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

Chapter 41 Chain Reaction
"Can you see this too?" Cixi became interested. Although she didn't know what the halo was, it was very interesting to see Saturn.

In fact, there have been telescopes in the Qing court for a long time. During the Qianlong period, some people paid tribute to European-made telescopes. However, with the wars in modern times, the palace became a mess, and many of them were lost.Later, the Palace Museum sorted out hundreds of palace telescopes, and of course some of them were bought by Puyi later.

Lafayette's life was also quite "ups and downs". The major wars went through the Opium War, the Sino-French War, the Sino-French War, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Eight-Power Allied Forces. Therefore, for a long time, he hated and feared foreigners, so he didn't like these Westerners very much. stuff.

Li Yu said: "Queen Mother, you just need to find a telescope, choose a place to put it, and I will set the position for you. At night, you can see the fascinating rings of Saturn through the eyepiece at the time I mentioned."

"So simple?" Cixi asked in surprise.

"Exactly!"

Cixi looked at Yikuang and found that he seemed to have full confidence in Li Yu, so she said to Li Lianying: "Okay, Aijia will try as you said. Xiao Lizi, you can find it. I remember that telescope is for you put it away."

"twitter!"

Li Lianying was quick in handling things, and was familiar with every corner of the palace, so he quickly brought two young eunuchs to bring the telescope.

Li Yu took a closer look and found that it was a Newtonian reflector telescope with excellent workmanship and much better imaging effect than the earliest refractor telescope made by Galileo.

"Hold on a moment, queen."

Li Yu picked up the binoculars and said to the little eunuch next to Li Lianying, "Excuse me, father-in-law, help me carry a table and a chair."

The two young eunuchs glanced at Li Lianying, and Li Lianying was happy to make Cixi happy, so he said, "Just do as he says."

After the little eunuch took the order, he lifted the table and chairs and followed Li Yu to the outside of the main hall.

Cixi was a little curious, and looked out through the window, Li Lianying immediately opened the window for her.

Li Yu put the telescope on the table, and then calculated the time position.Saturn's trajectory is not complicated, its brightness is extremely high, and it is very easy to observe.It is located in the southeastern constellation of Leo, rises slowly after sunset, and is visible all night.

Li Yu quickly finished the settings, returned to the hall and said, "Queen Mother, you can sit on a chair after the sun goes down and observe the beautiful rings of Saturn."

"So fast? I thought that Laoshizi's things were troublesome. Well, Aijia will take a look tonight."

Cixi was really too boring in the palace, her daily routine was very fixed, and she was a little happy when there was something new all of a sudden.As for the matter of changing into a monkey, I don't care about it. She is really looking forward to the stargazing at night.

"If it is true as you said, the Ai family must be rewarded."

"Thank you Queen Mother!" Li Yu said confidently.

In fact, I feel a little bit guilty in my heart, and I should be rewarded for such a simple little thing. As a graduate student who is proficient in modern astronomy, I feel a little insulted.

But this kind of thinking quickly disappeared, why not give money!
After leaving Xiyuan, Yikuang was very satisfied with Li Yu's performance, "Unexpectedly, you still have the demeanor of Zhuge Kongming, and you can watch the sky at night!"

Li Yu said with a smile: "If the prince wants to see it, you can find a telescope, and I can let you see it."

"Very good! The old man has to take a look through the telescope anyway."

Timothy Li feels that Li Yuzhen has two tricks. Although it is easy for him to observe the rings of Saturn, it is indeed very flexible to be able to derive an ingenious, simple and effective solution from Cixi's problem in such a short period of time. .

"You are as the newspapers said! Now I really want you to go to my Shanxi University."

Li Yu laughed and said, "The bishop's reputation is too high!"

Yikuang had to go back to the Zongli Yamen to handle official business, while Timothy Li had to go to the Ministry of Rites to communicate about the school, so the three of them said goodbye and left.

Li Yu first went to Tongwenguan to find Martin, and asked for the mailing address of the Royal Society from him. This time, he was really embarrassed to ask him to pay.Martin also warned him not to forget to go to HSBC to withdraw the money, as the manuscript fee had already been sent from the UK.

Li Yu went out and took a rickshaw, which happened to be pulled by the former driver, and his business was mainly concentrated in this area.

Li Yu first asked him to take him to HSBC Bank. On the way, he passed a few bookstalls, and the business was very hot.

Li Yu asked curiously, "Why do everyone love reading so much now?"

The coachman said as he ran, "In just the past two days, all kinds of "Journey to the West" are going to sell like crazy on the book stalls everywhere."

"Journey to the West?"

"Yes, haven't you heard that the Queen Mother is the reincarnation of Monkey King!"

I drop mom!

"You stop at the bookstall in front, I'll go and have a look!"

Li Yu got out of the car and came to the bookstall. Two of the three tables were filled with "New Talk of Journey to the West".

This is the only one-hundred-chapter complete edition among the various editions of Journey to the West published in the Qing Dynasty, and it plays an important role in the evolution of the editions of Journey to the West.

It's just that the title of the "New Story of Journey to the West" in front of me has two words: "Queen Dowager", which together becomes "The Queen Mother's New Story of Journey to the West".

The little book seller continued to sell to the people next to him: "According to reliable information, the Queen Mother is the disciple of Patriarch Bodhi, and the Monkey King turned around! Not only can he ride the clouds, but he can also call the wind and rain! What's more, he has piercing eyes, and more Three heads and six arms! If you want to know the mystery, you can read "The Empress Dowager's New Story of Journey to the West"!"

Li Yu picked up a book and flipped through it. The smell of ink made it hard to open his eyes. The paper of the book was poor, and the printing quality of the content was even worse. Many places were blurred and dark, not to mention missing pieces. The case of fewer pages.

At first glance, it is a "pirated book" produced by Xiaoshuzhuang, and it is still a defective product produced in a hurry.

Piracy of novels in the late Qing Dynasty was indeed rampant, and the imperial court did little.It was not until two years later, in 1904, that Li Boyuan, the author of "The Appearance of Officialdom", successfully won his first lawsuit on copyright, but there were still no specific legal provisions to restrict it.

The punishment given to the pirates was very small, only three days under the shackles, and only the manager of the bookstore was punished, and the real legal person behind it was not touched.Of course, it is also possible that the Qing court did not dare, because the legal person of the book club is Japanese.

Even if it is a pirated book, and the price is not low, people still pay for it from time to time. After all, it is indeed much cheaper than the hardcover book in a regular library.

Li Yu walked away in embarrassment. He didn't expect that his outspoken words would trigger a chain reaction, which would lead to the huge sales of "Journey to the West". It's really dumbfounding!
It can only be said that it has made a small contribution to the popularization of the four great classics!
(End of this chapter)