thought about this and did not act on it - even when he was over 30 years old, he had not married and did not think of solving his problems by visiting brothels. He was not a saint, but he had strong self-control, and his romantic ideals made him quite disgusted with the idea of visiting brothels. However, he could not help but admit that Gu Hongming's foreign foster father's tactics were far more clever than those of ordinary people!

  "Tang Sheng, you should have noticed that in the recent issues of 'Qiang Xue Wen Zhai', a large part of the content is about Japan. Do you know why?" Tan Yanke asked, seeing Gu Hongming seemingly deep in thought.

  "Go on!"

  "Starting from the sixth year of Guangxu, Japan began to attach importance to strengthening its land and sea military power, especially since the 16th year of Guangxu, Japan has used 60% of its national finances for the development of its land and sea military, especially the rapid growth of its naval power. The other day when I was in Fujian, I heard a rumor about Japan..."

  "What rumor?"

  "Meiji Emperor of Japan decided to allocate 300,000 yuan from his own palace expenses every year and take one-tenth from the salaries of civil and military officials to supplement the cost of shipbuilding! Do you know what our whole country is doing now?!"

  Gu Hongming's mouth was bitter as he said: "The Empress Dowager's sixtieth birthday..."

  "Hmph!" Tan Yanqin sneered and said, "There's a very interesting saying in the official circles about the current Empress Dowager. I wonder if Brother Tang knows it?"

  "What's the famous quote?"

  "Alas, disaster is coming! Hehe, although it's just a joke, but judging from the current weather conditions, I'm afraid there will be heavy rain next year. I wonder if our great China can withstand it?!"

  "Perhaps it's not so unlucky after all?!"

  "Nowadays, I'm very concerned about Japan's every move. Brother Tang, do you know if the smokeless gunpowder production equipment will arrive in Wuchang Prefecture in half a month? Actually, I brought back two sets from Germany, and the first set was sent to Beiyang three months ago. The smokeless gunpowder factory should be built by now, right? We can't control the crisis before us, but we can do our part. However, I'm still very worried about the future..." Tan Yankai said somewhat despondently.

  Gu Hongming did not expect that the young man in front of him, who was nearly sixteen or seventeen years old, would be so capable. Unfortunately, when faced with reality, they were equally powerless. Tan Yankai found that this conversation was somewhat dull due to the involvement of Japanese issues, and there was no way out. His impression of the First Sino-Japanese War was really too deep. As soon as Japan was mentioned, he would grit his teeth, but unfortunately, he didn't have the power to participate in such high-level decision-making at this time. To ease the atmosphere of the conversation between the two, Tan Yankai immediately chose a few very interesting topics to shift their attention. However, when the conversation reached this point, everyone had lost interest in talking. After chatting for a while, Gu Hongming stood up and bid farewell, but before leaving, he still promised Tan Yankai that he would arrange a meeting between him and Zhang Zhidong.

  "Maybe I should take some time to go north to Tianjin and visit Old Comrade Li, maybe there will be even greater gains who knows!" Tan Yanqing thought to himself after seeing off Gu Hongming.

  The First Sino-Japanese War is getting closer and closer, and it's impossible to change the outcome in just one year. However, if we can inflict some damage on Japan and force them not to have the upper hand at the negotiating table, the losses of the Treaty of Shimonoseki will be slightly smaller, and Tang Shaoyi will be satisfied.

  According to Tan Yankai's knowledge of the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the defeat on land in Korea was due to Ye Zhicha's cowardice and desertion. As for the failure of the Beiyang Fleet against the Japanese Combined Fleet at sea, there were many reasons, but one reason was that the Beiyang Fleet had stopped importing ammunition two years prior, and its own domestic production was controlled by corrupt officials who dared to use solid bullets or fill shells with sand in the name of "reducing costs"!

