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

Chapter 17 Impossible, absolutely impossible

When Li Yu finished writing his thesis, Yi Qiang also came back. He called Li Yu over after he entered the door and changed into casual clothes.

"Let me ask you, you said yesterday that the earth revolves around the sun because of this gravitational force, so why don't they collide?"

Good guy, this lord prince is actually quite studious.

Li Yu then explained to him: "My lord, it is because our earth revolves around the sun very fast. You may not know that this speed is as high as 30 kilometers per second, ah... that is 60 miles per second. "

"60 miles per second?" Yi Kuang couldn't understand this concept at all for a while, he took out a pocket watch, "You mean one second when this small hand moves?"

"That's right, just like that." Li Yu also deliberately paused for a second, "I went out for 60 miles. It's almost like running around the outer city wall of Beijing and adding 10 miles."

"Impossible!" Yikuang shouted, "Absolutely impossible!"

Yikuang's voice is really a bit like Cao Cao in the emoji.

Li Yu had no choice but to explain patiently: "My lord, this happened for real. You can ask any teacher of Western learning, and they will definitely say the same."

"But I ran around the outer city in such a short time, how could I not know and feel it!" Yikuang really couldn't understand, "Unreasonable! Unreasonable!"

Li Yu thought to himself, in the future you will feel more unreasonable, but I am called Li Yu, so I must make you "reasonable".

Incarnate as a popular science teacher, he explained the principles of mechanics to Yi Kuang in detail. Of course, the content was very simple.

Yikuang felt like his head was going to explode: "Don't make so many gossips, I have to give Rong Zhongtang an answer tomorrow, so just tell me briefly."

"So that's it, it's easy to handle." Li Yu finally realized that it turned out that Yikuang was not studious, but that he hadn't fully pretended to be 13.

He found paper, wrote down Newton's formulas, and deduced the numbers until Yikuang's eyes popped out.

"Do you still use foreigners' pens?"

Li Yu skillfully turned the pencil in his hand: "This one? It seems that envoys often use it."

Yikuang felt that he really invited a treasure, and his level was not bad, "But, I can't understand you writing such a pile."

Li Yu suddenly realized that he had forgotten to translate the number symbols in words, so he had to write it in words next to him.

Of course, Yikuang still couldn't understand it, Li Yu said: "You only need to show Lord Zhongtang a look at these two pieces of paper, and tell him that you have deduced them yourself. If he still doesn't understand, it's not the prince's problem."

"good idea."

What Yikuang wants is such an effect, regardless of whether he is Newton or not, without delaying his own money.

The words written in pencil were too small for Yi Kuang, so he picked up the magnifying glass and copied it again. This time, Rong Lu would definitely be speechless.

After finishing the work, Yikuang asked someone to bring up the globe: "Look at this again, I got it from the Queen Mother, and point out to me where the United States is hanging upside down."

The globe was given to the queen mother by the wife of the Dutch minister a few years ago. Although the accuracy of the globe is very different from that of later generations, the general outline is still there.

Li Yu once again turned into a young expert in geography popularization, and explained geography to Yikuang.Fortunately, through serving as the Minister of the Prime Minister's Yamen, Yikuang has some understanding of this, and the common sense of geography is not difficult to accept.

Li Yu mainly explained the concept of distance to him, so that he could know how big the earth is. This knowledge alone was enough for him to digest for one night.

The next day, Li Yu approached Martin with his manuscript on X-rays.

When Martin saw it, he was stunned: "You wrote this?"

"Yes, what do you think." Li Yu said.

Martin carefully read it for a long time. Although he didn't understand the complicated partial differential equations in Maxwell's equations, the whole paper looked very smooth, well-founded, and also gave verification methods.

The key is that it is very novel, even if it is a paper plagiarism check, it will pass the test properly.

Definitely a superb paper!

Ding Weiliang praised: "It can be published, your article has reached a very high standard."

Li Yu said, "That's good. What changes do you think need to be made?"

"No need at all, I can't change any of the characters. And I really didn't expect your English calligraphy to be so good."

"Hey! It's not because of the college entrance examination!"

"College entrance exam?"

"I mean, to prepare for the exam practice in the school." Li Yu quickly explained.

Martin gave a thumbs up: "I really admire the Chinese in calligraphy!"

He took out a piece of paper and continued: "According to the regulations of Western universities, a student who publishes a paper in a journal needs the signature of his supervisor. Now that the university has not started, I will sign this word for you. In addition, you need to write A letter of introduction."

Li Yu said, "Thank you, Chief Teacher."

It is quite troublesome to publish a paper now, but it was much more convenient in Li Yu's era.

Martin took out a Parker pen and quickly wrote a letter.His fonts are not as good-looking as Li Yu's, and he has really developed a skill in exam-oriented education...

What Li Yu coveted most was the fountain pen in Ding Weiliang's hand. Now this item is scarce. If it is put in the future, the pen in his hand will be auctioned at least 10 times.

"Let's go." Ding Weiliang picked up the stack of manuscript papers and prepared to go out.

"Where are you going?" Li Yu asked.

"Of course to send a letter."

The Qing Dynasty just opened the Qing Dynasty Post Office in 1896, which was originally under the customs.Hurd, the General Taxation Department of the Customs, concurrently served as the General Postal Department, and was under the control of the Zongli Yamen.

However, the other powers were naturally jealous when they saw that an Englishman had become the General Taxation Department of the Customs and also served as the Postal Department.

This is a super sweet pastry!

The Qing government did the same thing. In order to reconcile the "contradiction" between the imperialists, in 1901, a post of "General Post Office" was assigned under the General Post Office, which was held by the Frenchman Perry. In fact, the postal power fell into the in the hands of the French.

Of course, it is also because Hurd's customs income is higher, and he is really too busy.

The funniest thing is that in the Qing Dynasty, people rushed to eat their own meat, and they had to act as peacemakers to share the meat!
The reason why countries attach so much importance to postal services is definitely not because they really want to help the Qing Dynasty earn money, and the ghost calculations in their hearts are very loud!

A small example will make it clear: In 1902, the post office in Shanghai found morphine hidden in a parcel, worth as much as 3000 taels!
In addition, there are precious metals, jewelry, pearl necklaces and so on.

With this thing as a cover, they can smuggle secretly and evade customs taxes and inspections.

Unpredictable!
(End of this chapter)