The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

   Zhou Hexuan became an official, an official of the Ministry of Education.

   He was young and had insufficient qualifications. If Zhang Zuolin wanted to arrange him as the president of Peking University, he had to give him a decent government office.

  The official positions in the Beiyang period were divided into nine levels and twenty-two levels.

The most senior are special officials, appointed by the government in the form of special orders, such as ministers of central ministries and local governors; the next is short-term officials, who are selected by the government to be qualified officials, such as the deputy ministers of central ministries and provincial government members; As a recommendation officer, the person in charge is recommended by the chief executive, such as the section chiefs of central ministries and local county magistrates.

   Zhou Hexuan did not have any government positions before, so it is more suitable to be a recommendation officer.

   There are 8 recommended officers in the Ministry of Education, including 1 secretary general, 3 directors, and 4 counselors.

  The secretary-general and the director-general are now full, but there are still vacancies for the counselor. Zhou Hexuan was naturally promoted to the counselor of the Ministry of Education.

  The whole process is completely in line with the formal procedures. First, the Director of Education Ren Kecheng issued an invitation, and after receiving Zhou Hexuan's approval, the Ministry of Education officially issued a recommendation letter. Zhou Hexuan was transformed into a county-level official of the Beiyang government. His rank was slightly higher than that of the local county magistrate, and his monthly official salary was 360 silver dollars.

  The salaries of the Beiyang government are very interesting, and technical officials often get more than administrative officials. For example, administrative officials at the vice-ministerial level can earn up to 500 yuan, while technical officials at the same level can receive up to 800 yuan.

   Zhou Hexuan has a deep malicious association: Is it because administrative officials are easy to embezzle, so they use high salaries to compensate technical officials?

   When the appointment letter from the Ministry of Education was issued to Peking University, the professors over there were stunned and held the Peking University Council overnight.

There were not many people participating in the meeting, only Ma Heng, director of Peking University's Archaeological Research Office, Li Shuhua, professor of physics at Peking University (acting president of Sino-French University), Ma Yuzao, director of Peking University's Department of Chinese Literature (father of Peking University's flower Majue), Tan Xihong, director of Peking University's Department of Biology, and Peking University's Botany The director of the herbarium, Zhong Guangguang, professors Hong Taosheng of Peking University, and Wu Yu (known by Hu Shi as the scavenger of Chinese thought), etc., add up to less than 10 people.

   A letter of appointment from the president of Peking University was placed in front of everyone, and the scene fell into silence.

   Ma Yuzao spoke first, knocking on the table and saying, "What's the situation? Why did you suddenly choose a young man to be the principal?"

  Tan Xihong said: "I know Zhou Hexuan, and his character is still very good."

   "This has nothing to do with character," Wu Yu asked, "Why did the Ministry of Education arrange Zhou Hexuan to be the principal of Peking University, and what shady behind-the-scenes deals did he have with Zhang Zuolin?"

   Zhong Guangguang sighed: "In this critical situation, someone is willing to come to be the president of Peking University and dare to take over this mess. It is already fortunate."

   "Yes, having a principal is better than no principal." Li Shuhua said. He also took over a mess this year. During the "March 18 Massacre", Li Shi, the president of Sino-French University (merged into Beijing Institute of Technology after the founding of the People's Republic of China), was wanted by the government, and Li Shuhua was appointed to act as the president.

   "Fourth, what do you think?" Ma Yuzao asked Ma Heng, the two of them are brothers.

   "I have no opinion, you have the final say." Ma Heng belongs to the kind of person who is devoted to learning and does not like to participate in mundane affairs. He will serve as the director of the Palace Museum in the future.

  Tan Xihong is more inclined to support Zhou Hexuan. He said: "I think no matter what, the most important thing is to let Peking University resume classes as soon as possible. The Ministry of Education is now willing to appoint a principal, which shows that things have turned around."

  Wu Yu complained: "The problem is that this Zhou Hexuan is only in his twenties, when he is young and energetic. He has no previous experience in running a school. If he comes to Peking University to give random orders, what should we do?"

  Zhong Guangguang had a good impression of Zhou Hexuan and defended: "It can't be said that he has no experience in running a school. He also participated in the Hope Primary School in Zhili area."

   "Can a university be the same as an elementary school?" Wu Yu asked.

  Hong Taosheng smiled and said, "Old Wu, you have always despised authority and opposed etiquette. Why are you talking about seniority today?"

   Wu Yu explained: "I'm not arguing about seniority, but I'm afraid that Zhou Hexuan is too young and will mess around when he arrives at Peking University."

  Zhong Guangguang suggested: "We can't discuss the results here, why don't we contact Zhou Hexuan first and test his ideas."

   "Yes," Ma Yuzao said, "you and Zhongkui know Zhou Hexuan, so please take a trip."

  …

   The next day, Zhong Guangguang and Tan Xihong went to Tsinghua Garden to find Zhou Hexuan who was creating "Goddess".

  The two did not beat around the bush, Tan Xihong went straight to the topic and said, "Mingcheng, why are you suddenly appointed as the president of Peking University?"

"Xu Zhimo was arrested a few days ago, and Mr. Liang Rengong and I went to find Zhang Zuolin to release him..." Zhou Hexuan explained the situation in detail and said with a wry smile, "I just wanted to take the opportunity to say good things to Peking University, but I didn't expect that I would go in there too. ."

   "I see, that's a good thing." Zhong Guangguang laughed.

   Tan Xihong asked: "If Mingcheng is the principal, what are you going to do?"

   Zhou Hexuan said: "It's business as usual, I'm only responsible for asking the Ministry of Education for money, and I usually live in Tianjin. You can choose an acting principal and manage the daily school affairs yourself. I'm not involved."

   Zhong Guangguang and Tan Xihong looked at each other and smiled, both saw the joy in each other's eyes.

   In fact, when Cai Yuanpei was the president of Peking University, he was the shopkeeper for several years. Jiang Menglin has always been the acting principal, responsible for handling school affairs, while Cai Yuanpei is traveling in Europe.

   Jiang Menglin was on Zhang Zuolin's blacklist a few months ago, but now he has quietly gone south to defect to the Nationalist government. The current situation of Peking University is very embarrassing. The principal Cai Yuanpei resigned and the acting principal disappeared again. School affairs can only be handled by the school council.

  If Zhou Hexuan fulfills his promise, he doesn't care about the daily affairs of Peking University. Then, if Peking University chooses an acting principal, it will be no different from the previous one. This is acceptable to Peking University teachers and students.

   Just when Zhong Guangguang and Tan Xihong were happy, Zhou Hexuan added: "But I have one request, that is, Peking University can't openly shout revolutionary slogans, publish revolutionary publications, or form revolutionary associations."

   "Well," Tan Xihong frowned, "it seems to go against Peking University's liberal school spirit."

   Zhou Hexuan said: "If this is not possible, then I will resign as the principal."

   Zhou Hexuan belonged to both sides. He first asked Zhang Zuolin for money and promises, and then made various demands to Peking University. Anyway, it was Zhang Zuolin and Peking University who wanted to solve the problem as soon as possible. He was only responsible for the connection, and he could leave at any time. At that time, the headaches were still Zhang Zuolin and Peking University.

  Zhong Guangguang said: "Mingcheng, I can pass on these requests to the Peking University Council on your behalf. As for the specific answer, we need to discuss it before making a decision."

   "No problem," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "I will go back to Tianjin tomorrow, and you can just send me a telegram when you discuss the results."