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

Chapter 411 Blind
Uchida Yasuya and Tou Shanman just sat and left without drinking a sip of wine, Li Yu didn't need to keep them.

At this time, Gu Hongming had already enjoyed drinking with Zhu Yuxun and Yang Xiaolou.

After drinking and eating, Gu Hongming remembered that there was still business to be done with Li Yu: "Brother Shucai, recently there was an exam for studying in Japan, which required mathematics and physics. The local government really couldn't organize it, and the trouble has already reached the capital. There is also Huguang here. Governor Zhang Zhidong’s letter, I want you to deal with it by name.”

Li Yu unfolded the letter, and it was indeed Zhang Zhidong's own handwriting.

It turned out that Japan had won the Russo-Japanese War at this time, and the imperial court had just abolished the imperial examination. Now studying abroad, especially in Japan, has become a hot topic. The imperial court also organized a group of people to study in Japan at public expense.

But now the promotion of new learning has not been spread at all. Many people don't understand anything, and even the examiners don't know how to ask questions.

Zhang Zhidong is a typical person who pays more attention to education. Even though the current new learning in the Lianghu area is not as advanced as Tianjin and Shanghai, Zhang Zhidong is active and has asked for four places for the Lianghu area.

As for the selection examination, it is divided into three subjects: Chinese, Japanese and Mathematics.

Needless to say, there are many great Confucian scholars in the Lianghu area, as well as the Yuelu Academy; for Japanese, there is a translator to help, but mathematics and science are more troublesome.

Originally, Zhang Zhidong had brothers Hua Hengfang and Hua Shifang under his command, but now that Hua Hengfang has passed away, and Hua Shifang has returned to his hometown, there is really no one who understands mathematics.

Zhang Zhidong thought that those who passed the exam would go to the capital no matter what, and the Imperial University would organize them to go abroad, so Zhang Zhidong left the matter to Li Yu.

Li Yu definitely couldn't refuse Zhang Xiangshuai, so he asked Gu Hongming, "Where are the students now?"

Gu Hongming said: "Don't worry, they will have a good year in the capital anyway."

The Beijing-Hanzhou Railway has basically been opened to traffic. At present, the traffic between Beijing and Wuhan is much more convenient than that between Beijing and Shanghai.

After the new year and the Lantern Festival, this group of people arrived in the capital immediately.

The person in charge of the assessment was Lin Shu, deputy director of the Translation Institute of the Imperial University Hall, but he had a headache after seeing the dozen or so people who came: not only the children of some local officials, but even the nephew of General Jingzhou.

General Jingzhou was one of the nine other generals in the Qing Dynasty except for the five garrison generals, who managed the Eight Banners garrisoned in Hubei.Although the fighting power of the Eight Banners has become a joke, the official position itself is quite high.

Li Yu also had a headache after reading the list.Really convinced, just after the implementation of the new learning, engage in education corruption?It is clear that the sons of Xungui want to top the quota.

These people are not good at learning, but they must know that after the abolition of the imperial examination, university graduates and foreign students will definitely be the future "jurenjinshi". Now that it has just started, many people want to fish in troubled waters.

Li Yu asked, "Do they understand Japanese and mathematics?"

Lin Shu said, "I've already inquired carefully. These honorable children can speak a little bit of Japanese, but they don't know anything about mathematics, let alone physics."

Li Yu asked again: "How did Hubei Xuezheng deal with it?"

"What can we do?" Lin Shu said helplessly, "The examiners in Hubei don't understand mathematics, so they only gave out Chinese and Japanese test questions, leaving mathematics and science for the students to find their own way."

"Try to find a way?" Li Yu immediately understood, "Isn't it just to let them give red envelopes?"

"You're so right," Lin Shu said, spreading his hands. "As soon as I took over this job, the doorway was crowded with people. The nephew of General Jingzhou even sent someone to bring gold to me. , I almost dazzled my eyes in the morning."

Li Yu said awkwardly: "It's too blatant."

"Under the emperor's feet, they have already restrained themselves," Lin Shu sighed. "It was only during the exams in Hubei that they were blatantly brazen. Otherwise, how could they bring things to the capital?"

Li Yu asked, "What's going on?"

Lin Shu said: "The emperor's teacher has been to Hubei. He should know that Hubei actually has some elementary schools on new learning, so there are still some people who have learned new learning. These people saw this situation, and the examiners were so fooled. They bullied the imperial court and the candidates, and they became even more angry. But after they questioned the examiners why there were no math and science test questions, the examiners said that the questions were missing, and the questions were forgotten. In short, they kept pushing each other."

Li Yu can understand this situation, and it will take at least ten years for this batch of new students to be trained.Therefore, the current examiners are basically from the imperial examinations, and it is really difficult for them to draw up math questions.

It's one thing to be difficult, but quite another to mess with the exam system.

The previous imperial examinations and the current examinations are one of the few fair opportunities, so it is too shameless to get involved.

Li Yu continued to ask: "Have the students who have learned new learning come here?"

