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

"It's okay, come in, Mr. Li Yu is a big benefactor, I can help you with this small favor."

Qiu Jin's voice came from the door and came back.

Another person said: "It's great. I traveled across most of Tokyo and only raised less than 200 yuan at the International Student Center."

Qiu Jin said: "It's already quite a lot. It's a pity that some students from well-off families have returned to China before, otherwise it would be impossible to make up for it."

The two entered the house while they were talking.

"Mr. Li Yu," Qiu Jin introduced to Li Yu, "This is Xiong Kewu, from Sichuan, and a member of the Tongmenghui."

Li Yu shook hands with him: "Hello."

The Alliance has attracted many powerful people.

Li Yu knew Xiong Kewu, who became the actual ruler of the Sichuan warlords in the early years of the Republic of China.But the warlord war in Sichuan is almost the most chaotic in the country. It is a super mess. You sing and I come on stage, over and over again.

The quality of the Sichuan army was not too high, but during the Anti-Japanese War, they suddenly gathered together and became the largest source of troops in the country. When they came out of Sichuan to fight, they fought very bloody.

Xiong Kewu glanced at Qiu Jin, who took a letter from him and said to Li Yu: "Kewu came from Shanghai, and he brought a souvenir from Mr. Zhongshan."

"Shanghai?" Li Yu asked, "Isn't Mr. Zhongshan in Nanyang?"

Xiong Kewu continued: "Mr. Sun's fundraising in Nanyang was not going well. He wanted to go to Tokyo first and then Europe after returning to Shanghai, but he heard that there are many overseas Chinese in Java, so he planned to go to Java."

He has been to many more places than Li Yuke. He has traveled all over the world, and he has to go wherever Chinese people gather.

Li Yu opened the letter: "Please Mr. Xiong tell the nearest friends of the Tongmenghui on my behalf that I urgently need 1000 silver dollars to go to Java."

1000 yuan is not a big number to Li Yu. Li Yu said with a smile: "Just think that I donated 1000 yuan more to the People's Daily."

Xiong Kewu was surprised: "Sir, you are so cheerful!"

Qiu Jin clasped his fists and said, "Mr. has shown kindness to me many times in the League. If things will come true in the future, he must be a minister."

Li Yu waved his hand: "I have no intention of pursuing an official career. I just hope that the national industry and domestic education will get back on track quickly."

"Your ideas coincide with Mr. Sun's," Xiong Kewu said ambitiously. "Mr. Sun also attaches great importance to industry to save the country. In the future, he will build [-] miles of railways in China!"

Sun Wen has been in the United States for so long and must know the boosting effect of infrastructure construction on the economy. Unfortunately, there were too many warlords fighting during the Republic of China.

Li Yu wrote a check and handed it to him: "This is a check from HSBC. You can withdraw it when you return to Shanghai."

Xiong Kewu was very moved: "I thank you on behalf of Mr. Sun! Don't worry, we won't trouble you too much!"

Although he knew that revolutionists were not usually stubborn, Li Yu was still planning to persuade Qiu Jin again: "Revolution is more dangerous than good, and besides, Miss Qiu Jin has children. In fact, there are many other ways to serve the country. There is no need." Return home immediately."

As expected, Qiu Jin said resolutely again: "I know, but if I can't kill the enemy with my own hands, I won't be willing to do it."

Li Yuxiao couldn't persuade her, so she could only bless her and say, "Hero Qiu Jin, please take care of yourself."

The two of them didn't stay long and left quickly.

Toushanman stayed with Li Yu for a meal of Japanese food that night, which was all kinds of sashimi.

Tou Shanman picked up the wine glass and said: "In just a few years, your growth has reached such a stage that even a three-year-old child or an old man in the field who does not understand science has almost heard of your name. Not to mention that you are in the literary world and The business community also has a strong position.”

Li Yu clinked glasses with him and said, "Life is only a few decades long. Only by doing more can you extend your life horizontally."

Tou Shanman said: "I'm very curious, why don't you join the Alliance? With your influence, you will be highly valued after joining. In the future, you will be able to hold a high position in the world."

"Everyone has his own ambitions," Li Yu said. "But Mr. Toushan, isn't he a little too concerned about our country's revolutionary cause?"

Toyama Mitsuru said: "China and Japan have already had a war, and the winner has been decided. In the future, Japan's leadership in East Asia will be the general trend. But we also need strong allies, but the Qing Dynasty is so corrupt that it hinders the interests of both of us. It is easy to fund the revolutionaries." It’s the best plan.”

