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

Several of Liu E's disciples and his son are also planning to go west together.

Good guy, it feels like a small caravan all of a sudden.

Dunhuang in later generations already had highways, railways, and airports. It was very easy to think about it, and it only took two or three days to drive.

But now if you want to go to Dunhuang, the fastest route is to take the train along the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway to Zhengzhou, then go west from Zhengzhou to Xi'an, then go from Xi'an to Lanzhou, and finally from Lanzhou to Dunhuang.

Although there is the waterway of the Yellow River in the north, it is a pity that the navigation capacity of the Yellow River is very poor.

In contrast, the Yangtze River in the south, in the age of industrialization, has an annual freight volume of 40 billion tons easily!The Yellow River only has hundreds of thousands of tons a year, and the difference between the two is tens of thousands of times!In other words, compared with the Yangtze River, the cargo capacity of the Yellow River is zero.

The reason is simple, that is hydrogeography.

The runoff of the Yangtze River is as high as nearly one trillion cubic meters per year, while that of the Yellow River is only a meager 700 billion, which is less than a fraction.

But if it's just low traffic, at least it's navigable for small boats.The Yangtze River can carry a 3000-ton ship, and the Yellow River is supposed to travel three to four hundred tons during the wet season.

But the Yellow River not only has a small flow, but also has several insurmountable nodes in the middle: the most critical ones are Sanmenxia and Hukou Waterfall.

Especially Sanmenxia, ​​the location is quite important, it is stuck between Xi'an and Zhengzhou.

In short, this trip can be described as a genuine mountain and mountain.

It is about [-] kilometers from Beijing to Zhengzhou, and it only takes one day to get there along the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway. This is the only easy section of the road.

Then it is necessary to change vehicles and horses in Zhengzhou to Lanzhou. This is more than 1000 kilometers, and it will take more than a month if it is fast.

Because Lanzhou has been an important town since ancient times, the traffic is generally smooth.From Lanzhou to Dunhuang, it will take almost two months, because it is really not easy to go.

In other words, it takes about 3 months for a one-way trip.

In the past, some governors of Shaanxi and Gansu provinces were only temporarily appointed, but never arrived because they were too far away.

As for Urumqi, where Liu E was dispatched in history, it was thousands of miles away.

Everyone knows that Xinjiang has a vast area, and don't forget that Gansu is very long.

The straight-line distance from Urumqi to Lanzhou is 1700 kilometers, and the distance from Lanzhou to Shanghai is also 1700 kilometers.It made some people feel so emotional: It's not that Xinjiang is too far away, but Gansu is too long.To go to Xinjiang, you have to travel for two days in Gansu.

(Inner Mongolia: hide away!)

Thinking about it, Li Yu felt that ancient times were really not easy. Back then, he didn't know how Xuanzang wandered to India and back. He was simply a superman.

But Li Yu didn't think it was a problem, on the contrary, it was a good thing to a certain extent.

——If Dunhuang continues to be unknown, at least it won’t let those foreigners stare at it, otherwise no one will come to such a long and hard-to-reach place with nothing to do.

This trip is much more exciting than the self-driving tour in later generations.

When we arrived in Lanzhou, everyone felt a little exhausted and had to take a good rest.

Due to its important location, Lanzhou is stuck on the main route of the Silk Road, so all dynasties and generations have always attached great importance to it.

Li Yu once came to Lanzhou before crossing. This city is located in a small basin in the Loess Plateau. The plain area is actually quite small, and the soil of the Loess Plateau is loose. It cannot be built on the mountain like Chongqing, which is very dreamy. urban layout.

Come here 100 years in advance and look again, I feel that the development here is better than expected.

Li Yu and the others met Songfan, the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu, as well as Ye Changchi, the Xuezheng of Gansu, Peng Yingjia, the Envoy of Education, and others.

It was probably rare for them to see a person from the capital who was very enthusiastic.

They kept asking about things in the capital, and after Peng Yingjia knew that Li Yu was still the supervisor of the new school, he told Li Yu about some of the educational development in Lanzhou. At this time, the predecessor of Lanzhou University also had a shadow.

Li Yu took out Tang Shaoyi's letter, which was a trivial matter for the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, because Liu E's crime was not a serious crime, and it was easy to pass by with one eye closed, so there was no embarrassment.

On the contrary, Gansu Xuezheng Ye Changchi was very surprised when he learned that Li Yu was going to Dunhuang.

Li Yu explained: "My lord, Xuezheng, now foreigners are searching for our treasures everywhere, so we have to guard against them."

Ye Changchi said: "Last year, a Taoist priest surnamed Wang came to me and even brought me a few scriptures from the Tang Dynasty, saying they were from the Mogao Grottoes. I asked the local county magistrate to seal the scriptures. how."

Li Yu said: "The county magistrate is still far away from the Mogao Grottoes, and cannot be fully protected. We should set up our own research site in the Mogao Grottoes and be able to take care of them at the same time."

Ye Changchi didn't want to let the things in Dunhuang be lost at all, but because of lack of money, he had no choice. At that time, he proposed to let the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu transport all the scriptures to Lanzhou for safekeeping, but the shipping cost was too high, so he gave up.

The most terrible thing is that they don't pay enough attention to it. They don't know how greedy foreigners are for Chinese cultural relics.

