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

Li Yu has been very busy in Beijing recently. Not only Tsinghua Academy, but also the Imperial University often look for him.

It was a rare day to sneak away from the busy schedule and came to Dashilan to buy some daily necessities.

Dashilan was burned down during the Gengzi period and has just been rebuilt now.Li Yu came here to buy some pens and inks, because he felt that even though he didn't understand Chinese studies, he still should practice calligraphy to some extent.

Liu E must be reluctant to use the expensive brush that Liu E gave him, so he can only use ordinary ones.

Paper is actually quite troublesome to buy. Xuan paper suitable for brush writing would be a little uncomfortable to write with a pen, so Li Yu had to buy some suitable paper.

As soon as he put the things in the car after buying, Li Yu saw a team of patrolmen coming to direct the traffic.

"Everyone go to one side! Go to the other side! Didn't you see the notice at the entrance of the alley? Now Dashilan is a one-way street." The patrolman kept yelling.

However, the public has never heard of the term "one-way street". Many people are dissatisfied: "We have been walking for so many years, do we have to make a detour?"

The patrolman said: "Hey! You are really right, you have to take a detour!"

The patrolmen stood in the middle of the road with their waists up, and they didn't give way at all. Ordinary people would not really quarrel with the soldiers, and most of them would honestly follow the planned one-way street.

But what is Beijing City?Throwing a brick can hit the capital of an official, how can it be so easy to discipline.

Soon a noble lady walked over, stroking her stomach.

The patrolman stopped her as usual: "Ma'am, this road doesn't work."

The lady snorted: "You think I'm blind? Why is the good road blocked?"

The patrolman didn't know the details of the lady, so he didn't dare to get angry, so he explained well: "Madam, the sign at the intersection is clearly written, and this road is now a one-way street."

"You're a big head!" The lady scolded angrily, "You say you can do it alone? Why?"

The patrolman said, "It's an order from Master Zhu of the Patrol Department."

"The Patrol Department?" The lady sneered, "Do you know who the director of the Patrol Department, Naniwa Kawashima, is from our family?"

The patrolman was stunned: "Director Kawashima?"

The lady said: "I am Prince Su's side Fujin. Mr. Kawashima is our guest. Even the patrol department was suggested by Prince Su. You are a small patrol now, how dare you stop me?"

The patrolman was indeed a little frightened, but he still didn't get out of the way.

The lady said angrily: "What's wrong, don't you believe it?"

The patrolman quickly put on a smiling face: "Madam, that's not the case. It's just that Mr. Zhu said this morning that no one can violate the regulations, otherwise he will fine the younger one with three days' wages. You are from a wealthy compound, so naturally you don't like this A little money, but the little one is really hungry. Madam, please go over there, and I will carry your luggage for you."

Prince Su's side Fujin was still relentless: "I'm pregnant with Liujia now, if I take many detours if my tire gas moves, can you afford it?"

The patrolman was in a dilemma, "This..."

At this moment, a middle-aged man in his thirties came up to him and asked, "What's going on?"

The patrolman suddenly felt that he had met a savior: "Master Zhu, you came at the right time. This is Fujin from Prince Su's Mansion. He wants to break through our checkpoint."

This Mr. Zhu is Zhu Qiqian, who was the mayor of Beijing during the Republic of China, but the most known achievement of posterity is to keep the pattern of Shi Lei.

When Zhu Qiqian heard this, he quickly smiled at Prince Su and Fujin: "Madam, of course you can go this way, but you must pay a fine, ten silver dollars."

Fujin said: "Ten silver dollars? Do you think you are Cheng Yaojin, and you opened this road? If you want to be a bandit, this is the root of the imperial city!"

Zhu Qiqian still smiled and said: "Fu Jin, if the rules are broken, everyone will break them. Now that there are so many people watching, you only have two choices, either detour or pay a fine and walk over."

"You!" Fujin thought for a while but held back.

She knew Zhu Qiqian's identity to some extent. Qu Hongji, the Minister of Military Affairs at the time, and Qu Hongxuan, the celebrity in front of the Queen Mother, were his uncles.

In addition, Xu Shichang, who is currently the No. [-] figure in Beiyang and holds multiple important positions such as Minister of the Ministry of War, is also his backer.

But his face was really ugly when he went back the same way, so Fujin asked the servant girl to take out ten silver dollars and threw them over, "Master Zhu, right, I remember you!"

Zhu Qiqian smiled and said: "Remember, Fujin must remember to say a few good words for his humble job."

Li Yu watched the whole process from the side, thinking that Master Zhu was indeed a bit courageous.

And the child in the womb of Prince Su Fujin can basically be concluded to be the future Aixinjueluo Xianyu, whose Japanese name is Yoshiko Kawashima.

