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

Afterwards, Tang Shaoyi approached Li Yu: "It's really interesting, the commander will definitely want this thing very much."

Li Yudao: "Instruments are just instruments, what is really important is communication talents."

Tang Shaoyi said: "Last year, you suggested to the commander-in-chief to set up a telecommunications and telegraph school in Beiyang. It seems that you have already considered it."

Li Yu said: "That's exactly the case. We are too backward in this respect. In fact, the Japanese side has been intercepting our telegrams."

Tang Shaoyi asked in surprise, "Intercept?"

Li Yu said: "To be precise, it should be called monitoring."

Tang Shaoyi couldn't believe it: "It's all encrypted, how is it possible!"

Li Yu said: "The communication is not reliable, and the password used before is obviously too simple."

Tang Shaoyi felt her body tremble: "You mean, we were fighting the Japanese with a clear sign back then?"

Li Yu said: "Not only during the war, but also during the signing of the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" after that, it was completely monitored."

Tang Shaoyi instantly felt that the cigar in his hand was no longer fragrant, "Li Zhongtang communicated with the emperor by telegram in Shimonoseki, Japan. Did the Japanese always know our cards at that time?"

This is already a historical fact in later generations, Li Yu nodded: "Indeed."

Tang Shaoyi said bitterly: "They said at the time that if we want to make independent decisions, Li Zhongtang would also secretly contact the capital."

Li Yu sighed, "It's impossible even if you think about it."

In fact, Japan had mastered the cipher of the Qing telegram before the Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-]. However, due to the limited domestic knowledge at that time, Qing court officials still believed that the telegram communication was reliable, or they did not know that there was deciphering and monitoring of this thing at all. As a result, Japan Negotiations on the unfavorable Shimonoseki Treaty are even more at a disadvantage.

Before signing the contract, Li Hongzhang's shot made Japan make some concessions on the negotiating table.

So Li Hongzhang reported the situation to Emperor Guangxu by telegram after the initial meeting with the Japanese side, hoping to obtain the emperor's opinion.In the telegram, Guangxu told Li Hongzhang: "If you want to fight for one point, you will gain one point. If there is nothing to discuss and change, you will follow the previous order and make an agreement with him. I respect this."

The Japanese side immediately knew the Qing emperor's hole card, and naturally they would not make any more concessions at the negotiating table.

This is a top secret in the diplomatic arena, let others know easily, and it will definitely be over.

Tang Shaoyi said helplessly: "It's already passed, who told us that we didn't understand at that time, but now it's good to have you, and the wireless telegraph machine you made."

Li Yu said: "The Japanese side directly purchased the telegraph because of time constraints. If they free up their hands in the future and gradually master the radio encryption method, they still need to decrypt and monitor."

Tang Shaoyi asked: "Could it really be possible to unencrypt it?"

"Naturally," Li Yu said, "passwords are a big question, and the strength of passwords naturally varies. To make communication secure, you need professionals in this field."

Tang Shaoyi said: "Brother Shucai is right. If people even know about the communication, then why do you have to command? Otherwise, it will become that others know themselves and the enemy and are invincible in a hundred battles."

Li Yu said, "That's the situation."

Tang Shaoyi asked again: "You said just now that time was running out, didn't you?"

Li Yu said: "Now the situation between Japan and Russia is becoming more and more anxious. Once there is a war, the wireless telegraph will be more suitable for use on the battlefield. After all, the two countries are far away from the country."

Tang Shaoyi was no longer in the mood to smoke a cigar, and threw it on the ground: "Brother Shucai, I will tell the commander-in-chief this technology immediately, and wait for me to come back."

Yuan Shikai was really interested in radio. Even without Li Yu, he would have established a radio training class around 1905 in history.

However, due to backward technology, it is only training some people to use radio equipment, which is far behind the Western powers.

After Yuan Shikai learned of the situation, he immediately asked Tang Shaoyi to take Li Yu to Beiyang.

Tianjin, Beiyang.

Yuan Shikai looked at the radio equipment in front of him and couldn't help but marvel: "Di Shi, you are really a genius!"

Li Yu said, "It's not enough."

Yuan Shikai said: "I understand, I have asked Zhiquan (Duan Qirui's word) to start a new school, and the name will be the Telecom School you proposed at the beginning."

Li Yu said: "The commander is wise."

Yuan Shikai asked again: "I'm still very curious, why the encrypted information is not safe, and others will know the ciphertext content."

Yuan Shikai often comes into contact with high-level secrets, and he needs to keep in touch with his subordinates or the capital. Of course, he is very concerned about this kind of issue. After all, no one wants to be seen naked and have no privacy.

Li Yu said: "Deciphering this matter may not be what the Marshal imagined."

Yuan Shikai said: "Teacher, please tell me."

