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

Chapter 121 Rewards
When Li Yu arrived at Tianjin Port, he bought a newspaper. During his journey of more than ten days, Sweden had already started publishing the second edition of "Fractal and Chaos".

The sales volume was really good. Almost all universities, scientific research institutions, and scientific researchers bought this book, and even various humanities and social science organizations, as well as ordinary scholars, rushed to read it.

All of a sudden, half of Europe actually made "Luoyang paper expensive".

This is inseparable from the propaganda and terminology of the publishing house and the media:

"A mathematics book that everyone can understand, allowing you to pry into the mysteries of the world like a top mathematician!"

"Heavy news, after the Nobel Prize, King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway awarded Li Yu the Gold Medal of Mathematics, which symbolizes the highest honor."

"The most powerful mathematical theory of the new century has been born!"

The gimmicks are really well placed, the new century is only in its third year, okay?

However, the king's award, and the fact that the bonus is equivalent to the Nobel Prize did attract the attention of many people. In addition, the newspaper media had already done a lot of publicity in the first edition, and now it has completely detonated the sales.

Of course, Zhan Tianyou knew that the newspaper was talking about Li Yu, so he said with a smile, "You also said that the newspaper gave you a false name, and that there are no worthless people under the famous name. You can't buy the media from all over Europe to brag about it. Let's look at this again." A Declaration."

Li Yu took it over and took a look, and the front page of the declaration was an article by Shi Liangcai:
"The 'carp effect' overturns Europe, and it comes from our proud Chinese Li Yu!"

Not only is the title eye-catching, but thousands of words of editorial are written below.

Li Yu called him a good guy, as expected of a media tycoon.

Back at the mansion, Uncle Wang was very excited to see Li Yu coming back: "Master, oh yes, sir, you are back again!"

Li Yu laughed and said, "Why did you say 'again'?"

"Can you not tell me! Fortunately, this time is short," Wang Bo said, "give me the luggage!"

Zhao Qian and Feng Ling were also very happy to see Li Yu, and Feng Ling's mouth was the fastest: "Sir, you are back! You don't know that Lin Binghua, the stinky son, was arrested by the patrolling censor before, and now he has been deported." I got official status."

"Oh? Isn't there someone covering his back?" Li Yu asked doubtfully.

"Didn't you just say that! But I didn't expect that the son of Ronglu Zhongtang, Balong, would not protect him this time. He had offended the Xuncheng Censor in the first place, and this time he was directly defeated by a book."

Zhao Qian also said: "Also, sir, some time ago a creditor came to Baron, and the big guy knew that he had lost 80 silver from his family. He went to the casino to try to win. When he came back, he would have put in another 10 taels, if not for Rong Zhongtang’s sake, he would have become a lonely ghost somewhere.”

Li Yu laughed secretly, this Mr. Baron is indeed a complete playboy, he panics when things happen.

Although it is reasonable to stop reporting the loss of the bank note if it is lost, the money is considered gone.But if he told Ronglu about the matter early on, with Ronglu's influence, he could get the bank to reorganize the deposits, and then issue all new special bank notes to him, so the bank would have to refund some of them.

It's just that doing so, not to mention the trouble, is equivalent to completely exposing Ronglu's deposits in Sisiheng. A little improper operation may leak the news, and the imperial censor may not be able to justify it.

Although the big guy is greedy, he can't shake things out in broad daylight.

But for a few 10 taels of silver, Rong Lu might take the risk and give it a try.

But now Baron panicked and went astray. It was completely over. The time limit on the bank's side had already passed, and the 80 taels could not be returned, and several 10 taels were added.

Feng Ling said cheerfully: "Sir, it's a pity that you didn't hear it. A few days ago, Master Rong Lu chased Baron all over the yard with a stick and beat him, screaming, until finally Master Rong Lu fell ill from anger. The bad breath in my heart can be regarded as coming out!"

Li Yu is also a little funny, this guy Baron really did more than fail.

Counting from the time he left, Li Yu made money to Uncle Wang, Zhao Qian, and Feng Ling, and Feng Ling happily cooked.

At least they haven't been idle during this time, at least their cooking skills have improved.

The next day, Li Yu returned to Beijing Normal University to report.

As a student, he is more free than some students of the fifth-rank officials in the Shi Xueguan.

But it was really a face to the head of the school. The headmaster Zhang Baixi and the other school management minister Rong Qing had read the newspapers, learned about Li Yu's deeds, and praised him greatly.

Zhang Baixi said directly: "In the future, just do what you can, and the university will definitely open the door for you!"

Although Li Yu had heard this before, he still said, "Thank you principal, I will naturally not fail the exam that I should take."

