Chapter 56 10. Celebrate the full moon of the son with the joy of the Chinese people seeing the electric light for the first time

In the early morning of this day, Peiyu saw that Dagen was dressed up and looked like he was about to go out, so she asked, "Where are you going?" Dagen replied: "Go to Huangpu Port to buy pine trees." "What do you do when you go to Huangpu to buy pine trees?" "The fourth uncle said that when he went to Huangpu to see Zhang Xuanshuai, he saw a good pine forest on Niushan Mountain on the north bank. He didn't pay attention to it at the time, but found that there were almost no pine trees in Guangzhou over the years. The fourth uncle said that he loved it the most in his life. Pine trees, let me go to Niushan in Huangpu to buy two good pine trees and plant them in the empty yard of the government office."

At that time, the Jinci Temple was full of pines and cypresses, which was a solemn scene, which made Peiyu miss it.It is indeed a pity that there are no pines and cypresses in front of him. After Dagen said it, Peiyu really felt it was a pity. "Did Fourth Uncle tell you what kind of pine tree you want to buy?" "Fourth Uncle said, don't have crooked and strange shapes, and don't want rare and expensive varieties. You should choose two trunks with thick and straight trunks, and the shape is correct, so that people can look dignified and upright." Peiyu was very happy to hear that, and this kind of material selection idea was also in line with her wishes, so she asked again: "Should I buy the big one or the small one?"

"My fourth uncle said, try to buy the big ones, and the big ones are more stylish, but one must consider that it is easy to survive, and the other is that it is easy to carry. I need to discuss it with the local farmers." "Okay, let's go!" Peiyu thought, the old man is busy all day long, and today he has time to beautify the environment.It seems that Renkan did bring him a good mood. In the afternoon, Zhao Maochang led several carpenters and plasterers to repair Muyou Hall.Muyou Hall is on the west side of the Governor's Office compound, with a large hall in the middle and more than ten small rooms around it. This is where the staff of the governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi work.Staff was originally a general term for the military staff, secretaries and other people who lived in the tent with the army when the ancient generals used their troops to fight.Later, due to the limited customization of the yamen's subordinate officials, the local officials were too busy, so they learned from the generals and hired some people to handle documents, criminal names, money and grain and other affairs.Because it is a set of military camps, the name is also called staff.These people are not officials ordered by the imperial court, but invited by the master of the yamen. If they agree, they will stay, and if they don't agree, they will leave. It is similar to the relationship of friends.So the master politely called them friends.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, civil strife was frequent, and local officials shouldered heavy military and political responsibilities. Therefore, it was very popular to hire Muyou, and the governors of each province had a large team of Muyou.The most famous of these is of course the staff team of Zeng Guofan's Liangjiang Governor's Office. There are hundreds of top-notch talents in administration, military, financial management, science and technology, etc. at that time. statement.

Guangdong and Guangxi are located at the southern gate of China, and in recent decades they have been an important place to deal with foreigners. Therefore, the Guangdong and Guangxi Supervision Office has a lot of staff, and there are thirty or forty people of all kinds.Due to the special relationship between Sang Zhiping and Zhang Zhidong, he actually became the chief of staff after he came to Guangzhou.Previously, he and Cai Xiyong recruited more than 60 Westernization talents through the recruitment list, most of them went to the bureau, only Chen Nianchu and other five returned from studying in the United States stayed in the supervisory office as alumni.In the past, the shogunate departments were all named after the six departments of the imperial court, namely the official department, the household department, the military department, the engineering department, the criminal department, and the ritual department. Now, in addition to these six departments, two more departments are added, that is, Cai Xiyong is the head, including Chen Nianfeng and other five people. The Westernization Department, the translation department headed by Gu Hongming.