Li Yu said: "The commander-in-chief is a member of the army. He naturally understands that although everyone encrypts information to a certain extent, any encryption uses a certain law, so the key lies in how difficult this law is for people to discover. If It’s definitely easy to decipher a simple correspondence or a change in sequence.”

Yuan Shikai frowned and said: "So that's the case. In the wars a few years ago, we mostly used the telegraph system of foreigners. They must know us very well. It's just that he took off his clothes and bare his buttocks in front of others. Get a gun!"

Li Yu said: "That's true, but the machine is dead. We can also use the machine given by foreigners to encrypt, but we didn't have qualified cryptography and communication talents at that time."

Duan Qirui asked, "Is it troublesome?"

Li Yu said: "It's a bit troublesome. The password is a very complicated thing, because it must be difficult for the enemy to decipher, and at the same time meet the needs of our own side for fast translation."

Duan Qirui rubbed his head: "It is really more and more brain-intensive to fight now."

At the beginning of the [-]th century, most people did not have a strong understanding of the principles of radio, except for a few such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Encryption is not common.

Even if it is encryption, there is no follow-up such as Germany's terrible Enigma cipher machine in World War II.

But by the time of World War I, most countries still began to encrypt radio communications in the military field.

Yuan Shikai asked: "Is it possible for us to know the content of the correspondence of foreigners in the future?"

Li Yudao: "It depends on whether it can be deciphered. Japan and Russia are using the equipment I gave them, and they cannot set passwords for a short time. Even if they can use the encoding system I gave for encryption operations, it is difficult for them to quickly set a reliable password. system. It won’t be long before complex military-grade codes emerge.”

Tang Shaoyi often handles international affairs for Yuan Shikai, and he is more sensitive to this matter than a professional soldier like Duan Qirui. He continued to ask: "What should we do then?"

"Of course it is continuous monitoring and deciphering," Li Yu said. "That's why we set up a related telecommunications and telegraph school. I will also set up a school to train a group of mathematics talents."

"Mathematics?" Duan Qirui asked, "Isn't it a password?"

Li Yu had no choice but to explain to him again: "The password is the content of mathematics, of course it also involves linguistics and other content. But the most important thing is to monitor for a long time, so that we can obtain other people's encryption rules."

Yuan Shikai asked: "So, the ciphertext cannot be known immediately."

Li Yu said: "Of course not. There must be a dedicated telegram team that monitors for a long time when it is not too tense to obtain enough ciphertexts, and then gradually understands the enemy's encryption rules and decrypts them."

Decryption after World War II and after was much more complicated than this, and the RSA asymmetric encryption that appeared after that was even more difficult to break.

In the Internet age, perhaps more people should have heard of the concept of blockchain or Bitcoin. The encryption methods it uses are elliptic curves and hash functions, which are more complicated.

But in the early twentieth century, there were no complicated cipher machines, and deciphering was indeed much easier. The key was to master the communication technology and stay ahead as much as possible.

Yuan Shikai was stunned: "Although I don't understand the mathematics you are talking about, after listening to the emperor's explanation, I do understand a little bit. This school of electrical and electronic signals seems to be an extremely urgent matter."

Li Yudao: "It is indeed very urgent, otherwise we will still be blind and deaf in front of the enemy in the future, how can we survive?"

Yuan Shikai said to Duan Qirui: "Zhiquan, you have heard it all, the matter of the Telecom School will be done immediately!"

Duan Qirui said solemnly: "Your subordinate understands!" Then he said to Li Yu: "From now on, I hope the emperor's teacher will give me more advice. We are all soldiers. To be honest, we don't know much about cryptography and telecommunications. Let alone listen to the emperor's teacher." This means that it involves advanced mathematics and physics. The brothers are all rough, and most of them can’t read a few big characters. Who would have thought of fighting a war before.”

Duan Qirui himself graduated from the Beiyang Armed Forces Academy founded by Li Hongzhang, and he also studied in Germany, but most of them were in military academies, and the modern science involved is relatively shallow.

Li Yu also knew that they couldn't rely entirely on them. Things involving communication were indeed high-tech.It is said that even 100 years later, radio communication is still a cutting-edge technology, and the world's major powers are still fighting fiercely for technologies such as 5G.

Beiyang's armed forces crash school is generally in the nature of a military school and will not involve too much science. In the future, subjects with high technical content such as communication and cryptography will have to run their own schools.

Li Yu said: "In the future, more scientific and technological content will be used in wars, or science and technology will support national strength, and national strength will naturally include military strength. The prosperity of a country is all-round development. It is not enough to develop a new type of army. Many hidden Stuff matters too."

Yuan Shikai understood why the West was so strong, and sighed: "The emperor's teacher sees broad eyes, and he is indeed a hero in the world. From now on, I will attach importance to education and develop talents in all aspects."

