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

Chapter 136 New Atmosphere in Beijing

Li Yu took advantage of this time to calculate a lot of things, wrote some popular science stories, and even studied what science fiction theme to write.

After the [-]th day of the first lunar month, the courses at the Beiyang Military Equipment Crash School were basically over, and Li Yu could return to Beijing.

Yuan Shikai tried to persuade him to stay again: "Sir, why don't you stay and be a gun engineer. This is knowledge that is practical in the world, and your mathematical things are vague and can't be put into practice."

Li Yu knew that it was impossible to explain too much, so he could only decline politely: "Thank you for your love, but everyone has their own ambitions, and I still have some ambitions of my own."

In fact, Li Yu knew in his heart that even if he really developed advanced guns now, he still made wedding dresses for the Japanese!As for these warlords, they couldn't control it at all, and it was the common people who were injured in the end.

That's why Li Yu didn't do this kind of thing.

Yuan Shikai saw that he could not keep Li Yu, so he ordered Feng Guozhang to take out another 3000 taels of silver note and give it to Li Yu.

After two lectures, Wu Peifu, Sun Chuanfang and others admired Li Yu deeply. They took Li Yu's handouts and asked him to sign, solemnly saying: "Thank you for teaching. From now on, I will make progress every day and serve the country. "

"It's best like this," Li Yu said.

Wu Peifu also said: "If there is no teacher Li, I am afraid I will not be able to learn so much knowledge in my life."

Sun Chuanfang also said: "I really didn't expect that I could understand such profound mathematical content."

Ordinary people would definitely feel nothing after hearing their words, but Li Yu knew that they would be great warlords in the future, so he studied hard to speak from their mouths, and always felt that something was weird and he couldn't put it into words.

Fortunately, the two have always respected Li Yu since then, and the signed handouts are well preserved.

When Li Yu returned to the hotel, Lu Bicheng also took a letter and said happily, "I received a letter from the Imperial University!"

"The Imperial Academy?" Li Yu asked in surprise, "As far as I know, the Imperial Academy doesn't seem to have started recruiting female students yet."

"I know," Lu Bicheng said, "the letter is from Mr. Yan Fu! My God, he is one of my idols!"

Li Yu asked: "Mr. Yan Fu? Mr. Yan Fu, who is now the head of the Translation Institute of the Imperial University, and who wrote "Tianyan Lun"?"

Lu Bicheng nodded vigorously: "Of course!"

Li Yu asked again: "Why did Mr. Yan Fu write to you?"

Lu Bicheng was very happy: "He wants to accept me as a student and teach me logic. Although I can't be a student in a university, it's not too bad to be a student of Mr. Yan."

"This is a good thing!" Li Yu said, "Mr. Yan Fu is indeed the one who understands Western learning the best in the Chinese teaching at the Imperial University."

"I've never heard of logic," Lu Bicheng said. "Is this also Western learning?"

Li Yu said: "Yes, it is a subject about thinking. It can make people think, or become smarter. Maybe you can solve cases in the future."

Lu Bicheng became more interested: "Then I want to learn!"

Now it is true that many people who are new to Western studies will study logic. After all, professional subjects such as mathematics and science are too difficult.

Logic, on the other hand, studies human thinking, which is more fundamental and simpler than mathematical science.And it is a scientific and critical way of thinking anyway, it is worth learning to have a scientific thinking and cognition.

However, many people in later generations may be a little unfamiliar with logic. In fact, it is because it is too basic and has long been integrated into all disciplines. All kinds of basic reasoning processes are a kind of logic.

But if you want to say that logic is the most famous, it must be reasoning novels, including animated film and television works such as Conan, which are actually all kinds of meticulous and interesting logical reasoning.

It happened that the two returned to Beijing together, and Lu Bicheng was also very curious about the Jingshi University. She wanted to do women's education in the future, so naturally she also wanted to see how the Jingshi University runs a school.

When they found Yan Fu, Yan Fu was reading a newspaper. When he saw Li Yu, he pointed to the newspaper and said: "The year before last, Zhang Yishang invited me to be the general office of the Kaiping Mining Bureau, but I soon felt that the management was not good. At that time, the actual controller of the Kaiping Mining Bureau had already become a British! It’s a pity that the old man became a subordinate of a foreigner! If you hadn’t exposed this matter, the old man would still be kept in the dark!”

Li Yu sighed and said, "It's a pity that we don't have a complete legal system, and the matter has almost come to a dead end."

Yan Fu just found out what was going on, and he really couldn't stand it anymore: "We can't just let it go! The court's memorial office has already opened the seal, and I will write a memorial and submit it tomorrow."