Zhao Maochang temporarily arranged these staff members to work in other houses, commanded the craftsmen to renovate and paint the entire Muyoutang, and specially selected a skilled joiner from among them, and asked him to paint the Muyoutang according to the ink marks of Zhang Zhitai. Make a horizontal plaque. A few days later, Peiyu saw a strange person in the supervisory office again, similar to Gu Hongming, he looked like an ordinary teacher at first glance: melon skin hat, long robe and jacket, but he looked like a foreigner when he looked closely: high nose bridge, white skin , The brim of the melon skin hat reveals golden hair.But listening to his proficient Chinese, he talked with Zhang Zhidong affectionately while walking.Peiyu wondered, who is this?

It happened that Sang Zhiping came to the backyard to look for his wife Chai—there were a lot of things in the backyard during this period, and Chai often came to help Peiyu—Peiyu asked him.Sang Zhiping said: "That was an English pastor named Timothy Lee. Zaotai became friends with him as early as in Shanxi. He came to Guangzhou a few days ago to visit an old friend. He recommended a The machine maker is very happy and immediately entrusts him to go to Hong Kong to buy it.” "What machine?" "Light machine." Peiyu couldn't figure out what kind of machine the electric light machine was and what it was used for, so she was too embarrassed to ask further.

In a few days, there will be a large and heavy iron machine dragged by a carriage, together with coils of slender rope.Along with the machine, besides Timothy Li, there were two other foreign craftsmen.The three foreigners stayed in the yamen and were busy in and out of the Muyou hall for four or five days, and sometimes there were bursts of "beep beep" sounds.Because Peiyu's body has not fully recovered, she didn't go to see it.Then the two pine trees bought by Dagen were also brought in. According to Zhang Zhidong's instructions, the two pine trees were planted on the left and right sides in front of the gate of Muyou Hall.

In a few more days, tomorrow will be the day of the full moon, and Zhang Zhidong still hasn't revealed how lively it will be.At night, Peiyu couldn't help asking her husband.Zhang Zhidong said with a smile: "Tomorrow night, I will show you something that you have never seen since you were born, so that you will be amazed and excited." What could it be?Will you give me a rare treasure, a set of luxurious clothes, maybe a rare toy for Kaner?These have the potential to amaze and excite the viewer.Peiyu thought for a long time, but she couldn't come up with anything. The next morning, the staff moved into the renovated Muyou Hall.I saw that the doors and windows had been painted with new paint, the walls were whitewashed with lime, and the ground was all inlaid with blue bricks of the same color.Everyone stood by the table, looked around, and immediately felt a sense of comfort and refreshment.

In particular, the two newly moved pine trees at the gate are about two people tall and as thick as a hug. Although they are not very tall, they have straight trunks, strong side branches, dense and dark green needles, adding to the beauty of Muyou Hall. A majestic air, majestic posture.Everyone loves and likes the staff. In the afternoon, Sang Zhiping announced to all Muyou halls: After dinner, please come to Muyou hall. At 7:00 p.m., Zhang Zhitai will personally preside over the plaque-hanging ceremony in Muyou hall.Refreshments will be available at that time, and we will invite everyone to watch something foreign.

Muyoutang is the name of the office of the staff in the yamen, and it is not a regular name.Zhang Zhitai personally presided over the plaque hanging ceremony. It seems that this plaque was inscribed by him.How many words will he write?The staff are all guessing.Then everyone suddenly realized that the renovation of the room and the transplanting of pine trees were all for the purpose of hanging the plaque tonight, but what are the foreign things? Although it is early autumn, the night in Guangzhou comes later than in the north.After dinner, when all the staff were fully dressed and came to Muyou Hall, it was still dark, everyone was drinking tea and chatting, and they all seemed a little excited.