Zhang Baixi said: "I finally understand what Professor Martin Ding said to me. Our exams are really too easy for you. It's just that the university has no experience in organizing graduation exams, otherwise I think I can arrange one for you." .”

Li Yu said with a smile: "Then don't be in a hurry, don't deliberately do too much for me."

Zhang Baixi asked a more realistic question: "How do you think we can train some outstanding students like you?"

Education is a very difficult topic. Li Yu couldn't think of a good solution for a while, so he thought for a while and said: "Maybe we can arrange some challenging awards, such as who can be the first to understand advanced mathematics in Western universities." Textbooks, physics textbooks, and if they can do their exam questions correctly, they will be rewarded accordingly.”

"Good idea," Zhang Baixi nodded, "you have inspired many students, and they are already eager to try difficult subjects such as mathematics and physics. I am really pleased with this phenomenon, but I know that our current teaching team and teaching mode It’s still just in its infancy, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to train a large number of students well, and I won’t be able to send pillar talents for the imperial court.”

Li Yudao: "Principal, don't worry, once you are interested, you are the best teacher."

Zhang Baixi said: "I hope so."

Today, there was Hattori Unokichi's psychology class. Li Yu went to finish the class first, and the students immediately surrounded him:
"Brother Li Yu, we all read the newspaper, you are so strong!"

"What are you talking about, I will call you God Li Yu from now on!"

"What's Sweden like? Is it fun?"

"I heard that the King of Sweden personally awarded you the award. I'm so envious. I can do this once again!"

"Let's show everyone the book you wrote. Everyone is curious to win such a big prize!"

"..."

Li Yu was so asked that he couldn't put his mouth in, so he could only answer a few questions: "Everyone, as long as you study hard, the university will definitely arrange for you to study abroad in the future, but the premise must be that your homework is solid, otherwise you will lose it if you go out." The face of our college. As for the book "Fractal and Chaos", I will ask the instructor to arrange to print dozens of copies and distribute them for everyone to refer to."

If someone can really understand it in even two or three years, it will be an incredible thing.

Feng Zuxun is engaged in mathematics, and he is especially excited: "Brother Li Yu, I will definitely read your writings carefully!"

Here he is indeed the most promising.

After everyone dispersed, Feng Zuxun didn't even know where to copy a question and asked Li Yu to answer it.

"I know that it is very difficult to understand the book that won the mathematics award. Now I have to be down-to-earth step by step. I don't want to be a dreamer. During this time, I read some English mathematics textbooks and tried to do a lot of problems. But when I encounter some problems, I have no idea. For example, this geometry problem has troubled me for several days, and I can only seek solutions from Brother Li Yu."

Li Yu said happily, "No problem. Brother Feng, feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I'll take a look."

He took the question copied by Feng Zuxun, which was a three-dimensional geometry question, which was roughly equivalent to the difficulty of the 19th question in mathematics in the college entrance examination.

For them, geometry is indeed easier to learn.

Although I can't say that there are any particularly difficult topics, Feng Zuxun has already learned this level in just two or three months. It is really admirable, and he must have put in a lot of effort.

The question was not difficult for Li Yu, and he quickly solved it for him, and then explained it.

Feng Zuxun was so impressed, he said: "I have been studying this question for three days and three nights but I have no idea. You can solve it with just one glance. The gap is so big."

Li Yu said: "I have studied mathematics for more than ten years. How long have you been? To be honest, you are already very fast."

Feng Zuxun lifted his spirits: "Thank you brother Li Yu for your guidance."

"Hi! Don't give pointers or give pointers. We are all classmates and should help each other."

After finishing the class by himself, and then taking advantage of the time to teach Guangxu, Li Yu gave him the pocket watch.

Guangxu didn't know much about Li Yu's recent affairs, but he generally knew that the King of Sweden had received him, so he asked him carefully about Sweden and the Nobel Prize.

Guangxu was fascinated; "If I can govern myself, I must set up such a sensational award."

However, his aspirations had just been lifted up, when he saw the pocket watch in his hand, the pointer on it was turning, and he suddenly felt lost again.

Every time Li Yu taught Guangxu, Cixi must know.

Cixi was well informed, and he said to Rong Lu next to him, "I heard that the king of Sweden rewarded Li Yu with 15 Swiss dollars at once. How much silver would it be?"

Rong Lu is not in good health now, he coughed twice and said, "I asked the foreigner's bank that 15 Swiss crowns cost almost 2 taels of silver."

"2 taels?" Cixi asked in surprise, "Why so much money? What did this Li Yu do to make it worth so much money?"

Rong Lu said: "After returning to the Queen Mother, the servant only knows that he wrote a book on Western mathematics, and then won the mathematics bonus set up by the King of Sweden with this book. As for whether it is worth so much money, the servant does not know."