Yan Fu had been abroad before, and knowing the psychology of these people, he really cared about this matter. When the Kaiping Mining Bureau case was heard in a British court next year, Yan Fu would go to London to negotiate.

It's just the result? I can only talk about human affairs.

The national power of the Qing Dynasty is here, and the court has indeed ruled that the Merlin Company of De Cui Lin, Hoover and others lost the lawsuit.But so what, foreign businessmen still control the Kaiping Coal Mine for decades.

Indeed, there was no better way. Li Yu knew that it would be a waste anyway, and his goal was still to focus on things that had not yet happened. After all, the problems in the future would be more difficult, but solving them was actually more meaningful.

The Qing court is already a mud bodhisattva crossing the river, and it is difficult to protect themselves. Even the Kaiping coal mine is a small matter in their eyes. After all, it is hard to say whether they can keep their own status, and they can manage the property below?Once the status is gone, these things are not theirs anymore.

It is certainly reasonable in their thinking, but it is really a terrible, deplorable and hateful thought.

Yan Fu calmed down a little, and then mentioned Lu Bicheng who came with Li Yu: "Miss is Bicheng, a talented Jinmen?"

Lu Bicheng said: "It's the little girl."

Yan Fu put down the newspaper and said, "Okay, okay! Don't mention these troublesome things for now! When it comes to you, it is dozens of times better than those scholars! You can agree to become my disciple, and this old man is very happy."

Lu Bicheng said: "It's my little girl's honor to be accepted as a student by the love of Mr.

Yan Fu said: "I have read your poems and articles earlier. Not only are you talented in writing, but you are also excellent in your ideas and arguments. It is really rare! I have been a teacher at the Beiyang Naval Academy for more than ten years, and there are not many students who satisfy me. .”

Yan Fu has always been extremely demanding on his disciples. When he was the instructor and general manager of the Beiyang Naval Academy, he once commented on his disciples this way: "Fu has managed the Beiyang Academy for more than ten years. To be honest, none of the students are proud of it. Wu Zhaoyu (Guangjian) is knowledgeable but perverse; Wang Shaoquan (Shaolian) is honest but too reserved. Other than the two, although Yu is well-known and famous, he is mediocre.”

It is mentioned that Wu Guangjian, among the two, later became a great translator and a professor at Fudan University; Wang Shaolian became the chief professor of Beiyang University three years later.

He still thinks these two people are good, but they really don't have a big reputation.

But as for Yan Fu's "other than the two, even though Yu is well-known, he is mediocre", the so-called "other" includes Li Yuanhong...

Of course, in fact, he worked very hard in the mechanical department of the Beiyang Naval Academy, and was awarded a special award by the school at the end of the year because of his excellent academic performance and outstanding performance in the internship on the training ship.

So it is still difficult to be Yan Fu's student, but fortunately, the teacher-student relationship between Lu Bicheng and Yan Fu has been very harmonious in history.

It's really not easy.

Yan Fu also said: "Girl, when you first arrived in the capital, it happened that the University Hall could arrange a place for you in East 44th Street. There are some new houses rented by the school. No one lives there yet, and it is closer to the University Hall."

Lu Bicheng said: "Thank you sir, oh no, it should be thank you teacher!"

Yan Fu laughed loudly: "That's about the same!"

Generally speaking, the Jingshi University Hall is relatively rich. Originally, I rented several houses in the East 44th Hutong to prepare for some foreign officials who came to Beijing to enter the Daxue Hall Shixue Hall for a temporary study, so the conditions were good.

It's just that the wait-and-see attitude of the officials from other places is obvious. Except for some officials who are closer to the capital, no one from other places has come to be the lecturer.

But that's fine.

They helped arrange for Lu Bicheng, Yan Fu had to go back to the Imperial University, and Li Yu went straight home.

When walking out of Dong 44 Hutong, Li Yu saw a thin Japanese man walking past. Li Yu didn't think much about it, and went back to Dongchang Hutong where he lived.

When passing by Dong'an Market, he saw a notice posted outside: "It's the end of the year and the weather is dry. Citizens need to be careful when setting off firecrackers."

The following signature is Aixinjueluo Shanqi.

Such vernacular notices were still rare in the late Qing Dynasty.

When he got home, Li Yuyou saw an official wearing an official hat and uniform at the door of his house asking Uncle Wang, Feng Ling, and Zhao Qian.

When Uncle Wang saw Li Yu, he immediately greeted him loudly: "Mr. is back!"