Around seven o'clock, Zhang Zhidong came, followed by several laborers, two of whom carried a large wooden board wrapped in red silk.The wooden board was about four feet long and two feet wide. The staff knew that it must be the plaque of Muyou Hall, and they surrounded it curiously, but they couldn't see the words on it.At this time, someone moved a bamboo ladder. A young and strong laborer held the wooden plank vertically, climbed up the ladder, and hung the wooden plank on the pre-nailed nails. The red silk was still wrapped, and a long rope One end is connected with red silk, and the other end hangs to the ground. Seeing that the sky was getting dark, Zhang Zhidong waved to everyone and said loudly: "My friends, everyone has worked hard." Except for a few who took leave temporarily to recuperate from illness or went home to visit relatives, almost all of the more than thirty friends came. When they heard that the host had already given their opening remarks, they all came over one after another. "You all look up to me, Zhang, who came from all directions to the governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi to help me with various complicated affairs. There are many things to do, but the salary is low. In addition, I have always been careless and don't know how to ask for warmth. You have no complaints and do your duty. You are all well-educated people who have been educated for ten years, and some of them are from the second list, and some have returned from studying in the West. I think the reason for this is not mainly to make money to support the family, but to display what you have learned in your life. Report to the imperial court, and report to the common people." Mu Liao felt comfortable listening to Zhang Zhidong's words.In fact, most of these staff members came here for the generous salary of the Yamen.The monthly salary of a staff member varies depending on the background, ability, seniority and the tasks they undertake. Usually the lowest is no less than twenty taels of silver, and the highest can even reach more than forty taels.At that time, the annual salary of a Qipin county magistrate was only forty-five taels.At the end of the year, all accidents have not happened, and after a year of peace and security, you can get 1,000 taels of maintenance, which is spread on a monthly basis, and the monthly salary is only more than 90 taels.As a county magistrate, there are many ostentations and entertainments, and many poor relatives come to play the game. Therefore, a clean county magistrate who is not corrupt can live on his legitimate income, and he is not too rich.As for an ordinary school teacher, the monthly salary is only five or six taels.If a scholar has a bad fate and cannot be an official, he can only be a tutor.Once you come to the governor's yamen as a master, you can get half the income of the county magistrate and seven tutors, what a coveted job!However, they all grew up reading Confucius and Mencius, and all of them have grand ambitions of helping the world and helping the people since they were young.Many people know that in this life they will never be in the business of helping the people, but they always like to say this in their mouths. Maybe it is because they are too attached, maybe it is just to fill their hunger, or maybe it is purely to earn the respect of others.In short, everyone likes to talk about big things like "show your ambitions, serve the country and the people".Now that the governor affirms them and praises them, why don't they feel warm in their hearts! "However, as my master, I always feel uneasy, so this time I decided to renovate and paint the place where you work, so that everyone can have a comfortable environment and reduce the fatigue of the day. In addition, I also specially moved two pine trees from Huangpu." Everyone's eyes turned to the two pine trees in front of the door in unison. "To tell you the truth, my favorite vegetation in my life is the pine tree. I love its majestic and stalwart trunk, which cannot be blown down by strong winds or crushed by heavy snow. I love its tenacious life force. Decline. I love it more. It is evergreen all the year round. Even in the middle of winter, it is still green and verdant. It ranks first among the three friends. Therefore, the sage praised it. After the cold season, the pines and cypresses will wither. Moving these two pines from Huangpu to the front of Muyou Hall will not only For self-motivation, and to inspire all friends, regard it as two fearful friends, facing us every day, forcing us to reflect on ourselves and force us to forge ahead." In front of Muyou Hall, there was a little whispering just now, but now it is completely silent.In the night, it can be vaguely seen that most of the friends look solemn and serious, and a few of the friends who are older and a bit cynical can't help but look embarrassed and feel guilty. "Taking advantage of the opportunity of Muyoutang's renovation, I inscribed a hall name for it, made a plaque and hung it up. Friends may be thinking, what will someone Zhang inscribe on it? Later I tear off this piece of red silk, and everyone can see it." Following Zhang Zhidong's gesture, everyone