Although domestic universities began to develop during the Republic of China, they were mainly liberal arts, and did not develop science and common subjects. The familiar masters of the Republic of China were basically in the direction of liberal arts, and few were good at science and engineering.

It's impossible to walk without a leg.

Of course, the difficulty of developing science and engineering is also there.

But you can't stop doing it just because it's difficult.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, let's go step by step.

Li Yu said: "The commander-in-chief is right. The school I plan to build focuses on the cultivation of scientific talents, and I have already purchased a piece of land in Tianjin. I hope the commander-in-chief will take care of me in the future."

"Oh? The school supervised by the emperor himself?" Yuan Shikai said, "Don't worry, the emperor. In Tianjin, you just run the school. If you encounter any difficulties, someone from Yuan will definitely help you!"

This is what Li Yu wanted, and there will be many more turbulent times after that.

Yuan Shikai decided to order several sets of radio equipment, some of which were used for teaching in schools, and some were used for experiments in the army.

Now the Qing court doesn't know much about the management of radio. Before the erection of the telegraph line, Li Hongzhang agreed to it after writing many times.

Therefore, if you want to continue to build base stations and improve domestic radio communications, you can only rely on Yuan Shikai from Beiyang.

Now let him see its wide application before he can continue to invest money.

Duan Qirui took Li Yu to the Beiyang Armed Forces Crash School to visit the students who admired him even more.

"Hey! It's Teacher Li Yu!" Li Jinglin pointed to the distance.

"You have to be called Emperor Teacher or Academician," Wu Peifu on the side corrected, "I didn't hear that Mr. has become a foreign academician of the Royal Society."

Li Jinglin touched his forehead: "I know, it's really like three years if we don't see each other every day."

Wu Peifu corrected again: "It's like not seeing each other every day."

Li Jinglin said: "Isn't it just the same thing! I like to talk about three years, and I can tell how long it is when I hear it."

Several people went up to say hello to Li Yu: "Master Emperor!"

Li Yu smiled and said, "Hi everyone."

Whenever I see these young warlords, I don't know how to get along with them.

Wu Peifu said: "We have heard about Mr., and everyone is now looking forward to your coming to teach a few more classes."

Li Yu took out the introductory chemistry lecture notes from that set of textbooks and said, "You can also study this book. Chemistry is also indispensable in basic science."

Li Jinglin asked: "I've heard that you can make alchemy."

Sun Chuanfang said: "You listen too little."

Li Yu said: "Chemistry can do a lot of things, and the great powers may use it in military affairs in the future. You must learn some basic content, otherwise you will suffer losses."

Li Jinglin was surprised: "Alchemy can also be used in war? Everyone is immortal, so why fight?"

Li Yudao: "It's not something that makes people live longer, but a poisonous gas that can make entire armies fall instantly."

Sun Chuanfang was stunned: "Is there such a weapon?"

Li Yu said: "That's why I hope you can learn more about science, it will be useful in the future."

Wu Peifu was once selected as a scholar, and said: "Mr. is right, you will hate less books when you have time to use them. You must read more books when you have time now."

Li Jinglin was most afraid of studying, and said melancholy: "I just don't want to study as a soldier, I never thought I would still be unable to escape."

Li Yu said with a smile: "You all learn some basic content, and focus on application. It's not difficult."

Li Jinglin said bitterly: "It's not difficult to say. It took me a long time to understand the general idea of ​​the mathematics lectures you gave before."

Cai Yubiao also smiled and said, "I've said it all, you don't have to practice swords, and practice pens more."

As a martial arts idiot, Li Jinglin is also known as "Wudang Sword Immortal". Martial arts are as important as his lifeblood. Li Jinglin thought for a long time and said, "Then I will practice more."

It was obvious that he had made up his mind a little bit.

Chemistry is a very experimental subject in modern times. Now that there are no instruments, even if Li Yu wants to teach them, he has no conditions. He can only briefly explain the importance of chemistry to them.

Compared with the basic courses of surveying and mapping, ballistics, and mathematics taught to them before, the introduction of chemistry is relatively simple.

Before leaving, Duan Qirui actually took out a Browning M1900 pistol and several boxes of ammunition and gave it to Li Yu, "This is entrusted by the commander-in-chief to give to Mr., just as a little care from Beiyang."

Li Yu used this pistol when he practiced marksmanship in Beiyang before, so Li Yu recognized it at a glance.

Li Yu asked, "Is it appropriate to carry a gun with you?"

Duan Qirui said: "You have the badge given by the commander-in-chief, there is no problem. The commander-in-chief said that you are a great talent in the country, so you must protect yourself. This gun has been practiced before, and you should be able to master it."

Li Yu cupped his fists and said gratefully, "Thank you, General."

Duan Qirui said: "You don't need to thank the emperor, the whole Beiyang has always been grateful to the master."

Li Yu looked at the gun in his hand, hoping he wouldn't need it.