Li Yu was about to drive home when Zhu Qiqian suddenly stopped him: "Are you Li Yu, the emperor's teacher?"

"Yes." Li Yu replied.

Zhu Qiqian trotted over: "It's just right, I still want to find you."

Li Yu said, "Sir Zhu, I didn't break through the checkpoint."

Zhu Qiqian smiled and said, "It's not about this."

"What is that?" Li Yu asked.

Zhu Qiqian said: "Master Zhang Baixi, the Minister of Management of the Imperial University, asked me to ask you to study the new school building."

"New school building? New school building of Beijing Normal University Hall?" Li Yu asked doubtfully.

"That's right," Zhu Qiqian said, "the imperial court has just approved a few pieces of land, and it happens that the school is going to build a new courtyard and wants to put some departments in the new campus. Mr. Zhang said that you have met several principals in the United States. Learn about school planning."

Li Yu said embarrassingly, "I don't know planning, let alone architecture."

Zhu Qiqian said: "It doesn't matter, as long as you can give a general idea, I know it."

"So, you are the architect?" Li Yu asked.

Zhu Qiqian said: "In fact, I was responsible for the construction of the translation school in the Imperial University Hall."

It seems that there was a reason for him to protect Shisei Lei's pattern later on. He has always liked architecture.

Li Yu said, "I don't know if I can help."

Zhu Qiqian said: "Now you are the No. 1 person in the country who understands new learning, and you are building a school yourself. I don't believe you when you say you don't understand, let alone Mr. Zhang."

With no other choice, Li Yu had no choice but to agree: "I can only be a small consultant."

"That's enough!" Zhu Qiqian pointed to the seat, "Can I get in the car?"

"Of course." Li Yu said.

Zhu Qiqian sat in the co-pilot and said strangely: "It's the first time for me to ride in this kind of foreign car. It's interesting, it's really interesting!"

The two drove to the Peking University Hall.

Zhang Baixi was looking at a map in the office, when he looked up to see Li Yu and Zhu Qiqian, he smiled and said, "I'll invite you so soon."

Zhu Qiqian said: "It's a coincidence that I ran into the emperor's teacher at Dashilan while patrolling the street. By the way, today I fined Prince Su Sifujin 10 silver dollars."

"Prince Su?" Zhang Baixi thought for a while, "Fortunately, it's not too hot money, you keep it well, maybe you'll keep it."

Zhu Qiqian said proudly, "I dare to fine you only because I have this certainty."

"It would be great if everyone understood the depth of the water and the shallowness of the water like you," Zhang Baixi said cheerfully, then beckoned the two of them to come to him, and said to Li Yu, "I have been thinking for a long time, how to overwhelm the Tsinghua Academy you are going to build .”

Li Yu had a black line: "Principal, Tsinghua Academy is just a prototype at present, there is no need to be so strict."

Zhang Baixi laughed, "There are so many people in the imperial court who value it, especially with Gengzi loans as the backing, can I not be vigilant? In case a school funded by an American in the future is better than my Imperial University, I will Where can I put this old face? I can't let me lose my life at the end of the day."

Li Yu said: "Although the Americans paid for it, the money is still ours, so the school is still ours."

"That's what I said, but my Jingshi University must be the first school in the capital!" Zhang Baixi continued, "Hey, I said Shucai! I know it all, Beiyang made you the supervisor of Tsinghua Academy, but Anyway, you came out of our Jingshi University Hall, so you can't turn your elbows outside."

"Students don't dare!" Li Yu laughed. "By the way, students can pay to build a building next to the school that will definitely stabilize the status of the Imperial University."

"That's about the same!" Zhang Baixi said with satisfaction.

Zhang Baixi was a very upright official, but it was not enough to be a second-rank official. He had a very vicious vision and a lot of eyes and ears, so he knew Li Yu's worth a long time ago.

Zhu Qiqian probably thought so too, and immediately greeted him and asked, "Where does the emperor want to build it?"

Li Yu pointed to the map and said, "It's right next to our current school building."

Zhang Baixi said: "But this place has been prepared for the newly established Department of Agriculture."

"It's easy to say, isn't there still a lot of land on the map? Move the Department of Agriculture outside." Li Yu said.

At this time, Li Yu said it very happily, the Department of Agriculture of the Imperial University Hall is the future China Agricultural University...

But Zhang Baixi did not object: "The nearby land is already very tight. It seems reasonable to let the Department of Agriculture be closer to the suburbs. We should let the agricultural students have more contact with the fields."

Well, as soon as the two sang together, they put China Agricultural University aside.

Zhu Qiqian continued to ask: "But such a small piece of land, what does the emperor want to build?"