  For naval warfare, Tan Yangqin was helpless and could only donate equipment to produce more powerful smokeless gunpowder devices. Whether it would play a role in the naval battle depended on fate. However, when it came to dealing with Ye Zhi-chao, he still had a way - his previous life's medical doctorate title could be used to save people or shorten someone's lifespan by ten years without them realizing it. Taking down Ye Zhi-chao was not difficult for Tan Yangqin. Perhaps the Qing court would send another greedy and timid general to lead the Qing army on the Korean battlefield, which was very likely, but for Tan Yangqin, he could only do so much.

  The sky had not yet darkened, and Gu Hongming, who had just left at noon, returned to the inn. This time he came as a representative of Zhang Zhidong to extend an invitation to Tan Yankai. Zhang Zhidong was overjoyed when he learned that Tan Yankai had arrived in Wuchang Prefecture. On the one hand, he highly valued the "Strong Learning Digest" founded by Tan Yankai. Later, there was also a detoxification pill, and it is worth noting that Zhang Zhidong took a very clear stance against opium, advocating for its prohibition. During his time in Shaanxi, he launched an anti-opium campaign, but it did not yield much effect. With the detoxification pill, Zhang Zhidong felt that he had achieved significant results in eradicating opium. It can be said that apart from the Fujian and Zhejiang regions, Governor-General of Hubei and Hunan Zhang Zhidong was the largest buyer of the detoxification pill. Also, due to the need to curry favor with Zhang Zhidong, Tan Yankai's main target for opening Jianmin Pharmaceutical in Hunan was Zhang Zhidong, and he even offered a very preferential price, which made Zhang Zhidong extremely satisfied.

  It is said that Zhang Zhidong's most appreciated work was Tan Sitong's "Exhortation to Study", and he had just learned that Tan Sitong had obtained the title of Explaining Scholar in the Hunan provincial examination. Zhang Zhidong himself was also an Explaining Scholar, and later became a Flowering Scholar in the imperial examination. Although he had been a high-ranking local official for decades, his scholarly demeanor had faded somewhat, but he still placed great importance on academic achievements, especially those with literary fame. Tan Sitong, despite being young, possessed both academic achievement and literary fame, which suited Zhang Zhidong's taste perfectly. Discerning individuals knew that Tan Sitong's "Exhortation to Study" was written in support of the Westernization Movement, yet its elegant writing style won over even conservative scholars, who praised it with enthusiasm. After being endorsed by Empress Dowager Cixi and the Emperor, "Exhortation to Study" spread rapidly across the country, and for a time, the environment seemed to have taken a turn for the better. Many Westernization Movement supporters felt a sense of relief, while some former conservatives began to contemplate the issue of national strengthening.

  "Zhang Zhidong's handwriting is indeed different from that of ordinary people!" Tan Yankai sat in the Guangdong Governor's Mansion, where the lights were shining brightly, but unlike other places, they used electric lights! The name of the Guangdong Governor's Mansion was "Guangyi Hall", and it was said that the naming ceremony and the installation of electric lights took place on the same day, which happened to be Zhang Zhidong's youngest son's full moon celebration. Zhang Zhidong had used this special way to celebrate his young son's full moon, which was a pioneering move. It is said that in China, installing electric lights, the Guangdong Governor's Mansion was the first to take the lead.

  Guangyi Hall had exactly one hundred light bulbs installed in the front and back, which was also because the limited power of the generator could only support so many light bulbs. The generator was purchased from Hong Kong. Although this didn't seem like much to Tan Yankai, in his memories of past lives, the lighting scenery within Beijing City was far more magnificent than this. However, having arrived at this point after such a long time, he still felt a little delighted seeing electric lights for the first time.

  "In fact, whether it's the light bulbs in Guangyi Hall or the steel mills in Wuchang and Hanyang, they all show that Zhang Zhidong is a pragmatist. It's hard to imagine that when he was an official in Beijing, he was one of the leaders of the Qingliu faction. Being a local official and being a Qingliu official in Beijing are quite different; the former are mostly pragmatists, relatively open-minded, while the latter are the kind of people who can talk big without feeling any pain, even building railways is considered destroying the feng shui..." Tan Yankai thought to himself.