"Naturally, it's because they made a big deal out of it. You see," Lin Shu pointed, "the new student who took the lead is the one named Shen Honglie."

Shen Honglie is now just 20 years old, and later became the admiral of the navy and the mayor of Qingdao. After Han Fuju was executed, he was in charge of Shandong.

However, this person was influenced by the headmaster in the late period of the Anti-Japanese War, and during the brutal sweeping period, he had the taint of passive anti-Japanese and anti-communist.

But if this person intervenes earlier, he can fight for it.

Li Yu asked: "Looking at the attire, is it from the Hubei New Army?"

"That's true. He passed the examination as a scholar in his early years, and later he studied in the Armed Forces School of the New Army. He liked mathematics very much," Lin Shu said. Since no one proposes the questions, let him propose the questions. But in the examination room, it is a joke for the examinees to make up the questions for them!"

Li Yu also smiled: "It's indeed a bit inappropriate, what did the examiner say?"

Lin Shu said: "The examiner really doesn't know mathematics. After thinking twice, I asked him to draw up two math problems first. Then the examiner posted them in the examination room, but I didn't expect that the noble children would not know one, so they strongly opposed it. The examiner There was no other way, so he announced, "Although these two exam questions are good, they seem to be too esoteric for green camp candidates like you, so I proposed two more questions to submit." If you set the questions like this, then Shen Honglie will definitely come out on top, so the chief examiner asked him to draw up the questions again."

Li Yu was speechless, and he could imagine the chaos in the selection of new students in various places. "Is the question he asked for the third time still unanswered?"

Lin Shu nodded: "Moreover, Shen Honglie also said, 'This is the most simple question in modern mathematics. The next step is ordinary addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It can be solved by a lot of people. It is really inconvenient to use as an exam question." At this point, the examiner had no choice but to admit it, but in the final papers collected, almost all the other candidates handed in blank papers."

Li Yu said: "It seems that he still got No.1, why did he make trouble in the capital again?"

"You're wrong!" Lin Shu sighed heavily, "When the list was finally announced, not only was Shen Honglie not No.1, he didn't even enter the top four."

Li Yu said in surprise: "There are only four places, so he won't be selected?"

"That's why Shen Honglie is not convinced. In terms of Chinese, he has the skills of a scholar; in terms of Japanese, everyone is almost the same; in terms of mathematics and science, he is the only one with perfect marks. How could he lose his name?"

"It's too dark!" Li Yu said, "Okay, since that's the case, I'll judge."

Lin Shu said: "Great! You are now the supervisor of Xinxue Tixue, a foreign academician of the Royal Society and a Nobel Prize winner. It would be best for you to be in charge of the review."

Li Yu said: "Let's talk about it first, I can mark the Japanese and mathematics and science, and the Chinese subjects can only be decided by others."

Lin Shu said, "Don't worry, I understand this. I will hand over the Chinese marking to Master Gu."

Li Yu is going to come over first and look at the three test questions given by Shen Honglie. They are actually not difficult. The first time is a function question and a geometry question, which is roughly at the level of the third year of junior high school; the second time is a trigonometric function question and an equation question. junior high school level.

As for the third time, it was a quadratic equation in one variable, and even listed all the discriminants in the title.

Li Yu stepped forward and said: "This time, the Beijing Normal University will set the test, and the results will be determined in an exam. If you still refuse to accept it, you can only go to the Bauhinia City to file an imperial petition."

Immediately someone below asked loudly: "Is the examiner you?"

Li Yu said: "There is no examiner for the new learning exam, because you are just beginning in the new learning."

Li Yu asked a few questions according to the level of the senior high school entrance examination, and when the final results were announced, Shen Honglie still got No.1.

As a result, Shen Honglie got the opportunity to study in Japan. He was very grateful to Li Yu and came to express his thanks, but Li Yu still used the same rhetoric as before: "The new school examination is different from the previous imperial examination, and there is no such thing as a disciple. "

Shen Honglie expressed his admiration: "The emperor understands righteousness deeply, and Honglie will always remember it in his heart!"

Li Yu said: "In the future, study hard in Japan, and don't think too much about other things."

-

A few days later, the magazines Li Yu ordered from abroad were shipped to China.

When I went to the post office to pick up the package, the postman was very surprised: "I have to pay so much postage for a few books, and with more than a dozen silver dollars, I can buy a big house in the village."

Li Yu would definitely not explain too much to them, and went home with the magazine.

This issue of "Physical Yearbook" in Germany is particularly important. It published the paper "On the Electrodynamics of Objects" published by Einstein on the special theory of relativity. Among other things, the collection value is also full.

Einstein, a small third-level patent officer, can publish papers in this kind of journal. Li Yu as the second author and the review and signature of Planck, an academician of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, are very critical.

It's just... It seems that it still hasn't attracted enough attention.

Because his theory is too advanced, not only ordinary people, even the current top physicists, few can really understand time.

And now Einstein directly turns time and space together into time and space, which is beyond everyone's cognition.

