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

Chapter 140 Self-knowledge
Although Zhang Jian could see clearly, the people in the court didn't have much self-knowledge at all, the most typical one being Na Tong.

Natong has now become the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and just got the news from the court that he will go to Japan with Zai Zhen to participate in the Encouragement Expo.

Of course, Na Tong didn't understand industry, but he was famous among the powerful officials in the late Qing Dynasty for being fun and not caring about state affairs. It was natural to be in a good mood to go out and play.

Since he was going abroad, he naturally had to make a report at the Prime Minister's Office of International Affairs. Although he didn't have to come in person, he was very close anyway, and he wanted to get closer with Prince Qing Yikuang, so he came in person.

"Prince Qing, please stay safe!" Na Tong said as he entered the door.

"Why did the Shangshu come here? Could it be that he wants to give me a copy of calligraphy?" Yi Qiang said.

Na Tong said: "My lord wants calligraphy, just say it casually, as much as you want!"

Yikuang stroked his beard: "I have a big appetite. When I build a garden, I want you to write me a picture like 'Tsinghua Garden'."

Na Tong said with a smile: "My lord really has a big appetite."

When the British and French allied forces burned the Old Summer Palace, the Jinchun Garden was spared, and the Tsinghua Garden was a part of the Jinchun Garden.

The famous "Tsinghua Garden" on the gate of Tsinghua University is written by Na Tong.

It's just that there was no Tsinghua University at that time, and Tsinghua Garden was just a royal garden.

Yikuang said, "Just kidding."

Natong belonged to the late Qing Dynasty who was most good at fooling around, so he said: "Of course it is no problem to write a few words. I will go to the palace to inscribe a plaque for you in person in the future."

"Lao Shangshu is here," Yikuang said, "Is the reason you came to the Prime Minister's Office today to go to Japan?"

"Isn't it?" Na Tong sat down on the chair, "You know, my lord, I went to Japan last year, but I went to apologize at that time, it was really embarrassing, this time it was finally a serious matter."

In 1901, a clerk of the Japanese embassy was killed, so Natong went to apologize as the servant of the household department, which was similar in nature to Zaifeng's apology to Germany.

It's just that Natong has no sense of shame at all, and even sighs in his diary, "The real country is benevolent and family celebration".Even in the reign of Xuantong, when the Qing Dynasty was about to disappear, he still wrote down a sentence in his diary on New Year's Day: "The affairs of the country are very smooth."

However, Yikuang has a similar mentality to him, the two of them can be said to be heartless and like-minded.

Yikuang said: "Of course it's business. Our Qing Dynasty is an official participating country this time, and we should show our treasure in front of foreigners."

"Hey," Natong said worriedly, "Speaking of baby, wouldn't it be bad if foreigners think about it again?"

Yikuang said: "Shang Shu said so, it really made me alert."

These two old guys really thought they could present some decent "baby" at the Industrial Products Fair.

But they really don't understand.

While speaking, Rui Zheng, Yikuang's interpreter, came in: "My lord, a telegram from Japan."

"Japan? Who sent it?" Yikuang asked.

Ruizheng said: "Look at the signature, it's Tokyo Imperial University."

"University?" Yi Kuang took the telegram and read it.

Natong asked curiously beside him: "What is written in the telegram?"

Yikuang said: "The university would like to ask if there is anyone named Li Yu among the participants in this exhibition. If so, they hope to invite him to the university."

"It's Li Yu again!" Na Tong said in surprise.

Yikuang, however, was not surprised: "I have seen many such foreign telegrams. Some foreigners don't know that Li Yu already has a telegraph machine at home, so they send telegrams to the Prime Minister's Office for inquiries."

Of course, Na Tong knew something about Li Yu, and asked, "Is this person really so talented?"

"It should be," Yikuang said, "After all, foreigners regard him as a scholar."

But Na Tong didn't take it seriously: "Foreigners' Daoism is only a strange skill after all, so why is it so difficult? When our school is built, it will easily be better than them. Don't there be more people like Li Yu, what is there?" What a fuss!"

Yikuang said: "As expected of that Shangshu, he has true knowledge and insight, and what he sees is extraordinary!"

Na Tong said: "I have heard from Rong Shangshu (Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice, Minister of Management Rong Qing) that although he ranked first in the admission examination of the Imperial University Hall, and his grades in Western subjects were very good, but only I failed a subject related to classics and history. What does the prince think this means?"

Yikuang asked, "What do you mean?"

Na Tong proudly said: "Naturally, it shows that the knowledge of classics and history is more difficult, and the so-called scientific way of foreigners is only mediocre!"

"Oh, why didn't I think of this key point!" Yikuang immediately "suddenly realized it" and praised, "That Shangshu is worthy of being one of the three talents under his banner."

What a genius of logic.

