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

After spending two years, the Jingshi Observatory was finally repaired.

Among them, the telescope was purchased with the help of the Royal Society of England by Li Yu, which cost a lot of money. Of course, the money was provided by the imperial court.

It's just limited by cognition, and the budget approved by the Ministry of Household Affairs is not high, so this astronomical telescope can only be used as a makeshift.

When Li Yu came to this observatory, he found that at least half of the area inside was filled with various observation instruments from a hundred years ago.Intuitively, it is similar to the ancient calendar institutions.

The other half of the area is the observatory, which combines ancient and modern styles more like an astronomical museum.

But Li Yu had already guessed that it would be this kind of design, and agreed at first.

Although these "old antiques" do not seem to have much observation value, they were all won by Li Yu.

Fu Zengxiang, who came from Beiyang, also came to inspect the completion of the observatory.

This old man who later became the curator of the library and the chief education officer of the Palace Museum was very interested in Western learning.It is impossible to learn mathematics, and there is no need to count on physics, but astronomy seems to be relatively "approachable" at least in the sense of ordinary people.

Fu Zengxiang pointed to these hundred-year-old astronomical instruments and said: "The imperial court greatly appreciates you for bringing these things back from Germany."

Li Yu said: "It is also thanks to the Pope of the Vatican. I really did not expect the church to be so powerful."

"The Pope? The Vatican?" Fu Zengxiang asked in confusion.

Li Yu explained: "When I was in Europe, I went to Italy and joined the newly established Pontifical Academy of Sciences. At that time, I made a condition, hoping that the Holy See would help to recover some lost cultural relics. published."

"The Holy See Academy of Sciences?" Fu Zengxiang laughed, "The Church of Rome is really interesting. I would have never imagined that there would be such a thing. It's just like the Shaolin Temple has a physics academy in addition to the Arhat Hall and the Discipline Academy. In addition to the Sanqing Temple, the Taoist temple also has a Newton."

Li Yu was also happy: "It's true that it doesn't fit well, but he is lenient. Since the Pope has met my request, I can only choose to join."

Fu Zengxiang said: "It's really not easy to come back. The area where the old observatory was located was controlled by the German army during the Gengzi Incident. They took the opportunity to take away the instruments in it. Ordinarily these things should be in the German state. It is unexpected that the Holy See in Rome can still influence to such a powerful German state."

Historically, this batch of astronomical instruments was not recovered until 1920, because of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles.

It is said that this batch of exquisitely crafted instruments has been displayed in the garden of Potsdam—the place where Truman, Churchill and his loving father Stalin later met together.

Li Yu said: "After all, Germany is a stronghold of Catholicism. There are tens of thousands of churches in an area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. The prestige of the Catholic Pope in Germany is extraordinary."

Fu Zengxiang said: "Ashamed, I have never been abroad, and I don't know much about these details in Europe."

The two quickly walked around the observatory, and Li Yu asked him, "Are you interested in looking at the sky with an astronomical telescope?"

"I don't understand, so don't worry about it," Fu Zengxiang said, "I've come to see you for other things."

Li Yu said, "Sir, please tell me."

Fu Zengxiang said: "Governor Yuan asked me to invite your lady out of the mountain."

"Out of the mountain?" Li Yu asked, "What mountain out?"

Fu Zengxiang took out a document: "Zhili has already built the Beiyang Women's Public School. The governor means to let a knowledgeable woman be the head teacher. After thinking about it, the most suitable one can only be Mrs. Bicheng."

Li Yu immediately replied: "Of course, revitalizing women's schools has always been her wish."

Fu Zengxiang said: "Considering the two new lovers Yan Er, I am really sorry."

Li Yu said: "Beijing and Tianjin are not that far apart, and it would take half a day to travel back and forth by train."

Fu Zengxiang praised: "Brother Shucai has a good heart. Ordinary people would not let their newlyweds do things in public, and she is also a beautiful woman like a flower."

Li Yu smiled and said, "Anyway, it's a girls' public school, so there's nothing to worry about."

Fu Zengxiang said: "The Governor-General said that if Shucai agrees, he can give two permanent free rides on the Beijing-Tianjin Railway."

"You guys are quite thoughtful," Li Yu said.

"That's not true," Fu Zengxiang said, "With your lady in charge, you can call Shucai brothers to attend classes from time to time. You are the emperor's teacher and a master of science, so beautiful!"

"It's a wishful thinking," Li Yu said, "Since there are girls' public schools in Tianjin, we should also suggest that Beijing also set up a girls' public school."