  Tan Yanxin's father, Tan Zhonglin, had been an official all his life. He had also served as a Hanlin and a local governor, but what left the deepest impression on him was being a provincial governor-general, which in some sense could be called a "great man". The governor-general and the Hanlin officials were often at odds with each other - one had to focus on practical work, while the other opposed their own ideals. This also formed two opposing philosophies of life - pragmatism and idealism. Of course, both types of people are very rare. Most Hanlin officials rely on some power, saying they have high hopes for their own ideals is actually overestimating them. As for the governor-general who can really do practical work, there are also very few, at least Tan Zhonglin thought he had been slack in recent years.

  "Zhang Nanpi is a good governor, at least much better than Li Hefei! Both are leaders of the Westernization Movement, but in terms of personal integrity, Li Hefei, who asks if you're from Anhui as soon as he meets you, is far inferior. Unfortunately, Zhang Nanpi's arrogance in his heart is also somewhat unbearable, and looking at how he wants to build the Hanyang Iron Works right opposite the governor's mansion, this person has a bit of a tendency to be overly ambitious..." This is Tan Zhonglin's evaluation of the two men.

  "It's better to be a bit higher!" Tan Yanqing felt somewhat helpless in his heart. When he arrived at the Huguang Governor's Mansion, he didn't receive the high-standard reception like when he went to his father-in-law's place. Maybe Zhang Zhidong really had something urgent and couldn't get away, or maybe he looked down on this newly appointed Tongzhi title holder, Tan Yanqing had been waiting in Guangyitang for a while now, but Zhang Zhidong still didn't show up, leaving him to chat with a group of attendants.

  "In the lower part of 'Quan Xue Pian', it can be divided into two parts. The first part is about the main things, similar to the inner chapters of 'Zhuangzi'. The second half is about generalities, similar to the outer chapters of 'Zhuangzi'......" A man in his 40s with a mustache said.

  The middle-aged man who spoke was Liang Dingfen, the chief writer of the Huguang Governor's Office. After Sheng Xuanhuai went into hiding, he became the first assistant to the governor and also the headmaster of the Two Lakes Academy supported by Zhang Zhidong. Interestingly, Liang Dingfen's courtesy name "Jie'an" was the same as that of Liu Renxi, the chief writer under his father-in-law.

  "Mr. Jie An is overpraising me, I am young and inexperienced, how can my 'Encouragement to Learn' be compared with the works of the ancients like 'Zhuangzi'? Not to mention the difference in insight, that style of elegant and refined writing, how can a later generation learn from it? Zhuangzi is unparalleled in the past and future, I dare not compare myself to him!" Tan Yanjin said humbly.

  However, after reading "Quan Xue Pian", it seems that there are still some unspoken implications. Zong'an quoted the example of Japan's Meiji Restoration and its efforts to strengthen itself through reform in "Quan Xue Pian", and also made an in-depth evaluation of this. However, at the end, he only briefly mentioned the current situation in China, seemingly implying that he highly appreciates the idea of implementing similar reforms in China; Additionally, Zong'an also expressed different opinions on the imperial examination system... Unfortunately, these two points were written very deeply, but unlike other chapters, no targeted suggestions were made for the current situation in China. It is unknown whether this was intentional or not. Liang Dingfen followed Zhang Zhidong for many years and was able to hold the position of chief writer under this "Western Affairs General", which was not a undeserved reputation. It's not surprising that he was able to point out so many problems in "Quan Xue Pian".

  In the first draft of "On Encouraging Learning", Tan Xianzhen had put forward very profound insights on reform and imperial examination, which made the old man very happy. However, in the subsequent revisions, the old man told him straightforwardly: "Zong'an, this book will bring you great reputation, but for the sensitive topics involved, it's better to just touch on them lightly. Intelligent people can naturally see what you want to express from between the lines, and those who can't don't have any real ability. You need this book to bring you honor, not huge controversy. Moreover, as your father is the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, many people are watching him, so such topics still need some special polishing..."