raised their heads in unison and looked towards the top of the gate.Unfortunately, it was already dark, and the plaque wrapped in red silk was blurred. Many people thought in their hearts: even if the silk was torn off, they would not be able to read the inscription clearly. Why not choose to hang the plaque during the daytime? ?Otherwise, it would be nice to hang a few more lanterns at the door.As if hearing everyone's opinions, Zhang Zhidong smiled: "Everyone will definitely say, what do you think of this plaque? Don't worry, I will borrow fire for you." He turned to Zhao Maochang who was standing by and said, "You tell them to start the machine!" "yes!" Zhao Maochang walked into the hall very quickly, only to hear a sound of "pow pow pow", everyone's eyes dazzled suddenly, and suddenly they saw that the inside and outside of the hall suddenly brightened up, as if thousands of candles were lit in an instant, and they thought that there were people in the dark night. The lightning was left in the sky for a long time, and when everyone was looking around in surprise, a few young people studying in the United States pointed and shouted loudly: "Light, light!" Only then did the staff realize that the sudden snow-white light was the original It came out of a white glass bubble the size of a fist, and it was soon discovered that not only was there such a glass bubble hanging on the gate, but also many such small light bulbs were hanging in each small room in the hall. Counting: "One, two, three..." Someone said loudly: "I have counted them all, a whole hundred." Another said: "Look, there are still more on the pine tree!" Everyone looked at the pine tree again.Isn't that right? There are seven or eight white glass bubbles hanging from each of the two pine trees.The bark on the trunk of the pine tree originally had cracks like dragon scales, but now it looks more like a standing dragon body under the light, with its head hidden in the pine leaves and its tail buried in the soil . Except for Gu Hongming, Cai Xiyong, and Chen Nianfeng who had drunk foreign water, and a few people like Zhao Maochang who had been in the embassy and foreign firms, tonight, in front of Muyoutang, dozens of Muyou, government servants and family servants in the backyard came from This is the first time I have seen this incredible phenomenon since my mother was born.How can a small glass bubble emit such dazzling light?What is inside the bubble?Some people also doubt that many fireflies have been caught in the glass bubble beforehand.But they thought again, it is impossible for fireflies to be so obedient, and they all light up when they say they are bright. Besides, the light of fireflies flickers, but this light does not flicker! With the help of the light, each of them found that each other's eyes were full of surprises, and their faces were full of joy. Finally, Chen Nianfeng couldn't help shouting: "Master Zhang, you brought the light to the yamen. That's great!" As he spoke, he clapped involuntarily.Liang Pushi and a few students studying in the United States also shouted: "Master Zhang is great, great!" They also applauded. All the staff also learned to clap their hands. They were not used to the word "great", but they couldn't think of any other suitable praise for a while, so they had to shout: "Master Zhang, Master Zhang!" Since the Governor-General's Yamen of Guangdong and Guangxi, it seems that there has never been such a warm, festive and elated scene. After everyone's emotions stabilized, Sang Zhiping stood at the gate and shouted loudly: "Now, please ask Zhang Zhitai to unveil the plaque for Muyou Hall!" Zhang Zhidong went under the vertical plaque, picked up the hanging end of the rope, and pulled it lightly, the red silk fell down, and the vertical plaque on the door lintel revealed its true appearance: the shiny black lacquer surface was chiseled three times. The stone-green characters, illuminated by the bright lights, these three characters faithfully embody Zhang Zhidong's calligraphy. The strokes are vigorous, the structure is rigorous, and the corners are hooked, and there is a beautiful aura flowing in the rigidity. Everyone almost shouted in unison. Get up: "Guangyitang!" Zhang Zhidong said happily: "Guangyi means not only brainstorming, but also your suggestions to benefit Guangdong and Guangxi. In order to make you work better, with the help of British friend Timothy Richard, we have been Hong Kong bought a generator. The electricity generated can only hold a hundred light bulbs, and all these hundred light bulbs are installed in Guangyi Hall. Next time we will buy another one and install another light bulb for the signing room. Then At that time, our Yamen in Guangdong and Guangxi were handling paperwork and handling official affairs in a bright light. May this light bring us a bright and upright heart, to handle bright and clean official affairs, and to seek a bright and brilliant future for the people of Guangdong and Guangxi." Cai Xiyong, chief copywriter of Muyou Fang, said sincerely on behalf of all the staff: "Everyone is very grateful to you for treating Muyou so kindly. Everyone said that your martial arts and martial arts