Their calculations were very shrewd. Li Yu said: "If the Qing Dynasty falls, the situation will be beyond your control."

Tou Shanman thought that Li Yu was worried about the capabilities of the Japanese, so he waved his hand and said, "What's the problem? Even Russia was killed by us."

Li Yu snorted in his heart and said: "You have seen the revolutionaries, and none of them are easy to control. This is only a group of several hundred people, not to mention there are so many people in China."

Tou Shanman said: "I can't say for sure what will happen in the future, but the overall context will definitely not exceed my estimate."

They certainly would not have guessed that the Aixinjueluos had completely lost their ability and that the Qing emperor would abdicate peacefully; nor would they have thought that Yuan Shikai would suddenly cut off Hu, and the Black Dragon Society would naturally be unable to fund the new Beiyang Army, as they did not have so much money.

"Mr. Toushan seems to regard the situation as a chess game?" Li Yu asked.

At this time, the Japanese were super arrogant and felt that the whole of Asia belonged to them, so Tou Shan confidently said: "The chess game is a good metaphor. We now have a sure chance of victory."

He must not have known that while he was dreaming about using China as a chessboard, Li Yu was also playing chess using Japan as a chessboard.

Moreover, Li Yu is not just a bystander, he has opened his "eyes in the sky" and can predict all your chess moves.

Anyway, let him think so now. Li Yu didn't want to explain too much to a Japanese, and he didn't even have the idea of ​​refuting.

-

For some time afterwards, Li Yu still held lectures at Tokyo Imperial University.

Tokyo Imperial University gave him a larger classroom to accommodate the growing audience.

Since Li Yu's physics lectures used a lot of mathematics and various complex differential equations, many students had exploded on the spot. They only knew that Li Yu was very good and what he taught was also very good.

This is Li Yu's purpose.

Now Japan's physics is not strong, and it mainly tends to apply physics, which is entirely Li Yu's expertise, so he is almost led by Li Yu.

It is said that differential equations were originally a key point in physics, but Li Yu deliberately skipped simple things and jumped directly to a very high latitude.

Don't you like conspiracy? Li Yu also came up with conspiracy.

Many people in later generations have a very clear understanding of this conspiracy, and China and India happen to be the two super typical examples.

China is taking a down-to-earth all-industry route, starting from the low-end, after all, the vast majority of the market is low-end, and then slowly building high-end industries.This is a super long road. Anyway, before Li Yu crossed, he just started hitting the high end. Fortunately, he has already made a gratifying breakthrough. I dare not talk too much, but at least I know how to go. Generally speaking, it is a virtuous circle.

India is in another direction. They started to engage in high-end industries, including very high-end computers, software, programming, etc.To be honest, India has done a good job and has produced many great people.

But when they looked back, they found that they had no domestic market, could not open up the industrial chain at all, and had too few laborers to absorb, so a large number of talents had no choice but to go to Europe and the United States.

This became a vicious cycle. Later, India could only do software outsourcing.

Russia is in a similar situation in terms of military and heavy industry.They have always been extremely advanced in the design concepts of fighter jets and aircraft carriers. Even if China has almost become the world's leader in wind tunnels, Russia can still maintain its aerodynamics.

It's a pity that they don't have a huge light industry, and they can't sustain it slowly, showing fatigue, and even the fifth-generation machines cannot be mass-produced.

What Li Yu is doing now is to directly let these lecturers skip the more practical middle-end and go directly to the high-end. The brackets are not really high-end, but they look high-end anyway.

It can be understood as being too ambitious and building castles in the air, which is pretty much what it means.

Fortunately, Li Yu was a modern man and proficient in physics, otherwise it would be too difficult to do this kind of thing.

The effect is good, as can be seen from the thunderous applause from below.

Because Li Yu brought a lot of mathematical content when he taught physics, many mathematics professors from Tokyo Imperial University came to attend the class.

Including Kikuchi Ohro, Fujisawa Rikitaro and Takagi Sadaharu, the first three generations of leading figures in Japanese mathematics.

They have not made any great achievements in mathematics. In Japan, they mainly engage in mathematics education.

In fact, the situation in various countries in the early days was similar. They had to start with education, and it would take two or three generations to cultivate top figures.

However, these people did study in Europe, and most of them were English, French and German who were good at mathematics.