"A very constructive proposal," Fu Zengxiang said, "Brother Shucai can write a note, and I will join several ministers from Beiyang to write a letter."

"I've never written an excerpt. My brother writes it, and I just sign it." Li Yu said.

Fu Zengxiang said: "Okay, I will start writing today, and I will come to Brother Shucai tomorrow."

After Li Yu returned home, he told Lu Bicheng that Beiyang Women's Public School had asked her to be the head teacher. After hearing this, Lu Bicheng hesitated.

Li Yu knew what she was thinking, and encouraged her: "Don't worry, I support you, and Mr. Yuan also gave you the right to use the railway for free forever."

Lu Bicheng bit his lip: "Really?"

"What's wrong?" Li Yu said, "There are more people traveling between the two places, and I will often go to Tianjin, and I happen to buy a property in Jinmen."

Lu Bicheng was very excited and said happily, "Thank you! I really didn't see the wrong person."

Li Yu said with a smile, "Even if you misread it, it's too late now."

Lu Bicheng was in a daze again: "I don't know if I can do well, I have never been a teacher before."

"It's probably just some regular courses. It would be good if they can learn to read and write. It would be better if general education can be added in the future." Li Yu said.

"That sounds like a lot, otherwise I wouldn't have the ability to be a teacher," Lu Bicheng said, "Will you give lectures in the future? I still can't talk about general education."

Li Yu jokingly said: "The women's public schools are all big girls, so you don't worry about me?"

"I know who you are. Besides, I'm sure." Lu Bicheng was quite confident.

Seeing that the atmosphere was about to rise, Fengling suddenly came outside and said, "Sir, Zhu Guozhen wants to see you."

Li Yu calmed down and said, "I'll come right away."

Zhu Guozhen usually helps manage Li Yu's factory, and this time he is here to report some progress. He said: "The production of new-style condiments, new-style fried noodles, and enamel abrasive tools is already operational."

"The action is quite fast." Li Yu praised.

Zhu Guozhen said: "Where do you go to do long-term work now, you can get so much money, everyone is very motivated."

Li Yu said: "In the future, don't call them long-term workers or short-term workers, just call them workers."

"Everything is up to the general manager," Zhu Guozhen said. "In addition, the imperial court is planning to set up a business field. Shouldn't our products be exhibited?"

Li Yu nodded: "I must go, let the factory step up the stocking, the sales will definitely be very good."

The "Quanyechang" mentioned by Zhu Guozhen was the most prosperous Tianjin Quanyechang in the Tianjin Concession later.At first, it came from the initials of "persuading my compatriots to prosper, be proficient in business, prosper in business, and grow new in the field".

After the two of them studied the prepared samples, Zhu Guozhen took out a copy of Li Yu's mathematics lecture notes that he carried with him, "Teacher Emperor, I still have a few questions I would like to ask."

Li Yu found that the lecture notes had been crumpled. Apparently Zhu Guozhen often studied with him and worked very hard. He turned to the part of trigonometric functions and said, "I'm at a loss for so many formulas."

Li Yu was quite surprised that he had already learned trigonometry in less than two years.These people who have won Jinshi really work hard once they learn.Moreover, it is not an ordinary person who can be admitted to Jinshi. As long as you devote enough time, you can't say that you can get to the level of a doctoral student and reach the level of a normal college student in future generations.

Li Yu only glanced at it, and said: "There are indeed many inductive formulas, but it's easy to memorize a formula. The odd changes and the even remains the same, and the symbols look at the quadrant."

Zhu Guozhen's brain was buzzing, "It sounds like a spell."

Li Yu took out a pen and paper and explained it to him for a while, and he finally understood.

"As expected of an emperor teacher! Such a complicated thing can be explained so thoroughly!" Zhu Guozhen opened his notebook again, "I still have a question, which has puzzled me for a long time."

Zhu Guozhen's notes are written with a fountain pen, and he has a very beautiful italic script. It seems that he has been practicing hard pens during this period of time, and his handwriting has been much better than Li Yu's.

There is no way, who told others that the brush calligraphy has a good foundation.

Zhu Guozhen said: "I suddenly discovered that the cycle of 0.9 seems to be equal to 1, which is so strange! You see, the cycle of 1/3=0.3, and then 3×1/3=1, doesn't it mean that the cycle of 0.9 is equal to 1 , is simply incomprehensible.”

Good guy, although it looks very simple, but Li Yu really can't answer.

This question is very famous, and it is a typical representative of "a sentence that irritates Minke".

The solution mentioned by Zhu Guozhen is obviously wrong, because it is a circular argument, and it is not rigorous in mathematics at all.