Someone even joked: "If time can be lengthened and shortened at will, then all watchmakers in Switzerland must be unemployed."

Another heavyweight mass-energy formula was published in the next issue of the magazine, but it has not yet been sent to the capital.

Li Yu definitely wanted to support Einstein, so he wrote an article, mainly demonstrating the mathematical rigor and physical significance of the Lorentz transformation; and then discussed why time and space can be related as one, rather than independent exist.

Li Yu sent the letter to Germany, but it took a month to reach Einstein at the Patent Office in Bern, Switzerland.

At present, Einstein's life has not changed fundamentally, but after he got the title of doctor, he was promoted and his salary was raised.

But his desire to become a university physics professor and focus on physics has not been realized.

After Li Yu finished sending the letter, another batch of radio equipment from the United States arrived in Hong Kong. Now the sales of this product are terrible, but Li Yu still prioritizes ensuring the domestic market.There are indeed a lot of orders from Beiyang, and the prices they offer are not bad.

As for making real money, the Japanese and Russians are queuing up with several times the price.

It's just that I didn't expect that many people would start to oppose this batch of goods just after they arrived in the capital.

Li Yu didn't take it seriously at first, but things quickly became serious.

Many people stopped the train carrying radio equipment at the station, including people from the Federation of Industry and Commerce, government officials, and even some students, students from the New School.

Yan Fu and Gu Hongming hurried to Li Yu's house, and Li Yu was already preparing to start the car to go. The matter was urgent, so he could only talk while driving on the road.

Li Yu was at a loss: "Okay, why did the students block my equipment?"

Yan Fu said: "Don't you know? Now the entire Zhili region, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Nanjing are boycotting American goods."

"Boycott... American goods?" Li Yu asked in surprise.

Yan Fu said: "That's right, the unequal treaty "Sino-U.S. Council to Restrict Chinese Workers from the U.S. and Protect Chinese Residents in the U.S." expired a year ago, and Liang Cheng, the Minister to China, proposed to revise the treaty, but the U.S. side flatly refused, and still Maintain the anti-Chinese policy.”

Li Yu suddenly felt that the matter was very difficult. When the car passed by some shops near Dongjiaomin Lane, they even put up signs saying "This store does not sell American products".

Li Yu understood that they must have mistook their wireless equipment for American products.

When the car arrived at Zhengyangmen Railway Station, the resisting crowd immediately surrounded it.

"The traitor to the country is coming!"

"Kill the traitor who sells American goods!"

"The hair and clothes look like a foreigner, he is a dead foreigner from the root!"

"..."

With the sound of cursing, some rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs were thrown over.

With sharp eyes and quick hands, Li Yu grabbed an egg that was rushing towards his forehead, but the egg was broken in the palm of his hand, and the egg white mixed with the yolk splashed on his face and also reached his mouth.

Li Yu spat out, "What the hell, they still brought fresh eggs, not like ordinary people."

Li Yu jumped up, stood on the roof of the car and shouted angrily: "Be quiet! Do you know what is in this car? Although they are shipped from the United States, they are all produced by my company in the United States. They It’s not purely American! Moreover, radio equipment is the most advanced thing now, a milestone of modern technology, and it’s…”

Li Yu's speech was interrupted, he could only reach out and block some of the falling vegetable leaves.

The people below shouted angrily: "Fuck your fart! It's all in foreign language, and you say it's not American? Since it's Chinese, why don't you write it in Chinese!"

"You are a national sinner, a traitor!"

Li Yu threw the rotten vegetable leaves back, and then replied loudly: "Which of your eyes can see that I am a traitor? If you don't use American factories and workers now, these things can't be made at all. Besides, I have grown up in American factories. Some of them are Chinese laborers! You don’t think about why you can’t make it yourself, but you smash my equipment here, ask yourself, who is the national sinner?”

But the people below didn't buy it at all: "You are the national sinner, so stop talking about it! We can make it!"

Li Yu laughed angrily: "What did you use to make it? Do you know what is a triode, what is FM, and what is a superheterodyne circuit? You don't even know English, what did you use to make it?"

"Don't do this! You are a coward! You only know how to learn from foreigners!"

Li Yu recalled the words in that movie, even more so 100 years ago. Li Yu shouted: "What is the difference between you and when the foreigners came in through the Opium War 60 years ago? If others are stronger than you, you go to him Study until one day, you are stronger than him, and then fight back confidently!"

But no matter how clearly Li Yu said it, the people below were already dazzled and couldn't listen at all.

Li Yu was also pissed off, but Yan Fu was very calm, sitting motionless in the car, and Gu Hongming who was beside him sighed, "It's really not easy for Li Yu, it's impossible to reason with these arrogant people."

Yan Fu said, "Why haven't the military and police arrived yet?"

Gu Hongming asked: "Have you found officers and soldiers?"

Yan Fu said: "It's the newly established police department, and there are people from our Beiyang in it. If they don't come again, I'm afraid these people will really start to attack."

(End of this chapter)