Dairu Kikuchi would become the dean of the Imperial Academy of Japan in a few years. He praised: "Mr. Academician's classes have become more and more profound. Although I can understand mathematics, I can no longer understand physics."

Li Yu said: "I have only listed the research framework, and there is still a lot of content that needs to be studied by latecomers."

This sentence makes it clear that I invite you to enter the urn.

But for the people in the audience, it was so exciting: "Europeans haven't studied it yet?"

Li Yu affirmed: "No, and they are still far behind."

"Great! Only by achieving results in these areas can we show that our outstanding talents in Japan are stronger in science than white people."

"One day, I will explain to them how to solve the Navier-Stokes equation at the Royal Society and the French Academy of Sciences!"

"My ideal is to make Japanese airships comparable to German airships and drive them across the ocean!"

Li Yu immediately clapped his hands and encouraged: "It's so exciting! I believe you can do it!"

Kenjiro Yamakawa, President of Tokyo Imperial University, was extremely moved: "Sir, he not only has extremely high academic attainments, but also an admirable character. He can give such a top-notch lecture at our Japanese university! Sure enough, Sino-Japanese friendship is the path to win-win results."

Although a purely academic university president like him said "China-Japan friendship" basically from the bottom of his heart, they cannot represent all Japanese, especially high-level Japanese.

Li Yu could only respond with "sincere hypocrisy": "The rise of East Asia is inevitable."

Kikuchi Dalu also praised: "Mr. Academician's lectures have benefited all of us a lot, but many of the contents are still incomprehensible. Of course, this is not the fault of the husband, it only shows that we still need to study hard."

Li Yu said: "It takes several years or even ten years or more to learn these theories. If you can't bear the boring process, you will miss the mark."

Li Yu didn't want them to give up midway and needed to take a few more shots.

Principal Kenjiro Yamakawa said: "Our students are the best in Japan, and they will never give up."

Li Yu also pretended to be moved and said: "I want to give you two lines of Qu Yuan's poems. The road is long and long, and I will search up and down."

Kenjiro Yamakawa held Li Yu's hand: "I will engrave it on the stone tablet on campus!"

The lecture was conducted smoothly in a friendly and motivational atmosphere.

However, there were not only Japanese people attending the lectures, but also Chinese students studying in Japan, such as Yu Heqin, who is currently studying chemistry at Tokyo Imperial University.

After the lecture, while Li Yu was drinking water, Yu Heqin came over and said, "Brother Shucai, you spoke so well. You must speak more like this in the country in the future."

Li Yu said with a smile: "You must talk about it, but the form will be different."

Yu Heqin wondered: "Form? Difference? What does it mean?"

"It's just... because the foundation in China is somewhat different from that in Japan! Moreover, the format of lectures tends to be explained in a short time, which is different from formal courses." Li Yu explained.

Yu Heqin suddenly realized: "I'm just telling you! You can't let the Japanese learn all the good things."

Li Yu asked: "How was your study in Japan?"

Yu Heqin said: "I entered Tsinghua School in Tokyo last year and am now studying chemistry at Tokyo Imperial University. I keep in mind several of the research directions you mentioned at that time, but I find that today's Japanese universities cannot learn such advanced theories. .”

Li Yu thought that Yu Heqin entered a Japanese university through Hongwen School, but he did not expect that it was Tsinghua School, a Pheasant School run by Liang Qichao.

Perhaps because Yu Heqin received a lot of advice from Li Yu, he had outstanding abilities. He entered Tokyo Imperial University not long after staying at Tsinghua School.

Li Yu said: "Normally, the gap between Japanese universities and European universities in chemistry is not small."

Yu Heqin said: "I found out about a large company in Japan called Sumitomo Chemical, which seems to be very advanced in chemistry."

As one of the four major conglomerates, Sumitomo can indeed compete with Mitsubishi and Mitsui.However, Li Yu did not want to cooperate with them because the Sumitomo family attached too much importance to the control of assets and could not get rid of it with water.

Moreover, Sumitomo is mainly engaged in the chemical industry, and there is not much overlap with Li Yu’s industrial layout.

Li Yu said: "What they do is not particularly high-end. Well, next year you can also take the test to study in the United States at Tsinghua University in China. At least you can learn more advanced chemistry in American universities."

"Tsinghua school in China? Mr. Liang's school has opened in the capital?" Yu Heqin asked.

Li Yu smiled and said: "This Tsinghua University is the real Tsinghua University."