Li Yu stepped forward and asked, "What's the matter?"

The official glanced at Li Yu: "Are you Li Yu, the owner of this house?"

Li Yu said, "That's right."

The official said: "I am Xu Shiying, the sixth-rank chief of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. I was ordered to investigate the case of Lin Binghua. After a lot of effort, I found out that the important witness Fengling is in your house."

Feng Ling said: "Sir, I have already said everything that needs to be said."

Xu Shiying said: "It's no big deal, if he denies it at that time, he will tell her to confront him."

"Call me anytime, even a hundred times!" Feng Ling said.

It seems that Lin Binghua is really dying, but he is an official at any rate, and the head of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs must come to investigate it himself, and the case can only be settled with solid evidence.

After Xu Shiying left, Uncle Wang and the others rushed to welcome Li Yu into the house.

"I didn't expect Mr. to come back so late."

Li Yu said with a smile: "I never thought that I would like to wish you all a happy old age."

Feng Ling said: "There is no master in the mansion who would like to give New Year greetings to his servants, sir, you really don't look like a master!"

"How do you talk!" Zhao Qian pulled Fengling.

Li Yu didn't take it seriously at all, and he didn't treat them as servants, so he said, "It doesn't matter."

Uncle Wang said again: "By the way, sir, I don't know if you know that a theater called 'Civilized Tea Garden' has just opened at the Xizhushikou of Qianmen Street, and the rule that women are not allowed to enter the theater to watch plays has been abolished. Where is it being passed on?"

"Oh?" Li Yu asked in surprise, "Is there such a civilized place in the capital?"

"That's right," Uncle Wang said, "I heard about it from Lao Yu in the teahouse. He's boasting everywhere now. After all, it's their Prince Su Shanqi with the white flag who opened the theater."

"Shanqi? The one who signed the notice at the gate of Dong'an Market?" Li Yu asked.

"That's him." Uncle Wang replied.

"It's interesting. Are there many people going?"

"It's not too small, and the theater tickets must be bought in advance. Especially when I heard that Yang Xiaolou from the Tongqing class will also be on stage recently, everyone wants to hear the famous actor praised by the Queen Mother." Wang Bo said.

It is really unexpected that the capital can still have such a "spectacle".

Li Yu told her the next day when he bumped into Lu Bicheng at the Imperial University Hall.

Lu Bicheng really has never been to the theater, and the current Qing Dynasty does not allow women to enter the theater.

So in her opinion, this must be a kind of progress for women's rights, and she immediately said that she would go to see it. Regardless of whether she understands opera or not, it is always a breakthrough in form.

However, teahouses are too popular now, so they have no choice but to come up with a ticket buying system.Li Yu didn't expect that the tickets were not easy to buy, so he went directly to Yang Xiaolou and asked for two tickets from him.

Li Yu took the ticket and asked, "How much money do you want?"

Yang Xiaolou said, "Brother Li and I, why are you being polite?"

Li Yu glanced at the face of the ticket and said, "It's not cheap, I think the position is still very front."

Yang Xiaolou waved his hand: "It's just a trivial matter, Brother Li has helped us so much, this trivial matter is nothing to worry about."

"Actually, you can just change me to a more ordinary position, and I'm not that particular about it," Li Yu said.

"Brother Li, it seems that you have never been to Wenming Tea Garden," Yang Xiaolou said, "Wenming Tea Garden is a new theater. But Bing made a name for himself, fanciers go to Wenming Tea Garden just for men and women to go together, so the location is very important.”

Li Yu didn't understand, so he asked, "What's the difference?"

Yang Xiaolou said: "In the theater, there are seats for women upstairs and seats for men downstairs. They are separated, but if you want men and women to sit together, you can only sit in the first few rows."

Li Yu suddenly realized: "So it is."

Yang Xiaolou smiled and said, "So I know everything I need to know, why not go to another theater?"

Li Yu looked at his strange smile: "What do you know?"

Yang Xiaolou snorted and sang in an operatic tone: "It can only be understood, but cannot be expressed in words."

Li Yu didn't talk to him anymore, and went back with the ticket.

In addition to storytellers, of course there are opera singers in teahouses now.

To a certain extent, opera can almost be said to be an art that grew out of teahouses, and it is not too much.

When Mei Lanfang recalled the early theaters in "40 Years of Stage Life", he said: "The earliest theaters were collectively called tea gardens, and they were places where friends gathered to drink tea and talk. Tickets, only tea money."

Therefore, it is really rare to see that the civilized tea garden is so popular that you have to collect tickets.

(End of this chapter)