After showing his official letter from the Ministry of Rites, Li Yu said: "I am following the imperial court's order to protect cultural relics at a low cost, so as to prevent the disaster of the Old Summer Palace from happening again."

Ye Changchi cupped his hands and said, "I should cooperate, but to tell you the truth, the Yamen really can't afford the money."

Li Yu said: "It's okay, that's why I came here all the way. The Governor's Mansion only needs to give me a few transfer orders, one to transfer away Taoist Wang, as you know, it is not appropriate for a Taoist to manage a Buddhist holy place; The transfer order made Liu E the manager of the Mogao Grottoes research site."

Ye Changchi thought for a while, and there was nothing wrong with Li Yu's proposal. Mogao Grottoes is a very desolate place, and few people are willing to go to be some kind of manager. It is almost equivalent to exile.

Ye Changchi said: "Since the emperor has the seal of the imperial court, he will naturally do as you say. If there is any need for our help, just let me know."

Li Yu said, "Thank you, Xuezheng."

That day, the Shaanxi-Gansu Governor's Mansion left Li Yu and others to have a meal, and gave Li Yu the transfer orders he wanted.

This kind of document that mobilizes people from the people does not need such a high-ranking official to stamp it, but they are very interested in Li Yu, so they handled it diligently.

And even if Li Yu's official rank is low, a Beijing official is a Beijing official, and Li Yu bears the name of the emperor's teacher, so they have to treat him well.

Li Yu reciprocated and promised to provide as much help as possible for the new students in Lanzhou.

Li Yu raised his glass and said, "Master Xuezheng, you can immediately write a memorial to Beijing, saying that you want to establish the Gansu School of Law and Politics."

Ye Changchi said: "We don't have enough conditions now."

Li Yu said: "It's not too late, I have a little friendship with the Minister of Education, and I will tell you secretly that the imperial court will order all localities to supervise this matter in a short time. If Master Xuezheng completes it ahead of time, wouldn't it be practical and dare to do it?" It is not impossible to be promoted to the top of the world with the best performance in the world."

Ye Changchi is a smart person, and said happily: "Thank you so much!"

No matter which dynasty it was, after the imperial order was issued, the remote areas received it late, and they couldn't communicate with the capital in time, so the progress often slowed down a lot.

At this time, with Li Yu's message, they can do it with confidence.

Of course, Li Yu also hopes that Lanzhou, an important town in the northwest, will have an institution of higher learning sooner rather than mentioning that Lanzhou still has Lanzhou ramen in his mind.

What's more, Lanzhou ramen is not from Lanzhou.

After resting and resting in Lanzhou for four or five days, Li Yu and his party continued on the road.

It is a very challenging journey from Lanzhou to Dunhuang. Although it is still the Silk Road of the past, it has passed.

Li Yu and Liu E were bored on the road, so they chatted about the stories of the Western Regions.

"I heard that Loulan is rich in beauties, and many countries invaded Loulan for the beauties there." Liu E said.

"Isn't it?" Li Yu said, "I remember that during the Jin Dynasty and the Sixteen Kingdoms period, Zhang Jun, the warlord who ruled Dunhuang, took advantage of the chaos in the world and sent troops to attack Loulan. King Loulan had no choice but to offer beautiful women to quell the war. "

Lu Bicheng asked: "It's really so beautiful, can you wipe out the chaos with a smile?"

Li Yu said: "In short, Zhang Jun liked this Loulan beauty very much. He gave her the title of beauty and built a palace."

Lu Bicheng asked again: "Can it have the face of Xishi Diaochan?"

Li Yu said with a smile: "That's not the case, I can only say that Zhang Jun has never seen it before. The Loulan beauty is blond and blue-eyed, and she is not the same as the Central Plains woman."

"Blond hair and blue eyes?" Lu Bicheng said, "Isn't it the same as Europeans?"

Li Yu said: "You guessed it right, the beauties in Loulan are very close to the Europa race."

Lu Bicheng came to a sudden: "It seems that there was no large-scale communication with each other back then, so I was quite surprised to see such a woman suddenly."

The body of the "Loulan beauty" unearthed in Loulan for thousands of years was very close to the Europa people after genetic testing.

This corpse is still in the museum. Although it has been dead for thousands of years, it has slender eyelashes and is still worthy of the word "beauty". It is hard to imagine what kind of face it will be when it is alive.

In the desert of yellow sand, the journey was boring, and Li Yu suddenly remembered some cartoons that he had watched in his childhood that were very impressive, so he continued to tell them.

"These are stories about the clever Avanti and Master Bai."

Li Yu talked about selling shade, comparing wisdom, stealing donkeys, making fun, etc., which made them laugh out loud.

Lu Bicheng said: "It sounds more interesting than the fairy tales of foreigners I read. I want to draw them with a pen."

Li Yu naturally agreed with both hands: "After this long journey, maybe I can finish some first drafts, and do some storyboards later, which will be more perfect."

In the early years, China was actually very strong in animation. Shanghai Fine Arts Studio produced countless excellent animations, which were not inferior to Japan and other countries at the same time, and these stories were more suitable for China's cultural environment.

Lu Bicheng has good art skills. Historically, she went to Columbia University to study fine arts, and she can draw both Eastern and Western paintings.

Along the way, Lu Bicheng really started to draw in the carriage.

Li Yu happened to know those classic puppet images, so he played an assistant, which made the journey less boring.