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

Chapter 313 Observation
When Li Yu returned to the apartment, Jin Wei Zhaoxue came over with a boy of sixteen or seventeen, "Mr. Li Yu, this is my cousin, Zuo Xiang, he loves your technology very much, and hopes to enter your factory .”

Li Yu sized him up and asked, "How old are you this year?"

Zuo Xiang said, "17 years old."

Li Yu shook his head: "Too young, at least later, and one year old according to the Gregorian calendar."

Konoe Akiyuki said: "Sir, we were stranded in Japan for many years because of the Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-], and our age is somewhat unclear."

"Refugees?" Li Yu asked.

Konoe Zhaoyuki nodded, then wiped his tears with his hand and said, "I was wandering overseas, fortunately I was taken in by a teacher in Japan, otherwise..."

Li Yu said: "So, you have been in Japan for many years."

Konoe Akiyuki said: "Yes, but we have also learned modern science, Japanese and some elementary English, which will definitely help in the future, because I heard that you will sell your products to Japan."

Li Yu did have such a plan, but he was still too young, so he said, "It's okay to be an apprentice temporarily. My purpose is to be an adult. If you don't reach 20, you should be at least 18 years old."

Jinwei Zhaoxue immediately agreed: "It's good to be an apprentice, so can we let him go to the capital?"

"If he is willing and he is Chinese, he can take it back." Li Yu said casually.

"Thank you, sir!"

Jinwei Zhaoxue seemed very happy, and then brought Zuo Xiang to a secluded corner.

"Sister, how am I doing?" Zuo Xiang asked.

Konoe Zhaoxue was more satisfied: "Very good, after all you are a Chinese."

To be precise, from the Chinese point of view, he is a traitor, and his name has been changed to Xiao Zuoxiang.

This kind of person is actually even more terrifying. If it is simply a naturalized nationality, it is still a personal wish.

But if it is doing things for the Japanese military, it will be very destructive.

——Because traitors often behave more Japanese than Japanese, and in many cases are more ruthless to Chinese than Japanese.

Just like Mustache, who was not originally a German, but his behavior was more German than that of a German, and he acted very absolutely.

Konoe Zhaoxue assigned him a task: "When I arrive in the capital, it is often inconvenient for me to move around, so you can help me with some secret affairs."

Little Zuoxiang said to himself: "Sister, don't worry!"

Konoe Zhaoxue added: "Don't act recklessly. Now that the empire is at war with Russia, we must do our best to help the empire win."

Xiao Zuoxiang said seriously: "This subordinate understands."

After all, he was too young to know how he was brainwashed by Japan.

-

After staying in Japan for three days, there was no news of the voyage.

In the past three days, Li Yu took the students to visit some factories and schools.

After seeing the uniforms of Japanese students, Hu Jiayan was quite envious: "It would be great if we also looked like this."

Li Yu said with a smile: "In the future, there will definitely be uniforms in the school."

Li Yu thought to himself, if you have seen the uniforms of Japanese schoolgirls in later generations, you will be even more envious...

As the Russian Navy retreated back to Lushun Port and no longer fought, the only sea operations were a small number of ships from Vladivostok to harass the Japanese Navy's communication lines, which had little impact on the overall situation.

So the Yellow Sea ushered in a superficial calm.

It can also be said that the Japanese navy controlled a large area of ​​sea outside Port Arthur and blocked the Russian navy.

In order to win the war, Shinyuki Akiyama, the first staff officer of the Japanese Navy Department, came up with an idea to use the tactics learned in the United States to block Lushun port with sunken ships.

The Japanese navy was eager to control sea power, and also wanted to catch a turtle in a urn.

However, Lushun's reputation as the "No. [-] Fortress in the Far East" is not for nothing. The shore artillery firepower is very strong, and it is difficult for warships to approach.

Akiyama Shinyuki's strategy failed.

By the way, the Japanese navy "sinking three Russian warships" written in the newspaper before was also a surprise attack strategy proposed by him.

Well, to put it bluntly, it was a sneak attack.

This trick has been used in Japan before, and it will be used in the future.

But in fact, the Russian warship was not sunk, but it was severely damaged, and even the so-called "heavy damage" would only need about two months of repairs to restore combat capability.

Therefore, another admiral of the navy, Takeo Hirose, known by Japan as "the No. [-] military god of the Russo-Japanese War", proposed the tactic of laying sea mines on a large scale. (Just to make fun of it, the Japanese really like all kinds of weird names, including those from the Sengoku period in Japan.)
It's a dirty trick, but very effective.

It is because of the large number of mines that the passenger ship must be approved by the Japanese Navy and follow the established route.

The Japanese navy was unable to expand the results of the battle, and could only rely on the army to slowly push forward and occupy Lushun Port, forcing the Russian Pacific Fleet in the port to come out for a decisive battle.

So now both Japan and Russia have begun to assemble their armies.

In fact, the Russian army has an advantage in this regard, because the railway has been repaired.

