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

Markov has already booked a boat ticket for Li Yu, and Li Yu wants to take a trip to Sweden to see his own island.

He won't stop in Sweden too much, because Markov also showed him a letter from Denmark.

Li Yu looked at the cover, it was sent by the Danish Carlsberg Foundation and the University of Copenhagen.

Many people may know that Carlsberg is one of the top brewers in the world, but this company also has a very long history of sponsoring the Science Foundation.

The most typical is the famous Copenhagen School of Quantum Mechanics.

For Li Yu, going to Denmark is considered a drop-in route. St. Petersburg goes west to Stockholm, Sweden, and then goes southwest to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. Anyway, they are all on the Baltic Sea.

As for the University of Copenhagen, it is not easy, after all, it has awarded as many as 39 Nobel Prizes!
The University of Copenhagen has always been enthusiastic about natural sciences, and there have been many famous figures in history.Li Yu's current achievements in mathematics and physics are already very impressive, and he happens to be in St. Petersburg again, so he has to find him this time.

Carlsberg heard about Siemens’ invitation to Li Yu, and now Europe’s respect for technology is very high, and even some humanities outside of natural science want to learn from the brilliant model of natural science development.

The humanities, such as history, have begun to engage in the study of scientific methods, and they are actually called the humanities until now.

At present, Russia has even placed the Department of Literature in the Academy of Sciences... Of course, this approach seems a little unreasonable.

Anyway, it can be seen that the power of the word "science" is already very strong.

Otherwise, the New Culture Movement would not have raised the two banners of "democracy" and "science."

"Democracy" represents the political and legal line, and "science" is naturally the scientific and technological line.

Democracy is difficult to judge, and it is too general. Different countries have different national conditions, which is very complicated.After all, it involves the management of people, which is super troublesome, because people are the most difficult to manage.

Democracy itself is a double-edged sword, and it is very difficult to master. If it is not used well, it will fall into a trap, just like the populists such as the Communist Party or the endless internal friction in its southern neighbor India.

But science is much easier to talk about, because it is an explanation of nature. Regardless of how humans look at it, it is placed here quietly.

There was no need for Li Yu to refuse, because Denmark was a neighboring country to Germany, and it was very close, and he could also meet someone he wanted to meet in Denmark along the way.

The meeting was always short, and Markov could not wait to write a letter to the tsar, asking him to award Li Yu an honorary academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. No, there is no need for any "honor", and it is no problem to be an official academician.

But it's a pity that Tsar Nicholas II is so busy with the Japan-Russia issue that the big railway has spent so much money, it is bound to stabilize Lushun, a year-round ice-free port, and then get involved in the Northeast.Other issues can only be put aside for the time being.

Markov and Lyapunov went to the pier again to deliver the luggage to them personally.

Li Yu said with a smile: "When I return to China in a while, I will pass through St. Petersburg, so we can meet again."

The two Markovs were also very polite: "We will definitely help you apply for the right to use the large railway."

Li Yu cupped his fists and said, "Thank you both!"

It will definitely be very different next time we meet.

Li Yu sent a telegram in advance to Levler, the Royal Mathematics Advisor in Sweden, who was already waiting on the island.

"Dear Mr. Li Yu, I'm so glad to meet you!" Leffler was very enthusiastic.

Li Yu said, "Don't come here without any problems."

Leeffler said: "Your recent "Game Theory" is really wonderful, and this year's mathematics awards, I think you still can't escape the palm of your hand."

Li Yu said, "It will be my honor."

The Swedish royal family is still relatively rich.

Leeffler asked: "Do you want to go to Stockholm to see the king again?"

Li Yu said: "Not for now, I have already received requests from Denmark and Germany."

Li Yu took out the telegrams from Siemens and Carlsberg.

Leeffler said: "You are a big celebrity now, and you always bring big news to everyone every time you come. Now all the newspapers are watching you closely."

"Try not to disappoint everyone," Li Yu looked into the island again, "there shouldn't be any difficulties in the current construction, right?"

Leeffler said: "The foundation has just been dealt with. After that, the construction of the ground floor building must be much simpler."

According to the cost, the foundation accounts for about [-]-[-]%.

Li Yu said: "It happens that "Fractal and Chaos" is published by you, and you can continue to use the royalties if you need the funds."

At present, there are still about 4000 taels of silver, that is, close to 3 crowns that have not been given to Li Yu. The simple construction does not need so much, about [-] crowns is enough, but if it is added to the decoration and the purchase of equipment, it will cost another big sum of money.

Leeffler said: "This is the best, saving round-trip taxes and fees."

Li Yu took Lu Bicheng for a stroll around the island, which was not that big anyway.

Lu Bicheng was very surprised again: "You can actually buy an island in Europe!"

Li Yu said casually, "What's so strange?"

Lu Bicheng said: "I can't imagine that the Chinese can buy the land of the Europeans."

Li Yu said: "They are still eager to sell it to me. Maybe it won't be long before they beg me to buy another island."