Natong has always been conceited, and he is called the three talents under his banner along with Rongqing and Duanfang, but his level...

The telegram was soon transferred to Li Yu of the Imperial University Hall.

Those who sent the telegram were Hantaro Nagaoka, a professor of physics at Tokyo Imperial University, and Masataka Ogawa, a chemist and executive president of Tohoku University in Japan.

Between the lines, the two still respect Li Yu, but the science in Japan is not strong at present, and they are not big figures in Japan.

There is not much difference between the early Japanese universities and the universities in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, mainly focusing on politics, law, industry and commerce.

However, Japanese universities have made rapid progress since then, and quickly made up for their shortcomings in science and engineering.

This is something we should learn from.

Learning from barbarian skills to control barbarians is a simple thing to say, but extremely difficult to do.

Of course, Li Yu also understood in his heart that Japan obtained a large amount of gold and silver through plundering and plundering to invest heavily in basic education. After years of precipitation, it was accumulated and made thinly.

If you can really learn this set of theories, it is indeed very valuable.

However, from a historical point of view, the five senior officials sent out in the late Qing Dynasty, including Zai Zhen and Natong, were basically sightseeing in Japan and did not fulfill their mission of investigation.

Moreover, education is indeed a very, very time-consuming and very expensive thing. The Qing court is really not willing to spend so much money on basic education.This is very difficult to handle, and it is difficult to escape from a dead end.

Due to the large number of people going to Japan this time, Li Yu and other students from the Capital University went to sea in a batch with Zai Zhen and others.

King Gong, under the arrangement of Yasuya Uchida, the Japanese envoy to the Qing Dynasty, boarded a special NYK ship with Prince Su's son Charter and Na Yantu's son Qi Chengwu.

When he arrived at Tianjin Tanggu Port, Natong looked at the many exhibits and asked: "I heard that many exhibitors at the Quanye Expo are mainly industrial products. Why are there some tea and porcelain now?"

Tang Shaoyi, who saw him off, said: "Then Shangshu, we really don't have any industrial products to sell now."

Yulong, one of the five ministers who traveled together, said, "We have built so many machine manufacturing bureaus and researched them for decades, but haven't we come up with anything?"

Tang Shaoyi spread her hands: "It's too far away."

Yulong asked in disbelief, "Is it that difficult?"

Tang Shaoyi replied in his own words: "It's that difficult!"

Yulong's grandson is Qi Gong, a great calligrapher of later generations.

He clicked his tongue, looked at the tea leaves and said, "The teas I selected are of the highest quality, and they are enough for Orientals to know."

But Natong was not very satisfied, "In any case, there should be some decent industrial products. Our Qing Dynasty should bring something out for the Orientals to see."

"What does the Shangshu refer to?" Tang Shaoyi asked.

Natong said: "It's like the iron that is smelted and the coal that is mined."

Tang Shaoyi said helplessly: "Okay, I will arrange it like this."

"That's right," Natong suddenly remembered, "Isn't there a man named Li Yu who knows Western learning among us, so let him build an industrial exhibit on the road."

This time not only Tang Shaoyi was stunned, but even Li Yu was taken aback when he heard it, "Build one on the road?"

Natong is very satisfied with his arrangement: "Look, what's so difficult about this, such a small matter can't be arranged well, how can you do things for the court?"

Li Yu and Tang Shaoyi looked at each other, Tang Shaoyi said awkwardly: "I didn't expect such a thing to happen, what should I do?"

Li Yu asked, "It's true that we don't have any industrial products on display this time?"

Tang Shaoyi said: "No. There are a total of nine categories in this industry exposition, which are divided into agriculture, forestry, aquatic products, mining and metallurgy, chemical technology, dyeing and weaving technology, manufacturing industry, machinery, and education. If we forcefully add our refinery Ironworks and mining products and crafts, then the first seven categories can more or less make up some exhibits; except for machinery and education, there are no exhibits."

Li Yu feels the same way. Now that he has just started, there is really nothing to show for these two.

Tang Shaoyi glanced at Li Yu, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "Perhaps you can be exhibited in the category of education, and some of your achievements can be exhibited!"

"Uh, me?" Li Yu asked in surprise.

"There is no other way," Tang Shaoyi said. "Some of the papers you published have not yet been translated into Japanese. They are all incredible things, and it is barely reasonable to force them to be classified as an education category."

"This……"

Tang Shaoyi said again: "But the machine really doesn't have any good ideas, what can you do?"

"Okay!" Li Yu rubbed his chin: "Since that's the case, it's too late. Please Daotai help me get some small machine parts and tools. I have the right to give it a try."

Tang Shaoyi said happily: "Great, as long as you can open your mouth, there is nothing you can't do!"

Li Yu laughed and said, "Don't laugh at me if I can't do well."

(End of this chapter)