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

Chapter 169
Although the money has been paid, it will take several months until Hartung completes the formalities and actually gets the title deed.

Li Yu and Hartung left the contact information in the telegram, and they planned to return to Beijing first.

It will definitely take several days to build a ship along the way. Anyway, it’s okay, I can write introductory lectures on chemistry.

In order to be rigorous, Li Yu still planned to buy some corresponding books. After all, he didn't specialize in chemistry, and it was easy to make mistakes when writing from memory alone.

It happened that last time he also agreed to "Shen Bao" Shi Liang wrote him some small scientific manuscripts. Li Yu started from the aspects that are easy to contact with everyone in daily life.

This time I wrote an article about the introduction of the planets in the solar system. For example, the sun actually has a lifespan, and the earth also has a lifespan. In addition, Jupiter is a gaseous planet without a rocky surface.

Anyway, at this time, there are some more subversive contents.

Shi Liangcai was very happy to get the manuscript: "Except for you, it is really hard to find such an excellent scientific article. Recently, I heard from an old man in the newspaper office that "Shenbao" also ran a scientific magazine called "Gezhi Compilation" many years ago. , unfortunately it closed ten years ago.”

"Gezhi Compilation" is the earliest scientific magazine in China. It was founded in 1876 and ceased publication in 1892.

Li Yu asked, "Do you want to start a science magazine again?"

Shi Liangcai immediately said: "Of course! I understand now that we cannot do without science if we want to become stronger."

Li Yu said: "I also have this idea, and I will study it with you when I have time."

Shi Liangcai said, "Of course I can't do without you."

"Also," Li Yu asked, "I want to buy some books on chemistry. I wonder if there is such a bookstore in Shanghai?"

"Yes," Shi Liangcai said, "Mr. Fu Lanya, the editor-in-chief of "Gezhi Compilation" I mentioned just now, has set up a Gezhi library, specializing in scientific books."

"Oh? There is such a place, take me to see it!"

It really is big Shanghai.

Fryer was an Englishman. At the beginning, he taught English in Tongwenguan under Martin Martin. Later, he was appointed by the Shanghai Christian Mission as the editor-in-chief of the "China Church News", which is well-known among missionaries.

However, although Fryer was sent by the church, he had little interest in preaching.After coming to China, he saw that the missionary career was very sluggish, so he quickly dismissed this idea.

Instead, he entered the translation office of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and specialized in the translation of scientific books. Xu Shou, Hua Hengfang, Xu Jianyin and others had all done translation work with him.

As soon as he entered the Gezhi Library, Li Yu felt that it really looked like a modern library, with everything from Chinese translations to original Western editions, and the categories also covered various categories of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology.

If you think about it, you know that this thing is not very popular now, but it is not easy for Fryer to spend decades making it as usual.

"It turned out to be Mr. Li Yu." Fu Lanya of Gezhi's study room recognized Li Yu at a glance.

It was Fu Lanya herself who was introduced to Li Yu by Shi Liang.

He is already an old man in his 60s, but he seems to be in good spirits.

After asking, Li Yu said, "It's really admirable for you to be able to collect so many scientific and technological books."

Fryer laughed and said: "Of course, looking at the UK, there are not many private bookstores that have everything I have. Wait a minute, I have something for you to see."

Fryer took out two copies of "Fractal and Chaos" and some journals of the Royal Society, "Including the books you wrote, and the magazines that published your articles, I have all of them."

"Good guy," Li Yu said in surprise, "It's not easy to get these."

Fryer said: "You are so famous that people will ask you every now and then, and many people ask me to buy your books from abroad."

Only then did Li Yu know how Hua Shifang's first edition of "Fractals and Chaos" came from, and the original source is here.

Li Yu said with a smile: "In the future, it will be published in China, and it will be a Chinese version."

Fryer said: "This will save trouble. Quanzi is also doing translation work now, but your book is indeed too high-end, and many words are unfamiliar to me."

Now no matter which translation bureau it is, when translating scientific books, it basically chooses relatively simple ones, and there are no references to the latest scientific achievements at all.

The scientific achievements in recent decades have not been translated, and now basically no one in China knows Maxwell's "On Electricity and Magnetism" and Poincaré's "Measurement of Time" and other new theories.

Li Yu asked about the purpose of coming here: "I want to buy some systematic and comprehensive books on chemistry, are there any in the store?"

"Of course," Fryer pulled out several books from the bookshelf, such as "Chemical Technology", "Chemistry Qualification", "Chemistry Calculation", "Chemistry Appreciation", "If you say that I translate the most, it is really about chemistry. "

Fryer had translated hundreds of books, but he couldn't do it on his own, so he adopted the method of interpretation, a bit like Lin Shu.