are shining in the world. This is due to your own talent. The Muyou did not help What are you busy with. Now that the Superintendent’s Office is installing electric lights, first you don’t install your pledge room, nor do you install the backyard upper room, but first install the Guangyi Hall, and everyone feels ashamed of it.” The lively scene set up to congratulate his son's full moon has won the heartfelt gratitude of all the staff, and Zhang Zhidong is very satisfied with it.Cai Xiyong's modest words of "no help" just now reminded him of a story in wild history, and he was so happy that he forgot about it.Zhang Zhidong patted Cai Xiyong on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "All the friends have helped me, Zhang. Needless to say, there are some things that you don't need to help, and you can enjoy the benefits with peace of mind. I said Here's a joke for you." It's rare for the governor to tell a joke, so everyone gathered around. "It is said that in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Sima Rui's favorite concubine gave birth to a son. Yuan Emperor was very happy. He not only rewarded his favorite concubine, but also rewarded all civil and military officials. Each person was promoted by one level. Yin Hongqiao came forward to express his gratitude to Emperor Yuan on behalf of all the officials. This Yin Hongqiao is an honest man, and he is speaking the truth. He said that the emperor is happy with the prince, which is a good thing for the whole world to celebrate, but we didn't do anything to get this reward, and I feel sorry Emperor Yuan laughed loudly and said, I don’t need your efforts to give birth to a son. If any of you contribute, it’s okay! What Emperor Yuan said is also the truth. Add these two truths together to form a big truth. The joke soon spread outside the palace, and the officials and people all over the country laughed when they heard it." As soon as Zhang Zhidong finished speaking, everyone burst into laughter.Gu Hongming, the witty ghost who loves to steal the limelight, was the first to react, and he said loudly: "Xiang Shuai has a son in his middle age, and we are rewarded with electric lights. Although we don't contribute much, we won't feel uneasy!" After Gu Hongming broke this point, everyone suddenly realized.Yes, Zhang Mansion added a young master last month, so today is the young master's full moon!It turned out that everyone was sharing the joy of his son's full moon with Zhang Zhitai.In an instant, the inside and outside of Guangyi Hall boiled up. At this time, Zhang Zhidong saw Peiyu sitting in the corridor not far away, looking at him with a happy smile on his face. Zhang Zhidong said loudly to everyone: "Okay, the unveiling ceremony is over, everyone, go in and have a look in your respective office rooms to see if the light is enough. To celebrate this great event tonight, the hall There are also melons and fruit cakes, and everyone eats, watches and discusses." As a result, all the staff, yamen servants and servants rushed into the hall happily, and stood there for a long time in front of the small glass bubble with great interest, laughing and talking.The Yamen of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi spent the first and brightest sleepless night in its history. The next day when the news came out, the governor's yamen, the vassal's yamen, the bureau's yamen, the admiral's yamen in Guangdong, the prefect's yamen in Guangzhou and other major yamen came to inquire.Zhang Zhidong realized that this was the most convincing example of promoting and popularizing Westernization, so he asked his staff not to work in Muyou Hall at night for half a month. The electric lights allowed officials from major yamen, bosses of major firms, students from major academies, and even ordinary people in Guangzhou to come and visit.After this decision was made, tens of thousands of visitors lined up in front of the Governor's Yamen of Guangdong and Guangxi every night.With excitement, people came to see this unprecedented novelty one after another.Many people sighed after seeing it, unexpectedly Ye Mingzhu really has something!More people retorted that where there is any luminous pearl, it is all a lie, and this electric light was made by the ingenuity of foreigners; we should stop being arrogant and learn from foreigners.Some people also said that we should not underestimate ourselves, we can also learn the skills of foreigners, and the supervisory office ordered it today, and we ordinary people can also order it in our homes in the future. In the fourteenth year of Guangxu, in Guangzhou, Zhang Zhidong became the first Chinese to introduce electric lights into government offices.In the second year, with the support of Zhang Zhidong, Guangdong businessman Huang Bingchang opened China's first private electric light company in Guangzhou.Since then, electric lights have entered thousands of households in the land of China, bringing light like daytime to the long night!At this time, another important symbol of modern society - the question of whether railways could be introduced into China was being debated fiercely in the high-ranking official circles of the Qing Dynasty.