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

Chapter 163 Sudden Thoughts

While speaking, a voice came from the Governor's Mansion: "Is Mr. Li Yu here? Come in quickly."

Zhang Zhidong actually greeted him in person.

Li Yu felt a little flattered, but he was the governor, so he hurried forward and said, "Li Yu, late student, pays homage to the governor!"

Zhang Zhidong said: "You're welcome! I'm looking forward to you! Sir, you are truly a talent, a young hero!"

Hua Shifang also said, "See you Xiangshuai."

Zhang Zhidong said to the two, "Come and sit inside quickly, today is such a good day!"

Although the Huguang Governor's Mansion is not as luxurious as the Liangjiang Governor's Mansion in Nanjing, it is not small.

After the three of them came to the hall, Zhang Zhidong immediately greeted the left and right: "Hurry up, get on the best Maojian."

Li Yu thought to himself, if it was 100 years later, he would probably go to the Yellow Crane Tower.

Zhang Zhidong also said: "I heard about Mr. Wang's name earlier, which is fascinating. I have established a school for several years, and I have always attached importance to Western science, but I have never seen anyone who can rule the roost along with science in the West."

Li Yu said with a smile: "China is so big, if it can be properly discovered, talents can be said to be inexhaustible."

"If that's the case, it's very fortunate!" Zhang Zhidong said, "When it comes to talents, I have to mention that the Self-improvement School, Craftsmanship School, and Lianghu Academy that I have set up in recent years are now in full swing. Mr. is now The emperor's teacher, and proficient in Western learning, must give suggestions to several schools."

Li Yu said: "You should do your best."

The most famous self-improvement school is the future Wuhan University;

The Hubei Institute of Technology, like the craft schools in other places, was also set up in the manufacturing bureau, mainly studying chemistry and mechanics; now this school has gradually evolved into Wuhan University of Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Wuhan University of Science and Technology.

As for the Lianghu Academy, it was a pity that it was closed after the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

Zhang Zhidong's education, like the construction of the Hanyang Iron Works and the Beijing-Han Railway, is also progressing through exploration, and he has gone through many detours.

The earliest self-improvement school had four courses: dialect (ie foreign language), mathematics, Gezhi, and business.

After the Sino-Japanese War was defeated, Zhang Zhidong carried out a series of major reforms to the Ziqiang Academy. He adjusted the four original courses of the Ziqiang Academy, moved one of the mathematics courses to the Lianghu Academy, stopped Gezhi, and took two of the business courses; and transferred one of the dialect courses. Expanded to English, French, German, Russian 4, and then added Eastern (Japanese), a total of 4.

Because Zhang Zhidong felt that dialects (foreign languages) were the only one, "the ladder of all Western learning", and after mastering foreign languages, "in the future, you can recite, translate, and discuss by yourself."Then there are the close neighbors of China, Russia, and China and Japan. "The current situation is urgent, and the two texts are particularly useful."

But soon, after Hanyang Iron Works recruited and undertook the business, he merged the chemistry in the craft school into the self-improvement school and listed it as a special subject.Because Zhang Zhidong believes that "Western learning is all about chemistry. The more refined the chemistry, the more you can turn useless into useful, and the more profitable you will be." capable of employment".

Although people in later generations seem to be quite one-sided, it is understandable because of the current situation.

Moreover, things like iron factories and arsenals do pay more attention to chemistry.

A few years later, I felt that mathematical science is the foundation of Western learning, and the status of mathematical science was raised again.

In short, Zhang Zhidong was the Minister of Western Affairs after all, and the Westernization School first considered practical science, and after decades of development, they gradually recognized the logical order of Western science.

It can be regarded as a necessary path. After all, although Zhang Zhidong once won the "Jie Yuan" in the imperial examination, he was also a high school candidate.The competition in the imperial examination is so great, which means that he must be a smart person, but he really knows very little about Western learning.

Of course, for modern people, everyone has learned this way since they were young, and the correct deductive logic of science has long been established in their minds.

Zhang Zhidong said: "In the next few days, Ruoxi (Hua Shifang's character) can take my husband to inspect various academies, but today we will first discuss the Hanyang Iron Works and other matters in detail."

Li Yu cupped his hands and said, "Listen to the governor's arrangement."

Hanyang Iron Works is on the other side of the river.

Among the three towns in Wuhan, Wuchang is now the seat of the governor's office; Hankou is mainly a concession area; Hanyang has an arsenal and a steel factory.

On the boat to Hanyang, Zhang Zhidong said: "In the early years, Mr. Zeng Guofan and Mr. Li Hongzhang set up manufacturing bureaus in various places and searched for relevant talents. The two men, Hua Hengfang and Xu Shou, once made the steamboat Huang. Huhao is really exciting. I also hope to find talents who understand such technology and go a step further.”

Then he looked at Hua Shifang: "We are lucky to have Ruoxi now. In the past, Xu Jianyin, the son of Mr. Xu Shou, also contributed to our Hanyang Steel Pharmaceutical Factory. Unfortunately, he died in an accident during the trial production of gunpowder at the Steel Pharmaceutical Factory."

Li Yu asked in surprise, "Dead in an accident?"

Most of Xu Shou's name must be known, after all, he is a person who has been listed in history textbooks.

He and Hua Hengfang once built a steam engine ship at the Anqing Nei Manufacturing Bureau, namely the Huanghu. This ship was actually made of wood, but it was powered by a steam engine.