However, it was the opposite of Lin Shu. Lin Shu didn't know foreign languages, so he had others interpret and write Chinese with polish; Fu Lanya interpreted by herself, and then others wrote.

Anyway, this speed is indeed very fast, so both of them can be called high-yielding.

Li Yu asked, "How much do these books cost?"

Fryer shook her head, "You don't need money, it's really not easy to meet you, it's enough to sign these copies of "Fractal and Chaos" for me."

Li Yu smiled and said, "Is my signature so valuable? I will definitely visit your store more often when I come to Shanghai."

But Fryer said, "I'm afraid I won't be in Shanghai by then."

Shi Liangcai asked in surprise, "Mr. is going to America again?"

Fu Lanya nodded: "I'm afraid I won't come back this time."

"Not coming back?" Shi Liangcai asked.

Fryer replied slightly sadly: "I've done enough, but... hey, anyway, I'm already old, and I'm really tired after running back and forth for the past few years."

Since 1896, Fryer has been employed by the University of California as a professor of oriental literature and language, and has come to China every year to translate books in the past few years.He also donated money to open the Shanghai Blind Children's School, and his youngest son Fu Bulan served as the principal.

Fryer spent 35 years in China, half of which was devoted to translating scientific and technological books, but since the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, he has obviously become disheartened.

Shi Liangcai had no choice but to say: "I wanted to invite you to re-launch the Science Magazine Shenbao, but it's a pity..."

"Responsible?" Fu Lanya's eyes lighted up slightly.

Shi Liangcai said, "That's right, and Mr. Li Yu will help you all the way."

Fu Lanya touched his chin: "This is quite interesting."

Even if Li Yu runs science magazines, the current situation must be mostly translation, so Fryer can definitely help.

So Li Yu also asked to stay: "It would be a great honor to have Mr. help."

In fact, Fryer didn't want to waste most of her life's hard work, but she couldn't make up her mind for a while, so she said, "I will seriously consider your proposal."

Shi Liangcai also said: "Sir, you must think carefully."

After picking up those few books, Li Yu set off for the pier. It was still a China Merchants ship, heading for Tianjin Port by sea.

Although the southern section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is still open, since the Yellow River diverted, the Shandong section has basically been silted up.

On the way, Li Yu devoted himself to writing a part of the introductory chemistry lecture notes. In fact, various Western sciences are involved in China, and chemistry is the most popular.

After all, it is interesting to do experiments, and it is relatively easier to learn than mathematics.

Back in the capital, after Li Yu returned home, Feng Ling actually sent a telegram from England, the sender was Lord Kelvin:

"Mr. Li Yu from the East, after my discussion with President Huggins of the Royal Academy of Sciences, I have decided to grant you the status of a foreign academician of the Royal Academy of Sciences. However, President Huggins made a small request, and I hope you can submit it again. A professional scientific manuscript, which is also a personal request. Above."

The content is very short, but the news is quite explosive.

Unexpectedly, they wanted to give Li Yu the status of a foreign academician so soon. I am afraid that Li Yu will become the first person to receive this honor in modern times.

There are many foreign academicians of the Royal Society, such as Mendeleev who I met before.

Li Yu immediately replied with a telegram: "Dear Lord Kelvin, it is a great honor to receive your telegram. I will provide you with a very valuable manuscript. Please look forward to it."

There are many advantages to being able to get this foreign academician, at least Li Yu can cut off his braids in an open and honest manner.

And with this status, Li Yu can attract a lot of sponsorship.

That being the case, it must be taken seriously, and a sufficiently loud thesis must be made.

While thinking, someone came to the door.

"Little friend Li Yu, I heard that you are finally back."

Li Yu saw that it was Liang Cheng who came.

"So it's brother Yi Ai, it's a great honor to come to the humble house."

Liang Cheng said: "You are really busy. I heard that Mr. Zhang, Governor of Huguang, invited you to sit at his residence."

Li Yu said with a smile: "The news in the capital is really fast."

"Of course," Liang Cheng said, "Being able to be the guest of Lord Yuan, the governor of Zhili, and Lord Zhang, the governor of Huguang at the same time, now the officials in the capital look at you differently."

Li Yu stretched out his hand into the room: "Brother Yi Ai, sit inside," and said to Uncle Wang, "Give Master Liang some tea."

Liang Cheng saw the telegraph in the East Wing, and said in surprise: "No wonder I saw a telegraph pole was erected at the entrance of Dongchang Hutong. So the telegraph is with you."

"It is really convenient to have a telegraph," Li Yu said, "Brother Yi Ai, what do you want me to do today?"