Li Yu smiled wryly: "You still don't care about this problem, because to understand it, you need a very advanced mathematical theory."

Zhu Guozhen said: "But I have finished the whole mathematics lecture."

Li Yu said: "For mathematics, this is just an introduction."

Zhu Guozhen was a little desperate: "Just getting started? How much have you got started?"

Li Yu thought for a while and said: "If mathematics is as high as the top of Mount Tai, let's count it as 7000 steps, this book is only equivalent to climbing dozens of steps."

Zhu Guozhen opened his mouth wide: "Then what year and month will we learn?"

"There is no one on the top of the mountain now! And you don't need to learn that level, if you can go up dozens of steps, that's enough." Li Yu said.

Zhu Guozhen asked: "May I ask what level the emperor's teacher is at?"

"Do you mean mathematics?" Li Yu said, "It may only be a few hundred steps, and it's still far from the top of the mountain."

"Even you are so far behind?" Zhu Guozhen couldn't believe it.

Li Yu said: "Mathematics is quite special, who calls it the queen of science."

Zhu Guozhen sat down helplessly: "Wanting to marry this queen is really like going to heaven."

Li Yu said with a smile: "You are not timid, you want to marry the queen."

"Joking words," Zhu Guozhen said, "but why can I find this seemingly simple math problem that even you can't solve?"

It is really very difficult to explain why the cycle of 0.9 is equal to 1. To really prove it, you need to use the content of "Real Analysis", a professional course in college mathematics.

At this point in time, the only one who can handle it is probably the German mathematics tycoon Dedekind.

Li Yu said helplessly: "Goldbach's conjecture and Fermat's conjecture sound simple, but even the best mathematicians in the world cannot answer them at present."

After some more explanations, Zhu Guozhen was finally not discouraged and continued to study science in the future.

Li Yuting sighed with emotion, his age is at least at the postgraduate stage in later generations, but he had to learn all science subjects from the beginning, and he lost a few blocks at the starting line.

But Zhu Guozhen said with enthusiasm: "The sage said that it is enough to hear the Tao in the morning and die in the evening. I am not very old, so it is too late to say it."

Li Yu encouraged: "In the future, you can go to the University Hall to sit in on courses, and I allow you to sit in on the Tsinghua Academy that will be built in the future."

But Zhu Guozhen said: "Tsinghua University? What kind of unknown school is this? I want to go to the Imperial University where the emperor once attended!"

Li Yu smiled and said, "Okay, okay, okay!"

-

After Zhu Guozhen left, Zhao Qian brought two letters from Shanghai.

The first letter was written by Cai Yuanpei:
"Today, I heard that Shucai Brothers participated in the Tour Beauty Office to recruit students to study in the United States at public expense. I am very enthusiastic about outstanding students from Nanyang Public School. I hope Shucai will choose a day to go to Shanghai to discuss."

Because Cai Yuanpei had already joined the Tongmenghui, he didn't dare to go to the capital, so he could only write a letter asking Li Yu to leave.

The second letter is Zhong Guanguang asking for a loan:
"Brother Shucai, in order to promote education in my hometown Ningbo, I recently returned to my hometown to build Ludu Public School. However, due to lack of funds, the debt of 3000 silver dollars is now due. I hope Brother Shucai can help with the turnover for a while. Repay the principal with interest."

The Ludu Public School founded by Zhong Guanguang was later the Chaiqiao Primary School in Ningbo.

Ningbo and Shanghai face each other across the sea, and the geographical location is quite good. It was one of the first five cities to open ports that year.

Moreover, the British first took a fancy to Ningbo and the Zhoushan Islands next to Ningbo, and the earliest Bund was also in Ningbo.

Zhoushan Island also had a good chance of becoming Hong Kong, but the British chose Hong Kong Island because the Yongjiang River in Ningbo was too narrow and it was too far away from Singapore, their last supply station in the Far East.

But Ningbo must have been affected by a lot of radiation from Shanghai. Compared with it, it is relatively modern at present.

Zhong Guanguang has stayed in Shanghai for so long, and seeing Shanghai getting better every day, he has long understood the importance of education in his heart, so he came up with the idea of ​​returning to his hometown to build a school.

Moreover, Shanghai is well-informed, and Zhong Guanguang is in the business of importing and exporting scientific instruments, so he knows that Li Yu's business in the American factory is very large.

Well, he guessed right.In a few years, if there is a Forbes list of Chinese billionaires, Li Yu is likely to be on the list.

Li Yu was keen on education, so he replied to his request and mentioned in the letter that he could also be given the opportunity to study abroad.