The problem is that they underestimated Japan's determination and did not believe that Japan dared to fight itself in the Northeast where it had been operating for many years.

Japan first landed in North Korea and slowly advanced towards Lushun. This distance is very far, more than 500 kilometers, and there will be multiple obstacles from the Russian army along the way.

Even if you cross the Yalu River and reach Dandong, it is still 350 kilometers away from Lushun.

Without modern transportation conditions, it is almost a kind of lonely army.

Perhaps it is for this reason that the Russian army did not pay enough attention to it, and did not think that the Japanese army could reach Lushun smoothly.

But they also forgot that their navy could not retreat, but instead allowed the Japanese navy to use naval guns to support the army's advance with confidence.

For the Japanese military, it is extremely rare for the navy and the army to cooperate with red deer.

As I said before, the firepower of naval guns is very strong, which can be described as a crushing advantage compared to the artillery fire of field troops.That is to say, the shore artillery with a permanent base can suppress the firepower of the naval artillery.

Anyway, now it is the period of troop build-up on both sides, and it will take almost two months before the first head-to-head battle in Dandong today.

Li Yu and others boarded the ship, and he accidentally discovered that Mr. Zhongshan had also boarded the ship.

Li Yu reminded: "Sir, it's very dangerous."

He was most wanted by the Qing court.

Sun Wen said with a smile: "Of course I know, but I want to see the war between Japan and Russia as close as possible. Don't worry, I won't get off the ship."

The ship departed from Yokohama Port next to Tokyo and headed for Tianjin Tanggu Port.

When approaching the Bohai Strait, you can indeed see some Japanese military ships, but they are all small speedboats, and the main battleships will not just wander around.

Sun Wen pointed to the distant sky and asked, "What are those?"

Li Yu looked into the distance, and then said: "It should be a scout balloon, but I can't tell whether it was released by the Russian army or the Japanese army."

It's a bit similar to an airship, but of course it's technically inferior to the German Zeppelin.

Sun Wen sighed: "Has the war developed to such a point now?"

"I'm afraid it will continue to evolve. No matter where, the shadow of war has never dissipated," Li Yu said. "Since ancient times, wars have paid attention to being able to occupy the commanding heights to gain visibility, and also get the enemy's movements. And if you can fly to the sky to observe , the view is definitely better.”

Sun Wen said: "No wonder we can't win the war, and we are so far behind."

Li Yu's head suddenly flashed, and he almost forgot about it.

In fact, airships or observation balloons were used for reconnaissance as early as 1870 in the Franco-Prussian War, both in France and Prussia.

The later Zeppelin was influenced by it.

Ten years ago, Japan spent huge sums of money to import observation balloons from France, but they were damaged during transportation, so they developed their own research and development, which was just successful last year.

Now whether it is Yuan Shikai's new army of the Qing court or the Japanese army, many German instructors have been hired, so of course the Japanese know this technology, so they immediately put it into use in the Russo-Japanese War.

After the Russo-Japanese War, Yuan Shikai also bought two, and invited Japanese instructors to train how to use them, but they have never been used in actual combat.

The Russian army on the opposite side naturally also has this kind of observation balloon.

Observation balloons are indeed very useful for reconnaissance. Usually, they hang a basket and bring one or two people to the sky, and then they can see the opponent's deployment from a long distance, especially the deployment of firepower points. It is very helpful for correcting the impact of one's own artillery fire.

Everyone should be able to see that this is a very old military technology, but during the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army still used it smoothly in the early days.

If placed on the European battlefield of World War II at the same time, this kind of air-tethered balloon is completely a living target, and it will be shot down soon after it takes off.

However, there is no domestic air power, and a small number of aircraft cannot be dispatched for a few balloons; in addition, balloons are often far away, beyond the range of anti-aircraft guns, so the Japanese army can use this technology swaggeringly.

Although tethered balloons are backward, they have many advantages compared to aircraft reconnaissance during World War II.

Because the tethered balloon can hover in the air for a long time, observe the target 360 degrees, and can find a lot of details.And the passing planes can often only be seen roughly.

Tethered balloons are generally directly connected to telephone lines to transmit information at any time, while aircraft during World War II still need to type out radio codes before transmitting.

In addition, the tethered balloon can be launched at night, and there is no sound during the launch process.

The general artillery firing procedure is to test the firing first, and then adjust the firing angle by observing the falling point of the shell.Therefore, the observation data is the key to whether the artillery can hit accurately.The Japanese army had balloons as an excellent observation point, and its artillery units had a very high hit rate.

At the beginning of the Japanese invasion of China, tethered balloons were used in the North China battlefield and the Songhu battle, which posed a great threat to our army.

A veteran who participated in the defense of Nanjing recalled: "Under the command of the balloon lookout, they violently bombarded the area around the city gate with planes and cannons. The shells shot at our position as if they had eyes."