Liang Cheng said: "Recently, I have been appointed by the imperial court to serve as the ambassador to the United States. After Master Zhang Baixi, the Minister of Management, and Ding Weiliang, the chief professor of Western Studies at the Beijing Normal University, hope that I can open up the way to send students to the United States again as soon as possible. Master Zhang Baixi said I can bring you with me, because you are the person who understands Western learning the most in the whole country, although you are a student representative in name, but everyone knows that it is more than that.”

Li Yu felt that he was really running around, and said with a smile, "I have just arrived on the front foot, and I will board the ship again on the back foot."

Liang Cheng said: "You are so young, you have experienced it."

Li Yu touched his forehead: "Okay, when are we going?"

"It won't be long, you should prepare as soon as possible. Don't worry, the ticket has been bought for you." Liang Cheng said.

Li Yu said with a smile: "The tickets are all bought, I just have to go."

Liang Cheng also smiled and said, "It's good that you know!"

Li Yu has been very busy these days. First, she found Yu Deling. She had already translated the manuscript of "Star Wars". It happened that she could take it to the United States this time and find a publishing house to publish it.

He wrote more introductory chemistry lectures non-stop.

Then I went to make up a few lessons for Guangxu.

Really busier and busier.

When Li Yu went to Yingtai as usual that day, he happened to meet Xiao Dezhang who was delivering meals to Guangxu.

So the two went together, while Eunuch Cui stayed at Cixi's place in Xiyuan.

Xiao Dezhang is very clever, just like his predecessor Li Lianying, he is courteous everywhere.

Every day, the imperial dining room prepared meals for Guangxu, and they had to be sent to Guangxu after being inspected by Cixi.But Xiao Dezhang would secretly exchange a few of Guangxu's favorite foods, so Guangxu also trusted Xiao Dezhang very much.

Xiao Dezhang was still holding a brochure in his hand today, and after giving Guangxu a meal, he took out the brochure: "Long Live Lord, this is a transfer order from the Military Aircraft Department, and it must be stamped with your seal to take effect."

Guangxu doesn't have much real power now, but the Military Aircraft Department still has some status. According to the rules, the transfer orders of the court officials must have the emperor's seal.

Of course, if it was someone Cixi valued, she would directly appoint him, regardless of that much.

The transfer order this time is to transfer Yang Shixiang, the governor of Jiangxi, as the new governor of Shandong.

It doesn't involve Beijing officials, it's just a local transfer order. Cixi generally doesn't pay too much attention to it, so the Military Aircraft Department has to get Guangxu's seal according to the rules.

But Yang Shixiang belonged to Yuan Shikai, and Guangxu hated Yuan Shikai so much.If he could be in charge, the first thing he would do would probably be to kill Yuan Shikai.So when I saw that the transfer order was Yang Shixiang, I was very reluctant.

However, Shandong has always been Yuan Shikai's sphere of influence, so he must let his own people serve as the governor of Shandong.

Yang Shixiang knew very well that he was a smart man, so he found Xiao Dezhang through his relationship, and declared that as long as Guangxu stamped it, he would give him 20 taels of silver as a favor.

With such a large amount, Xiao Dezhang was immediately moved and agreed.

Guangxu was still very reluctant at this moment, he just said: "I know, let's put it here first."

Xiao Dezhang knew that Guangxu would not stamp his seal after putting it down, so he persuaded: "Long live lord, I know that I should not interfere with the court's affairs. But now in the eyes of the Yellow River flood in Shandong, it has been broken for many years, and the people are miserable. Long live lord knows Yang Shixiang is the best at dealing with water, and no one is more suitable for dealing with floods."

"But..." Guangxu was a little shaken.

Xiao Dezhang strikes while the iron is hot: "And now there are many foreigners in Weihai and Qingdao, Shandong. Yang Shixiang can understand foreign affairs and deal with foreigners. Isn't this an appointment that kills two birds with one stone."

After thinking about it, I added another sentence: "It's all for the people, for the community."

Guangxu thought for a moment, then sighed, "Okay, I will seal this."

Xiaode Zhang said happily: "Long live Lord is wise!"

Of course, what he was thinking of was 20 taels of silver.

Li Yu looked at him and didn't know what to say. Guangxu was such a person, he was a little indecisive, his ears were too soft, and he would waver when he was persuaded.

If he is a real emperor, he must have his own ideas, no matter what is right or wrong in his actions, he must be decisive and resolute, and say what he says.It's just that a good emperor knows how to admit his mistakes in the way of an emperor.

So if Guangxu can be in charge again, it is estimated that the upper limit is Jiaqing or Daoguang, which is of little use.

But after Yang Shixiang came to Shandong, he really did some good things.

It's also very simple, because Yang Shixiang understands a seemingly simple truth: most of the time, floods are not floods at all, but human problems.So he didn't care about the Yellow River at all, it was enough to manage the person responsible.

It is for this reason that the Yellow River never had any problems during his tenure.

(End of this chapter)