A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 113 St. Petersburg
Although the train journey of half a month is still long, it is better than taking a boat. No matter how stable the passenger ship is, it is impossible to compare with the train on the track.

Zhang Deyi also took this opportunity to learn some Western knowledge from Li Yu.Although he graduated from the Tongwen Academy in the early days, and was even one of the Qing court's efforts to cultivate, but limited by the background of the times and personal ability, Zhang Deyi's overall scientific literacy is still very lacking.

In addition, of course, Li Yu will not be idle, and will continue to carry out his calculations every day.When I have nothing to do, I will find Zhang Deyi's entourage to learn Russian.

But Russian is really difficult!
English and German use the Latin alphabet, which is somewhat familiar, but the Russian alphabet is really unfamiliar.

The complex grammar of word conjugations, conjugations, transitions, etc. directly breaks people. A sentence that may be quite simple in Chinese would require a super long sentence in Russian.No wonder Russians speak so fast.

Li Yu can only learn some everyday expressions, and then practice the maddening tongue-playing sound for a while every morning.

Siberia is vast and inaccessible, but the scenery along the way is very beautiful.

Li Yu once dreamed of being able to take this kind of long-distance train once, without any worries.

Sheldon, the main character in the TV series "The Big Bang Theory" he likes to watch, is also a train obsessed person. He even spends dates with Amy in the train carriage.

The train stopped at Chelyabinsk, and it took an extra day to go north to Yekaterinburg, then continued to take the train to Moscow, changed trains again, and finally arrived at St. Petersburg Railway Station.

St. Petersburg is now the capital of Russia. When Peter the Great moved his capital here, it was a bit like "the emperor guards the gate of the country". Moscow's status is a bit like Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty, as an accompanying capital.

After Li Yu and Zhang Deyi got out of the car, two people greeted them immediately.

"Hello there!"

Li Yu heard this somewhat blunt Chinese, turned sideways and saw two Russians.

"Are you a carp?" It was another slightly blunt Chinese sentence.

Li Yu immediately understood that they must be Markov and Lyapunov.

Li Yu immediately greeted them in the Russian he had learned on the train: "Zdrastvi!"

Don't look at it's just a Russian "Hello", already with a flick of the tongue, it took Li Yuguang half a morning to say this...

But in the end, when I was nervous, the first flick of the tongue was wrongly pronounced as "Z".

Markov laughed loudly after hearing this, and continued in Russian: "You guys are so recognizable. Let me introduce, I am Markov of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and this is Lyapunov, professor of mathematics at St. Petersburg University."

This kind of simple introduction Li Yu can understand, but his mouth is really fluttering, so he asked the translator to help translate: "Yes, I am Li Yu, I didn't expect you to come to the station to pick me up."

Markov said: "I have friends in the Engineering Bureau. I knew when you arrived in Yekaterinburg that you should arrive in time."

Li Yu shook hands with the two of them cordially: "I am really grateful to have your help!"

Markov said: "We all want to meet you, a new star of science, especially your recent "Fractal and Chaos", which really amazed us. A beautiful concerto."

It takes a lot of effort to translate well. Russia has a high latitude and is cold for a long time. People love to think and love literature, and they use all kinds of metaphors at every turn.

Li Yu said with a smile: "It will help me a lot if you can hold my eyes."

Lyapunov interjected: "Let's go back to St. Petersburg University first. The school has arranged a lecture. Be sure to make good use of your time in St. Petersburg."

Li Yu glanced at the translator. Although he knew Russian, he couldn't understand mathematical terms at all, so he said, "It's just that I don't speak Russian, can I..."

Lyapunov said: "No problem, you underestimate our St. Petersburg University too much. Most of them can still speak English or German. Besides, mathematical symbols are the common language of the world, and we can understand what you write on the blackboard." .”

That's because he hasn't read the Qing Dynasty's calculus textbook...

But Li Yu is still relieved. Thinking about it, St. Petersburg University is the strongest university in Russia, and Russia is located in Europe with a complicated geography. There are many exchanges between different universities. It is normal for students and professors to know two or three languages. .

Markov said: "Let's go to the university together, we have already ordered the carriage."

Zhang Deyi has no place to go now, so he had to go to St. Petersburg University with Li Yu first. If he had time, he might also visit the Qing embassy in Russia.

The carriage drove on the most prestigious Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg. Until the 21st century, Nevsky Prospekt was also the most prosperous street in St. Petersburg.

Nevsky Prospekt is of great sightseeing value, with various cathedrals and historical sites on both sides, which has a little bit of the feeling of the Bund in Shanghai.

Markov pointed ahead: "Look, that's the Kazan Cathedral."

Li Yu has never been to Russia, and was very interested in seeing these buildings, but unfortunately he couldn't take a selfie.

Zhang Deyi on the side first exclaimed: "What a magnificent building."

Li Yu knew about the Kazan Cathedral, and said to Zhang Deyi: "You can go in and have a look when you have nothing to do. I heard that the statue of the Madonna of Kazan inside will appear."

Of course Li Yu didn't believe this, but Zhang Deyi really believed it, "Really? I really want to go in and pay my respects."

"But first you need to know something about the Orthodox Church." Li Yu added.

Zhang Deyi couldn't tell the difference between Orthodox Church, Catholicism and Protestantism at all. He only had Christianity in his mind, and said, "I know, just go in and make the sign of the cross and say amen."

Li Yu said with a smile: "I think you should go to the embassy first to learn. If you follow the painting method just now, you will have trouble entering the church."

"What's wrong? Isn't it all Jesus?" Zhang Deyi asked.

Since ancient times, China has not had religious beliefs in the strict sense, and it is impossible to understand that such a small matter can cause a national war. Li Yu quickly stopped him: "It's very different, anyway, you'd better learn it first."

"It's so troublesome, I thought it was like saying goodbye to Grandma Taishan!"

Zhang Deyi is the same as ordinary Chinese people, he worships Buddha when he sees Buddha, and he can manage affairs, but he doesn’t care about anything else.

Li Yu said with a smile: "It's not the same land, the gods are different."

In history, the statue of Our Lady of Kazan has appeared several times, and it was also a time of life and death for Russia. One time was the Russo-French war. In a dream, he told Kutuzov that the cold snap would repel Napoleon.

The other time was during the Soviet-German War, and it was entrusted to the Orthodox Patriarch in a dream (it’s a bit complicated, nine leaders of the 15 Orthodox Churches are called Patriarchs, and the rest are called metropolitans or archbishops, let’s understand it as the Pope), saying The cold snap will beat Hitler back again...

Of course, if you believe this kind of story or not, just listen to it~
This is not the most interesting thing. What is really interesting is that since 1932, Kazan Cathedral has been turned into a national museum of the history of religion and atheism.

Church... Atheism...

(End of this chapter)