It was not until later that it was discovered that the trucks of the tethered balloon troops were extremely heavy, often exceeding five tons, and the Japanese army was prevented from continuing to use the tethered balloons by destroying the road in advance.

Basically, after the Battle of Changsha, the tethered balloons were never seen again.

Li Yu remembered that Konoe Zhaoxue had asked if the airship could be used in the military. According to his understanding, it would be very difficult for at least ten years.But at that time, I was thinking about bombing, so how could I forget that there is still a very critical investigation.

Before he had time to think about it, Sun Wen sighed again: "Two hungry wolves are fighting each other, but we can only wait and see. If the corrupt Qing court fights with them again, there is no chance of winning. It is a pity that the Qing court first considers its own dominance. , I have never thought about how to make the country rich and the people strong. It is really time for a big change.”

If he could see the most intense battle for Lushun and the Battle of Tsushima Sea in the Russo-Japanese War at close range, I am afraid he would be more moved.

Li Yu said: "We do have a lot to do."

He will not interfere with the competition of various political forces such as royalists, constitutionalists, revolutionaries, reformists, etc., because for China under the feudal autocracy for thousands of years, more trial and error is the only way to go. detour.

It's like doing an experiment, there is no one who can succeed after doing it only once.

Even if Li Yu knew hundreds of years of scientific and technological knowledge, he could not succeed in many difficult experiments.

Sun Wen finally said: "It should be said that we lack too much. Even if the imperial court starts to build new schools, it is still far from what Japan has invested in education before."

After the passenger ship arrived at Tanggu Port, Li Yu and the others needed to disembark. Li Yu and Sun Wen said goodbye: "Sir, the green mountains will not change, and the green water will flow forever."

Sun Wen waved to him on the boat: "There will be a time later."

-

Li Yu asked the students to return to the capital first, while he went to see the school construction in Tianjin.

The land in Tianjin was bought relatively early and the progress was the fastest. The key was the help of Yan Fansun and Zhang Boling, two experts in the education field.

Tianjin is definitely the most important school-running city in the north at this time.

Yan Fansun has run 16 primary schools and 11 girls' primary schools, and has also set up craft schools, tutorial centers and research institutes.

Yan Fansun made great contributions to Tianjin's education, and basically created Tianjin's modern education in a systematic way.

In addition, Tianjin's education can do this thanks to the salt merchants.

Salt is the catalyst of Jingu civilization, and there are hundreds of salt merchants in Tianjin alone.Salt merchants have a tradition of donating money to start schools. Yan Fansun tried to run a new school, and his in-laws Huashi donated 1000 taels of silver to help.

When Li Yu met Yan Fansun, he was studying Li Yu's introductory lecture notes for various subjects together with Zhang Boling and Jin Bangping.

"Brother Shucai!" Yan Fansun and Zhang Boling were very happy to see Li Yu's sudden visit. "I didn't expect you to come back. It is said that there is a war at sea."

Li Yu said: "Russia and Japan are accumulating strength at this time, and they will soon go to war on land, so the sea is calm instead."

Yan Fansun went to Japan two years ago to investigate education, but he had never been to Russia. He just knew that Russia was very strong and scary. Never forget."

Yan Fansun also understood Japan's intentions.

Zhang Boling continued: "It's hard to imagine that a second-class envoy dares to challenge a first-class envoy."

At present, Japan's various embassies abroad use the name of "legacy" corresponding to "second-class country"; while Russia, as a "first-class country", is "embassy".

This classification is obviously very discriminatory, and it was all abandoned in the official diplomatic arena later.

Li Yu smiled wryly: "If Japan wins, they will become ambassadors."

Yan Fansun sighed: "Japan has attached great importance to education for many years, and its contribution is indispensable."

Yan Fansun and the others are practical people. They will not just lament the power of Japan or Russia, or be a troll, but do things in a down-to-earth manner.

This kind of person has always been the backbone of China.

Yan Fansun introduced Jin Bangping to Li Yu. He was a graduate of Waseda University in Japan and later served as a senior official in the Beiyang government.

Then Yan Fansun took out a few handouts: "After careful research, we want to make a more detailed compilation of your handouts for each subject, but we are worried that we can't find you to discuss this matter."

Of course Li Yu agreed: "It's true that I didn't divide the difficulty levels carefully enough. It would be great if you could help."

Zhang Boling said: "To be honest, I have never seen such a comprehensive teaching material. Everyone cherishes it very much. I have already made a lot of handouts for class based on your teaching material."

"It's best to be useful!" Li Yu asked about his piece of land again, "How is the construction of the new school going?"

Yan Fansun said: "The basic school building has been completed. In fact, there is no need to wait for everything to be ready. I think we should be able to enroll students in a few months."

In these matters, Li Yu followed Yan Fansun's suggestion: "I will publicize it in the newspaper after the Chinese New Year."

Zhang Boling smiled and said, "In your name, I'm afraid the school will be overcrowded."

(End of this chapter)