Lu Bicheng couldn't believe it: "It can't be bragging, why is there such a thing?"

Li Yu said mysteriously, "Just wait and see."

Lu Bicheng asked: "Are you still going to buy an island in Sweden?"

Li Yu said: "It doesn't have to be in Sweden, France, Switzerland, Germany, and the UK are all fine."

Lu Bicheng's eyes widened: "Unbelievable! So being a scientist has such a status in Europe?"

Li Yu wrote lightly: "I am not greedy for pleasure, everything is useful."

In the eyes of Chinese people at this time, Europeans are superior, how can Lu Bicheng believe that Li Yu, a Chinese, can enjoy so much in Europe.

There are no ground buildings on the island now, and there is nothing to see, so the two soon took a ship again to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.

Li Yu asked: "Denmark is a fairy tale country, have you heard of it before?"

Lu Bicheng said: "Of course I know. Although I haven't read it, I also know about Andersen."

Li Yu said: "What I'm thinking is that you can completely translate Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales into China. They are all interesting stories."

On the ship, Li Yu told her some of the most famous fairy tales of Andersen, such as "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Little Match Girl", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Little Mermaid", and "Thumbelina".

Lu Bicheng was fascinated by it, and couldn't help admiring: "It's really a fascinating story."

"That's why I said that they are very suitable for translation into China," Li Yu said, "and can be used as reading materials in new-style primary and secondary schools. Firstly, it can allow students to get in touch with Western literature and increase their horizons; secondly, the stories themselves also have certain morals. , can inspire students to think.”

Historically, it was almost ten years later that Liu Bannong, Zhou Zuoren and others began to translate and introduce Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales.

They admire Andersen's fairy tales very much. When Zhou Zuoren promoted Andersen's fairy tales, he once borrowed the comments of Norwegian critics: "The fairy tales he writes observe everything with the eyes of children and write with the pen of a poet, so they are beautiful and natural. , It can be called a divine product, there is no one in the past, and there will be no one in the future."

Lu Bicheng nodded and said, "Such a good thing should indeed be introduced."

Li Yu said: "In addition, since it is for school students and it is a Western literary work, it is best to translate it in vernacular."

No matter how you say it, children are more malleable, and when they are cultivated from an early age, they can better accept vernacular Chinese.

When Liang Qichao wrote "Young China" three years ago, he also wanted to use children as a breakthrough point, and "see children as the hope of national salvation."

Li Yu now also sees that most of these older Confucian scholars who have achieved fame or have not achieved fame are really "children can't be taught".

It is said that the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War and the national disaster of Gengzi could have awakened the "great dream of our country for more than four thousand years", but many Confucian scholars obviously still wanted to be an ostrich with its head buried in the sand.

Basically, it was only during the New Culture Movement and the May [-]th Movement that Chinese society was completely aroused "total doubts about the basic value of Confucianism", which made Chinese society welcome and learn from Western science and culture with unprecedented enthusiasm.

Lu Bicheng felt that it made sense, and that children could easily understand vernacular, so he said, "I have read strange novels, but I have never seen a storybook like this for children."

Li Yu said: "That's right, because of this, the effect of introducing this kind of fairy tales into primary schools will be very good. Most of our classics focus on writing to convey the truth. Although there are legends and myths, they are not specially created for children. Hans Christian Andersen's non-binding story written from a child's point of view is complementary and far more enjoyable to read."

Lu Bicheng said: "Of course it's interesting, I like it very much myself. If I was a child, I would definitely read this and not memorize obscure articles."

Li Yu said with a smile: "This is also the teaching mode that a new school should have. You can't blindly emphasize the principles of sages and sages like a private school. After all, children don't understand it. Just throwing out a book and reading it a hundred times, it's still a bit unfair. Responsible and inefficient."

Lu Bicheng said: "Now I understand why you dare to run a school. I know a lot."

Li Yu thought to himself, it was still useful to go to school to learn so many things back then.
If you look at the map, you can find that Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is not on the Jutland Peninsula, but on the island of Zealand to the east of the Jutland Peninsula.

This is because Denmark developed its fortune in the ocean and has a natural ocean complex.

Moreover, Copenhagen is located between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, guarding the Oresund Strait, and mastering the ancient route from Western Europe to the Baltic Sea. This geographical location is very conducive to the economic development of Denmark.

It's just that after the iron-blooded prime minister defeated Denmark, he completely drove Denmark to the Jutland peninsula.Then Germany felt that the coastline was separated by Denmark, and Denmark had good relations with Britain at that time, and Germany must challenge the world hegemony, Britain and France, so the famous Kiel Canal was dug in the Jutland Peninsula.

The Kiel Canal is now an extremely important waterway on the Baltic Sea.

Later generations of NATO and Russia fought fiercely. Because the Øresund Strait next to Copenhagen is an international waterway, the Russian Baltic Navy can still make a fuss, but the Kiel Canal cannot be used.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that there is no strategic space to build the capital on an island, but since losing to Germany and Sweden, Denmark has remained strategically neutral, although it was still captured by Mustache in World War II.