But it is really not easy to build it just by sketches and a day's visit.

It's a pity that it didn't develop later.

Xu Shou is a chemist, and his most famous contribution should be the various elements in the periodic table: he basically translated the names of the elements, which is really in place.

Of course, we should also thank Zhu Ming Dynasty for creating so many characters with the radicals of gold, wood, water, fire and earth for naming.

Now as long as you have studied chemistry, you have already used Xu Shou's contribution invisibly.It's also quite powerful, after all, it affects too many people.

His son Xu Jianyin is also a chemist, but with a lesser reputation.

Zhang Zhidong said: "Our Hanyang Steel Pharmaceutical Factory was preparing to develop a smokeless gunpowder, but unfortunately he died during the manufacturing process."

Li Yu regretted, "So it's because of gunpowder, it's really too dangerous."

Now all countries are making gunpowder, but this thing is really not easy to make. If you don't pay attention, the whole laboratory can be blown up, so the Nobel achievement is so great.

Xu Jianyin can be said to be the first scientist in modern Chinese history to sacrifice for the cause of science, which is worth remembering.

Arriving at the Hanyang Iron Works, Li Yu found that the scene in front of him was quite spectacular, with factory buildings everywhere and chimneys everywhere, and the scale was really not small.

Outside the gate stands a large stone tablet with four big characters "Hanyang Iron Works" written on it.

Li Yu was a little curious and asked, "Master Zhang, what is the current production capacity of the iron factory?"

Zhang Zhidong is very proud of this: "Now we can produce 1 tons of pig iron, nearly [-] tons of steel, and more than [-] tons of steel rails every year."

These words did not have any shocking effect in Li Yu's ears. Hanyang Iron Works later evolved into Wuhan Iron and Steel Group (later reorganized into Baowu Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd.), and Wuhan Iron and Steel's annual production capacity was 6000 to [-] million tons.

There is no steel now, but in the future it has reached the point of overcapacity.

However, the quality of the products produced by the Hanyang Iron Works is indeed very high, and there are always experts from Luxembourg and other countries in the factory, and the products are not inferior to those of Western countries.Even in 2012, it was discovered that some domestic railways were still using the steel rails produced by the Hanyang Iron Works in 1902, and they were still strong after a century.

Li Yu felt a little puzzled. In fact, as far as the current situation is concerned, the scale of Hanyang Iron Works is no longer a problem, and it is quite successful. I don't know what else to ask him to do.

Li Yu had no choice but to say: "This successful model can be extended to the whole country."

Zhang Zhidong said: "I also have this intention, but the required funds are very large, so it may not be that the local governor is willing to invest; even if he is willing to invest, there may not be mineral deposits."

Li Yu also thinks about it. Although China has a large amount of iron ore reserves, most of them are poor ore, and mining and smelting are quite difficult.

The initial investment of Hanyang Iron Works reached 500 million taels, and later it continued to increase, and it was borrowed from Japan. The total investment was too large.

Now it is true that there are no mines where there is money, and there is no money where there are mines, which is very contradictory.

The Qing government does not have much control over the localities now, and there is no way to integrate resources at all.

Li Yu asked the question in his heart: "What is Master Zhang's next plan?"

Zhang Zhidong looked at the iron factory and said, "That's why I asked you to come. Although I haven't studied Western science, I have learned more or less about the smelting industry through building a factory. A few years ago, a student in the school Someone came back from studying abroad and brought me a thin, shiny metal called aluminum. I was shocked that steel can do the same.”

Li Yu was startled, he never expected Zhang Zhidong to be so ahead of his time.

I thought we would discuss some issues related to ironmaking. Li Yu himself is quite familiar with iron. After all, anyone who has studied astrophysics knows that iron is the final product of nuclear fusion, so he will not go any further.

Because of key high school chemistry, Li Yu still knows a lot about the properties of iron, but who would have thought that Zhang Zhidong would mention aluminum all of a sudden!

But after thinking about it, Zhang Zhidong actually mentioned that there is nothing wrong with it.

Aluminum is originally the most widely used metal except steel, and its reserves are huge. Its content in the earth's crust is second only to oxygen and silicon, ranking third.

The key point is that Li Yu really wants to get involved in the automobile industry in the future. The automobile industry really has a lot of demand for aluminum.

Li Yu asked, "Master Zhang wants to produce aluminum?"

"Yes," Zhang Zhidong nodded, "Of course, I know it's difficult, but I've gone through something as difficult as making iron, and I don't believe it can't be done."

Li Yu pondered for a while, and felt that the matter could indeed be done, so he said, "I understand. I wonder how far Mr. Zhang has gone?"

Zhang Zhidong said with a wry smile: "The only person in my hands who is proficient in chemistry is Xu Jianyin. At the beginning, I hoped that he would conduct research on aluminum production after developing gunpowder, but something happened to him."

Li Yu said, "So, it hasn't started yet."

Zhang Zhidong said frankly: "Yes, at present we have absolutely no idea how to make aluminum."

Li Yu's head is a bit big, which is really difficult to handle. Zhang Zhidong came up and presented him with such a big problem.

But everyone is here, so we have to come up with some tricks.

Li Yu said: "It's not impossible, smelting is the foundation of industry. Moreover, I may bring more surprises to Mr. Zhang in the future.

(End of this chapter)