"Peking University..." Li Yu almost slipped his tongue, and quickly corrected him, "The Red Chamber of the Imperial University!"

It is the famous Red Chamber of Peking University in later generations.

Li Yu took a pencil from the table, and began to roughly draw on the white paper.

Historically, Peking University’s Red Building was built with a loan from a Belgian company from Beijing Normal University, and it cost a lot of money. The total price was 20 silver dollars, and the interest was 9%, which was paid off in 20 years.

The Belgians made a lot out of it.

Because the interest on loans in the late Qing Dynasty was generally around 5%, even for commercial loans, the interest was generally only 7%.

In addition, Jingshi University has to pay a kickback of 4000 yuan to the middleman.

Not yet finished, the building was designed and supervised by Belgian engineers, and the cost was 5% of the total project cost.

However, the theoretical charging standard of the architectural design industry in later generations is only 1.6% to 4.5%.

I have asked some practitioners, and the fees in actual implementation are much lower than this standard.

In addition, the construction party of the project is also a foreign company, which should be an affiliated company in Belgium.

In short, Belgium has made huge profits in the sale of loans to build buildings.

At that time, Peking University was not as rich as Tsinghua University or later Yenching University, which can be said to have paid a high price.

However, the school building of the Imperial University is really tight at present, and it is really helpless.

Li Yu said while drawing, that he was quite familiar with this super famous building, but Zhang Baixi and Zhu Qiqian looked at each other in dismay.

Twenty minutes later, Li Yu looked at the mess of papers in front of him and said with satisfaction, "Do you understand, my lords?"

"Hehe...heh!" Zhang Baixi smiled awkwardly, then looked at Zhu Qiqian.

Zhu Qiqian scratched his head: "Teacher Emperor, why don't you just draw an outline, and then talk about the situation, how about I draw it?"

"That's a good relationship! Why didn't you say it earlier!" Li Yu handed him the pencil.

Li Yu did not expect Zhu Qiqian to be able to sketch architecture, which is one of the necessary skills for architecture students in later generations of universities.

Although it is relatively rough, the overall outline and general design ideas can be expressed.

Just now Zhu Qiqian had listened to the general idea, and after asking a few more questions, he quickly drew it.

Li Yu said with emotion: "Like, it's so similar."

Zhu Qiqian didn't know why Li Yu said the word "like", and he couldn't understand how his painting resembled the ghost painting he drew, but he still said: "The emperor's preliminary design of the building is indeed outstanding."

Li Yu chuckled: "I just saw it."

Zhang Baixi said: "Sure enough, it is beneficial to travel more abroad. The horizons of sparse talents are getting wider and wider. Even building such things can be achieved through observation to such a level."

Li Yu was embarrassed by the praise, "But the detailed design still needs to be deepened. If you can't finish it yourself, you can find a foreigner's design company, but you say that the budget is only 5 silver dollars, so that their commission will be reduced."

Zhang Baixi gave a thumbs up: "Shucai still knows how to bargain, so I will do as you say."

Needless to say, the status of Peking University Red House in the Republic of China, the New Culture Movement and the May [-]th Movement were planned here.

Zhang Baixi asked Zhu Qiqian to handle the design as soon as possible, and then said: "Shucai, don't forget about the funds."

Li Yu laughed and said, "How dare I lie to the principal."

Zhang Baixi said: "Don't worry, I won't ask for your money in vain. In the future, the money collected after the student dormitory is rented out will be returned to you."

Li Yu waved his hand: "That's not necessary, let's leave it to the school."

In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the financial problems of Peking University were always difficult to solve, and they were often stretched.

"I didn't expect Shucai to have such a heart at such a young age!" Zhang Baixi was really touched. Now that a few high-ranking officials can spend so much money to sponsor the school, others will probably think they are fools.

So Zhang Baixi added another one to Zhu Qiqian: "In the future, the school will hang portraits of celebrities like foreigners' schools, and must also include portraits of rare talents!"

Zhu Qiqian immediately agreed: "I will definitely do it next time."

Li Yu felt dizzy thinking about it. The gang in the Red Building of Peking University will be big bosses in the future, so he said bluntly: "Principal, I actually think it's better to hang some sages."

Without hesitation, Zhang Baixi said: "Of course, ours and those of foreigners are included, such as Confucius, Mencius, and Zhu Zi, as well as Roentgen, Lorenz, and Curie who have won the Nobel Prize. To show that we do not forget our roots. , and look at the world attitude."

Zhu Qiqian clapped his hands and echoed, "Good!"

"But..." Li Yu said.

Zhang Baixi interrupted him: "You are also a Nobel Prize winner. Having your portrait can inspire students even more. I have already thought about this matter. If you disagree, you have to agree!"