"Mathematics?" Cixi asked.

"Yes, Queen Mother, oh, it's what we call mathematics." Rong Lu explained.

"There are prizes for every foreigner? Such a small thing? It's really confusing!" Cixi's little brain couldn't figure it out.

But Rong Lu obviously couldn't explain it clearly, so he could only say: "The slave really doesn't see any use, maybe it is useful to foreigners?"

"Is it useful to them? Doesn't it mean that it is still useful if it is useful to them, or the foreigners are so powerful." Cixi waved her hand, "Forget it, it doesn't matter that much. Since the king of Sweden can reward so much silver to people in our own country, The Qing Dynasty can’t lose face either, we should also reward him.”

Empress Dowager Cixi is the best face, and Ronglu certainly understands it, but in the end the decision must be thrown back to the Empress Dowager, so he asked: "How much does the Empress Dowager think should be rewarded?"

"It can't be less than the king of Sweden." Cixi said resolutely.

Rong Lu wondered: "But with so much cash in hand, the household department will probably feel nervous."

After thinking about it, Cixi felt that it was too much, "It's really not appropriate to reward so much all at once, what should I do?"

Cixi didn't want to give more money, and didn't want to lose face, so she was caught in a dilemma.

The value of Ronglu was reflected at this time. He turned his head and said, "We can reward less silver, but there are good things in the palace! The queen mother can choose a few calligraphy and paintings to reward him, after all, it is with the imperial court. The honors and honors added up will never be less than 2 taels of cash."

Cixi agreed: "You still have a lively mind!" She turned her head to Li Lianying and said, "Xiao Lizi, do we have any paintings to reward?"

There are tens of thousands of calligraphy and paintings in the palace, which belong to the collections of various palaces and halls, and the eunuchs are most familiar with them.

Li Lianying said: "Lafayette, which painter and painting of which dynasty do you want to appreciate?"

Cixi said: "The selection of a few famous scholars in the Southern Song Dynasty must be included in the "Shiqu Baoji" by Lord Qianlong."

"Shiqu Baoji" is a directory compiled by Qianlong to collect precious collections in the palace. It contains tens of thousands of pieces, almost every one of which is a top national treasure.

It is well known that Qianlong loved calligraphy and painting very much, so there are more than 7000 pieces of calligraphy and painting alone.

"Southern Song Dynasty..." Li Lianying thought for a while, "Prince Gong's mansion just sent back two paintings and calligraphy of the Southern Song Dynasty, one is Zhao Mengfu's "Horse Washing Picture", and the other is Chen Long's "Six Dragons Picture", one dragon and one horse , Dragon-horse spirit! Besides, only the imperial court can reward dragons, and Li Yu is definitely a great reward for him."

Cixi said: "Very good, thanks to the two of you! Just do it like this, for silver, just reward him with 5000 taels, plus two paintings and calligraphy of the Southern Song Dynasty, and then write a good reward on the decree, and leave it to him for three lifetimes." blessing."

The eunuch came directly to Li Yu's mansion with the decree: "Li Yu received the decree! I heard that Li Yu is both excellent in character and learning. "Picture" and Chen Long's "Six Dragons" paintings and calligraphy. I hope to live up to the imperial court's great kindness and make great achievements again!"

Li Yu was numb when he heard the imperial decree. Of course, 5000 taels of silver did not shock him.

The point is that those two paintings are too valuable!
The history of these two paintings is quite tortuous. According to history, they were sold by the housekeeper of Prince Kung’s Mansion to the great Japanese antique dealer Sadajiro Yamanaka during the period of the Republic of China, and Sadajiro Yamanaka was sold to the Fujita family of Japan, and then entered the Fujita Art Museum.

However, after 2017, the Fujita Art Museum auctioned the two paintings at Christie's in New York because they could not afford the air-conditioning fee.

"Washing Horses" was hammered at US$450 million (about 3000 million RMB); "Six Dragons" was hammered at a sky-high price of US$4350 million (about 3 million RMB).

Later, "Washing the Horse" appeared again in the Hong Kong auction market in 2022. Although it was eventually withdrawn, the estimated price has reached more than 7000 million Hong Kong dollars (6300 million RMB).

Li Yuhan has come down, he is really afraid that someone will steal it now!

However, for the Qing court, they were only two of the [-] pieces of "Shiqu Baoji". Even when "Shiqu Baoji" included "Xing Matu" at that time, they wrote a sentence: "Zhao Mengfu is inferior", that is, it is not Zhao Mengfu. Classy work.

In addition, Cixi didn't understand, so she just rewarded her. Can she lose face?This is the most indispensable thing in the Qing Palace!
(End of this chapter)